Call for papers | Educating Against the Mafias. Culture, Power, Resistance
Mafias are not only criminal organizations: they are also cultures, worldviews, symbolic systems. They represent a form of power that takes root in local territories through an implicit pedagogy made up of examples, myths, narratives, and models. This informal educational power operates in everyday life, penetrating the social fabric through often hidden channels: music, social media, religious symbols, TV series, oral memory.
Issue 19 of Educazione Aperta aims to explore, on the one hand, the cultural, symbolic, and imaginative modes of transmission of mafia ideologies; on the other, the educational practices – within schools, communities, and social settings – that promote awareness, critical citizenship, resistance, and justice.
At the heart of this reflection lies a crucial issue: mafias build social consensus not only through territorial embeddedness, but also through more or less explicit forms of legitimation by formal power. This may take shape through alliances, tolerance, omissions, institutional ambiguity, or through policies that, in practice, support their presence or ignore their impact. Understanding this dual dynamic – the construction of social consensus and institutional legitimation – is essential for any educational project seeking to unmask and resist mafia hegemony.
We welcome contributions that reflect on, among other things:
- The construction of the mafia imaginary: analysis of cultural representations (cinema, literature, music, social media) and their impact on public perception and implicit legitimation.
- Pedagogies of resistance: experiences and models of anti-mafia education in school and non-school contexts, with attention to participatory methodologies, community-based pedagogy, and popular movements.
- Memory, testimony, and storytelling: narratives, personal and collective biographies, memory of victims of mafia violence. Civic engagement as a cultural foundation in communities, schools, universities, and the collective imagination.
- Investigative journalism and information: tools for cultural resistance and identity reclaiming; critical documentation and social inquiry as instruments for confronting mafia power.
- Legality, justice, and development: analysis of the intersections between education for legality, the promotion of social justice, and sustainable development paths (in an ecopedagogical perspective) in at-risk areas.
- Institutional legitimation of mafias: study of how mafias gain support, complicity, or legitimacy from political, institutional, or economic actors, and the educational and cultural implications of these dynamics.
- New challenges of mafias: how the evolution of mafia organizations (infiltration in financial markets and public institutions, use of digital technologies, persuasive and communicative strategies) impacts educational models and prevention practices.
- Deconstructing mafia cultural models: theoretical and practical proposals to dismantle logics of domination, violent power, and oppression through education and culture.
Submissions may take the form of theoretical essays, empirical research, experience-based narratives, activist writing, or interdisciplinary dialogues. A special section will be devoted to material for schools and/or produced by schools themselves.
Submitted articles must be unpublished. They may be written in Italian, English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese and must adhere strictly to the editorial guidelines available at the following link: https://educazioneaperta.it/guidelines
We invite those interested to send their article by 15 november 2025 to: redazione.educazioneaperta@gmail.com. By 30 november 2025, the editorial board will inform authors whether their submission has been selected for peer review. Following a double-blind review process, accepted articles will be published in issue 19 of Educazione Aperta, scheduled for release in early 2026.