Building Sustainable Peace Movements in a Divided World
Since its inception in 1999, the UCI Center for Citizen Peacebuilding has sponsored faculty and student research, advanced education on the topic, and has organized partnership initiatives to improve and expand citizen peacebuilding in the United States and around the world. Long-term citizen peacebuilding is the most impactful, but we have few examples of decades-plus partnerships in a single context. In acknowledgment and celebration of its 20-year history, the Center has organized a two-day symposium, “Building Sustainable Peace Movements in a Divided World,” to discuss with other scholars and practitioners what we have learned from our research and long-term engagement in several case studies. These consist of identity-based violent conflicts in divided societies where citizen peacebuilding is still underway decades after large-scale violence has occurred. In a series of learning sessions on peace and sustainability, our inter-generational dialogues will focus on the research of former students in various conflict zones, the critical role women play in building peace, the impact peacebuilders can have on climate change, the lessons learned from ongoing, long-term citizen peacebuilding partnerships, and how we might do this work better. The examination of citizen peacebuilding is all the more urgent today given the increasingly rancorous political divisiveness in the U.S. and elsewhere. This conference will discuss methods for reducing conflict, preventing violence, and building sustainable peace in our increasingly divided world.
Sponsored by: Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, Students for Global Peacebuilding, School of Social Sciences, University of California, Irvine
A copy of the Schedule of Events Program may be found here.
Welcoming Introductions
Video recordings of additional symposium sessions are below.
Schedule of Events
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DAY 1
9:00am - 9:30am: A 20-YEAR REFLECTION ON CITIZEN PEACEBUILDING: ACTION FOR A SAFER WORLD
Posters illustrating the work of the Center will be available for viewing throughout the event.
9:30am - 10:00am: WELCOMING INTRODUCTION
- David Snow
Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Co-Director, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, UC Irvine - William Mauer
Dean, School of Social Sciences, UC Irvine - Paula Garb
Co-Founder, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, UC Irvine
10:00am - 12:30pm: RESEARCHING PEACE MOVEMENTS IN CONFLICT ZONES AROUND THE WORLD: REPORTS FROM FORMER KUGELMAN FELLOWS
Moderator: David Snow, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Co-Director, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, UC Irvine
- Nevin Aiken
University of Wyoming, (Transitional justice and Northern Ireland) - Bruce Hemmer
U.S. Department of State, (Democratization and peacebuilding) - Arturo Jimenez
University of South Florida, (International relations, tension between security and human rights) - Dana Moss
University of Pittsburgh, (Yemen, Middle Eastern diasporic social movements, authoritarianism) - Johanna Solomon
Kent State University, (Israeli-Palestinian conflict, race and religious relations in the U.S.) - Daniel Wehrenfennig
UC Irvine, (Middle East and Northern Ireland)
12:00pm - 1:30pm: LUNCH | POSTERS
1:30pm - 3:30pm: THERE IS NO PLANET B: COMING TOGETHER TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE
Moderators: Amber Jenkins, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology and Board Member, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding and Laila Delgado, Students for Global Peacebuilding, UC Irvine
- JT Reager
Research Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (Science of climate change) - Melanie Harwood
Educator and Disruptor, eduCCate Global (Creating an army of Greta Thunbergs) - Richard Matthew
Professor of International and Environmental Politics, Urban Planning and Public Policy, UC Irvine (Climate change, conflict and peacebuilding) - Marlow Baines
Co-Youth Director, Earth Guardians (Finding your voice) - Bahram Fazeli
Director of Research and Policy, Communities for a Better Environment (Environmental justice and community empowerment)
3:30pm - 5:00pm: NETWORKING RECEPTION for students, participants and guests
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DAY 2
9:00am - 10:45am: SHARING LESSONS LEARNED IN EFFECTIVE PEACEBUILDING: WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?
Discussion leaders:
- Paula Garb
Co-Founder, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, UC Irvine - Susan Allen
Director, Center for Peacemaking Practice, George Mason University - Tato Khundadze
Scholar-practitioner, Georgia - Katelyn Finley
Lecturer, Global and International Studies, UC Irvine - Blanca Castro
Co-Founder, Students for Global Peacebuilding (SGP), UC Irvine - Daniel Wehrenfennig
Executive Director, Olive Tree Initiative, UC Irvine
10:45am - 11:00am: BREAK | POSTERS
11:00am - 12:45pm: ILLUMINATING THE CRUCIAL ROLE OF WOMEN IN PEACEBUILDING
Moderator: Fran Faraz, Peace Studies Program Director, Golden West College and Board Member, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding
- Katie Zanoni
Lecturer, San Diego City College .. University of San Diego; Program Manager, Kim Center for Social Balance - Whitney McIntyre Miller
Associate Professor, Leadership Studies, Chapman University - Jennifer Dempsey
Director/Founder, Salida Circus Outreach Foundation (Circus workshops and performances in Northern Ireland, Palestine and Jordan) - Emine Colak
former Foreign Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (Women's peacebuilding movement in Cyprus and internationally) - Katie Economidou
conflict resolution practitioner (Women’s peacebuilding movement in Cyprus)
12:45pm - 2:00pm: LUNCH | BUILDING SUSTAINABLE PEACE: SOME THOUGHTS FROM A DIFFICULT ROAD
Christopher Mitchell, Emeritus Professor of Conflict Research, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University
2:00pm - 3:30pm: SHARING LESSONS LEARNED IN EFFECTIVE PEACEBUILDING: THE CHALLENGES
Discussion Leaders:
- Rustam Anshba
scholar-practitioner, Abkhazia - Emine Colak
former Foreign Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (Women's peacebuilding movement in Cyprus and internationally) - Angelina Dayfallah
Co-Founder, Students for Global Peacebuilding, UC Irvine - Philip Gamaghelyan
scholar-practitioner, Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego - Steven Kim
Co-Founder, Project Kinship (Serving individuals impacted by gangs and incarceration)
3:30pm - 3:450pm: BREAK | POSTERS
3:45pm - 5:00pm: LOOKING FORWARD: WHAT CAN WE DO?
Discussion leaders:
- Christopher Mitchell
Emeritus Professor of Conflict Research, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University - Cris Toffolo
Professor of Justice Studies, Northeastern Illinois University - Katie Economidou
conflict resolution practitioner (Women’s peacebuilding movement in Cyprus) - Susan Seely
Director, Olive Tree Initiative at UC Irvine - Marlett Phillips
Co-Founder, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, UC Irvine