CALL FOR PROPOSALS
NINTH ANNUAL GRADUATE EDUCATION SYMPOSIUM
OCTOBER 5, 2019
Keough School of Global Affairs, Washington DC Office, 1400 16th Street NW, Suite 120, Washington DC, 20036
The graduate education symposium provides a forum for educators, administrators, researchers, practitioners, staff and students of Master’s and Doctoral programs in peace studies, peacebuilding, and conflict studies, and conflict resolution, to discuss how academic programs are training the next generation of scholar-practitioners, to share curricular, professional skills building and administrative innovations, and to foster collaborative interaction and cross-fertilization among programs. This year’s symposium follows eight previous annual meetings on various themes that have gathered an increasing number of graduate programs engaged in a combination of domestic and international conflict resolution and peacebuilding activities.
Domestic Peacebuilding: Has the Field Failed in its own Backyard?
Defining the issues
How have Peace and Conflict Programs responded (or not) to the rising challenges of increasing polarization, extreme inequality, and white nationalist violence in the West? How have our programs responded to the resurgence of racism, sexism, misogyny, and xenophobia in our societies? These elements have been with us since the founding of the United States. Yet, our field has tended to face outwards toward the international arena rather than inwards toward our own context. Have we we prepared our students to tackle structural, cultural and physical violence against African-Americans, Native-Americans, Muslim-Americans, Jewish-Americans, LGBTQ people, and immigrants in the US? Have we prepared our students to tackle the attack on womens’ rights in the West and to address hate groups such as Incel? And if so, what are the similarities and differences in how we teach our students theory and practice in relation to international and domestic conflicts and violence?
What are the congruences and contradictions between how we intervene in conflicts and violence overseas and how we approach them domestically? What do the two streams of field - peace studies and conflict resolution - bring to bear on the issues facing the US today? In the face of asymmetrical domestic conflicts, should the field be theorizing about the relationship between non-violent action and social movements on the one hand and traditional collaborative conflict resolution approaches on the other? What are the implications for the knowledge and skills we should be teaching our students? For example, should we be teaching students how social justice and conflict resolution organizations can work together strategically?
Educational programming
What are the implications for increased focus on domestic issues on what and how we teach the field to graduate and professional students? In what ways might incorporating domestic issues offer opportunities and challenges to academic and professional curricular content, pedagogical approaches, and practice-focused experiential learning opportunities in peace and conflict studies? Are there additional topics that we should be including in our curricula? What skills have we learned in the international arena that are relevant in the domestic arena, and what skills have long been practiced in the domestic arena that we may have overlooked at our own peril in our programs? Are your programs blending conflict resolution and non-violent action approaches in your current curricula? If so, how?
Based on the proposals received, we will organize panel presentations, roundtables and/or workshops or you may specify your preference.
Proposals should be between 250 -300 words and must include a title and a presenter bio of 50-75 words. Proposals should bring forward sessions that will work within a 1 ½ hour time slot or less. 2019 Symposium to be held October 5th (scheduled to dovetail with the Alliance for Peacebuilding Annual Conference) at the Keough School of Global Affairs, Washington DC Office, 1400 16th Street NW, Suite 120, Washington DC, 20036.
Please send your submissions to the committee August 15 and confirmations will be sent by August 30. Registration must be completed by October 1. Please find the proposal submission form at:
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If you have any questions please direct them to Susan StVille Susan.M.StVille.2@nd.edu or Mary Hope Schwoebel mschwoebel@nova.edu.
Planning Committee Members:
Mary Hope Schwoebel (C0-Chair), Nova Southeastern University
Susan StVille (Co-Chair), Notre Dame University
Keith Burton, Claremont Lincoln University
Ron Fisher, American University
Philip Gamaghelyan, University of San Diego
Brian Kritz, Georgetown University
Agnieszka Paczynska, George Mason University
Gloria Rhodes, Eastern Mennonite University
Adam Wolf, Alliance for Peacebuilding
