Betty A. Reardon: Key Texts in Gender and Peace Springerbriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice
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SPRINGER BRIEFS ON PIONEERS IN SCIENCE AND PRACTICE TEXTS AND PROTOCOLS 27 Betty A. Reardon Dale T. Snauwaert Betty A. Reardon: Key Texts in Gender and Peace SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice Texts and Protocols Volume 27 Series editor Hans Günter Brauch, Mosbach, Germany [email protected] More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11446 http://www.afes-press-books.de/html/SpringerBriefs_PSP.htm http://www.afes-press-books.de/html/SpringerBriefs_PSP_TP.htm [email protected] Betty A. Reardon • Dale T. Snauwaert Betty A. Reardon: Key Texts in Gender and Peace 123 [email protected] Betty A. Reardon Dale T. Snauwaert International Institute on Peace Education Educational Foundations and Leadership New York, NY The University of Toledo USA Toledo, OH USA The cover photograph as well as all other photos in this volume were taken from the personal photo collection of the author. A website on this book with additional information on Betty A. Reardon, including links to videos and a selection of the covers of her major books is at: http://afes-press- books.de/html/SpringerBriefs_PSP_Reardon.htm. ISSN 2194-3125 ISSN 2194-3133 (electronic) ISBN 978-3-319-11808-6 ISBN 978-3-319-11809-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-11809-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2014944325 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © The Author(s) 2015 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Copyediting: PD Dr. Hans Günter Brauch, AFES-PRESS e.V., Mosbach, Germany Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) [email protected] With affection and gratitude, I dedicate this volume to those who made it possible for me to do my share of preparing it for publication. My ability to work in the face of health challenges was in large part due to the personal support, help, and encouragement of a number of good friends. This volume is dedicated with thanks to my network of friends within and outside the fields of peace knowledge and peace action. Special thanks go to my life-long friend, Peggy Park Maut- ner, whose constant support sustained me through the arduous medical journey. To her, Paula Hertz, and Dolly Holland I am truly grateful for their sustaining ongoing care and for the friendship from which that care arises. Among those friendships that grew out of colleagueship, woven into the network of sustaining support were Ingeborg Breines, Dorota Gierycz, Asha Hans whose visits and emails lifted my spirits. I am grateful, too, for Kozue Akibayashi’s visit from Japan in the early stages of the journey, who helped in undertaking the next steps. Among those closer by who did the same were Sr. Kathleen Kanet, Cora Weiss, and the Rev. Chloe [email protected] Breyer. Their visits and phone calls were immeasurably sustaining as was that from all the others who have sent their loving wishes, including members of the congregations of St. Mary’s (New York) and St. Agnes (Kyoto). Throughout my life and professional experi- ences, I have been blessed with the friendship and collaboration of many extraordinary people, such as those I thank here and those mentioned in the acknowledgments. They have been a testament to the importance of human relationships to all aspects to our lives. They are the source of my belief that peace must be sustained by networks of human connections that manifest the core peace value of human dignity and our responsibility to each other and the world we share. Betty A. Reardon New York, June 2014 [email protected] With life-long friend Peggy Park Mautner at a reception following the award ceremony for the MacBride Prize at Georgetown University in 2009. (See also the photo in: Betty A. Reardon— Dale Snauwaert (Ed.): Betty A. Reardon: A Pioneer in Education for Peace and Human Rights— Presented by Dale Snauwaert (Cham—Heidelberg—New York—Dordrecht—London: Springer- Verlag, 2015): 4) [email protected] Preface Betty A. Reardon is a pioneer of feminism and a gendered perspective on human rights, social justice, and its importance for peace research and peace education. Reardon’s groundbreaking work argues that a feminist, holistic, and gendered perspective can serve as the conceptual core of a transformation of our present global system of patriarchy, and its culture of violence and war. Her comprehensive work in this area has uncovered the profound symbiotic relationship between patriarchy and the war system, and she calls for a global inquiry into alternatives to the patriarchal paradigm. She argues for a gender-equal and socially just society based on a cosmopolitan ethic of human rights. For Reardon, this vision of a positive human and planetary future is realized through achieving a transforma- tional, fundamental shift in worldview towards a paradigm of peace informed by a gender perspective. This paradigm of peace values human equality, dignity, social justice, human security, environmental protection, peace, and peace education. In recognition of her internationally acclaimed contributions, achievements, and awards as a teacher, feminist, peace activist, researcher, author, and consultant spanning five decades, she was nominated by the International Peace Bureau (Geneva, Switzerland) for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. My association with Betty Reardon as a colleague and friend has spanned over two decades, and began with our first and auspicious faculty meeting together at Colgate University in 1990. Our mutual interest and dedication to the formulation of global peace and international human rights education has given rise to mean- ingful collaboration over the years. For example, as founding director of The University of Toledo’s Center for Democratic Education and Non-Violence, my colleagues and I were honored to organize the “Betty A. Reardon Collection,” an archive of her published and unpublished works, which opened in 2009 in the Ward M. Canady Center for Special Collections at The University of Toledo. Reardon’s compelling and complex work on gender covers a wide range of topics and concerns, and the intent of this necessarily brief preface is to assist the reader in identifying, clarifying, and discussing her overarching philosophy, as well as her central, core ideas about feminism and a gendered perspective on human ix [email protected] x Preface security, peace, and justice. The preface is divided into three parts: (1) Reardon’s Ethical Framework; (2) Violence, Patriarchy, and the War System; and (3) Transforming Patriarchy and the War System.1 Reardon’s Ethical Framework Central to Reardon’s conception of peace and social justice are two fundamental normative assertions: equal universal human dignity and moral inclusion. These related core conceptions constitute the ethical foundations of Reardon’s overarching philosophy, including her understanding of feminism and the fundamental impor- tance of a gender perspective. Equal universal human dignity is the normative claim that all human beings possess an equal intrinsic value that should be respected. In turn, this equal inherent dignity bestows upon each person standing in the human moral community. That is, each person is seen to be an equal member of the human moral community and thus each person has a right to equal moral consideration. This moral inclusion is universal in scope; it pertains to all human beings, transcending gender differences. These interrelated, normative assertions are the basis of Reardon’s value-based conceptions of peace and justice. In making these two fundamental ethical assertions Reardon is a part of the tradition of cosmopolitanism, which she refers to as “global humanism”.2 The cosmopolitan ethical imperative mandates that we see the other as a morally equal person. This view of moral equality is imperative if we are to transcend the longstanding human patterns of violence, dehumanization, and objectification of persons in favor of the recognition of their humanity, and thereby embrace their standing in the human moral community.3 Human rights in turn constitute the principles of a cosmopolitan ethic of human dignity. Human rights define what the individual person is due, is justified in demanding, and/or is protected from. In this way rights define what moral choices can never be made or those that must be made.4 As Reardon asserts, human rights 1 I would like to thank Mary M.