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Volume 10, Issue 3 November 2017 Peace Studies Journal ISSN: 2151-0806 Volume 10, Issue 3 November 2017 Volume 10, Issue 3, November 2017 Page 1 Peace Studies Journal ISSN: 2151-0806 Volume 10, Issue 3 November 2017 ______________________________________________________________________________ Editor: Dr. Erik Juergensmeyer ______________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents ARTICLES Creating a Collage of Many Peaces Maureen Flaherty, Ellen Sikorski, Nicholas Mckenzie, Jennifer Bell, Mary Anne Clarke, Eduardo Rodrigues da Costa, Alexandra Kuznetsova, Benjamin Maiangwa, Brett Mallon, Murlata Sani, Wei Zhou……….…………………………………………………………………..4 Peace Studies/Literary Studies: An Experiment in Teaching and Learning Janet Gray, Matthew Fuhrmeister, and Robyn Gold……………...……………………………..15 The Trilakṣaṇa (“Three Marks of Existence”) and Transformative Conflict Resolution Saul Tobias……………….………...……………………………………………………….……29 The Evolution Of The Christian Motif Of Satan: A Cautionary Tale As To Why Evil Cannot Be Defeated By Destroying The Enemy Alan McGill…………………………………………………………………………………...…46 CREATIVE FICTION Voices of Vietnam, in War and Peace: An Oral History Play Patrick Chura…………………………………………………………………………………….64 COMMENTARY Bathroom Lessons Melanie R. Nilsson……...………………………………………...……………………………94 Volume 10, Issue 3, November 2017 Page 2 Peace Studies Journal ISSN: 2151-0806 WORKSHOP SUMMARY Workshop Summary: Peace Research and (De)Coloniality, Vienna, December 2016 Philipp Lottholz……………………………………………………………………………….105 Volume 10, Issue 3, November 2017 Page 3 Peace Studies Journal ISSN: 2151-0806 Volume 10, Issue 3 November 2017 ______________________________________________________________________________ Creating a Collage of Many Peaces Authors: Maureen Flaherty, Ellen Sikorski, Nicholas Mckenzie, Jennifer Bell, Mary Anne Clarke, Eduardo Rodrigues da Costa, Alexandra Kuznetsova, Benjamin Maiangwa, Brett Mallon, Murlata Sani, Wei Zhou Title: Assistant Professor and Graduate Students Affiliation: University of Manitoba Location: Winnipeg, MB, Canada E-mail: [email protected] Keywords: Peace education, Visioning, Participatory Research Abstract This article describes a research project that explored what “peace” meant to a group of graduate students in a Peace and Conflict Studies course. The article describes the lead up to this particular discussion, the rationale for the discussion, including supporting theoretical underpinnings, and the actual process and findings within the discussion. Although course participants from three previous semesters are not included as authors, we wish to acknowledge and thank them for their influence in choosing to conduct this research and, in particular, Sandra Krahn for her early literature search. CREATING A COLLAGE OF MANY PEACES In winter of 2013, nine men and women from seven different countries sat around a large brown glass-covered table in a boardroom that was too warm even for the frigid winter afternoon outside. The course title was, Violence Prevention and Intervention and the course outline stated, “Violence is pervasive in the worlds in which we live, and still, we know little about its true etiologies, what sustains it, and how to live in a world that is free of all types of violence” (Flaherty, 2013/2014/2015). In the process of the semester-long class, nine of us – professor included -- found ourselves weaving in and out of our relationships with, and understandings of violence. In the midst of our work we returned time and again, as if to a lifeline, to talk of peace -- positive, lasting peace. Our own experiences were diverse; with this diversity, our responses to the readings varied, often passionately, usually respectfully, challenging each other. While the first two thirds Volume 10, Issue 3, November 2017 Page 4 Peace Studies Journal ISSN: 2151-0806 of the course focused on defining violence and trying to understand ways of analyzing and confronting it, the texts we read closer to the end of the semester, Alliances (Davis, 2010), and Positive Peace (Fitz-Gibbon, 2010) stimulated discussion of positive and practical peacebuilding with diverse communities. In their chapter of the book Alliances, Smith and Skerritt (2010) spoke about a shared vision – how to share it and what to do with it: be bold, build power – nurture respect, use diversity, play smart, & be positive. One grey, cold winter day near the end of the first semester she taught this course, Maureen [instructor] commented on the expressions of hopelessness displayed on many participants’ faces. Her thoughts flashed to people with whom she had worked who experienced oppression, trauma, and abuse, many internalizing the oppression; a majority having great difficulty imagining or picturing the world in which they would like to live. Instead, there was more commonly an overwhelming focus on what they did not want, and that picture took precedence in the mind’s eye with the accompanying feelings residing in the heart and soul (see for example Flaherty, 2012). In her years of counselling with people who experienced trauma, she had often called upon the visioning tools recommended by Solution Focused therapists such as Barry Duncan and Scott Miller (2000) and Yvonne Dolan (1991). These therapists commonly asked clients to suspend immediate concerns about how they might reach a goal and rather think past that and try to imagine and describe “in loving detail” the world in which they wanted to live, including intricate imaginings of what they themselves “will” be doing in that world. On this bleak day, trying to shift the focus and mood, [instructor] asked class participants to take a leap and share their thoughts on what “peace” meant to each one. That is, what was their picture of peace? People carefully listened to each other taking turns around the large table. One group member said peace meant not being awakened at night by gunshots. This evoked a sharp intake of breath by another who had never witnessed armed conflict. We soon found that each person had a different picture, including descriptions of objects, movements, colours and sounds-- or lack of sounds, dependent upon our life experiences. We wondered out loud at the variety in our pictures; however, we went no further with the discussion because class had gone overtime, and the semester was almost over. We simply finished the class with a “check out” – an exercise where participants reflect openly on any responses to the class and how they are feeling prior to leaving. One year later on another cold winter day a similar conversation took place – the same course with different people, different pictures. This time, the discussion was planned as part of the course, and we talked of documenting the pictures of peace, but as time went by the busy lives of graduate students took priority and other more immediate work took precedence. Yet another year passed and, at last, in winter 2015, ten more participants and the same instructor decided to be more intentional about our discussion of pictures of peace. Anticipating a conversation to come at the end of the term, we submitted an application to our university’s research ethics board, gaining approval to record, track, and more publicly share our discussion. As a group, we originate from Africa, China, New Zealand, North America, South America, and Russia. We are from different cultures, some high-context and some low-context (Augsburger, 1992). We were raised in cities, villages, and rural areas. Coming from a variety of socio-economic and ethnic/racial backgrounds, we all have the privileges of higher education and to some extent, travel. Through our semester of discussions and explorations, we realized that we all have different experiences and pictures and we wondered if and how our pictures might fit together. Volume 10, Issue 3, November 2017 Page 5 Peace Studies Journal ISSN: 2151-0806 This article seeks to share our pictures – our collage of many peaces – drawn together by contributions from the thoughts of twenty-six people over a span of three years. While this article’s focus is on the people who participated in our audiotaped class, we thank all of the participants, named and not named, who took part in our joint classes -- people who have all added to our growing understanding of ‘peace’. While some of our paths have crossed over the years, we have never all sat in the same room together. Many definitions and descriptions of different kinds/types of violence are present in the peace and conflict studies literature including interpersonal (Krug, Dahlberg, Mercy, Zwi, & Lozano, 2002), structural (Galtung, 1996), cultural (ibid, 1990), direct and indirect (ibid, 1969). In hopeful response, this article collects the thoughts of graduate seminar participants in Peace and Conflict Studies, as we reflect upon our personal, culturally, and spiritually varied understandings of “what is peace”. We come to this discussion from a place of needing to look beyond violence to find solutions in building a common peace. In this article, we first share some of the more commonly known understandings of ‘peace’ found in conversation and in the literature in our field. While more than one hundred sixty articles were reviewed, too many to cite, we offer a sampling below. Then we move into our own pictures, realizing that our individual life experiences greatly shape the vision or picture each of us has. We conclude our article with some thoughts about the importance and power of taking the time to think about and
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