The “Peacebuilder” podcast, hosted by Patience Kamau MA ‘17, releases the second episode of its second season today. Kamau’s guest is Professor Catherine Barnes, who teaches strategic peacebuilding and public policy at 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

The “Peacebuilder” podcast, in its second season, is a production of 91����Ƶ’s, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary. 

More than 6,500 listeners in 102 countries and 1,239 cities across the globe enjoyed Season I.The podcast is among just a handful covering the general peacebuilding field. It is available on, Apple Podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, TuneIn and other podcast directories.

In the podcast, Barnes and Kamau chat about Barnes’ expertise in designing and facilitating deliberative dialogue processes, as well as current events including the military coup in Myanmar.

“Dr. Catherine Barnes has worked for conflict transformation and social change for more than 30 years,” Kamau says by way of introduction. “In many countries, she has worked with civil society, activists, diplomats and politicians, and armed groups to build their capacities for preventing violence and using conflict as an opportunity for addressing the systems giving rise to oppression and grievance.”

Their conversation begins with a deep dive into deliberative dialogue: what it is, when it’s useful, and what it has the power to do for a community struggling with conflict.

“The dialogue is very much about setting the conversation in this connection point – at a human level – between those who are involved and the perspectives that they have to bring. So that particularly if there’s been tension, conflict, or even indeed oppression, that you have this humanization of relationships,” Barnes explained. 

One of the early experiences that led Barnes towards this field of work was growing up in the Quaker Universalist tradition, in which congregants gather in silence “and seek the light of God moving within,” she said. They “have … this understanding that often in those spaces, there may be someone who feels moved to share something.”

Barnes went on to earn her doctorate in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University alongside Jayne Docherty, Barry Hart, and Lisa Schirch. She’s done conflict transformation work all over the world – including training deliberative dialogue process designers and facilitators in Myanmar. 

91����Ƶ the current violence in the country, Barnes said she feels “so heartbroken. I feel scared, scared for people who I have come to know and respect and, indeed, to love … I think it really does reveal in many ways how the zero sum nature of a power paradigm based on unilateral control and coercion is so hard to shift.”

“Are there resilience tools that you think are within the community that might help carry them through this?” Kamau asked.

“I always, always have hope,” Barnes replied. “I often will say that it’s actually, it’s within movements that you almost need these skills even more to try to think about, ‘how do we generate something that will be different in nature, different in kind than the old system that had been oppressive?'”

Poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama will spend the second week of September virtually touring 91����Ƶ: speaking in chapels, colloquia, and classes; chatting with pastors and LGBTQ+ groups; and networking with community organizations, including NPR’s local radio station affiliate WMRA and JMU’s Furious Flower Poetry Center. 

All of these events will be . Those who register to attend will receive a webinar link and will be able to interact with Ó Tuama through Q & A.

His book In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World (Hodder & Stoughton, 2015) is this year’s Common Read selection, one book the campus community is encouraged to read, reflect on, and engage with.

The author of four books of poetry and prose, Ó Tuama is known for integrating themes of language, power, conflict and religion. He is also a peacebuilder and mediator. From 2014-19, he led the , Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation organisation. He hosts the podcast from On Being Studios.

Monday, September 14 

• 6 p.m. – Writers Read

Ó Tuama will read excerpts from his poetry and prose. The event is open to the public via Zoom and live stream. 

Tuesday, September 15 

• 11 a.m. – Seminary Chapel and Talkback

Ó Tuama will speak on “Jesus of Nazareth: Strange man in strange times,” looking at Jesus through the lenses of story, poetry, literary analysis, and imagination. This event is open to the public via Zoom and live stream. 

• 3 p.m. – Books and Brews with WMRA

This live event, open to all, will also be available via Zoom and live stream. moderator Mary Katharine Froehlich will speak with Ó Tuama about “how poetry, books and reading kept me safe.”

Wednesday, September 16

• 10:15 a.m. – Convocation and Talkback

Hello to Language. What does it mean to use language today? — in a time of pandemic, in the latest racist decade of a racist era, in a time where truth is questioned and language is fake if it’s labelled fake. Pádraig Ó Tuama will explore the power of language; power to harm and power to heal, and consider that power in conversation both with story and time. How do we tell stories about the times we are in? How long do we imagine the times we are in will be the times we are in? How do we speak today in order to consider new stories?

 This event is open to all: 91����Ƶ students and employees may attend the event in Lehman Auditorium, with overflow space in SC 106 and UC 170; the public may tune in via Zoom and live stream.

• 4:15 p.m. – University Colloquium

Ó Tuama will speak on “Reading can save your life: living our lives in conversation with received narratives.” This colloquium will touch on the practice of reading poetry, religious texts, and the stories of our own lives, as well as narratives about belonging. Available via Zoom and live stream. 

Thursday, September 17

• 12 p.m. – Discussion with the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

Insights and Mistakes from Ireland for Isolated Times

In 2021, Ireland will mark 100 years since partition. During that time, there have been numerous sustained periods of conflict about British-Irish dynamics: conflict that has been witnessed both on the streets and in policies. Given this hundred years of conflict and attempts at brokering peace, what lessons might be relevant for today?

Friday, September 18

• 10 a.m. – Talk with the Furious Flower Poetry Center at JMU

The is the nation’s first academic center for Black poetry. In “The shelter of stories in uncertain times,” Ó Tuama will talk with Executive Director Joanne Gabbin about the poet’s role in modeling truth-telling, social justice, and activism. This event is open to all via Zoom and live stream. 

• 1 p.m. – “How shall we go from here?” Closing session

What is the role of the imagination in peacebuilding and public life? Building on years of LGBTQI advocacy, Pádraig will reflect with us — on the last session of his residency — on how the imagination might nurture public action, change and witness. This event is hosted by Patience Kamau and Catherine Barnes. 

Register for any event here.

This was neither the end of the semester we anticipated nor the graduation we expected, but it is the semester we have completed and the graduation we celebrate, said Dean David Brubaker this past weekend to a virtual celebration for graduates from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

Those words encapsulate the whirlwind experience of the last nine weeks, as our semester was completely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was not the semester we anticipated, but it was the semester we completed.

And what choice did we have but to persevere, adapt, be flexible and patient, flatten one curve as we were being slung faster on an accompanying learning curve of what exactly to do with ourselves, our bodies and minds in this strange new world.

The following collection of photos and text is a snapshot of the semester, collected in real time and revisited now, for those of you who are more peripheral to 91����Ƶ. It might help to give a sense of how faculty, staff and students responded in and out of classroom — in true 91����Ƶ fashion, with resilience, empathy and commitment.

Here we go (online)!

Some of the first on campus to sense an impending switch were employees in Information Systems. They began thinking about remote learning during 91����Ƶ’s spring break the first week in March, and in anticipation, beefed up their HelpZone articles on a variety of relevant topics.

By March 12, when 91����Ƶ announced a move to online learning, IS had reviewed and increased capacity of all systems and equipment (including webcams, laptops and Chromebooks) necessary for online teaching and campus operations. Needless to say, they were busy.

Two graphs from Jenni Piper, director of User Services, tell the story:

First Helpdesk Tickets. The green line shows last year’s demand and the blue line this year’s.

And second, the number of daily Zoom meetings hosted through the campus account, beginning in early March.

After hosting a training for faculty March 13 and the shift to online the classes the next week, IS handled 64 tickets on March 16, something of a watermark that shows when faculty and staff began to engage with the reality of a move to remote work.

Pedagogues thinking positively

91����Ƶ 10 days into the online shift, I asked a few professors how things were going. Some of their answers are included below. I was particularly struck by the positive perspective of veteran educator Carolyn Stauffer, professor of applied social sciences:

In reality, what we’re experiencing now is the presence of hybrid education. We’ve had the chance to meet in-person for the first part of the semester and now I get to know each participant’s online presence as well. It’s wonderful to be able to build on the assets of both sides of that equation!

Solo field trips

Professor Doug Graber Neufeld‘s “Natural History of the Shenandoah Valley” course syllabus was packed full of fantastic field trips to local natural wonders and lab experiences (like taxidermy practice below).

With his students scattered in mid-March, the field trips turned into independent explorations, such as Katelyn Dean‘s below. Here she holds morel mushrooms she and her dad found in the George Washington National Forest, just one find shared during class time.

“It’s the highlight of my day to hear students who daily recount the joy they find in now recognizing the animals, plants and rocks around them,” Neufeld said. “In such unusual times, experiencing the beauty and complexity of the natural world together has been a unique source of hope for us.” Read more about this class.

Conversations continue

In Professor Marti Eads’ class “Ways of War and Peace,” students met virtually with Reverend Masayuki Sawa, the pastor of a Reformed (Calvinist) congregation in Japan. He spoke of his perception of contemporary Japanese attitudes toward World War II and Japanese perceptions of the US and our own military actions, then and now, among other topics.

The class was slated to visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. Instead, guest speaker Gillian Steinberg, an educator at the Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy in the Bronx, and her students from the Modern Orthodox Jewish tradition met online with 91����Ƶ students.

This conversation and the de-brief afterwards held richness and nuance, Eads said, with several classmates opening up about their own religious experiences, choices and identities. Recognizing the common humanity, despite labels — “just the idea of all of us sitting together talking and all of us from different groups” was a moving experience, said one of her students. []

Creating community with virtual high fives

Engineering professor Esther Tian (pictured above at top right) continued teaching synchronous classes, preferring the structure and the presence of students. “It is also good for students to see each other and talk to each other before class as they would in a classroom.

We do high fives, thumb-ups (and downs) during class, we find out new features of Zoom and use them right away. It has been fun. I also found that one-on-one and small group Zoom sessions were working really well in answering students’ questions as well as advising..”

Senior Collin Longenecker, visible below Tian in the photo above and also at right, was an embedded tutor with a first-year engineering course. Though initially he wasn’t sure how Zoom sessions would work, he adapted well: “The students pop in and out and they can share their screen with me. It is almost like I am in the engineering lab looking over their shoulder trying to help them troubleshoot the problem. I have been helping a few students that I had not helped before we went to online school which is cool.”

Read more about 91����Ƶ tutors at work during online classes.

The power of community to enhance learning was the top tip in a blog post titled ” by Dean (and chem prof) Tara Kishbaugh for fellow organic chemistry teachers using the same texbook. “Community Matters,” she began. Use the relationships that have already been built to help students continue asking questions and learning in small peer groups. And she reminded readers, you can still greet each student individually when they enter your Zoom classroom.

Tech fails/wins: ‘chipmunky’-ness and new relationships

Professor Mark Sawin teaches U.S. History 103, from World War I to the present, with a focus on “power and paradox.” Sawin tried to do a synchronous class on Zoom and “it rather hilariously and spectularly failed,” he reported.

“So, since then, I’ve been pre-recording all my lectures on Panopto so students can watch them asynchronously, and with that program, you can adjust my speed. At 1.5 speed, I start to get rather chipmunky… at .5 speed I sound like the television show ‘Drunk History.’ I’m not sure if that amuses students, but it certainly amuses me.”

With the lectures available at any time, he began using normal class time as an open forum where students could drop in and ask questions.

“I’ve had some wonderful 1-on-1 conversations with students that I would never have had in our normal class setting. In this sense, our ‘social distancing’ has actually provided some closeness that wasn’t there before, and for that I’m grateful,” Sawin said. “I’ve also been pleased and touched by the grace that students have extended to us as we struggle to move our classes online. And I believe we, too, are showing that grace, focusing on the learning objectives and the big important ideas, and allowing a lot of latitude when it comes to the many wifi issues, isolation stresses, and general quarantine chaos we’re all learning to live with.”

Grace and connection

That grace is something education professor Paul Yoder has also experienced. Students in his classes are pre-service teachers and as a pedagogical specialist himself, the shift to online classes provided ample room for discussions around topics related to the digital classroom.

He wrote: “The key word in my planning for weekly class sessions via Zoom has been connection. We have taken time for each of the 18 students to rate how they are doing on a scale of 1-10 and then share with the group. Last week I sent individual emails as a follow up to the few students who placed themselves on the low end of the scale. I have also been excited to hear from some of my advisees who have shared their affirmations of how professors are providing flexibility as needed.  Particularly as we recognize that not all of us have the same level of internet access, I know that living into an ethic of care is essential.”

Nancy Heisey, seminary dean, also used check-ins with her classes, which often included adult students who juggled many responsibiliities, including pastors working in ministry settings.

“We take time every period to share ‘how it’s going’ and encourage one another. Some students are struggling with a household where everyone is working on line in a crowded space—spouse tele-working, children trying to do homework, and seminary student worrying about class work and how to get a video service up for their congregation’s Sunday service.

“I’ve been amazed, though, at the depth of engagement—this morning, my New Testament students each did a creative rendering of a parable of Jesus. They were funny, sobering, and encouraging!”

Hearing some of those needs led seminary professor Sarah Bixler to host an April 1 online gathering that drew 32 pastors, including 22 alumni, from four denominations and eight states. This has led to a free online series for pastors. Check it out here.

A wider global market for CJP

Innovation happened quickly during the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding’s facilitation class, co-taught by Professor Catherine Barnes and Amy Knorr. Students usually practice skills they’ve learned in person by helping clients with a planned discussion, strategic visioning or group dialogue. With face-to-face options limited and practice still required, students moved online.

Above, one group produced an online strategic planning for Shenandoah Green, a local environmental group, including a circle process, a historical reflection using a digital timeline that folks could fill in, and a card sort, a way of getting ideas out into the open and then grouping them together. “Board members at Shenandoah Green were delighted,” said Knorr, who helps coordinate practice settings for CJP students.

In the midst of the pandemic, CJP also hosted several online gatherings for alumni to connect and share resources.

And significantly, center staff moved quickly to adapt the Summer Peacebuilding Institute to online classes, expedite a new hybrid graduate degree program in transformational leadership, and prepare upcoming semester classes for online delivery.

The massive disruption and accompanying move towards online learning and programs have created new opportunities, said Executive Director Jayne Docherty, especially in a previously untapped market of prospective participants who could not have afforded to travel or would not have been issued a visa in the current environment.

“In the face of the pandemic, many people are waking up to the fact that our societies have become more unequal and unjust and that we are teetering on the edge of violent confrontations between social subgroups. Some of those people are saying, ‘This can’t continue. This is just wrong. What can I do? I want to be part of the solution.’ By moving our programs online quickly, we have helped channel their energy and impulse to help others in ways that prevent violence and address injustices.”

’12 hours ahead of our students’

As daily reports arrived into faculty in-boxes about the closure of practicum and internship placements to students, the nursing department focused on making sure their seniors could graduate on time and join the fight against covid-19.

For one cohort, that meant three 12-hour shifts at a local hospital. For others, they logged clinical hours (and their supervising professor also took calls) at a special covid-19 public health hotline.

“The faculty were meeting hour to hour, staying 12 hours ahead of the students as we were making decisions,” said Professor Melody Cash.

Eventually, a waiver allowed faculty to substitute simulation hours for live clinicals and all 16 seniors finished out the semester in good standing, ready to join the workforce.

It’s the small things…

Marci Frederick (above), director of Sadie Hartzler Library, and Professor Kevin Seidel dressed in academic regalia in honor of their senior seminar students for their last Zoom class meeting.

Congratulations, 91����Ƶ family, on the end of the semester we did not anticipate.

We celebrate.

With love in action as the guiding theme of the 2017 , several 91����Ƶ and Eastern Mennonite Seminary faculty and staff are sharing their research and wisdom at the Orlando, Florida, event.

Among the featured speakers to address youth is Assistant Professor of Social Work Melody Pannell, who wrote in a , “I sense a strong call for the church to continue shifting our response to injustice.”

She continues: Instead of showing love with just our words, we must begin speaking truth to power and taking deliberate and sustainable action in love. “Love is a Verb” is more than just a “theme.” This is a call to a higher level of discipleship and a deeper willingness to sacrifice ourselves and embody the love of Jesus Christ. It is a call to “lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” in a way that utilizes our collective and individual power, influence and resources to dismantle gender discrimination, address historical harms and resist structural racism.

Pannell, who was born and raised in Harlem, New York City, grew up attending Seventh Avenue Mennonite Church in Harlem and attended 91����Ƶ. After graduating in 1997, she worked and earned both a Masters in Social Work and a Master of Divinity degree.

At the conference, Pannell shares her personal story and the challenges of finding and living in her own “” in a presentation for youth, as well as three other presentations on sexualization and healthy sexuality, a restorative approach to broken boundaries in congregational life, and her work as founder of Destiny’s Daughters Empowerment Ministry.

Other presenters include:

• , director of athletics and author of “,” speaking to both adults and youth about living and playing with a healthy balance;
• , professor at EMS, speaking to youth about decision-making for the future and the relationship of sports and faith;
• , associate dean at EMS and professor of Bible and religion at 91����Ƶ, on “Mine, Ours, and Yours: Taking Care of Stuff”;
• , professor of education, pairing with Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz, restorative justice coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee, to host two sessions for youth on restorative justice for difficult conversations and the basics of circle processes.

Among the featured speakers were alumni Lisa Cameron ’99, director of empowerment services at the YWCA Lancaster, and Phil Kniss ’82, MDiv ’95, pastor at Park View Mennonite Church, as well as two authors who have spoken at 91����Ƶ, and .

Other faculty, staff and student involvement

Numerous 91����Ƶ faculty, staff and students are at the convention as delegates for church-wide business sessions representing their home congregations, or as youth group sponsors from their home congregations. These include , undergraduate academic dean, representing Park View Mennonite Church; Ronda Rittenhouse, assistant to the undergraduate dean and youth sponsor for Lindale Mennonite Church, and others.

President is taking part in activities and will bring greetings to an alumni gathering hosted by Jeff Shank, director of alumni and parent engagement. More than 175 91����Ƶ and Eastern Mennonite Seminary graduates have registered for the reunion.

Leah Wenger, a sophomore, played a key role in planning this year’s new program for youth. The goal of “Step Up” is to prepare and launch young people into future involvement as denominational delegates and church leaders who are involved with the broader church. Read more .

Shana Peachy Boshart ’86 led the planning for the Step Up program; she is an 91����Ƶ board of trustee member  and Conference Minister for Christian Formation and Youth Ministry for the denomination’s Central Plains Mennonite Conference.

Senior Nicole Litwiller is representing 91����Ƶ at the , a “gathering to imagine an Anabaptist future for Mennonite Church USA.” , affiliate associate professor at 91����Ƶ’s , is facilitating the summit.

Collaborative Mennonite higher ed branding

That “conversation inside my head and my heart” continued this fall semester when Myers became ���ѱ�’s first practitioner-in-residence for six weeks. He brought good humor, a willingness to subject himself to endless questions and cups of coffee, and a wealth of life experience from which to share.

During days filled with classroom observations, talks and more formal lectures, strategic plannings, and informal interactions with faculty, staff and students, not to mention still keeping in touch with his D.C. staff — Myers was a man on the move.

The result was a kind of Mennonite-inspired Chatauqua — a time both personally restorative and intellectually challenging, “as I’d hoped it would be,” Myers said. “���ѱ�’s academic programs at the , the and the offered a kind of intersection with my professional life that I thought would be an interesting mix of learning, conversation and feedback … this has really been one of the wonderful experiences of my life.”

Service and leadership

The Practitioner-In-Residence program was developed by the Provost’s Office.

“We want to provide space and time for experienced practitioners and recognized leaders to reflect on their own work and learn new skills by interacting with our own skilled academics and professionals, but we also want our campus community to engage and benefit from the opportunity to learn from a variety of people in diverse settings,” said Provost Fred Kniss.

Myers was a natural selection for the pilot program: his professional life has been spent at the confluence of faith, service and leadership in a variety of positions, including church ministry and nonprofit leadership. He pastored four Mennonite congregations, worked as a conference youth minister, and served two years in Mennonite voluntary service. He also was a founding board member of a state-wide fatherhood initiative, co-founder of an HIV/AIDS social service organization, and director of three homeless organizations.

Appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009, Myers heads one of 13 centers that liaison between the faith-based and neighborhood organizations and their particular “home” agency: other similar centers reside, for example, with the departments of health and human services, education, labor and justice, among others.

Myers says much of his work is with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), where he and his staff work to improve partnerships between the Department of Homeland Security and faith-based and voluntary organizations, which are often the “first responders” in emergencies.

In a series of exploratory meetings with programs at 91����Ƶ, Myers was especially interested in the work of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, with a special focus on the (STAR) program.

Because his appointment will end with the conclusion of the Obama Administration, Myers says that some of the ideas he came away with may never come to fruition.

“But I am strongly committed to the idea of trauma-informed congregations,” says this former pastor, “whether that takes the shape of a webinar or a training” created and implemented by his office.

Prompted to reflection and discovery

Myers’ interactions on campus ranged from classroom observation (he particularly enjoyed Professor ’s “Biblical Theology of Peace and Justice” class and wanted to stay longer in Professor ’ course on war-to-peace transitions) to a day-long visit to Eastern Mennonite School.

Opportunities for what he calls “mutual exchange” often nudged him towards personal reflection and insight.

To Professor ’s “Leadership for the Common Good” graduate course, Myers brought moral dilemnas from his own career. With undergraduates in a social work practice, he talked about the role of the executive director and board relations, which turned into a conversation on strategic planning and goal setting.

“People are really curious about the government, so I always try to explain a little bit so that it is not quite so much of a mystery and a little less intimidating,” he told the audience during one of two formal lectures. (The titles of these lectures give a glimpse of his sense of humor and the kind of cultural challenges he has encountered in the past several years: “As Out of Place as a Mennonite (Ordained, No Less) in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security” and “Blowing Down Fences, Making Good Neighbors: Interfaith and Intercultural Collaboration in Disasters.”)

By the end of the six weeks, Myers shared his gratitude for the experience and for the opportunity to share and reflect upon not only his profession, but the Mennonite values that have helped to guide him through the challenges of trying to do good work in a political world. “I’ve learned that I will always have a Mennonite way of being in the world, and I’ll take that assuredly and self-consciously into whatever I do next.”

The conference is hosted by the (PJSA), dedicated to bringing together academics, K-12 teachers, and grassroots activists to explore alternatives to violence and share visions and strategies for peacebuilding, social justice and social change.

“PJSA is an important bi-national alliance for peacebuilding research, scholarship, training and activism,” says , executive director of ���ѱ�’s . “It is a great honor that so many CJP and 91����Ƶ faculty, staff and graduates will be featured in prominent conference roles this year, and allows a rare opportunity to highlight our distinctive contributions to the peacebuilding field.”

Those “distinctive contributions” include both conceptual and practical dimensions to the fields of , , , peace and justice studies pedagogy and the pedagogy of practice within the field, experiential education, reflective pedagogy and the arts and peacebuilding.

Catherine Barnes offers keynote address

Dr. Catherine Barnes, affiliate professor at CJP, will share from more than 30 years of experience working with deliberative dialogue processes in places as varied as the UN General Assembly Hall to village gathering places. Her address is titled “Engaging together: exploring deliberative dialogue as a path towards systemic transformation.”

“Deliberative dialogue” is a process that can empower participants to foster collaborative relationships and perceive the underlying mental models that maintain the status quo with the goal of fostering new approaches to complex challenges.

For the past seven years, Barnes has been working in support of transitional processes in Burma/Myanmar. She has worked and lived in more than 30 countries as a teacher, trainer, researcher, policy advocate and consultant with the focus of helping civil society activists, diplomats and politicians, and armed groups to build their capacities for preventing violence and using conflict as an opportunity for addressing the underlying causes giving rise to grievance. Barnes has worked with numerous peacebuilding and human rights organizations, including Conciliation Resources and Minority Rights Group International.

Focusing on education

���ѱ�’s on peace and justice guides its educators, many of whom are sharing their pedagogical practices and discussing ways to educate future peacebuilders in the “educator’s strand,” designed for personal and professional development of K-12 teachers, undergraduate and community educators. Themes include pedagogy, curriculum development, building a culture of peace in your classroom or school, alternative education programs, and restorative practices.

On the undergraduate level, professor , who leads the in the department of applied social sciences, leads a roundtable discussion for faculty and administrators of peace and justice studies programs.

, the with CJP’s , joins professor and graduate students in a session on mentoring student peacebuilders and the importance of those mentors being experienced practitioners themselves.

Restorative practices are highlighted by professors and in a “relational justice” workshop on how mindful teachers can prepare and prime “their best selves” in preparation for inviting students into models of restorative justice. Mullet also joins , professor of education at Bridgewater College, for a workshop on relational literacy in multicultural K-12 classrooms.

Cheree Hammond, professor of counseling, leads educators in a workshop on contemplative pedagogies and the cultivation of a just and peaceful self.

Restorative justice, trauma healing, playback theater featured

The conference offers an opportunity to highlight ���ѱ�’s unique peacebuilding initiatives. The brings together practitioners from 91����Ƶ and JMU, as well as local law enforcement. Collaborators in the initiative will speak: , co-director of the; education professor ; Harrisonburg Police Department lieutenant Kurt Boshart; , restorative justice coordinator at the ; and , director of JMU’s Office of Student Accountability and Restorative Practices.

Another definitive CJP program, (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience), will be introduced in a workshop by professor and program director .

troupe co-founders and lead a workshop on playback theater as qualitative research. Vogel is a professor of theater; Foster instructs in the applied social sciences department and with CJP. The applied theater method invites dialogue and healing through community-building, as audience members share stories and watch as they are “played back” on the stage. Among other settings, Inside Out has performed on campus with college students returning from cross-culturals, among international peacebuilders and in workshops for and research about trauma and sexual abuse survivors.

, professor of applied social sciences, speaks about social capital networks as forms of resistance among battered undocumented Latinas, sharing just one strand of a .

, assistant professor of restorative justice and peacebuilding, leads a discussion on the film “Vision is Our Power,” a film about black youth ending violence in all its forms. The documentary was created by four young filmmakers participating in a multi-year arts and leadership Vision to Peace Project led by Turner; the film debuted in 2008 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

And more…

, professor of English, presents on life narratives and identity issues in the Balkans with his wife Daria, a CJP graduate who teaches in the counseling department at JMU. The two lived and taught in the Balkans.

, professor of philosophy and theology, explores the recent work in philosophy and science on theory of emotion.

, a new faculty member coming to 91����Ƶ next semester after concluding his PhD research at American University, participates several panels, with a diversity of topics including transnational solidarity and police brutality and racism in the contested areas of Palestine and Ferguson, Missouri. Seidel is a board member of PJSA.

Among the alumni presenting: Vesna Hart, Sue Praill and Tom Brenneman join a panel discussion on justice and the nature of human nature. Ted Swartz presents the satire with Tim Ruebke and JMU professor of theater Ingrid DeSanctis.

View the . Registration fees will be covered for attendees from the Shenandoah Valley who are affiliated with or sponsored by Bridgewater College, James Madison University, 91����Ƶ, or Mary Baldwin College. For more information, click .

“Restorative justice is a new concept for Libya,” said Mangoush, who graduated in May with a from 91����Ƶ’s (CJP) and will begin doctoral studies at George Mason University.

In her native Libya, punitive law is much more common. But following the overthrow of long-standing Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi, rule of law has virtually disintegrated and reconciliation efforts have been short-lived and unsuccessful.

Mangoush says restorative justice can provide a foundation for peace. “In integrating restorative principles with customary practices — thereby transforming the relationships that sustain violence — Libya would create the opportunity to move toward peace and stability,” she writes.

Restorative justice helpful in other war-torn countries

Mangoush, who came to Harrisonburg with her two daughters as a Fulbright scholar two years ago, is a USIP country representative in Libya. Before the revolution in 2011, she worked in Libya as a criminal lawyer and enjoyed opportunities not available to many women in Muslim societies.

But opportunity didn’t translate to freedom, she said. Under Gadhafi, militants perpetrated rampant human right violations and violently suppressed political dissidents. She supported the movement to remove him from power. What she didn’t anticipate was that without a strong government to step in, extremists would rush to fill the power void.

Now two warring factions fight for control — both sides have inflicted substantial harm on each other and the Libyan people. “Legalistic and punitive processes will not be enough for Libya to make the transition from war to peace and to address its legacy of violence,” she says. “To do so, the country must also turn to restorative justice and its focus on the needs of victims, offenders, and the community.”

Mangoush’s idea of using restorative justice combined with Libyan customary law is innovative, but not unheard of. A similar plan was used with some success in Somaliland, she said.

In both countries, customary law works like this: traditional leaders who are considered neutral to a conflict are called in to mediate a disagreement. The leaders listen to both sides, gain trust and then suggest a solution. Customary law in Libya, called Solha, is a local concept, which the leaders use to refer to the customary law. The word Solha means “restoration” in the English language; it is an embedded mechanism within the Libyan society to resolve conflict in Libya by which the traditional leaders act as mediators between the victims and the offenders to handle the wrongdoing. One of the significant strengths within the Solha process is the idea of building social capital that promotes alliances and trust between tribes and leaders.

In her report, Mangoush suggests that training native leaders in restorative techniques could provide traditional leaders with the skills they need to provide societal-wide trauma healing.

Second report features interviews with Libyan leaders

Restorative justice is a concept Mangoush encountered at 91����Ƶ, a place where she also learned “how to respect cultural context.” The report — written at the suggestion of her mentor and CJP professor — helped her to “test the ideas I learned [at 91����Ƶ], and inspired by the father of restorative justice creatively find a way to implement them in Libya.”

USIP special reports such as Mangoush’s offer research and practical problem-solving approaches to a wide variety of issues: recent reports covered Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s outreach to Pakistan; the effects of energy shortages in Pakistan; land conflict in Afghanistan; and lessons learned from failed relations between Hamid Karzai and the United States.

A second USIP publication by Mangoush will include interviews with approximately 10 Libyan leaders about the potential of her proposed strategy to heal conflict.

“If Libya is to overcome its legacy of violence and division, and heal the traumas of its recent past, it needs to restore (or in some cases nurture) relationships between individuals, groups, and communities,” she concluded. “Certainly, obstacles to [restorative justice’s] use in Libya are significant,” but the opportunity to combine restorative justice and customary law may be the key to repairing the health of Libyan society.