LOS ANGELES VISIONARY ARTIST AND FUTURIST FABRICE GUERRIER MA ’15 (CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION) has been selected by 91短视频鈥檚 Alumni Association and its Awards and Nomination Committee as the 2025 Alum of the Year for his work as founder and CEO of (pronounced Syll-a-ble), the first collaborative worldbuilding production house for science fiction and fantasy storytelling.听

鈥淏eing selected for this award feels quite unbelievable and affirms my work around collaborative worldbuilding,鈥� said Guerrier, who defines worldbuilding on his website () as 鈥渢he creation of intricate, plausible fictional universes often found in sci-fi, fantasy, and video games.鈥澨�

In collaborative worldbuilding, underrepresented creators from diverse cultures come together to imagine and publish their shared stories. 

A refuge of books

Born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Guerrier immigrated with his family to Coral Springs, Florida, when he was 13. Already fluent in French and Haitian Creole, Guerrier learned English as his third language. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of magic鈥� being Haitian from an Afrocentric world鈥� being from an island鈥� being able to speak multiple languages,鈥� said Guerrier. 

Nevertheless, Guerrier was an exile in a foreign country, forced to flee the 2004 Haitian coup d鈥櫭﹖at. He says while he 鈥渨anted to be an American,鈥� the more he tried to fit in, the more he felt like he was destroying a precious part of himself. 

Guerrier found refuge at Northwest Regional Library, where he worked as a page, volunteered, helped with community programming, and explored everything from manga and comics to encyclopedias and films to nonfiction and sci-fi books. His curiosity sparked Syllble, an idea that was furthered while reading 鈥淏lindness,鈥� an essay in Jorge Luis Borges鈥� 鈥淪even Nights鈥� collection, as a sophomore at Florida State University.听

鈥淚 resonated with how Borges described being in a library as the closest thing to heaven, and how his blindness allowed him to see things in different ways. The impact of his words inspired me to become a writer,鈥� said Guerrier. 

Healing and growth

After graduating from Florida State in 2013 with a bachelor of science degree in international affairs and a leadership studies certificate, Guerrier decided to pursue a master of arts in conflict transformation from 91短视频鈥檚 Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP).听

As a graduate assistant at the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice, he worked with its then-director and CJP professor, Carl Stauffer MA ’02 (conflict transformation), and conducted 鈥渉umbling and eye-opening鈥� field research on the impact of Fambul Tok International in promoting reconciliation in communities after an 11-year civil war in Sierra Leone (West Africa). 

鈥�91短视频 was a place of healing for me,鈥� Guerrier said. 鈥淢y peace studies showed me how personal and interpersonal work affects peace in the world.鈥� 

Guerrier worked with CJP Professor Emeritus Barry Hart MDiv ’78 to explore theories and practices of Strategies for Trauma Awareness & Healing (STAR), and in 2014, he started a chapter of Coming To The Table (), a racial healing and reconciliation organization aimed at Taking America Beyond the Legacy of Enslavement鈥攁 program that began at CJP. Guerrier later served on CTTT鈥檚 board of managers and became its youngest national president.听

Looking to the future

After graduating from 91短视频 in 2015, Guerrier worked on two novels, revising one to the point of exhaustion. 

鈥淚t was probably one of the most painful and loneliest experiences I鈥檝e ever had,鈥� he said. 

Guerrier began researching collaborative writing techniques in Hollywood and beyond, which led him to invite three writers to his home to create a story together. The successful session set Syllble in motion. 

Today, Syllble is enabling marginalized voices across the globe to conceive and tell the stories of their shared universes in order to disrupt modern-day inclinations toward disaster and doom. 

鈥淚magining radically hopeful futures allows us to replace the realities imposed by capitalism and technology and media with something that鈥檚 beautiful, nourishing, warm, and healing,鈥� said Guerrier. 鈥淚t is how we reclaim what it means to be human.鈥�

Guerrier will share his story at 91短视频 TenTalks, held on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 1:30 p.m. in Martin Chapel during Homecoming 2025. For a full schedule of Homecoming events and activities, visit emu.edu/homecoming.

Guerrier, who works in the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C., and Geddes, a community organizing coordinator with (RJOY) in California, are serving as president and vice president, respectively.

鈥淲hat comes to mind, first and foremost, about these two leaders is their youth and enthusiasm and commitment to truth, justice, mercy and peace,鈥� said CTTT Executive Director . 鈥淏oth Jodie and Fabrice bring a wealth of peacebuilding knowledge to this work from their education at CJP, but also life and professional experience.鈥�

Coming To The Table 鈥�provides leadership, resources and a supportive environment for all who wish to acknowledge and heal wounds from racism that is rooted in the United States鈥� history of slavery,鈥� according to their website. In 2016, CTTT held their at 91短视频, bringing together more than 90 people from around the United States.

With growing national attention on the need for racial healing, the organization has 18 groups in seven states and Washington D.C., including a multi-state Mid-Atlantic group. Six new chapters have recently been added.

鈥楿npeeling the layers鈥�

Fabrice Guerrier, a native of Haiti and 2015 graduate of CJP, has been involved with CTTT since hearing board president Phoebe Kilby GC ’04, a white woman, share the story of connecting with her cousin, Betty Kilby Baldwin, an African-American woman descended from slaves owned by Phoebe Kilby鈥檚 family.

Guerrier felt an instant connection to their story: he had grown up trying to understand the political and social legacies of slavery within his Haitian homeland, where former African slaves and free-colored men and women had risen against the French colonial empire in Saint Domingue to create the first independent black nation where all people, of all colors, were granted freedom and full citizenship.

With the knowledge that 鈥渢he legacies of the transatlantic slave trade continue to impact billions of people around the world in many nations,鈥� Guerrier helped found a Shenandoah Valley Local chapter of CTTT in 2014.

When I heard of descendants of the enslaved and enslavers connected through slavery coming together to dialogue around the difficult issues of race and healing and address the legacies of slavery in the United States, it struck me as this revolutionary idea that can truly save the soul of America 鈥� CTTT shows us that as a nation, our futures and our lives are inextricably bonded together. That history and its inter-generational wounds deeply affect the lives of many, whether we choose to recognize it or deny the moral responsibility we each carry set by those who came before us. I truly believe that when people begin to engage in deep dialogue, we start to unpeel the many layers that divide us from each other. This important process calls for moral imagination and a healthy dose of realism.

Guerrier points to CTTT鈥檚 partnership with the Kellogg Foundation鈥檚 as one sign that the growing organization and its members, with work rooted in concepts of trauma awareness and resilience and restorative justice, are contributing to a larger national conversation. [CJP is also a partner. .]

CTTT鈥檚 shared vision for the future includes engaging youth, creating inter-generational spaces and collaborating across churches, colleges and cities. 鈥淲e are at a critical point in America where people are hungry for something different,鈥� Guerrier says. 鈥淚 believe Coming to the Table can be this difference and allow individuals to self-organize, get the leadership and knowledge to engage their communities and begin to heal themselves and their communities.鈥�

Visioning a national transformation process

Geddes says her friendship with Guerrier while both were graduate students had a lot to do with her eventual membership in听 CTTT, but the process wasn鈥檛 as smooth. New to CJP and to the Harrisonburg community, with the death of Tamir Rice weighing heavily, she recalls being alternately led by the call to organize in the community and pulled by 鈥渕y resistance to be in the space with white folks speaking about race.鈥�

Confronting her own resistance is a familiar dynamic for Geddes, who was born in Jamaica and raised in The Bronx, New York, struggling, she says, with 鈥渁 different kind of double-consciousness.鈥�

As a Caribbean American, many things around sent the message that I was different from ‘African Americans.’ As I grew older and my accent began to change, the world of privilege saw me as 鈥榓nother black girl from the hood.’听 My humanity is dependent on serving as a vessel to transform and heal from the wounds of slavery that encourage in some ways a reality of 鈥楴obodyness鈥� as Marc Lamont Hill puts it 鈥� The history of slavery in the United States is deeply connected to the Caribbean. On multiple levels the Caribbean set the roadmap for how American slavery would function and the legacy we have today.

Noting that the work of CTTT is 鈥渃ollective鈥� in nature, Geddes also points out that the leadership role is 鈥渁n opportunity as young people for us to support the expansion of CTTT鈥檚 mission through an intergenerational lens to decolonize language and structures that be.鈥�

She hopes for a broader establishment of CTTT chapters among more youth, on college campuses, in the Midwest and 鈥渁cross the world.鈥�

鈥淚f I am really dreaming big,鈥� says the 2016 graduate, 鈥淚 hope to see a national truth and reconciliation process. Many people can do the work of uncovering history, making connections and telling the truth but transformation requires a different kind of action that dismantles and helps to reshape a new nation.鈥�

She鈥檚 working to make that dream come true: RJOY is led by executive director Fania Davis, a and activist for a national process for racial healing and transformation. [Read more about Davis’s .]

With RJOY and CJP graduate students, Geddes is also involved in the first phase of a project to research and map various truth-telling, racial healing, reparations and/or memorialization initiatives around the country. The goal is to encourage synergy and cross-pollination of these initiatives, as well as publicize their ongoing work.

The context she鈥檇 been immersed in as a graduate student in the with the (CJP) at 91短视频 (91短视频) was very different than the context of the institute at Carlisle Barracks in Pennsylvania.

鈥淭he term 鈥榩eacebuilding,鈥欌�� she said, 鈥渋s used frequently at PKSOI, but primarily to refer to activities done 鈥榩ost-conflict鈥� during 鈥榬econstruction,鈥� not to refer to activities all through the scale of different stages of conflict. This can make it challenging for stakeholders from dissimilar backgrounds to have productive conversations.鈥�

Monitoring semantics was just one of many skills Gehman practiced during what she calls a 鈥渃ultural immersion鈥� in the military environment. With her specific interest being the military-peacebuilding nexus in the Middle East and North Africa, Gehman was matched with a project covering the African Union Mission in Somalia. She worked under the supervision of retired Colonel Dwight Raymond, an expert on the protection of civilians in mass atrocities.

The experience gave her a better knowledge of the multi-dimensional, powerful stakeholders who engage in operations of war and peace: the U.S. military, U.S. government agencies, and multinational coalitions.

鈥淚 now have a basic familiarity with the principles and processes of United Nations peacekeeping, including issues like mandate implementation, force generation, and logistics for troop-contributing countries,鈥� Gehman said.

The CJP Capstone Project

When it came time to choose her practicum experience, Gehman said applying to PKSOI was a good option to pursue her academic and professional interests. She had previously conducted interviews with veterans, participated in a workshop called 鈥�,鈥� and joined veteran and fellow CJP graduate student Michael McAndrew .

Gehman also benefited from CJP鈥檚 connections to the institute. Her advisor, professor, had taken students to visit the institute. Additionally, CJP research professor has been a guest lecturer at the U.S. Army War College.

鈥淥ur faculty have strong connections with peacebuilding organizations around the world,鈥� said program director and professor. 鈥淭his helps our students find placements that fit their particular interests, and build skills and networking contacts.鈥�

Students in CJP鈥檚 practice-oriented graduate program in conflict transformation culminate their coursework in one of three options for a capstone project. The organizational practicum, of which Gehman鈥檚 experience is an example, requires a 2-4 month commitment. A second option is the research-based practicum, which results in production of an article, book, exhibit or other project. A third option allows full-time CJP students to write a thesis. Students must make a presentation to the CJP community about their project.

2015 CJP Capstone Projects

In addition to Gehman (from Morton, Illinois, and a graduate of Wheaton College), the following graduate students presented capstone projects during the 2015 spring semester. All were awarded their degrees during the April 26 commencement ceremony.

Matt Bucher (Harrisonburg, Virginia; Messiah College, 91短视频 MDiv ’15) researched Anabaptist responses to Christian Zionism and sought to find Christian theology that is good news for Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans. Additionally, he worked at the in Harrisonburg, connecting with local church leaders and working to understand where and how ministers have developed their ability and skills for addressing congregational conflict. Project title: Pursuing Good Theology and Best Practices: Christian Zionism, Empowering Church Leaders and Self-Reflection.

听Ray Garman (Ocean City, New Jersey; Haverford College) conducted independent research on the role that meaningful productivity plays in post-traumatic growth. Project title:A Predicament of Being

Fabrice Guerrier (Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Florida State University) worked in the Advocacy Unit of the United Nations Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (). He focused on research and supporting numerous outreach and advocacy strategies essential to OHRLLS’ implementation of its programs of action, as well as mobilizing international support for the most vulnerable countries. Project title: Advocating for Vulnerable Countries in the 21st Century

Tony Harris (Annapolis, Maryland; Goucher College) worked as the global education graduate associate at the . His primary responsibilities included curriculum development and program design/implementation. He was also involved in planning special events and worked on various projects related to organizational development. Through his practicum, Harris also explored explicit and implicit theories of change specific to the organization. Project title: The Global Education-Peacebuilding Nexus: Pedagogies, Programs, and Possibilities

Jacob Kanagy (Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania; Eastern University鈥�) served as a congregational consultant and member of a church governance reference team at a community mediation center. His experience led to exploration of the overlap and complexities of serving in both a secular and religious peacebuilding context as a mediator or facilitator. Project title: The Intersection of a Community Mediation Center,听Congregational Conflict, and a听Church Governance Project

Diane Kellogg (Staunton, Virginia; Geneseo State University) 鈥媍ontributed to the development and implementation of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding鈥檚 (WPLP). Confident that WPLP was making a greater impact in the participants鈥� home communities than most people were aware of, Kellogg explored how that impact could be measured and evaluated. Her video production introduced the program and its participants, and reported on the community-level impact of the women鈥檚 participation. Project title: Evaluation and Promotion of the Women鈥檚 Peacebuilding Leadership Program

听Bridget Mullins (Hudson, Ohio; University of Notre Dame) explored the role of theater in visualizing the roots of conflict and听re-discovering voice, body, self and the other.听In the process, she witnessed communities, both in Harrisonburg and in occupied Palestine, rehearsing the change they want to see in themselves and the world. 听Project title: Beautiful Resistance:听When Words Fail, Art Speaks听

Nate Schlabach (Millersburg, OH., Ohio State University) worked in the , an organization based in Washington, DC, that promotes better relations and understanding among the people and nations of the United States and the Asia-Pacific region. He was involved in writing, researching, and editing several of the center鈥檚 newly released publications on Japan and Australia, and he provided news and analysis for the 鈥淎sia Matters For America鈥� website. Project title: The U.S.-Asia Relationship:听Why It Matters to America

Guerrier was 鈥渟elected from a highly competitive pool of over 400 applicants and representing a diverse mix of national and ethnic backgrounds,鈥� according to a Feb. 20 news release by the sponsoring organization, , an international educational organization headquartered in New York City.

91短视频 is one of 22 academic institutions in the United States and Europe with a selected student; it is likely the smallest among a group that includes Ankara University in Turkey, Harvard, Institut d’茅tudes politiques (Sciences Po Paris), Johns Hopkins, King鈥檚 College in London, Oxford and Princeton.

Selection criteria included 鈥渉igh academic standing, demonstrated experience in international diversity issues, outstanding recommendations and developed research interests,鈥� said the Humanity in Action release.

The 24 fellows will be studying, consulting and doing research together in three cities 鈥� Washington, Berlin and Paris 鈥� with a focus on exploring 鈥渢he different diplomatic approaches of each country, specifically on issues of diversity, democracy and pluralism,鈥� said Anthony Chase, Humanity in Action鈥檚 Director of Programs.

Multiple sessions in Washington D.C. will be hosted at the , according to the news release. Toward the conclusion of their fellowship, the group is expected to wrap up research on a subject relating to global diversity for publication by Humanity in Action.

At 91短视频, Guerrier has been a graduate research assistant at the , which led him to do site research on the impact of in promoting reconciliation in postwar communities in Sierra Leone.

In a Guerrier reflected on his time in Sierra Leone, pondering its recovery from an 11-year civil war, with these words (excerpted):

“With their machetes, the child soldiers ripped open the stomach of pregnant women to see who would win the game in guessing the gender of the unborn baby.鈥� This was a story I heard this summer, when I travelled for the first time in Africa to Sierra Leone to undertake a field research project exploring issues of justice. My question was, 鈥淗ow do we even begin to satisfy the justice needs of people after mass atrocities, genocide, and gross human rights violations?鈥�

I worked with Fambul Tok International, an NGO that was formed after the war to address community reconciliation through community-led peacebuilding efforts, including truth-telling ceremonies rooted in indigenous traditions.

As we drove through the dirt and rocky roads to access remote villages, the trembles of the car shook away my sense of worry as it reawakened childhood memories from my native country Haiti. It has been 300 years since my ancestors were uprooted around the same area in West Africa and brought to Haiti on slave ships. I said to myself, 鈥淚鈥檓 happy to be back after so long鈥�.

Through the focus group interviews I conducted, I was able to enter a sacred space within the Sierra Leonean culture鈥� A woman told how the rebels had burned down her house, killed her husband and daughter, and stole all her cattle. She recognized the perpetrator as her neighbor, and had known him since he was a child. Even though there was a lot of pain and sorrow, she understood that since he lived in the community, neither she nor the community could move forward without reconciling with the person who had caused this harm.

I was shocked at how many people were willing to forgive. They said that healing the wounds of their society and village could not take place without it. They believed that it was an essential element to stop the cycles of violence. I was shocked because I expected to hear a more punitive, western approach to justice in which prisons are always the solution and the perpetrator is removed from the community.

As typical of Guerrier鈥檚 reflective approach to peacebuilding, he wrote that being in Sierra Leone was humbling and eye-opening. 鈥淗aving observed the experiences of the people of Sierra Leone and their ability to overcome the horrors of the war through their wealth in values, I am no longer bogged down by the trivial things in my life when something goes wrong,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 live more lightly.鈥�

Guerrier is also a board member of an 91短视频-affiliated organization, , an organization that works across the United States to address the legacies of slavery.

Yet Muhammad Afdillah鈥攁 visiting scholar with 91短视频鈥檚 鈥攃hose this moment, just a week before he returned to his home in Indonesia, to begin to heal himself. He recounted a story involving physical and psychological injury.

Then he watched as Inside Out, 91短视频鈥檚 resident troupe, improvised a tense narrative of violence, friendship, loss, physical and emotional scarring, and finally, hope of reconciliation. Afdillah wasn鈥檛 the only watcher who had wet eyes by the end.

Empathy from the audience

It may have helped that other storytellers had shared before鈥攕ome with halting speech and others interspersing laughter with words鈥攐f surviving cancer, of stitching a wedding dress for a beloved stepdaughter, of making friends and enduring goodbyes.

It may have helped that he knew some of the actors鈥� all 91短视频 students, faculty or graduates鈥攁nd even some of the audience, most of whom were participating in the or the training.

鈥淭hat might have helped,鈥� Afdillah said later. 鈥淏ut it was for me. It was the right time. I was trembling, but my heart was telling me this.鈥�

Though Inside Out has 鈥減layed back鈥� stories from a variety of audiences, including sexual abuse survivors and college students recently returned from cross-cultural experiences, the May 21 event was the first time the troupe hosted a storytelling session for this particular group.

Playback theater helps its participants understand and reflect upon their experiences, says 91短视频 professor , who co-founded Inside Out in 2011. 鈥淭hat simple act of sharing stories and seeing them played back, seeing it out there, allows processing. It is harder to work for healing when it鈥檚 all in your head. In addition, there鈥檚 a tremendous connection between people in the audience who see that story and have a similar experience to share.鈥�

A “conductor” facilitates the process

Making those connections is the role of an actor called the conductor, who facilitates the storytelling of a volunteer audience member, gathers more information through questions, and then helps to 鈥渟hape鈥� the story before turning it over to the actors with the invitation, 鈥淟et鈥檚 watch.鈥�

At this event, Bridget Mullins was the conductor, and the actors included fellow CJP students Fabrice Guerrier and Matt Carlson; 91短视频 alumni Liz Gannaway, Brandon Waggy, and Tonya Osinkosky; and troupe co-founder . Vogel, who also participated, said most of the actors had participated in STAR training or were familiar with concepts related to trauma awareness, resilience, and peacebuilding.

鈥淭his is applied theater,鈥� Vogel said, 鈥渘ot theater for entertainment. It鈥檚 theater for social justice and understanding. A lot of people don鈥檛 understand playback theater until they attend a storytelling session, and when they see it, they realize the big possibilities.鈥�

Afdillah had no idea of its life-changing potential when he was invited by a fellow SPI participant to attend the performance. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 really like theater,鈥� he said with a laugh later.

A faculty member at in Indonesia, Afdillah researches and lectures on socio-religious conflict and politics. He collects data, supervises graduate students, collaborates with other peacebuilders and policy-makers, and admits that, like many others in his field, he rarely takes the time for himself.

For the last six months on campus, during spring semester classes and courses at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute, Afdillah began to 鈥渕editate and think about my life,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n my work, I tell people to deal with their trauma, to let it go. But I have my own trauma, my own problems. At the end, watching the story was almost the same as what I experienced, the tragedy. I feel the pain. I don鈥檛 know how this story ends, but this is starting to be ready for an ending.鈥�

Seven-day course offered through SPI

The potential for healing dialogue through playback theater will be highlighted in a seven-day SPI course, 鈥�,鈥� from June 5-13. The course will be taught by two pioneers of playback theater, Jo Salas and Ben Rivers.

This is not the first time applied theater for this purpose has been taught at SPI: Rivers attended in 2011 to take courses and facilitate informal workshops and in 2012, Armand Volkas, a playback theater and dramatherapy practitioner from California, led a course.

“Many people, including Ben Rivers, have used playback theater in communities that have experienced violence and trauma,鈥� said , Center for Justice and Peacebuilding program director. 鈥淪PI provides a space for people to learn these techniques for working with communities and a place for practitioners to reflect on what works and what does not work when using applied theater tools in conflict situations.”

Farshid Hakimyar, a CJP graduate, is enrolled in the upcoming course. He plans to explore the potential of playback theater for his work in his native Afghanistan. Telling a story to the Inside Out troupe was his first personal experience with the technique.

鈥淚 told a story of hearing a traumatic story about domestic violence, and in hearing it, I experienced secondary trauma,鈥� Hakimyar said. 鈥淚 could not breathe, I could not think, I went from sharing with my friends about music and light and the good of humanity, to hearing this story of this father losing his child in this horrible way.鈥�

On stage that night, three actors portrayed the trajectory of Hakimyar鈥檚 emotions as he struggled to understand 鈥渢he lightness and darkness inside each of us.鈥�

“To feel such relief”

鈥淚t was a really powerful experience to watch this and to feel such relief,鈥� Hakimyar said. 鈥淧layback theater and generally arts play a key role in any efforts. I think it can engage more people in how they can express their feelings in peaceful and non-violent ways about corruption, lack of transparency, and their government, and how they dream for the future.鈥�

Docherty says SPI is committed to the continued exploration of applied theater tools like playback theater to situations of conflict, violence and trauma.

鈥淲e see this as a growing focus of our program,鈥� she said, adding that at least one course in theater and one in media is planned at SPI in 2015.