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To receive relevant announcements about the Psychology
of Peace and Violence Program as well as other
pertinent information about related topics through our Conflict,
Violence and Peace listserv (cvp-l), click announcement list .
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NCTDR Transatlantic Symposium and Events Series, Murals and Peacemaking "The Art of Conflict Transformation in the North of Ireland/Northern Ireland"
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The National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution, with partners at UMASS Amherst and in Belfast, is offering a Transatlantic Symposium and Events Series at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2009-2010. The first set of events took place March-May, 2009 and included virtual and in-person class visits, panel discussions on the relationship between truth recovery, reconciliation, and public space with renowned academics and artists, and cross community mural painting.
On April 30th, 2009 there were panel presentations on "Conflict Transformation, Narration, and Public Space." Drs. Patricia Lundy (U. of Ulster) and Mark McGovern (Edge Hill U.), experts in truth recovery and transitional justice in post conflict societies, spoke on challenges to reaching shared understandings through state-run and community-designed initiatives; interrogating the dominance of a legal paradigm in current policy and practice for dealing with the past.
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Image: Danny Devenny (left) and Mark Ervine Photo
Permission: Mal McCann |
In Spring 2010, Muralists Danny Devenny, former Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoner, and Mark Ervine, son of David Ervine, former Progressive Unionist Party leader and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member both of Belfast in the north of Ireland/Northern Ireland will work with UMASS community members to create a massive mural for the campus. They will also guest speak in UMASS classes and give a public lecture on their separate careers in mural work during The Troubles as well as explore their recent joint productions as part of reconciliation efforts across communities.
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After unveiling their new UMASS mural, Devenny and Ervine will travel to Washington DC to unveil their mural, "Painting from the Same Palette" and return to work with youth to paint a mural in Springfield, Massachusetts.
For more details about the this series please contact Leah Wing (lwing@legal.umass.edu)
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Training Workshop on Mediation in Intercultural Contexts (March 20, 2009 & March 21, 2009)
The Psychology of Peace and Violence Program hosted a two-day
training workshop on “Mediation in Intercultural Contexts” given by Mariska Kappmeier (University of Hamburg, Germany and Visiting Researcher at
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA).
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Summary: Interpersonal conflicts can be based upon differences in interests as well as in cultural differences based on the cognitions,emotions, behaviors and values of the parties involved. Which tools can be most effective in mediating these kinds of conflict? The training examines different kinds of conflicts (two person conflicts and conflicts between groups) and different mediation tools that may be used to mediate such conflicts. Tools and strategies will be practiced using small group exercises.
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The University of Massachusetts Amherst hosted a discussion on the challenges and progress in post-apartheid South Africa on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008.
Fifty Years of Change and New Problems
Thomas F. Pettigrew, Emeritus Research Professor of Social Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Pettigrew has been at the forefront of research on race relations during the last half century and has worked with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1966-1971) and National Task Force on Desegregation (1977-1979). He first conducted studies of South Africans’ racial attitudes in 1956, after which he was banned from the country and only invited to return in 2006.
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Inequality and Distributive Conflict in Post-Apartheid South Africa
James Heintz, Associate Research Professor and Associate Director, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Heintz worked as an economist at the National Labour and Economic Development Institute in Johannesburg (1996-1998), a policy think tank affiliated with the South African labor movement. He has also consulted for employment-oriented projects in Ghana and South Africa, sponsored by the International Labor Organization and the United Nations Development Program.
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Developing a Human Rights Culture in South Africa
Jeremy Sarkin, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law, Hofstra University.
As Senior Professor of Law at the University of the Western Cape (1990-2008), Sarkin served as the National Chairperson of the NGO Human Rights Committee of South Africa (1994-1998) and was Director of the organization's advocacy project. He has published 12 books and over 100 journal articles and book chapters in the areas of human rights and transitional justice.
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Rainbow Nationalism? Race, Reconciliation and Transitional Justice in South Africa
Graeme Simpson, Director of Thematic Programs, International Center for Transitional Justice.
Simpson was Executive Director of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in Johannesburg (1995-2005). He worked to transform criminal justice institutions in South Africa and draft the National Crime Prevention Strategy adopted by the South African Cabinet in 1996. He currently directs programs on prosecutions, reparations, truth-seeking, and peace and justice.
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Photo: Melissa Wooten, Ph.D., Sociology, UMass
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Photo: Nick Joyce, Peace & Violence Psychology, UMass
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Painting from the Same Palette
On Monday, April 28, 2008 at
6:00 p.m. at the UMass Campus Center, an
historic event took place with the unveiling of a mural from Belfast,
Northern Ireland/North of Ireland, commemorating the
tenth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Recently completed, this
mural was painted by two artists whose communities were previously at
war: Danny Devenny, former Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoner, and
Mark Ervine, son of David Ervine, former Progressive Unionist Party
leader and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member. |
This unique step comes on the
heels of the historic powersharing in government that began in May
2007, after nine years of struggle to implement the Good Friday
Agreement.
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U.S. Congressman Richard Neal
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Mural Painting from the same Palette |
U.S. Congressman Richard Neal
spoke as part of the program and the two muralists, Devenny and Ervine,
took part in the event via webcast. Neal serves as the Chairman of the
Friends of Ireland and has been recognized repeatedly by Irish America
Magazine as one of the Top 100 Irish Americans. He has been honored by
the Holyoke, Massachusetts Saint Patrick's Day Committee with both the
John F. Kennedy Award and the Ambassador's Award, the Committee's two
highest honors. In 2002, Neal received the International Leadership
Award by the American Ireland Fund for his work over two decades to
bring peace and reconciliation to the island of Ireland. He also has
been honored by the governments of Ireland, Israel and Italy.
About creating the murals,
artist Danny Devenny says, “During the war murals told the story of
injustices we experienced. Now they show hope for the future.” Mark
Ervine points out that there have been more than 1,000 murals in
Belfast, which constantly change to reflect the communities’ concerns
about the conflict. “Now hopefully this is the beginning of ones that
will reflect the peace,” Mark states.
This event was co-sponsored
by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Psychology of Peace and Violence
Program, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Graduate School, along with The National Center
for Technology and Dispute Resolution, Department of Legal Studies,
Electronic Enterprise Institute, and Social Justice Mediation Institute.
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Attendees at the Mural Unveiling |
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Interdisciplinary Conference: Landscapes of
Violence: Conflict and Trauma Through Time
The University of
Massachusetts Amherst hosted this two-day conference, Thursday, April
3, 2008 & Friday, April 4, 2008. The events featured experts and
academics from the U.S., Mexico, and Northern Ireland.
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The Conference offered an interdisciplinary
inquiry of theoretical and empirical issues around the study of
violence, warfare, conflict, and human rights around the world. It
explored the current and future potential of academe to address human
rights issues, provide essential services to local, national and
international governments, and broadened the dialogue between academic
disciplines.
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Above: Wenona
Rymond-Richmond, Department of Sociology, Unversity of Massachusetts
Amherst; Right:: Conference Attendees
The conference sought to
heighten the civic and community engagement practiced by many UMass
Amherst faculty members by extending the concept of scholarship and
highlighting how faculty research and student learning can engage
communities beyond the campus.
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Among the scholars
who spoke at the conference are: George Armelagos from Emory
University; James F. Brooks, president of the School for Advanced
Research on the Human Experience in New Mexico; Ed Cairns, University
of Ulster in Northern Ireland; Davíd Carrasco and Herbert Kelman
from Harvard University; Nancy Scheper-Hughes from the University
of California, Berkeley; J. Andrew Darling, Cultural Resource
Management Program for the Gila River Indian Community; Peter
Jiménez of the Instituto Nacional de Anthropología e
Historia in Mexico, and Debra Martin of the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas.
Click here for to see the Conference Program. (.pdf)
This two-day conference was
organized by the UMass Department of Anthropology and the Psychology of
Peace and Violence Program in the Department of Psychology.
Sponsors included the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the
Graduate School, Commonwealth College, and the Office for Research.
Click here to see more photos
from this event. ((Page 1)) - (Page 2) - (Page 3)
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Image: middlebury.edu/campuslife/diversity/self_described/wyatt/ |
Peace Theory in a Time of War: The Mician Program in Ancient China
On Thursday, March 27, 2008, the Psychology of Peace and Violence Program co-sponsored with the Warring States Project, a Kennedy Memorial Lecture, Professor Don J Wyatt, Peace Theory in a Time of War: The Mician Program in Ancient China.
The highly organized Mician Movement flourished in the 3rd and 4th centuries BC, the height of China's Golden Age of thought, in systematic opposition to the main trends of Chinese philosophic thought and state policy.
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Mician opposition to war was both theoretical and practical; in addition to writing ethical tracts, they were the trainers of many traveling persuaders who argued against war before the rulers of the day, and they were also mobilizers of city defense, working to stop the progress of war on the battlefield. Their experience in all these areas is preserved in a unique body of ethical, logical, and defensive military writings which survive to this day. After centuries of neglect, they are just beginning to be studied by historians of Chinese thought.
Don J. Wyatt received his PhD from Harvard in 1984, and has taught at Middlebury since 1986. He has written or edited several books, among them Political Frontiers, Ethnic Boundaries, and Human Geographies in Chinese History (Routledge 2003) and Battlefronts Real and Imagined: War, Border, and Identity in the Chinese Middle Period (Palgrave 2008). He has contributed to such reference sources as the International Dictionary of Intellectual Historians (2007), the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2ed 2006), and the RoutledgeCurzon Encyclopedia of Confucianism (2003). He has been a Trustee of the Phi Beta Kappa Foundation from 2002-2007, and has been listed in Who's Who in America (since 2001) and in Who's Who in the World (since 2000).
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2006 Conference: Preventing Violent
Intergroup Conflict
Above: Dr. Staub,
Dr. Tropp, and Dr. Ilana Shapiro at the May 2006 Conference: Preventing
Violent Intergroup Conflict) |
On May 5th and 6th
2006, the Psychology of Peace and Violence Program hosted a two-day conference. The event
brought together four well-known psychologists for in-depth talks and discussions.
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Faculty and students from the Psychology of Peace and Violence Program were in attendance, along with guests from UMass and the Five College Community. A public panel on Preventing Violent Intergroup Conflict was held on the afternoon of May 6th 2006. The speakers and topics included:
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- Dr. Albert Bandura,
Stanford University, “Moral Disengagement in the Perpetration of
Inhumanities"
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- Dr. Roy Baumeister,
Florida State University, “Causes of Evil: Implications for
Reducing Intergroup Violence”
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- Dr. Barbara Harff, U.S.
Naval Academy, “Explaining and Preventing Genocide and Political
Mass Murder"
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- Dr. Thomas Pettigrew,
University of California Santa Cruz, "Are Population Ratios
& Prejudice Relevant for Understanding Genocide?"
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In addition, Dr. Ervin Staub began the public panel with a
talk entitled, "Prevention and Reconciliation: Evolution of
Violence, Bystander Actions, Humanizing the Other, Healing, Justice and
Shared History". The conference and public panel were held
in honor of Dr. Staub, as the founding Director of the Program. It was
followed on the evening of May 6th by a dinner honoring his
accomplishments.
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2005 Psychology of Peace and Violence Program Conference
On April 29th and 30th 2005, the Psychology
of Peace and Violence Program hosted a
conference in the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Psychology department. The event brought
together four well-known psychologists for in-depth discussions.
The speakers and topics included:
- Dr. Dean Pruitt: Intergroup
escalation and its remedies
- Dr. Dr. Mike Wessells: Young people's
engagement in political violence as child soldiers and in terrorism
- Dr. Miles Hewstone: Intergroup
forgiveness and reconciliation in Northern Ireland and elsewhere
- Dr. Vamik Volkan: Large
group identity and regression
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2005 Inaugural Lecture: Dr. Robert Jay
Lifton
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Dr Robert J. Lifton, author and expert on violence and genocide, presented a lecture and discussion: “Psychology, War and Peace: America’s Struggles with Violence."
This was an inaugural event for a new Ph.D. Program in the Psychology
of Peace and Violence Program at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Chancellor John V. Lombardi and Dr. Ervin Staub, professor of psychology and director of the Program, will also gave brief remarks.
Dr. Lifton, a lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, is the author of more than 20 books on subjects ranging from cults and mind control to the death penalty and atrocities committed by Nazi doctors. His book, “Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima,” won the National Book Award in 1969. Lifton’s most recent book is “Superpower Syndrome: America's Apocalyptic Confrontation with the World.” |
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