Category Archives: Presentations

Peace of Mind Conference – Keynote Activity

Posted on January 27, 2024 | Leave a comment

On Saturday, January 27th I delivered the keynote activity at the annual conference for the organization, Peace of Mind. It was a real joy and privilege to spend a morning with all the attendees – amazing educators bringing peace education, mindfulness, and social justice work into their classrooms.

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Interview for 30 Years of Nonviolence International – Exploring Abstract Concepts through Storytelling

Posted on February 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

In this clip, I talk about storytelling as a means of approaching teaching and building peace. I argue that using storytelling to teach something that seems abstract and theoretical can make the information more compelling and accessible. I talk about about helping people to tell their stories, and how to explore many different concepts through storytelling and connection.

Click here to watch the full interview.

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Dialogue and Reconciliation in Nonviolent Action

Posted on January 19, 2018 | Leave a comment

Citizens around the world are using nonviolent action to push for social change. The recent anti-government protests in Iran are just one example, as are movements for peaceful and fair elections in Kenya and Honduras. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others refined and implemented these nonviolent strategies and tactics during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, and they can be combined with peacebuilding approaches to transform violent conflict abroad.

To commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the U.S. Institute of Peace is hosting a series of expert panels on Facebook focused on this combination of peacebuilding and nonviolent action.

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Using Negotiation in Nonviolent Action

Posted on January 19, 2018 | Leave a comment

Citizens around the world are using nonviolent action to push for social change. The recent anti-government protests in Iran are just one example, as are movements for peaceful and fair elections in Kenya and Honduras. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others refined and implemented these nonviolent strategies and tactics during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, and they can be combined with peacebuilding approaches to transform violent conflict abroad.

To commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the U.S. Institute of Peace is hosting a series of expert panels on Facebook focused on this combination of peacebuilding and nonviolent action.

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2017 Peace and Justice Studies Association Conference

Posted on October 30, 2017 | Leave a comment

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Always right to teach | A child about brave children | And their love power

From October 25 – 28, my daughter, Kaiya and I were in Birmingham, AL for the 2017 Peace and Justice Studies Association Conference.

This was the third peace and justice related conference she and I attended this year, and just as in the past, it was a special and remarkable experience.

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2017 Gandhi-King Conference with Kaiya

Posted on April 6, 2017 | Leave a comment

This year I returned to the wonderful city of Memphis, TN to attend and facilitate a workshop at the Gandhi-King Conference. This was my sixth time attending the conference and this year the experience was that much more special because I got to share it with my (just turned) five-year old daughter, Kaiya.

There are a number of reasons why I love this conference, which happens every year and always takes place in Memphis. This year I facilitated a workshop, “Podcasting for Peace” during which I and the participants co-created an episode of the Peace Frequency – a podcast series I host and produce at the United States Institute of Peace. The series taps into the stories of people across the globe who are making peace possible and finding ways to create a world free of violent conflict. Through the co-creation process, participants learned about how the podcast series came to be and some of the ways in which I structure the episodes and facilitate conversation with guests. That was the main reason I came to Memphis, but the day to day experience is worth documenting.

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Martin Luther King Jr.’s Path to Peace

Posted on April 8, 2016 | Leave a comment

The following description is from the United States Institute of Peace:

Dr. Martin Luther King’s Path to Peace: Reclaiming and Renewing Nonviolent Responses to ‘Globalized Crises’

Violence from global conflict is on a steady rise. War, oppression and other miseries have uprooted 60 million people, the greatest human displacement ever recorded. Foreign policy debates include calls for solving these problems with military action or other force. Dr. Martin Luther King believed that only nonviolent action can ultimately build peace and justice. But how?

On April 4, the somber anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination, join a USIP forum on ways to reclaim and re-frame nonviolent action against 21st-century global conflicts, extremisms, and injustices that fuel them. Researchers and activists will discuss their recent or forthcoming books on nonviolent action and join an audience-wide conversation and poll.

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Music Plays Crucial Role in Nonviolent Civic Movements

Posted on October 16, 2014 | Leave a comment

This is another post about the Music of Nonviolent Action event that I helped organize and facilitate back in June of this year.

This post was written by Viola Granger and originally appeared on the United States Institute of Peace’s Olive Branch blog.

In Libya’s 2011 uprising, protesters pumped loud music from radios or CD players in the streets in front of government buildings, then fled from the inevitable rush of security forces. The nonviolent early days of Egypt’s revolution that same year spawned a raft of new independent music groups. In Turkey, the “Song of Pots and Pans” exhorts political leaders to stop their lies and repressive tactics.

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Summer Institute for Teaching Peace

Posted on June 18, 2014 | Leave a comment

summer institute teaching peace news icon_0This week I have the privilege of attending and presenting at Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies’ Summer Institute for Teaching Peace in the 21st Century. This institute brings together college and university educators from various disciplines to Notre Dame for the week to learn about, strategize, develop a plan for how to create or enhance peace studies programs at their schools. This year’s institute brings together educators from several African universities as well, from Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

On Thursday, I will be facilitating two sessions that introduce the participants to USIP’s catalog of online courses and to help them think of ways to integrate these courses into their budding programs.

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Rhythms at the Intersection of Peace and Conflict: The Music of Nonviolent Action

Posted on June 14, 2014 | Leave a comment

This past Tuesday, USIP and the Conflict Prevention & Resolution Forum co-hosted and event at USIP presenting an exciting new movie followed by a panel discussion on the intersection between music and nonviolent civic action.

My USIP colleague, Maria Stephan, and my Freedom Beat partner, Timothy O’Keefe envisioned  this event and over the course of several weeks we worked with our friends and USIP and with the CPRF to organize a great event that brought in over 75 people to USIP to explore an exciting topic in a creative way.

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