The Kroc Cast: Peace Studies Conversations

Peace Policy Spotlight: Women and Peacebuilding

In this episode, Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peace Studies, and one of the guest editors of the most recent issue of Peace Policy focused on the particular role of women in global peacebuilding efforts, talks with authors of all the pieces in this issue.

Guests include Peace Policy co-editor, Ruth Carmi, current Ph.D. student in peace studies and sociology; Linda Quiquivix, a popular educator of Mayan roots who saves seeds, loves books, and makes art; Sarah Ihmoud, assistant professor of peace and conflict studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts; and Katherine Marshall, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.

Read all articles in this issue at peacepolicy.nd.edu.

A Conversation with Co-Editors of Wicked Problems: The Ethics of Action for Peace, Rights, and Justice

In this episode, co-editors Associate Professor Ernesto Verdeja, Douglas Irvin-Erickson, Assistant Professor at George Mason University, and Austin Choi Fitzpatrick, University Professor, at the University of San Diego discuss their new book, Wicked Problems: The Ethics of Action for Peace, Rights, and Justice.

"Wicked Problems" argues that the field of peacebuilding and conflict transformation needs a stronger and more practical sense of its ethical obligations. Contributors in this book examine the trade-offs, dilemmas, and compromises they encounter in their daily work with peacebuilding and justice.

To learn more and purchase a copy of the book, go to go.nd.edu/WickedProblemsPod and use code "ASFLYQ6" for 30% off your purchase.

Peace Policy Spotlight: Youth Leading Peacebuilding Efforts in Indianapolis

This is one of three episodes dedicated to conversations with the authors of recent Peace Policy articles focusing on the importance of including youth in peacebuilding efforts throughout the U.S. and around the world. Cat Bolten, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute, is the guest editor for this issue of Peace Policy.

This episode features a conversation between Siobhán McEvoy-Levy, Professor of Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies at Butler University and Director of the Desmond Tutu Peace Lab, and her co-authors, Cambria C. Khayat, a senior undergraduate student at Butler University, and Julio Trujillo, a first year Children’s Law Fellow at Loyola Law School, Chicago, and a 2021 graduate of Butler University.

Read all articles at peacepolicy.nd.edu. 

Peace Policy Spotlight: A Case for Focusing on Youth in Peacebuilding Efforts

This is one of three episodes dedicated to conversations with the authors of recent Peace Policy articles focusing on the importance of including youth in peacebuilding efforts throughout the U.S. and around the world. Cat Bolten, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute, is the guest editor for this issue of Peace Policy.

In this episode, Cat Bolten interviews Prashan de Visser, author of one of this issue's articles and founder of Global Unites, an organization that aims to inspire, connect and equip youth to transform global societies through movements promoting nonviolence and reconciliation. 

Read all the articles in this month's issue at peacepolicy.nd.edu. 

A Conversation with Min. Wais Barmak on the Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan

In today's episode, Lisa Schirch, the Richard G. Starmann, Sr. Professor of the Practice in Peace Studies, and Ray Offenheiser, the Director of the Pulte Institute for Global Development, former Afghan Minister of Interior Affairs Mr. Wais Barmak. Mr. Barmak has served in multiple cabinet level roles including Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development and Minister of Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan.

This episode is convened by the Afghan Peace and Development Research Program, a joint program of the Kroc and Pulte Institutes.

The Current Crisis Facing Afghan Women

Malalai Habibi, 2019 Peace Studies alum and Program Officer at the International Civil Society Action Network, hosts a conversation on the realities on the ground for Afghan women after the takeover by the Taliban. Guests include Wazhma Frogh, Founder of the Afghan Women and Peace Studies Organization (WPSO) and Heather Barr, Associate Director of the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch.

 

This is the second in a series of podcasts exploring the situation in Afghanistan following the events of August 2021. For more information on the Kroc Institute's Afghan Peace and Development Research Program, visit kroc.nd.edu/afghanistan.

Nuclear Politics and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Erin Corcoran, executive director at the Kroc Institute and associate teaching professor at the Keough School of Global Affairs, talks with three Kroc Institute-connected analysts about an in-depth look at the nuclear concerns within the current conflict arising from the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday, February 23. Guests include George Lopez, the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies; Gerard Powers, Director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies and Coordinator of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network and its Project on Revitalizing Catholic Engagement on Nuclear Disarmament; and Monica Montgomery, a 2019 Notre Dame peace studies alum who is now working as Research Analyst at the D.C.-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

This episode was recorded at 1 p.m. EST on Monday, February 28. For more resources from the Kroc Institute on the war in Ukraine, visit kroc.nd.edu/ukraine. 

 

Peace Policy Spotlight: Catholic Peacebuilding and Mining

David Cortright, Professor Emeritus of the Practice at the Kroc Institute and Editor of the Kroc Institute’s Peace Policy publication sits down to talk with authors from the latest issue. This issue features reflections drawn from the new book, Catholic Peacebuilding and Mining: Integral Peace, Development, and Ecology published by Routledge in January.

Guests include one of the co-editors of the book and the Assistant Director of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, Caesar Montevecchio; Father Rigobert Minani, S.J., head of research for the Peace, Human Rights, Democracy, and Good Governance Department at the Centre d’Etude Pour l’Action Sociale in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and team leader for the Ecclesial Network of the Congo Basin Forest; and Katherine Marshall, Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, and Executive Director of the World Faiths Development Dialogue.

You can read all articles from this issue at peacepolicy.nd.edu.

Three Kroc Institute Alums on Environmental Peacebuilding

Jen Betz, Assistant Director of the International Peace Studies Concentration, Master of Global Affairs degree program at the Kroc Institute, talks with three alumni who are working at the intersection of the environment and peace studies. Guests include Raul F. Campusano (M.A. '89) Academic Director for the Master’s in Environmental Law at the Universidad del Desarrollo in Chile; Katie Conlon (MA '14), National Geographic Explorer leading an expedition and research project on plastic reduction and plastic pollution awareness in the Himalayas; and Valerie Hickey (M.A. '00), Practice Manager for Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy at The World Bank.

Additional resources mentioned during the conversation include:

• Environmental Peacebuilding Association
• Waste Not, Want Not report on waste externalities in the Humanitarian sector
• To follow along with Katie Conlon's work, follow her on LinkedIn and Instagram (@ecoseva1)

What’s Happening with Afghan Women: An Inside Look

Kroc Institute alumna Malalai Habibi (MGA '19), Program Officer at the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN), talks with Mahbouba Seraj, Executive Director of Afghan Women Skills Development Center who is joining us from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini, Founder and Executive Director of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) and director of the London School of Economics Center for Women, Peace and Security, for a conversation about the current situation on the ground in Afghanistan.

They focus in particular on the impact on Afghan women of the U.S. withdrawal and the country's subsequent return to Taliban control in summer 2021.