The main conference building is the Hesburgh Center for International Studies (HC). Additional sessions and meals will take place in Jenkins Nanovic Halls (JN), which is immediately next door (to the south) of the Hesburgh Center.
In the Hesburgh Center, sessions will take place in the Auditorium, C103, and the Great Hall. In Jenkins Nanovic Halls, meals will take place in the Forum (the main atrium, down the hall and to the left) and sessions will take place in 1050, which is adjacent to the Forum.
8:00 am – 9:00 am
Continental Breakfast (JN Forum)
9:00 am – 9:45 am
Session 11. Lightning Talks (HC Auditorium)
“State-Victim-Branding at the United Nations: When Human Rights Claims Obstruct Peace”
Lucia Fishel – American University
From the cooptation of human rights vocabularies to the transformation of United Nations fora into sites of illiberal state alliances, a central obstacle to contemporary peace and justice initiatives is the use and abuse of victimhood politics. This presentation invokes the emergent concept of state victim branding to capture how states deploy strategic identity narratives of collective victimhood to deflect human rights criticism and obscure domestic democratic contestation. Drawing on a comparative discourse analysis of Iran and Israel at the United Nations between 2021 and 2025, I show how state victim branding reframes internal democracy movements and external human rights challenges as existential popular threats to activated religious and ethnic identity groups. In Iran, state victim branding positions the Islamic Republic as the target of Western (neo)colonial and Islamophobic aggression; in Israel, state victim branding links the Jewish state to historical and contemporary antisemitic violence. Democratic contestation against repressive Iranian state policies or against the erosion of Israel’s judiciary is cast as collusion with hostile global forces–a state victimhood claim, speaking unilaterally for constituents, that dilutes or contradicts human rights scrutiny. Unless modern peacebuilders intervene, state monopolies over political victimhood risk enmeshing justice aims in reactionary politics instead of local democratic foundations.
“From Margins to Monuments: Rethinking Peace through Intersectional Inclusion in Former Yugoslavia”
Reagan Suchevits – Pace University
Memory work is an important peacebuilding tool, one that moves away from institutions and towards symbolic environments. Current memorials of the Yugoslav wars function as contested sites where narratives of suffering, identity, and justice are negotiated. Dominant approaches to peacebuilding in the region remain limited: survivors with layered harms are marginalized, patriarchal and ethnonationalist divisions are reproduced, and women are excluded. The remembrance of survivors is unevenly shaped by these hierarchies, raising questions about how intersectionality can shift patterns of memorialization toward women who endured sexual violence during conflict. Through the lenses of conflict transformation and reconciliation, my project analyzes violence, identity, and memory. It asks how intersectionality helps to understand how gender and ethnic identities shape memorialization patterns for women who experienced wartime sexual violence in Yugoslavia. Through their visibility, memorials shape peace. Analyzing the persisting denial of structural violence reveals conditions that suppressed women’s participation in peacebuilding, and my research links these concepts to the broader achievability of interethnic reconciliation and justpeace. Using international comparative case studies, I show how misogyny and ethnonationalism reinforce each other when each is not acknowledged within memorials. I emphasize the need for intersectional, survivor-centered memorialization to replace exclusion and foster long-term peace.
“From Munich to Molotov: What We Can Learn from Failures of Peacebuilding in Interwar Europe”
Jacob Weinstein – Cornell University
What does peacebuilding mean when the old rules are thrown out? Ask the people of Europe in the 1930s. The rise of territorial revisionism and authoritarianism across the continent, especially but not exclusively in Germany, threatened and soon destroyed the international order set up after the First World War. Through selfishness, cowardice, and naïveté, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union failed to build a system of lasting peace, and their failure led to one of the greatest catastrophes in human history. Their disastrously unsuccessful attempt to prevent the outbreak of World War II demonstrates the danger of “peacebuilding” based on great power politics at the expense of multilateralism and human rights. In our current world of deteriorating international cooperation and heightened military tension, this historical tragedy teaches us that in our quest for peace, we must retain our commitment to justice and humanitarianism, and remember the necessity for genuine cooperation between states and peoples. Unlike the great powers of interwar Europe, we must work toward a world of genuine peace—and avoid their fate.
Session 12. Short Lecture (JN 1050)
“Beyond Diffusion: Political Economy, Security Imaginaries and Transboundary Violence in West Africa”
Alhassan Tahiru – University of Massachusetts, Boston
Scholarly discussions on transboundary insecurity in Africa are often theorized through diffusion and spillover models which assume that violence spreads from specific conflict zones into neighboring territories. While these models capture important regional dynamics, they tend to treat transnationalisation as an expected outcome, rather than a contingent process shaped by local conditions. This paper takes issue with these dominant explanations, as both analytically limited and normatively consequential. It argues that it overlooks local mechanisms and conditions that makes transboundary conceivable. In other words, it insufficiently explains how local conflicts generate the conditions under which transboundary violence becomes possible. Drawing on political economy of violence, this paper reframes transboundary insecurity as a condition emerging from localized political economies, weak borderland governance, and mobility infrastructure. Together, these create the conditions for cross-border violence without necessarily predetermining its occurrence. Using Bawku conflict in Ghana’s Upper East Region as an empirical case, this paper demonstrates how long-standing local conflicts contain structural features that make transnationalisation conceivable, even in the absence of active jihadist involvement. By focusing on conditions rather than outcomes, the paper examines how local realties interact with dominant security imaginaries to shape understanding of transboundary risk. This perspective contributes to debates on ‘new peaces’ offering a framework that moves beyond deterministic models of spread while remaining attentive to transboundary risks.
Session 13. Short Lecture (HC C103)
“Who Are You Deporting: Racial Profiling and Labor Criminalization”
Karla Vasquez Perez – University of California, Los Angeles
This presentation exposes the lack of accountability surrounding inhumane ICE practices in Los Angeles County by documenting how they systematically target immigrant communities and manifest in everyday local harm, while centering community-based knowledge and resistance. The research documents racialized immigration enforcement affecting laborers and families through decolonized, community-based data. Oral histories center the lived fears and experiences of undocumented families and asylum seekers providing a platform for community voices. Rapid response and worker center data capture enforcement actions on the ground, particularly the criminalization of labor and workplace raids, while also documenting community-led systems of protection.
9:45 am – 10:00 am
Break
10:00 am – 11:15 am
Session 14. Thematic Panel (JN 1050)
Technology and Peacebuilding – Moderator: Coby McKeown, University of Notre Dame
“Digital Peacebuilding: Subverting Digital Tribalism with Theological Praxis”
Hasset Hailu – Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary
This presentation interrogates social media as a contemporary “principality” (Wink) that engineers tribalism and alienation for profit. Drawing on Zeynep Tufekci’s analysis of “networked gatekeepers” in Twitter and Tear Gas, I argue the algorithm is a fallen power creating an “order of necessity” that demands our performative, polarized engagement. Yet, as a grantee of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, I tested a counter-praxis. My project, Love Beyond Tribes, was a ten-part TikTok series deploying narrative subversion and theological reflection on enemy-love within extremist discourse. Against predictions, it sparked widespread engagement without violent backlash. From this experiment, I propose a framework for “algorithmic peacebuilding.” This demands: 1) Prophetic exegesis of the digital power; 2) Tactical creation of counter-content that exploits reach while subverting polarizing logic; and 3) Formation of digital counter communities. I offer not just a critique but a tested, creative response, arguing that faithful peacebuilding in our shifting paradigm must become technologically literate and strategically subversive.
“Killer Robots: Stop the Madness!”
Chiara McLean – University of Waterloo
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has created many opportunities, including making warfare more lethal. This has resulted in the emergence of autonomous weapons such as drones that are being tried and tested on the battlefield, changing the ways in which warfare is conducted. My presentation will explore the emergence of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) also known as ‘killer robots’ which is a weapon system that can kill without any human oversight. Given the capabilities that LAWS possess, there is a need to regulate this weapon system before it is too late. This presentation will examine the existing rules of warfare that govern combat such as the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and will consider whether IHL can stand to regulate LAWS. The main argument of my presentation will be that IHL cannot adequately regulate LAWS and therefore a new way of regulating such weapon systems needs to be considered to stop this madness before it is too late.
“Fragile Contexts and AI in Peacebuilding: Early Warning, Human Rights, and Ethical Governance”
Huma Wahidy – University of Notre Dame
Fragile and conflict-affected societies are constantly struggling with challenges, including instability, weak institutions, displacement, and widespread human rights violations. The traditional peacebuilding interventions respond only after the violence has escalated and remain reactive rather than preventive. This presentation examines how AI can support the transition of peacebuilding from a reactive to preventive mode by enhancing early warning systems, human rights monitoring, and ethical governance in fragile contexts. This paper/presentation given the interdisciplinary approach to peace and conflict research, humanitarian practice, and international human rights law analyses emerging AI applications in conflict prediction, humanitarian logistics, and information monitoring, A focused study of the World Food Program illustrates how machine learning and AI tools have been used to anticipate food insecurity, optimize humanitarian supply chain, and improve communication with vulnerable population in conflict- affected regions such as sub-Saharan Africa to measure the efficiency of its employees and timely aid delivery for those people who are in urgent need. Simultaneously, the presentation highlights ethical concerns, including bias, surveillance abuse, and threats to trust. Ultimately, it explains that if AI is designed with values-based ethics and driven by human rights norms, it can be truly transformative for peacebuilding.
Session 15. Thematic Panel (HC Auditorium)
Youth and Peacebuilding – Moderator: Siobhan McEvoy-Levy, Butler University
“Traditions and Evolutions of Student Nonviolent Resistance and the 2024 NYC Encampments for Palestine”
Emma Ohlson – Pace University
In the spring of 2024, New York City students like myself watched in awe as the student encampments in our city and communities emerged as a central site of resistance against U.S. and university complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine. These students joined over one hundred campuses internationally in demanding divestment from companies profiting from Israeli occupation and warfare, drawing from traditional activism while addressing contemporary conditions, including social media and cybersafety, the criminalization of protest, and intensifying global crises. This project examines how the NYC encampments employed nonviolent resistance tactics both learned and innovated, and how students’ approaches reflect historical precedents and highlight next steps in the evolving tradition of nonviolent student resistance. This project incorporated qualitative methods, including an extensive literature review, historical case studies, original student interviews, and secondary journalistic student interviews. Ultimately, I argue that the encampments exemplify how contemporary student activists inherit, practice, and innovate nonviolent tactics to both honor and extend historical traditions of resistance. The encampments have highlighted the relevance and power of nonviolent collective action, laying a foundation for future activism rooted in global justice, solidarity, and the liberation of all oppressed peoples.
“Queer Dialogue as Resistance: Intergenerational Knowledge Sharing in Queer Activism”
Toby Parks – Pace University
This project examines intergenerational knowledge sharing within queer communities as a grassroots strategy for resistance and peacebuilding. Drawing on survey-based research with LGBTQIA+ activists ranging in age from 21 to 86, this study explores how relationships across generations facilitate the transfer of activist tactics, historical memory, and practices of care. While peacebuilding is often framed through institutional or state-based approaches, this research highlights how marginalized communities generate their own adaptive strategies through relational and community-based methods. Findings indicate that intergenerational queer bonds function as multidirectional sites of learning in which younger activists share tactics such as digital and organizing tools while older activists transmit movement history, protest strategies, and legal and safety knowledge. Participants overwhelmingly described these relationships as forms of chosen family that strengthen belonging, reduce burnout, and shape approaches to activism. By centering queer intergenerational dialogue as an activist tool, this project challenges dominant peacebuilding models and proposes community-based knowledge transmission as a strategy for sustaining movements under conditions of political repression and social fragmentation.
“The Forgotten Casualties of War: How the Palestine-Israel Conflict is Destroying a Generation”
Lyndsey Wisbiski – Hope College
This presentation examines the Israel-Palestine conflict through a child-centered, trauma-informed lens, arguing that peace cannot be achieved or sustained when the developmental, psychological, and educational devastation inflicted on children is treated as secondary to political negotiation. Framing the ongoing war in Gaza as not only a humanitarian and political crisis but a profound psychological and educational catastrophe, the project draws on psychological research, humanitarian reporting, and public scholarship to analyze how chronic exposure to violence reshapes childhood development, increases rates of PTSD and anxiety, and disrupts emotional regulation and learning. It further argues that the large-scale destruction of schools and educational infrastructure constitutes a form of educide, undermining not only individual well-being but the social foundations necessary for long-term peace. The presentation highlights trauma-informed educational initiatives operating in and for Palestine, demonstrating how schools and educators function as psychological and relational interventions amid ongoing violence. By centering children as key stakeholders in peacebuilding, this project reframes peace not solely as a diplomatic outcome but as a developmental and ethical necessity, concluding with implications for policy that prioritize child protection, mental health, and educational reconstruction.
Session 16. Thematic Panel (HC C103)
Indigenous Peacebuilding – Moderator: Aidana Rakhatbekova, University of Notre Dame
“Sacred Balance in a Shifting World: Akan Indigenous Cosmology as a Decolonial Peace Strategy”
Alhassan Meriga Ishaq – University of Manitoba
Contemporary peacebuilding often privileges institutional, legal, and secular frameworks while neglecting the spiritual, relational, and ecological dimensions that sustain everyday peace in many communities. Drawing on extensive research on the Akan of Ghana, this presentation examines peace beyond the absence of conflict to include it as a sacred, continuous rhythm sustained through right relationships among people, ancestors, the divine, and the environment. It argues that the Akan peace system offers a robust, relational model that directly responds to today’s shifting global peace landscape, which includes weakened trust in liberal peace institutions, ecological crisis, religious transformations, inequality, and fragmentation. Through a decolonial lens, the project analyzes how colonial disruption, legal pluralism, environmental exploitation, and changing spiritual worldviews challenge this peace system while also revealing its resilience and adaptability. The session will interest peace scholars, practitioners, policymakers, students, and faith-based peace actors seeking a comprehensive alternative peacebuilding framework that expands current understandings of peace and justice. By analyzing Indigenous epistemologies, this work proposes pluriversal, hybrid peace strategies that integrate spirituality, ecological ethics, relational accountability, and restorative practices into contemporary peacebuilding.
“Rethinking Peace from the Global South: Civil Resistance and Decolonial Peace in Colombia”
Catarina Rose Bezerra (written with Sofia Wanderley de Alancar and Gabriella Cavalcanti Maciel) – University of North Texas
This paper reflects on the conceptual and practical connections between civil resistance and decolonial peace (Fontan, 2012; Azarmandi, 2018). By articulating these concepts, the research contributes to a crucial and contemporary debate, based on a Global South perspective. According to Frantz Fanon (1963), the colonial process is based on violence. This raises persistent debates about the legitimacy and inevitability of using violence to overcome such dynamics. Based on this theoretical framework, the study analyzes how indigenous and peasant communities in Colombia confront the legacies of imperialism while developing their own peace initiatives. The study begins with the acknowledgment that coloniality of power, knowledge, and being continues to influence the living conditions, security, and territoriality of these populations (Quijano, 2005; Maldonado-Torres, 2007; Carneiro, 2005). This is particularly evident in Colombia, a country with a long history of armed conflict, extractivism, and state abandonment. Therefore, this work adopts a perspective that understands peace as a process deeply rooted in the transformation of relationships and the construction of social justice. Methodologically, the study employs a qualitative approach to analyze specific instances of peacebuilding, emphasizing resistance as a creative practice.
“Reparations for Displacement: Indigenous Governance of National Parks”
Meg Voetberg – Hope College
This research analyzes the Pewenche Mapuche co-governance of Villarica National Park in Chile in the context of Chile’s commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Despite the widespread signing of UNDRIP across the globe, very few moves have been made to fulfill Article 26’s demand that the ancestral land of indigenous people groups be returned to them. Through ethnographic research and semi-structured interviews with Pewenche Mapuche governmental and cultural leaders, I argue that the co-governance model adopted by Villarica in 2024 and the full-governance model the Pewenche leaders are fighting for now can serve as a blueprint for other countries to begin to return Indigenous land to Indigenous peoples. Ultimately, Indigenous governance models promote active relationships with the land, center ancestral knowledge on the care for that land and secure the human rights of the Indigenous people who have had their land returned to them.
11:15 am – 11:30 am
Break
11:30 am – 12:45 pm
Session 17. Poster Session (HC Halls)
“From Green Space to Common Ground: Building Peace Through a Community Urban Park”
Eli Bootsma – Wheaton College
While Costa Rica is known for its biodiversity, the urban neighborhood of Santa Rosa seriously lacks green space with less than 2.82 per resident. This is problematic as urban parks are vital for the social, physical, emotional, and ecological flourishing of neighborhoods and cities. A Rocha Costa Rica has recognized this need and has begun working with local residents and community leaders to create a large urban park. This presentation will frame this issue using research on urban parks and maps of the potential park. The bulk of this presentation will be spent analyzing the community survey and ethnographic field notes to summarize trends in community member’s opinions on how they use urban parks, what they desire in a future park, and how they would like to participate. The presentation will also provide suggestions for A Rocha Costa Rica for next steps on the project. This presentation will argue that the work of constructing an urban park advances peace and justice through the development of the democratic muscle of local collective action and the reknitting of the social fabric that the finished product will provide.
“Water, Dignity, and Justice: Comparing Rural Ecuadorian Communities With and Without Water Systems”
Kali Coppess – Hope College
This poster presentation examines how access to a complete water system shapes health, dignity, and social wellbeing in rural communities in Ecuador. Data was collected through household surveys and water quality testing in three rural communities, including both communities with established water systems and those without. Beyond differences in water safety and daily practices, one of the most striking findings was the emotional impact of water insecurity: many participants without water systems reported feelings of shame related to their inability to provide clean water for their families. Using a peace and justice framework, this project argues that water access is not only a public health issue, but also a matter of human dignity and structural justice. Unequal access to water reflects deeper inequalities in political investment and resource distribution. By connecting quantitative water testing data with qualitative survey responses, this project shows how water insecurity creates both physical and social harm. The presentation frames clean water as a foundation for positive peace, where justice, dignity, and basic needs are met, and argues that ensuring water access is an essential act of peacebuilding.
“‘My Life is Here’: Narratives of Remaining in Moldova”
Helen Elgie – Wheaton College
With an increasing elderly population and rapidly migrating adult and youth population, Moldova is facing both a demographic crisis well as a social one. Elderly Moldovans whose children emigrate in search of better futures and jobs are left isolated and socially vulnerable, so why do they stay? This project consists of six oral history interviews conducted with six different elderly women in Țînțăreni, Moldova, all of whom are participants at the Bethania Christian Association’s “Social Canteen” for the local elderly. This research aims to fill a gap in migration studies by focusing on the overlooked and academically underrepresented elderly population in Moldova whose perspectives allow us to see the harmful effects of immigration more fully. Focusing on themes of family, personal wellbeing, and the past, these interviews explore each woman’s reasoning behind remaining in Moldova at this time of their life and delves into the common narratives of connection to place, theology, and needs.
“The Arc of Access: Assessing the Success of Three U.S. Disability Activist Campaigns”
Meghan Ellis – University of Notre Dame
Activism for the rights of marginalized people has a storied history in the United States, including activism for civil rights and legal protections for people with disabilities. This project assesses the efficacy of three disability activist campaigns: the campaign for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the movement for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, and the contemporary Disability Justice movement. These campaigns advocated for the civil, legal, and human rights of disabled people in the U.S. Drawing on a dual criteria analytical framework, this project evaluates activism “success” as both the achievement of stated goals and the realization of benefits for intended beneficiaries. The analysis reveals that although the Section 504 and ADA campaigns succeeded in achieving their legislative goals, they yielded mixed results in realizing benefits due to fragile enforcement and subsequent judicial narrowing. In contrast, the Disability Justice movement, with its broader aims of collective liberation and mutual aid, presents more diffuse but resilient outcomes, particularly in community care and cultural transformation. By tracing this “arc of access” from civil rights legislation to collective liberation, this project offers a nuanced understanding of how diverse forms of nonviolent struggle shape the lived realities of disabled people.
“Proximity and Peace: Stories of Grassroots Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda”
Caroline Hart – Wheaton College
This project is a series of three narrative-historical essays grounded in the testimonies of six individuals from a single village in Rwanda’s Southern Province. Through place-based storytelling, the essays trace how the proximity of perpetrators and survivors has shaped daily life before and after the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi, while foregrounding the role of grassroots restorative justice and peace-building initiatives, including the NGO Christian Action for Reconciliation and Social Assistance (CARSA)’s Cows for Peace program. Through an exploration of extreme forgiveness and the lived realities of reconciliation, the essays confront Rwanda’s chilling history while reflecting on its determined pursuit of peace-building and forgiveness. They offer a portrait of reconciliation as a challenging, ongoing journey, which demands that individuals and families live alongside those who inflicted unimaginable harm. Ultimately, this project seeks to present personal narratives of reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda and to examine how forgiveness is possible in the aftermath of extreme, localized violence.
“Voices of Migrants in Colombia: Venezuelan Migrant Women’s Experiences of Wellness”
Alia Holtrop – Wheaton College
Due to resource limits and difficult living conditions in Venezuela, almost 8 million men, women, and children have relocated across the Americas since 2015. Colombia has received 3 million of these Venezuelan migrants (Roy, 2024). Venezuelan immigrant women are at high risk for gender violence and discrimination, and experience significant systemic issues that affect their migration journey and resettlement (Bartels et al., 2023). This poster focuses on a study of Venezuelan migrant women’s experiences living in Colombia. Participants engage in a feeding program, Corazones Llenitos (Full Hearts) with Fundación Dremo, that includes bi-weekly meals, Bible studies, counseling opportunities, and skills training groups. We sought to identify how participants define wellness and how Corazones Llenitos’ programming shapes their perceptions of well-being. Findings identify that Corazones Llenitos’ holistic program creates a space that promotes wellness and a network for opportunity for Venezuelan migrant women and their families. Participants reported that the cornerstone of the program is the promotion of 5 areas of wellness– emotional, social, familial, and financial– embedded in relationships and learning, as it gave way to equality through collaboration, and restoration, that ultimately fosters security, hope, and flourishing.
“Defense Without Peace: Militarized Governance and the Erosion of Collective Peace in the Sahel Region”
Alhassan Meriga Ishaq – University of Manitoba
This presentation examines the rise of military governments in West Africa and the way this development is reshaping regional peacebuilding. The succession of coups in Sahelian states such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger has undermined cooperative frameworks historically led by ECOWAS and encouraged security arrangements dominated by military authority. The project explores how governance failures, institutional weakening, and shifting alliances have allowed defence-oriented rule to emerge as a preferred response to persistent insecurity. Drawing on institutional analysis and peace and conflict theory, the study considers how this shift alters regional cooperation, democratic legitimacy, and human security. It highlights concrete developments such as new inter-junta alliances and realigned external partnerships as indicators of a changing security landscape. The findings indicate that while military rule responds to immediate threats, it weakens the broader peace infrastructure needed for long-term stability. The presentation contributes to debates on peacebuilding in rapidly changing political environments and invites reflection on strategies that sustain peace in contexts where cooperative frameworks are strained.
“The Paradox of Democracy: Understanding Domestic Terrorism In Democratic Systems”
Gabriella Jensen – Georgetown University
By placing domestic terrorism within the broader challenges facing peacebuilding today, this research questions the assumption that democratic governance alone leads to nonviolent conflict resolution. Instead, it shows how polarization, grievance formation, and media dynamics can weaken democratic norms from within. The findings suggest that peacebuilding in democratic contexts must move beyond institutional design and address the social and political conditions that allow extremist movements to grow. As democracies struggle to balance civil liberties with security concerns, this research highlights the need for approaches that strengthen political trust and democratic resilience without undermining the freedoms they aim to protect.
“‘It’s A Normal Enough Neighborhood’: Adult and Adolescent Perceptions within Flor de Maroñas”
Simon Kutnow – Wheaton College
Located in Montevideo, Uruguay, Juventud Para Cristo Uruguay (JPC) is a non-profit civil organization with an impressive record of over fifty years of continuous presence in the marginal neighborhood of Flor de Maroñas. In collaboration with the local government, JPC is a peace-building presence grounded in its commitment in accompanying vulnerable populations toward a full and integrated life. Although the organization’s primary focus is youth, its holistic programs extend to adults and families, including infant and adolescent centers, job training, and sexual abuse awareness and prevention. This research highlights JPC’s pivotal role in Flor de Maroñas, and examines the perceptions of adolescent and adult residents about their neighborhood. Research was conducted through a participatory mapping activities and various semi-structured interviews. This project seeks to understand the experiences of residents, what those experiences communicate about the of the neighborhood, how those experiences can inform JPC’s future work in Flor de Maroñas.
“Trauma-Informed Care as a New Peace Strategy”
Jozaphine Navarro – Hope College
In the context of our world with ongoing violence, polarization, structural conflict, traditional approaches to peacebuilding focus on policy reform overlooking psychological impacts of trauma. This presentation reframes trauma-informed care as a critical and ethical peacebuilding strategy. Drawing from social work practice, peace and justice frameworks, and trauma- informed care, this project argues that peace can’t be stable without addressing the emotional, psychological, and social consequences of violence that persist even after overt conflict ends. Trauma-Informed care shifts the focus from individual to collective healing. Through a qualitative analysis of interdisciplinary literature and public-facing educational resources, this project explores how trauma- informed approaches can function as a response to structural violence, political instability, and community harm. Centering on healing, resilience, and trauma-informed care helps expand the definition of peacebuilding. This presentation contributes to strategies for peace in a rapidly shifting global landscape.
“Shame, Politics, and Social Movements: Comparing the U.S. and Vietnam”
Karly Redeman – Chapman University
The central question the research sets out to understand is “How does shame in political contexts compare between U.S. and Vietnamese cultures?” I explore shame’s various multifaceted perspectives, comparing its role and manifestations within a US and Vietnamese political setting. Using qualitative comparative analysis, this study draws from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including feminist theory, cultural studies, and psychoanalytic theory, to examine how shame operates across cultures and movements. By examining these theoretical and thematic frameworks, the study seeks to understand how shame influences political attitudes, public behavior, and emotional dynamics within social movements. By exploring the intersection of shame and social movements in U.S. and Vietnamese contexts, we can see how emotions shape collective action and mobilization. The study aims to illustrate how shame functions as a unifying and divisive force, influencing group identity and strategies to create nonviolent social change. The study findings are expected to reveal how shame can be used to empower or disempower the masses, depending on the context within the movement in which it is employed. This research provides insights into the emotional habitus, such as how shame can guide, sustain, or hinder collective efforts for change.
“Documenting Land Rights and Water Resources in the Ikalahan-Kalanguya Ancestral Domain”
Jolene Smith – Wheaton College
The Ikalahan-Kalanguya ancestral domain in the southem Cordillera Central Range of Luzon, Philippines, was formally recognized in 1974, marking a significant milestone in indigenous land rights. Fifty years later, however, the community continues to face threats to their lands, including illegal mining, natural disasters, and the criminalization of indigenous conservation practices due to conflicts between state and traditional laws. This project draws on a six-month participatory engagement living and working with the Ikalahan community in collaboration with Kalahan Education Foundation. The project focuses on strengthening land and resource protection through technological documentation and two key initiatives: the documentation of land ownership mapping processes and the initial mapping of community water resources. A written manual was developed to document GPS and GIS-based methods for land ownership certification and training, addressing the absence of documented procedures and trained mappers. Additionally, approximately 20 critical water sources were mapped and documented based on community knowledge, providing the first formal record of these resources. These efforts highlight the role of participatory mapping in supporting indigenous land governance and resource resilience amid persistent threats to lands in the hope of contributing to the preservation and protection of these lands.
“Sudan’s ‘Forgotten War’: Accountability, Gendered Violence, and Peace”
Meryem Uysal – Southern Methodist University
Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a devastating armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), resulting in one of the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crises. This conflict has been marked by mass displacement, famine, widespread war crimes, and systematic gender-based violence, while receiving limited sustained international attention. Drawing on the recent literature and my prior research on Sudan’s conflict, this presentation examines the structural drivers of violence, including militarized power struggles, external state involvement, particularly the United Arab Emirates’ role in resource extraction and proxy warfare, and the failure of international accountability mechanisms. Building on this analysis, I propose concrete peace-oriented interventions that prioritize accountability, civilian protection, especially for women and children, and coordinated international legal pressure to advance sustainable peace. This presentation aims to move beyond a summary of what’s occurring toward actionable strategies for addressing impunity, protecting civilians, and advancing sustainable peace in Sudan, with broader implications for responding to “forgotten wars” worldwide.
“The Battle Over Memory: The Contestations of Public Familial Narratives in Remembering 9/11”
Cheng-Yen Wu – Swarthmore College
This project explores the tension between national and familial narratives of 9/11 remembrance. Drawing on seven interviews with members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows and The Peace Abbey, as well as newsletter archives, the project examines how public commemorations have often glorified, co-opted, or erased personal accounts that do not align with dominant narratives. In contrast, familial remembrances offer a bottom-up approach that centers the complexity and humanity of the victims. This work invites reflection on how memory, trauma, and peacebuilding intersect in shaping the stories we tell—and those we silence—after collective tragedy.
12:45 pm – 2:15 pm
Conference Lunch (JN Forum)
2:15 pm – 3:00 pm
Session 18. Lightning Talks (HC Auditorium)
“After the Death of the University”
Alice Lei – University of Notre Dame
This project examines the historical transformation of the American university from its origins as a site of moral and intellectual formation into a state capitalist enterprise (Max Weber) that now functions as an instrument of social control. Drawing on a decolonial lens, I interrogate how the university, once envisioned as a space for critical thought and human good, has been reshaped by market logics and state imperatives into a disciplinary apparatus that polices dissent; neutralizes radical thought; and reproduces hierarchies of race, class, and knowledge. My research begins with an analysis of recent crackdowns on student and faculty activists, framed not as an anomalous phenomenon but as the culmination of longer trajectories of repression. I question what it means for a university to betray its own proclaimed ideals of free expression and academic freedom—in Notre Dame’s case, being a “force for good”. I will analyze pivotal moments in the university’s evolution, including its entanglement with Cold War politics, the neoliberalization of the 1980s onward, and the post-9/11 securitization of campus life. Ultimately, this project is animated by a deeper philosophical question, which is “what might be possible after the ‘death’ of the university as we know it?” In the spirit of Friedrich Nietzsche, it seeks not only to point out the disenchantment of our modern age, but to imagine what forms of education, knowledge, and collective life might emerge from the ruins—forms rooted not in obedience or utility, but in joy, struggle, and the affirmation of life.
“Intersectional Environmental Violence: Articulating EV as a Saturated Site of Power”
Camden Roberston – University of Notre Dame
The emerging concept of environmental violence (EV) offers peacebuilders an important tool for understanding and resisting the many interconnected harms of toxic and nontoxic pollution. Yet generative opportunity exists in building the analytic, normative, and applied aspects of existing EV scholarship and practice. This project seeks to build capacity of the EV framework by integrating explicitly ntersectional praxis. Guided by Patricia Hill Collins’ concept of articulation for intersectionality, EV may be more readily equipped to represent or respond to the frequent coincidence and mutually reinforcing nature of overlapping vulnerabilities to EV. By building clarity around how direct, structural, and cultural valences of EV compound with context-specific structures of domination to define the historical distribution of and enduring vulnerability to environmental violence, this work aims to carve innovative pathways for resistance. By articulating where direct violence of EV reveals broader structures of domination at specific saturated sites of power, novel strategic possibilities are opened for the scholar-practitioner seeking the transformation of environmental violence into positive forms of peace.
“Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Armed Conflict”
Kalea Seaton – Chapman University
This paper examines the experiences of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in contexts of armed conflict. Specifically, this paper asks: ‘What are the impacts of armed conflict for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD)? And how are these impacts documented by lead disability rights and peacebuilding organizations?’ I answer these questions through cross-analysis of reporting and publication to determine how the experiences of people with ID/DD are documented and addressed by lead human rights and humanitarian organizations. Furthermore, I use discourse analysis to critically examine the ways in which these organizations reinforce, disrupt, and/or work to address the existing attitudes and beliefs that perpetuate violence against ID/DD individuals. My findings reveal a significant absence of substantive engagement with the experiences, needs, and particular forms of violence that people with ID/DD face in contexts of armed conflict. Furthermore, critical analysis of the discourses used by human rights and humanitarian organizations demonstrates responses which rely on the medical model of disability, further exacerbating the symbolic violence and neglect faced by people with ID/DD. I conclude with recommendations for future inquiry, policy, and practices that can address these gaps and create space for a more diverse, disability-centered approach to peacebuilding.
Session 19. Short Lecture (HC C103)
“The Philosophy of Creativity: A Civic Engagement Framework for Peace in Practical Application”
Ryan Christman – University of Dundee
I will present my dissertation, The Philosophy of Creativity, which examines the socioeconomic assumptions of meritocracy, which often degrade the self image and social esteem of those who fail to achieve traditional success. The divisiveness of the MAGA movement stems in part from this resentment. The “Creative Exchange,” a three-stage logic based on Gilles Deleuze’s creative philosophy, aims to move away from outcome-oriented models like the “American Dream” and toward continuous learning. The Creative Exchange examines how societal structures shape our world and how we can interact more constructively with them. By realizing that their expectations cause suffering, people can learn to hold their beliefs provisionally and experience the difference of creative insight. It is possible to transform resentment into excitement for learning new ideas and realizing the potential of a new paradigm for growth and progress. I discussed theoretical aspects of this concept in my presentation in 2025, but now I want to demonstrate how it can be practically applied to real-world interdisciplinary problems, thus building more resilient, peaceful communities.
Session 20. Film Presentation (JN 1050)
More Than Human
Cristina Ding – Wheaton College
More than Human is a ~20 minute documentary that is a summary of what was learned about integral ecology throughout the course of a six-month internship at Bethany Land Institute in Uganda. It asks the question: “What does land mean to us?” and explores the perspectives and stories of twelve people (rural farmers in Uganda and students at BLI), following a narrative that starts from humanity’s broken connection with the land and turns toward a new way of seeing the complex world which we all inhabit. It draws on both indigenous and modern scientific knowledge, and it centers on what it means to live in partnership with the Earth, rather than extract from it. It shares stories of people from different geographical spaces, and calls for listening and empathy as barriers are broken and paths are formed toward restoration.
3:00 pm – 3:15 pm
Break
3:15 pm – 4:30 pm
Session 21. Workshop (JN 1050)
“Cultivating the Mind as Nonviolent Resistance: Vipassana and Metta for Conflict Transformation”
Elisabeth Stabel – University of Notre Dame
In a global context marked by polarization, radicalization, and the political instrumentalization of fear, traditional peacebuilding approaches are increasingly confronted with the challenge of addressing the conditions under which hatred and violence are produced and reproduced. This workshop proposes Vipassana and Metta meditation as practical, embodied capacities for nonviolent resistance and conflict transformation. Drawing on Buddhist philosophy and contemporary uses of Vipassana meditation in prison settings and violence prevention initiatives, the session conceptualizes meditation not as a retreat, but as an infrastructure for sustainable and ethical action. Vipassana trains participants to observe bodily sensations and mental states without immediate reaction, interrupting automatic chains between affect, perception, and behavior. Metta meditation complements this practice by cultivating empathy, responsibility, and goodwill toward self and others. Together, these methods offer tools to counter radicalization by fostering self-awareness, emotional regulation, and non-reactive engagement in situations of conflict. Through a combination of brief theoretical framing, guided meditation practice, and collective reflection, participants will explore how inner reactivity shapes judgment and peacebuilding efforts. The workshop invites participants to consider how cultivating the mind can function as a form of nonviolent resistance in a shifting global landscape where new approaches to peace are urgently needed.
Session 22. Thematic Panel (HC C103)
Gendered Approaches – Moderator: Faiza Filali, University of Notre Dame
“Looking After the Widows: Acts 6 and the Widows of Rodrigo Duterte’s ‘War on Drugs'”
Melody Cooper – Wheaton College
Recent years have unfortunately seen a new intensity and variety surrounding the vulnerable population of widows. In the Philippines, there is a specific group of widows with a unique cause for their added vulnerability. They are widows from Duterte’s devastating “War on Drugs,” which cost the lives of tens of thousands of people. Dr. Manalo is one Christian who, with Balay ministries, was approached by representatives of these widows with a request for material aid, namely, money to bury their dead husbands and children. Her organization stepped up to meet this need, but also let the Lord lead them into expanding their response to be more holistic. The team addressed psychosocial needs, and even trained the women to fight the problem at the root themselves, with justice advocacy and storytelling that went all the way to the International Criminal Court. With comments from Dr. Manalo herself, this study of Acts 6 will support the recontextualization of early care for widows, to inspire the church to address real needs brought up by advocates of marginalized groups, and to help raise up the marginalized themselves to find their own voice to fight against injustice with the truth.
“A Violent World of Unanchored Men: The Peaceful Potential of Institutionally Attached Masculinities”
Jonathan Porteous – Wheaton College
This presentation looks at our rapidly evolving world order, and particularly the actions of the current United States presidential administration, through a gendered lens, investigating the ways in which many key figures exhibit an institutionally unanchored, antisocial performance of masculinity. Seen through this lens, everything from careless comments which undermine peace to ‘might makes right’ approaches can be seen as haphazard attempts to achieve and maintain a conception of their own manhood, an endeavor characterized by scholars as persistently tenuous. Using an interdisciplinary approach which combines cultural historical research with present day anthropological and sociological work, this presentation then considers the possibilities for the development of localized civic institutions which are able to provide boys and men with alternative, institutionally anchored frameworks for masculinity which enmesh men in more pro-social networks of responsibility and allow for a degree of ontological security out of which more lasting peace could be built. This presentation concludes by suggesting that such work is a critical act of resistance to the violent abuses of power in today’s world and an important, though localized, step in laying the groundwork for peace in years to come.
“Feminist Foreign Policy: Liberal Feminism, Gender Equality, and the Global Right-Wing Renaissance”
Grace Sullivan – University of Notre Dame
This presentation critically examines the role of Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) during the rise of anti-gender backlash, authoritarianism, and democratic backsliding around the world. Drawing on critical feminist scholarship and data maps from the WomenStats Project, this research argues that FFP functions largely as a liberal rhetorical commitment rather than a strategic, transformative approach to gender equality. The adoption of FFP has increased amid a global right-wing resurgence attacking “gender ideology,” creating opportunities for states to signal progressive commitments to gender equality without implementing substantive change. Focusing on Sweden and Mexico, this research analyzes two national FFP frameworks to identify thematic patterns across distinct political contexts. This presentation critiques FFP’s emphasis on liberal feminist measures, such as quotas, women’s leadership, and representation, as these policy approaches often neglect the persistent and severe problem of gender-based violence. By situating FFP within decolonial feminist thought and current global politics, this presentation calls for a strategic, comprehensive policy framework that prioritizes violence prevention and addressing the structural harms facing women. Ultimately, this research underscores the need to hold governments accountable for symbolic feminism, as policies labeled “feminist” must work toward producing tangible outcomes rather than serving as rhetorical tools to advance state interests.
Session 23. Thematic Panel (HC Auditorium)
Art and Peacebuilding – Moderator: Piyusha Sumanapala, University of Notre Dame
“Poetry and Trauma Stewardship: An Unfinished Path”
Maria Eduarda Kobayashi Rossi – University of Notre Dame
This presentation draws on reflections from my capstone research, in which I explore the role of poetry as both a source and a resource for trauma stewardship in the field of peacebuilding. Drawing on literature review, autoethnographic, and reflective insights from fieldwork at the Restorative Justice Collaborative Hub (RJCH) in South Bend, this work traces my journey of engaging with trauma stewardship through poetry. It offers reflections on how artistic and collective practices can nurture resilience, ethical responsibility, and presence among peacebuilders who accompany those experiencing suffering and secondary trauma. By weaving together personal narratives, scholarly inquiry, and poetry, this capstone advocates for a deeper integration of the arts and care-centered methodologies into peacebuilding practice and teaching.
“Woven Witness: Chilean Arpilleras Then and Now (1973-2026)”
Katherine Kirwan – University of Notre Dame
This presentation investigates the evolution of Chilean arpilleras in Santiago from the pioneering work of Violeta Parra in the 1960s to their contemporary forms. It situates arpilleras within their shifting cultural and historical contexts by analyzing both their production in workshops and their public presentation in museums in Santiago. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and participant observation, the study examines how and why Chilean artists and activists employ arpilleras today as instruments of social change and how these textiles are reframed through the narratives of public memory constructed by museums. The findings demonstrate that, as in 1973, arpilleras function as a medium of political resistance and a site of solidarity and sociality for women, while differing in scale, application, and impact in the present day.
“Seeing the Story: Arts as a Witness to Dehumanization”
Anya Wolters – Hope College
The world continues to change rapidly, yet patterns of violence, exclusion, and dehumanization persist across time. Many of these harms are overlooked or minimized, treated as distant concerns rather than shared responsibilities. When these cycles go unchallenged, their consequences do not remain far away; they surface in familiar places and affect real lives. As a social work student grounded in peace and justice, and as a dancer, I turn to artistic expression to process these realities and to invite others into deeper awareness. This project proposes the creation of a short mixed-media film that blends dance, music, spoken word, poetry, and visual storytelling to illuminate experiences shaped by dehumanization. This film is intended to live beyond the conference, appealing to the emotional core of those who have hardened their hearts or turned away. By centering art as a vehicle for empathy, remembrance, and moral urgency, this piece seeks to disrupt complacency and call viewers back to our shared humanity.
4:30 pm – 4:45 pm
Break
4:45 pm – 5:00 pm
Session 24. Closing Remarks (HC Auditorium + Virtual)
Coby McKeown and Faiza Filali, 2026 Conference Chairs, will share their impressions and key takeaways from the conference and offer closing thoughts.