S-CAR's monthly activity recaps highlight the ongoing contributions being made by S-CAR students, faculty, and alumni to the field of conflict analysis and resolution. Each activity recap includes publications, presentations, and awards from the previous month.
Are you a member of the S-CAR community? Send your publication, presentation, and award updates to scarlib@gmu.edu so that we can include them in our activity recaps.
Summary
During October, S-CAR celebrated a two-day Festschrift symposium, organized by Susan Allen, in honor of Christopher Mitchell. Many faculty, colleagues, former students, and friends presented papers based upon his lifetime of work. In October, six other honors were conferred to members of the S-CAR community, including a significant grant awarded to Daniel Agbiboa and a co-editorship to Karina Korostelina and Daniel Rothbart. Throughout the month, S-CAR alumni published two journal articles and three reports. News reporting on the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was a predominant focus in the four TV/video presentations and the nine newspaper articles published this month.
Awards
Daniel Agbiboa, “U.S. Department of Education Title VI Grant on Countering Violent Extremism in Africa.” October 1, 2018.
Samantha Borders-Shoemaker, PhD Candidate, “New Board Member of the Writer’s Advisory Council at Christopher Newport University’s Lifelong Learning Society.” October 24, 2018.
Douglas Irvin-Erickson, “Community Service Award.” Healing Communities USA, October 27, 2018.
Karina Korostelina, “Co-Editor for New Book Series by University of Michigan Press.” October 29, 2018.
Daniel Rothbart, “Co-Editor for New Book Series by University of Michigan Press.” October 29, 2018.
Joshua Weiss, PhD ‘02, “Keynote Speaker - Association for Conflict Resolution 2018 Annual Conference.” October 4, 2018.
Academic Publications
Journal Articles
Landon Hancock, PhD ‘02, and Anuj Gurung, “Capturing the Flag: The Struggle for National Identity in Nonviolent Revolutions.” Peace and Conflict Studies, Vol. 25, no. 2 (October 30, 2018).
Linda M. Johnston, PhD ‘01, and Karen Weatherington, “Why Women Want to Play Sports: Identity, Culture, and Motivation.” Peace and Conflict Studies, Vol. 25, no. 2 (October 30, 2018).
Reports
Mohammed Cherkaoui, PhD ‘12, published two reports by the Al Jazeera Center for Studies. The first, on “Why Trump Remains Anti-Globalist Even Inside the United Nations?”, was published on October 1, 2018. The second was a completion of a co-written report titled “Jamal Khashoggi: The Intellectual and His ‘Incomplete’ Chapter…!”, which was published on October 11, 2018.
Lisa Schirch, PhD ‘99, published a report on the “Social Media Impacts on Social & Political Goods: A Peacebuilding Perspective” for The Toda Peace Institute and The Alliance for Peacebuilding, on October 19, 2018.
S-CAR in the News
Nasim Ahmed, a writer for the Middle East Monitor, quoted Mohammed Cherkaoui, PhD ‘12, in “Khashoggi’s Killing and the Rise of a Mafia State,” published on October 17, 2018.
Roi Ben-Yehuda, MS ‘11, published a two-part series on Medium. The first part, “Confucian Musings: Leading with Humility,” was published on October 30, 2018; the second part, “Confucian Musings: The Art of Asking Questions,” was published on October 29, 2018.
Mohammed Cherkaoui, PhD ‘12, was quoted in “Khashoggi Killing: All Eyes on Turkey as Calls for Answers Mount,” published on Al Jazeera on October 21, 2018.
Walid Jawad, MS ‘08, published an article for the Al Arabiya News Channel about the “Rise of White Supremacy and Forgotten Arab-American Victims” on October 28, 2018.
Brook Larmer refers to and quotes Yuka Ogata, MS ‘03, in “Why Does Japan Make It So Hard for Working Women to Succeed?” for The New York Times on October 17, 2018.
David J. Smith, Adjunct Faculty, MS ‘09, “Working with Young Professionals to Advance Careers: Presentations at the U Pittsburgh, ACR and PJSA.” David J. Smith Blog, October 8, 2018.
Audrey Williams, MS student, wrote “At Annual Lynch Lecture, Georgetown Law Professor Challenges a System of Racial Injustice” for the S-CAR News on October 25, 2018.
Television and Radio Presentations
TV/Video
Mohammed Cherkaoui, PhD ‘12, was interviewed on Al Jazeera Inside Story, for two stories about his colleague Jamal Khashoggi’s death. On October 17, 2018, he discussed “How Will Khashoggi’s Suspected Killing Affect MBS?” On October 21, 2018, he followed up with a discussion on “Trump ‘Not Satisfied’ with Saudis but Will He Pressure Riyadh?”
Min Zaw Oo, PhD ‘10, presented the second part in a “Two Part Series on War and Peace in Mynamar”/ ”ေဆာင္းခုိေနေသာၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရး ႏွင့္ ျပည္ပအေထာက္အပံ့မ်ား - အပုိင္း၁” for The Irrawaddy - Burmese Edition on October 16, 2018.
S-CAR Events, Presentations, and Public Lectures
Susan Allen organized a two-day Festschrift symposium in honor of Christopher Mitchell at the Point of View International Peace Research and Retreat Center. Colleagues and former students joined Dr. Mitchell’s family and friends to honor his work and extensive contributions to the field. Speakers included former Dean Andrea Bartoli, current Dean Kevin Avruch, Associate Dean Julie Shedd (PhD ’13), Richard Rubenstein, Patricia Maulden, Christopher Mitchell, Adjunct Faculty Ronald Fisher, and PhD graduates Nike Carstarphen, Ilana Shaprio, and Barry Hart. Other notable speakers included Dr. Louis Kriesberg and Dr. Esra Cuhadar. Terrence Lyons prepared remarks but was unable to attend. A buffet dinner and birthday party were held on the second evening, where pre-recorded greetings from around the world were presented. The conference event was livestreamed by Paul Snodgrass and a recording is currently available on S-CAR’s Facebook page.
Karina Korostelina delivered a keynote address, “History Education in the Formation of Social Identity: Toward a Culture of Peace,” at the “Negotiating History Education in Conflict and Post-Conflict Settings” workshop in New Delhi, which took place October 9–10, 2018. She also led the discussion section “From Historical Memory Wars to Historical Reconciliation” and presented her paper “Four Dilemmas of Dealing with Contentions Past” at the “Conflicting Memories, Unreconciled Narratives” conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was held on October 14–16, 2018.
Patricia Maulden (with Brandon Brown) presented a paper “From the Inside Out: Psychological Dimensions of Conflict” at the Center for Peacemaking Practice Symposium on the Work of Christopher Mitchell held at Point of View.
Agnieszka Paczynska participated in a panel discussion on “Professional Skills Training in Graduate Peace and Conflict Resolution Education: Innovations and Challenges” at the “Eighth Annual Graduate Education Symposium: Advances and Challenges in Professional Skills Training for Peace and Conflict Resolution Programs,” held on October 27, 2018 at the School for International Service at American University in Washington, D.C. She was also on the Symposium Program Committee.
Arthur Romano began work with the River Phoenix Peacebuilding Center in October, developing a racial justice module for their Restorative Justice Training. His CONF 650 (Advanced Practice) students will develop the module in their class.
Richard Rubenstein presented a lecture, “God on Our Side? Religion in Conflict and Conflict Resolution,” on October 2, 2018 to the OASIS adult education organization in Montgomery Country, MD. On October 18, he presented a paper on “Christopher Mitchell at S-CAR: The Tension Between Theory and Practice” at the Center for Peacemaking Practice Symposium on the Work of Christopher Mitchell held at Point of View.