Baker Institute Events

Welty will give a talk titled “We are unstoppable; Another world is possible.” As children we are often told that “life’s unfair” and that we need to accept and adjust to a world that feels unjust. However, some of the most meaningful parts of activism emerge from our willingness to insist that injustice and violence are not the way we are meant to live and to commit ourselves to the creation of new norms. From direct acts of resistance to advocacy at the United Nations, we will explore how the steady insistence that the world can be different has the power to transform both our daily lives as well as international conflict. Using the case study of Welty’s work with the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Occupy Wall Street and the Moral Monday movement we will explore how all of us can participate in acts of dissent and radical generosity.

Dr. Emily Welty is an academic, ecumenist, activist and artist living and working in New York City. She is the Director of Peace and Justice Studies and an Associate Professor at Pace University where she teaches classes focusing on nonviolence, humanitarianism and reconciliation and transitional justice. She has a PhD from SOAS at the University of London, an MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University and a BA from the College of Wooster.

Welty’s research focuses on the religious dimensions of peacebuilding with an emphasis on humanitarianism and nuclear disarmament as well as nonviolent social movements. She is the co-author of Unity in Diversity: interfaith dialogue in the Middle East,  Occupying Political Science: the Occupy Wall Street movement from New York to the World and Peace and Justice Studies: Critical Pedagogy (forthcoming 2019) and numerous journal articles. Emily is also a playwright and has worked with The Civilians, the Acting Studio at Chelsea Rep and the Einhorn School of Performing Arts.

Welty is the Vice Moderator of the World Council of Churches Commission on International Affairs and is the chair of the Nuclear Disarmament Working Group. She is part of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) where she works on faith-based engagement in nuclear disarmament. Welty was part of the 2017 United Nations negotiations that resulted in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and for which ICAN won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

Loadenthal gave a lecture titled “From Demonstration to Riot-ization: Social Control in the Era of Trump,” noting, “The last two decades have been a seemingly unending succession of social movements agitating for a better future. In his foundational account of the history of prisons and social control, critical theorist Michel Foucault argued that we had moved far beyond an age when the King wielded his power through force, maintaining the compliance of his subjects through violence.

Loadenthal’s talk explored this theory in light of shifts in language, practice, and law in the twenty-first century. How has the rhetoric of counter-terrorism informed the policing of social protest, and what does it mean to be living and dissenting in the “post-truth” era? Through an exploration of recent legal cases, Loadenthal examined what it means to protest in the era when activists are called terrorists, and marchers termed rioters.

From Brown Eyes and Clifford: “From learning about the heritage of others, we would become more apt to appreciate how we are ethnically different, but ultimately bond over our similarities. It is this very discovery of how we are more alike on this planet than different, which will diminish the walls between people and their prejudiced conceptions of unfamiliar neighbors. If we can continue to educate ourselves on how important all cultures are to this planet, we will eventually create a true world community. By furthermore promoting unity, we believe that our joined educational journey will someday bring racism to an end. We want to share our own belief that “We are one race, the human race, therefore we should not race one another.” We feel that this movement, which is dear to our Lakota hearts, will help us see that ‘All Things Are Related!’ Help us #ScatterPeaceAndJustice.”

Dr. Druckman’s master class explored research on such topics as justice in the peace process, settlements and resolutions, enemy images, the contact hypothesis, the security dilemma, and alternative mediation approaches. Participants engaged in interactive learning exercises and had the opportunity to reflect on lessons learned for both scholarship and practice.

Druckman is Professor Emeritus of Public and International Affairs at George Mason University, an Eminent Scholar at Macquarie University in Sydney and an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. Druckman visited Juniata in fall 2016 to give a lecture called “Negotiating Peace: The Role of Procedural and Distributive Justice in Achieving Durable Peace.”

Herman gave a talk called “Making things right: Hawaiian approaches to Conflict Resolution.” The traditional Hawaiian approach to resolving conflicts is rooted in a deep understanding of balance and harmony in the universe and in society. Dis-ease arises when things get out of balance, and so traditional healing is also linked to the resolution of conflicts among members of the community.

This presentation gave a brief overview of the structure and principles of traditional Hawaiian society. It thend examine two approaches. Both are called ho`oponopono—“the act of setting things right.” The first is the traditional method, involving several members of the community and a facilitator to elicit the root of the problem and to develop a solution that is agreeable to all. The second is a modern revelation by the late kahuna la`au lapa`au (healing kahuna) Morrnah Simeona, that takes the traditional process to an internal level. Both reflect broader understandings of how humans should act in the world, the taking of responsibility for the effects of our actions, and the permanent rectification of conflicts without lingering animosity.

Herman is Senior Geographer for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). At the Smithsonian, he has served chair of the Smithsonian Institutional Review Board (IRB) for Human Subjects Research, and chair of the Smithsonian Congress of Scholars. He holds a doctorate in Geography from the University of Hawai‘i, and in addition to his work at NMAI, he is the director of Pacific Worlds, a web-based Indigenous-geography education project for Hawai‘i and the American Pacific. Since 2001 he has held various offices with the Indigenous Peoples Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. His publications include the forthcoming, edited volume “Giving Back: Research and Reciprocity in Indigenous settings.” He serves on the board of the journal IK: Other Ways of Knowing.

Viteri gave a talk called “From university to pluriversity: Decolonizing education through storytelling,” in which she argued that the colonization of our education goes well beyond the content of our lessons. In addition to what we are learning, decolonization demands we address how we learn, where we learn, and with whom we learn. How do we include other ways of learning and other kinds of knowledge? How do we successfully work with communities and “the other” to transform our reality? Viteri posited that decolonization begins by connecting to one of our greatest human instincts: story. Creating stories with “the other” provides us with new tools and perspective to decolonize our university, slowly transforming it into a pluriversity.

Viteri is the program coordinator and an assistant instructor of the Pachaysana Institute in her hometown of Quito, Ecuador. She holds a Master’s degree in Community Development and Planning from Clark University, where she also studies Theater Arts and International Development. Viteri has worked with youth from diverse communities to utilize artistic expression as a means to create community and foster creative healthy containers for youth. Additionally, Viteri has been heavily involved in organizing for social justice advocacy and education, implementing artistic mediums including documentaries, poetry, theater and music, and has conducted research centered on the experiences of women in the midst of extractive industries in Latin America.

The Liberian Women's Chorus for Change brings the power of Liberian traditional song to the forefront of efforts to make communities safe and strong. Composed of renowned singers and dancers from Liberia -- Fatu Gayflor, Marie Nyenabo, Zaye Tete, and Tokay Tomah -- the Chorus inspires awareness and dialogue about domestic violence and other concerns of Philadelphia-area Liberian immigrants. The Chorus was formed in response to these artists’ own community research which found that local Liberian immigrant women have a hard time accessing resources and getting the support they need. Together, these award-winning performers create music intended to encourage women to make their voices heard, and to take positive steps forward.

There are an estimated 15,000 (or more) Liberians in the Philadelphia region. Most moved to the U.S. as refugees during the years of civil war (1989-2003) in their homeland.

The Liberian Women’s Chorus for Change initiative connects artists, community members, scholars, social service and cultural workers and activists of different generations. Together, they consider how best to foster change through the respectful and innovative combining of folk and traditional arts with social justice activism. Individual Chorus members have lost children to war; some have asked soldiers, though music, to lay down their weapons. All are now residents of the Philadelphia area. "We want our families and community members to have access to information and resources that will allow them the chance to flourish, with dignity, in their adopted home," says Chorus artistic director Fatu Gayflor. Stories evoked publicly, through song, have become the starting point for conversations leading to propositions of imaginative and, it is hoped, realistic paths to addressing pressing concerns.

Consolee Nishimwe is a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide and the author of the memoir Tested to the Limit: A Genocide Survivor’s Story of Pain, Resilience, and Hope. Read a full transcript of Consolee’s speech via the April 2017 issue of Juniata Voices.

Nanziri is a doctoral student with the University of Cape Town in South Africa, complimenting a BA (Hons) in Economics and a MA in Economic Policy and Planning from Makerere University in Uganda. She is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Kansas, Lawrence and a Research Fellow at the University Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the recipient of prestigious scholarships such as the Carnegie Fellowship, the Rockefeller scholarship through the Association for the Advancement of African Women Economists and the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts. Prior to this, Nanziri was the Chief Executive Director of the South African Savings Institute. Nanziri sits on several steering committee and panels dedicated to socio-economic development in developing countries.

Known best for their appearance at the end of the film O Brother Where Art Thou, and on the subsequent soundtrack release, the Fairfield Four are alive and well and still singing in the traditional African American a cappella gospel style they have been known for since the group's inception almost 100 years ago. John Fogerty loved Fairfield's rootsy sound so much he decided he had to feature them on his second comeback album, Blue Moon Swamp singing on the track "A Hundred and Ten in the Shade." Later, after its release, he had the group open for him on many of the tour dates in support of his new CD.
Founded in 1921 in Nashville, TN the Fairfield Four have maintained their authenticity by carrying on traditional stylings exemplified by the Bessemer Sunset Four, the Birmingham Jubilee Singers, and the Famous Blue Jay Singers with Silas Steele. The Fairfield Four are the recipients of multiple honors including 3 Grammy Awards, (1) Best Traditional Gospel Recording "I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray" in 1997, (2) Album of the Year for the "O Brother Where Art Thou" Soundtrack Recording in 2001, (3) Best Gospel Roots album "Still Rockin' My Soul" in 2016, and two Lifetime Achievement Awards. They were also inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999.

U.S. State Department official Andrew Loomis (PACS ‘92), in a lecture titled “Preventing violent conflict: A U.S. national interest,” provided a perspective on how national security interests require fresh analysis about risks of violent conflict and dedicated thinking about effective responses to mitigate those risks. He described how this effort is evolving inside the US government and ways the State Department is structured to respond to evolving threats of conflict and instability.

Dr. Loomis currently serves as a senior officer in the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO).  His primary responsibility is providing expert counsel on localized peace processes, the development of strategies to prevent violent conflict, and elevating policy that relates to conflict and instability.

From 2014-2015, Andrew was Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights and her principal representative to the State Department on the prevention of mass atrocities.  In this role, Andrew developed and led the execution of a State Department strategy to improve the Department’s ability to detect, analyze, and act upon early risks of large-scale violence.

From 2013-2014, Andrew served as deputy director for CSO’s Office of Operations, and covered East Asia, South Central Asia, and South and Central America, and provided guidance and broad oversight of CSO engagements in Burma and Bangladesh.  Andrew led CSO’s Burma engagement from 2011-2013, one of four priority engagements for the bureau.  Andrew led the development and implementation of CSO’s strategy to arrest long-standing conflicts between ethnic minority groups and the Burmese military through analytical and personnel support.

Prior to work in the State Department, Andrew worked at the Center for a New American Security and the Brookings Institution, where he focused on a range of U.S. national security issues, in particular conflict prevention strategies in weak and failed states.  Andrew has taught at Georgetown University, the College of William and Mary, and George Washington University.  Andrew received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University and a master’s degree from Columbia University.