The Kroc Cast: Peace Studies Conversations

The Peace Accords Matrix Program (PAM), part of the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, has released its first report monitoring the implementation of 80 stipulations within the 2016 Colombian Peace Agreement related to ethnic communities across the country. In this episode, members of the team discuss the report's findings. Read the full report at https://go.nd.edu/EthnicReport2021.

Ernesto Verdeja, associate professor of political science and peace studies, talks with faculty fellow Walter Scheirer and postdoctoral research associate Michael Yankoski (Ph.D. '20) about their new project using new Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for analyzing manipulated political memes on social media, an important source of disinformation and a contributor to political instability. Learn more about the project at go.nd.edu/AIandPoliticalViolence.

This episode includes audio from a February 9, 2021, event entitled “Where Next for Myanmar?” This event was presented by the Keough School, the Kroc Institute and the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. Speakers include Caroline Hughes, the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Chair in Peace Studies; Ingrid Jordt, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Tharaphi Than, Associate Professor of World Languages and Cultures, Northern Illinois University; and Michel Hockx, Director, Liu Institute.

Ernesto Verdeja, associate professor of political science and peace studies, talks with faculty fellow Walter Scheirer and recent Ph.D. graduate Michael Yankoski about their new project using new Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for analyzing manipulated political memes on social media, an important source of disinformation and a contributor to political instability. Learn more about the project at go.nd.edu/AIandPoliticalViolence.

George Lopez, the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies, talks with alum Alisher Khamidov (M.A. '02). Most recently, Alisher was at the University of Notre Dame during fall 2020 as the first alumni visiting research fellow. His career path since graduating with a Kroc master’s degree in 2002 has been wide-ranging. Alisher completed a Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University, worked as a journalist, studied the impact of Muslim migrants in northern England as a po…

Anna Van Overberghe, Kroc Institute Assistant Director for Academic Administration and Undergraduate Studies, sits down for a conversation with the four students taking the lead on planning for the 2021 Notre Dame Student Peace Conference, which will take place virtually from April 15-17, 2021. The planners include Oneile “Gorata” Baitlotli ('21), Grace Conroy ('22), Nicholas Clarizio ('22), and Conal Fagan ('21). Learn more about the conference at go.nd.edu/NDPeaceCon.

Current Master of Global Affairs, International Peace Studies student Cristian Sáez Flórez interviews Mirza Monterroso and Isabella Fassi, staff members at the Colibrí Center for Human Rights, where Cristian has been completing his six-month peacebuilding internship. The Colibrí Center works to create a safe, humane, and effective process for help families of missing migrants to find answers.

Laurie Nathan, Mediation Program director and professor of the practice of mediation, talks with Nicholas Haysom about his role as a mediator and lessons he's learned from mediating an end to high profile violent conflicts. Haysom is a South African lawyer, diplomat, and has served in a variety of roles for the United Nations. He currently holds the title of United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan.

Anne Hayner, Associate Director for Alumni Relations, leads a discussion on the significance of year’s Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the United Nations World Food Programme. She is joined by Peter Wallensteen, Professor Emeritus at the Kroc Institute and Senior Professor of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University in Sweden, and Denis Okello, a 2007 alum of the Kroc Institute’s Master’s in International Peace Studies and Communications Officer at FINCA International in Washington, D.C.

Professor Atalia Omer moderates a conversation highlighting the successes and challenges of interreligious peacebuilding around the world. Guests include Nell Bolton, a 2003 graduate of the Kroc Institute’s Master’s program who now works as the Senior Technical Advisor for Justice and Peacebuilding with Catholic Relief Services; Rashied Omar, a 2001 Master’s alumni and Research Scholar of Islamic Studies and Peacebuilding here at Notre Dame; and Hippolyt Pul, Executive Director at the Institute of Peace and Development in Ghana. This episode was recorded at the November 2019 Building Sustainable Peace conference.

Mary Ellen O'Connell, Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and Research Professor of International Dispute Resolution, talks with Martha C. Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, talk about how the arts can impact international law and efforts to reduce violence around the world. This is the fourth and final episode in a series focused on different themes emerging in O'Connell's 2019 book, The Art of Law in the International Community. Previous episodes focused on nonviolent resistance and international law, featuring Maria Stephan; legal arguments for prohibition of force, featuring Samuel Moyn; and peace studies and the art of law, featuring George Lopez.

This episode is a recording of an August 20, 2020, event hosted by the Kroc Institute. It features Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College, and Dr. David Anderson Hooker, associate professor of the practice of conflict transformation and peacebuilding, discussing race, higher education, and movements for justice.

Featuring Erin Corcoran, Kroc Institute Executive Director, and Tona Boyd, a 2003 Notre Dame graduate and peace studies alum who is now working as chief counsel to Senator Cory Booker on the Senate Judiciary Committee. They talk about where studying peace can take you and Tona's work on the recent Justice in Policing Act. Tona is speaking in her capacity as a Notre Dame alum, and not in her formal role as chief counsel.

Associate Professor Laura Miller-Graff talks with Kroc Institute alumni and resilience experts Katie Mansfield (M.A. '08) and Lisa McKay (M.A. '03) about strategies for cultivating resilience during long-term movements for justice and in the face of a global pandemic.

This episode is part of a series examining the mutual impacts between the COVID-19 pandemic and Catholic peacebuilding, and focuses on the way the pandemic is affecting the peace process in the world’s youngest nation, South Sudan, and the role of the Catholic community in that process. A conversation between Former Ambassador Susan Page, Fr. James Oyet Latansio, and Andrea Bartoli, produced in partnership with the Catholic Peacebuilding Network.

El equipo de la Iniciativa del Barómetro, parte del Proyecto Matriz de Acuerdos de Paz del Instituto Kroc, está proporcionando monitoreo en tiempo real del proceso de implementación del acuerdo de paz colombiano. El equipo acaba de publicar su cuarto informe exhaustivo sobre el estado de implementación y analizar los principales hallazgos del informe. Encuentre aquí el informe completo: https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/cuartoinforme. El presente podcast ha sido elaborado con el apoyo financiero de la Unión Europea. Su contenido es responsabilidad exclusiva de la Iniciativa Barómetro de la Matriz de Acuerdos de Paz (PAM) y no necesariamente refleja los puntos de vista de la Unión Europea.

The Barometer Initiative team, part of the Kroc Institute's Peace Accords Matrix Project, is providing real-time monitoring of the Colombian peace accord implementation process. The team just released their fourth comprehensive report on the status of implementation, and discuss the report's main findings. Read the full report at peaceaccords.nd.edu/fourthreport. This podcast was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the Barometer Initiative of the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) Program (part of the Kroc Institute) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

Mahan Mirza, Executive Director of the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion and Kroc Institute Teaching Faculty, talks with Professor Emeritus George Lopez and Kroc Institute Faculty Fellow Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi, about U.S. and Iran relations two years after the U.S. withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (or Iran Nuclear Deal).

Kroc Institute Associate Professor of the Practice of Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding David Anderson Hooker, talks with Catholic Peacebuilding Network partners Jean-Baptiste Talla, Nell Bolton, and Fr. Rigobert Minani about the current coronavirus pandemic and its impact on peacebuilding in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Patient advocate Najah Bazzy (Zaman International), treating clinician Hasan Shanawani (Veterans Administration National Center for Patient Safety), Aasim Padela (University of Chicago), Robert Tappan (Towson University), and Abdulaziz Sachedina (George Mason University), with moderator Ehsan Masood debate organ donation in light of Islamic tradition. A podcast from the Science and the Human Person working group.

What do religious scholars and ethicists have to say about the process of gene editing? What worries them? Listen in to the conversation with panelists Deborah Blum (MIT), Michael Fitzgerald (Boston Globe), Aline Kalbian (Florida State University), Ebrahim Moosa (University of Notre Dame), and Adil Najam (Boston University) and expert witnesses Maura Ryan (University of Notre Dame), Abdulaziz Sachedina (George Mason University), Robert Tappan (Towson University), and Andrea Vicini (Boston C…

Kroc Institute Associate Director for Alumni Relations, Anne Hayner, talks with 2014 Kroc Institute Master's alums Ketty Anyeko, a current Ph.D. student at the University of British Colombia, and Lindsay McClain Opiyo, the director of development and partnerships for Generations for Peace in Washington, D.C. They discuss reparations and justice for women survivors of war in Uganda, youth and peacebuilding, and how they chose to study peace and where it's taken them.

Kroc Institute Director, Asher Kaufman, talks with Kroc Institute faculty members, researchers, and graduate students about aspects of the current Coronavirus crisis, including gender, environmental, anthropological and indigenous considerations.

George Lopez talks with three other scholar-practitioners about how to teach peace studies in areas where there is active conflict or where conflict has just ended. This episode’s guests include Kroc Institute Visiting Research Fellow Josefina Echavarría Alvarez, Fr. Elias Omondi Opongo, Director of the Hekima Institute of Peace Studies and International Relations, and Fr. Matthew Pagan,Vice-Chancellor of the Catholic University of South Sudan.

Faculty members associated with the Madrasa Discourses project at the Kroc Institute discuss the program's unique efforts to engage madrasa scholars in conversations about religion, society and epistemology. Joshua Lupo, Madrasa Discourses classroom coordinator, moderates a conversation with Ebrahim Moosa, primary investigator for Madrasa Discourses, Mahan Mirza, Madrasa Discourses Advisor, Waris Mazhari, faculty member in India, and Ammar Khan Nasir, faculty member in Pakistan. The Madrasa Discourses project is part of the Contending Modernities initiative, which is a joint effort of the Kroc Institute and the Keough School of Global Affairs.

This episode is the third in a series of four episodes hosted by Professor Mary Ellen O’Connell focusing on themes laid out in her 2019 book, "The Art of Law in the International Community." Mary Ellen is the Robert & Marion Short Professor of Law and Research Professor of International Dispute Resolution. In this episode, she talks with Maria J. Stephan, director of the Program on Nonviolent Action at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Catherine Bolten, associate professor of anthropology and peace studies, sits down to talk with Siobhan McEvoy Levy, professor of political science and peace and conflict studies at Butler University. They discuss peace studies, pop culture, and the instrumental role of youth and young adults in building peace.

Kroc Institute Communications Program Director, Hannah Heinzekehr, talks with Peter Wallensteen, the Richard G. Starmann Sr. Research Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies, and Kroc Institute Visiting fellow Abba Hagos Hayish Fessuh about the recent awarding of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize to Ethiopian Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed. They also discuss the history and current realities of the conflict at the Ethiopian and Eritrean border and challenges and opportunities facing peacebuilders in Ethiopia.

Notre Dame Professor of Theology and Peace Studies Fr. Emmanuel Katongole and Fr. Jean Baptiste Mvukiyehe discuss the genocide in Rwanda on its twenty-fifth anniversary, the process of healing from traumatic memories, and more. This episode is one of many conversations recorded during the Kroc Institute’s Building Sustainable Peace Conference in November 2019.

Kroc Institute Director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies Jerry Powers sits down to talk with Professor Maryann Cusimano Love and Professor Tobias Winright about nuclear disarmament, the Catholic church, and what to expect during Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki in Japan from November 23 through 26.

This episode is the second part of a four part conversation featuring Professor Mary Ellen O’Connell talking about themes emerging from her 2019 book, "The Art of Law in the International Community." O’Connell is the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and Research Professor of International Dispute at Notre Dame. O’Connell is joined by Professor Samuel Moyn, the Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence and Professor of History at Yale Law School. They discuss the history of legal movements to prohibit the use of force and military aggression.

Peter Quaranto, a 2006 Notre Dame graduate and peace studies alum who works as a Senior Advisor for Peace and Security at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., talks with David Cortright, Director of Policy Studies and the Peace Accords Matrix project at the Kroc Institute. Peter discusses his career, the stabilization in international conflicts, global fragility, and how peace studies plays a role in his day-to-day work.

A conversation with Mary Kate Battle, a 2010 Notre Dame graduate and peace studies alumna who works as a Business Development Specialist with Catholic Relief Services. Mary Kate talks with Anne Hayner, Associate Director for Alumni Relations at the Kroc Institute, about her career, international development in diverse contexts, and how peace studies plays a role in her day-to-day work.

A discussion of the escalating tensions between the United States and Iran following September 14 drone strikes on Saudi Aramco oil processing facilities. George Lopez, the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies sits down to talk with Susan Page, visiting professor of the practice at the Keough School of Global Affairs, Ebrahim Moosa, professor Islamic Studies, and David Cortright, Kroc Institute Director of Policy Studies and the Peace Accords Matrix Project.

A discussion on the unprecedented global forced migration crisis, featuring Kroc Institute Executive Director Erin Corcoran, Diane Desierto, Associate Professor of Human Rights Law and Global Affairs at Notre Dame’s Keough School, and Cory Smith, an expert on U.S. immigration policy and refugee issues.

In our second episode, Kroc Institute Director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies Jerry Powers sits down to talk with Dr. James Muller, co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize winning organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and Professor Emeritus George Lopez about the history, present, and future of the movement toward nuclear disarmament.

Kroc Institute faculty members Mary Ellen O’Connell, the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and Research Professor of International Dispute Resolution and George A. Lopez, Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies, discuss international law, peace studies, realism and more, referencing O'Connell's new book, "The Art of Law in the International Community."

Peace Studies is a multidisciplinary field of study and practice in service of addressing some of the world's most pressing problems and finding strategies for building sustainable peace. Join us at The Kroc Cast for peace studies conversations convened by the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.