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Call for Proposals

"Building Cultures of Peace"
6th Annual Conference of the
Peace and Justice Studies Association
in conjunction with the Peace and Conflict Studies Consortium
September 11-14, 2008
Portland State University
Portland, Oregon
~ Submit a Proposal: DEADLINE APRIL 1, 2008 ~

War is raging with no end in sight. Politics alone has not solved it. Media has not ended war. Religion does not seem to bring peace. Education alone is impotent. Families are providing cannon fodder, not enough peace builders. Economic instruments and systems seem to favor war more than peace. Law is not bringing the killing to an end. Music, painting, plays, fiction, film--the arts are justifying war more than peace.

None of these elements of our culture are oriented enough toward peace; all are crucial components of our culture. Indeed, each affects each other and each affects the outcome: will our culture tend to produce war or tend to produce peace?

This systemic approach, interdisciplinary and ecological in its organic understanding of our net of life, will be the focus of the Peace and Justice Studies Association's 6th annual conference, to be held in collaboration with the Peace and Conflict Studies Consortium on September 11-14, 2008 at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.

As our mission statement says, "We are dedicated to bringing together academics, K-12 teachers and grassroots activists to explore alternatives to violence and share visions and strategies for peace-building, social justice, and social change." Therefore, we seek contributions that explore how to build a culture of peace in research, teaching and action:

• In Peace Studies, how can we encourage systemic thinking and critical exploration of the idea of a culture of peace? How can we prepare our students to work effectively in their chosen fields and in life for this new outcome?
  
• How can we strengthen K-12 education that promotes peace based on creating peace heroes, peace expectations, peace by peaceable means as our highest values? How can the education of young people foster their appreciation of, and pursuit of, nonviolent management of all conflict? What can schools of education do to promote this focus in K-12 education? What successful practices can we share?
  
• What does scholarly research, across the disciplines, have to offer in delineating a culture of peace? What political, social and economic structures best assist human communities in prioritizing a culture of peace? What case studies, negative and positive, can help us work through these issues?
  
• What strategies can activists share of ways in which they've struggled for peace, or led communities in defining what is a culture of peace and justice?
  
• What can peace professionals of all stripes, from the classroom to the offices of institutes to the fields of humanitarian capacity building tell us about our best practices and the state of the art?

Peace scholars, educators, activists, administrators and students interested in presenting at the conference should submit their proposals through the online form. Streams & Sessions: There will be ten categories (streams) representing aspects of the Conference Theme, plus a film section and authorial book reading section. Each stream will have sessions 90 minutes in length which focus upon a topic relevant to that stream. Proposals appropriate to a particular Conference Stream and Session may be made in the form of 1) research papers, 2) workshops, 3) roundtable discussions, or 4) other presentations (such as those associated with posters or film screenings). You will need to submit an abstract of no more than 300 words along with your contact details and the preferred format of your proposal.

The twelve streams for conference proposals include the following: Peace Education in Colleges and Universities; Peace Education from Birth through High School; Women, Gender and Sexuality; Race, Class and Intersectionality; Art, Media and Communications; Responding to Genocide and War; Theories of Nonviolence and Conflict Resolution; Grassroots Organizing, Coalitions and Movements; Environmental Sustainability and Alternative Futures; Faith and Peace; Film; Authorial Book Readings.

Undergraduates in particular are encouraged to submit proposals for the student poster session.

DEADLINE for submission of proposals is April 1, 2008.

For more information, please contact us at pjsa@usfca.edu, but do not submit proposals via this address. Proposals will only be accepted through the online form available at: http://www.peacejusticestudies.org/conference/submitprop.php.

Proposal Submission Form