21st Annual Peace Studies Conference

Educating for Peace and Justice: From Minneapolis-St. Paul to Johannesburg

Monday, September 22 from 1:00-9:00 pm.

Quad 264, SJU

1:00-1:10 Quad 264 Opening and Welcome: Dr. Jeffrey Anderson, Conference Coordinator, Peace Studies Department and Dr. Joseph DesJardins, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs.

1:10-2:10 Quad 264 “The Human Cost of Biofuels: Malnutrition and Mortality Among Children in Poor Developing Countries: 2000-2015” Dr. C. Ford Runge, Rhodes Scholar and Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Applied Economics and Law at the University of Minnesota. 

This workshop will explore how children under five in poor developing countries are especially vulnerable to food insecurity resulting from rising grain prices induced by the diversion of food and feed to fuel use. The implications for these vulnerable populations if current trends continue are stark: tens of millions of poor children will become malnourished and several million will die. These are consequences not of the vagaries of nature, but of purposive policies in rich countries to subsidize and promote the diversion of food and feed to fuel. These policies can and should be reversed. Check out his bio at www.law.umn.edu/facultyprofiles/rungef.html and his 2007 article in Foreign Affairs at www.foreignaffairs.org/20070501faessay86305/c-ford-runge-benjamin-senauer/how-biofuels-could-starve-the-poor.html   

2:40-3:40 Concurrent Workshops

		Concurrent Session A, Quad 264	Understanding Solidarity in the Global Context: Study Abroad and Service Trips	Presented by Jessica Guentzel, Assistant Director, CSB Campus Ministry and Dr. Ron Pagnucco, Associate Professor of Peace Studies at CSB
		Concurrent Session B, Quad 365	Men's Involvement in the Movement to End Violence Against Women: The How's, Why's and Holdups	Presented by Ed Heisler, Community Education Coordinator, Safe Haven Shelter for Battered Women, Duluth, MN
		Concurrent Session C, Quad 343	Educating for Justice and Human Rights: Immigration Myths and Realities	Presented by Caitlyn Lothian, CSB/SJU Senior Peace Studies and Sociology Major

4:00-5:15 Quad 264 “Before Their Time: The World of Child Labor” Presented by David L. Parker, MD, MPH. This talk will present photographs of child labor from around the world. Dr. Parker will discuss the types of work that are done by children and the impact of work on their lives.

David Parker is an occupational health physician at the Park Nicollet Clinic. His photographs have been widely exhibited throughout the United States and Canada. His work is in the collections of the Minnesota Institute of Arts and the Library of Congress. Check out details on this physician, photographer, public health expert, and his most recent book at www.amazon.com/Before-Their-Time-World-Child/dp/1593720246

7:30-9:00 Quad 264, “The Real Work of Reconciliation" presented by Linda Biehl.  A personal story evolving from South Africa's "Long Walk to Freedom" (as Nelson Mandela puts it so well). The emphasis is on the generosity of spirit displayed by people trying to mend broken hearts. The role of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will be emphasized.

Linda is the mother of Amy Biehl, who was killed 15 years ago while on a Fulbright Scholarship in S. Africa.  She and Peter Biehl founded the Amy Biehl Foundation in the wake of Amy's death to work in the township where Amy was murdered.  She received Notre Dame's Hesburgh Award in 2008 and this year she was awarded one of S. Africa's highest honors.  The award was presented by President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria.  The family went through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in S. Africa and supported the granting of amnesty to Amy’s killers.  Much information on the Biehl family can be found at www.amybiehl.org  In the video Long Nights Journey into Day Amy’s case is one of four Truth and Reconciliation cases documented in the film. Details on this film, which won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary in 2000, are available at http://www.irisfilms.org/longnight/.  Copies are available at the SJU library.

If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact the Conference Coordinator:

Dr. Jeffrey Anderson, CSB/SJU Peace Studies Department

janderson@csbsju.edu

320-363-3047 All sessions are free and open to the public, no registration necessary.

The Peace Studies Department at Saint John's University and College of Saint Benedict is grateful to Lorraine and the late Robert Breitenbucher for their financial support in presenting this conference.  Robert Breitenbucher passed away in October 2004 -- his spirit of peacemaking lives on.