Thursday, November 1
12:30 - 2 p.m.
C-103, Hesburgh Center for International Studies

A light lunch will be served.

Many people believe religious leaders can play an important role in transforming conflict. Others are pessimistic about the degree to which interreligious dialogue can address the causes and dynamics of conflict.  In this lecture, Reina Neufeldt will explore the potential of interreligious dialogue in constructively altering conflict, particularly focusing on identity dimensions of conflict.  She will use examples and insights from a decade-long dialogue process in southern Mindanao in the Philippines among Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim leaders.

Reina Neufeldt is a scholar-practitioner whose work focuses on the intersection of religious and ethnic identity in conflict, peacebuilding, and development.  She completed an M.A. in social psychology from York University, Canada, and received her Ph.D. in international relations from the School of International Service, American University, in 2005.  Her doctoral dissertation, “Barn Razing: Continuity and Change in Identity during Conflict,” explored continuities and changes in one ethno-religious group’s identification across three decade-long periods of conflict. 

Neufeldt has worked extensively with non-government development organizations on peacebuilding.  Since 2000, she has worked for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) on peacebuilding capacity building, program and strategy development, and organizational learning.  Most recently, she worked for CRS in Southeast Asia as regional technical advisor for peacebuilding in East Timor, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam. 

Neufeldt is co-author of Peacebuilding:  A Caritas Training Manual (2001) and Reflective Peacebuilding:  A Planning, Monitoring and Learning Toolkit (2007), as well as many journal articles. At the Kroc Institute, she is exploring the relationship between religious and ethnic identity in inter-group conflict and peacebuilding.  She will investigate if, how, and in what ways a ten-year interfaith dialogue process in Mindanao, Philippines, has affected group identity outside of religious identity.

All are welcome.

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