Kroc Institute Visiting Fellow 2007-08

Room 306, Hesburgh Center for International Studies
Notre Dame, IN 46556

Phone: (574) 631-8533
Email: rneufel1@nd.edu

Reina C. Neufeldt is a scholar-practitioner whose work focuses on the intersection of religious and ethnic identity in conflict, as well as peacebuilding and development.  She received her Ph.D. in international relations from the School of International Service, American University, in 2005.  She completed an M.A. in social psychology from York University, Canada, focusing on problem-solving workshops as a methodology for inter-group conflict transformation.  Her doctoral dissertation, "Barn Razing: Continuity and Change in Identity during Conflict,” used an historical grounded theory methodology to explore continuities and changes in one ethno-religious group’s identification across three decade-long periods of conflict. 

Her research identified how particular identity dynamics related to the larger conflict context and the choices made by group leaders in relation to that conflict.  As a practitioner, Neufeldt has worked extensively with non-governmental development organizations on peacebuilding.  Since 2000, she has been employed by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), supporting peacebuilding capacity building, program and strategy development, and organizational learning.  She has worked at CRS headquarters and more recently in Southeast Asia, where she was the Regional Technical Advisor for Peacebuilding, operating in East Timor, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam. 

Neufeldt has written both popular and scholarly pieces.  She co-authored “Peacebuilding: A Caritas Training Manual” (2001) and “Reflective Peacebuilding: A Planning, Monitoring and Learning Toolkit” (2007), as well as journal articles on peacebuilding evaluation, the ethics of conflict transformation interventions, and the construction of international norms on peacebuilding and order. She has a chapter forthcoming in a book on just policing and international order (Schlabach, forthcoming).

At the Kroc Institute, Neufeldt will explore 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 dimensions of group identity outside of religious identity – dimensions (ethnic and clan) that have been implicated in fueling the conflict.  The research will contribute to understanding the extent to which interfaith dialogue may be used to build bridges between groups who are divided along more than religious lines. 

 

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