 |
Dissertation Proposal Defense - Alex Cromwell
Stimulating Change for Building a Culture of Peace: The Long-Term Effects of the Benjamin Franklin Summer Institute with South and Central Asia
Monday, June 15th
1:00pm -3:00pm
Conferenc Room 5145
Committee Members:
Prof. Susan Hirsch (chair)
Prof. Arthur Romano
Prof. Pamela Garner (New Century College)
Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to assess the long-term effects of the Benjamin Franklin Summer Institute with South and Central Asia, a one-month peace education program that took place in Fairfax, Virginia, in the summers of 2010, 2011, and 2012. It will focus on the Pakistani participants from the program and examine how three theories of change—shifts in consciousness, culture of peace, and building bridges—account for long-term changes of various types that these participants experience, as well as alternative explanations for any changes. I will also measure participants’ contribution at the community, or “meso”, level, showing how individual changes impact cultures of peace at the broader societal level. The specific research question aimed at addressing this issue is: how, and to what extent, do field-based peace education programs in the context of ethnopolitical conflict facilitate long-term changes in participants toward building a culture of peace? This study will inform best practices of designing, administering, and evaluating field-based peace education programs in the context of ethnopolitical conflict and help to refine and develop theories that account for the long-term vision of creating cultures of peace in the midst of violent conflict.