Patricia Maulden

For Dr. Patricia Maulden, being an ICAR alum has advantages. First, as an Assistant Professor of the undergraduate program, Patricia knows how to relate to students' trials and tribulations as practitioners in an emerging field. A second advantage is the opportunity to advise students on job-hunting in a competitive marketplace. But the most exciting advantage of one who journeyed through ICAR are the bragging rights about all the new ICAR graduates coming up through the ranks. As the conflict field grows, so too does the undergraduate program and Patricia cites the positive contributions from ICAR faculty and undergraduate staff as the reasons for the program's success.

Additionally, Patricia directs the Dialogue and Difference Project. The first project—the After- Election Dialogue—was attended by 49 students and facilitated by nine student facilitators. Patricia explains that the goal of such dialogues is not to convince but to understand. She stresses that "the dialogue process focuses on acknowledging differences, discovering similarities, and possibly exploring how individuals or groups can reframe their relationship in order to work toward specific and mutually desirable ends." Providing the groundwork for relationship building, the Project gives students the opportunity to learn the skills needed to move from theory to practice—the most valuable aspect.

Patricia's research interests involve generational and gendered dynamics of violence. Her theory of social militarization analyzes the sanctioning of  personal and social violence through changes in social-cultural norms, values, and practices. The generational aspect focuses on the changing roles of the adult and child, such as using children as combatants. The gender component observes the role of  girl soldiers and the differentiation in treatment from that of  boys during war and peace.