Author Archives: Bryan Molina

Can Peace Be A Profession?

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Peace Studies encapsulates such an interdisciplinary and multifaceted area of study and field of work. It’s one of the most wonderful yet very challenging aspects of dedicating myself to this field. It’s wonderful in that so many experiences in and out of the classroom have provided me with critical thinking skills and a wealth of knowledge on various crucial topics in our world today. However, though this is true, it is difficult because it has so many different paths and lanes available for us to explore, which can make it challenging to narrow down our specific passions, especially when we have passions for many different areas. This is certainly the case for me and is something I am still narrowing down and figuring out as the semester progresses. As two of my mentors told me once, “It’s amazing and so great that you have so many passions and interests that you would like to work in, but it’s important to remember that you often can’t address all of these at once. You need to start somewhere!”

As my time as a Peace Studies major at Chapman is drawing to a close, I have had many experiences that have supported the narrowing of my interests and passions. As I studied different conflicts and social movements, I realized that I have a deep desire to work in the human rights field. I was motivated and inspired by those fighting to ensure that people around the world have access to their basic human needs and that their basic human rights are respected. This was an important realization that allowed me to narrow down my specific interests further, though there is still work to be done as human rights is also a very broad term. 

A few years ago, I began working as the Lead Food Pantry Student Assistant on campus, a role that I never really thought about doing until an opportunity came up. I didn’t know much about food insecurity or how food pantries functioned but I was drawn to the job because I wanted to help people and wanted to support an important campus resource. As I worked at the pantry and as I saw the growth and the impact it had, I became passionate about the specific basic human needs and human rights relating to food security and poverty around the world. Though I am not sure if this is the specific path that I would like to take, it is nice to see that it is a very significant option for me to explore. This experience has also opened my eyes to the possibility of wanting to work in the non-profit sector on similar social issues and changed the way that I think about a profession in Peace Studies. It has broadened what the possibilities are.

Although the narrowing down process is difficult, I believe that we will keep working at doing it through the experiences and opportunities that our lives and our future jobs will provide us. We will work in jobs that sound perfect but perhaps are not exactly what we are looking for and this will inform us and continue to support our narrowing of what exactly we are looking to do. Each experience is thus like an additional puzzle piece added to create a full image. When asked, “Can peace be a profession?” the answer is clearly yes, however a more important question I think is “what specific aspect of peace will be mine/your profession?” It can be scary not having that sort of certainty or closure about what exactly our professions will be, I know that I am certainly stressed and anxious about it but that’s normal. We are young and we are smart, it’ll take some time but I’m sure that there is a profession for all of us within this field it just may take some time to see exactly what that profession is. Overall, it is important that we recognize that life is constantly changing and despite this being a scary occurrence, it is important that we learn to be flexible and to embrace change.

Peace As A Profession: Dr. Angela Lederach Interview

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Photo of Dr. Angela Lederach

Dr. Angela Lederach

I was very excited to be able to conduct an interview with Dr. Angela Lederach and share more information/takeaways that I noted regarding the Peace and Justice field. Dr. Lederach is currently a professor at Chapman University within the Peace and Conflict Studies department and has spent a significant amount of time in Latin America, namely Colombia. Below is a synopsis of the questions/responses from my interview with her:

  • Tell me a bit about your background in the Peace & Conflict field, including how you got involved in the field and what led you to your current role as a professor at Chapman.

Dr. Lederach grew up in a family that was significantly involved in the field, with her parents being very committed to peace-building work. She spent many of her early years in Latin America, namely Costa Rica, during the 80s solidarity movement in which she worked with the exiled indigenous leaders of the Miskito people. She has worked mainly with grassroots and civil society groups in advocacy/post-advocacy work and post-war reconstruction. With regard to her studies, she majored in both anthropology and peace studies at the University of Notre Dame. After which she spent two years in the Phillippines working on grassroots and peace education.

  • I know you spent a lot of time working in Colombia. Can you tell me more about what you did there and the population you worked with?

In Colombia, Dr. Lederach was working in the Montes de Maria, a location where the Peace Accords implementation was prioritized, as this site suffered an immense amount of violence. Dr. Lederach had been working in this area since before the peace accords were signed and was studying and researching more to understand what it looked like for people to build peace and the language/rhetoric used to do so up until the peace accords were signed. Her research seeks to understand the differing relationship between the community’s and the national level’s peace process, and a finding has included that international peace-building interventions can undermine and really destabilize the fragile process of community reconciliation. Dr. Lederach is also interested in how civil organizations worked to advocate and combat harmful forms of intervention in a way that called for changes while still supporting a peace accord and resolution. 

  • What has been your favorite part about working in the Peace and Conflict field?

Dr. Lederach explained that she loves that this is an applied field that is engaged. She highlighted that in this field, we are asking questions in really empirical ways that help us understand the significant questions of “What reduces violence?” and “How can we create peace?” The field is proactive and has implications for policy and future peace efforts. She also mentioned that she truly loves the depth of the commitment that people within the field show toward creating a better and more peaceful world. 

  • Do you have any advice for graduating university students who want to enter this field?

Dr. Lederach explained that there is not a clear pathway when you study peace and conflict, unlike other areas in which there is more of a linear pathway to your career. With this, she stressed that our studies and this field have skills that are directly applicable and useful to any path you decide to take or any specific focus you are exploring. The concepts, theories, questions, and commitments apply everywhere, whether in healthcare, the United Nations, or otherwise. While this is a good thing, it can also be overwhelming; too many paths can make narrowing down your future challenging. Her advice thus was that instead of seeking a singular pathway or answer, focus on identifying the core areas that deeply resonate with you and ask yourself, “What skills have I developed/do I need to develop for this area, and how will I apply them?” From there, it is about applying yourself and seeking the experiences and opportunities to push you forward.

This interview provided me with a couple of takeaways that really surprised me and also helped me understand the potential for my future career in the peace and justice field. The first important takeaway is that the peace and justice field encompasses such a wide variety of different pathways and possibilities for what my future career could look like. It can range from working in the non-profit sector grassroots activism to working for the United Nations and other international organizations. With that being said, it is vital that I recognize that this is both beneficial and also a bit of a struggle. In order for me to truly find what direction I want to go in, I need to identify my core passions and the ways in which I can reach those areas. The second takeaway is that this field often requires a good amount of moving around as opportunities and needs are present all around the world. That said, it does not really bother me, but it is something that I should keep in mind while planning out my next steps after graduation and something I should be prepared for going forward.

Reflection: “Continuing To Learn and Educate for Shared Humanity”

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The Israel-Palestine conflict has spanned generations and has provided many lessons about the challenges and barriers that can present themselves when attempting to build peace. The roots of the conflict have existed for many decades, and the amount of suffering and violence that has been experienced is immense. The recent events on October 7th have escalated the conflict, and we are now witnessing one of the largest modern humanitarian crises. I am not the most educated or informed on this conflict and have been trying to learn more and navigate through sources to uncover a deeper understanding of the root causes and the challenges within this conflict. Because of this, I was very happy and grateful to have had the opportunity to attend Mira Sucharov and Omar Dajani’s talk at the Fish Interfaith Center and learn more about the conflict and prospects for peace, among other important topics. 

Although I do wish that the talk spoke more specifically about the conflict and the build-up to current events, I still felt that there were many important lessons that are crucial to our consideration and analysis of this topic, especially through a Peace Studies lens. The opportunity to listen to two speakers, one Jewish and one Palestinian, presented important questions and insights that allowed us to touch on various important aspects of peace and conflict analysis. 

The first that came to mind was narrative theory, in which learning and listening to the different perspectives and narratives from both speakers allows us to understand more deeply the framing of the conflict as well as the root causes/concerns present for either party in conflict. During the talk, for example, Omar mentioned that his initial rejection/distrust with regard to reports of Palestinian sexual violence towards Israeli women was, in hindsight, more due to his fears of what these allegations would mean for Palestine as opposed to simply a denial of the reports. This is very important to keep in mind because it speaks to the changes in the ways in which different actors within the conflict may interpret information differently and the ways that fears and concerns impact this interpretation.

Omar and Mira also did something extremely important and impactful during their talk that is crucial to the process of peacemaking in conflict zones: they acknowledged the suffering of the other party in the conflict. At times, it can be immensely challenging to acknowledge that the “other” has also suffered through great violence, tragedy, and anguish throughout the conflict. Despite this, it is extremely important to do so as it highlights the need to create peace and the importance of ceasing the violence and human suffering occurring. In addition, I think it is an incredibly brave and powerful message that these speakers are sending that, despite not always being well received by their communities, can inspire a similar empathy and understanding in many others. 

A final thought I had as I reflected on this event was regarding the power and the importance of language in the dialogue occurring when discussing conflicts. This was a central idea within the speakers’ event as they highlighted the sensitivity and consideration that is crucial to creating effective dialogue regarding this topic. Mira highlighted the difficulties, confusion, and controversy regarding the term “Zionism” for example. This is an important lesson for us to understand as we conduct research and analyze different conflicts around the world. We must be cautious and informed when selecting the words we use and we must understand that words carry a significant and potentially destructive weight to them. If we will be agents of change and peace, we must ensure that we are mindful of the impacts that our writing and talks can have.

Overall, this event was very informative for me and I was very happy to be able to attend. I plan to continue researching, reflecting, and having that dialogue with others that Mira and Omar highlighted as essential to understanding the conflict today.