Making Peace in a Time of War

June 20, 2011

How do we make an art of peace that rivals the arts of war and terror? As we approach the ten-year mark of the ‘long war’ against global terrorism and local insurgencies, witness new struggles of resistance and liberation in the Middle East, search for hopeful opportunities amidst a series of natural and man-made disasters, the art of peace takes on a new urgency.

This is the impetus behind an uncommon gathering of scholars, practitioners, artists, and filmmakers for a conference, The Art of Peace in a Time of War, June 21-23 in Quebec. The conference aims to catalyze a new research initiative and result in various publications and media, including a documentary film.

Initiated by the Global Media Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies, coordinated by Institute Professor James Der Derian and Visiting Fellow Nisha Shah, and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the conference is co-sponsored by the Balsillie School of International Affairs, University of Toronto’s Canada Centre for Global Security Studies, University of Waterloo’s Conrad Grebel University College, University of Ottawa, and University of Texas-San Antonio.