Read more about each winner below 

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This is the story of how a Catholic Mass organized by a Maryknoll sister, officiated by a Jesuit priest, at a Protestant school, for the mother of a Buddhist woman has become a beacon of light in my personal practice of presence with others and has influenced the development of an international trauma healing and conflict transformation program.

Project Rationale

Claudina Lacayo in Nicaragua, Carolina Fernández in Paraguay, Alejandra Benítez in Chile, Carlos Negrón in Puerto Rico, Nohemí Santiago in southern México...What do all these people have in common? They are all participants in the "Retoños en las ruinas: esperanza en el trauma" (Re-growth in the ruins: hope in trauma) program created after the devastating 2010 earthquake and tsunami in Chile. Thanks to modern technology, I continue to walk alongside these and other participants as they figure out how to bring healing and transformation to their local communities facing sociopolitical turmoil and/or recovery from natural disasters. In the process of accompaniment, I, too, have been healed and transformed.

Conflict Assessment Research

The story behind "Retoños en las ruinas" begins at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) with my own resistance to taking any of the trauma healing courses. My intent in going to EMU was to learn about conflict transformation, particularly in relationship to environmental issues. I learned, however, that until we dare to accompany each other in the process of healing from our personal and community traumas, we will not be able to reconnect in wholesome ways with the natural world.

Theory of Change

Throughout my six summers at SPI, and later in the earthquake recovery process, I explored the principles of "acompañamiento," a Spanish term that describes the privilege of walking alongside others on the path of integral healing.

Design and Plan

The principles of "acompañamiento" became the foundation for the "Retoños en las ruinas: esperanza en el trauma" program which was developed by the staff at the Shalom Center of the Pentecostal Church of Chile in cooperation with the Brookfield Institute of Massachusetts. Church and community leaders in six Latin American countries who participate in the program are continuously redesigning and contextualizing the different modules to fit the needs of the people whom they, in turn, accompany.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Besides coming together in the facilitator training courses every three or four years, we keep each other up to date through email and social media. Each course begins with a pre-course survey and ends with post-course comparative evaluation. Two research professors, who are also participants, have offered to begin a long term impact study in coordination with the facilitators.

Impact

In the "Retoños en las ruinas: esperanza en el trauma" program, the Curle Diagram is one of the basic lenses through which we study colonialism, racism/classism, rampant injustice, political strife, environmental degradation and other systemic failures that are the causes of trauma and result in complex conflicts in most of the countries and communities of Latin America. The Curle Diagram is also used to analyze the power dynamics of families, groups and churches at the local level as well as cycles of conflict connected to personal or community trauma. Intervention Plan Guided by trained facilitators, the participants in the "Retoños en las ruinas: esperanza en el trauma" workshops and courses, analyze their current reality and past history, evaluate power dynamics, and identify systems of oppression as well as latent and overt conflicts. The participants create strategies to empower individuals and groups along the healing path, and they learn skills to accompany others in navigating the chaos towards a greater sense of dignity and justice as well as healthier relationships. Impact The "Retoños en las ruinas: esperanza en el trauma" program believes that individuals and groups who have been accompanied by trustworthy, compassionate, challenging, well-prepared, and well-differentiated companions will develop the resilience, dignity, knowledge, skills, and resistance necessary to walk the intricate path through trauma towards sustainable peace.

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Project Rationale

This is a story of personal and community transformation. Having just completed our Masters in peace building we were eager to practice what we learnt. We were working very hard to bring groups together. We were trying to re-humanize the other. Going to that village was one such attempt, however the stories and the frustration took a toll on us as well. We coped differently, I picked up stones and Ashok spoke to the groups. The change came when we realized that we could work together. The healing process began when I made the first pendant and for him when he bought me the tools. The design and plan was inspired by an external factor. To us this is an important story and we are happy that we could share it.

Impact

We would measure the impact at two levels, one is what this story of picking up stones and making them into jewelry meant for those working with the refugees and in this case my fellow course mates in Oxford. On the other hand, when we went back to the community with the money (which was small) our story of personal transformation was the most important part. We did not preach and ask them to forgive and move on, we just told them how we coped with the anger and fear. How we converted the stones into something precious and gave value to it. This helped the people in the village look at life differently. They were able to see the other as human beings too. This is our achievement.

*Collection of poems being published in the anthology “Still Coming Home,” (University of Colorado, 2018).

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Since the days of Homer’s The Odyssey, veterans have returned home from war seeking homecoming via the social bond. After war, a traumatic encounter with the Real, speech to the Other is rendered much more difficult than before deployment. These veterans, in the tradition of Homer himself and Siegfried Sassoon, have used storytelling, particularly poetry, to articulate their journey home from war to audiences. Nostos (which is Greek for “homecoming from the sea,”) centers itself firmly in the Homeric storytelling tradition. Nostos aims to speak about the unspeakable experience of war through poetry via traditional literary publishing, chapobooks, poetry contests, and public readings of the raw, unfiltered, and honest portrayal of veteran’s experience of his own homecoming from the sea. Nostos takes its inspiration from Odysseus, who, upon his return to Ithaca after war, wanted only to speak freely to civilian and veteran alike in the promotion of lasting peace.

Project rationale

The rationale for this project lies in my own bifurcated identity; a veteran of the post-9/11 wars, and that of a peacebuilder, among other things. During the years since 9/11, this conflict has taken deep root within the American psyche, at tremendous cost. This war has incurred massive casualties; over a million Iraqis are estimated to have died, along with over 100,00 Afghans, to say nothing of the people of Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Kenya…and still, these statistics don’t even begin to address the untold numbers of people displaced by the Global War on “Terror.” U.S. military casualties are in the thousands, and those survivors with physical wounds from their service in the tens of thousands. As for the unseen, invisible, psychical wounds of war? Uncountable. Given the intensity, lethality, and complexity of this conflict, it should come as no surprise that there are extreme hardliners, particularly within the U.S. government, who have an interest in prolong and intensifying the war. Poetry is universal; perhaps as much so as war. It’s here that I have found the intervention for working with and within this conflict. Poetry, that universal series of Signifiers, also challenges authority and hegemony of warlike regimes. Sigmund Freud once remarked that “Everywhere I have been a poet has gone before me.” Freud himself was displaced by war, and died a refugee of the second Jewish diaspora. It is in honor of Freud and his love of poetry and opposition to war that I act. In this act, I have been writing and submitting poems about my GWOT experience to poetry journals and literary publications across the country.

Currently, I have several poems slated for publication in national anthologies, and over thirty more submitted, including an anthology titled “Still Coming Home,” through a collaboration with the Denver Veterans Writing Workshop and University of Colorado Department of the Humanities; among many others that will be available soon and in the future. I plan to monitor and evaluate this process via a third party, through my editor. Jason Arment, MFA, is a Marine Corps veteran and a published author. He has agreed to continue to push me to write a minimum of three poems a month, submit three times a week, and to have a collection of my own “war poetry” published in full by the end of 2018.

I believe through telling these stories as written and spoken by veterans, then we can counteract this insidious narrative begot by the GWOT; that the only fruit of war is a generation weaned on violence and loss on a global scale; a repetitious narrative whose only end is the end of civilization. Poetry is the foundation of civilization; as Freud wrote, “Whatever fosters the growth of civilization works at the same time against war.” By growing these poems, this space for competing narratives, for narratives of finding peace within a homecoming from war, I hope to grow civilization, and with it, to spread a more just and lasting peace.

Impact

After 9/11, the prevailing norm in the U.S. became a weaponized hatred and fear of Muslims; both domestically and internationally. With this hatred came a reification of a narrative among Americans as strong, tough, and willing to “go it alone,” and “finish the job,” [of war]; and a hyper-glorification of their veterans, who were the paladins of this new world. These drivers of conflict have led us to where we are today; a perpetual global war predicated on Americans fear of the other, stoked by their leaders. What I aim to challenge in this conflict is those prevailing toxic norms, through poetry. I believe that if my poetry, written vulnerably, honestly, and without pretense, is read by people; veterans, civilians, Americans and non-Americans alike, then it can challenge people’s perceptions of those toxic norms. I believe that my work is generating an impact in this conflict by challenging the prevailing norms around both war, and the global war on terror in particular. The norms of war lie in hatred of the Other, by thinking you understand them, or at least your idea of them. The impact of challenging toxic norms will not end this war. What this intervention can do, is that if people’s perceptions of toxic norms, of this dangerous Other are challenged; then they may put into question these deeply ossified fears, and may encourage more people to challenge this fear-based way of thinking, and ameliorate this conflict, and challenge this kind of authoritarianism that drives this conflict.

I live and work in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiápas, México. Even though I grew up in central México and speak Spanish, I am acutely aware that life in the Mayan highlands is culturally, historically, politically, socially, and linguistically different from the rest of Mexico. Therefore, I have sought out wise women to guide me as I integrate into this new life. I was sent to Chiapas to facilitate trauma healing and conflict transformation processes, but I know that before I can teach, I have much to learn. A grandmother, along with her daughters and granddaughter, have allowed me to enter into the sacred space of the back-strap loom shared by women since before the arrival of the Spaniards. Learning to weave has become a living metaphor that shapes my commitment to affirming the dignity of others, especially women and children, while nurturing my own.

Project Rationale

Self-Assessment

I am standing in a long line. I am blond, fair-skinned and blue eyed. In front of me stands a beautifully dressed Mayan woman. The attendant behind the counter looks past the Mayan woman and asks me what I need. Once again, I have a dignity choice before me. It is a choice that repeats itself in dozens of split-second decisions I make every day while living in San Cristóbal de las Casas. How do I care for the dignity of the Mayan woman, of the attendant behind the counter, and of the people watching in the rest of the line while nurturing my own dignity? Gently, I thank the attendant and remind her that the other woman was first in line. I smile at the Mayan woman and greet her in the Tseltal language I am struggling to learn: "Bixi awo´tan?" (How is your heart?) Then I look back and smile at the rest of the people in line; some smile back in approval. I have managed to weave another strand into the tapestry of dignity in a society that systematically unravels the worth of Mayan women.

Theory of Change

When I respect your dignity, I nurture my own. When you respect my dignity, you nurture your own. Dignity is lived out in community.

Design and Plan

Mutuality is essential to affirming and nurturing dignity, and I know I must earn my place in the community, not through words, but by walking in humility and solidarity. Elena, my "tocaya" (which in Spanish means we share the same name), has welcomed me into her home where three generations of women transform threads into collective works of art. They teach me "back strap weaving" in the ancient way of the Mayan women. We share our stories while we work. Elena reminds me that we must dare to look at and name the shadows of her Mayan heritage as well as enjoying and exploring the unique light that culture shines into this world. I listen and dream of weaving a tapestry of dignity where identity, understanding, equality, freedom, justice, and hope come together in culturally recognizable patterns that inform and sustain my trauma healing and conflict transformation work in Chiapas.

Impact

I recognize the shadows in the voices of Mayan girls and women:

• "My uncle says why waste money on my education since I will soon be married. In the meantime, I can work." A 10 year old Mayan girl.
• "My opinion is not important. Speaking out will bring shame to my community." A middle-aged Mayan woman.
• "True Mayan women only need to know how to weave, carry firewood, and make tortillas." A single Mayan woman in her twenties.

I am finding ways to model the principles of dignity. I will integrate wisdom gained while weaving and listening into the trauma healing and conflict transformation processes I facilitate. Impact The weaving is not yet finished. My practice of dignity may not have any long term results, but the first indications of change pop up unexpectedly. Before I knew Elena, her teenage niece, Sebastiana, refused to get married when her grandfather made the customary arrangements. Sebastiana left her village to find work. In San Cristobal de las Casas, she shared with me her love for her family traditions during many mutually enriching conversations, Eventually, Sebastiana decided to take a job as a live-in-maid in a big city. She called me when she recognized that her dignity was being violated at work. I accompanied Sebastiana in finding a safe place to live and work as well an opportunity to finish her elementary education. I am weaving my life into the tapestry of this community.

View photos of her winning entry.

‘Beyond Essays’ is an art exhibit on display in the Grebel Gallery at Conrad Grebel University College, consisting of 12 distinct pieces produced by students in Grebel’s undergraduate peace studies program. I am an adjunct lecturer in this program, and also run an art gallery in Grebel’s Centre for Peace Advancement. Inspired by John Paul Lederach's concept of the ‘moral imagination’, I curated this exhibit to draw attention to the value of arts-based assignments for facilitating creative and transformative learning about peacebuilding concepts. Each piece is an artistic expression of the research analysis students have done for a peace studies course. Pieces range in medium from photography, to paintings, to sculptures. The exhibit is running from May - October 2018. It has been used as a springboard for further conversation with Grebel’s peace studies program about further developing the strategic use of the arts to promote transformative learning within their classes.

Project Rationale

In my time at CJP, I was introduced to John Paul Lederach. According to Lederach, the moral imagination is "the capacity to imagine something rooted in the challenges of the real world yet capable of giving birth to that which does not yet exist." If this is the mark of a capable peacebuilder, then peace education must create opportunities for students to think creatively – even artistically – about peacebuilding theory and practice. The context I have found myself immersed in since CJP is not a conflict zone. I’ve been working at a peace centre at a Canadian academic institution, which has placed me in a position to be able to work strategically toward innovative approaches to peacebuilding locally and globally. In this role, I work to bridge the gap between peacebuilding and the arts on a daily basis, through managing the Grebel Gallery – a gallery with a mandate to elevate “peace through artistic expression”. Since graduating from CJP in 2013, I have also been an adjunct lecturer with Conrad Grebel’s peace studies program, where I continue to grapple with concepts like the moral imagination and its place within peace education.

In the years since CJP, I have encountered further research on the value of creative assignments in academia more broadly. Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence (MI) Theory advocates that intelligence needs a broader definition beyond the linguistic and logical modes which are more highly valued in Western higher education. In the peace studies program for which I teach, students are required to engage in critical analysis around course material, but also in critical reflection around their own biases and assumptions. There are times when traditional learning strategies fail to capture the transformative learning they have done. Arts assignments are frequently offered to students, as a way to apply the inclusive pedagogy of MI and invite students to engage with the deeply transformative and metacognitive aspects of their learning.

In fall of 2017, I curated and launched ‘Beyond Essays’, an art exhibit on display in the Grebel Gallery at Conrad Grebel University College, consisting of 12 distinct art pieces produced by students in this peace studies program for academic credit. Kai Butterfield chose the arts option in my class on Restorative Justice in 2017. Kai created a photography tryptic highlighting anti-Black biases in the Canadian justice system, and uses this piece as an advocacy tool. Her piece exemplifies that art can be used to demonstrate and evaluate transformative learning while simultaneously moving the needle on an important peace issue. ‘Beyond Essays’ is a storytelling project designed to highlight a challenge and opportunity within the peacebuilding field, while pointing to one solution and its impact on student learning. Currently, the exhibit is being used as a springboard for further conversation with Grebel’s peace studies program to assess and develop the strategic use of the arts for promoting transformative classroom learning. This conversation is in process.

Impact

If peacebuilders need strong creative insight to assess and address conflict and violence, then peace education needs to provide creative opportunities to cultivate morally imaginative peacebuilders so that they are capable of understanding, and responding to, the complex realities of the field.

To view photos from the project, please visit www.jerusalemstories.org.

Jerusalem Stories is a conflict resolution and cultural project that uses personal stories and portrait photographs as tools to build empathy and understanding.  Since 2002, Carol Grosman, an award-winning writer, storyteller and conflict resolution practitioner, and award-winning photographer, Lloyd Wolf, have interviewed and photographed a widely diverse range of Jerusalem residents, asking them to share personal stories about a variety of issues including: their identities and histories; their experiences of life amidst conflict; and their own personal connections to the city of Jerusalem.  Carol Grosman developed the Jerusalem Stories Performance Exhibit Dialogues (JSPED) based on these interviews and photographs.  JSPED is a series of performed monologues, with an accompanying photography and text exhibit and post-performance small group discussions.  

Jerusalem Stories was begun during the Second Intifada, a time of increased violence and division between Israelis and Palestinians, as a tool to communicate powerfully across lines.  Jerusalem Stories enables audiences to develop a human perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by presenting the deeply moving experiences of a broad variety of Jerusalem residents whose rich lives have been profoundly affected by years of violent conflict.  Personal stories enable readers to step into the shoes of the “other,” imagining their world.  Portrait photographs show undeniable humanity.  Together, these mediums open audiences to new perspectives in a way that intellectual discourse does not. 

Jerusalem Stories challenges enemy stereotypes by richly portraying diverse people and their lives in easily relatable ways.  Our work crosses linguistic barriers through translation and educates both sides about the “other’s” religion, culture and history.  By sharing what the city means to her residents, Jerusalem Stories vividly demonstrates how people from so many backgrounds can have authentic ties to this extraordinary place.  An international team of researchers evaluated a series of JSPED programs and found them to “promote inter-communal recognition and understanding.”  

Learn more in this Christian Science Monitor article, “On stage in Jerusalem, Jewish and Arab audiences hear the other side of the story – in their own language."

Watch the winning entry

My storytelling project weaves a tale of how I have fought to overcome gender oppression.  My winning entry, a poem entitled “I Am Not Your Thing,” is a piece of spoken word which I wrote to counter my own internalized objectification from growing up among peers who consumed pornography.  It emphasizes how I regained my sense of self.

Project Rationale

The conflict at the center of my storytelling project is a conflict of the self… more specifically internalized objectification and patriarchy.  I grew up in a conservative, mostly white community in the rural Midwest of the United States where women were not allowed to be religious leaders and men were expected to make decisions as head of household.  As a bright child, these dynamics had an impressionable impact on me, especially as I saw male peers treated differently due to gender stereotypes.  This discomfort was amplified by my proximity to pornography addictions, which devastated me as a developing teenage girl.  I internalized the message that I, too, was an object.  Even though I excelled in school, I felt powerless in my personal life due to negative societal messaging about patriarchy and objectification.

Impact

The conflict of internalized objectification and patriarchy is driven by silence and messaging which restricts the possible ways for women to be and to move in this world.  As such, it can be mitigated by identifying and unearthing such dynamics.  My theory of change is that if I am able to name what I have experienced through creative media, then I will be able to move beyond the cages of my past and inspire others to do so as well.  The feelings of powerlessness and internalized silence can be transformed by describing and sharing experiences.  Acknowledging negative messaging can then be surpassed through positive messaging to transform one’s inner conflict.