Professor Tim Seidel, this week’s guest on the “Peacebuilder” podcast, has played an integral role in the fields of strategic peacebuilding, global studies and interfaith engagement at Eastern Mennonite University. He brings practical experience in all three fields, having lived and worked in Palestine, Israel, and served as Mennonite Central Committee’s director for peace and justice ministries in the United States.
Seidel speaks with host Patience Kamau MA ‘17 for the third episode of the season. The “Peacebuilder” podcast, in its second season, is a production of Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary.
More than 6,500 listeners in 102 countries and 1,239 cities across the globe enjoyed Season I.
The podcast is among just a handful covering the general peacebuilding field. It is available on EMU’s Peacebuilder website, Apple Podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, TuneIn and other podcast directories.
Seidel shares his journey to EMU, where he has helped to start an undergraduate global studies major and an interfaith studies minor. Seidel also teaches graduate students at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and serves as director of EMU’s Center for Interfaith Engagement.
Seidel brings four topics to the podcast conversation and unpacks them in discussion with Kamau:
- transnational and anti-colonial connectivity and the politics of solidarity,
- critical political economy,
- violence, non-violence and resistance, and
- religion, interfaith, and the post-secular in politics, peacebuilding, and development.
Their conversation includes probing questions, ranges throughout hundreds of years of global history, touches on popular culture and current events, and follows a critical thread of colonialism into each of the topics.
In a nutshell: “How do we pay attention to the world that we live in today and its colonial constitutions? How do the colonial legacies persist into the present and what are the ways in which people inhabiting this world are struggling and resisting?”
If you’re one of those listeners who thrills to the intellectual “chase,” you will want to come to this 55-minute podcast with some paper and a pen to jot down words and names for further investigation, including the several indigenous and BIPOC scholars, authors, political figures and activists who are referenced.
Many of the ideas and explorations discussed in the podcast are explored in Seidel’s scholarly works and associated presentations. For a full list and links, visit his EMU webpage.
Seidel previously taught at American University and Lancaster Theological Seminary. He holds an MTS from Wesley Theological Seminary and a PhD from the School of International Service at American university in Washington DC. At Messiah College, he earned a BA in biochemistry with minors in anthropology and mathematics.