SPI 2022

 Kajungu Mturi and Dana Coles

Live online course dates and times:

• M, W, 3:30pm - 6pm(EDT)

If you are not on the east coast of the US, click here and add your city/country to see the time difference.

Restorative justice is a system of justice that believes crimes and violence cause harm to people, relationships, and community.  To move forward in life, we have to understand and repair the harms that have been caused.  This course provides an introductory examination of the values, principles, and practices of restorative justice and how restorative justice differs from our current punishment-based system of justice. 

 Restorative Justice is not just a list of specific programs or a clear blueprint for systemic change. Instead, it is a theory, social movement, and set of practices that requires a radically different way of viewing, understanding, and responding to individual and collective harms and needs. Participants will explore how restorative justice

• Presents a philosophy of justice that addresses the needs of multiple stakeholders, including the victim, the community, and the offender
• Draws from faith-based and indigenous approaches
• Challenges interpersonal and structural forms of harm. 

 We will examine restorative justice through a diverse set of practical and theoretical lenses, inquiries including racial justice, trauma healing, education, community development, and transitional justice. This course will equip participants to:  

• Compare and contrast multiple practices of justice, and their personal and social impacts. 
• Explain concepts, principles, and values of restorative justice  to various audiences. 
• Describe primary models of restorative justice practice generally, and in relation to specific settings.
• Identify and analyze critical issues in the restorative justice field, and articulate potential solutions. 
• Apply restorative justice to a variety of cases and contexts, integrating analysis of the needs of stakeholders and multiple dimensions of differences such as class, race and gender.

Bridget Mullins

Watch a video about the course

Live online course dates and times:

• Tu, Th, 1pm - 3pm(EDT)

If you are not on the east coast of the US, click here and add your city/country to see the time difference.

In a complex, interconnected, and emergent world we have to change how we do things, not just what we do, in order to truly co-create meaningful innovation and catalyze positive social change. Unwittingly, the conventional structures we use to organize, plan, and collaborate stifle inclusion and flatten complexity. Whether you work in an NGO, a public institution, a community group, a school, or a social movement, you may regularly experience some of the following realities that block most people’s ability to work together creatively and productively:

• Rigid organizations expressing a desire for change but little movement
• Power and hierarchy getting in the way of freedom and responsibility
• Exclusion, mistrust, and disengaged people
• Unproductive, boring meetings
• Difficult conversations routinely avoided

In this course, we will practice the mindsets needed to re-design the world. We will discover alternate structures for unleashing and including peoples’ wisdom and creative imaginations, exploring ways to invite in more complexity, more voices, and more experiences to design resilient solutions. 

 Course objectives:

• Resist, subvert, and transgress habitual ways of working and organizing.
• Explore the fundamental principles of a design methodology called Liberating Structures, to create truly participatory and collaborative processes. 
• Draw from artistic processes and applied theatre techniques to invite discovery, play, and yes, and…! mindsets.
• Adapt the use of each method for specific settings--whether you’re working virtually or face-to-face, within your community, family, or place of work.
• Create ample space to connect with and support each other in developing new practices in ways that are coherent with our local or personal contexts.

 Martha Brown

Live online course dates and times:

• M, Th, 11am - 1pm(EDT)

If you are not on the east coast of the US, click here and add your city/country to see the time difference.

This is an introductory-level course designed to introduce beginners to basic Circle-keeping skills. No past experience is required or necessary. During these five weeks, we will explore the values and philosophy that provide the foundation of the peacemaking circle process, acknowledging its indigenous origins. Participants will analyze the structure of the peacemaking circle process and participate in a variety of types of instructor and student-led Circles. Participants will learn to design and conduct peacemaking circles for community building and conflict resolution. Both philosophy and practice will be addressed.

The entire course will be conducted in virtual Circle using Zoom, relying upon the life experiences of participants as a major source of knowledge. The course will also engage learners in readings, videos, small group work, group discussion, and limited lecture. Special attention will be given to the roles of the co-facilitator and the key skills of Circle facilitation. Participants will be required to spend up to 2 hours a week outside of class reading required texts and other materials provided by the instructor and designing Circle Plans. Participants will be encouraged to co-keep Circles with other students based on themes in the assigned materials in order to practice Circle-keeping skills and obtain coaching and feedback in real time.

Some technological efficacy is needed, although Zoom support will be provided. Assignments will be delivered via email and may include documents to be downloaded.

The course will meet every Monday and Thursday from 11:00 am EST to 1:00 pm EST from February 14 until March 17. Participants are expected to attend all sessions. PLEASE CHECK YOUR TIME ZONE to ensure you are able to attend classes prior to registering.

Jonathan Jenner and Srishti Yadav

Live online course dates and times:

• Tu, Th, 9am - 11:30am(EDT)

If you are not on the east coast of the US, click here and add your city/country to see the time difference.

Develop analytical tools that serve the planet and people, with a perspective rooted in ecology and the struggles for liberation from patriarchy, imperialism, racism, and class domination. This course seeks to demystify the economy and enable students to critically assess how economies can either serve justice or perpetuate injustice. Participants will examine capitalism from the lens of political economy while thinking about the ways in which social power functions in our economic lives. The course is structured as a series of workshops that explore unorthodox political economy, economic history, and philosophy.  

This class is intended to have broad appeal to anyone who would like to sharpen their understanding of economics. As such, we do not assume any prior knowledge and will build up our analysis in class. Course readings (some required, most optional) will range from introductory to deep analysis and instructors will be available for out-of-class consultation.

 Course Goals and Objectives:

By the end of this course, students should:

• Understand and describe the features of capitalism and its interaction with various matrices of social power;
• Comprehend (and critically appraise) a range of economic policies and policy proposals from the perspective of political economy;
• Not be intimidated (or, be less intimidated) by the dense and often inaccessible language of economics;
• Establish a base of knowledge of concepts to which students can return, with resources for those investigations;
• Present on how a particular economic structure of interest may perpetuate injustice and appraise ways in which alternatives may serve justice.

Gloria Rhodes and Claudia Moreira

Analysis focuses on understanding the factors that cause conflict and violence and those that support peacebuilding. Good conflict analysis skills are a central component of designing effective strategies for transforming conflict and building peace.

Course participants will use lenses including identity (gender, religion, nationality, etc.), human needs, narratives, power, culture, worldview, and others to understand conflict and propose possibilities for change.  Case studies of conflicts at multiple levels will provide content and an opportunity to practice analysis skills individually and in small groups. Participants will become more aware of their own roles and biases in conflicts through self-analysis and will develop their ability to “see” and describe conflict from different perspectives. The class will also focus on research strategies for gathering and organizing data and developing theories of change as an intermediate step from analysis to designing effective social change.

Jonathan Swartz and Mikayla W C McCray

This course provides an introductory examination of the values, principles, and practices of restorative justice. Restorative justice is not a list of specific programs or a clear blueprint for systemic change. Instead, it is a theory, social movement, and set of practices that requires a radically different way of viewing, understanding, and responding to individual and collective harms and needs. We explore how restorative justice presents a philosophy of justice that recognizes, explores, and addresses the needs of multiple stakeholders, draws from faith-based,indigenous approaches (from Africa, the US, and Aotearoa (formerly the Maori)), and challenges interpersonal and structural forms of harm. 

Given its complex, multidimensional nature, this course will examine restorative justice through a diverse set of scholarly and practice inquiries including racial justice, gender justice, ability/disability justice, trauma healing, education, community development, and transitional justice.

Bridget Mullins

Watch a video about the course

In a complex, interconnected, and emergent world we have to change how we do things, not just what we do, in order to truly co-create meaningful innovation and catalyze positive social change. Unwittingly, the conventional structures we use to organize, plan, and collaborate (lectures, open discussion, round robin updates, brainstorms, etc) stifle inclusion and flatten complexity. Whether you work in an NGO, a public institution, a community group, a school, or a social movement, you may regularly experience some of the following realities that block most people’s ability to work together creatively and productively:

• Rigid organizations expressing a desire for change but little movement
• Power and hierarchy getting in the way of freedom and responsibility
• Exclusion, mistrust, and disengaged people
• Unproductive, boring meetings
• Difficult conversations routinely avoided

In this course, we will practice the mindsets, processes, and skills needed to lead meaningful innovation. Through hands-on, experiential learning, we will explore emergent facilitation and strategy, equity-based human-centered design, and a set of 30+ Liberating Structures designed to unleash more creativity, more complexity, and more wisdom. Participants will walk away with tools that they can immediately apply after each session as well as practice opportunities to begin designing, facilitating, and receiving feedback within a supportive community.

Jonathan Jenner and Manuel Garcia

Develop analytical tools that serve the planet and people, with a perspective rooted in ecology and the struggles for liberation from patriarchy, imperialism, racism, and class domination. This course seeks to demystify the economy and enable students to critically assess how economies can either serve justice or perpetuate injustice. Participants will examine capitalism from the lens of political economy while thinking about the ways in which social power functions in our economic lives. The course is structured as a series of workshops that explore unorthodox political economy, economic history, and philosophy.  

This class is intended to have broad appeal to anyone who would like to sharpen their understanding of economics. As such, we do not assume any prior knowledge and will build up our analysis in class. Course readings (some required, most optional) will range from introductory to deep analysis and instructors will be available for out-of-class consultation.

 Course Goals and Objectives:

By the end of this course, students should:

• Understand and describe the features of capitalism and its interaction with various matrices of social power;
• Comprehend (and critically appraise) a range of economic policies and policy proposals from the perspective of political economy;
• Not be intimidated (or, be less intimidated) by the dense and often inaccessible language of economics;
• Establish a base of knowledge of concepts to which students can return, with resources for those investigations;
• Present on how a particular economic structure of interest may perpetuate injustice and appraise ways in which alternatives may serve justice.

Gloria Rhodes 

As individuals working for peace, social justice, and the reduction of violence, we are the instrument of the work. Therefore, we need to cultivate our ability to engage conflict and injustice with wisdom, compassion, and clarity.

Participants will strengthen their abilities to understand and manage self and to attend to self-care, to listen and communicate, create and maintain healthy boundaries, recognize and promote diversity, lead from their vision and values, and engage people in dialogue and decision-making. The course will survey leadership roles, key skills, systematic processes, and varied contexts within the broad field of peacebuilding and conflict resolution/transformation. Contemporary strategies for structuring conversations and decision-making, including arts-based approaches, will be explored along with traditional processes of negotiation, mediation, and facilitation.  

Course participants will gain a holistic understanding of self as person, practitioner, and leader, with emphasis on the importance of intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being and growth.

Gaurav Pathania

Transformative leadership begins with questions of justice and democracy, and addresses both individual and public good. Organizations and their leaders can play a critical and creative role in mitigating societal stressors, and organizations are locations where social conflicts can be transformed and injustices can be addressed effectively. The course will address issues of power and privilege as well as the tension between issues raised by critical theory and the approaches espoused by practitioners of appreciative inquiry. Participants will review a range of organizational leadership-followership theories and practices, identifying various approaches to leading people, systems, and organizations in ways that bring restoration, offer hope, and work toward promoting the common good. The course focuses on examining key equity drivers and their application in the work setting. Participants will be encouraged to manage the polarity created by these approaches as an important transformational practice. The course will provide practical tools, approaches and methods to the practitioners working in the area of health, education, immigration, homeless, prisons, mental health, workers unions and many other areas of social life.

Course Goals and Objectives:

• Critically evaluate leadership responses to turbulent conditions, assessing their ethics, efficacy and potential impacts under a variety of circumstances
• Understand and practice Appreciative Inquiry in order to utilize organization-specific assets available for addressing change.
• Apply strategies and “strength-based approaches” to human-rights based approaches for personal and organizational renewal
• Understand Adaptive Leadership in a constantly changing environment.

Hizkias Assefa

This course will explore the concepts of forgiveness and reconciliation, their various components, and the place they occupy in the spectrum of social science conflict-handling mechanisms. Participants will examine these concepts from different philosophical, cultural, and disciplinary perspectives, while  looking at how the concepts have been used for healing interpersonal relationships, as well as addressing large-scale social (political, inter-ethnic or international) conflicts. Although the main emphasis will be on social conflicts, the personal, psychological, spiritual and ecological dimensions of forgiveness and reconciliation and their interrelationships with one another will be explored. 

There are many methods for creating and facilitating trainings. In order to create a training that will not only be delivered successfully, but where knowledge is retained, the facilitator needs to know the learners in the training, their experiences, and their own needs and interests  for the training. This course begins with the premise that learners must be empowered to learn in a way that works for them, and that traditional educational methods simply are not well-suited to learning that lasts beyond the event itself.

Katie Mansfield 

During STAR Level II participants are invited to:

• Share STAR experiences from your context with each other.

• Review the core concepts of STAR and the 3-part STAR snail model, using Village STAR, a practical and simply illustrated manual.

• Practice exercises and skills that promote healing and build resilience.

• Plan and receive feedback on how you will engage STAR concepts and tools.

• Reflect on your own position, power, and challenges as a STAR practitioner.

• Envision and understand how to shape structural and organizational change toward trauma-informed, resilient organizations and communities.

The Level II training includes additional content, exercises, and skills for addressing trauma and building resilience to deepen the experiences from STAR I. Participants will create and present action plans about how they will adapt and apply STAR concepts and pedagogy within their work and life contexts. Upon completing STAR II, participants are invited to join the STAR online learning community, a group of STAR Practitioners working in a variety of contexts, sharing their questions, learnings, and experiences.

Participants must have applied STAR concepts personally or professionally since completion of STAR Level I training (normally for a period of about 3-6 months).

Kathy Evans and Christina Parker

This course will provide an in-depth exploration of the philosophy, structure, and applications of Circle processes, exploring the potential of Circles to help us transcend the isolation, demonization and polarization that is a source of pain and violence in the world. We will explore the values and philosophy that provide the foundation of the peacemaking circle process, acknowledging its indigenous origins. We will also analyze the structure of the peacemaking circle process and describe a variety of types of circles. The course will provide examples of the use of the process in schools, social services, faith communities, neighborhoods, the justice system, workplaces, and families. Participants will learn to design and conduct peacemaking circles for community building and conflict resolution. Both philosophy and practice will be addressed.

The course will also engage learners in small group work, group discussion, and limited lecture. Special attention will be given to the role of the facilitator and the key skills of circle facilitation. In light of intense polarization among citizens around numerous topics or concerns, both in the US and around the globe, this course will work on designing processes to create spaces where dramatically different perspectives may be shared with respect and thoughtfulness.

Jackie Font Guzman and Bernie Mayer

This course will explore how those interested in social justice and peacebuilding can approach the necessary conflicts that we must engage in and sustain to bring about significant social change.  Together, we will challenge some of the most cherished beliefs many hold about what a constructive approach to conflict looks like, including the importance of objectivity, impartiality, and a commitment to “fair outcomes,” all of which are problematic norms when confronting pervasive systems of power inequities, privilege, gender bias, inequality and racism.  We will pay special attention to the important but complicated relationship between constructive conflict engagement and strategic (and sometimes chaotic) efforts to disrupt oppressive systems. We will offer clear principles for how to understand the conflicts we face, how to challenge the status quo in an effective way, how to practice “getting into good trouble” as the late John Lewis put it, and how to take a strategic and sustainable approach to doing so. In this course we will be drawing on the material in The Neutrality Trap: Disrupting and Cooperating for Social Change, co-authored by the two of us and recently published by John Wiley and Co.

Tarek Maassarani

“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” Martin Luther King Jr. This course presupposes that whether engaged in dialogue or activism, effective social change work takes the ability to connect authentically with others; collaborate across differing perspectives; account for social identity and systems of power; and respond to the impacts of interpersonal, systemic, and historical harms. Drawing from participants' life experiences and such models as Nonviolent Communication, Nonviolent Global Resistance, Synergizing Nonviolent Action and Peacebuilding, Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience, and Restorative/Transformative Justice, this interactive course seeks to cultivate ideas and practices for moving conversations, actions, and campaigns past the limitations of both "kumbaya" and "cancel" culture.

Katie Mansfield  and David Nyiringabo

Traumatic events impact how individuals and groups think, feel, and behave as well as how societies are organized. Unhealed trauma often leads to violence and violence causes more violence as victims act out against others or become self-destructive. Created to help those who work with individuals, groups, or communities suffering from current or historic trauma, the STAR training presents – in both theory and practice – an integrated approach to understanding the trauma, conflict, and violence caused by nature, human beings, and/or structural systems.

STAR is for those who want to bring a trauma-informed perspective to their work. The course brings together learnings from neurobiology, conflict transformation, human security, spirituality, and restorative justice to:

• Increase awareness of the impact of trauma on the body/brain, beliefs, and behavior of individuals, communities, and societies;
• Offer tools and processes for addressing trauma and breaking cycles of violence;
• Explore ways of building individual and collective resilience, including self-care strategies.
• Discuss meta-level trauma awareness as well as personal/societal situations that have caused trauma and how to move forward.

Ashok Xavier and Florina Xavier

Theatre has been used a tool to bring about lasting changes at various levels. Over the years it has been instrumental in highlighting the key concerns of society to raise awareness on issues to propel political change. People like Augusto Boal, Jonathan Fox,and Badal Sircar, among others, have successfully used it to mobilise people to create a convergent effect. Theatre for Transformation iaims at bringing about a personal understanding of self in relation to society. Using a myriad of theatrical exercises, participants will unpack their creative consciousness and learn to connect with each others effortlessly.  Participants are not expected to have any prior theatre training. The course contains a lot of movement, but accommodations will be made for those who want to take the course but not fully engage in the movement as this is an all inclusive process to attain social change.

Frank Dukes and Leanne Nurse

Throughout the world, we see growing recognition of the ongoing harm of many monuments, memorials, contaminated areas, sites of violence, and other spaces identified with histories of harm. “Transforming Community Spaces” (TCS) is a course to help individuals, institutions, and communities take on these challenging sites through inclusive, transparent community engagement that uncovers hidden histories, advances social justice, and promotes collective healing. 

In this course, students will discover the challenges and opportunities of such problematic community spaces. Our focus will be on enacting the principles and practices of “equitable collaboration,” including being trauma-informed, inclusive, responsive, truth-seeking, deliberative, and adaptive. Participants will have access to an online Toolkit (click here) to help them navigate these challenging conflicts and we will include a field trip to nearby Charlottesville, Virginia to examine their newly transformed landscape, including the University of Virginia’s Memorial to Enslaved Laborers.

This course will include case studies, group discussions, videos, and class exercises, in addition to the field trip.

Ram Bhagat

The framework for Building Resilience for Challenging Systemic Racism is grounded in Restorative Justice theory, values, and praxis. This three day course examines the demography of school discipline along with the impact of school suspensions on incarceration rates. BRCSR also examines culturally responsive mindfulness programs for school and community environments. BRCSR incorporates healing and peacemaking circle processes, which encourage participants to unpack historical harms and address root causes of racial injustice. This course empowers participants to fully engage in open and honest dialogue (truth telling), about structural racism and oppression in the United States, that permeates social policies and is embedded in the American educational system. Participants will help construct a safe and brave space, where they can tap into their creative-self and collective wisdom, through drumming, dance, drama, and dialogue. As practitioners involved in restorative justice and peacebuilding, we will explore culturally responsive approaches for building resilience to systemic and traumagenic effects of racism.

Tarek Maassarani and Jordan Brown 

This course recognizes that restorative justice has tremendous potential for addressing interpersonal sexual and domestic violence and the larger cultural norms and socialization that enable it. Yet the issue is complex, politically charged, and emotionally sensitive. We will survey the problem and its conventional punitive responses, then explore the role of restorative ptions as well as their limitations and risks. Prior training, experience, or familiarity with restorative justice principles and practices is a helpful stepping stone from which to deepen knowledge about this realm, learning about basic approaches and practical considerations. The class relies heavily on storytelling, role plays, and experiential activities that draw on the experiences and perspectives of instructors, guests, participants. We will work to build a container of trust and familiarity within which to explore the topic, move into discomfort and vulnerability, and support each other in learning, healing, and growth.

Ilinisa Hendrickson

Photovoice was originally developed as an arts-based and participatory action research method that uses photography and critical group dialogue to spark community change. Photovoice can also be a method for needs assessment, data collection and evaluation. Unlike more traditional methodologies, photovoice encourages multiple voices, multiple views, multiple meanings. The arts-based approach of photovoice lends itself particularly well to the fields of peacebuilding, restorative justice and conflict analysis, as it stimulates the imagination- a necessary tool for countering systems of oppression and visioning a more just world.

This course will provide an in-depth dive into the photovoice method and its application for both research and evaluation within a wide variety of community settings, including refugee communities, survivors of human trafficking, education, conflict-affected communities, system-impacted youth, and restorative justice. We will also explore the ethical dimensions of implementing a photovoice project,including consent, power, and safety.

Participants will learn the methods for designing, implementing and analyzing a photovoice project through our own class photovoice project- taking photographs in response to research questions, discussing them in critical group dialogue and writing titles and descriptions. The class will culminate in a photovoice exhibit from our project at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

Upon completion of this course, students will have:

• Established a base knowledge of the photovoice technique and its applications;
• Developed an understanding of the ethical issues involved in photovoice projects;
• Developed skills to successfully implement a photovoice project.

 Catherine Barnes 

How do we help co-create and hold space for transformative change, helping to empower shifts in relationships and system-structures? How can facilitation help to strengthen social movements and prepare for engagement across divides? How can we proactively cultivate spaces in which all feel empowered to be their authentic selves and where systemic power asymmetries are addressed within and through the process? How can people feel compassionately held as they grapple with complex, contentious and even harmful issues and situations? Intended for people with familiarity facilitating groups and who are working with change processes, this course will help deepen understanding and skills for:

• Exploring and assessing the context, enabling co-design, and grappling with ethical and strategic issues in convening processes.
• Strengthening relationships, community building, and developing more resilient solidarity within groups.
• Methods to support joint analysis and strategy development.
• Methods for working with the past and for envisioning the future.
• Principles and practices for collaborative decision-making and facilitating consensus building.
• Exploring and articulating the personal values and ethics that animate and guide your practice.