UPEACE PODCASTS
Vice Rectorof Academic Affairs Amr Abdalla "Universities Partnering for Peace: Unlimited Opportunities"
Amr Abdalla (Egypt)
Vice Rector for Academic Affairs
Ph.D., Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, Spring 2001. Master's Degree, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, Spring 1992. LL.B. in Law, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, Spring 1977.
The lecture on Universities Partnering for Peace: Unlimited Opportunities, focused on revealing the unique qualities of universities which prepare them to play a key role in peacemaking and peacebuilding, Such qualities include the academic sanctuary; respect to universities in communities; safe space for dialogue; multicultural haven for students and staff; and, access to information in the age of technology. The lecture also addressed the role UPEACE plays worldwide to spread the knowledge and skills of peacemaking and peacebuilding via partnerships and various types of training and curriculum development workshops.
Recorded on march 2008.
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Vice Rector Georges Tsaï "Language and Conflict"
Executive Vice Rector UPEACE
Licence in political science, completed PhD courses, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland. BA of Commerce degree from Collège St-Michel, Fribourg, Switzerland. Disciplines: Ethics of Peace and War; Migration, Peace and Security.
Conflict and language, was the title of the first lecture given by Georges Tsaï as part of the course Contemporary Issues on International Peace. G. Tsaï´s experience in multicultural environments was the catalyst that helped initiate a reflection over the uses of language and the role that language plays in conflicts. He drew from his personal and professional life to render intelligible the concept of linguistic diversity as an important dimension of conflict in most plural societies. A language criterion —explained Tsaï— has been used as an element of segregation, or even as a defining factor that lead to ethnic genocide. The issue of language has strong political underpinnings because it plays an important role in shaping identity. *
*Abstract from students’ thoughts on the lecture
Recorded on february 2008.
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Dr. Gerald Caplan "Genocide Prevention"
Dr. Gerry Caplan is a leading Canadian authority on genocide and genocide prevention. An internationally recognized expert on the Rwanda genocide, and determined that Never Again becomes a reality rather than s slogan, Gerry speaks around the world on why genocides happen and why those with the capacity to prevent them fail to do so.
Gerald Caplan, who has a Ph.D. in African history from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, has been involved in African issues for many years. He is a senior consultant for the UN Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa and has just completed a report for the Africa Union and UNICEF on The State of Africa's Children. Also Dr. Caplan is a Visiting Professor at University for Peace.
Recorded on January 2008.
Screenwriter Oscar Torres talks about his film "Innocent Voices"
Conversation with the screenwriter Oscar Torres and UPEACE students on the Film and Conflict Course.. His film "Innocent Voices" tells the story of El Salvador's civil war in the 1980s through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy. Co-writer Oscar Torres escaped to the United States from his native land and lived through the events dramatized onscreen.
Here, Torres talks about his experiences, motivations, the healing process and expectations around his work.
Recorded on January 2008
Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector
The worlds of “working for the betterment of society” and “generating revenues” are often seen as incompatible. Mohit Mukherjee presents a new perspective on this problem.
Mohit Mukherjee is the Director of the UPEACE Centre for Executive and Professional Education as well as a faculty member at UPEACE. Prior to this position, he served for four years as Education Programme Manager of the Earth Charter Initiative, an international nonprofit organization. He also spent three years in the private sector, at A.T. Kearney, a top-tier international management consulting firm based in USA, and three years as an educator in Ecuador. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University, and did his Master’s at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, also taking two courses at Harvard Business School on how to start up, manage, and grow social enterprises. Mohit is an avid tennis player, though is struggling to find the "win-win" scenario on the court.
Recorded on July 2007.
UPEACE Centre for Executive and Professional Education web site here >>
UPEACE's Students talks about UPEACE
A group of UPEACE students talks about their experiences from their arrival to their last days at the University; their relationship with their fellow students and teachers, life at Costa Rica and the cultural and academic experience of being in this particular Institution. Listen from firsthand the diversity, multiculturalism and the learning process that created a permanent bond with the UPEACE network.
With Mary Lind (USA), Ross Ryan (Canada), Yara Saab (Lebannon), Sandra Tumwesigye (Uganda).
Recorded on June 2007.