Bahá’í Chair for World Peace Annual Lecture
The Baha’i Chair for World Peace at the University of Maryland is at the forefront of exploring the cultural, political and academic pathways to peace. Its incumbent, Hoda Mahmoudi, pursues a “worldview approach” to peace, and encourages both men and women to take active roles in the peace process. The Baha’i Chair brought Dr. Sharon Halevi, director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of Haifa, Israel, to campus to discuss the cultural biases that have long marginalized the role of women in both conflict and peacemaking, and how those biases can be challenged and overcome.
On Friday, Nov. 15, the Baha’i Chair for World Peace at the University of Maryland celebrated its 2013 Annual Lecture in the Biology Research Building’s lecture hall. The event was attended by students, university leaders, scholars, and members of the Baha’i community from across the nation and around the world. The milestone event commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Chair, which is dedicated to the interdisciplinary examination and discourse on global peace.
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"859","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"280","style":"width: 250px; height: 280px; float: left; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 2px;","width":"250"}}]]The event began with remarks by Professor Hoda Mahmoudi, Baha’i Chair for World Peace, who emphasized the importance of the work being done to develop a sound scientific basis for strategies that lead to the creation of a better world. Highlighting the event’s focus on gender stereotyping and its impact on political and social discourse, Professor Mahmoudi commented on the crucial need to promote equality for all human beings, regardless of gender. “There are no grounds – moral, practical, or biological – by which the denial of peace for women can be justified,” Mahmoudi said.
Kenneth Bowers, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States, commented on the prominence of the Baha’i Chair’s work and the Baha’i community’s positive outlook on their mission of world peace. “Challenging as it is, the Baha’is are optimistic as to humanity’s ultimate destiny. The work of the Baha’i Chair certainly belongs here, at the University of Maryland--a world-class leader in all branches of learning, and an agent in the rigorous search for truth,” Bowers said.
Bowers closed his remarks by presenting Professor John Townshend, Dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, with $100,000 on behalf of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is to support the Chair and its vital research.
The event’s keynote lecture, “Is Peace Gendered?” was delivered Dr. Halevi, who explored three challenging issues during her lecture, including the political and organizational drawbacks of war and peace becoming opposed gender issues, how the pursuit of “positive peace” enables societies to move out of a “binary” conceptualization, and the challenges faced by citizens to promote peace and peacemaking as fundamental pillars of human interaction.
“In order to think more clearly about building peace, it is important first to recognize the prevalence of violence, in all forms and at all levels of society, as well as to be aware of our unspoken gendered assumptions regarding violence and its use,” Dr. Halevi said.
“Under the present gender-system, if we as a society have ‘feminized peace’ or gender-coded the pursuit of peace as a feminine activity, there is a price tag attached to this coding.” Dr. Halevi continued, summarizing the work of scholars and researchers who have explored gender framing. “While activists and members of a movement may wish to use gender to favorably frame a particular issue or to claim legitimacy as political actors, gender can also be used against them in order to delegitimize them.”
Dr. Halevi encouraged the audience to “keep watch for sources of conflict, and attempt to diffuse them before they become full-fledged armed conflicts…prepare and educate for peace. Make peace a sustainable reality…reframing conflicts as problems that are shared, and not problems that must be solved. Do not only seek peace…but pursue it, despite the perception of futility.” Addressing gender’s role in peace, war and violence, Dr. Halevi highlighted the need to “build peace” where it has been broken previously. “Post conflict reconstruction may offer a unique opportunity to legally and constitutionally safeguard gender equity and protect the economic and social gains made by women,” she said.
Dr. Halevi closed her lecture by sharing the ancient Roman fable of Emperor Hadrian’s encounter with an old man planting fig trees. When prompted by the Emperor to explain his hard labor at such an old age, and the slim likelihood of enjoying the product of his work, the old man replied with calm confidence. “I might well eat of the fruits of my labor; but if not, I will not have worked in vain. Have not my ancestors worked for me? Why then should I not work for the future generation in the same spirit of selflessness? I plant for my children!”
In that spirit, Dr. Halevi insisted that we all contribute to the pursuit of world peace and equality, rising above conflict and perceptions to Be the Solution to our greatest societal challenges.
The 2013 Annual Baha’i Lecture is available online, and can be viewed in its entirely on YouTube.
To learn more about the Baha’i Chair for World Peace and their ongoing research, visit their website here.
Published on Wed, Oct 30, 2013 - 10:40AM