NVP500 Seminar – Theory and Research on Nonviolence & Peace is a graduate course like no other offered at the University of Rhode Island. Where else can students interested in studying international relations meet and interact with individuals from around the world on a weekly basis? Only in NVP500 Seminar. These IR students aren’t just passively reading articles and textbooks about theories, they are learning real world lessons through first hand accounts from people on the front lines of violent conflict. Graduate students in this seminar have found these guest speakers invaluable to broadening and deepening their international perspectives. The course is a program requirement introducing students to Global Peace Studies, as one of three specialization areas to choose from in their degree program.
Geshe Dadul Namgyal
A graduate of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, Dharamsala, Geshe Dadul Namgyal completed his Geshe Lharampa degree from Drepung Loseling Monastery. He also holds a Master’s degree in English literature from Panjab University, Chandigarh. After serving as Principal of Drepung Loseling School for five years, he worked as a Lecturer in the Department of Indian Buddhism at Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Varanasi for seven years. Since 2010, he has been serving as Senior Resident Teacher at Drepung Loseling Monastery Inc., Atlanta. Around the same time, he began his current position at Emory University as Senior Interpreter/Translator for the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, involved in preparing bilingual curricula in modern science, already in use at the participating Tibetan monasteries and nunneries. He serves on the Board of Tibet House, USA, a Cultural Center of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Ahmadullah Archiwal (Level 2 URI Nonviolence Trainer)
Archiwal is founder and leader of OSCAR (Organization for Social Cultural Awareness and Rehabilitation), an Afghanistan based organization, which is one of the only NGOs of its kind delivering Kingian nonviolence training and civil society training in the Kunar and neighboring provinces. Mr. Archewal has an MA degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Peshawar and another MA in International Affairs from the New School University in New York, where he studied as a Fulbright scholar. Archiwal previously pursued his doctoral studies at Rutgers University. His main areas of interest are security and conflict, CVE, Media Election and governance. In addition, Archiwal has also worked extensively on nonviolence and has written a book, Cultural Impacts of Khudai Khidmatgar on the topic in Pashto and has translated three other books from English into Pashto. A leading peace activist and promoter of nonviolence in his home country of Afghanistan, he currently works for Voice of America.
Ufra Mir (Level I URI Nonviolence Trainer)
Ufra is a peace psychologist courageously providing mental health support services to victims of violence under conditions of occupation in the Kashmir of northwest India. Since graduating from Mahindra College in 2007, Ufra Mir has dedicated her time to promoting peace both globally and in her home, Kashmir. Influenced by the curriculum at Mahindra, Ufra went on to study Psychology and Mental Health at Luther College in the US. After receiving her training at the URI International Nonviolence Summer Institute, she founded a non-profit organization “Paigaam: A Message For Peace” as a conflict resolution program, and since its original conception in 2011 it has grown into a registered not-for-profit organization. Paigaam’s aim is to educate and train children, young people and adults in the values, principles, and the best practices of intercultural peace-building. Ufra currently is the only peace psychologist providing mental health work in Kashmir under extremely challenging circumstances.