A Peace of Mind

The leaves are already falling off the trees and the days are getting shorter. To brighten up our days we have kept busy with guest lectures and stimulating debates. At the end of last week we welcomed WILPF (IKFF)  for a lecture on UNSC res. 1325 and discussed the significance of this years Nobel Peace Prize laureates.  Before the lecture we also watched the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell which follow the remarkable story of the women’s movement in Liberia and their struggle for peace. Along the same line of creating peace we worked together with UNA Sweden and put together a debate on the subject Responsibility to Protect. Four knowledgeable representatives from different areas of society came and discussed military interventions for humanitarian reasons, where do we stand today and where do we go from  here in the light of the events in Libya and the Ivory Coast. Many examples were drawn from the lack of action in Rwanda in 1994 and the terrible outcome of that civil war. However, the panel had different opinions on how these situations should be dealt with  from the pespective of the global community and whether or not military interventions (such as the one in Libya) should be the adopted before trying negotiations and other less destructive options. With these thoughts in mind we are now following the developments in Tunis, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Egypt etc. with great interest.

In the panel from the left: AnnaLisa Eneroth (WILPF Sweden), Johan Hultberg (MP Moderaterna), Jonas Ewald, (Moderator, Peace and Development Studies, LNU), Jens Petersson (UNA Sweden) and Lennart Wohlgemuth (visiting professor at Gothenburg University, former head of SADEV and the Nordic Africa Institute)

We were very happy to revceive the news Friday about the three winners of the Nobel Peace Prize: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman. These three women are such inspirations to all of us in their struggles for human rights, peace and the protection of women’s rights. By awarding these women the Nobel Peace Prize not only are their indivudual actions being recognized, but the necessity of women’s particiaption in peace building is being put in the global spot-light. What happened in Liberia and what is currently happening in Yemen is a reminder to all of us that change is possible! We will take this opportunity to talk about non-violent action and women’s situation in conflicts by showing and discussing  the documentary “Pray the Devil Back to Hell”  with our students.

Congratulation once again to Ellen, Leymah and Tawakkul!

Time is flying and the trees are already shifting colors! We are nearing the end of the forst module and that means exam time. However, there is always time for some extra activities and we have managed to fit in two Open Universities these passed four weeks. The first was with an exchange teacher from Mbarara University in Uganda – Frank  Ahimbisibwe who talked about refugees in the current world order. In an almost full lecture hall the problems and possible sollutions to refugee flows were presented and discussed.  Frank has been with us for the passed three weeks and taken part in lectures and student discussions but tomorrow he’s flying back home.

The second OU of the semester welcomed Swedish Cooperative Center (Kooperation utan gränser) in Mozambique for a presentation and discussion on local smallscale farmers’ rights. Pointing out many important issues the discussion ranged from cotton production and fair trade to global trade regimes and policies reminding us that we are all connected.

It has been a great start to the OU series this semester and we are all looking forward to the next one!

After a lovely summer we are now back in our offices and in full preparation for the fall semester. We are eager to start our new under-grad programme and really happy to see the amount of interest it has received. Also new this fall are our two new teachers: Margareta Espling and Jonas Ewald! They will both jump-start their time with us by giving courses in September and October. They are most welcome to our group of teacher and we are really excited to start working with them.

The master programme has once again received a lot of interest from international students which means that also this year we will have a nice mix of students who can share their experiences and knowledge of different parts of the world. With the great exchange opportunities offered by LNU this international mix will also be present in the under-grad classes.

In two weeks the fall semester will start and we are truly looking forward to getting to know our new students as well as welcoming our old students back!

It is quiet in the corridors and the University is almost empty. It is time for the summer holiday, rest and recreation. It has been an intense spring during which both our master and undergrad students have been working really hard. The undergrad students handed in their last assignment almost 3 weeks ago (how time flies!) while the master students finished 10 days ago. Although it is sad to see them go it will be very interesting to follow their journey into the future. We already know that there are project work, internships and other jobs lined up for some of them and as always we will do our best to stay in touch with them. Who knows, in a year or two they might show up in our career day and tell us all about what happened next!

We are currently preparing as much as we can before the coming fall semester and looking at the lists of applicants we are very much looking forward to the coming year.
On that note, we wish you a happy summer! We will return with updates from our corridor in August.

Today is the last day of the master programme! The students are currently in the first round of thesis seminars where 13 theses have been presented and defended. Its been a hectic few weeks so I think everyone is looking forward to the summer. Here’s some pics from yesterdays seminars

Yesterday, Wednesday, we had a visit from Mapuche Chief Juana Calfunao who spoke about her people’s struggle for land and human rights in Chile and Argentina. Juana highlighted the centuries of suppression which her people have been exposed to and the continuing abuses of today where their land is being confiscated, torture is being used on prisoners, and their traditions and culture is not being respected by the government. The Mapuche struggle for recognition and equality is currently classified as a terrorist movement by the Chilean government and falls under the Anti-Terrorist Act which enables them to hold prisoners longer without trial, subjecting prisoners to double trials; military and civil, and keep investigations and witnesses secret.

Juana Calfunao impressed a full student auditorium with her courage and passions and urged students in the discussion following her presentation to contribute to making the Mapuche struggle known more widely. She also brought with her a number of impressive paintings depicting her people’s struggle which she painted during one of her many prison terms and intends to leave as her heritage to forthcoming generations.

The activity was organized in cooperation with the Foro Latinoamericano Växjö, a group of Latin American and Swedish members who was created just nine months ago and already has an interesting agenda. Keep on the look-out for more activities on Latin America together with the Foro next semester!

During five weeks seven of our master students have been doing fieldwork in the Mecubúri district in Mozambique. Its been an intense period of hard work and many new experiences and  the purpose has been to collect material for their thesis. They have now returned to Sweden and for the coming 3 weeks they will be writing their final reports. here are some pictures from their adventures:

2 Bilateral Biträdande Expert (BBE) positions available within the area of Gender and equality. One gender expert in South Africa and one expert in HIV/Aids and gender equality in Zimbabwe.

Apply via Sida before April 14th!

have you written, or is writing a thesis about civil society and welfare in Sweden you can apply for a grant of 5000 sek given by Sektor3. last day of application is June 13th 2011. Read more about the grant here.