On May 19th MHCR hosted the last event of the MHCR Spring Webinar Series “Knowing Us, Knowing Them: Applying the Neuroscience of Group Dynamics to Reconciliation and Peacebuilding” in collaboration with Beyond Conflict.

The goal of this event was to explore the intersection of neuroscience and peacebuilding as well as discuss the roles of threat and empathy in understanding some of the breakdowns between individuals and communities. The panelists included renowned neuroscience researchers and peacebuilding practitioners as they engaged in dialogue regarding this nexus.

Creating space to acknowledge the harms of the past, share truth, and collectively heal is essential to overcoming injustices against Indigenous communities and fostering transformation towards a just society that recognizes indigenous peoples’ rights. However, navigating harms of the past, and their continuing legacies today is not an easy process.

When we think about what it takes to foster social transformation, the complex roles of apology, repentance, and forgiveness are often overlooked or used in a way that can be harmful to a process. On April 14th, the Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation held the third event in our spring webinar series “The Role of Apology, Repentance, and Forgiveness in Social Transformation”. The goal of this webinar was to learn from global experiences to inform current political forgiveness efforts towards racial justice, transformation, and healing in the United States.

Trauma affects every individual in unique ways, and the peacebuilding field must better understand how integral trauma healing is for bridging societal divides. On March 17th, the Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation (MHCR) held the second event in our webinar series, Understanding the Role of Trauma in Truth, Reconciliation, and Peacebuilding Processes. The goal of this webinar was to explore how trauma impacts efforts to bridge societal divides and what it means to take a trauma-informed approach within this work.

On Wednesday, April 14th, the Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation will be co-hosting the third event in our Spring Webinar Series: The role of Apology, Repentance, and Forgiveness in Societal Transformation alongside Religions for Peace from 10:00 AM-11:30 AM EST. At this event, you will have the opportunity to listen to agents of change from around the world who have been involved in and/or studied political apologies and social repentance efforts. This event will be separated into two panels.

On March 23rd, MHCR Director Antti Pentikainen and MHCR Distinguished Research Affiliate,Dr. Fanie du Toit will be participating in the Carter School’s Spring 2021 Peace Week. The theme of this year’s Peace Week is peace and anti-racism in the US and around the world and will serve as an opportunity to bring together the Carter School community to engage in dialogue on how we can foster an anti-racism approach in conflict resolution practice and scholarship while highlighting these efforts both domestically and globally.

What does it mean to heal? What would it look like for our societies to move towards individual and collective healing in the United States right now? These questions helped guide the first event in a recently launched discussion series on Bridging Societal Divides, hosted by MHCR in collaboration with the USTRHT Movement.

.On December 10th, 2020 the Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation hosted a webinar titled Learning from Experience: Truth & Reconciliation Processes in the US highlighting past truth commissions in the US. The speakers at the Learning from Experience event have all played pivotal roles in past truth commissions that have happened in the US. These speakers include Reverend Nelson Johnson and his wife Joyce Johnson from the Greensboro Truth Commission, Esther Anne from the Wabanaki Experience in Maine, David Ragland from the Truth Telling Project in Ferguson, MO, Christina Cowger & Catherine Read from the North Carolina Commission on the Inquiry of Torture and lastly MHCR affiliate Dr. Gail Christopher who is the co-chair of the US TRHT Movement.

Betty Bigombe is one of the most internationally renowned women mediators from Uganda. She has served in various roles within the Ugandan government and is known for her crucial work in bringing Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, to peace talks during the early 1990s. She has also worked within the World Bank and is a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace. Currently, Bigombe is also a Fellow for Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation. During the conversation, Bigombe shared more about her vast experiences as a mediator and what she has learned along the way.