Studying peace initiatives

Fourteen King’s students from the Social Justice and Peace Studies (SJPS) program spent the month of May at the Rondine Cittadella della Pace (city of peace) in Arezzo, Italy. 

The students, enrolled is SJPS 3211G – Global Justice, were accompanied by this year’s course coordinator, Dr. Pietro Pirani. The seminar faculty were Dr. Antonio Calcagno, Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and Dr. Mark Yenson, Associate Professor and Department Chair for Religious Studies. Each taught week-long seminars. Dr. Yenson addressed topics on religion and violence and Dr. Calcagno lectured on philosophical issues of engaging with Others.

Rondine is a Nobel Prize nominated non-governmental organization (NGO) which, for nearly three decades, has been working with youth from conflict regions to develop strategies for peaceful resolutions to violence.  Founded by Dr. Franco Vaccari, Rondine brings together young people from different cultures and conflict areas from around the globe, such as Israel and Palestine, the Balkans, the Caucus region, as well as Sudan/South Sudan and Mali, to explore the ways in which conflicts become embedded in local cultures and persist over time. 

The Rondine program was founded on the idea that enemies need to face one another, to live with one another and to learn to see through conflict to the humanity of the Other. Through this experience, the youth are encouraged to develop social, political and economic projects they will implement in their home counties in order to contribute to their peaceful growth.

King’s students participated as guests in residence at Rondine.  During this time, they studied intensive Italian, the “lingua franca” or bridge language of Rondine.  In addition, King’s students hosted workshops on conflict and reconciliation, environmental crisis response and Indigenous issues from Canadian perspectives, while also participated in a series of workshops hosted by the Rondine students.  

“It’s a very comprehensive program and a very demanding one in terms of experiential learning,” says Dr. Allyson Larkin, Associate Professor, Social Justice and Peace Studies, and a past faculty member with the King’s at Rondine program.  “At Rondine, our students have the opportunity get a sense firsthand of how complex and painstaking real peace building is. It is one thing to talk in a classroom about a protracted conflict, such as the Israel-Palestinian situation or the tensions between ethnic groups in the Balkans, and quite another to spend a month with youth from these regions who are committed to working through conflict and seeking common ground.” 

While in Italy, King’s students also visited several key sites including the Section for Migrants and Refugees at the Vatican and S’ant Egidio, a community with a global network working to directly support refugees and migrants, spiritually and materially.

“Overall, I believe it will be the day-to-day interactions with students living at Rondine which will have the most lasting impact on our students. I continue to talk to students who have participated in previous Rondine programs, and it’s clear that the experience continues to resonate with them long after they return to King’s,” says Dr. Larkin.

This was the third year King’s has travelled to Rondine. To see video of the 2017 trip, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO2fxZuw1hQ

For more information, please visit https://rondine.org/uwo-study-abroad-at-rondine-un-nuovo-modo-di-vedere-il-mondo-lesperienza-degli-studenti-canadesi/ (Please allow Google Translate to translate story to English.)