Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia will host Johan Galtung, world-renowned professor of sociology and mathematics and a veteran of over 50 mediation efforts in international and civil war conflicts, for a lecture-“A formula for peace and U.S. foreign policy: Equity X Harmony / Trauma X Conflict”-on Nov. 15 at 3:30 p.m. in the UGA Chapel.
Organized by Professor Han S. Park and the Center for the Study of Global Issues, the event is jointly sponsored by UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs and its Department of International Affairs.
Galtung is a pioneer of the peace studies discipline and has served as a professor of peace studies at the universities of Oslo, Berlin, Belgrade, Paris and dozens of others. He has mediated over 50 conflicts between states, nations, religions, civilizations, communities and individuals since 1957. His contributions to the academic and applied peace processes include conceptualization of peace building, conflict mediation, theory of structural violence and theorizing about negative versus positive peace. He is the author of more than 150 books on peace and related issues, including “50 Years: 100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives.” Galtung’s unique print on the study of conflict and peace stems from a marriage of systematic scientific inquiry with Gandhian ethics of peaceful means and harmony.
As a recipient of more than a dozen honorary doctorates and professorships and many other distinctions including the Right Livelihood Award, Galtung remains committed to the study and promotion of peace. He is rector of TRANSCEND Peace University, the first online peace studies university. He is also the founder and acting director of TRANSCEND International, a global non-profit network dedicated to high level mediation and conflict resolution by non-violent means. A testimony to his legacy, peace science is taught and researched at universities around the world, contributing to peacemaking efforts in conflicts globally.