A Call Of Our Time:

Awakenings to Nonviolence in Curriculum and Education

How do we in the field of education respond to today’s social, cultural, international and

environmental crises, with mass shootings, war, racism, gendered violence, censorship, polarization and climate disasters relentlessly challenging us in this “post”-pandemic era? Nonviolence has become a call in our time to address the existential condition of humanity through the central thread of interconnectedness that dissolves violence and supports sustainable creativity. As nonviolence is under-theorized and seldom discussed in curriculum studies, this conference intends to gather scholars, educators, students, community-based practitioners, artists and peace activists from diverse backgrounds to elaborate what nonviolence means for transforming curriculum theorizing and the everyday practices of education (K-20 education, community education and self-education). All those who are interested in nonviolence and nonviolence education are invited to participate in the conference.

Call for proposals

Conference Program

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Denise Taliaferro Baszile, Professor and Dean of the College of Education at Wayne State University. Her keynote address is: “Cultivating Love, Peace and Soul through Higher Education Leadership.”

Denise Taliaferro Baszile is Professor and Dean of the College of Education at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Taliaferro Baszile's work focuses on understanding curriculum as racial/gendered text with an emphasis on disrupting traditional modes of knowledge production, validation and representation. Her scholarship draws on curriculum theory, critical race theory, Black feminist theory and contemplative practice, and ultimately seeks more equity, more justice and more peace for more people. She has two co-edited texts: Race, Gender, and Curriculum Theorizing: Womanish Ways and Black Women Theorizing Curriculum Studies in Color and Cures.
Dr. Molly Quinn, Professor and Director of Curriculum Theory Project, Louisiana State University. Her keynote address is: “Living Lovingkindness: Toward a Phenomenology of Nonviolence in Curriculum & Education.”
St. Bernard Chapter of the Louisiana State University (LSU) Alumni Association Endowed Professor, Molly Quinn is the Director of the Curriculum Theory Project at LSU. She is the author of Going Out, Not Knowing Whither: Education, the Upward Journey and the Faith of Reason (2001), Peace and Pedagogy (2014), and numerous books chapters and articles. Having also edited and co-edited works in the field of curriculum studies, her scholarship engages philosophical criticism toward embracing a vision of education that cultivates beauty, awareness, compassion, creativity, solidarity and social action.
Dr. Tara Sethia, Emerita Professor in history, the founder of Ahimsa Center for the Study of Nonviolence in Thought and Action at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She will speak about the relevance of nonviolence, nonviolent movements and their leaders in education.

Tara Sethia is the founder of Ahimsa Center for the Study of Nonviolence in Thought and Action at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona where she held the inaugural the Shri Shantinath Endowed Chair in Ahimsa Studies. As Center Director for nearly two decades she created a Minor in Nonviolence Studies; directed programs for educators; and hosted conferences, lectures, dialogues and workshops on nonviolence. A scholar of India and nonviolence, Sethia has published books, journal articles and book-chapters. She is recipient of honors, awards and grants and has been featured in the media, including the Los Angeles Times. She received her Ph.D. in History from UCLA. Currently, she serves as emerita professor of History.
Dr. Michalinos Zembylas, Professor at the Open University of Cyprus. His keynote address is: “Towards an Ethics of Nonviolence in Contemporary Times: Implications for Pedagogy and Education.”

Michalinos Zembylas is Professor at the Open University of Cyprus, and Honorary Professor at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. He has been appointed as Commonwealth of Learning (COL) Chair (2023- 2026). He is an internationally renowned scholar on intercultural and peace education, social justice pedagogies and human rights education. He has done extensive ethnographic and policymaking research in several conflict-affected nations. In 2016, he was appointed by the President of the Republic of Cyprus as the Greek-Cypriot Chair of the Bicommunal Technical Committee on Education for the Cyprus peace negotiations. Zembylas has authored and co-edited more than 20 books, and numerous chapters and journal articles. A recipient of multiple research awards, he has been recognized since 2020 to be among the world's top 2% of scholars in education by Stanford University.

All opinions expressed in the presentations comprising this program are those of the presenters and do not represent the views of Oklahoma State University or the Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges.

Pre-Conference Activities

(March 8, 2024 before the conference opens early evening)

Guided Walking Tour of the Greenwood Historic District, 1-3pm: Walk through the Greenwood Cultural Center, Mabel B. Little Heritage House, E. W. Woods/Booker T. Washington School site, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Vernon AME church, Pathway to Hope, John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, Greenwood Rising History Center and the corner of Greenwood and Archer, the beginnings of Black Wall Street. This tour offers a sense of place, memory, and hope on the site of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. It is arranged by the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.
Visit to the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Noon-5pm (including travel time): This activity involves visits to the Cherokee National History Museum (with a guided tour), a Cherokee Language Immersion School, Traci Rabbit Art Walk, and a brief stop at Northeastern State University (initially founded as the Cherokee National Female Seminary in 1846). Transportation will be provided (One hour and fifteen minutes between Tulsa and Tahlequah by car). Please eat beforehand or bring your own lunch.
Meditation Practices and School Observations (Late morning and early afternoon, TBA, depending on class schedules): For this activity, participants are invited to engaged in meditation practices guided by a meditation educator, and observe local school teachers teach mindfulness or yoga in the classroom and enact a curriculum of nonviolence at schools (transportation will be provided). Choice of an early childhood education or a high school site.

Special Panels

Indigenous Peace Traditions, organized by Dr. Samantha Benn-Duke from Northeastern State University, Oklahoma.
Censorship and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, organized by Dr. Erin Dyke from Oklahoma State University.

Seminars/Workshops for Practitioners

To make the conference theme accessible to school teachers, college instructors, teacher educators, and practitioners of peace and nonviolence, this conference also offers multiple sessions for practitioners on living, leading and teaching nonviolence. The sessions include topics such as footprints of nonviolence in young adult literature, trauma healing and nonviolence, nonviolent school leadership, teaching popular culture for nonviolence, orientations of yoga and teaching, and self-nonviolence and inner work.

Hotels and Things to Do in Tulsa

The designated hotel for the conference is the Hyatt Place Tulsa Downtown, conveniently located near the OSU-Tulsa campus. The hotel offers attendees a discounted daily rate of $129 from March 7 to March 11, 2024, and the room rate will include a complimentary breakfast and complementary Wi-Fi. You must reserve your room before February 8, 2024 to receive this group rate. Book your reservation via this link.

Tulsa is a midsized, vibrant city with a number of social and cultural attractions, including the Bob Dylan Center, Living Arts of Tulsa, the Woody Guthrie Center, the Gathering Place, the Philbrook Museum of Art, and more. Click here for information about nearby restaurants.

Questions?

Email: hongyu.wang@okstate.edu

Pre-Conference Zoom Seminar

Preconference seminar I

Preconference seminar II

Conference Leadership Team

Chair, Dr. Hongyu Wang & Co-Chair, Dr. Jon Smythe

Conference Committee:

Jo Flory, Lindsey Wessinger, Jennifer Williams, Venessa Jones,

Dr. Samantha Benn-Duke, Dr. Jennifer Schneider, Dr. Liesa Smith and Dr. Ying Ma

College of

Education and Human Sciences