mesoamerica

Starting in the 1980s, John Paul participated through the outreach program of Semilla (whose headquarters were based in Guatemala City), a popular education and extension program that worked primarily with grassroots and church-related leadership. This program was offered to all of the countries of Central America from Panama to Mexico. Semilla also developed a publishing arm that produced a number of his books and essays from this time period. Wendy and John Paul lived in Costa Rica during a significant portion of this period. The primary fieldwork for his dissertation emerged from his experience with local community understandings of conflict and its transformation, particularly in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. His most extensive direct work became the support for the conciliation and peace process in Nicaragua that led up and through the late 1980s and early 1990s.

presentation

Art and Peacebuilding: Dwelling at the Hearth

A keynote delivered at the virtual Art in the Place of Conflict conference, organized by the Derry Playhouse in Northern Ireland.

2020

presentation

Dispatches from Nowhere Near the Promise Land: How a Peacebuilder Unlearned His Trade

A lecture delivered on the occasion of being awarded the Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize at Brandeis University.

2019

presentation

Compassionate Presence: Faith-based Peacebuilding in the Face of Violence

A lecture delivered in contribution to the Distinguished Lecture Series of the University of San Diego's Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice in February 2012.

2012

presentation

Dispatches from the Burning Ground: Compassionate Presence and Faith-based Peacebuilding

A lecture shared at Conrad Grebel University College for the 2014 Convocation celebration on the topic of compassionate presence and faith-inspired peacebuilding.

2014

podcast

The Art of Peace

A conversation with Krista Tippett exploring themes of the moral imagination, arts-inspired peacebuilding, and music and poetry in healing and reconciliation.

2010