nonviolence
Gandhi and the Paliyans
On October 2, India celebrated the 150th birthday of Mohandas Gandhi. The leader of the movement for India’s independence from the UK, Gandhi also advocated active peaceful actions such as marches and sit-ins as a nonviolent way for oppressed peoples to gain their rights. Numerous media outlets around the world celebrated the birthday with critical […]
Peace and Nonviolence: Anthropological Aspects [a review]
In “Peace and Nonviolence: Anthropological Aspects,” Leslie Sponsel presents a concise and convincing argument for the persistence of nonviolent behavior throughout prehistory and history by providing numerous empirical examples from an anthropological perspective. Because of the inherent multidisciplinary approach anthropology provides, it creates the ideal framework from which to view peace and nonviolence in contrast […]
Conference on Violence and Promoting Peaceful Societies
Elizabeth Cashdan asks a profound question: “What evolutionary forces underlie human violence, and how can we use this knowledge to promote a more peaceful society?” According to a news story last Saturday in the Salt Lake Tribune, the University of Utah is hosting a conference this week which addresses those issues. Entitled “The Evolution of […]
Gandhi Conference Hears Proposal for Kashmir/Ladakh Settlement
International conferences often produce lots of good sentiments, but it is less common for concrete, effective proposals to come out of such gatherings. Johan Galtung, the famed Norwegian scholar and peace maker, apparently caused a stir at a major conference in New Delhi last week celebrating the 100th anniversary of Gandhi’s satyagraha movement. He proposed […]
Christmas Meditations on Peace
The words of the angels announcing the birth of Jesus to some shepherds, quoted in the gospel of Luke, have permanently linked the celebration of this season with the hope for peace. Many of the meditations on peace that litter the news media in late December are little more than hopeful statements that will not […]
The Peaceful Moral Order in a Ladakhi Village [journal article review]
In at least one Ladakhi community, the villagers are convinced that the basic order of life is harmony, unity, and peacefulness. A recent journal article by Fernanda Pirie—her third major piece published in the past year—discusses the strategies people in the remote village of Photoksar have for managing conflicts. Nearly a year ago a book […]
Peaceful Semai Compared to Violent Waorani
Scholarly articles that compare nonviolent peoples with violent ones can be among the most fascinating works about peaceful societies. These kinds of articles provide mirror images of peacefulness and violence that often foster reflections on the causes of peace. A 1992 article by Clayton and Carole Robarchek, added to the Archive of this website this […]
Piaroa Approaches to Nonviolence: New PDF Added to Website
Except for sorcery attacks against unknown outsiders who are presumed to be responsible for diseases and deaths, Piaroa territory is almost completely free of physical violence. Joanna Overing, in a 1989 article added this week to the Archive of this website, describes essential elements of Piaroa beliefs: how they define maturity in terms of routinely […]
