LACEY

Jeff Torlina, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology in Utah, will launch the 2013-2014 Saint Martin’s University Harvie Social Justice Lecture Series with a talk that will underscore the importance of social justice in creating sustainable peace.

I want to use the case of Northern Ireland to illustrate how our theoretical understanding of conflict matches 'The Troubles' that took place there, along with the many complexities that threaten the stability of peace, Torlina says of his upcoming lecture, Peace and Justice in Northern Ireland: A Model Peace and Justice Studies Program. The term The Troubles is a reference to the three decades of violence between Northern Ireland's Irish nationalist community and its unionist community.

Torlina, who is based at Utah Valley University in Orem, will make his presentation Friday, Sept. 27, from 4-5 p.m., in Harned Hall 110, located on the Saint Martin's Lacey campus, 5000 Abbey Way S.E. The event is free and open to the public.

Torlina will also discuss peace-building and conflict transformation as a formal, academic study. I will make the case that the academic study of conflict transformation and peace-building has created a body of scholarly knowledge, which allows us to understand the problems and create solutions to the world's most violent conflicts.

One of the things we have learned about creating sustainable peace, Torlina adds, is the need for reconciliation, for appreciating the experience of the other, and for overcoming deep-seated anger and hatred.

Torlina is author of Working Class: Challenging Myths about Blue-Collar Labor. His memberships include the Association for Humanist Sociology, the International Peace and Justice Studies Association, and the Pacific Sociological Association. Torlina regularly travels to Northern Ireland as part of an intensive, four-week, study-abroad program that examines the centuries-old conflict there, with an emphasis on the variety of efforts employed to overcome violence and create peace and reconciliation.

The Robert A. Harvie Social Justice Lecture Series, now in its ninth year, was created by Saint Martin's University Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Robert Hauhart, Ph.D., J.D., chair of the University's Department of Society and Social Justice, to raise awareness of social justice issues within the community. The series honors the work of Robert A. Harvie, J.D., former professor and chair of the Department of Criminal Justice at Saint Martin's.

September 24, 2013