Encounter Theory

Katerina Standish is Professor of Global and International Studies at the University of Northern British Columbia. Standish's teaching and supervision span Western and Indigenous research paradigms. She is the author and editor of books on conflict transformation, education, human rights, community building, gender, genocide, and transformative research. An expert in peace education, graduate pedagogy, and conflict transformation, Standish combines scholarly rigor with practical engagement to advance interdisciplinary approaches to building peace.Cathryne L. Schmitz is Professor Emerita in the Department of Social Work at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Across her career, she has been committed to community, collective action, advocacy, and social change. The core areas of her scholarship reflect her overall career development--critical multiculturalism, ecological justice, interdisciplinary education, community building, global engagement, human rights, and peacebuilding. She has been engaged in intercultural global teaching, environmental education, knowledge building, and curriculum development.Lacey M. Sloan is a Professor at Auburn University at Montgomery. Her three intertwining areas of scholarship are environmental justice; sexual rights and gender-based violence; and, social work education and practice in Islamic contexts. Sloan serves on CSWE's Commission on Education Policy (COEP) and served as a consultant for UNICEF-Somalia and UNICEF-South Sudan supporting the rapid deployment of a child protection workforce.

Encounter Theory points out that genuine everyday interactions foster critical experiences and empathetic understanding that ground those experiences in transforming intergroup relationships over the long term to build an adaptable and authentic peace that lasts. The book highlights the importance of people in local peacebuilding initiatives; intersections across disciplines to understand complex problems; the connection, humanization, inter-relationship, and nonviolent engagement peace practices emerging from positive peacebuilding; and a balanced approach to justice and peace. The book is a must read for those interested in critical and emancipatory peacebuilding and nonviolent conflict transformation.

• Introduction: Encounter Theory for the 21st Century 1: The Theoretical Ecosystem of Encounter Theory 2: Enriching Encounter Theory 3: Human Violence 4: From Perception to Practice 5: Encounter Theory Praxis: Pathways to Change 6: Wicked Problems and Encounter Theory 7: Horizon Lines, and Stepping Forward