Building Peace from Chaos—Around the World with Dr. Mari Fitzduff by Living a Life in Full with Dr Chris Stout

Have you ever wondered how a peace-building activist comes into being? What are the experiences, what creates the drive to push against the odds, often with being put at personal risk and in harm’s way?

In 2006, I had the pleasure of collaborating with Dr. Mari Fitzduff as we co-edited The Psychology of War, Conflict Resolution and Peace, a three-volume series that was published by Praeger Press. Our mutual publisher, Debbie Carvalko, acted as a matchmaker to pair us up, and I’m honored that she did. I knew of Dr. Fitzduff by reputation as a Professor and Director at Brandeis University, where she founded the Master of Arts Program in Conflict and Coexistence—which to date has graduates hailing from over 70 countries. I also knew that she was an Irish-American educator, writer, and academic, and had helped to set up the first university courses in conflict resolution in Northern Ireland. In 1988, she wrote a training book called Community Conflict Skills, which was used particularly in the Northern Ireland conflict. Since its original publication, it has been translated into Indonesian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, and a number of other languages to help countries dealing with ethnic strife.

What I didn’t know was her origin story. I guarantee you will be blown away with her background and inspired by her work. Mari is an amazing person, with an amazing life story, doing amazing things. This is an episode not to be missed!

Mari has lived her life in full and in the service of so many others. The world is a much better place with thanks to her.