Headquarters Arizona, United States | Founded 2001 | |
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Similar Nonviolence International, Veterans for Peace, Manchester University, Search for Common Ground, Mayors for Peace Profiles | ||
The Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) is a non-profit organization presently headquartered at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. The PJSA was formed in 2001 as a result of a merger of the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development (COPRED) and the Peace Studies Association (PSA). Both organizations focused on peace, conflict and justice studies. PJSA is dedicated to bringing together academics, K-12 teachers and grassroots activists to explore alternatives to violence and to share visions and strategies for peacebuilding, social justice, and social change. It also serves as a professional association for scholars in the field of peace and conflict resolution studies. It is the North American regional affiliate of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA). For reasons of language, Mexico is part of IPRA's South American affiliate.
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In 2010, PJSA became a bi-national organization with Canada, holding its first Canadian conference in Winnipeg, sponsored by the University of Winnipeg, Menno Simons College, and Canadian Mennonite University. Since then, PJSA has committed to holding its annual conference in Canada every third year. Today, more than 20% of PJSA's 22 board members are Canadians, who are also well represented on the board's executive committee. Presently, about 10% of its membership is Canadian, and this has been rising steadily.
PJSA's broad membership helps to facilitate research that is highly relevant, and it allows the association to quickly disseminate the latest findings to those who will be among the first to implement new policies. PJSA's abilities to do this have been greatly enhanced in recent years with the formation of a speakers bureau, a syllabus collection project, and the creation of a very active publications committee.
PJSA's current Executive Director is Michael Loadenthal who began in 2016.
Mission and values
The PJSA works to create a just and peaceful world through:
- The promotion of peace studies within universities, colleges and K-12 grade levels
- The forging of alliances among educators, students, activists, and other peace practitioners in order to enhance each other's work on peace, conflict and non-violence
- The creation and nurturing of alternatives to structures of inequality and injustice, war and violence through education, research and action.
Their members share many of the following values and beliefs:
Partnerships
The PJSA has a number of partnership and affiliation agreements with organizations sharing its overarching mission and values. Included in these partnership arrangements are educational associations such as the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA), National Peace Academy, Canadian School of Peacebuilding, BCA Study Abroad, Center for Global Education and Experience and the Northwest Earth Institute.