Everyday Nonviolence

Instructor Team: Dr. Pam Zappardino & Dr. Charles Collyer (Co-directors of The Ira and Mary Zepp Center for Nonviolence and Peace Education, a program of Common Ground on the Hill.)

There is more to "nonviolence" than many people think, especially if one looks at what is going on in nonviolence education today. Nonviolence is being viewed as successful problem solving and as successful human development, at all levels from the individual to the international.

The famous leaders of nonviolent social change movements, such as Gandhi and King, are sometimes remembered only for a specialized set of tactics, whose success is dismissed as having been due to unusual circumstances. But a closer look at the philosophy and practices of nonviolence reveals much that is applicable to everyday life.

In this brief course, we will look at this broader view of nonviolence and consider its connection with the idea of finding common ground. People from many walks of life and cultures, and with commitments to a wide range of different philosophical views, have found this approach to nonviolence exciting and even transforming.

Finally, seeing nonviolence as inseparable from the traditional arts and from musical expression helps to emphasize that its roots can be found in the real cultures of real people from many parts of the world.

Charles E. Collyer, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Rhode Island
Assoc. Director, Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, URI
Co-Director, The Ira and Mary Zepp Center for Nonviolence and Peace Education, a program of Common Ground on the Hill, McDaniel College

Dr. Pam Zappardino & Dr. Charles Collyer