Last summer Marubbio led a group of students in Chiapas as part of the Nobel Peace Prize program. The Peace Scholars, students representing five Midwestern Lutheran colleges, spent nine days in Chiapas studying the history of conflict and peace in the state. Augsburg’s Scholars are Katia Iverson, a sophomore cross-cultural studies major, and Jessica Spanswick, a senior majoring in international relations and peace and global studies.

Marubbio structured the program by assigning readings and holding pre- and post-trip classes at Augsburg. Students were encouraged to make connections between the Chiapas situation and indigenous peace and rights movements in the U.S. and Canada. Their final project includes group presentations, which they will give at the upcoming Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg.

While in Chiapas, the group visited with women’s groups, grassroots activists, NGOs, a Zapatista community, and indigenous schools. The students shared a memorable experience in Acteal, a site where 45 people were killed in a massacre. They met with an attorney who was involved with the prosecution of the paramilitary group responsible for the killings and a woman whose family had been killed in the massacre. The attorney was anticipating a court decision regarding the paramilitary group; he learned shortly after the Scholars’ visit that they were acquitted.

“We saw all the crosses representing the people who died,” Spanswick said. “We just stood there in the pouring rain. We couldn’t leave.”

Iverson said meeting people involved in diverse ways in the peace process was helpful for her. “I learned I can actually do something in the peace movement,” she says. “Right where I am, I can make that change, reach out to others, and be a partner.”

Spanswick says the experience made her ask, “What is my role as a white American woman going into another place and saying I can help?” In particular, the group met with members of an NGO that have learned how to be helpful by understanding the needs of the community. “I saw that we need to revamp our strategies and realize what we don’t know in order to help others,” Spanswick says.

Marubbio says the Chiapas program gave her an insider’s perspective on the Zapatista movement, a subject she has been interested in for some time. “I saw amazing examples of indigenous sovereignty, and it is powerful to behold,” she says.

She adds that she was humbled by and grateful for the generosity of the people they met with in Mexico. “They accepted us, our ignorance sometimes, and our questions. They did so believing that by doing that we would do the same for others.”

Marubbio says she is especially grateful to Marisela Chaplin and Sister Lucy, two of the women who led the group. Chaplin is a staff member with the Center for Global Education in Cuernavaca. Marubbio says the Center’s connections, staff, and commitment to experiential learning made the experience “a constant and wonderful learning process” for her.

About the Nobel Peace Prize Forum – March 5-6, 2010

In cooperation with the Norwegian Nobel Institute, five Midwestern colleges of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America sponsor the annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum. This prestigious event is the Norwegian Nobel Institute’s only such program or academic affiliation outside Norway. Register and read more about the Forum on the .

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Spanswick [pictured left], a sophomore from Perham, Minn., is majoring in international relations with a minor in peace and global studies. Spanswick enjoys playing the alto saxophone in the Augsburg Concert Band and the Gospel Praise Jazz Ensemble, but her favorite activity is tutoring East African adults and children in the Cedar Riverside community. She is also actively involved in the Seward Montessori School, helping with a 4th and 5th grade class. The most meaningful college experience for Spanswick was studying abroad in Namibia and South Africa in the fall semester of 2008. Studying “Nation Building, Globalization, and Decolonizing the Mind” in Namibia inspired a passion in her for cross-cultural communication. She is planning to work abroad after graduating in Spring 2010, and hopes to return to Africa. Her goal is to one day work for the United Nations in a peacekeeping mission.

Iverson [pictured right], a first-year student from Maple Grove, Minn, is considering a major in cultural anthropology with a minor in Spanish. She has a passion for diversity and the elimination of poverty and has a history of working in groups that emphasize both. At Augsburg, Iverson is involved with Honors, MPIRG, and the Bonner Leaders program. The Bonner program has allowed her to work off campus at an alternative high school as a teaching assistant in algebra and African American literature. Her experiences there continually foster her love for people and the stories that they bring with them. Iverson hopes to use her service experiences and those as a Peace Scholar to further connect Augsburg with the community that surrounds the campus. In the near future, she also hopes to study abroad in Africa and Central America, continuing to focus on peace, poverty, and cultural diversity.

Every year, two students from each of the five Norwegian Lutheran colleges that make up the Nobel Peace Prize consortium are selected as scholars and awarded a summer travel seminar experience designed to deepen their understanding of issues related to peace, justice, democracy, and human rights.

Elise Marubbio, assistant professor of American Indian Studies at Augsburg will lead the scholars in a one-week travel seminar in Chiapas, Mexico in the summer of 2009. There the scholars will study conflict, the possibilities and limitations of negotiated peace agreements, and low intensity warfare to maintain “peace” in a region of conflict. They will have opportunities to meet with indigenous communities, church leaders, NGOs, government officials, and international peace groups to gain an understanding of the indigenous issues related to human rights, the environment, women’s groups, and the land.

The 2009 Peace Prize Forum will be held Mar. 6-7 at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. At the Forum, Augsburg’s 2008 Peace Scholars—Hannah Glusenkamp and Willie Pinckney—will present a report on their learning experience in Guatemala in July 2008.

Contact

Wendi Wheeler, Creative Associate-Editorial

wheelerw@augsburg.edu

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