United Nations peace program goes to UO.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

The University of Oregon has become the first school in the country to take part in a United Nations program designed to promote peace through an international conversation on culture and religion.

Sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the program establishes academic chairs at universities that act as a channel for research, education and public discussion that help increase understanding between peoples and nations. UO English professor Steven Shankman, director of the Oregon Humanities Center, is serving as the first chair holder.

Known as the UNESCO Chair in Transcultural Studies, Interreligious Dialogue and Peace, it is one of 15 around the world. It is the first UNESCO program in the United States since the country essentially pulled out of the organization during the Reagan era over disputes with the United Nations, Shankman said.

The value of the program is in its efforts to build bridges and improve communications between people of different cultures and religions, he said. Helping people understand one another is increasingly important given the geopolitical conflicts and sectarian violence around the world, especially since the end of the Cold War.

Shankman said that's particularly true given the prominent role of religion in both culture and politics, not only in the Middle East and other parts of the world but also in the United States.

"One of the ways to look at it is with the collapse of communism and the passing of the Cold War era, for better or worse, religions are suddenly becoming much more active, a much more vital part of culture," Shankman said. "And religions can go in two directions; they can go toward tribalism or they can go toward universalism and peace. It's really very important at this moment to have a dialogue now that religion is becoming a much more central issue."

He said religion is of particular interest because dispassionate study and discussion is sometimes difficult on issues that involve such strong emotion as well as personal and cultural identification.

"Even in the United States it's difficult to talk about religion," Shankman said. "It's important to be able to discuss rationally religions around the world and find common ground between them and be able to talk about them."

The chair does not come with any funding but the university has pledged to support it and may seek donor funding to expand its work. It will make use of existing research and programs and build on the university's strengths.

"This is a testament to the work that is being done on the campus in the areas of conflict resolution, peace studies and international scholarship," UO President Dave Frohn- mayer said.

Shankman said he plans to arrange events such as speakers and panel discussions aimed at the general public in addition to research projects. Special courses for students at the master's and doctoral level also could be offered.

Other programs will look at ethics, peace studies, comparative religion, comparative literature, philosophy and conflict resolution.

The chair will give UO faculty a conduit to work with colleagues in similar programs at universities in Europe, Central Asia, Australia and the Middle East. The UO also will host a conference for all UNESCO chairs in 2008.