“ Ithink peace studies is ultimately a study in how to be in
“ The peace studies program gave me a community to grow with , to celebrate with , and to grieve with .”
MU | Peace Studies
“ Ithink peace studies is ultimately a study in how to be in
community with one another .
The peace studies program gave me a community to grow with , to celebrate with , and to grieve with ,” said Caraline Feairheller , a 2019 graduate with a degree in peace studies and political science .
Feairheller has spent the past several years since graduation working for Manchester ’ s peace studies department , engaging in faith-based advocacy and nonprofit work in Washington , D . C ., and attending Kent State University for political science and peace and conflict studies .
Immediately after graduating from Manchester , Feairheller stayed on as the peace studies coordinator , a one-year , fulltime position responsible for coordinating extracurricular activities of the peace studies program . During that year , they collaborated with Director Katy Gray Brown to plan both on- and off-campus events for students and the community and assessed program activities in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs ). Academic programs at Manchester , not limited to peace studies , continue to align with the SDGs ; during the Fall 2022 semester , a series of Values , Ideas and the Arts presentations focused on various goals , including improving food security on campus and eradicating extreme poverty .
After a final year with the program – one that was eventually moved to remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic – Feairheller moved to D . C . and began working with NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice as a policy communications associate . NETWORK , established in 1972 , is a non-profit dedicated to advocating for federal policies that advance racial and economic justice .
“ While D . C . was nice , I eventually found my way back to Ohio to attend graduate school at Kent State University in their political science and School of Peace and Conflict Studies program ,” Feairheller said . “ Along with grad school , I continue to work in the faith-based advocacy field ; now I focus on immigration issues as a policy communications director .”
Their research at Kent State explores the contemporary operation of anti-LGBTQ + legislation . They are looking at questions about how this legislation operates , how it is
The five years Feairheller spent at Manchester significantly impacted both their career path and their broader outlook on life . During their time as a student , they interned in Louisville with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth through the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty . This summer internship experience working with activists was pivotal in their undergraduate career .
“ The peace studies program gave me a community to grow with , to celebrate with , and to grieve with .”
resisted and how it constructs transgender identities .
“ On one hand this research is important to me because I want to expose how violence operates so it can be resisted . And it should be resisted because the culmination of what is in these policy proposals and their potential impacts is devastating ,” Feairheller said .
On the other hand , Feairheller has found that the research process is also an opportunity to learn more about their own identity . “ When I started this research , I was looking at the relationship between the Midwest and queerness because I am a person who is queer and from the Midwest . Much like my own identity , the research process evolves over time . In doing this research I ’ ve been exposed to authors and researchers whose own work on identity and place have shaped or challenged my own . It remains personally important because the research process has given me the language I needed to describe my own understandings of queerness and resistance .”
“ It helped me learn how change can happen , which I think is what drives me to continue to do this research ,” they said . “ What peace studies does so well is provide its students , like me , with a lens for understanding the violence in the world but also the creative ways it ’ s been resisted . I think no matter where I ’ ve been or what type of work I ’ ve been doing , I continue to carry this lens with me .”
Feairheller is passionate about the work peace studies does to create community – within the program and in collaboration with others in the larger community and across the world .
“ There ’ s so much work that goes into maintaining a community , especially one that travels across time , place , and generations . Having five years to learn what community looks like , feels like , and can be is something that I try to carry into every interaction I have . Professionally and academically , peace studies has done a lot for me . But most importantly , peace studies taught me how to be in a community of peacemakers and make change .”
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