Conference Speakers
Rajni Bakshi
RAJNI BAKSHI is a Mumbai-based author, speaker, and the founder of Ahimsa Conversations. Her books include: Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom: for a market culture beyond greed and fear (Penguin, India, 2009 and Greenleaf, UK, 2012), which won two Vodafone-Crossword Awards; Bapu Kuti: Journeys in Rediscovery of Gandhi (Penguin, India, 1998) which inspired the Hindi film Swades; Long Haul: the Bombay Textile Workers Strike 1982-83 (BUILD, India, 1986). Rajni has also written several monographs including: Trusteeship: Business and the economics of well-being (2016); Civilizational Gandhi (2012); An Economics for Well-Being (2007); Let’s Make it Happen: a backgrounder on New Economics (2003); A Warning and an Opportunity: the Dispute over Swami Vivekananda’s Legacy (1994).
On 30th January, 2020, Rajni launched a Youtube Channel called Ahimsa Conversations, which is a platform for exploring the possibilities of nonviolence. She has interviewed more than one hundred individuals engaged in work informed and inspired by ahimsa.
In the context of the conference theme, she will share the key insights that have emerged through her Ahimsa Converstion series.
Ela Gandhi
ELA GANDHI, grandaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, was born and grew up at the Phoenix Settlement in Inanda South Africa. This was the very first Ashram set up by Mahatma Gandhi in 1904. Here he experimented with a new way of life, closer to nature, simple, healthy, inter faith, gender conscious and communal.
She served in many important roles including as a member of the South African democratic parliament for nine years, and as the Chancellor of Durban University of Technology for two terms. Currently, as a retired Social worker and activist, she is engaged in promoting Gandhian thoughts and in building of a culture of nonviolence through education projects and media.
Ela holds voluntary honorary positions on various local and international organisations promoting peace and interfaith harmony. She also serves as co-President of World Conference on Religions for Peace, as Managing Trustee on Gandhi Development Trust and Phoenix Settlement Trust, and member of various community organisations.
Ela has three daughters, one son and two grandchildren. Her son was assassinated in 1993 during the pre liberation violence in South Africa.
She will share her experience and insights into the role of faith-based communities and Gandhian ideal in healing divisions and addressing conflicts in present-day South Africa.
Terri Givens
TERRI GIVENS is professor of Political Science at McGill University. She is also the CEO and Founder of Brighter Higher Ed.
She has held leadership positions as Vice Provost at University of Texas at Austin and as Provost of the Menlo College. She was the founding director at the Center for European Studies at the University of Texas and led the university’s efforts in Mexico and Latin America as Vice Provost for International Activities. At Menlo College she has led faculty and staff in developing programs for first generation students, updating curriculum and infrastructure for evidence-based assessment.
Terri is the author/editor of several books and articles on immigration policy, European politics and security. Her most recent book is the memoir, Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides (2021). Here is the Reading Guide which will be useful for a dialogue with her following her talk.
She is recipient of numerous honors and awards.
As an accomplished speaker, she uses her platform to develop leaders and encourage personal growth through empathy.
Drawing from her own lived experiences and in the context of the conferene theme, she will make the case for "A Time for Radical Empathy."
More About Terri Givens
Michael Nagler
MICHAEL NAGLER As Professor Emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at UC, Berkeley, Michael co-founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program.
His books include The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World; The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action; and The Third Harmony: Nonviolence and the New Story of Human Nature.
He's a student of Eknath Easwaran, who founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation. He has lived at the center’s ashram in Marin County, California since 1970.
His latest project is The Third Harmony, which includes a documentary film, a book, and a cooperative board game. Find all three at mettacenter.org.
Dr. Nagler will introduce and screen The Third Harmony, a film about the inner dynamics and the powers in our grasp that make nonviolent transformation possible. It shows us how we can recognize and support a shift from violence to nonviolence.
Hongyu Wang
HONGYU WANG is professor in curriculum studies at the School of Teaching, Learning, and Educational Sciences, Oklahoma State University (OSU).
Her major teaching and research areas include Nonviolence education and curriculum, which involves reformulating the notion of personhood and education, introducing international wisdom of interconnectedness and peace, and practicing mindfulness.
She has authored several books, including Nonviolence and Education: Cross Cultural Pathways (2014); and Contemporary Daoism, Organic Relationality, and Curriculum of Integrative Creativity (2021). In addition, Her first book in English, The Call from the Stranger on a Journey home: Curriculum in a Third Space (2004) bridges the international and intercultural dialogues.
Dr. Wang is also a co-founder of a Special Interest Group, Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Education at American Educational Research Association (AERA), and is currently the leading co-editor of a book series on Current Perspectives on Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and Education at the Information Age Publishing.
Dr. Wang will share her own calling and work integrating nonviolence in the higher education and in shaping curricular studies for a nuanced and balanced cross-cultural understanding.
Tara Sethia
TARA SETHIA, the organizer of this conference, is Shri Shantinath Endowed Chair in Ahimsa Studies, founder and director of Ahimsa Center, and professor of History at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Her authored and edited books include, Gandhi: Pioneer of Nonviolent Social Change; Living Gandhi; and Ahimsa, Anekanta and Jainism
Her course offerings include Nonviolence and nonviolent movements in the Modern World and seminar in Nonviolence studies. She coordinates the multidisciplinary minor in Nonviolence Studies and serves as its faculty advisor.
More About Tara Sethia