Peace and Psychology in Northern Ireland
A&S students visited the Corrymeela Community in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation organization.
Undergraduates studying abroad in Northern Ireland with Prof. Melinda Leonard (Psychological & Brain Sciences) not only learn about the physical walls separating citizens, they learn about the emotional barriers that continue to affect the descendants of those involved in “The Troubles.”
The Northern Ireland International Service Learning & Research Program developed by Prof. Leonard is intended to expose students to direct approaches to conflict resolution, transitional justice, and empirical research specific to “The Troubles” of the Northern Ireland conflict (1960s-1990s). Emphasis is based on cognitive, social, and peace psychology perspectives. Students receive training in human subject protection, field research methodologies, surveying and interviewing skills, and diversity issues during the spring semester prior to going overseas. Once abroad, they assist with data collection as well as community workshops.
“The transgenerational transmission of information makes Irish kids today feel as though they had been right there on Bloody Sunday,” said senior Morgan Wells (Psychological & Brain Sciences). “Working with these youth and seeing their desire to learn, to grow, to be better than generations before them – you can’t get this from a book, a classroom, or even a brilliant professor who has immersed herself in this place and these people. This experience changed my life.”
