Annual Ahimsa Lectures
Purpose and Vision
The Ahimsa Lectures aim to illuminate the power of ahimsa (nonviolence) as a force of enduring good. Premised on reverence for all life, ahimsa is not only the rejection of violence but is an active embrace of a constellation of values such as amity and inclusion, caring and compassion, generosity and forgiveness, humility and gratitude, truth and transparency. Ahimsa is vital to human survival and flourishing and should be our guiding light in spheres ranging from education to media, family and society, politics and policymaking to economic and ecological sustainability.
This series is envisioned to bring to our campus distinguished scholars, writers and artists, public intellectuals, thought leaders, social activists and change-makers, and exponents of ahimsa in the wisdom tradition. They will remind us not only of the urgency of addressing the pervasive problem of violence but will also offer a path forward based on their expertise and lived experiences in the realm of ahimsa.
Tara and Nirmal Sethia Ahimsa Lecture
Ahimsa and Constructive Resistance by Stellan Vinthagen
Previous Public Lectures
Farah Godrej is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Riverside. She teaches Indian political thought, Gandhi’s political thought, cosmopolitanism, globalization and comparative political theory. She also studies contemporary issues such as environmental justice, food politics and mass incarceration, with an emphasis on the intersection of scholarship and activism. Her research appears in journals such as American Political Science Review, Political Theory, Political Research Quarterly, Theory & Event, The Review of Politics, and Polity, among others
Event Flyer (PDF)
Date: November 15, 2022Time: 2:30pm to 4:00pm
Location: Building 121, Multipurpose Room (MPRs 1967-69)
Gandhi advocated a three-fold strategy that combines nonviolent resistance with personal transformation, and nonviolent construction (constructive program) of alternatives that can replace systemic violence in society. In this talk professor Vinthagen will explore both its possibilities and challenges in current contexts. He will argue that a problematic weakness accompanying an otherwise amazing surge of contemporary "protest movements" in the world, can be traced to a failure to either recognize or fully apply this strategy for radical social change. The talk will be followed by Q & A and dialogue with the Speaker. His latest book is ' (2020). As an activist Vinthagen has participated in more than 30 nonviolent civil disobedience actions, for which he has served in total more than one year in prison. He is one of the initiators of the European Plowshares movement; and, Academic Conference Blockades; and one of the founders of Ship to Gaza Sweden, a coalition member of the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. He divides his time between Sweden and the USA.Public Lecture by Stellan Vinthagen
Stellan Vinthagen is Professor of Sociology and Endowed Chair in the Study of Nonviolent Direct Action and Civil Resistance at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is Co-Leader of the Resistance Studies Group at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and co-founder of the , and Editor of the Journal of Resistance Studies. Vinthagen is a prolific scholar and has published a dozen books and more than 100 articles on resistance, power, nonviolent action, and social change.
Mahatma Gandhi weighed about one hundred pounds. He stood five feet, six inches tall. More than anyone in history, Gandhi proved that you do not have to be big to have a big impact on the world. Gandhi’s size was one of his assets. His body, renowned for its spare strength, symbolized Gandhi’s humility, his nonviolence, and his identification with the poor. His body was, however, much more than a symbol. In his slim but strong frame, Gandhi made manifest one of his greatest obsessions, a passion that helped make him who he was—his diet. Understanding Gandhi’s relationship to food is to understand the man and his life, and to connect two of history’s perennial questions: how to live and what to eat.
The talk will be followed by Q & A and dialogue with the speaker.
Nico Slate is Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on struggles against racism, imperialism, and other forms of oppression in the United States and India.
He is the author of four books and the editor of a collected volume. His most recent books are Lord Cornwallis Is Dead: The Struggle for Democracy in the United States and India (Harvard University Press, 2019) and Gandhi’s Search for the Perfect Diet: Eating with the World in Mind (University of Washington Press, 2019).
Dr. Slate is the founder and director of the . Born in Los Angeles and raised in California's Mojave Desert, he earned degrees in Earth Systems and the Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities from Stanford University and in Environmental Change and Management from Oxford University before completing his Ph.D. in History at Harvard University.
Given the extent of humanity’s dominion over the biosphere, how can individuals contribute meaningfully to the amelioration of suffering? To the end of our mindless domination of so many other species? Where are the moments in our past and present which offer a window for the future in terms of true conscience at work, compassion in action, a vision of the future that can help all of us to re-embrace the natural world sustainably. Dr. Tobias will discuss nonviolent options that might yet empower our species’ ability to collectively instill an ethical, ecological consensus.
The talk will be followed by Q & A and dialogue with the speaker.
Michael Charles Tobias is an author, historian of consciousness, a global ecologist, and a film-maker. He is the author of over 55 books, has written, directed and/or produced over 100 films. He has conducted ecological field research in over 90 countries.
Dr. Tobias has taught at several institutions of higher education including, Dartmouth College, the University of California-Santa Barbara (as both Distinguished Visiting Professor of Environmental Studies and the Regents Lecturer), and the University of New Mexico-Albuquerque (as the Visiting Garrey Carruthers Endowed Chair of Honors).
Dr. Tobias is an advocate for animal rights. Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder and President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, described Tobias as "one of the world's great souls."
Long-time President of the Tobias has been deeply involved in wildlife conservation and animal/habitat liberation on every continent for half-century.
Tobias is a recipient of numerous awards and honors.
Technology has a unique capacity to offer a sense of greater connection, even as its actual workings may yield deeper forms of dislocation and alienation. While the marketing of new tech often highlights the potential for enhanced mobility, access, equity, and opportunity, the emerging evidence on the full range of impacts is beginning to tell another story. How can we collectively repurpose emerging technologies to activate the positive potentials and minimize the negative ones? In a wired world, we need the core tenets of nonviolence to be a new source code and go viral.
Randall Amster, J.D., Ph.D., is Co-Director and Teaching Professor of Environmental Studies at Georgetown University. He teaches and publishes on subjects including peace and nonviolence, social and environmental justice, political theory, and emerging technologies; serves on the editorial board of numerous academic journals; and writes for a wide range of popular and scholarly publications. His research interests include environmental peacebuilding, climate justice, intersectionality and ecology, community and sustainability, and the justice implications of contemporary technology. His most recent books are Peace Ecology (2015) and, Exploring the Power of Nonviolence (2013).
The history of nonviolence in the 20th and 21st centuries is closely intertwined with the struggles for working people's rights and dignity. Drawing on historical examples of M.K. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cesar Chavez as they engaged with labor struggles, Professor Moss will explore the ways in which ahimsa today remains a vital, necessary, and guiding force for justice in the workplace and the broader community.
Andrew Moss is an emeritus professor of English, Cal Poly Pomona. Dr. Moss served as a faculty member and advisor in the Ahimsa Center from 2004 to 2014, creating the course, "War and Peace in Literature," and presenting at several of the Center's Summer Institutes for K-12 Educators. Since retiring from Cal Poly in 2014, he has been involved with Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE-LA), an interfaith organization that advocates for the rights of low-wage workers and immigrants. Moss writes periodically on social justice issues for a national op-ed syndicate. He is a member of the Ahimsa Center Advisory Board.
Based on a wide range of textual sources and an international survey conducted with Jain medical professionals in India and diaspora communities of North America, Europe, and Africa, this talk will examine the Jain perspectives on bioethical issues. It will particularly focus on how the central principle of nonviolence has been applied and negotiated in the Jain engagement with the ethical dilemmas of birth, life, and death.
Ana Bajželj is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Shrimad Rajchandra Endowed Chair in Jain Studies at the University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on Jain philosophy, particularly metaphysics and ethics. Her first book, The Nature of Change in Jaina Philosophy, was published in 2016 by Ljubljana University Press.
Her forthcoming book, Insistent Life: Principles for Bioethics in The Jain Tradition (UC Press 2021), co-authored with Brianne Donaldson, investigates the relationship between Jainism and bioethics, exploring what foundations Jain doctrines provide for addressing bioethical issues as well as how the tradition informs the attitudes and decisions of contemporary Jain medical professionals.
He became a Jain monk at age 9. At 18 he left his monkhood to join the Gandhian movement for peace. In his early 20s he embarked on an 8000-mile peace pilgrimage without any money, walking from India to America via Moscow, London, and Paris to deliver the message of peace to these nuclear powers. Satish Kumar is a recipient of numerous awards and honors. He has received several honorary doctorates including from the University of Plymouth (in Education), University of Lancaster (in Literature); the University of Exeter (in Law); the University of Wales (in Science). He is the author of many books, including an autobiography, Path Without Destination, Buddha and the Terrorist, Earth Pilgrim, and Elegant Simplicity. He is a distinguished member of the Cal Poly Pomona Ahimsa Center Advisory Board.
SATISH KUMAR is an author, a thought leader, Editor emeritus of Resurgence magazine, and Co-Founder of Schumacher College, UK where he also served as Program Director (1991-2010).
After working in the Information Technology industry in Europe and India for more than two decades, David dedicated himself to the development & empowerment of women through his organization, India Nirman Sangh (INS). The INS currently serve more than 6000 women in some of India’s poorest villages in Palani hills and work with farmers to improve methods for cultivating crops in the area. The INS received the best NGO award from the Government of Tamil Nadu. For his work in rural development, David was awarded a Distinguished Alumnus Award by IIT, Kanpur. Through this work he rediscovered the significance of Mahatma Gandhi’s thought leading to his establishment of a Gandhi Centre for Values in Vadakavunchi, near Kodaikanal in 2016.
DAVID BARUN KUMAR THOMAS is a Gandhian scholar, an activist, an author and a social entrepreneur based in Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu, India. He studied engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur and history at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.
His publications include a novel Rear Entrance about the lives of four Indians in Brussels and their desperate attempts to obtain visas to enter the United Kingdom (Hachette India, 2010).
In her public talk, Stacy Sims will share the story of her journey through anxiety and addiction to a life of connectedness. Her experience in both unwellness and wellness deeply inform her projects. Integrating the practice of mindfulness, movement and meditation, she “helps individuals reclaim ease” and their sense of being. Ms Sims has authored Children’s Books, Novels and Plays. Her most recent works include: When We are Quiet and The Vivian Girls, a play with music. She works with clients on addressing trauma, provides leadership trainings on the True Body Project methodology, and is working to grow the Mindful Music Moments, as a program for both schools and health care systems.
STACY SIMS is an author, a wellness activist, and a body-mind educator. She is the founder of , an award-winning program for understanding and addressing trauma; , an initiative aimed at mindful gatherings; and , an afterschool program featured recently in the PBS Newshour.
How can we deal with escalating inequalities, increasing homelessness, growing poverty and violence around us? Ela Gandhi will draw upon some of the key concepts and ideas of her grandfather, Mohandas K. Gandhi, to unravel a new approach to economics.
ELA GANDHI has been a social activist in Durban, South Africa, where she oversaw the process of first democratic elections in post-apartheid South Africa. She is a former member of the South African Parliament where she served on several important committees, including on Education, Justice, Public Enterprises, Social Development, Arts Culture Science and Technology.
Later she was the Chancellor of Durban University of Technology from 2007-2012. She has received several honorary doctorates including from the Kwa Zulu Natal University and the Lincoln University in Lincolnshire U.K.
Her numerous honors and awards include the Padma Bhushan—one of the highest awards given to a civilian by the Government of India. Currently, she serves in many honorary positions such as Trustee of the Gandhi Development Trust, the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Trust, President of the World Conference on Religions for Peace International, and the Editor of an Electronic Newspaper, Satyagraha.
She is a founder of International Centre of Nonviolence (ICON) and serves on its Board.
Co-hosted by the Ahimsa Student Club
CAROLYN J. LUKENSMEYER is the Executive Director of the , an organization that works to reduce political dysfunction and incivility in our political system. As a leader in the field of deliberative democracy, she works to restore our democracy to reflect the intended vision of our founding fathers. Previously, she served as the Founder and President of America Speaks, an award-winning nonprofit organ-ization that promoted nonpartisan initiatives to engage citizens and leaders through the development of innovative public policy tools and strategies. During her tenure, America Speaks engaged more than 165,000 people and hosted events across all 50 states and throughout the world.
Dr. Lukensmeyer served as Consultant to White House Chief of Staff (1993-94) and on the National Performance Review where she steered internal management and oversaw government-wide reforms. She was the Chief of Staff to Ohio Governor Richard F. Celeste from 1986-91, becoming the first woman to serve in this capacity.
She earned her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University and completed postgraduate training at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland.
Our food choices have profound impact on ourselves, animals, and the planet. Many of us aspire to live compassionately and to practice nonviolence, while unwittingly causing enormous suffering and destruction through our daily food choices. It doesn’t have to be that way. We can change the world by changing our food.
Event features inspirational talks cum dialogs; a segment from the documentary, . Event is held in conjunction with the Institute on Gandhi and Mandela.
Nancy Clark is the Jane DeGrummond Professor of History at Louisiana State University. She earned her undergraduate degree in history at UCLA and her Ph.D. in history at Yale University. Dr. Clark is the author of several books on African and South African history including South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid, Manufacturing Apartheid, and the two volume Africa and the West. She has earned numerous academic honors including awards from the National Endowment for Humanities, Social Science Research Council, and the Fulbright-Hays Research Program.
Professor Clark taught at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo from 1989 to 2003, and served as the founding Director of the Honors Program and the President’s Scholars. She also served as Dean of the Honors College at LSU from 2003-2014. She has led study abroad trips to China and South Africa including a service learning trip to South Africa.
She will speak on the topic, “The Continuing Meaning of Reconciliation in Post-Apartheid South Africa”
After spending 27 years in prison for his beliefs, Nelson Mandela led South Africa to a peaceful transition from the notorious Apartheid system to a fully democratic society in 1994. While he was “prepared to die” to bring about change in South Africa, he succeeded not only in overturning racial discrimination through peaceful means, but also in promoting reconciliation in the new South Africa. How did he turn the bitterness of apartheid into true reconciliation?
Linda Biehl is the co-founder and director of the Amy Biehl Foundation in the U.S. and the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust in South Africa. Linda’s relationship to South Africa and the genesis of these Foundations is grounded in the life and death of her daughter Amy.
Amy Biehl was a dynamic, 26 year-old Stanford graduate who in 1993 was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study the role of women and gender rights during South Africa’s transition from the apartheid regime to a free multiracial democracy. Just days before she was due home, Amy was killed in an act of political violence.
The four men, convicted of killing Amy, applied in 1997 for amnesty to South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Linda and her late husband Peter were strongly motivated by Amy’s belief in the TRC and its mission to achieve restorative justice. Under the watchful eye of the world, the Biehls testified at the amnesty hearing of their daughter's killers. Instead of opposing amnesty they offered their support and challenged the killers to link arms with them and continue Amy’s work.
At a personal level, Linda Biehl build a relationship with two of the killers of her daughter. As a result these young men became social activists in their community working for the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust.
In 2008 Linda Biehl was awarded the highest honor given to a non-South African, the Companions of O. R. Tambo. Linda was the first Greeley Scholar for Peace and UMASS Lowell in the spring of 2008.
Mrs. Biehl will share the work of the Amy Biehl Foundation aimed at the fulfilment of the three important rights in the South African Constitution: the right to education, the right to equal employment, and the right to health. However, for her justice is more than rights written into an official document; justice is converting those rights into reality.