Building a better future focus of Hulings Lecture series talks at Northland

September 13, 2012

Patricia and Kent Shifferd, former Northland College professors, will speak on ways to pave the road to peace and more sustainable societies at Northland College. The two will speak beginning at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 18, in the Sentry Room of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute. The event, another offering in the Northland College Community Connections series, is free and open to the public. A question and answer session, as well as book signings, will follow their presentations.

Patricia Shifferd is the co-author of "Between Grace and Fear: The Role of the Arts in a Time of Change" and an independent consultant in research and evaluation. She taught sociology and anthropology for 30 years at Northland College. Shifferd left Northland in 1998 to work for an arts organization in the Twin Cities and began conducting research with fellow colleague William Cleveland on how the arts influence community life. In 2006, the two decided to take on a more critical analysis of the role arts play during times of social change. Shifferd will share their published findings on how harnessing creativity can help communities move toward more sustainable paths.

"As we move forward toward a more sustainable way of living, the arts and creativity that arts and artists provide is crucial moving toward that direction," Shifferd said. "Clearly, the way we've been doing things in the past isn't going to work. We need creativity and innovative ways and solutions. If anyone does creativity, it's the arts."

In addition, Kent Shifferd will present on his research surrounding peace and war from his book, "From War to Peace: A Guide to the Next Hundred Years." Shifferd taught as professor of history at Northland from 1968-1999. He also served from 1985-1999 as the director of the college's peace studies program during its existence at Northland. He will discuss his book and the portrayal of war in society.

"We live in a social system that is designed to produce war and supports a view that it's normal, that war is inevitable and that it's human nature," Shifferd said. "But, in fact, there's a lot of peace in history. We just don't look at it. We don't focus on it."

Shifferd hopes to demonstrate that society has the opportunity to shift from a "war system to a peace system" in the next 100 years. In his book, Shifferd cites 25 trends that indicate society is moving toward a more peaceful world, including formations of the first citizen peace group, the League of Nations, United Nations and the International Criminal Court.

"We're living through a revolution that we don't even see and we have a good chance in the next 100 years to outlaw war." Shifferd said, comparing such efforts to that of those to outlaw slavery. "It took less than 100 years for that movement to snowball....I'm not saying that there will never be wars again, but I'm saying we have a good chance to outlaw war and make it a criminal activity." 



The A.D. & Mary Elizabeth Andersen Hulings Chair in the Humanities was established in September 1990 to support a senior scholar in the humanities. The endowment funds promotion and strengthening of the Humanities at Northland College.