The Kroc Cast: Peace Studies Conversations

We know you've been waiting—and we're thrilled to announce an all-new season of The Kroc Cast beginning November 2025. This season we're zeroing in on the most critical element of any peace effort: the peace agreements. We'll explore how signed documents transform into real change on the ground, guided by the Institute's globally renowned tool, the Peace Accords Matrix. Don't miss this season connecting global research with the local reality.

In this episode of The Kroc Cast, Josefina Echavarría Álvarez, director of the Peace Accords Matrix and the Legacy Project at the Kroc Institute, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs, explores the power of Colombia’s Truth Commission Transmedia Platform and its relevance for peacebuilding worldwide. The conversation highlights how this innovative, multimedia archive preserves multiple voices and lived experiences of Colombia’s armed conflict while offering insights for societies grappling with the legacies of violence. Joining the discussion are two distinguished scholars working with the Legacy Project: Leigh Payne, Professor of Sociology and Latin America at the University of Oxford, whose extensive research on transitional justice spans Latin America and beyond, and Emma Murphy, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Keough-Naughton Institute and the Kroc Institute, whose work develops the concept of agonistic transitional justice as an alternative to liberal approaches. Together, they reflect on the possibilities and challenges of memory, contestation, and multiplicity in processes of truth-telling and reconciliation.

Art has long been a powerful tool for fostering understanding, reconciliation, and healing in conflict-affected societies. By transforming cultural, political, and ideological boundaries, artistic expression allows individuals to communicate, reflect, and envision new possibilities for coexistence. In this episode, Peace Policy guest editor Norbert Koppensteiner, Associate Teaching Professor of Peace Studies, joined the contributors of the issue to discuss the diverse ways that art contributes to peacebuilding, demonstrating its ability to cultivate empathy, challenge oppressive structures, and create spaces for dialogue. Contributors to this issue of Peace Policy include Alison Ribeiro de Menezes, a Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Warwick, UK; Vera Brandner, head of the NGO ipsum and a freelance scientist and lecturer; Jessica (Doe) Mehta, Ph.D. (Aniyunwiya/Cherokee Nation), a 2024-2025 Visiting Research Fellow at the Kroc Institute; and Paula Ditzel Facci, a dancing peace researcher and assistant professor of peacebuilding at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University. Read all articles in this issue at peacepolicy.nd.edu.

Every year, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) hosts the SheLeads4Peace Summer School, a program dedicated to providing women peacebuilders the necessary skills to be a leader for peace as they transition from their education into their professional careers. For the past two years, the Kroc Institute has had the privilege of partnering with UNITAR to send a delegation of seven Notre Dame undergraduate women to Geneva to take part in this event. In this episode, Anna Van Overberghe, assistant director for Academic Administration and Undergraduate Studies, is joined by Mary Kate Cashman (BA '24), Erin Tutaj (BA '24), and Ella Ermshler (BA '25), three peace studies students who participated in the 2023 SheLeads4Peace Summer School this past August.

This episode is dedicated to our latest issue of Peace Policy, which focuses on the co-mingling of two existential crises of our time: the threat of nuclear war, and potential planetary destruction through climate change. Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peace Studies, serves as this year’s faculty editor of Peace Policy. She is joined by George A. Lopez, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies and the guest editor of this Peace Policy issue, for a conversation about essays from our expert contributors, ranging from environmental and nuclear risks in Ukraine, to Pope Francis, to climate change. Contributors to this issue of Peace Policy include Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; Drew Marcantonio (Ph.D. '21), Department of Management & Organization within the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, as well as a faculty fellow with the Kroc Institute, and Kristina Hook (Ph.D. '20), an assistant professor of Conflict Management with Kennesaw State University in Georgia; and Jerry Powers, director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies at the Kroc Institute and coordinator of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network. Read all articles in this issue at peacepolicy.nd.edu.

In this episode, Fr. Emmanuel Katongole, professor of theology and peace studies at the Kroc Institute, hosts a conversation with His Eminence Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja Archdiocese in Nigeria. Cardinal Onaiyekan, one of Africa's most prominent religious peacebuilders, reflects on lessons learned from his decades of work for peace in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.

Today’s episode features three current Keough School of Global Affairs students who took part in the course “Racial Justice In America,” offered through the Center for Social Concerns. The conversation is hosted by Euda Fils (MGA '23), and the guests include Bernice Antoine (B.A. '26) and Aidé Cuenca Narvaéz (MGA '23). The course's curriculum is centered around Clint Smith's book, How the Word Is Passed, which is about Clint’s visit "to eight places in the United States as well as one abroad to understand how each reckons with its relationship to the history of American slavery.” As part of the course, students were offered the opportunity over spring break to visit some of the same sites that Clint did, as well as some other additional sites in the US that were important in both the history of slavery and the story of the struggle for civil rights.

In this episode, Contending Modernities editor and writer Josh Lupo and Professor Atalia Omer, Co-Director of Contending Modernities, interview three contributors to their edited volume, Religion and Broken Solidarities: Feminism, Race, and Transnationalism. The volume explores distinct moments in time across various geopolitical settings when solidarity failed to be realized between marginalized communities because of differences of race, nationalism, religion, and/or ethnicity. These contributions are intended to open up paths for imagining new forms of solidarity now and in the future. In conversation with Ruth Carmi (Ph.D. '23), the editors discuss the reasons why alliances between Mizrahi Jews and Palestinians have been so difficult to achieve, in spite of both groups’ marginalization by the Israeli government. With Brenna Moore, they reflect upon Black Catholic attempts to create transnational partnerships that challenged the White Protestant status quo in early twentieth-century geopolitics. Finally, with Melani McAlister, they consider the role of the literary imagination in helping us contemplate paths beyond the trappings of our current political order. In each of these exchanges, the authors also reflect on their findings in light of the current political moment, rather it be in the recent challenges to the authority of the supreme court in Israel, the Black Lives Matter protests of Summer 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, or in the growing calls to substantively address the threat of climate change. What is revealed in these conversations is that challenging the structures that marginalize the most vulnerable in our society requires an intersectional analysis that refuses to treat any marker of identity or belonging as siloed off from others.

El Acuerdo Final de Paz de Colombia, suscrito en 2016, estableció como uno de sus principios orientadores el de la centralidad de las víctimas. El Acuerdo Final reconoce los daños y el sufrimiento desproporcionado que el conflicto armado interno les ocasionó a las víctimas. Por ello, las partes firmantes acordaron compromisos encaminados a satisfacer sus derechos a la verdad, la justicia, la reparación y la no repetición. En diciembre de 2022, el Instituto Kroc publicó el informe "Las víctimas al centro: estado de la implementación del Acuerdo Final desde la perspectiva de sus derechos", que analiza el estado de la implementación de aquellos compromisos relacionados con los derechos de las víctimas e identifica oportunidades para aumentar sus niveles de implementación. Este episodio presenta un diálogo entre Josefina Echavarría Álvarez, miembros de la Iniciativa Barómetro de la Matriz de Acuerdos de Paz, y Cielo Linares, investigadora del Centro Internacional para la Justicia Transicional, en el que se destacan los principales avances y retos presentados en el informe.

Twenty years ago, the US invasion of Iraq unleashed a series of humanitarian tragedies that, combined with the effects of sanctions, set back women’s rights for decades. In the years since, women’s groups across the country have continued to work for progress, despite many obstacles. In this episode, Anna Romandash (MGA '22), a Brembeck Fellow at Fourth Freedom Forum, talks with Nadje Al-Ali, the Robert Family Professor of International Studies and Professor of Anthropology and Middle East Studies at Brown University, about feminist activists in the country, the role of younger generations of Iraqi, and the ways in which international allies can facilitate and provide support to Iraqi women rights groups. Learn more about the impacts of war and critiques on the strategy of using military intervention to enhance women’s rights in Romandash's report and policy brief.

In this episode, Josefina Echavarría, director of the Peace Accords Matrix and associate professor of the practice, hosts a conversation with the Honorable Juan Manuel Santos, Former President of Colombia and 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate about the 2016 Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and the former FARC-EP that ended the country’s deadly 52-year armed conflict and its current state of implementation.

This is the second of two podcast conversations with authors of policy briefs in the newest collection published by the Kroc Institute's Peace Accords Matrix. The briefs address content and process-related issues in peace agreement design, especially regarding inclusion of citizens’ rights. In this episode, Josefina Echavarría, director of the Peace Accords Matrix and associate professor of the practice, hosts a conversation with policy brief authors Cécile Mouly, research professor at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), Ecuador, and coordinator of the Research Group on Peace and Conflict, and Luis Peña, Visiting Research Fellow at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and Vice President of the International Association of Reconciliation Studies. You can read all policy briefs at peaceaccords.nd.edu/policy.

This is the first of two podcast conversations with authors of policy briefs in the newest collection published by the Kroc Institute's Peace Accords Matrix. The briefs address content and process-related issues in peace agreement design, especially regarding inclusion of citizens’ rights. In this episode, Josefina Echavarría, director of the Peace Accords Matrix and associate professor of the practice, hosts a conversation with policy brief authors Felipe Roa-Clavijo, assistant professor in the School of Government at the Universidad de Los Andes, Rebecca Gindele, consultant on women’s rights and local peacebuilding issues in Colombia, and Sally Sharif, a post-doctoral research associate at the Kroc Institute. You can read all policy briefs at peaceaccords.nd.edu/policy.

Marty Kennedy, a 2022 graduate of the undergraduate program in peace studies, talks with peace studies alums and current students about the history and present state of both activism and scholarship for the inclusion of LGBTQ persons on the University of Notre Dame campus. Guests include Alex Coccia (B.A. '14), Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for the Study of Social Policy in Washington, D.C.; Connor Hayes (B.A. '16), Legal Fellow with the ACLU of Pennsylvania; and Flora Tang (B.A. '18), Ph.D. student in peace studies and theology.

Este es uno de los tres episodios dedicados a conversaciones con los autores de artículos recientes de Política de paz que se centran en la importancia de incluir a los jóvenes en los esfuerzos de consolidación de la paz en los EE. UU. y en todo el mundo. Cat Bolten, Profesora Asociada de Antropología y Estudios de la Paz en el Instituto Kroc, es la editora invitada de este número de Peace Policy. Este episodio presenta una conversación entre Angie Lederach (Ph.D. '20) y Naun Alvarez...

This is one of three episodes dedicated to conversations with the authors of recent Peace Policy articles focusing on the importance of including youth in peacebuilding efforts throughout the U.S. and around the world. Cat Bolten, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute, is the guest editor for this issue of Peace Policy. This episode features a conversation between Angie Lederach (Ph.D. '20), and Naun Alvarez Gonzalez, a leader of the Youth Peace Provokers movement in Montes de Maria, Colombia. You can also read their full article at peacepolicy.nd.edu. Please note that a Spanish version of this episode is also available. A note from Angie and Naun: "This conversation was recorded prior to the recent presidential elections in Colombia. We write today from Camarón, where the election of Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez, who ran on a platform committed to peace, has generated a sense of hope and opportunity for the people of Naún's community. We hope that what they have promised on paper will be put into practice as they take office in August."

In this episode, Kroc Institute faculty member Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict, and Peace Studies, convenes a conversation with several religious studies scholars on the impact of Shaul Magid's book, Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical. Magid is Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College. The speakers in this episode presented a similar conversation during the 2021 American Academy of Religion meeting, and their remarks will also be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Religious Ethics. Discussants in this episode include Yaniv Feller, Jeremy Zwelling Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and Assistant Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University; Emily Filler, Assistant Professor in the Study of Judaism at Washington and Lee University, and co-editor of the Journal of Jewish Ethics; Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, where she chairs the Jewish Studies Program; and Robert A. Orsi, Professor of Religious Studies, History, and American Studies at Northwestern University, where he holds the Grace Craddock Nagle Chair in Catholic Studies.

Cinco años después de la firma del Acuerdo Final de 2016 entre el gobierno colombiano y las ex FARC-EP, la implementación no se ha detenido, a pesar de enfrentar numerosos obstáculos. Un nuevo informe de la Iniciativa Barómetro de la Matriz de Acuerdos de Paz (PAM) del Instituto Kroc para Estudios Internacionales de la Paz presenta el estado actual de la implementación del acuerdo de paz. Este episodio presenta una discusión entre los miembros del equipo de la Iniciativa del Barómetro de la Matriz de los Acuerdos de Paz que destaca los avances y desafíos clave presentados en este informe. Lea el informe completo en go.nd.edu/InformesKrocCol.

Five years after the signing of the 2016 Final Agreement between the Colombian government and the former FARC-EP, implementation has not stopped, despite facing numerous obstacles. A new report from the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) Barometer Initiative at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies presents the current status of peace accord implementation. This episode features a discussion among members of the Peace Accords Matrix Barometer Initiative team highlighting the key advances and challenges presented in this report. Read the full report at go.nd.edu/KrocColombiaReports.

In this episode, Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peace Studies, and one of the guest editors of the most recent issue of Peace Policy focused on the particular role of women in global peacebuilding efforts, talks with authors of all the pieces in this issue. Guests include Peace Policy co-editor, Ruth Carmi, current Ph.D. student in peace studies and sociology; Linda Quiquivix, a popular educator of Mayan roots who saves seeds, loves books, and makes art; Sarah Ihmoud, assistant professor of peace and conflict studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts; and Katherine Marshall, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Read all articles in this issue at peacepolicy.nd.edu.