China News Service, Nanjing, February 26th
: "The father of peace studies" John Galtung has a profound influence on the world and China's peace studies
Author Liu Cheng (Professor of the School of History of Nanjing University, Chair of UNESCO Peace Studies, Honorary Dean of the Institute of Peace Studies of Weifang University)
Professor Johan Galtung has always been in good health and kept writing.
When he was 84 years old, he asked me to accompany him to climb the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum again. When he was 87 years old, he went on a long trek to the Yangtze River in Nanjing. When he was 90 years old, he introduced to me the secret of his health and longevity... I am convinced that this master of peace studies will definitely be a centenarian.
In the early morning of February 18th, Beijing time, when I learned that he had left Hexi a few hours ago, I was completely unwilling to believe that such a century-old man had left us and the cause of peace that he had fought for all his life.
Johann Galtung was born in Oslo on October 24, 1930. His father and grandfather were both doctors.
As a child, he lived through World War II in Nazi-occupied Norway and witnessed his father being arrested by the occupying forces.
Galtung did not inherit the medical profession of his ancestors, but became a doctor who "treated" the society.
He is the founder of peace and conflict studies and is known as the "Father of Peace Studies".
Peaceology is the "doctor" of human society. It pays attention to the pain caused by various types of violence, "diagnoses" the state of violence, "predicts" changes in violence, reduces violence (negative peace) and improves the environment (positive peace) through "treatment" .
In 1959, Galtung founded Europe's first Peace Research Institute in Oslo.
In 1964, he founded the first professional journal on peace studies, Peace Research.
In 1969, Galtung was appointed by the Norwegian government as the world's first professor of peace and conflict studies (peaceology).
He has received numerous international awards and honors, including the alternative Nobel Prize Right Livelihood Award in 1987 and multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations.
Professor Galtung is a great peace research theorist, educator and peace practice activist.
His conceptual framework and theoretical system have had a profound impact on scholars, educators, and policymakers around the world.
Galtung's concepts of the triangle of violence (direct violence, structural violence, cultural violence), the conflict triangle (behavior, contradictions and attitudes), positive peace and negative peace, and conflict transformation have influenced generations of peace builders around the world.
Galtung's theory of conflict is an important part of his critical approach to peace studies.
He combines precisely coordinated analytical methods from medicine (diagnostics, prognosis, therapeutics), mathematics (discrete and structural mathematics, combinatorics and stochastics), sociology, comparative cultural studies and anthropology, and emerges from conflict to better understand and transform conflicts at all levels of society in terms of their causes, drivers and consequences.
Galtung defined conflict as any "incompatibility between the goals or values of actors in a social system" and believed that relevant conflicts can be resolved by clarifying and reconciling (hidden) interests. Mediation can change the structural background of the conflict, Thereby changing the behavior of the parties to the conflict so that the conflict is transformed at all levels.
Galtung's conflict theory focuses on seeking the conditions for constructive and nonviolent conflict transformation.
For this reason, Galtung believed that peace is a dynamic concept and defined peace as "the creative transformation of conflict through non-violent means."
The concepts of structural violence and cultural violence he proposed prompted a shift in peace studies after the 1970s, paying more attention to positive peace in order to deal with various contradictions and challenges in the process of globalization.
Galtung proposed four aspects of positive peace: First, natural peace: cooperation rather than struggle between species.
The second is direct positive peace: emphasizing kindness in words and materials, concern for the basic needs, survival, happiness, freedom and identity of all people, of which love is the epitome, the integration of body, mind and heart.
The third is structural positive peace: freedom to replace oppression, equality to replace exploitation, the way to complete the replacement is dialogue instead of penetration, integration instead of division, unity instead of isolation, participation instead of marginalization.
The fourth is cultural positive peace: replacing the legitimacy of violence with the legitimacy of peace, and establishing a positive culture of peace within religion, law, ideology, language, art and science, in schools and the media, which means opening up Rather than suppressing people’s different tendencies and talents.
Positive peace transcended the traditional definition of peace and expanded the connotation of peace. It became the main content of subsequent peace research and is widely recognized and respected around the world.
The first time I met Galtung was in Nanjing in March 2005 - China's first international academic symposium on peace. Internationally renowned peace scholars from the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Norway, South Africa and other countries participated At the meeting, Professor Galtung gave a keynote report for the conference.
The conference proceedings were published in the UK in 2006 under the title "Peace Studies in the Chinese Century".
The successful convening of the Nanjing International Academic Symposium on Peace Studies marked the official launch of peace studies in China, and Nanjing University has gradually become the center of peace studies in China.
At the conference, Galtung gave us a copy of his representative book "Peace by Peaceful Means" (Oslo: IPRI, 1996.), which was soon translated into Chinese and published under the Chinese title "Peace by Peaceful Means" (Oslo: IPRI, 1996.) "On Peace" (2006 edition by Nanjing Publishing House; reprinted in 2016 as "The Way of Peace - Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization").
Later, we translated another of his books, "The Collapse of the American Empire—Past, Present and Future" (People's Publishing House, 2013 edition), which became a bestseller.
The picture shows John Galtung (left) and Liu Cheng (right) taking a photo at the first international academic symposium on peace in China in 2005.
Photo provided by interviewee
In April 2014, Professor Galtung traveled thousands of miles to visit Nanjing University for the second time and gave a speech entitled "Island Disputes and Solutions from the Perspective of Peace Studies."
A year later, "Peace Building in a Globalized World - Illustrated Peace Studies" co-authored by me and German peace professor Egon Speigel was published by People's Publishing House.
Before publication, I tried to ask Professor Galtung to write a preface to the book. Unexpectedly, Galtung read the manuscript and sent me the written preface in just a few days.
The preface reads: "This is an extraordinary book on global peace! This book itself is about building peace in a globalized world. It is written in two major languages in the world, and the co-authors also span the gap between China and the West. . This book is not just a message, it is a message in itself, and a very strong one. It is rich in ideas. This book gives everyone the greatest gift of all: optimism."
The picture shows that in 2014, when John Galtung (right) was lecturing at Nanjing University, Liu Cheng (left) accompanied him for a walk in the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.
Photo provided by interviewee
In February 2017, the “New Vision for Peace in East Asia” academic seminar and the second Sino-Japanese Peace Scholars Dialogue were held in Nanjing. I wrote again to invite Galtung to Ning to give a keynote speech. Even though he was 87 years old, he still agreed. .
Towards the end of the meeting, he said he wanted to give a lecture to NTU students.
It was the weekend and I couldn't make arrangements at the moment, but I couldn't bear to refuse.
So I said that I could take more than 10 of my master's and doctoral students to the hotel where he was staying to have a discussion with him.
The next morning, in the living room of his room, my students reported to him one by one their confusions in reading and writing. Professor Galtung gave each student a "prescription" to improve their academic ability, just like a doctor. .
The originally agreed two hours was extended to three hours after several urgings from me, and Galton reluctantly agreed to end the get out of class.
After class, he was very happy and offered to go out for lunch with us. He ordered a braised pork rice bowl and drank a bottle of beer. After the meal, he also proposed to go for a walk along the Yangtze River.
His superhuman knowledge and exuberant energy were an eye-opener for me and my students.
The picture shows John Galtung (first from the right) having a discussion with graduate students of Liu Cheng (second from the left) when he came to China in February 2017.
Photo provided by interviewee
Galtung visited China many times when he was young, and compiled his experiences and thoughts from his many visits to China into a book "Learning from the Chinese".
When Galtung visited Nanjing University for the second time, he gave me the original manuscript, which he printed out letter by letter using an old-fashioned printer, hoping to publish it in China.
Unfortunately, even if the Chinese translation can be published, Professor Galtung will not be able to see it.
Galtung published more than 150 books during his lifetime, and his works were translated into more than 30 languages.
Once, Galtung asked me, who is your peace teacher?
I said it was Professor Andrew Rigby (founding director of the Center for Peace Studies at Coventry University, UK).
He immediately said: "I am his teacher." In fact, for all peace scholars in the world today, Galtung is their teacher.
His contribution to the global academic community is manifold. As he said: "I set myself a number of ten-year plans to gain a foothold in each of the following disciplines: sociology in the 1950s, sociology in the 1960s. It’s political science, theology, economics and education in the 1970s, history in the 1980s, and cultural studies (anthropology, intellectual history/philosophy, psychoanalysis, personal and collective construction) in the 1990s.” In fact, it’s more than that. For example, "Peace News" is also his advocacy.
In short, the theories and concepts he proposed are the disciplinary foundation of peace studies. Without Galtung’s academic contributions, peace studies as a discipline would not exist today.
Professor John Galtung, we will miss you forever!
(over)
About the Author:
Liu Cheng, PhD in history, professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of History, Nanjing University, Holder of UNESCO Chair on Peace Studies, Director of the Institute of British and Commonwealth Studies, Institute of Peace Studies Director, specializing in British history and peace studies.
He has published 10 monographs, 5 translations, edited 4 book series, and published more than 100 papers in Chinese and foreign languages.
He is the chief expert of major projects of the National Social Science Fund. His scientific research achievements have won the third prize, second prize (cooperation) and first prize (cooperation) of the Ministry of Education in social science.
He concurrently serves as the president of the Jiangsu World History Society, a director of the Chinese British History Research Association, the honorary president of the Institute of Peace Studies of Weifang University, a director of the International Peace Research Association, and the Asia-Pacific Peace Research Association. Director, advisory member of the executive committee of the Northeast Asia Region Peacebuilding Institute, Chinese member of Transcend International, and director of the International Cities of Peace Association.