Connect in Place: What does it mean to be or feel safe?

June 15, 2021 | 5:00 p.m. Pacific | Virtual Event

Online, statewide & beyond

Safety is a basic human need. We can all relate to wanting ourselves and our loved ones to feel and be safe. At the same time, safety is something that can never be guaranteed. Questions about safety and security also immediately reveal the different forms and levels of vulnerability that people from different communities and life experiences face, as well as the various approaches people may take to protect themselves from the security threats they face. The events of the past year—a pandemic; racial justice protests in response to police violence; wildfires; rising levels of gun violence, hate crimes, and intimate partner violence; a housing crisis; an armed insurrection at the US Capitol and a broader mobilization of armed groups—have only served to underscore the multiple sources of insecurity many Oregonians face in their daily lives. Join facilitator Molly Wallace in a conversation that asks: What does it mean to be or feel safe? What are the primary sources of insecurity in our communities? And how do our efforts to protect ourselves and our loved ones influence the safety and security of others? This conversation is an opportunity to reflect on what it would mean to build communities where, as a starting point, everyone feels safe—and what this would make possible.

RSVP for this conversation.

Molly Wallace teaches in Portland State University's Conflict Resolution Program and serves as contributing editor of the Peace Science Digest. She comes to questions of safety and security as a scholar with research interests in nonviolent action and unarmed civilian peacekeeping/protection, as a concerned community member and restorative dialogue volunteer, and as a mother. Her recent book, Security without Weapons: Rethinking Violence, Nonviolent Action, and Civilian Protection (Routledge 2017), explores nonviolent alternatives for civilian protection in war zones, particularly the work of Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka. Her research has also been published in Critical Studies on Security, Global Society, and International Politics.

Event Sponsors

Oregon Humanities

Cost

Free

Contact

Rachel Bernstein at r.bernstein@oregonhumanities.org