Difficult Discussions: Building peace in diverse communities

 

Diversity and peacebuilding are often celebrated as goals in their own right. What happens, though, when celebration isn’t enough? When it prevents us from grappling with deeper, unsettling tensions? This session will explore these dynamics through three lenses: peacebuilding in Northern Ireland; hate-crime prevention in east London; and the cultural diversity initiative for the Methodist Church.

Lia Dong Shimada is a learning and development officer with the Methodist Church. Before that she worked in public health research and latterly in the peacebuilding sector in Northern Ireland, facilitating dialogue about racism, hate crime prevention and conflict transformation in paramilitarycontrolled communities.

Greenbelt Talks