Benjamin Maddox at the Sustainable Peace Workshop at Columbia University in New York.Anthropology Professors Geneviève Souillac and Douglas P. Fry, the department’s chair, accompanied Maddox to the workshop and public forum, events organized by the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity at the Earth Institute of Columbia University.Since graduating from UAB last spring with a major in anthropology, Maddox has been focusing on understanding how peace systems are created and maintained. Peace systems are clusters of neighboring societies that do not make war with each other, and examples range from the previously warring Swiss cantons that unified and have been at peace since 1848 to the Iroquois Great League of Peace that existed for over 300 years. In New York, Maddox presented some preliminary peace systems findings at a well-attended public forum. Along with Drs. Souillac and Fry, Maddox also attended a two-day workshop focused on how to bring about a more peaceful world.
“Social issues and ridding the world of war should be at the very forefront of thought because just prompting people to think about peace and human rights issues can be enough to engage discussion,” Maddox said. Discussion leads to new ideas, continues Maddox, and innovative ideas are what we need to create a better world.
The Department of Anthropology faculty voted Maddox to be the Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Anthropology last spring. He plans on continuing his education by applying to the new Anthropology of Peace and Human Rights master’s program to begin at UAB in January 2017.
At the workshop, Dr. Souillac emphasized that to develop sustainable peace, humanity needs to create a new trans-border ethics and implement normative international behavior that is based on nonviolence and respect for all people. Dr. Fry suggests that understanding existing peace systems can offer insights for how to create peace more generally. The peace systems research project at UAB is closely linked with Columbia University’s Sustainable Peace Project, originated by Columbia University professor Peter Coleman.
Josh Fisher, Philippe Vandenbroeck, Peter Coleman, and Benjamin Maddox at the Sustainable Peace Workshop, Columbia University 
