Dorie Wilsnack's Page

What motivated you (or your organization) to become involved in peace and conflict resolution?

I observed how the Vietnam War destroyed and damaged people's lives, even of those who were not directly involved in the conflict.

Please feel free to provide a short bio about yourself or the work of your organization (no more than 3 paragraphs)

I am a US American woman, 59 years old. I have been working in the field of peace and nonviolent conflict resolution for 37 years as an organizer, trainer, administrator and fundraiser.
My work has been with US peace organizations, such as War Resisters' League an the American Friends Service Committee. For many years, I was on the Council of War Resisters' International (WRI). I was a trainer and administrator for the Balkan Peace Team in the 1990's. Between 1998-2005, I lived and worked in Germany.
An integral part of my work against war has been nonviolence trainings, both in the US and in Europe. In 2004, I helped to organize an international gathering of women nonviolence trainers on how to incorporate gender awareness issues into our trainings. I am currently convener of a working group of nonviolence trainers within War Resisters' International.

Please list the countries and/or regions in which you (or your organization) have direct and significant expertise

I have direct and significant expertise in the United States
I have direct experience in Germany, Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia, but I do not have significant expertise.

What is your current country of residence (or location of your organization)?

United States

What is your current job (and organization) and/or where and what field are you studying?

I am currenly self-employed. I work closely with War Resisters' International.

Which are your primary sectoral areas of expertise (or the primary sectoral areas of your organization) ?

Peacebuilding, Conflict Resolution, Gender, Civil Society, Organizational Development

Which are your primary skills areas(or the primary skill areas of your organization)?

Training, Program Design, Fundraising, Program Administration

What are some of your current areas of research (if any)?

I am very interested in understanding how war and violence manifest themselves in US American culture and how we can help people to transform that culture. I am seeking strategies that will engage people in addressing this violence beyond the symptoms, --be it cyberbullying or government use of torture, at the level of cultural toleration and acceptance, I have been previously been involved in international programs to provide conflict transformation skills to people living in war zones. I find that the US is also a war zone, with half of federal taxes going to military spending, and armed forces stationed around the world. But the manifestations of this "war" within the US are structural, cultural, and often extremely subtle. What conflict transformation skills are needed here? And how do we encourage US Americans to want to learn them?

If appropriate feel free to list several of your (or your organization's) publications

* Chapter in The Lessons of Yugoslavia: Intervention by International NGOs, Metta Spencer, ed., Elsevier Science, 2000
* Working for Peace in the Balkans; A Guide to U.S. Organizations, Annotated Directory 1996/1998
* War at the Crossroads, A Historical Guide Through the Balkan Labyrinth brochure co-authored with Bill Weinberg.