Amanda Blewitt
Bio & Education
Amanda Blewitt is an Academic Professional Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies. Her research explores how ordinary citizens build peace, especially in contexts with high levels of non-war violence. She has conducted extensive qualitative research on citizen-led peacebuilding in Honduras, and she researches arts-based and educational approaches to counteracting violence in the U.S. and other settings. She employs participatory and community-based approaches in her work, including through analyzing context-specific conceptualizations of peace.
Amanda completed her Ph.D. in International Education with a focus on Peace and Conflict Studies at New York University. She holds an M.Ed. in International Education Policy and Management from Vanderbilt University and a B.A. in English Literature from Franklin & Marshall College. Beyond academia, Amanda has had the honor of working for educational and community-based nonprofit organizations — including Un Mundo and Adelante Foundation in Honduras, the global gap year organization Thinking Beyond Borders, and WorldTeach in Ecuador.
In her teaching, Amanda specializes in engaging diverse groups of students in interdisciplinary analyses of violence and peacebuilding, both in the classroom and beyond, through experiential and community-engaged pedagogies. Everything she knows about teaching she has learned from her own teachers and mentors or from the many hundreds of students from across the globe who have been part of her journey.
Courses Taught
- PCS 205: Violence in the Modern World
- PCS 305: Foundations of Peace and Conflict Studies
- PCS 311: Research Methods in Peace and Conflict Studies
- PCS 415: Global Peacebuilding
- PCS 430/630: The Power of Nonviolence for Social Change
- PCS 601: Indigenous Peace Practices
- PCS 624: Peace and Justice in a Changing Climate
Research
Research interests include:
- Community-based peacebuilding
- Nonviolent social movements
- Contemplative practice in nonviolence and peacebuilding
- Arts-based peacebuilding
- Community-engaged peace education
Selected Publications
- Blewitt, Amanda. (2024). Urban Arts Education as Nonviolent Resistance in Honduras. NORRAG Special Issue 10 – Education for Societal Transformation: Alternatives for a Just Future. Geneva, Switzerland: NORRAG.
- Blewitt, Amanda; Christine Choi, and Elisabeth King. (2021). Combining the Theory and Practice of Peace and Conflict Studies through an Experiential Conflict Analysis Activity. PS: Political Science & Politics, 54(4), 744–749.