CAHSS Faculty Presents at the Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society in Portugal

Elena Bastidas, Ph.D., faculty in the Depart of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), presented at the Fourteenth International Conference on The Arts and Society in Portugal. The conference was held at the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon. Her co-presenter was her daughter, Victoria Luzuriaga, a student studying art and psychology at The New School in NYC.

Bastidas and Luzuriaga presented their work on “Art as a Way of Facilitating Social Change Processes.” The presentation focused on Social Polygraphy, a methodology used to facilitate social processes. Using case studies from Bastidas’ work on youth peacebuilding efforts in Colombia, Luzuriaga dissected the methodology using arguments from the arts and psychology that helped the audience get a better understanding of the effectiveness of this methodology for conflict resolution efforts that depend on social change.

Bastidas’ research and teaching interests include quantitative methodology, conflict and international development, environmental conflict, and gender analysis in international development. She is also the director of the M.S. and Graduate Certificates in DCRS.