You’re invited to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary by exploring various facets of Gandhi’s life, philosophy, as well as the sustained impact of nonviolent methods on social justice, peace, and environmental movements during Gandhi’s Global Legacy International Conference at Fresno State on October 10 and 11.

All conference events are free and open to the public.

Civil rights leader and activist Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. will serve as the keynote speaker. Featured speakers include labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, servicespace.org founder Nipun Mehta and presentations by prominent other Gandhi scholars and activists.

Oct. 10 – Thursday

1:00-2:30, PETERS BUSINESS ROOM 191

Gandhi’s Journey from Mohandas to Mahatma

• Documentary: Gandhi’s Awakening
• Discussant: Cynthia Lukas, Film Producer, Writer
• Moderator: Mary Husain, CineCulture Advisor/Instructor, California State University, Fresno

3:00-4:15, PETERS BUSINESS ROOM 191

Keynote I: Applying Mahatma Gandhi’s Principles and Ethics in Business and Society: A Framework For 21st Century Business and Community Leaders

• Ramsey Jay, Jr., Global Investment Management Executive/Strategic Consultant
• Welcome: Dr. Sergio La Porta, Interim Associate Dean, College of Arts and Humanities, California State University, Fresno
• Moderator: Dr. Falon Kartch, Associate Professor, Dept. of Communication, California State University, Fresno

4:30, WALK TO THE PEACE GARDEN

5:00-5:40, THE PEACE GARDEN (NEAR HENRY MADDEN LIBRARY)

Gandhi’s Prayer Meetings: A Way to Connect to the Human Spirit

• Readings and Songs by Students
• Moderator: Sam Wittstruck, Student, Department of Philosophy, California State University, Fresno

6:00-7:45, SATELLITE STUDENT UNION (SSU)

Keynote Address: Gandhi and King on the “Arduous Beautiful Struggle”: Lessons in Going Forward

• Reverend James M. Lawson, Jr., ‘Architect of the Nonviolent Movement in the US’ (1953-1973); UCLA lecturer
• Reflections by Dr. Mary Elizabeth King, Director, James Lawson Institute; Fellow at the University of Oxford
• Welcome: Interim Dean Honora Chapman and Dr. Veena Howard, Coordinator, Peace and Conflict Studies, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy
• Moderator: Dr. Francine Oputa, Director Cross Cultural and Gender Center; Chair, the President’s Commission for Human Relations and Equity, California State University, Fresno

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Oct. 11 – Friday

8:30-8:50, REFRESHMENTS, PETERS BUSINESS FOYER

8:55-9:50, PETERS BUSINESS, ROOM 191

Keynote II: Lessons we have Learned from Gandhi’s Methods of Nonviolence: How to Empower Your Community!

• Dolores Huerta, President and Founder of the Dolores Huerta Foundation
• Reflections by Reverend James M. Lawson, Jr.
• Welcome by California State University, Fresno President Joseph I. Castro and Provost Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval
• Moderator: Dr. Andrew Fiala, Director, Ethics Center; Professor, Department of Philosophy, CSU Fresno

10:00-10:50, PETERS BUSINESS ROOM 191

Session 1-Roundtable: Gandhi in the 21st Century

• A Revolution of the Heart 
  Dr. Cheyney Ryan, Oxford University, U.K.
• Gandhi’s Relevance in India Today: His Teachings and Recent Initiatives 
  Dr. Gauri Mahulikar, Chinmaya University, Kerala, India
• Gandhi, Nonviolence, and Islam
  Dr. Amir Hussain, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles
• Moderator: Dr. Andrew Fiala, Director Ethics Center, Department of Philosophy, California State University, Fresno

11:00-12:25, PETERS BUSINESS ROOM 191

Session 2-Gandhi’s Thought: Community Building and Communal Harmony

• Women’s Contribution to the Development of Gandhi’s Nonviolent Resistance Tactics in South Africa
  Dr. Gail Presbey, University of Detroit Mercy, Michigan
• Gandhi’s Theory and Practice of Religious Pluralism
  Dr. Joseph Prabhu, California State University, Los Angeles
• The Satyagraha of Cesar Chavez
  Dr. José-Antonio Orosco, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon
• Gandhi of Our Own: The Mahatma’s Historical Presence in Colonial Korea
  Sungjin Im, Duke University, North Carolina
• Moderator: Dr. J. Ashley Foster, Assistant Professor, Department of English, California State University, Fresno

12:20-1:30, LUNCH BREAK

1:20-2:45, CONCURRENT SESSIONS

Session 3-A, Peters Business Room 192

Workshop – Gandhi and Nonviolence: Some Practical Strategies for Peace-buliding

• Facilitator: Mandar Apte, Director, Cities4Peace, International Association for Human Values, Los Angeles, CA
• Moderator: Dr. James Rocha, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, California State University, Fresno

Session 3-B, Peters Business Room 191

Mahatma Gandhi in the Age of Globalization: Rethinking his Philosophy and Methods

• ‘Science of war leads to dictatorship…science of nonviolence leads to democracy’: Exploring a Gandhian Approach to Politics in the 21st Century
  Dr. Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, Director of the Mahatma Gandhi Center for Nonviolence Human Rights, and World Peace, Hindu University of America, Flordia
• Mahatma Gandhi: Interactions with Jainism
  Dr. Shivani Bothara, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Religion and Public Life: Some Gandhian Considerations
  Dr. Sanjay Lal, Clayton State University, Morrow, Georgia
• Moderator: Dr. Ramdas Lamb, Religious Studies Department, University of Hawaii Manoa

3:00-4:15, CONCURRENT SESSIONS

Session 4-A, Peters Business Room 191

Gandhi’s Global Impact–Literature and Culture

• Tolstoy and Gandhi: Reflections on Pacifist Nonviolence and Social Obligation
  Dr. Steven Shankman, UNESCO Chair of Transcultural Studies, Interreligious Dialogue, and Peace, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
• Paradoxes and Pacifism: Gandhi’s Legacy in the Writings of Mulk Raj Anand
  Dr. J. Ashley Foster, Assistant Professor, Department of English, California State University, Fresno
• Seeing Gandhi: The Representation of Gandhi in Indian fiction
  Dr. James Earl, Department of English, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
• Moderator: Dr. Steve Adisasmito-Smith, Professor, Department of English, California State University, Fresno

Session 4-B, Peters Business Room 192

• Gandhi’s Methods of Activism: Some Examples Gandhian Legacy Carried Forward by Acharya Vinoba Bhave
  Dr. Anshu Vashishtha and Dr. Gita Mehta, Maharishi University, Mumbai India
• Can Gandhi’s Call to “be the change that you wish to see in the world” Provide an Alternate Approach to Contemporary Design Practice?
  Dr. Sanjeev Bothra, National Institute of Design, India
• Gandhi in Conversation with Contemporary Islam: Peace, Pluralism, and Change
  Dr. Amine Tais, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, California State University, Fresno
• Moderator: Dr. Carolyn Cusick, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, California State University, Fresno

4:30-5:20, PETERS BUSINESS ROOM 191

Keynote 3: Gandhi 3.0: Bridging the Internet with the Inner-Net

• Nipun Mehta, Founder of ServiceSpace.org, San Francisco, California
• Moderator: Dr. Veena Howard, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, California State University, Fresno

DINNER BREAK

7:30 PM, WAHLBERG RECITAL HALL, MUSIC 183

Classical Indian Music Concert: Melodies of Peace 
Download flier (PDF)

• Pandit Debasis Chakroborty, Mangalayatan University, India
• Gourisankar, School of Indian Percussion and Music, Texas
• Dr. Lovely Sharma, Dayalbagh University, Agra, India
• Moderator: Prof. Joan Sharma, Department of Art and Design, California State University, Fresno

Student Gandhi Posters Exhibition, the Dean’s Gallery, Music 184

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For more information, contact the Coordinator and Organizer, Dr. Veena Howard, at vehoward@csufresno.edu or call (559) 278-2621.

Gandhi’s Global Legacy International Conference is generously supported by The Uberoi Foundation for Religious Studies and JP and Renu Sethi
Foundation.