Memorial words, Johan Galtung | “Galtung was a strong personality and possessed great civil courage.”

Johan Galtung died on Saturday, February 17, at the age of 93. Galtung has dedicated his life to peace research and peace studies as an interdisciplinary research field and academic discipline. He founded the Peace Research Institute (PRIO) in 1959, and was instrumental in establishing the Journal of Peace Research (1964) and the International Peace Research Association (IPRA), the world's first and still largest peace research organization. .

In Tromsø, Galtung played an important role as a contributor during the establishment of the Center for Peace Studies (CPS) since 2002, as a lecturer and curriculum author.

For six years before that, Galtung was a visiting professor (Professor II), with annual visits to the Arctic University of Norway's UiT. He gave a series of lectures to graduate students on conflict theory.

The lecture texts at UiT were later reworked into chapters on Peace Action by Peaceful Means (Sage/PRIO, 1996). The book became a central textbook when the College of General Studies launched its Master's Degree Program in Peace and Conflict Transformation.

Since then, 320 students have earned master's degrees at the center. Students from all over the world have transformed the Peace Studies Center into an international meeting place. Galtung's theoretical framework for peace studies, developed during Galtung's stay at the University of Hawaii, has served as an important source of inspiration. The first cohorts of Peace Students at UiT had Galtung as a permanent and valuable lecturer. His teaching abilities, style and oratory were widely known. He could enchant the audience with stories and illustrations that gave the audience powerful experiences and new insights.

Galtung was an advanced, innovative and productive social scientist. He has achieved significant international recognition, holding professorships at the University of Oslo, New York (Columbia University), and universities in Berlin, Belgrade, Paris, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Sichuan, Ritsumeikan, Princeton, Hawaii, Bern, and Italy. Alicante. According to www.transcend.org, Galtung has been the author/co-author of more than 1,500 articles and 150 books.

Galtung was a visionary thinker who not only analyzed war and conflict, but also actively searched for solutions and paths toward lasting peace. He participated as a mediator in a number of conflicts and developed proposals for solutions. He also developed his own conflict resolution methodology called “Transcending”, a method he describes in detail with examples in numerous manuals used in training courses around the world. He also developed a conflict resolution model for school use, called “Sapona.”

His civilizational theory and concept of deep culture, as well as his theory of civilizational encounters and cooperation, are of great value to people who want to study conflict resolution and conflict transformation. He also developed a methodology for social and peace research and interpretation of empirical materials. His methodology was very insightful, but required application.

Galtung's ability to see beyond the present and into the heart of long-standing conflicts has helped many to understand that peace is more than just the absence of war; It is a process that requires justice, dialogue and structural change.

Galtung was a strong personality and possessed great civil courage. He expressed his views clearly and without fear of sanctions, reprisals, or being “deplatformed.” This has made it controversial at times, especially in Norway.

Galtung's contribution to peace research is wide-ranging, and his work will continue to inspire new generations of researchers and politicians. rest in peace.

Vidar Vambheim, RFormer Associate Professor at the Center for Peace Studies (CPS)

Center Leader Marcella Douglas Aranibar, Center for Peace Studies (CPS)

Dean Anne Brett Flemen, Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Teacher Education, UiT

Arctic University of Norway