Nathan Funk

Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, Acting Chair of PACS (Winter 2024)
Nathan Funk

Contact:
(519) 885-0220 ext. 24295
nfunk@uwaterloo.ca
Office:  CGUC 4205

Board of Directors, Project Ploughshares

Education:
BA, Gustavus Adolphus College, 1994
PhD, American University, 2000

Research Areas:

Cross-cultural conflict resolution, religion in conflict and peacemaking, the contemporary Middle East, sustained dialogue, peace and conflict theory, local capacities for peacebuilding.


Courses Taught:

Undergraduate
PACS 201 - Roots of Conflict, Violence and Peace
PACS 316 - Violence, Non-violence and War
PACS 318 - Peacebuilding in Divided Societies
PACS 326 - Religion and Peacebuilding
PACS 327 - Cultural Approaches to Conflict Resolution

Graduate 
PACS 604 - Conflict Analysis
PACS 605 - Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding
PACS 612 - Culture, Religion, and Peacebuilding
 

About:

Nathan Funk is an associate professor of Peace and Conflict Studies.  He has served on the boards of two Canadian NGOs, Project Ploughshares and Peacebuild: The Canadian Peacebuilding Network, and currently acts as a board member for the Peace and Conflict Studies Association of Canada.  He has authored a number of writings on peacebuilding and international conflict resolution, with a special focus on the contemporary Middle East, Islamic-Western relations, identity conflict, sustained dialogue, and the role of cultural and religious factors in localized peacebuilding and social change processes.

Nathan Funk teaches a class

Selected Publications:

  • “Religion and Peaceful Relations: Negotiating the Sacred,” coauthored with Yelena Gyulkhandanyan. Forthcoming in The Routledge Companion to the Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies, ed. Sean Byrne, Thomas Matyok, and Imani Michelle Scott (Routledge Publishers, 2019).
  • “Positive Dynamics Amid Complex Identity Conflict: The Case of Islam and the West.” In Conflict Management and Transformation: Theory and Practice, ed. Ho-Won Jeong (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019).
  • “Just Peacemaking as a Bridge to Ecumenical and Interfaith Solidarity for Peace.” In Pacifism’s Appeal: Ethos, History, Politics, ed.Jorg Kustermans, Tom Sauer, Dominiek Lootens, and Barbara Segaert (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).

  • “Islam and Peace and Conflict Studies.”  In Peace on Earth:  The Role of Religion in Peace and Conflict Studies, ed. Sean Byrne, Thomas Matyók, and Jessica Senehi (Lanham, MD:  Lexington Books, 2014), pp. 121-142.

  • “Building on What’s Already There:  Valuing the Local in International Peacebuilding,"  International Journal, Vol. 67, No. 2 (Spring 2012):  391-408.

  • "Religious and Cultural Dimensions of Peacemaking," Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace, Vol. 1, Issue 1 (Fall 2007); http://www.plowsharesproject.org/journal/.
  • "Transforming Islamic-Western Identity Conflict: A Framework for Strategic Engagement," International Journal of Peace Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Spring/Summer 2007), pp. 23-51.
  • "Applying Canadian Principles to Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Middle East," In Canada and the Middle East: In Theory and Practice, ed. Paul Heinbecker an Bessma Momani (Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2007), pp. 25-44.
  • "Rethinking War and Peace" (review of book by Diane Francis), Peace and Change: A Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 33, No. 1 (January 2008), pp. 161-163.


Selected Activities: 

Conference Papers and Addresses

  • “Localizing Peace:  Engaging Religion, Culture and Identity for Sustainable Peacebuilding,” presented at the Peace and Justice Studies Association’s 2010 Annual Conference, Winnipeg, MB, October 2, 2010.

  • "Peacemaking Among the Religions of Abraham: Overcoming Obstacles to Coexistence" (with Meena Sharify-Funk), presented at the conference "Children of Abraham: A Trialogue of Civilizations," hosted by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 22, 2007.
  • "Reframing Interreligious Dialogue: Opportunities for Muslim-Christian and Abrahamic Peacemaking," presented at the American Academy of Religion Eastern International Region Annual Conference in Waterloo, Ontario, May 4, 2007.

Public Speaking

  • Canada and the Middle East:  Supporting the Emergence of a New Story,” presented at the roundtable, “Between Revolution and Repression:  Democratic Transition in the Middle East and North Africa?” sponsored by the International Development Research Centre and Peacebuild:  The Canadian Peacebuilding Network, Ottawa, ON, June 2, 2011.
  • “Ethnic Conflict Analysis and Resolution,” lecture at the University of Ulster—Magee, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, October 22, 2008.
  • Presenter at “Religion and Geopolitics” workshop, Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), Policy Research Division, Ottawa, ON, February 16, 2007.  

  • “Roundtable:  Peace and Conflict Studies in Canada” (co-convened with Richard McCutcheon), Peace and Justice Studies Association Annual Conference, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, October 18, 2013.

  • “Approaches to Peace in a Global and Cross-Cultural Context,” Ideas and Issues Lecture Series, Kitchener Public Library, Kitchener, ON, March 8, 2010. 

  • "Religion and Peacebuilding," lecture at the Kitchener Public Library, Kitchener, ON, February 11, 2008.
  • "Meeting in Peace: Basis for Muslim-Christian Cooperation," presented at the annual convention of Mennonite Economic Development Associates, Toronto ("Trust in a World of Change"), Ontario, November 2, 2007.
  • "The Muslim World Today," Lecture at Steinmann Mennonite Church, Baden, ON. April 20, 2008.
  • Gave the keynote presentation for "Peace Action 2007," a program of the Y Service Clubs of Central Canada, YMCA Cedar Glen Conference Centre, Nobleton, ON, September 28, 2007.
  • "Finding Peace," speech for the 32nd Annual Community Prayer Breakfast hosted by the Kitchener-Waterloo council of Churches and the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, at the Waterloo Inn in Waterloo, ON, May 7, 2007.