Primary Investigators

Gregory Maney earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2001. Professor Maney’s research draws upon a range of methodologies to examine social movements and ethnic group relations. He has authored and co-authored numerous articles, which have appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, International Journal of Conflict Management, Journal of Peace Research, Mobilization, Peace Review, Research in Social Movements, Conflict and Change, Social Problems, Sociological Perspectives, and Sociological Methods and Research.

He is a co-author of Contesting Patriotism: U.S. Peace Movement Discourses, 1990-2004, (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008 in fall 2007.

Professor Maney’s teaching complements his research interests in ethnicity and minority group relations, conflict transformation strategies, cross-cultural awareness, facilitation, and organizing skills. In addition, he has conducted numerous workshops on topics ranging from coalition formation to peace building. 

Lee Smithey is a Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies and Sociology in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania (USA). He studies social movements, ethno-political conflict, and nonviolent conflict methods. He has focused much of his work on conflict transformation in Northern Ireland, strategic nonviolent action, and climate justice. Through the Mural Mapping Project, he studies the changing symbolic landscape represented in wall murals and memorials on the streets of West Belfast and the Shankill Road. 

His book, Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland was published in 2011 by Oxford University Press and received the American Conference for Irish Studies' Donald Murphy Book Prize for Distinguished First Book. He is a co-editor with Lester R. Kurtz of The Paradox of Repression and Nonviolent Movements (Syracuse University Press).

Professor Smithey holds a B.A. in sociology and music from Emory University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Smithey is a former Chair of the Peace, War, and Social Conflict section of the American Sociological Association.