Peace and Conflict Studies Department
Zulfiya Tursunova
Associate Professor for Peace and Conflict Studies
+1 (336) 3162416
tursunovaz@guilford.edu
Biography
Meet the Professor
Zulfiya Tursunova is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at Guilford College, N.C., where she serves as one of the leading experts on community-based peacebuilding practices.
Her areas of research include: community economic and social development, food sovereignty, health justice, immigrant family caregiving in transnational context, immigration, borders and belonging, community-based peacebuilding, transitional and restorative justice, sanctuary movements, and peace education.
As a peace scholar, she has conducted research in Canada, the U.S., Central Asia, and Europe. Currently, Zulfiya serves as a guest editor for Peace Research: The Canadian Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies, administered by Menno Simons College, a Canadian Mennonite University affiliated with the University of Winnipeg.
As a Women, Peace, and Security Officer at the Association of World Citizens (consultative status with ECOSOC, the United Nations), Zulfiya provides gender-responsive peacebuilding strategy to support U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1889. As a team member, she discusses Sustainable Development Goals, democracy, good governance, and human rights following the pledge of world leaders in the Millennium Declaration to promote democracy. Zulfiya administered and co-facilitated social science training for faculty from five countries of Central Asia. Also, she has been invited to design the first gender studies courses in Central Asia and co-developed a curriculum including textbooks, teaching manual, and translation of readings into Uzbek.
She has facilitated a series of seminars and workshops for the faculty on innovative teaching practices, gender, and reproductive health for community leaders in the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Zulfiya facilitated a series of workshops for political, religious, and community leaders, international development, and non-governmental officers from 45 countries on diversity, equity, and inclusion, women’s leadership, food justice, community-based peacebuilding, transitional justice, reconciliation, and human rights as countries transition to democracy. As a peace practitioner, she worked in Central Asia, Austria, Germany, Canada, and the U.S.
Areas of teaching:
Restorative and transitional justice; social justice and community advocacy; community economic and social development, workplace and organizational dispute resolution; refugees, forced migration and human rights; cross-cultural conflict resolution; mediation models and processes; indigenous conflict resolution processes; peacebuilding; peace education; alternatives to violence; gender and development, food justice, sovereignty, and peace; Central Asian studies, and war and peace in the Middle East.
Awards and Recognitions
1. Dick Dyer Award for Academic Mentorship, 2021
2. Bruce B. Stewart Excellence in Teaching Award, 2020
3. Recognition awards at Guilford College, 2019
Excellence Brought to Light, Recognized for going above and beyond at Guilford College inside and outside of the classroom
4. Teaching excellence in Peace and Conflict Studies, 2019
Excellence Brought to Light
5. Ph.D. Certificate of Appreciation for the Research and Thesis. The UN Association of World Citizens. Office of the President. France, 2013
Education
, PhD. In Social Sciences,
, MA in Education Administration: Organization Development,
Selected Scholarship
Selected publications:
- Tursunova, Z. (2014). Women’s lives and livelihoods in post-Soviet Uzbekistan: Ceremonies of empowerment and peacebuilding. Lanham, MA: Lexington Books.
- Tursunova, Z., Ramraj, C., & Cyr, M., Thompson, S. (2020). Pathways towards food sovereignty: Reconnecting individuals, food, nature and community in the inner city in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 29(2). pp. 102-115.
- Tursunova, Z. (2020). Food sovereignty. In Romaniuk S., Thapa M., Marton P. (Eds.). The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Global Security Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
- https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74336-3_469-1
- Tursunova, Z. Kamp, M., Azizova, L., Azizova, N. (2016). Women’s Indigenous processes of peacebuilding and peacemaking in Uzbekistan: Sacred places of homes, community for health and well-being. In H. Tuso & Flaherty, M. (Eds.). Indigenous processes of peacemaking: A Preliminary exploration (pp. 349-370). Lanham, MD: Lexington Press.
- Tursunova, Z. (2015). Narrative method in evaluation of students’ transformative learning in peace and conflict resolution program. In C. D. Felice. A. Karako & A. Wisler (Eds.), Peace education evaluation: Learning from experience and exploring prospects (pp.131-144). New York, NY: Springer Publishers.
- Tursunova, Z. (2013). Health, mobility, livelihood and social change in the lives of women in rural Uzbekistan. In G.T. Bonifacio (Eds.). Gender and rural migration: Realities, conflict and change (pp.196-232). New York, NY: Routledge.
- Tursunova, Z., & Azizova, N. (2009). Building knowledge-based society in Uzbekistan: The role of colleges in Uzbekistan. In R. L. Raby & E. J. Valeau (Eds.), Community college models: Globalization and higher education reform (pp. 545-560). New York, NY: Springer Publishers.
- Tursunova, Z., & Azizova, N. (2008). Advancement of women in Uzbekistan. In C. Hammerle, N. Langreiter, M. Lanzinger & E. Saurer (Eds.), Gender politics in Central Asia: Historical perspectives and current living conditions of women (pp. 113-132). Vienna, Austria: University of Vienna.
- Tursunova, Z., Lobchuk, M. (2016). Immigrant Filipinos as caregivers for Filipino loved with chronic illness in Canada. Philippine Journal of Nursing, 86(1), 17-28.
- Lobchuk, M., Halas, G., West, C., Harder, N., Tursunova, Z., & Ramraj, C. (2016). Development of a novel empathy-related video-feedback intervention to improve empathic accuracy of nursing students: A pilot study. Nurse Education Today, 46, 86-93.
- Tursunova, Z. (2014). Women’s narratives: Resistance to oppression and the empowerment of women in Uzbekistan. Journal on Indigenous Social Development, 3 (2), 1-16.
- Tursunova, Z., Kamp, M., Azizova, L., Azizova, N. (2014). Cultural patterns of health care beliefs and practices among Muslim women in Uzbekistan. Journal of Health, Culture, and Society, 6(1), 33-46.
- Tursunova, Z. (2012). Climate change, livelihoods, and food security in post-Soviet Uzbekistan. Journal of Women and Environments, 88/89, 23-25.
- Tursunova, Z. (2011). Collective action as a space of agency, power and knowledge: A case study of gap in Uzbekistan. Journal of Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, 32, 48-77.
- Tursunova, Z. (2008). The role of rituals in healing trauma and reconciliation in post-accord peacebuilding. Journal of Human Security, 4(3), 54-71.
- Tursunova, Z. (Fall/winter, 2003). Political participation of women in Uzbekistan: Creating gender awareness. Journal of Central Asian Studies, 8(1), 36-48.
- Farberman, B.L., & Tursunova, Z. (2002). Qualitative measures in application of interactive teaching methods. Journal of Problems in Education, 4, 20-24.