Resources for Teachers and Students on Mairead Corrigan
Maguire
Prepare: Mairead Corrigan Maguire was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 after having helped organize a
series of peace marches in Northern Ireland. These marches,
where tens of thousands of Catholics and Protestants marched
together in support of peace, were initiated as a nonviolent
response to the killing of her sister's three children by
an IRA gunman. She is one of only a dozen women to have
been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and her biography
can be read on the Nobel Site.
Read:
Mairead Corrigan Maguire wrote an
original essay for the Architects of Peace project.
In it, she discusses the necessity of creating a culture
of nonviolence.
Explore: The University of Notre Dame's Joan B.
Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies conducts research
on the role of religion in conflict and peacemaking, and
is especially concerned about situations, such as in Northern
Ireland, where conflict exists between members of two religious
traditions. Back issues of their journal, Peace
Colloquy, are available online.
Write: In her Architects of Peace essay, Mairead
Corrigan Maguire claims that for many people, the wisdom
of nonviolence may seem too religious and idealistic "in
today's hard-headed world of politics and science."
Is this true? Does religion lend itself more readily to
violence, as has often been the case in Northern Ireland?
Are their approaches to nonviolence that are purely humanistic?
Or is religion an integral component of a philosophy of
nonviolence? Propose an answer to this question in the form
of a thesis, and compose a three-to-five page persuasive
essay in support of that thesis.
Extend:
Mairead Corrigan Maguire developed a two-part
curriculum, "Peacemakers in Training"
and "Peacemakers in Action," for the PeaceJam
Youth Dialogue Series. Her fascinating curriculum includes
case studies for Northern Ireland Peace Process. The entire
curriculum can be downloaded from the PeaceJam site. The
page also includes links for an interview with Maguire,
as well as other resources she has composed.
Additional Resource: Please visit the Nobel webpage
to read an article on the women
who have won the Nobel Peace Prize, three of whom
are Architects of Peace.
Biography of Mairead
Corrigan Maguire
