I commit to organizing and implementing a multi-disciplinary conference that will highlight the principles of Gregory Bateson (i.e. the science of observing systems while taking into account the observers influence on the system) and how they can be implemented to change the nature of human rights and peace issues.

Goals

Gregory Bateson was a revolutionary anthropologist who was involved in American government, academia, anthropology, and was one of the founders of modern day communication theory and the implementation of cybernetics in the field of relationships and communication. Bateson stressed the importance of implementing systems theory, which in simple terms, is the science of observing systems while taking into account the observers influence on the system. Gregory Bateson (1966) simplified this logic through the statement, “Life, it has been said, is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient evidence” (Bateson, 1991, p.136). I, along with the help and guidance of Wendel Ray Ph.D. and other professionals, will put together a multi-disciplinary conference that will examine the challenges that face the current issues of human rights and peace. While the idea of a conference discussing these issues is not new, this conference will be distinctly different from those in the past. In the tradition of the Clinton Global Initiative’s turning words into actions, this conference will focus on each members influence on the system of which they are a part and will include a commitment to implement steps to interrupting the patterns that have contributed to the current climate of human rights and peace. A broad example of this type of action could be described by looking at the subject of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, LA. There are infinite numbers of people involved with the hurricane, including government officials, relief workers, New Orleans citizens, and insurance companies to name a few, all contributing to the social and economic situation with their presence alone. With this said, if an official representing the insurance companies were to attend the conference, the individual would be engaged in a conversation in which the insurance agent focuses not on what went wrong necessarily, but how his or her personal as well as professional position in the insurance company effected the overall context of what happened pre and post Katrina and how the insurance company then changed the dynamic of New Orleans through their interactions with the other systems that were present. The person attending the conference would be asked to commit to going back to his or her company and implementing methods for being able to not only help citizens facing similar struggles as Katrina victims, but ideas with which to change the climate of considering the bottom line before the rights of the victims involved.

Plan

I will work extensively and closely with Wendel Ray Ph.D. and other professionals to secure funding through grant proposals as well as University support, both financially and academically. I will secure a location for the conference and will invite guests based upon discipline, and overall potential contributions that each participant may provide to the conference. I will also hope to secure funding from the University of Louisiana Monroe's Marriage and Family Therapy Program, as well as local non-profit, as well as for profit organizations.