Elise Boulding

Elise Boulding has been among the most influential of social reformers to advocate the integration of peace studies and women’s studies. Her ideas inspired a number of works addressing the role of the family in producing social change and discussing women’s unique capacity for promoting peace through nurturing and networking. Boulding’s additional ideas on transnational networks and their relationship to global understanding are considered seminal contributions to modern peace studies and have earned her the title of “matriarch” of the 20th century peace movement.
This biography is divided into three parts. The first and third deal chronologically with the life of Elise Boulding, beginning with her childhood experiences as a Scandinavian immigrant. The 1940 Nazi invasion of Norway significantly influenced her concepts of pacifism and Quaker spiritualism, laying the foundation for her future work as a leader in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and her dynamic professional partnership with and marriage to the internationally known Quaker economist and poet Kenneth Boulding. Part Two expounds upon Boulding’s philosophy of education, her role as a member of the Religious Society of Friends, her espousal of the conceptual evolution of cultures of peace, and her theoretical work in women’s studies and peace research. In recognition of these achievements, Boulding has been the recipient of more than 19 awards and was a 1990 nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mary Lee Morrison is the founder and director emeritus of Pax Educare, the Connecticut Center for Peace Education in Hartford, Connecticut. She lives in Hartford.

Mary Lee Morrison
Foreword by Mary Catherine Bateson
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 238
Bibliographic Info: photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2005
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2055-1
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8236-8
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii

Foreword by Mary Catherine Bateson      1

Frequently Used Acronyms      3

Preface      5

Introduction      9

Chronology      15

PART I. FROM NORWAY TO THE HALLS OF ACADEMIA: THE EARLY AND MIDDLE YEARS

1. Seeds and Soil: Forebears and Early Life      21

2. Young Adult and Wife      37

3. Foundations for Peacebuilding: The Boulding Family      52

4. Years as a “Happy Homemaker”: The 1950s and Early 1960s      65

5. Return to School and the “Respite” to Run for Congress      81

PART II. EDUCATING TOWARD A CULTURE OF PEACE

6. Philosophy of Education      101

7. Quaker Educator      121

8. The Culture of Peace      133

9. Women, Futures and Peace      147

PART III. TEACHER, PREACHER AND HEAVENBOUND REACHER: THE LATER YEARS

10. Sociologist and Traveler for International Peace: The 1970s and Early 1980s      165

11. Journey to the “Country of Old Age”      190

Epilogue      207

Chapter Notes      209

Bibliography of Selected Writings by Elise Boulding      221

Index      225