Elise M. Boulding

Elise M. Boulding
Born	July 6, 1920 Oslo, Norway
Died	June 24, 2010
Occupation	sociologist
Children	William Frederick Boulding (5th child)

Elise M. Boulding (July 6, 1920 – June 24, 2010) was a Quaker sociologist, and author credited as a major contributor to creating the academic discipline of Peace and Conflict Studies. Her holistic, multidimensional approach to peace research sets her apart as an important scholar and activist in multiple fields. Her written works span several decades and range from discussion of family as a foundation for peace, to Quaker spirituality to reinventing the international “global culture.” Particularly of note is her emphasis on women and family in the peace process.

Elise Biorn-Hansen was born in Oslo, Norway in 1920. Her family moved to the United States when she was three years old. She and her family were greatly affected by the outbreak of World War II and the German invasion of Norway. Elise became strongly convinced by living through the WWII years that violence was not the answer to the world’s problems and that if even her peaceful homeland was at risk, violence was truly a systemic world concern. In her youth, she became active in anti-war activities and converted to a historic peace church, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). It was at a Quaker meeting in May 1941 that she met her future husband, Kenneth Boulding (1910–1993), a respected English economist who would collaborate extensively with Elise on her peace work.

The Bouldings raised five children, with Elise serving as both homemaker and activist. Her writing on the foundations of peace would reflect her valuation of women, children and family in the peace process. She believed the family unit, and especially the role of women within that unit, was crucial to the global peace movement. After working at Iowa State College (where she received her Masters degree in Sociology) and at the University of Colorado at Boulder, she and Kenneth were invited to become Scholars in Residence at Dartmouth College after Elise completed her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Michigan. While at Dartmouth, she chaired the Sociology Department and developed the nation’s first Peace Studies program there. She is credited with greatly advancing the academic study of peace through her work at Dartmouth.

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