Dr Tatsushi (Tats) Arai is a scholar-practitioner of peacebuilding and multi-track diplomacy with twenty years of diverse international experience. He is a Fellow of the Center for Peacemaking Practice at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR) and a Professor of Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation at the School for International Training (SIT) Graduate Institute. Previously Dr Arai taught international relations at the National University of Rwanda and worked for a development NGO in Rwanda in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide. As a mediator, dialogue facilitator, and trainer, he has worked extensively throughout Asia, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the United States while conducting field research in Europe. Dr Arai also advises and partners with peacebuilding NGOs, United Nations agencies, and various other organizations. He is the author of Creativity and Conflict Resolution: Alternative Pathways to Peace (Routledge), and co-editor and contributor to Contested Memories and Reconciliation Challenges (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars) and Clash of National Identities (Wilson Center). Many of his other publications explore conflict-sensitive development, intercommunal coexistence, reconciliation, post-conflict reconstruction, peace education, and the roles of culture, religion, and identity in protracted conflict and peacemaking. Dr Arai received S-CAR’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2015. He is a Japanese citizen and currently lives in Massachusetts with his tri-national family. For more information about his publications and applied practice, please visit:
