Impossible Conversations: Symposium

Francine Banner (she / her)
Francine Banner is Professor and Chair of Behavioral Sciences at UM-Dearborn. She has spent many years teaching in the prison system in Michigan. She is a legal scholar and author of Beyond Complicity: Why We Blame Each Other Instead of Systems.

Pardeep Kaleka
Pardeep is a Conciliation Specialist with the US Department of Justice-Community Relations Service. With a background in clinical psychology and trauma, Pardeep is a subject matter expert on the impacts of hate on communities and the need for collective healing. In 2012, following the murder of his father in the hate killings at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, he co-founded Serve2Unite, an organization nationally recognized for bridging school and community groups. He is the author of The Gifts of Our Wounds and an award-winning columnist.

Harleen Kaur (she / her)
Harleen Kaur is an Assistant Teaching Professor in Sociology at Arizona State University. She studies the subjectivity formation of the US Sikh Punjabi diaspora through empire, memory, and advocacy for social and political inclusion. Her current project, Martialing Race, traces the co-optation of Sikh embodied sovereignty and community negotiations for safety and recognition into empire- and state-driven tactics of increased surveillance, militarization, and policing.

Carrie Landrum (she / they)
Carrie Landrum has been forging pathways to peace and facilitating healing justice using restorative practices with faculty, staff, and students at the University of Michigan since 2007. Carrie serves as the Adaptable Resolution and Restorative Practices Lead within the Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX Office at U‑M, and also serves on the Cultivating Committee of the Metro Detroit Restorative Justice Network, a project of the Detroit Justice Center. Carrie has passion and expertise in peacebuilding and conflict transformation, healing justice, restorative peacemaking practices, trauma healing & healing-centered engagement, and a variety of healing arts. 

Barbara Lynette Jones (she/​her)
Barbara L. Jones, a restorative justice practitioner and Educator in the Office of Sexual Violence Prevention and Education at Wayne State University. With a career spanning roles such as Senior Underwriting Representative, WDET, and Community Dispute Resolution Specialist, she has championed social justice, conflict resolution, and trauma-informed approaches for nearly two decades. Barbara’s dual identity as a co-survivor of violent crime and advocate for restorative justice informs her transformative approach to empowering survivors and promoting accountability. 

Arvind-Pal S. Mandair (he / him)
Arvind-Pal Mandair is a Professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and holds an endowed Chair in Sikh Studies at the University of Michigan. He is the author of many books, including Violence and the Sikhs (Cambridge, 2022). His teaching portfolio includes courses on violence, race and religion. 

Arno Michaelis (he/​him)
Arno Michaelis is a public speaker, filmmaker, author of My Life After Hate, and co-author of The Gift of Our Wounds. His storytelling stems from an intention to inspire people to see themselves in others, and see others in themselves. Arno also works as a Peer Support Specialist at Parents 4 Peace, helping to lead people away from all violent extremist ideologies, and to support their families. Refuge, his latest film project, is now available on Amazon Prime Video. Arno has been a professional public speaker since 2010, and has captivated audiences around the world with his story of transformation and message of love and peace. Uniquely positioned to facilitate healing for people who have been targets of hate, he has dedicated the past 15 years to forging compassion. 

Julio Martinez-Figueroa (he /​him)
Julio Martinez-Figueroa is a practitioner trained in restorative justice practices who spent many years conducting restorative justice programs as part of the Theory Group at Macomb Correctional Facility. 

Gurkirat Singh Sekhon (he / him)
Gurkirat Singh Sekhon is a PhD candidate in the joint program in English and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan. At the intersection of Sikh Studies, transnational feminisms, and postcolonial theory, his work is concerned with how honor crime discourse and its attendant Islamophobic logics inform Sikh feminist efforts to both challenge and rework ​“izzat,” a Punjabi-Sikh iteration of ​“honor.”