Generic Peace Studies Syllabus Template

Alternatives to Violence

University of Maryland

Fall Semester 2011

Prof. Colman McCarthy

If every government claims it wants peace, and if every human heart yearns for peace, why is there so little of it? Why is violence routinely used as the way to settle conflicts, whether across an ocean or across the living room? And one more question: why are so few of the nation’s 78,000 elementary schools, 34,000 high schools and 4,100 colleges and universities offering courses on peaceful solutions to conflicts?

This course is a modest effort on offering a chance for students to break away from conventional thinking, worn-out politics, quick-fixes and slow progress. Studying nonviolence is not for the faint or weak of heart, nor conformists or the close-minded. Instead, it is for those who are intellectually brave, spiritually alive, socially engaged and lovers of long-shots.

The course is discussion based. Dissents and debates are welcomed. One skeptic enlivens the class more than a dozen passive agreers. Let’s be good listeners. Listening to other is an act of caring.

COURSE TEXTS

Solutions to Violence

Strength Through Peace

We Who Dared Say No to War

I’d Rather Teach Peace

WRITING REQUIREMENTS

A 2,000 word paper is required, to be turned in by or at the final class of the semester. The ideal paper is a mix of personal reflection, analysis, commentary and perhaps personal experiences. Break new ground. Avoid replowing the old depleted soil of term paper dullness. Write what is uniquely and creatively your own, that no one else could produce—because your thoughts, passions and bents belong only to you. Pick a topic that you care about, especially one based on your own life experiences that are linked to the ideas found in the course texts. The writing should be fresh, clear and convincing. It should not be a conventional research paper. Instead, try the unconventional: research your own life, your experiences with violence or nonviolence, how you have dealt with conflicts with your family and friends, how you have shaped your personal or political values. Another possibility is to write your reflections on one or more of the essays in our texts and how those ideas relate to your own life. It’s fine to use the first person pronoun. In fact, it’s often better that way: to write the kind of paper that only you could write because it contains only experiences or reflections you have had.

FINAL EXAM AND GRADES

The course is pass/fail. A passing grade is assured by a well-written, creative and orginal paper.

The best reason for missing class is a death: mine or yours.

AVAILABILITY

I’m reachable at the Center for Teaching Peace, 4501 Van Ness St., Washington DC 20016. Phone 202 537-1372. Email: cmccarthy@starpower.net. Appointments easily arranged.

The following is a plan of what’s ahead, and like all plans it is subject to changes when needed.

Week One. An introductory discussion of the relationship between personal and impersonal violence, including the differences between alternatives to both as found in practical nonviolence and spiritual nonviolence.

Week Two. Peace is the result of love, and if love were easy we’d all be good at it. How is peace created? Who creates it? For class, read chapter one in “Strength Through Peace.”

Week Three. A discussion of everyday violence, from the verbal violence of catcalling that harasses women to emotional violence as often seen in family conflicts. Readings: chapter nine in “Solutions to Violence.”

With the Congress funding two wars that many believe it can’t win, can’t afford and can’t explain, read chapter nine in “We Who Dared Say No To War.” The documentary “War Made Easy” will be shown.”

More than 3,000 prisoners are awaiting execution on the nation’s 35 death rows. For class, read chapter ten in “Strength Through Peace” and pages 95 to 110 in “I’d Rather Teach Peace” about the Joe Giarratano case.

Many opponents of the death penalty are people who had a family member murdered. Read chapter seven The documentary film from “Fury to Forgiveness” will be shown, followed by a class discussion. The film is about families of murder victims who are not only opposed to the death penalty but actively work to abolish it.

Week Seven. An examination of the Vietnam War and the current war in Iraq: the similarities and differences. Chapter eight in “Strength Through Peace” and the MLK essay on Vietnam, page 69 of “Solutions.”

Week Eight. Nonviolence is a noble ideal but does it ever succeed? Read chapter six in “Strength Through Peace” and chapter one in “Solutions to Violence.”

Week Nine. Are we living peacefully with the animals? With 12 million killed everyday for food, it’s doesn’t seem so. Readings: chapter 12 in “Strength Through Peace.”

Week Ten. Is Gandhi, the Indian peacemaker, relevant to today’s world? Readings: chapter five in “Solutions to Violence” and chapter five in “Strength Through Peace.”

Week Eleven. What about domestic violence. And verbal or emotional violence. For a discussion of alternatives, read Erich Fromm’s essay, “The Art of Loving” in chapter nine in “Solutions.”

Week Twelve. Is love a force? An emotion? An art? For some answers, read chapter nine in “Solutions to Violence.

Week Thirteen. What about civil disobedience? How does it work? Is it effective? For class, read chapter 6 in “Solutions,” including Henry David Thoreau’s “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” and Andrea Ayvazian’s “War Tax Resistance.”

Week Fourteen. How to deal with family disputes, unruly roommates, personal attacks—daily survival, in other words. Read chapter eleven in “Strength Through Peace.”