Peace Studies (Washington Center Syllabus)

Peace Studies

The Washington Center

Prof. Colman McCarthy

Course Syllabus

Few of us went to grade schools, high schools or colleges where the literature of peace was studied in any systematic way. As a result, we were processed through schools well educated in conventional subjects and evaluated by conventional measurements.

This course offers catch-up assistance. Amid so much o the world’s violence—among governments, tribes, gangs, families and often deep in our own psyches—diving into the literature of peace seems, at best, an exercise in irrelevant fantasy. But is it? Every government claims it seeks peace. Every human heart yearns for it. What better way to move toward those goals than by examining the writings of peacemakers and peacebuilders, and see how well their ideas hold up.

Our class meetings will include a fair amount of discussion, dissent and any other kind of fairminded intellectual exchange. Let’s listen well to each other. Listening is an act of caring. Each class is based on assigned readings from the course texts: “Solutions to Violence,” “Strength Through Peace,” and “All of One Peace.” Students are expected to read and intellectually absorb the assigned essays and be prepared to discuss them in class.

Choose two of these three options:

a 1500 to 2000 word book review on any of the course texts.

a 1500 to 2000 word book review on any of the course texts.

Keep a week by week journal based on class discussions, your reflections on the readings, the usefulness of nonviolence in your own life, and how it squares with the day’s political and social events.

The writing should be fresh, cliche-free and written according to the standard set by Oscar Wilde: “write without effort and they read it without joy.” Therefore, put a little joy into your professor’s life!

The quality of the writing, plus the effort behind it, counts for most of the final grade, plus what Eddie Stanky, the former Brooklyn Dodgers second baseman, called “the intangibles.” These include showing up on time, doing the readings, challenging the professor, going all out.

The most persuasive excuse for missing class is a death: yours or mine.

AVAILABILITY

Appointments at convenient times, perhaps before or after class. Office and home phone: 202 537-1372. Address: Center for Teaching Peace, 4501 Van Ness St., NW, Washington DC 20016