SPRING 2014 BEGINS HERE

Hello. Welcome to Sociology 369: Peacemaking. This is the first post for Spring 2014.

As we have only two people enrolled in the course, we will conduct it as a partial independent study. As long as we meet the course's overall objectives, we have a good deal of flexibility in terms of texts and assignments. Your first assignment will be to carefully consider the previous material on this website and formulate an individual plan for the course. In short, what texts or kinds of texts would you like to examine? What kinds of assignments or projects would you like to complete? The texts and topics represented here reflect, mainly, the interests of previous classes. While we will surely recycle some of these items, we are not limited to what you see here.

As the description says, the course takes an interdisciplinary approach to peacemaking. While we will read some theory, we will also examine the topics of peacemaking, conflict, and social justice from a variety of perspectives. The list below includes some of the places from which we will approach the subject of peacemaking.

• Historical: We will look at various events in history and examine ways in which conflicts were and were not resolved. Past topics in this area have included the U.S. Civil Rights movement, the Holocaust, the Apartheid system, women's rights, the "tank man" of Tiananmen Square, and more.
• Current Events: News, the saying goes, is the first draft of history. Throughout the term, we should pay attention to the world around us and examine ways in which course concepts might apply.
• Artistic: How have issues of peace, war, conflict, and justice been portrayed by various artists during various periods? I will assign a few specific texts, but I hope you will suggest some others. 
• Cultural/Anthropological: How does/has peacemaking and conflict resolution varied across different cultures and time periods?
• Sociological/Psychological: How does research in the social sciences inform our study? I will provide certain texts, and you will surely discover others.
• Micro/Macro: We will ensure that we examine the application of course concepts on both a global basis and an individual one. In other words, how can some of the principles we discuss be applied to society in general as well as to our own lives?

We will discuss the above list in more detail during our first meeting, and I will post instructions for assignment #1 soon after.