The Peace and Conflict Studies concentration allows students to focus on issues of peace and social justice. The courses offered in the concentration help students address crucial challenges of the contemporary world and develop the knowledge and skills necessary for effective citizenship in the post-cold war world. Beginning this year, students will also have an opportunity to pursue a Social Justice track within the Peace and Conflict Studies concentration.
Students interested in peace and conflict studies should consider enrolling in one of the courses listed under Peace and Conflict Studies on the First-Year Student website.
CLAS 145
TheClassics&Conflict in the US
Common Area: History Studies or Literature
This course will look at uses of ancient Greece and Rome in American civic life and culture, with a focus on the reception of Classical ideas and models during periods of conflict in the US. This will include American engagement with the Classics in the revolutionary and constitutional periods, in the abolitionist movements of the nineteenth century and the civil rights era of the twentieth century, and in discussions about race, gender, and class identity in the twenty-first century.
CLAS 165
Refugees in Ancient Myth&Today
Common Area: Literature
An exploration of myths about migration and refugees in ancient drama and epic, considered alongside contemporary narratives of migration. Special attention will be given to the 2015 migration crisis in Europe. This class will include a community-based learning component.
HIST 126
Colonial Latin America
Common Area: Cross Cultural or Historical Studies
Provides an introduction to Latin American history from pre-Columbian to the late 18th century, emphasizing native cultures, the conquest of the New World, the creation of colonial societies in the Americas, race, gender and class relations, the functioning of the imperial system, the formation of peasant communities, and the wars of independence. Fulfills one non-Western and one pre-modern/pre-industrial requirement for the major.
HIST 155
World War II in East Asia
Common Area: History Studies
This course provides a comprehensive examination of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and Asia-Pacific War (1941-1945). Students will also gain a working familiarity with the history of early and late twentieth-century China and Japan as they study the political and cultural contexts of prewar and postwar East Asia and East Asia-U.S. relations through engagement with a wide variety of primary sources. By exploring a number of issues such as nationalism, popular memory, morality, identity, race, gender, and refugees, students will be exposed to a number of recent and classic debates in the historiography on modern China and Japan.
HIST 198
Modern Africa Since 1800
Common Area: Cross Cultural or Historical Studies
A survey of Africa's complex colonial past, examining dominant ideas about colonial Africa and Africans' experiences during colonialism, including important historical debates on Africa's colonial past and the legacy of colonialism; pre-colonial Africa's place in the global world; resistance and response to the imposition and entrenchment of colonialism; and the nature of colonial rule as revealed in economic (under) development, ethnicity and conflict, and the environment.
POLS 103
Intro To Internat'l Relations
Common Area: Social Sciences
Introduces students to major theories and concepts in international politics and examines the evolution of the international system during the modern era. Principal topics include: the causes of war and peace, the dynamics of imperialism and post-colonialism, the emergence of global environmental issues, the nature and functioning of international institutions, the legal and ethical obligations of states, and the international sources of wealth and poverty. International Relations.
POLS 199-F01
Race and Ethnicity Politics
Common Area: Social Sciences
This course will cover the following topics: 1. History: citizenship and race, Voting Rights Act, US Census and redistricting, immigration polities 2. Political Attitudes, Behavior, and Identity/the impact of identity in American political behavior (partisanship, minority voting bloc, mobilization, representation, nonvoting behavior, intersectionality) 3. Intergroup Relations: contact theory, conflict theory, intergroup conflict.
RELS 143
Social Ethics
Common Area: Studies in Religion
An introduction to moral reasoning and various modes of Christian ethical reflection on contemporary social issues.