Building Peace After War (005IDA)

30 credits, Level 6

Autumn teaching

“There is no way to peace because peace is the only way.” While A.J. Muste’s statement is debatable, we can perhaps agree that there are many different approaches to peace. This module encourages you to explore the various pathways to peace that scholars, practitioners, communities and people have proposed and realized. It begins by providing you with a solid theoretical and historical basis to critical peace and conflict studies scholarship. In the second week, you will consider what experiencing violence (direct, structural and cultural) does to the human condition and engage in key debates on violence is just and if peace requires violence.

The course then moves on to interrogate three themes. The first section focuses on understanding inspirations to and different knowledge systems of peace (indigenous and aboriginal worldviews, african cosmologies, religion and spirituality, creative expression). The second section of the course looks at peace movements (feminist, disabled persons, non-violent and violent movements, and environmental activism). The final part of the course considers the relationship between, peace, and institutions at the local, state and global level (education, media, legal systems and international aid organisations). This module is designed as a student-centred active and experiential learning module.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 33 hours of contact time and about 267 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.

Courses

This module is offered on the following courses:

• Anthropology and International Development BA
• Economics and International Development BA
• Geography and International Development BA
• International Development BA
• International Development with a Language BA
• Sociology and International Development BA