Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Peace Studies

Program Faculty
Jeffrey Anderson, Anthropology
Christopher Annear, Anthropology
Betty Bayer, Women’s Studies
Michael Dobkowski, Religious Studies
Shalahudin Kafrawi, Religious Studies, Chair
Sooyoung Lee, Economics
Richard Salter, Religious Studies

Peace Studies focuses on the conditions that promote peace, social justice, and the non-violent resolution of conflict among individuals, groups, societies, and nations. The program combines philosophical inquiry, historical understanding, and critical analysis of contemporary social conditions, experiential learning, and a deep commitment to educating and empowering students for citizenship in a world of greater peace, equity, and social justice. Working with faculty from various departments and programs, the Peace Studies program designs the curriculum that enables students to have knowledge and vision for peace, skills to analyze conflicts through nonviolence, and experience in addressing social inequalities through internship and community service.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Peace Studies program is to familiarize students with peace and peacemaking efforts by educating them with basic concepts and conditions for the realization of peace, providing them with tools and skills to analyze and offer potential non-violent remedies to conflicts, and channeling their commitment to peace through life experience. Students are strongly encouraged to take courses across disciplines that deal with the causes, implications, and solutions to war and conflicts and those that deal with conditions that enable the promotion and maintenance of peace.

Learning Objectives

Students of the Peace Studies program are expected to be able to:

• elaborate on the meanings and forms of peace and justice from various disciplines and socio-historical settings.
• analyze the leading conditions to conflicts and offer their potential remedies through non-violent means.
• identify the ways peace, justice, conflict, and peace-making initiatives interact in various worldviews at different historical and social contexts.
• utilize non-violent means to address the causes of social inequality and conflict.
• demonstrate deep commitment to creating conditions for peace, social equality, and respect for others.

Offerings

Peace Studies Minor

Interdisciplinary, 7 courses

• One foundation course: REL 105 Religion, Peace, and Conflict.
• Two core courses: one from Group A and one from Group B. Group A courses provide a theoretical foundation for the study of peace, justice, and conflict. Group B courses provide close observation and examination relevant to the peacemaker role, and/or meaningfully incorporate a substantial community service requirement.
• Two electives from Group 1 or 2: Courses in Group 1 provide a substantive foundation in the study of peace and justice; courses in Group 2 provide a substantive foundation in the study of peace and conflict.
• One supervised full credit practicum/internship (PCST 399) or two one-half unit supervised community service practica. Ordinarily a full credit practicum represents a minimum of 150 hours (75 hours for one-half credit) of community service, internship placement, or other experiential learning, approved by the student’s program advisor and documented by a weekly reflective journal and a final report.
• Senior Independent Project (PCST 450): Enacting Peace: A self-initiated project that involves in some way a peacemaker role under the supervision of a Peace Studies program faculty advisor. Projects may include creative works and performance and include summer projects judged to be of equivalent sustained commitment by the advisor.
• All courses must be completed with a C- or better. At least three courses must be unique to the minor.

Core Group A: Theoretical Foundations for the Study of Peace, Justice, and Conflict
AFS 110 The African Experience: Introduction to African Studies
ANTH 110 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
ANTH 222 Native American Religions
ANTH 282 North American Indians
ANTH 340 Anthropology of the Global Commons
ECON 236 Radical Political Economy
EDUC 370 Multiculturalism
INRL 180 Introduction to International Relations
INRL 380 Theories of International Relations
PHIL 152 Philosophy and Feminism
PHIL 155 Morality and War
PHIL 157 Ethical Inquiry: A Multicultural Approach
PHIL 232 Liberty and Community
POL 249 Protests, Movements, Unions
REL 211 Buddhism
REL 228 Religion and Resistance
REL 260 Religion and Philosophy from a Global Perspective
REL 290 Human Rights and Religion
REL 291 The Ethics of Identity: Being, Knowing, and Doing
REL 304 Buddhist Philosophy
REL 345 Seminar: Tradition Transformers
SOC 300 Classical Sociological Theory

Core Group B: Theory in Action
ANTH 218 “It Belongs in a Museum!”: Controversy in Collecting Anthropological Objects
ANTH 273 Research Methods
ANTH 354 Seminar: Food, Meaning, Voice
ECON 240 International Trade
PHIL 234 Theories of Morality
REL 236 Gender, Sexuality, and Islam
REL 280 Negotiating Islam
REL 347 Gender and Identity in the Muslim World
REL 350 Seminar: Nationalism
SOC 290 Sociology of Community

Elective Group 1: Peace and Justice
ANTH 205 Race, Class, and Ethnicity
ANTH 280 Environment and Culture
ECON 210 Economic Inequality
ECON 236 Radical Political Economy
PHIL 157 Ethical Inquiry: A Multicultural Approach
REL 103 Journeys and Stories
REL 108 Religion and Alienation in 20th Century Culture
REL 228 Religion and Resistance
REL 236 Gender and Islam
REL 238 Liberating Theology
REL 347 Gender and Globalization in the Muslim World
SOC 290 Sociology of Community
THTR 290 Theater for Social Change

Elective Group 2: Peace and Conflict
ANTH 296 Africa: Beyond Crisis, Poverty, and Aid
ECON 302 International Trade Issues
ENG 276 Imagining the Middle East
HIST 103 Early Modern Europe
HIST 238 The World Wars in Global Perspective
HIST 272 Nazi Germany
HIST 284 Africa: From Colonialism to Neocolonialism
HIST 301 The Enlightenment
HIST 320 The Asia Pacific Wars
INRL 180 Introduction to International Relations
INRL 283 Political Violence and Non-Violence
INRL 290 American Foreign Policy
INRL 380 Theories of International Relations
POL 249 Protests, Movements, Unions
REL 250 Race and Religion
REL 255 Peace and Violence in the Qur’an
REL 265 The West and the Qur’an
REL 271 The Holocaust
REL 274 Zionism, Israel, and the Middle East Conflict
REL 288 Religious Extremism
REL 335 Jihad
REL 371 Literary and Theological Responses to the Holocaust

Course Descriptions

PCST 399 Peace Studies Internship. A minimum of 150 hours of community service, internship placement, or other experiential learning, approved by the student’s program advisor and documented by a weekly reflective journal and a final report.

PCST 450 Independent Study Peace Studies  Enacting Peace. A self-initiated project that involves in some way a peacemaker role under the supervision of a Peace Studies program faculty advisor.