Course Description

This Honors course has a special topic: Give Peace a Chance. Students must be accepted in the Honors program to be eligible to register.

A study of representative samples of literature, art, and music of various periods and cultures from around the world from Renaissance to Present. The study of the interrelationships of the arts and their philosophies emphasizes an understanding of human nature, the values of human life, and the connection between past and present cultural contexts.

This section relates topics in thematically in HUMA 1302 to questions of war, peace, social justice and conflict resolution. The section also discusses the diversity, complexity and interdependence of the world community and current global issues.

This course will focus on close readings of texts and analysis of works of art from creators who have advocated for peace, social justice, and nonviolent solutions to conflict. Many approaches to history focus on conflict, war, and oppression and many cultural artifacts have been created that glorify war and conquest. While the study of violence is never far from the study of peace, this course aims to emphasize the works of individuals since the Renaissance who have focused their creative output and social interventions on ways to develop a more peaceful, equitable world.

Students must be accepted into the Honors program to take this course. A passing score or the equivalent on the reading portion of the TSI test is required.

Course Rationale

The study of the humanities from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective affords the student the opportunity not only to acquire a deeper appreciation of particular works of art but also to gain a larger perspective on the work of art as an expression of the human spirit in a particular time and place.

Grading/evaluation:

• 40% -- Discussion Posts and Responses to Peers
• 10% -- Reflection Journal Entries
• 20% -- 2 Making Connections Presentations (3-5 minutes)
• 10% -- Final Essay (5-7 pages)
• 5% -- Essay Presentation (3-5 minutes)
• 5% -- Humanities Assessment Essay
• 10% -- Participation/Attendance

Discussions: Students will conduct research on the course content assigned for that day and present their findings to the class in the discussion forum, citing their sources in MLA format where relevant. Students are required to reply to at least three (3) of their peers in discussions with at least 5 substantive sentences. One (1) of those students should be the student submitting the Making Connections presentation for that day (when applicable). Students should employ the Ask a Question, Answer a Question method.

Note: Students will sign up for two (2) Making Connections Presentations. On the days those presentations are due, the presentation replaces their initial post in the forum. They still should respond to at least two (2) of their peers.

Reflection Journals: Students will provide individual responses to questions about the course material in a reflective fashion, including thoughts, emotions, memories, and other takeaways.

Making Connections Presentations: Students will put together two (2) slideshows in Microsoft Powerpoint (3-5 minutes in length) with audio recorded over them based upon prompts in the class. Students must include at least three (3) credible sources in their presentation cited in MLA.

Final Essay: Students will compose an essay connecting works of art with concepts in Peace & Conflict Studies. Essay must be 5-7 pages with at least 5 credible sources cited in MLA format. At least two (2) sources must be scholarly. The paper should be double spaced in Times New Roman, 12 point font.

Essay Presentation: Students will put together a presentation in Microsoft Powerpoint (3-5 minutes in length) with audio recorded over it with the main points from their Essay. Students must include their sources in their presentation cited in MLA.

Humanities Assessment Essay: The assessment includes a short essay where students will identify and analyze works of art in their context, connect these cultural artifacts with modern contexts, and discuss their responsibilities as global citizens.

Participation/Attendance: Students must attend each class and contribute positively to the group in order to receive full credit for participation/attendance.

Approaches to Peace: A Reader in Peace Studies, Fourth Edition, edited by David P. Barash. ISBN: 9780190637590

The Little Book of Conflict Transformation by John Paul Lederach. ISBN: 9781561483907

The Little Book of Strategic Peacebuilding by Lisa Schirch. ISBN: 9781680990454

"Cultural Violence" by Johan Galtung (see link in Blackboard)

"A Mini Theory of Peace" by Johan Galtung (see link in Blackboard)

“This is my Message to the Western World” by Nemonte Nenquimo (see link in Blackboard)

-- Introduction to Peace & Conflict Studies and Global Studies

-- Protestant Reformation and the Northern Renaissance

--  Absolute Power and Empire

-- Religion in the English Commonwealth, the American Colonies, and the Quakers

-- Conflict Styles

-- Imperialism and Colonialism

-- Types of Violence

-- Positive vs. Negative Peace

-- The Scientific Revolution

-- The Enlightenment

-- Revolution and Democracy

-- Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Indigenous American Genocide

-- Human Needs, Movements, and You

-- Naturalism and Evolution

-- Romanticism and Transcendentalism

-- Mysticism and You

-- The Industrial Revolution, Realism, and the American Civil War 

-- Impressionism and Post-Impressionism and You 

-- Labor Movements, Marxism, Russian and Chinese Communist Revolutions

-- Psychoanalysis and Modernist Artistic Movements

-- The World Wars and Art

-- Human Rights, Existentialism, and the Cold War

-- Nonviolent Resistance, Independence Movements, and Anti-War Demonstrations 

--The Beat Generation and the Hippie Movement

-- The Harlem Renaissance and Magical Realism in Latin America 

-- Civil Rights Movement in America and the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa

-- Feminism and LGBTQIA+ Rights

-- Nonviolent Communication, Perception Checking, and Modern Theology

-- Ecology, and Sustainability, and Climate Change

-- Buddhism, Meditation, and Inner Peace

-- Current Global Issues and Conflict Transformation

-- Peace & Conflict in Art

Departmental Course Student Learning Outcomes

After successful completion of a Humanities course, a student should be able to:

• Humanistic Inquiry: Describe and analyze artifacts from distinct times and places with regard to their cultural contexts and human values.

After successful completion of this Honors course, students should be able to:

• Synthesize information from diverse sources
• Generate and develop original ideas
• Solve challenging problems
• Conduct higher-order research
• Communicate research
• Employ social skills to accomplish a goal
• Apply leadership skills
• Evaluate ethical, global and personal implications of course materials

After successful completion of this Peace & Conflict Studies course, students should be able to:

• Content Knowledge: Apply key concepts in Peace & Conflict Studies.
• Peace & Conflict in Context: Analyze situations of peace and conflict within specific disciplinary and interdisciplinary contexts.
• Personal Reflection: Represent personal experience and evaluate how concepts in Peace & Conflict Studies may inform one’s worldview, self-concept, values, behaviors, relationships, and/or aspirations.
• Social Responsibility: Apply Peace & Conflict Studies concepts practically and ethically at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, local, national, and/or global levels.

After completion of this Global Studies course, students should be able to:

• Cultural Values: Demonstrate a heightened and more critical awareness of one’s own cultural assumptions, ethical judgments, and implicit biases (e.g. ethnocentrism, racism, ageism, sexism) to interact effectively and ethically across cultures.
• Interdependence: Identify the interrelated nature of the actions and impacts of individuals, groups, and institutions at the local, regional, national, and global levels.
• Globalization: Analyze the interrelated impact of global structures (such as social, cultural, religious, environmental, political, and/or economic) on aspects of nations, regions, communities, and individuals. 
• Social Justice: Evaluate existing structures of the world (e.g. at national, global, organizational, and cultural levels) through application of human rights and human security principles in areas such as food, health, education, climate, gender equity, clean water and energy, technology, etc.
• Global Responsibility: Students will explain how they can integrate GS concepts into aspects of one’s own life in order to build equitable and sustainable change in the world.

At the end of this General Education course, a student should be able to do one or more of the following:

• Communication Skills: Develop, interpret, and express ideas and information through written, oral and visual communication that is adapted to purpose, structure, audience, and medium.
• Critical Thinking Skills: Gather, analyze, synthesize, evaluate and apply information for the purposes of innovation, inquiry, and creative thinking.
• Personal Responsibility: Identify and apply ethical principles and practices to decision-making by connecting choices, actions and consequences
• Social Responsibility (Civic and Cultural Awareness): Analyze differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities.