You are here: Courses * Peace & Non-violence Studies Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Courses
 

Peace & Non-violence Studies

This course combines reading and personal exploration to reveal how people define themselves, their relationship to the world, and their processes of meaning-making in different cultures. The course addresses these issues on an intellectual and a personal level and enables students to view their questions and answers critically at the same time that they explore how age, race, gender, nationality, and other factors shape not only their answers to ontological questions, but the nature of the questions that they ask and the reasons why some questions aren't asked.

This interdisciplinary course encourages critical reflection on global structural injustices and strategies for action to transform the world in the interests of environmental conservation, equity and the pursuit of peace. Focusing on the realities and impact of global economic deprivation, inequality, social and intractable conflicts that lead to environmental degradation, poverty, we will examine a particular theme in relation to case studies in different regions of the world where long standing structural violence and inequality have led to oppression and injustice.

This course examines the interconnectedness between psychological growth, awareness, and expanded human consciousness and interpersonal and societal transformation. Exploration of relationships between individual human consciousness and ecological (planetary) connections and wholeness.

 

'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'
Billy - age 4

'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.'
Karl - age 5


A four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,
'Nothing, I just helped him cry'

Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'
Chrissy - age 6

'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'
Terri - age 4

'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.'
Danny - age 7

'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss'
Emily - age 8

'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.'
Bobby - age 7

'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,'
Nikka - age 6

 

Nature-deficit disorder is not an official diagnosis
but a way of viewing the problem, and describes
the human costs of alienation from nature, among them:
diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and
higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses.
The disorder can be detected in individuals,
families, and communities.”
— Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods

 
  Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement | Sitemap Copyright Port of Dreams Web Consulting 2008