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CULTURE OF PEACE: A FOCUS OF PEACE PSYCHOLOGY BOOKS Books (required): 1. Cultures of Peace: The Hidden Side of History, by Elise Boulding (2000) 2. No Future without Forgiveness, by Desmond Tutu (1999) 3. To Construct Peace: 30 More Justice Seekers, Peace Makers, by Michael True (1992) Book (required) - to be supplied in class 4. The Seville Statement on Violence (UNESCO) Book (optional) - may be purchased at Atticus 5. An Energy Field More Intense than War, by Michael True (1995) Articles and UN resolutions (required) - Will be made available as photocopies or on the Internet. Many of the articles come from Peace and Conflict, the journal of the Peace Division of the American Psychological Association. Grading will be A-F based on regular attendance and class participation and three tasks: 1. A term paper on a topic and with a bibliography to be negotiated with the Professor (collective papers are possible); 2. An essay on an imagined "possible future"; 3. Study and description of local activity promoting a culture of peace (through participation in CPNN or through an oral history. Activities may promote any one or more of the components of a culture of peace as recognized by the UN: peace education, sustainable development, democratic participation, human rights, equality of women, free flow of information, tolerance and cultural diversity and disarmament. Fri Jan 25 - Introduction Fri Feb 1 - Culture of Peace at the United Nations. . Read Boulding Chapter 11 and look at the UN site on the Internet, especially the UN in Brief and UN History accessible on page http://www.un.org/aboutun/index.html. Look at the UN structure at http://www.un.org/aboutun/chart.html and check out the home pages of some of the 14 specialized agencies, including UNESCO. Then study carefully the following UN documents available on internet: A/53/243 at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/53/a53r243.pdf A/55/47 at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/55/a55r047.pdf A/56/5 at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/56/a56r005.pdf A/56/349 at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/56/a56349.pdf (Note: please inform me if you have no access to Internet so we can make other arrangements.) Fri Feb 8 - Culture of peace in the local community. Read the following books keeping in mind the need to focus on community level activities for a culture of peace: To Construct Peace: 30 More Justice Seekers, Peace Makers, by Michael True The Boulding book, Chapter 3. Question for discussion: how can activity for a culture of peace at the local level be recognized and shared? Fri Feb 15 - The Culture of Peace News Network. Read the Boulding book Chapters 4, 9 and 10 and study carefully the mockup of the CPNN-New-England Website at http://www.culture-of-peace.info/cpnnexp. Question for discussion: how can CPNN contribute to development of a culture of peace in New England? Fri Feb 22 - UN peacekeeping, peacebuilding and cross-conflict participation in countries recovering from war. Read Boulding Chapter 8 and the following articles which are on reserve for this class: The Psychology of Peacekeeping: Genesis, Ethos and Application, Harvey Langholz, (from Peace and Conflict, 1998, 4: 217-236); How Psychology Can Contribute to a Culture of Peace, Federico Mayor, (from Peace and Conflict, 1995, 1: 3-10); The UNESCO Culture of Peace Programme in El Salvador: An Initial Report, Lacayo, Francisco et al (from International Journal of Peace Studies, 1 (2) 1-20. Question for discussion: Why has this approach not yet been very successful? Sat-Sun Feb 23-24 - CPNN moderator training - 10-5 Saturday and 10-1 Sunday Fri Mar 1 - War and human nature: the message of the Seville Statement on Violence. Read the following: The UNESCO booklet on the Seville Statement. The Seville Statement on Violence: A Progress Report, available on the Internet at http://www.culture-of-peace.info/ssov/title-page.html (from the Journal of Peace Research, 1989, 26: 113-121). The Seville Statement and counter-arguments, American Psychologist, October 1994, 49: 845-850 (on reserve, including electronic reserve) The Myth that War Is Intrinsic to Human Nature Discouages Action for Peace by Young People (Adams and Bosch) available on the Internet at http://www.culture-of-peace/myth/title-page.html. Note that the latter study was undertaken as part of the course Psychology of War and Peace at Wesleyan in 1985. Question for discussion: do you think attitudes have changed at Wesleyan since this study was done? Fri Mar 8 - The cultural origins of war: what they tell us about why it was monopolized by men and how we can make peace. Please read: Boulding Chapters 5 and 6. Cross-Cultural Predictors of Civil Society, Melvin and Carol Ember, (on reserve, including electronic reserve) Why There Are So Few Women Warriors (Adams), from Behavior Science Research, 1983, available on the Internet at http://www.culture-of-peace.info/women/title-page.html. Biology Does Not Make Men More Aggressive than Women (Adams), available on the Internet at http://www.culture-of-peace.info/biology/title-page.html - from edited volume Of Mice and Women: Aspects of Female Aggression, 1992 Academic Press. Carol and/or Mel Ember plan to join us for this class. Question for discussion: Is there progress in the world (and should there be?) towards gender equality, democratic participation and freedom from economic disasters? Spring Break - Take home with you the book by Bishop Desmond Tutu. Fri Mar 29 - The peace and reconciliation process in South Africa. Read the book by Bishop Tutu. Also the set of six papers on South Africa from the special 1997 issue of Peace and Conflict (Dawes, Louw, du Preez, Odendaal, Gilbert and Honwana) and the two articles from 1998 (de la Rey and Eagle). These are all on reserve, including electronic reserve. Discussion question: Does (and should?) the Anglo-American system of justice promote reconciliation of criminal and victim? Fri April 5 - The history of non-violence in the United States. Review the lives of the Americans described in the book by Michael True. I have invited Professor True to address our class and the basis for his lecture will be found in his other book which is an optional reading: An Energy Field More Intense than War. Discussion question: Can you identify actions for non-violence in local communities today that are similar to those described from American history? Fri April 12 - Psychological perspectives on the Middle East conflict. Read Boulding Chapter 1 and the following Peace and Conflict articles on this subject, all of which are on reserve, including electronic reserve. The case of a coexistence project of Jews and Palestinians in Israel by Ifat Maoz; Peace building in postsettlement by Mohammed Abu-Nimer, followed by commentary by Leila Dane; The limits of pragmatism in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations by Herbert Kelman; and All we were saying was give peace a chance: The future of Israeli High School Peace Activists by Amir Hetsroni. Discussion question: Can lessons drawn from the El Salvador and South African experiences be used to promote a peaceful reconciliation in the Middle East? Fri April 19 - The new generation and peace. Read Boulding Chapter 7. I will be asking you to help find other readings for this class. Fri April 26 - Presentations and discussion of results from oral histories and CPNN - student reports Fri May 3 - Presentations and discussion of results from term papers and from essay on imaging a possible future - student reports. Read Boulding Chapters 2 and 12 for this class.
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