Peace
(Structures of Thought and Society)

New York University Abu Dhabi, Spring 2013/Fall 2013 (CORES-AD 27W)
Core Curriculum Course
Sunday/Monday, 2.35-3.50
DTC, N-109
Peace Writing Workshop
Wednesday, 2.35-3.50
DTC, N-112

This course traces the development of philosophical, religious and secular theories of peace from antiquity to the present. It explores questions of peace and justice, nonviolence, the idea of a “just war,” as well as notions of peace in international relations, economics, and psychology, examining how those spurred peace activism and the ideology of pacifism.
To that end, students analyze literary, visual, and organizational representations of peace across national and cultural boundaries and the emergence of peace and conflict studies as an academic discipline.
Readings include works by Laotse, Thucydides, St. Francis of Assisi, Immanuel Kant, Henry David Thoreau, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., A.J. Muste, Johan Galtung, Alma Myrdal, and Petra Kelly, among others.