38 courses with the subject PEAC, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
PEAC 002FIRST YEAR SEMINAR: War and Peace in the Media
Media greatly shapes our understanding of ourselves and the world; as such, it can be a powerful tool for peace and justice, but it is more often weaponized by the powerful to justify war and different forms of violence instead. How can different communities take this power back? This course provides methodological, historical, and thematic approaches to understand and critically engage with different forms of media, old and new. The class is designed for all students interested in media consumption and production, cultural studies, and social change. Access the class schedule to search for sections.
This introductory course assumes that students have little or no background in the study of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). We will adopt an interdisciplinary approach to historicizing recent socio-economic and political transformations in the region. In our study of modern Middle Eastern social movements, we will address the role of race, ethnicity, colonialism, art, faith, and politics, the impact of technology, media, women’s rights, and LGBTQ organizing, as well as economic liberalization, entrepreneurship, and the politics of oil. Additional themes we will explore are the role of youth in catalyzing social change as well as the impact of conflict and violence. We will also trace the emergence and consequences of the “Arab Spring.” Social sciences. 1 credit. Eligible for ISLM Spring 2028 Atshan.
MUSI 006B This course will explore the various contexts and motivations for music making during the Holocaust and World War II era. In the universe of the Nazi ghettos and concentration camps, music was a vehicle for transmitting political rumors, controversies, stories, and everyday events as well as a form of spiritual resistance. In the broader context of war, it was used for political and nationalist agendas. This course will draw on a wide range of music, from folk songs and popular hit tunes to art music intended for the concert stage. Humanities. 1 Credit. Eligible for MUSI Access the class schedule to search for sections.
Ernest Boyer coined the term “Engaged Scholarship” to describe teaching and research that connects “the university to our most pressing social, civic, and ethical problems” (Boyer, 1996). Organized by the Lang Center and faculty from across the discipline, this course will bring together students who are interested in connecting their academics with action to explore and promote ethical intelligence, active yet reflective civic engagement, and innovative solutions to pressing social problems. We regard community members’ insights and experiences as integral components of our co-created knowledge, recognizing that social and political solutions must consider the perspectives of those most directly affected. As such this course will be co-instructed by faculty, staff, and community experts from on and off campus and the final assignment will represent a collaborative effort. Non-distributional. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC Spring 2027. Magee. Spring 2028 Magee.
PEAC 015Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies1
In Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies, we learn that peace and conflict are not mutually exclusive. To paraphrase Conrad Brunk, the goal of peace and conflict studies is to better understand conflict in order to find nonviolent ways of turning unjust relationships into more just ones. We examine both the prevalence of coercive and non-peaceful means of conducting conflict as well as the development of nonviolent alternatives, locally and globally, through institutions and at the grassroots. The latter include nonviolent collective action, mediation, peacekeeping, and conflict transformation work. Several theoretical and philosophical lenses will be used to explore cultural and psychological dispositions, conflict in human relations, and conceptualizations of peace. The course will take an interdisciplinary approach with significant contributions from the social sciences. To that end, students will also be immersed in Quaker Studies, Swarthmore College’s social justice history, research projects utilizing the Friends Historical Library and Peace Collection on campus, and case studies of conflict resolution from across the United States and around the world. Social sciences. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC Fall 2026. Smithey. Fall 2027 Instructor.
PEAC 017South Asia in Global Perspective: From Democracy to Conflict1
GLBL 017 This course provides an introduction to the society, economy, and politics of South Asia, a region that is home to a quarter of the world’s population. It is a region of striking contrasts: while it hosts the second largest share of the world’s extreme poor after Sub-Saharan Africa, it is also home to the some of its wealthiest individuals. How the region navigates its unique development challenges amidst the ongoing climate crisis, increasing rural-urban migration, intense social conflict, and high levels of ethnic diversity will have profound implications for global peace and development. We will focus on five major themes during the course of the semester: (i) Colonialism and its legacies, (ii) Nationalism and state formation, (iii) Identity and ethnicity (iv) political economy of development, and (v) migration and nativism. In engaging with these themes, we will examine how colonialism shaped post-colonial institutional and social development; why poor countries like India remain democratic, while other equally poor countries, such as Pakistan don’t; whether identity politics strengthens or undermines democracy; why ethnic violence erupts and persists in some places but not in others; and the challenges and opportunities presented by large-scale internal and international migration. To address these questions, we will draw on seminal texts across a wide range of social science disciplines alongside empirical work and case studies from different South Asian countries. The primary goal is for students to understand the historical, institutional, and social forces that have shaped political and economic development in South Asia, and to appreciate how these experiences inform global discussions on democracy and development. social science 1 Credit. Eligible for GLBL Spring 2027. Dhar. Access the class schedule to search for sections.
Cross-listed as ENVS 032 This course examines interactions between the environment, human politics, and conflict using a variety of concepts, theoretical frameworks, historical and geographical contexts, and methodological approaches. Moving chronologically and thematically, this course will draw on, and build up, your own expertise to study how nature has been historically framed, constructed, and contested, as well as how it intersects with other concepts such as power, violence, resistance, justice, and peace. Latin America, a region that is richly diverse in every sense, is an ideal setting from which to draw applicable insights about these open questions. Social Sciences. 1 credit. Eligible for ENVS, LALS, GLBL-paired
EDUC 022 In this introductory course, students will explore the historical, ethical, and theoretical foundations of peace education, a subfield of peace and conflict studies. Students will consider different approaches towards peace education: should peace education be oriented towards eliminating physical violence? Facilitating co-existence and understanding? Teaching human rights or citizenship? Empowering the dispossessed and eliminating inequality and injustice? Is peace education best integrated in the existing schooling system, an extracurricular activity, or should it be distinct from schooling? Using case studies, students will critically examine different types of peace education and explore existing research on how they do-or do not-work. Social Science. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC
PEAC 023First Year Seminar: Global Responses to Violence1
This first-year seminar will examine responses to political violence on an international scale. The first half of the semester will be devoted to examining the role of religious institutions, representing a wide range of faith-based communities, in exacerbating or ameliorating violence. The second half of the semester will cover examining the role of global secular institutions, such as the United Nations, in addressing political violence. Students will be exposed to two subfields of peace and conflict studies - the study of religion and violence, as well as the study of international organizations in conflict and post-conflict settings. This first year seminar does not fulfill the Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies requirement for PCS majors and minors. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC
(Cross-listed with SOCI 025B ) Although experienced differently according to people’s particular contexts, various levels of interpersonal to international conflict are part of our daily lives. Whether dealing with a roommate or colleague, a corporate representative set on acquiring your land to build a gold mine, a parent or boss flexing authority and power, or even strangers in the street, conflict is an inherent aspect of coexistence. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Not all conflicts are violent, armed, or even destructive. Dominant historical narratives sell best when they overemphasize violence, but the history of our species has been far more influenced by humans learning to collaborate despite disagreements and differences. Conventionally considered destructive processes to avoid, conflicts may present crucial opportunities to collectively build justice and peace. We will draw on a variety of fields, paradigms, case studies, our personal experiences, current events, and practical simulations to gain a rich understanding of what underpins conflicts, how different actors respond, and how they can be channeled productively. Non-distribution. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC, SOCI Fall 2027 Smithey.
What is violence, and how do we learn to think of it? What is war and why is it started? How can it be avoided? How do we know when we are safe, or what insecurity is? How does media treat war and different forms of violence? How does war end? What are the links between war and everyday life? This course centers on these open questions to develop a framework to make sense of, and critically engage with, issues of conflict, violence, war, and peace. In history books, the news, and our language, violence and war seem to be pervasive. To understand and confront them, we must explore in-depth how they are experienced, interpreted, remembered, institutionalized, normalized, and challenged by everyday people. Exploring diverse approaches to war and peace “from below” and across different contexts, we will build tools to recognize and transform different forms of violence. Social sciences. Writing Course 1 credit. Eligible for GLBL-paired. Fall 2026. Wilson Becerril. Access the class schedule to search for sections.
Organizing for Social Change focuses on the strategic work of developing effective nonviolent social change campaigns while keeping our eye on potentials for constructive conflict. Students will learn from activists, organizers, and scholars as they design and carry out campaigns, addressing social needs and effecting policy changes. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC, ESCH Spring 2028 Smithey. Access the class schedule to search for sections.
PEAC 036Environment, Cultural Memory and Social Change in Japan1
Cross-listed as JPNS 036 , ENVS 047 This course will explore the history, contemporary situation, and future possibilities regarding the interlinked realms of the environment, historical trauma, and social movements in Japan. Topics will include the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings and the subsequent peace and anti-nuclear movements, the environmental movement in Japan, and the “triple disaster” earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant disaster in Fukushima and Northeastern Japan. We will also discuss how environmental issues intersect with other current social issues such as rural depopulation, an aging population, and gender and economic inequality, and study a variety of contemporary approaches to addressing these issues. In addition, under the guidance of Lang Professor for Social Change Denise Crossan, we will study the theory and practice of social entrepreneurship as a vehicle for social change and explore possible applications of this model in Japan. In addition, throughout the semester we will engage with community partners in Japan, particularly in the Hiroshima area, through online exchanges and collaborative projects related to contemporary environmental and peace activism. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC, GLBL-paired
PEAC 038Civil Wars & Neoliberal Peace in Central America1
This course focuses on the sociopolitical turmoil that devastated Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador as a wave of revolutionary wars swept across the region from the 1960s to the early 1990s and sought to end decades of oppressive military dictatorships. After studying the civil wars and their causes, the course will then focus on the peacebuilding efforts and the implementation of democracy within the neoliberal economic order. Of particular interest are the failures of the peacebuilding process, the current gang violence in the region, and the widespread political corruption supported by an economic system that has made of everyday life an exercise in survival. We will pay special attention to U.S. intervention in Central America, particularly the consequences of its involvement in the military dictatorships and armed conflicts in the region. We’ll focus on issues of social trauma and social disaffection, of historical memory and the genocide of the Mayas, of political resistance and the struggle for social justice, and of the limits of postwar reconstruction and reconciliation in the era of neoliberalism. This course will help us understand the current crisis of Central American immigration to the U.S. Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for LALS, PEAC, ESCH, GLBL-paired. Fall 2026. Buiza. Fall 2027 Buiza.
PEAC 039Social Entrepreneurship for Social Change1
Social entrepreneurship is concerned with entrepreneurial responses to demanding and unmet social needs (not adequately served by market or by state). Through in-depth case analysis, we will consider the context of social entrepreneurial activity (such as the peace and reconciliation movement in Northern Ireland), the individuals who become engaged in impacting social need (locally, nationally and globally), along with organizing and undertaking activities and addressing needs effectively. Limited to 15 students. Non-distribution. 1 credit. Eligible for GLBL-Core
Cross-listed with PHIL 041 How might we establish a peaceful world? What is the relationship between peace, justice, and individual rights? Can war ever be justified and, if so, under what circumstances? How can societies that have experienced violent conflict transition into peace? This course examines these questions from the perspective of political philosophy. We will ask what a peaceful world might look like and what would be required to bring it about. HU Eligible for PEAC Access the class schedule to search for sections.
To what extent can a predominantly “Western” and colonial legal framework deliver justice for people oppressed by Western institutions? We will study how human rights are contested by people in different spaces and spheres, including states, corporations, NGOs, social movements, and civil society. Human rights are constantly being claimed, built, and remade. How does this matter in everyday life? We will seek to understand these dynamics from the perspectives of people most affected by this contestation, with a particular focus on the global South. We will thus emerge better equipped to engage with struggles for peace and justice. Social Sciences. 1 credit. Eligible for GLBL-core, ESCH Spring 2027. Wilson Becerril.
(Cross-listed as ANTH 044 ) How has gender emerged as an analytical category? How has sexuality emerged as an analytical category? What role did discourses surrounding gender and sexuality play in the context of Western colonialism in the Global South historically as well as in the context of Western imperialism in the Global South today? How are gender and sexuality-based liberation understood differently around the world? What global social movements have surfaced to codify rights for women and LGBTQ populations? How has the global human rights apparatus shaped the experiences of women and queer communities? What is the relationship between gender and masculinity? What are the promises and limits of homonationalism and pinkwashing as theoretical frameworks in our understanding of LGBT rights discourses? When considering the relationship between faith and homosexuality, how are religious actors queering theology? How do we define social change with such attention to gender and sexuality? Social sciences. Writing course. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC, GSST, INTP, GLBL- Core, ESCH Spring 2028 Atshan.
Most people in Latin America live under various forms of “violent peace.” Although most states are not at war formally, the means of violence have not receded despite several “waves of democratization,” and in fact, these have become normalized or concealed in everyday relations. Latin America today is reported to have the highest rate of homicides, worst levels of economic inequality, deadliest settings for environmental defenders, highest levels of police-committed killings, and highest levels of gender-based violence in the world. Likewise, it showcases a wide range of political plurality and representation, cultural and biological diversity, and rich historical trajectories often marked by successful struggles for alternative worlds, social justice, and international peace. This interdisciplinary course centers on a comparative, thematic, and chronological study of Latin America to understand the layered meanings and forms of violence, different methods and challenges of promoting justice, and lessons from attempts to build durable peace. Social sciences. Writing Course 1 credit. Eligible for GLBL-paired; LALS. Fall 2026. Wilson Becerril. Access the class schedule to search for sections.
(Cross-listed as ANTH 051 ) This course examines the past, present, and future of Palestine/Israel, including the trajectory of the conflict, competing narratives, and movements aimed at peace and justice. We also emphasize the heterogeneity of Palestinian and Israeli societies, pursuing an ethnographic approach to the study of the region. Social Sciences. 1 credit. Eligible for ISLM Fall 2027 Atshan.
PEAC 055Climate Disruption, Conflict, and Peacemaking1
ENVS 031 The course will examine several ways in which climate change is a driving force of violent and nonviolent conflict and creates opportunities for peacemaking and social justice. Already, climate change has been identified by the U.S. military as a threat to national security, offering a new rationale for expanding the military industrial complex. Demands on scarce resources generate and exacerbate regional conflicts and drive mass movements of refugees. Behind these dramatic manifestations of climate stress lie extensive corporate and national interests and hegemonic silences that emerging conflicts often reveal. Conflict also brings new opportunities for peacebuilding, cooperation, and conflict resolution. Climate crises have renewed and expanded local and global movements for environmental justice and protection, many of which have historical connections with the peace movement. In support of the college’s carbon charge initiative, we will dedicate part of the course to understanding what constitutes the social cost of carbon and how it is represented in carbon pricing, particularly with respect to increasing frequencies of armed conflict and extension of the military industrial complex. Social sciences. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC, ENV, ESCH Spring 2028 Smithey.
Denise Crossan, the Eugene Lang Professor for Issues of Social Change, will be delivering a high-impact year-long engaged scholarship program entitled, “Social Innovation for Peace” Program (SIP), commencing in Fall 2019. The program’s mission is to, “apply social innovation knowledge through practice in post conflict communities.” Swarthmore College students will collaborate with international peace and conflict Social Entrepreneur partners in Colombia, Northern Ireland, and Japan to co-design and deliver a reciprocal learning social innovation project that works towards addressing the legacy of conflict in their respective communities. At the beginning of the course in Fall Semester, students will be matched with a Social Entrepreneur partner in-country, and through classes, case study analysis, and peer learning discussion, will begin to identify, develop and prototype solutions to critical post-conflict related issues. During Winter Break and over summer students will spend time in-country working directly with their community partners to test their solution prototypes. The “Social Innovation for Peace” Program is delivered in partnership with the Peace & Conflict Studies program, the Social Innovation Lab@The Lang Center, and sponsored by The Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. This is a 2-credit class, over 2 semesters and requires commitment to Winter and Summer break international travel. Students who start in PEAC 060A in Fall 2019, must complete PEAC 060B Spring 2020, to receive credit for PEAC 060A. Places are limited and applicants will be interviewed prior to acceptance and class registration. For details email: Denise Crossan, dcrossa1@swarthmore.edu Eligible for PEAC,ESCH
PEAC 071BResearch Seminar: Global Nonviolent Action Database1
(Cross-listed as SOCI 071B ) This one-credit research seminar involves contributing to The Global Nonviolent Action Database at Swarthmore College. See https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu Each year, hundreds of thousands of users access the database, which contains crucial information on nonviolent campaigns, including those for human rights, democracy, environmental justice, economic justice, national/ethnic representation, and peace. Each student will investigate several campaigns and prepare them for publication in the database. Together, we will draw strategic lessons from social scientific literature and from what the group is learning while researching people’s struggles. Social Science. Writing course. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC, GLBL-core, ESCH Spring 2027. Smithey.
PEAC 075Witness Draw Resist: Representing Peace and Justice in Comics1
FREN 075/ LITR 075 Witness Draw Resist is a new course that examines the use of modern fictional and nonfiction comics and graphic novels to represent critical conflicts in recent history, including the Holocaust, the Iranian Revolution, the Israelo-Palestinian Conflict, the 1982 and 2006 Lebanon Wars, the Rwandan genocide, and the ongoing “refugee crisis.” This course introduces students to the theory and methodology of comics analysis in conjunction with their role in memorial and democratic praxes, whether to bear witness, teach on socio-political issues, promote human rights or serve advocacy groups. We’ll also explore current debates on the depiction of traumatic history through this highly commercial medium-traditionally associated with lighter content, and the extent to which these graphic works may help understand crises in a new light. Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for FREN and LITR Spring 2028 Gueydan-Turek. Access the class schedule to search for sections.
PEAC 077Gun Violence Prevention: Peace Studies and Action1
The course aims to bridge gaps between peace research, theory, and implementation by encouraging students to move between each as we examine the problem of gun violence, study effective interventions, consider nonviolent ways of conducting conflict, and assess the challenges of developing and sustaining effective peace work. As we develop our own analytical and research skills, we also aim to center the experience of peacemakers and victims by collaborating with a local gun violence prevention organization. Discussion over course readings will also be emphasized. This course will encourage collaboration and active participation in delivering the content of the course. Social sciences. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC, ESCH Fall 2027 Smithey.
The Senior Capstone Seminar serves as the comprehensive exercise for the major and provides an opportunity for Peace and Conflict Studies students to synthesize their plans of study in a shared learning environment. Advanced readings will be incorporated to extend engagement with the field of peace and conflict studies, and participants will present their thesis work or an extension of an advanced paper they wrote in another peace and conflict studies eligible course. We will also look ahead to professional and vocational opportunities after graduation.
Peace and Conflict Studies majors only. May not be taken CR/NC. Non-distribution. 1 credit. May not be taken CR/NC. Eligible for PEAC Spring 2027. Wilson-Becerril. Spring 2028 Instructor. Catalog chapter: Peace and Conflict Studies Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/peace-conflict-studies Access the class schedule to search for sections.
(Cross-listed with ANTH 103 ) This honors seminar will introduce students to the most salient theoretical debates among anthropologists on humanitarian intervention around the world. We will also examine a range of case studies, from the birth of Western Christian humanitarian missions in colonial contexts to humanitarian interventions (e.g. military, food-based assistance, natural disaster relief, post-conflict reconstruction) today. The geographic scope of this seminar will encompass North America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East/North Africa, East Asia, and South Asia. We will consider, for instance, how anthropologists have examined relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. What social science scholarship has been produced on mental health interventions after political and natural crises in Haiti? How are victims of torture at the hands of the Indian military supported by international organizations in Kashmir? What is the nature of global Islamic humanitarianism today? How are local national staff employed by international organizations shaping humanitarian approaches to gender-based violence in Colombia? These are among the many questions we will address over the course of the semester. Honors seminar. Social sciences. 2 credits. Eligible for PEAC
(Cross-listed as ANTH 114 ) This honors seminar will explore the intersection between peace and conflict studies and medical anthropology. We will examine the impact of conflict on health (mental and physical) as well as health-interventions in conflict settings around the world. Sub-themes include international aid, health infrastructures, global health interventions, public health emergency policymaking, the role of doctors and medical professionals amidst political violence, psychosocial humanitarianism, gender-based violence programs, responses to migration flows, economic development, disability and caregiving, and healing and ecoanxiety after natural disasters. Social sciences. 2 Credits. Eligible for ANTH Fall 2027 Atshan.
SOCI 135 In this two-credit Honors seminar, we will study the global proliferation of the strategic use of nonviolent tactics and methods and investigate the power in social relations upon which collective nonviolent action capitalizes. We will also address sociological literature on the emergence, maintenance, and impact of social movements. For examples of the kinds of case studies covered in this seminar, visit http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu Non-distribution. 2 credits. Eligible for PEAC, GLBL-core Fall 2026. Smithey.
PEAC 155Capitalism and Struggles for Climate Justice
This two-credit honors seminar will delve into relationships between capitalism and unprecedented disruption of the Earth’s climate. Advocates argue that technological innovations, driven by profit potentials, offer critical solutions for mitigating climate disruption. However, cultures and practices of capitalism also appear to fuel efforts to slow initiatives designed to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate disruption. We will study resistance to these forms of structural violence, including front-line fights, where vulnerable populations and allies struggle for more just, equitable, and sustainable futures. Social Sciences 2-credit. Access the class schedule to search for sections.
