offers lessons on stories, letters, photos, and study units from experiences of Peace Corps volunteers across Africa. Topics include folk tales and patterns in them, racial prejudice in South Africa, life in a village of Tanzania, traditional healers and HIV/AIDS, the meaning of wealth, sharing and generosity, what it takes to be a hero, time and punctuality, perspectives of different cultures, and water.

Issues of war and peace from an anthropological perspective. Topics include: the warlike nature of humans, if humans are by nature warlike, the evolution of war in cross-cultural perspective, the socialization of warriors and the construction of enemies, and the recent emergence of anti-war movements. Readings focus on sociobiological and other theories of war; anthropologists' claims to have studied societies that do not have war; ethnic hatred and civil war in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Northern Ireland; military culture in the U.S. and elsewhere; peace movements; and studies of military conversion.

features lessons about stories, folk tales, poems, and letters from the experiences of Peace Corps volunteers. Examine writing style and techniques: vivid images, powerful descriptions, balanced sentences, parallelism, and more. Read folk tales from Togo, Macedonian, Romania, and Russia; learn about structure and patterns in the tales.

provides lessons about stories, letters, and folk tales from experiences of Peace Corps volunteers in rural and urban areas of Central and Eastern Europe. Topics include folk tales, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, fear of certain numbers, transition from a state-controlled system to a democracy, school in Ukraine, the importance of speaking another language, storks and cultural icons, and family traditions as macrocosms of larger cultures.

This course's aims are two-fold: 1) to offer students the theoretical and practical tools to understand how and why cities become torn by ethnic, religious, racial, nationalist, and/or other forms of identity that end up leading to conflict, violence, inequality, and social injustice; and 2) to use this knowledge and insight in the search for solutions. As preparation, students will be required to become familiar with social and political theories of the city and the nation and their relationship to each other. They also will focus on the ways that racial, ethnic, religious, nationalist or other identities grow and manifest themselves in cities or other territorial levels of determination (including the regional or transnational). In the search for remedies, students will be encouraged to consider a variety of policymaking or design points of entry, ranging from the political- institutional (e.g. forms of democratic participation and citizenship) to spatial, infrastructural, and technological interventions.

This course surveys the social science literature on civil war. Students will study the origins of civil war, discuss variables that affect the duration of civil war, and examine the termination of conflict. This course is highly interdisciplinary and covers a wide variety of cases.

The Private Military Contracting field has experienced massive growth since the September 11th attacks. This essay explores how the contractors have been used in the past and how they can be used in peace- and nation-building operations in the future.

" This seminar provides an overview of the field of international relations. Each week, a different approach to explaining international relations will be examined. By surveying major concepts and theories in the field, the seminar will also assist graduate students in preparing for the comprehensive examination and further study in the department's more specialized offerings in international relations."

provides lessons around stories, letters, poems, and folk tales from experiences of Peace Corps volunteers. Topics include the geography and cultures of the Dominican Republic, hurricanes, hero worship, conducting interviews, Paraguay, the risks of a one-crop economy (coffee), how best to use one's time in different cultures, why service to others matters, and the common good.

This course focuses on evolution of contemporary politics and economics. Subject divided into four parts: (a) Context: historical and strategic perspectives, theoretical issues, and sources and forms of conflict; (b) Continuity: detailed analysis conflicts systems and their persistence, as well as regional competition and recent wars -- focusing on specific countries and cases; (c) Complexity: highlighting situation specific strategic gains and losses; and (d) Convergence: focusing future configurations of conflict and cooperation. Throughout the course, special attention is given to sources and transformations of power, population dynamics and migration, resources and energy, as well as implications of technological change.

This course examines the contemporary problem of political violence and the way that human rights have been conceived as a means to protect and promote freedom, peace and justice for citizens against the abuses of the state.

Gain insight into wars by studying maps, letters, and historic newspapers. Consider women’s roles during the Civil War and World War II. See film clips of the Spanish-American War, the first war to be captured on film. Listen to recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election. Analyze Ansel Adams’ photo documentary of life at Manzanar to deepen understanding of Japanese internme