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Created: August 7, 2003
Latest Update: August 7, 2003
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
Peace and Conflict: Large Scale
Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, August 2003.
"Fair use" encouraged.
This lecture is in response to my review of Peace and Conflict Syllabus by Linda Woolf in Psychology at Webster University. Backup.I was very much impressed by her syllabus. What I would like to do in several of our courses as we re-interpret sociological theory is to consider our parallel opportunities to make changes at the broader level, but also, given that we are in commuter colleges, and conflicted through multiple demands, that we take our theoretical interpretation to the interpersonal level in the many compartments of our lives.
I would like us to focus on Maria Pia Lara's concept of illocutionary discourse from Moral Textures and on our amalgamation, the aesthetic process of answerability, drawn from Greg Nielsen's Norms of Answerability. In many ways the texts Linda Woolf covers are probably closer to large scale peacemaking than what I want to cover. But I am most concerned that those of us interacting with each other in face-to-face classroom activities and cross-country in web activities, understand comfortably and deeply how answerability and illocutionary discourse form a process through which we merge identities both with each other and as a community. That done, then we can seek to bring that knowledge to others.
One of my reasons for wanting to start at this dyadic level is that few of us have much discretionary time in which to pursue larger peacemaking activities. It's remarkable how a full-time job and a family can make some options seem terribly distant to our lived experience. I've also watched too closely the squabbles of peace groups to have a great deal of faith that the learning we are pursuing has gone before their peacemaking activities. Compare Webster University, where Linda Woolf teaches.
Discussion Questions
- How did you feel about the photo on Linda Woolf's syllabus?
I liked it. But notice how little that says about me. Why did I like it? What did it say to me? Immediately, it spoke of peace at the level of nation-state conflict. Soldiers or sailors on what appears to be a ship (and my imaginary supplies the Mediterranean) brings to mind the recent and on-going War with Iraq. So I expect the course to deal with issues that affect us at the level of nation-states.
Why did I like it? I liked that it spoke of a moment of peace at sea, where men, though either or both could be women, were peering out as they might if we were at peace. It felt at peace. And yet the uniforms make them clearly armed forces personnel. So does the rifle at the side of the one on the right. Perhaps that says of me that I'm starved for peace, and will interpret even a picture of armed forces personnel as peaceful if I can.
I also liked the photo because I want very much for all of us in the academy to recognize the potential of the visual. I'll bet that we could start an interesting discussion in class on what this photo meant to different ones of us and why. And that's a good example of our trying to understand one another - illocutionary discourse.
- What do you think the same photo would convey on a different course syllabus?
I don't have a clue. I'd like to hear what you think.
- Do you suppose that a student in a local commuter college would have greater difficulty going into peacemaking work that one in an elite college?
Consider whether that's even the right question. What prompted the question was my wondering how students as conflicted by demanding schedules as mine, and many of Susan's that I've met, can conceivably take time out of their lives to go off to froeign lands to be part of the peacemaking process. I know I'd like to ask Pat Hamilton how she managed her stint in the Peace Corps.
Most of those I've known who went off to places unknown or even places better known with Teacher Corps and Vista, had chosen not to join the corporate, government world, but to live simply and include the times for such activities as peacemaking. But most of them didn't have to worry much about buying tonight's supper or paying tomorrow's rent. Now you can see the unstated and perhaps unjustifiable assumption I made in the question. Do students in elite colleges have greater opprotunity for such adventures than students in non-elite commuter campuses?
Since we're going to be talking a lot about peace, community, and peacemaking, I'd like very much to hear your answers.
- How much did Webster University make available in financial aid in 1999-2000?
Number of students awarded aid: 7,087
Total amount of aid awarded: $68.3 million- How much did CSUDH and UWP make available in financial aid in 1999-2000 or any other recent year?
Not a clue from the websites. I'll try to follow this through. Another important question is how many part-time jobs are made available to students on campus. At some relatively elite private campuses part-time jobs are available to a large percentage of students. CSUDH data were never made available to me when I asked.
- Why does part-time work on campus matter?
Consider time and energy (including traffic time) when our students have to leave campus to work. Consider also that a lot of our students have to make enough money to live on, whereas more elite campuses are supplementing some other source of income. Al lthis makes me wonder how many of our students can afford the leisure of volunteer work on a regular, demanding basis.
- Do all these questions on time and support conflicts matter in the field of criminal justice?
Consider the importance of the job to the individual and the family, the degree of answerability permitted the individual in the job, the ways in which such answerability might color one's reactions, especially to someone who is exhibiting deviance from dominant norms.