Graduate Program Course Descriptions
Current or frequently offered courses | Courses in SPI
Current or frequently-offered courses at CJP
PAX 503 – Practice: Skills for Peacebuilding
Credit hours: 3
This course covers the essential skills, tools, processes and frameworks required for conflict transformation practice. The scope of the course will range from interpersonal conflict to large groups, examining personal conflict styles, communication skills, team work, group processes and structural dimensions that influence conflict. Students are exposed to the range of available intervention options, the strengths and limitations of each and the challenges of making choices that are contextually appropriate. The specific processes it addresses are negotiation, mediation and group facilitation (including such processes as appreciative inquiry, world café, and sustained dialogue among others).
This course is designed to assist students in the application of ideas and theories presented in other CJP courses, especially conflict analysis. Although the course will reference peacebuilding frameworks and processes, it will focus on the role and skills of the ‘bridge-builder’ in conflict. A critical component of conflict transformation practice is the role of the practitioner. The course examines what it means to be a reflective practitioner and how to work with colleagues and groups on conflict interventions. The learning methods are interactive and participatory. Discussion of readings, case studies, training exercises, role-plays, group work, and presentations will guide and support the learning process.
PAX 516 – Program Evaluation Through Qualitative Methods
Credit hours: 3
This course is designed to help students understand the basics of research and program evaluation. Specific qualitative research methods will be covered that students could use in a program evaluation. However, the class will primarily focus on practicing specific research methods and carrying out an actual evaluation. Students will practice doing structured and semistructured interviews in addition to designing an evaluation, working with a client, collecting data, analyzing the data and communicating the findings. This course complements, but does not take the place of other research and evaluation courses that entirely focus on research or evaluation.
The course format will be participatory, experiential and adaptable. We will be working with an actual evaluation of an on-going program. As a result, the syllabus, readings and assignments may need to be adapted with any changing needs of the program. There will be a significant amount of group work, therefore each participant is advised to weigh that in relation to personal obligations, distance from campus, ease of meeting with other students and individual willingness to participate in a work team. The main objectives of the course are as follow:
Knowledge Objectives
o Students will have a broad understanding of the purposes and types of research;
o Students will understand the differences and purposes of qualitative and quantitative methods of research;
o Students will have an understanding of the purpose and components of a program evaluation;
o Students will understand how research methods are used in program evaluation;
o Students we be able to identify different qualitative methods of research; and
o Students will understand the similarities and differences between program evaluation and other types of research.
Practice Objectives
o Students will implement a program evaluation using interview-based qualitative methods of data collection and analysis.
o Students will develop and utilize interview skills
o Students will use data analysis skills
o Students will use presentation skills
PAX 520 – Research Design
Credit hours: 3
The conflict transformation field abounds with theories and the restorative justice field with principles, but few of those theories and principles have been tested with empirical research. This course will walk participants through the process of designing a research project that aims to answer significant questions of interest both to the broader field and to the student. Students will be exposed to both quantitative and qualitative methods, with a particular emphasis on qualitative. During the semester students will conduct a literature review, develop a research question, select a research approach, gather preliminary data and conduct an initial data analysis. At the end of the semester, students will present at least preliminary findings to course participants.
PAX 522 – Contemplative Photography
Credit hours: 1
This course will provide an opportunity to use photography as a way to see the world anew and reflect on one’s life and work. The course will also provide very basic photo skills needed to do photography and photo editing.
Course Objectives:
• To provide a basic introduction to the technical and visual skills of still photography.
• To increase visual awareness and to use this as a way to reflect on ourselves and the world. (The focus will be more on process than product.)
• To provide some basic skills and awareness of involved in photographing people.
PAX 524 – Research as Art & Transformation
Credit hours: 3
This course is an introduction to the field of qualitative research and its applications in such areas as conflict transformation, restorative justice, community organizing and organizational problem-solving. This course will draw primarily upon two qualitative research traditions: interviews or other forms of “oral testimony,” and Arts-Based Research (ABR).
While more traditional academic research outcomes will be noted, the focus will be on practical, socially-engaged projects. The approach will be interdisciplinary, emphasizing the arts and humanities as well as social sciences. A wide spectrum of qualitative materials – visual arts, journalism, history, theater, community organizing, poetry, documentary photography as well as ethnographic monographs – will be sampled. The course will be run in a participatory, experiential format. Effective communication will be emphasized including alternate forms of presentation.
PAX 526 – Arts/Media/Peacebuilding: An Introduction
Credit hours: 1
Arts and Media-Based Peacebuilding explores why, how, and when to use arts and media to activate, resist, transform, and heal. In recent years diverse entities from international NGOs to grassroots activists have re-enchanted the practice of art and media to explore unexpressed aspects of conflict and trauma. The result is an awakening of body and mind, soul and spirit to acknowledge the human whole.
This course introduces the multi-faceted aspects of arts and media-based peacebuilding through two distinct methodologies: 1) We engage the arts as a metaphor for a collaborative, critical, flexible, humble, rigorous, compassionate, and expressive approach required of peacebuilders in today’s complex conflict environments. 2 ) We examine and create arts and media with peacebuilding at its core as works to be presented. The first (process) facilitates transformation through community creation of art and media. The second (presentation) looks to works of art and media for inspiration, mobilization, and change.
We use historical and modern-day case studies, somatic practice, media philosophy, expressive arts theory and neurobiological grounding to develop participant skills and awareness of how and when to use arts-based practices. Students will work with CJP/VaCA’s 2013 artist/peacebuilder/practitioner-in-residence Patricia Augsburger on her exhibit which opens at EMU’s Hartzler Library Gallery in November.
PAX 533 – Analysis: Understanding Conflict
Credit hours: 3
This course focuses on the analysis of conflict and violence as the foundation for designing strategies for peacebuilding and conflict prevention. Participants will learn a variety of tools to “map” and describe the nature and dynamics of conflict. Drawing from broad interdisciplinary theoretical bases, the course focuses on human needs theory as a central framework for examining the complex causes of conflict, crime, and violence. Participants will explore the role of group and individual identity; respect and the role of shame and humiliation in the cycle of violence; security and the role of attachment; and the impact of structural violence on other forms of conflict. Participants will practice power analysis, cultural analysis, and psychological analysis of conflict. Participants will develop their ability to “see” and describe conflict from different perspectives.
PAX 534 – Foundations for Justice & Peacebuilding I
Credit hours: 6
Foundations I and II give a comprehensive overview of peacebuilding practice and its multi-disciplinary, multi-level aspects. This course (Foundations I) addresses personal, interpersonal, small group, and organizational transformation analysis, theory and practice. Foundations II similarly focuses on communal and societal processes of transformation. Throughout the two courses, you will be required to understand and integrate ethical application of theory, technical utilization of analysis tools, and systematic process of planning and implementation for practice interventions across a myriad of sectors in society.
This Foundations I course is constructed to assist you to integrate all three of these vital elements – theory, analysis and practice – into your peacebuilding practice. You will be exposed to a broad introduction to the literature and theory of the field; explore conflict transformation from an individual, interpersonal and organizational level; consider the implications of psychosocial trauma, restorative justice, and leadership; and experience the practice of peacebuilding through stimulating reading and discussions, intensive team work, interactive case study, role-play, and simulated practice lab exercises.
Skills competencies are emphasized in the areas team-building, conflict analysis and assessment (monitoring and evaluation), communication and strategies for intervention in interpersonal, intra-and intergroup conflicts. Mediation, negotiation and other transformative processes are explored and practiced. This course employs the action-reflection learning cycle as the undergirding educational framework throughout the semester.
PAX 540 – STAR Level I
Credit hours: 2
This course presents an integrated training approach to the violence, trauma, and conflict caused by nature, human beings or structures. Unhealed trauma often leads to more violence as victims act out against others or become self-destructive. STAR combines theory with experiential learning to increase awareness of the impact of trauma on the body, brain, emotions, spirit and relationships. The course offers tools for addressing trauma and breaking the cycles of violence. The STAR multidisciplinary framework draws on the fields of neurobiology, restorative justice, trauma healing, conflict transformation, and spirituality for building healthy, resilient individuals and communities. The theoretical and practical focus of the course provides a model to understand and interrupt cycles of violence at the individual, communal and societal levels.
(Learn more about the STAR program, a program of CJP’s Practice & Training Institute.)
PAX 541 – Transforming Trauma: Individual and Collective Approaches (Applied STAR)
Credit hours: 3
This course offers students the unique opportunity of combining STAR with practical approaches to engaging trauma both individually and collectively. Students will participate in STAR during their first week of the course where they will learn tools for addressing trauma and breaking the cycles of violence. The STAR multidisciplinary framework draws on findings from the fields of neurobiology, restorative justice, trauma healing, conflict transformation, and spirituality for building healthy, resilient individuals and communities. These course topics will then be applied and practiced throughout the semester as students actively engage ways to transform trauma at both the individual and collective level.
PAX 542 – Action Research
Credit hours: 3
“Action research is a systematic approach to investigation that enables people to find solutions to problems they confront in their everyday lives. Unlike traditional experimental/scientific research that looks for generalizable explanations that might be applied to all contexts, action research focuses on specific situations and localized solutions” (Ernest Stringer, Action Research 3rd edition, 2007). This form of research is particularly well suited to working with complex social problems such as development and peacebuilding. Students will grapple with the process of action research and look at cases of action research completed by others. Most importantly, however, the class forms itself into a consulting group and contracts with a local client in need of action research support. The class members design and complete the research and prepare a professional report for the client. Every year we have a different client. In 2013, we will be working on something related to environmental issues in and around Harrisonburg. We will also be working with the undergraduate senior course for students in the Peacebuilding and Development program who are focusing on sustainability issues.
PAX 548 – Nonviolent Social Movements
Credit hours: 3
Violence systems have dominated the societal configurations of human relations and institutions seemingly since the dawn of history. However, over the past century concerted attention, resources and efforts have been mounting giving nonviolence the credence it deserves as both a legitimate and powerful force for social transformation at all levels of private and public life. Nonviolent social movements provide the momentum in which to empower a critical mass of citizens on the ground to envision a better future view, to construct community relationships, coalitions and networks, to jointly analyze their conflict contexts, identify priorities and develop a plan of action for addressing key issues of socio-political concern without the use of violence.
In the past century, significant shifts in public thinking and behavior have occurred as a result of nonviolent social movements that have given birth to unionized labor protection, war resistance, independence from colonial oppression, the overthrow of dictatorships, civil rights campaigns, democracy transitions, women’s empowerment, and environmental change. Nonviolent social movements play a key role in raising awareness about important issues of justice and conflict as well as balancing power between groups or structures so that negotiation, mediation and dialogue interventions can move forward without hindrance.
This course places the use of violence and nonviolence within a larger context of social movements, and identifies the ways that community organizing/mobilization, advocacy and activism are foundational to durable peacebuilding processes. Students will learn to reflect critically on social movements, grapple with the inherent tensions between principled and functional nonviolence, and explore the possibilities of creating nonviolent forms of power, identifying tactics, and designing plans for social change.
PAX 551 – Identity, Dignity, & Conflict Transformation
Credit hours: 3
The course will explore the literature and participants own experiences related to personal identity, ethnic identity, ethnocentrism and nationalism in regard to complex and violent conflict. This is done to attempt to understand types and complexities of identity, as well as its power. The relationship between identity and dignity will we thoroughly examined, as well as their relationship to Human Rights from both western and eastern perspectives.
Through case studies, exercises and discussion, class participants will explore how identity and worldviews are formed historically, culturally and religiously as well as psychologically, sociologically and politically. Moreover, members of the class will look at ways conflicts, which are either identity-based or where identity is a strong element of the conflict, might be transformed. Additionally, issues of shame and humiliation and related trauma issues will be examined as salient factors in the construction of identity, what threatens it and how it is manipulated. Also, discrimination, whether due to racial, gender, ethnic or religious factors will be explored and identity and dignity threat analyzed. Finally, the interface between identity, justice and dignity will be examined in order to understand the transformation and prevention of complex conflicts.
PAX 564 – Developing Healthy Organizations
Credit hours: 3
Many organizations—especially those engaged in social change—spend far more time, resources, and energy on their external mission than on addressing internal issues. This can lead to underdeveloped organizational structures and undernourished personnel. In this course you will analyze organizational structures, cultures, and environments to determine what makes an organization healthy and if an organization is in need of intervention. Participants will also discuss the role of leadership in initiating and managing organizational change and in working for change in the broader community or society. A variety of methodologies and experiential approaches will be woven in throughout the course to support working for change in organizational systems. Additional topics relevant to organizational life will be included depending on the interests of participants.
PAX 565 – Leadership for Healthy Organizations
Credit hours: 3
Organizations are dynamic systems with unique structures and cultures, operating in specific environments. Every organization is also shaped by its leaders. Leaders have more leverage than others in the organization—both to determine strategic direction and to nurture people and systems. This course focuses on the role of leaders in “setting the tone” for healthy organizational functioning, with special attention to a leader’s own functioning. The course will also include specific attention to developing management skills—including personnel, project and financial management.
PAX 571 – Restorative Justice: the Promise, the Challenge
Credit hours: 3
The field of Restorative Justice (RJ) remains a contested terrain. The notion of RJ has its origins in practice and has only recently started solidifying its theoretical underpinnings. Metaphorically speaking, RJ as an academic and professional discipline is now ‘coming of age’ and as such it is facing at least three critical transitions: defining its identity, monitoring its best practice, and sustaining its adaptability. As a needed corrective to a justice system that tends to singularly focus on the past and the present, RJ provides a frame for a future view of justice – a trans-generational justice. RJ programming offers a container for trauma and memory work, a vehicle for nonviolent social and structural change, a practice for building social capital (community development) and the guiding values for a restorative approach to transitional justice at a national and international level. RJ gives hope for a satisfying form of justice.
This course provides a critical examination of the fundamental principles and practices of restorative justice and offers a unique opportunity to grapple with not only the promise of, but also the challenge to the restorative justice field in a variety of contexts. Participants will explore the needs and roles of key “stakeholders” (victims, offenders, communities, and justice systems), engage with the basic principles and values of restoration, and are exposed to the primary models of RJ practice. Class sessions will identify and address the “challenges” to restorative justice – the dangers and the pitfalls – as well as possible strategies to help prevent restorative justice from failing to live up to its promise. The central starting point for the course is the Western legal criminal justice system and the problem of crime; however attention is also given to applications in and lessons from other contexts around the world.
PAX 573 – Theory: Frameworks for Peacebuilding
Credit hours: 3
This is an advanced-level course designed to deepen students’ understanding of the theoretical foundations of peacebuilding and restorative practices. Participants will grapple with key theoretical dilemmas in peacebuilding practice, including questions such as: Do social structures determine actions or do human actions create structures? Are human beings primarily self-centered or relationship-focused? Participants will learn to “interrogate” theories of the person, theories of communities and organizations, and theories of society to uncover their frequently implied assumptions about conflict and change. Students will become adept at identifying, developing, and interrogating theories of change in the context of planning conflict interventions. Pre-requisite: at least six hours of conflict transformation courses, including PAX 533 Analysis: Understanding Conflict.
PAX 583 – Understanding Psychosocial Trauma
Credit hours: 3
The course will examine trauma, its causes and means of healing or transforming its symptoms at individual, community and societal levels. A thorough overview will be given of the complexities of trauma and psychosocial factors as a result of war, natural disaster and other acts of violence—both current and historical. Identity/identity threat and dignity will be examined as ways of understanding how trauma happens and is constructively transformed. Individual and community assets and resilience will be studied as important means of transforming trauma and enhancing psychosocial well-being. Psychosocial trauma healing and indigenous healing methods will be analyzed through case studies and presentations by guest speakers and class presentations. The importance of narrative and the arts as ways of addressing loss and pain and other aspects of a traumatic experience will be investigated, as will the importance of self-care in trauma awareness and transformation work. Peacebuilding and psychosocial theories of change will be used as the framework for this course.
PAX 585 – International Development
Credit hours: 3
The goal of this course is to expose participants to some of the issues, dilemmas, and strategies in International development. The course is roughly structured into two sections: 1) Intellectual History; and 2) Contemporary Issues. In the first section, participants will briefly be exposed to an overview of the history, players and competing philosophies in the development field. A set of theoretical frameworks for analyzing and designing international development projects will be presented including an exploration of embedded assumptions and best practices for each framework. In the second section, participants will study contemporary issues within the development field and the implications for future directions of International and Community Development. During the last section, participants will analyze a specific case from their own work or life context and develop an analysis based on the principles and topics covered in this course. Readings will be drawn from a selection of articles representing a range of development theorists including Rostow, Shumaker, Korten, Freire, Gunder-Frank,Yunus, Sen, Max-Neef, Galtung and Jantzi.
PAX 590 – Peacebuilding & Public Policymaking
Credit hours: 3
This course is designed to develop participants’ understanding and skills for effectively influencing policy making processes on peacebuilding issues. We will explore policymaking within local, national and international contexts. Moving from an exploration of ‘what is governance’ and ‘what is policy’ and their relevance to peacebuilding, we will learn basic approaches for policy analysis and policy formation. We will map the diverse actors involved in policy making and assess factors that influence their decisions. We will explore strategies to influence policy development – including advocacy, public campaigning and policy dialogue – and practice key skills for effective engagement, including crafting policy briefs and advocacy communication.
This course is designed to equip students with key practice skills for engaging with policy and governance processes relevant to their chosen area of specialization. Course work will be geared to applying what is being learned. Participants will choose a key issue of interest to them and will critique existing policy, identify and advocate alternatives, and develop materials to support their case.
PAX 594 – Victim Offender Conferencing
Credit hours: 1
This 2-day course provides an introduction to a restorative justice process that brings together victims and offenders of crime to talk about the impact of the crime on their lives and what the future could look like. We will look specifically at victim and offender issues, benefits and risks of conferencing, and the role of the facilitator. It will include opportunities for participants to gain hands-on experience of the process.
PAX 600 – Narrative Negotiation
Credit hours: 3
This course uses a multi-dimensional framework for understanding negotiation. Daily social practices are a form of social negotiation; they shape patterns of interaction and institutions. Dispute domain negotiations are processes for deciding the appropriate venue and legitimate processes for addressing conflicts when they arise. Transactional negotiation is the actual given-and-take about a specific issue; this is what happens at the negotiation table. Most courses say nothing about social negotiation and little or nothing about dispute domain negotiation. In a world filled with cross-cultural encounters and complex, intractable problems effective negotiators need to understand all of these negotiation processes and they need to be able to manage all of the processes. Through emergent scenarios and reflective practice combined with analysis of negotiation processes, students will learn to recognize and manage multi-dimensional negotiations. This is an advanced skills class. PAX 533 (Analysis) and PAX 503 (Practice) are recommended (but not required) prerequisites; students with extensive field experience should contact the instructor to discuss enrollment in the course.
PAX 601 – Negotiation and Mediation Skills
Credit hours: 3
Negotiation is considered by practitioners to be one of the “basic building blocks” for all conflict transformation and peacebuilding activities. Some have said that: “[n]egotiation is about learning how to get your way.” In this course we will advance the notion that the aim of negotiation is to construct implementable agreements that help parties advance a range of interests through joint decision making. In a world where more and more important actions are jointly decided rather than given or imposed in traditional ways, we all need to be better negotiators—on our own behalf and, in ways we will explore, on behalf of complex and often divided constituencies as well. This course will expose students to some of the theories and practices of negotiation.
Likewise, Mediation is a fundamental practice for community builders, peacemakers and managers of NGOs, municipal and civil society organizations. Mediation is a voluntary, informal yet structured process in which an impartial or neutral party assists parties communicate, negotiate, evaluate options and participate in joint decision making. Students will experience negotiation and mediation through classroom simulations, observation and analysis of informal negotiations in their own lives and case studies.
PAX 603 – Peacebuilding Practices: Skills Assessment
Credit hours: 3
This required course is designed to ensure that the MA program attains its primary purpose of “preparing reflective practitioners.” The course should be taken the last semester of a student’s tenure on campus, and includes an opportunity to review and practice core skill competencies (such as conflict analysis, negotiation, mediation, facilitation and circle processes). In addition to a range of in-class exercises and simulations, participants will use their skills in a semester-long applied practice intervention together with other members of their working group. The course is structured to support this applied practice through step-by-step exploration of key elements of processes design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Throughout the course, there will be observation, feedback, peer review, self-assessment and assessment by instructors that will combine to form a ‘360 degree assessment’ of each person. To the extent possible, the competencies will be demonstrated in real-life or simulation experiences, as well as through reflection and multiple levels of analysis. Because this course is designed to assess and develop practice competencies rather than assess academic knowledge, participants will receive a “pass” or “fail” grade for the course. All CJP degree students must achieve a passing grade in this course in order to be eligible for graduation.
PAX 609 – Nonviolent Communication
Credit hours: 1
In the heat of conflict, how can you deal with seemingly contradictory claims of truth? What about expressions of rage and the destructive impulses that might accompany it? How can you move past the blocks to deep listening and open communication? What to do with the enemy images parties so tenaciously hold of each other? Collaborative communication is model for clear communication, authentic human connection, and empathic understanding that has supported effective conflict resolution in a wide variety of international and domestic contexts. This course will offer these skills and perspectives to empower students to understand and engage constructively with these bewildering dynamics. The course will use a wide variety of interactive activities and self-reflective exercises to bring the model to life and support deep experiential learning.
PAX 610 – Facilitation: Process Design & Skills for Dialogue, Deliberation & Decision-Making
Credit hours: 3
This course is designed to develop participants’ capacities as skillful facilitators and to enable them to design and conduct effective group processes for dialogue, deliberation and decision-making. We will learn methods appropriate for guiding community and organizational meetings, conducting public processes, and for enabling difficult dialogues across conflict divides. Participants will learn how to assess the needs of the group and then to design processes to address them; This will include processes to help groups improve understanding, strengthen relationships, engage in collaborative problem solving and make effective decisions.
Through a variety of readings, exercises and reflections, the course will assist participants’ formation as reflective practitioners assisting group processes. We will focus on developing self-awareness and awareness of group dynamics, while cultivating openness and offering a calm presence even in the midst of high levels of anxiety and conflict. We will consider a variety of facilitator roles and functions and critically assess the ethics and appropriateness of these for different types of situations. While rooted in a North American peacebuilding paradigm, we will aim to also explore facilitation in other cultural traditions and raise awareness of the challenges of facilitating cross-culturally.
PAX 614 – Systems Approach to Organizational Conflicts
Credit hours: 3
This course is designed to demonstrate how conflicts in organizations are often the product of emotional patterns within a group. Participants will first examine their own family of origin through the lens of family systems theory, then adapt that theoretical framework to assess an organization and its conflict dynamics. This will be a highly interactive course, utilizing case study and role-play methodology.
PAX 617 – War-to-Peace Transitions: Systemic Peacebuilding
Credit hours: 3
This course will address many of the dilemmas in developing and sustaining processes to end armed conflict and make the transition to durable peace and more inclusive states. We will seek to deepen our understanding of key challenges and opportunities, risks and resources typically operating in these conflict systems, exploring leverage points for peacebuilding interventions. Our aim will be to use these insights to design strategies capable of transforming these systems by setting a trajectory for greater justice, development and reconciliation.
We will explore some of the characteristics of war and protracted societal violence in the 21st century, seeking to identify the strategic implications for responding to it effectively. We will consider a range of key challenges faced by most societies working through violent protracted conflict and explore intervention strategies to address them. We will study the ‘design’ of political negotiation processes aimed at ending fighting and creating the frameworks for peaceful settlement, with special attention to processes that enable public participation in political negotiations. We will use case studies, group exercises, and discussion of specific dilemmas participants have encountered in their own work / context.
PAX 624 – Monitoring & Evaluation
Credit hours: 3
This is an introductory monitoring and evaluation course for peacebuilding practitioners and professionals. It assumes that participants are already familiar with the theory and practice of peacebuilding but not M&E. The course approaches monitoring and evaluation from a learning perspective and introduces theories of change, indicators, monitoring, evaluation design, and tools for reflective practice. Its objectives are to enable participants to design better projects, to monitor and learn from those projects more regularly and effectively, and to engage more thoroughly with program evaluators. The course design includes mini-lectures, experiential learning exercises and practical case applications. Practitioners are invited to bring program designs of actual programs currently underway to be used as case studies throughout the course. The course is offered for three hours of graduate credit.
PAX 634 – Foundations for Justice & Peacebuilding II
Credit hours: 6
In this course, a team of faculty members equipped with a combination of academic credentials and practice experience coach students as they further develop their knowledge and skills for dealing with conflict and situations of injustice. Students work individually and in teams to apply new ideas and skills to cases that progress in complexity from the community to the national and to the global level. Students continue to develop their self-awareness as well as their capacity for professional judgment and reflective practice. They continue to use the skills they developed in Foundations I. They practice, receive feedback and reflect on their mastery of essential skills suitable for working with larger scale conflicts, including: facilitation, multi-party negotiation, managing group decision-making processes, and preparing and delivering information about a conflict to external audiences. Students become familiar with theories and frameworks that help explain the dynamics of larger-scare conflicts and they explore the roles of social-movement organization and policy engagement for dealing with such conflicts. Students prepare for future employment by completing assignments that develop workplace skills including but not limited to: communicating complex ideas clearly, working in teams on difficult projects, conducting action research, and moving from analyzing a situation of injustice or conflict to designing and preparing to implement an intervention for that situation.
PAX 654 – Conflict Coaching
Credit hours: 3
When parties to a conflict recognize that they cannot achieve their goals through unilateral action (violent or nonviolent), there is a ripe moment for engaging them in peace processes and long-term peacebuilding. But moving from the recognition that they cannot “win through domination” to effective participation in activities such as negotiation, reconciliation, and the reconstruction of healthy relationships and structures entails many profound transformations. Conflict coaching involves working with individuals and groups as they explore (and we hope eventually embark upon) alternative approaches to meeting their goals, interests and needs. This course uses case studies to help students understand the role of conflict coaches in peace processes. It also includes training modules on some core competencies for conflict coaches.
PAX 670 – Peacebuilding in Traumatized Societies
Credit hours: 3
The course will examine the important relationship between trauma recovery, justice, religion, human security and development as well as other elements of the psychosocial and peacebuilding processes. The focus will be on communities and societies after large-scale violence and war as well as psychosocial support and well-being after natural disasters. It will explore what trauma and trauma recovery are and what it takes to bring healing in situations of collective trauma (and the individuals within this collective); and who is responsible to do this work. In this regard, narrative and the arts will be explored as an important factor in psychosocial intervention.
In the context of trauma and recovery in a post-war context, identity threat will be addressed as an essential factor in understanding the use of force against others and how identity needs can be met to bring about constructive coexistence towards reconciliation. Relational dignity will be explored as a means of healing and transforming conflict. Justice will also be examined through the lenses of transitional, restorative, distributive justice and how these approaches help break the cycle of violence and are important factors in preventing future conflicts. The cultural, political, economic, social and socio-religious elements of peacebuilding will be examined in order to understand the complexities and possibilities of the strategies and practices for building peace with justice.
Through various research methods, case studies, personal narratives and group work, participants will begin to integrate the analytical and practical course information and see how it might be applied to their own complex conflict and post-conflict situations.
PAX 672 – Circle Processes
Credit hours: 1
This course will introduce participants to the peacemaking circle process and explore:
• foundational values and philosophy of peacemaking circles,
• conflict as opportunity to build relationships,
• creating safe, respectful space for dialog
• consensus decision making,
• structure of the circle process,
• facilitation of the circle process
• practical applications of circle process,
• problems and challenges in circles.
This course will use the peacemaking circle process as the primary form of group work.
This course is intended to provide experience in the circle process as well as an understanding of the foundational values and key structural elements for designing and conducting peacemaking circles.
The class will prepare students to design and facilitate peacemaking circles in a variety of situations.
PAX 673 – Independent Study
Credit hours: 1-3
Course work undertaken through independent study must be approved by the student’s academic advisor and completed in collaboration with a supervising instructor.
Please note: Directed/independent study courses will only be approved for students who have demonstrated the ability to do independent work (and therefore not approved in the first semester of a student’s program).
PAX 675 – Critical Issues in Restorative Justice
Credit hours: 3
This course provides a forum to explore “critical” as well as “frontier” issues in the field of restorative justice. As the course will be conducted in a seminar format, each student-member will be expected to actively participate in class discussions and give leadership by facilitating group interactions around specific topics and course content. A basic restorative justice course or significant background in the field is a prerequisite.
Goals:
• To raise overall awareness of the critical issues in the field and an in-depth exploration of selected issues.
• To present a platform for participants – instructors as well as students – to pursue issues of interest to them.
• To facilitate a forum that promotes mutual exploration and dialogue around these issues, and provides experiences in group leadership.
• To offer an opportunity for hands-on practice through a local RJ project.
PAX 676 – Restorative Justice Practices
Credit hours: 3
Restorative justice is a practice-based discipline. The course will be framed by four essential values of RJ: encounter, amends, reintegration and inclusion. The content of the course will be embedded in the key practice models that drive the restorative justice field – victim-offender conferencing; family group conferences; circle processes; RJ in the workplace, schools, prisons, religious institutions, community gang and public violence; transforming historical harms; and applications in transitional justice processes globally. Conducted in a seminar format, students will have ample lab time to exercise the skills, complete assignments that are directly related to in-field competencies (e.g. policy reviews, writing program concept and funding documents, facilitating training sessions and engaging in self- and peer assessments) and grapple with the theory and ethics that drive our practice.
Pre-class reading: Gavrielides, T. (2007) “Restorative Justice Theory and Practice: Addressing the Discrepancy,” European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control: Helsinki, Finland.
PAX 682 – Practicum
Credit hours: 6-9
The practicum is normally the culmination of the student’s program and provides an opportunity to work as a reflective practitioner in actual situations of justice and peacebuilding. Practicum placements may build on the student’s prior experiences or contacts or may involve a new direction. The practicum culminates in a capstone presentation to the student’s colleagues at CJP.
Read more about the practicum requirement.
PAX 683 – Thesis
Credit hours: 6-9
This course is available on a limited basis to students in their third or fourth semester who petition the Academic Committee through the Practicum Director for an exception to the Practicum requirement. Following the lead of other practice-based master’s degree programs, we consider a thesis to be a publishable (and preferably published) article prepared for a high quality academic or practitioner journal. Ideally, students interested in taking this course will begin preparing to write a thesis early in their studies. Each student begins the course with a draft of a paper and a clear idea about where to publish it.
PAX 686 – Nurturing Resilience for Sustained Peacebuilding
Credit hours: 1
Resilience is the capacity to rebound, recover and adapt after experiencing significant shocks and be able to retain, strengthen and sustain commitments while maintaining core values and integrity. This one-hour course will address the nurturing of personal resilience and will provide a brief introduction to community resilience and organizational resilience in a rapidly changing and turbulent world. Incorporating both theory and tools, participants will engage in experiential learning to examine their own lives and construct a Personal Resilience Plan based on a provided template.
This course will explore tools of self-care, the critical role of bonded, bridged and linked relationships, the leveraged value of specialist support, the vital necessity of compassionate engagement in the world, and the importance of anticipating challenges and potential future shocks.
A Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) 3 credit hour course will move beyond personal resilience and explore key elements of building community resilience particularly in areas that are prone to natural disasters and destructive conflicts. Recognizing that local and international organizations in turbulent settings must also develop organizational resilience, the SPI course will explore concepts that include translational leadership and the necessity of embracing “adhocracy” approaches linked with self-organizing systems.
PAX 691 – Trauma Informed/Sensitive Practices
Credit hours: 3
This research-based course will focus on psychosocial trauma-informed and trauma sensitive practice. Course participants will examine related literature and reported field-based practices and interview scholars as well as individuals and organizations applying these concepts in real-world contexts. A literature review of cases will be developed of trauma-informed/sensitive practices that have been incorporated into other activities e.g., humanitarian response, disaster response, development, conflict transformation, public health, restorative justice, etc. Research outcomes may also suggest models of engagement regarding trauma-informed/sensitive information and practice which could be used by STAR trainers and practitioners and others working to address these issues in multiple other sectors. Finally, course participants will be tasked to develop questions and ideas about significant areas for exploration to feed into the design of the proposed 2014 Summer Peacebuilding Program’s trauma-informed/sensitive consultation and related course.