Peace, Justice, and Human Rights
Department Website:
https://www.haverford.edu/pjhr
The Interdisciplinary Concentration in Peace, Justice and Human Rights offers students the opportunity to study the history, philosophy and critiques of the rights tradition, examine themes of human rights and justice in their local and international contexts, and apply philosophical, social scientific, and ethical reasoning to real-world problems.
The program helps students gain insight not only into a wide range of issues affecting justice and peace but also helps students develop an aptitude for communicating and collaborating with peers—and audiences in the wider world—whose disciplinary language, values, and methodological concerns may differ from their own.
The concentration is open to students in any major who wish to focus on topics such as: individual and state responsibility/accountability; recovery from conflict, mass violence, and longstanding oppression (reconciliation, restorative and retributive justice approaches, reparations, etc); justice, health, climate change, and the environment; transformative justice; mutual aid; theories and practices of decolonization; forgiveness and its refusal; theories and practices of activism, organizing, and social change; identifying and overcoming racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, poverty, oppression, and other modes of exclusion and violence; anarchism; war, conflict, peace-keeping and peace-making; just war theory; international law and human rights; animal ethics; globalization and global governance (sovereignty, trade and capital, technology, economic institutions, multilateral organizations, international courts, the media, immigration); worldbuilding; space and the built environment (social justice and the building of urban spaces, policing urban areas, abolition, urban poor); institutional and non-institutional approaches to recovery and change; uses and critiques of the rights tradition; and so on—any theme related to justice. These fields are not intended as tracks or limitations. The list of topics will be as long as the creativity of students and faculty will allow.
Learning Goals
Students who complete the Interdisciplinary Concentration in Peace, Justice and Human Rights will possess:
- knowledge of the various schools of thought and modes of practice of peace, justice and human rights.
- familiarity with diverse approaches to conflict and peace.
- fluency with various schools of ethical and legal thought.
- understanding of the complexity of international and domestic issues of peace, justice and human rights.
- confidence in the ability to understand and analyze philosophical and practical problems, and come up with creative solutions to these problems.
- good oral and written communication skills, gained through discussion of ideas, the practice of writing, and the practices of speaking and teaching, commenting on the work of peers, and revision of work over time.
- a working sense of the ways in which theory and practice are different but inseparable.
- ability to formulate and advance original arguments about issues of peace, justice and human rights.
- sensitivity to the different factors affecting reception of arguments about divisive or emergent issues.
- experience with field methods, archival research, practical internships or other work or study outside of the traditional classroom setting.
- insight into what interdisciplinary study entails and how it complements or augments work within the disciplines, including a sense of the differing methodological approaches: historical/archival, philosophical, legal, ethnographic, institutional, textual.
- aptitude for communicating and collaborating with peers—and audiences in the wider world—whose disciplinary language, values and methodological concerns differ.
- humility with regard to the complexity of conflict and its resolution.
Haverford’s Institutional Learning Goals are available on the President’s website, at http://hav.to/learninggoals.
Concentration Requirements
The concentration combines three core courses with three elective courses focused on a particular theoretical problem, geographical region, or comparative study. Ideally, students meet with the director in the spring of their sophomore year to work out a plan for the concentration.
Core Courses
We require all concentrators to take three core courses:
- PEAC H101 (Introduction to PJHR)
- PEAC H201 (Applied Ethics of PJHR)
- PEAC H395 (Capstone Seminar in PJHR)
Alternate courses may on occasion fulfill a core requirement.
Electives
We require students to take three additional elective courses for the concentration.There is no set list of courses, which “count” as electives; instead, we ask students to design a thoughtful focus for their work, and choose courses in consultation with the concentration director, working out a plan that focuses the concentration regionally, conceptually, or around a particular substantive problem. A course does not have to have “peace” or “justice” in its title or content to count toward the concentration. The aim is to articulate a focus that helps each student pursue their interests in PJHR.
The concentration may overlap with students’ majors by one or two courses—any course could potentially count toward two programs. (For instance, for political science majors with a concentration in PJHR and a focus on questions of sovereignty, POLS H266 could fill requirements in both political science and PJHR.) Such overlap is a possibility, not a requirement. Each student works out a plan of study appropriate to their focus with the concentration director. No more than two of the six credits for the concentration may come from institutions outside of the Bi-Co, and all credits from outside of the Bi-Co should be proposed to the director for approval.
Senior Project
All PJHR seniors will take a capstone course in the fall of their senior year that will help concentrators integrate scholarship, theory, library and field research, and policy perspectives, and communicate about the work they are doing in their majors with students from other disciplines. The capstone incorporates discussion, research assignments, collaboration, a student-organized conference, and a dossier of student work in the concentration. Note: Work for the thesis in each student’s major may overlap with work for the concentration but need not.
Senior Project Learning Goals
The aim of the capstone is to consolidate student experience of a program that integrates scholarship, theory, policy perspectives, and library, field and lab research. Students are encouraged to look critically at their own social justice philosophies and disciplinary methods, and reflect on how practice and theory are, at the same time, challenges to each other and yet not strictly separable. The capstone is also a site at which collaborative work across the disciplines may help students begin to envision innovative new solutions to entrenched problems. At the very least, students will learn how to communicate meaningfully about their work to other students who may not share disciplinary methodologies or assumptions. The goal is for students to connect this form of communication with a kind of ethical leadership and/or engagement that relies as much on productive listening as it does on speech or action.
To that end, during the course of the seminar, students engage in conversation around a theme and shared readings across disciplinary differences; engage in the work of teaching each other how the methodologies of their different disciplines formulate and answer important questions (through the presentation of articles in their field and of their own work); propose a research paper or collaborative project related to the work of their major, and work on drafting a version of it suitable for an interdisciplinary audience; collaborate on planning an end-of-semester conference showcasing their work; present their work-in-progress at the conference; and engage other students’ work in ways both formal (serving as discussants on other students’ papers) and informal (responding to presentations and posing or answering questions about them).
Faculty
Below are the core Peace, Justice, and Human Rights faculty. Many other faculty contribute courses to the program; see the Courses section for a full listing.
Core Faculty
Tim Cunningham
Visiting Associate Professor of Peace, Justice, and Human Rights
Shannon Mudd
Director of Microfinance, Impact Investing, and Social Entrepreneurial Programs; Assistant Professor of Economics
Jill Stauffer
Professor of Peace, Justice, and Human Rights
Miranda Young
Assistant Professor of Peace, Justice, and Human Rights
Courses
Africana Studies Courses
AFST H230 RELIGION AND BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLE (1.0 Credit)
Terrance Wiley
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course will examine the background for and the key events, figures, philosophies, tactics, and consequences of the modern black freedom struggle in United States. The period from 1955-1965 will receive special attention, but the roots of the freedom struggle and the effect on recent American political, social, and cultural history will also be considered.
Anthropology Courses
ANTH H222 HUMAN RIGHTS AND CULTURE (1.0 Credit)
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course offers an overview of the human rights system, looking at its basic elements and studying how it works. At the heart of this course is the question of “culture” and its relation to human rights. We will focus on the tensions and translations between human rights and culture and between global ideas and practices and local ones. The goal of the course is developing an understanding of human rights in practice and theorizing the intersections between social fields thought of as global and local. Crosslisted: Anthropology; Peace, Justice and Human Rights Prerequisite(s): Intro to Anthropology OR Intro to PJHR
ANTH H239 VISIONS OF JUSTICE: INTERSECTIONALITY AND LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN ASIAN CINEMA (1.0 Credit)
Emily Hong
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course aims to deepen understandings of Asian struggles for justice and representation through independent films by Asian (including diaspora) directors. We will analyze films that offer a window into legal and social movement struggles for gender justice, self-determination, and environmental justice. Crosslisted: Visual Studies; Anthropology; East Asian Languages & Cultures; Peace, Justice and Human Rights
(Offered: Spring 2027)
Comparative Literature Courses
COML H257 ANTIGONE’S ECHOES: ACTIVISM AND THE LAW FROM ANCIENT GREECE TO TODAY (1.0 Credit)
Ryan Warwick
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Where should the law come from, the individual or the state? How can you protest an unjust system, and how can an ancient story help you do it? Who owns a “Classic”? These are just a few questions that Sophocles’ Antigone has raised for philosophers and playwrights from the Enlightenment to today. We'll read several versions of the Antigone myth and explore this character’s enduring relevance to theories of gender, performance, world literature, and politics. Crosslisted: COML,PEAC.
Classical Studies Courses
CSTS H257 ANTIGONE’S ECHOES: ACTIVISM AND THE LAW FROM ANCIENT GREECE TO TODAY (1.0 Credit)
Ryan Warwick
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Where should the law come from, the individual or the state? How can you protest an unjust system, and how can an ancient story help you do it? Who owns a “Classic”? These are just a few questions that Sophocles’ Antigone has raised for philosophers and playwrights from the Enlightenment to today. We'll read several versions of the Antigone myth and explore this character’s enduring relevance to theories of gender, performance, world literature, and politics. Crosslisted: COML,PEAC.
East Asian Languages and Cultures Courses
EALC H239 VISIONS OF JUSTICE: INTERSECTIONALITY AND LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN ASIAN CINEMA (1.0 Credit)
Emily Hong
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course aims to deepen understandings of Asian struggles for justice and representation through independent films by Asian (including diaspora) directors. We will analyze films that offer a window into legal and social movement struggles for gender justice, self-determination, and environmental justice. Crosslisted: Visual Studies; Anthropology; East Asian Languages & Cultures; Peace, Justice and Human Rights
(Offered: Spring 2027)
EALC H272 DEMOCRACY AND RESISTANCE IN ASIA AND BEYOND (1.0 Credit)
Ruodi Duan, Vatsal Naresh
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
Democracy arrived in most of the world as an imaginary before its institutional or governmental form was established. In recent decades, state policies have engendered diverse modes of resistance across Asia, and popular uprisings today continue to challenge assumptions about passivity not only in authoritarian states, but under electoral rule as well. This co-taught interdisciplinary course reads the contemporary politics and histories of China, India, and other societies through the lens of democracy and resistance. Crosslisted: HIST,EALC,POLS.
Economics Courses
ECON H206 WHY LOW-INCOME FAMILIES AND SMALL BUSINESS LACK ACCESS AND HOW TO MAKE IT BETTER. (1.0 Credit)
Shannon Mudd
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
Households of low to moderate income struggle in multiple ways. To what extent can access to appropriate financial tools help alleviate some of their stress? While microcredit, the provision of small loans to people in poverty, is typically associated with developing countries, issues of access to appropriate financial products are everywhere. This course focuses on Access to Finance in the US and will involve direct engagement with Philadelphia organizations dealing with the issue that finance might address - and both the potential and actual problems that arise within households, small business and the industries that are in the ecosystem supporting them. We will read books, articles and studies to ground us in different understandings of poverty and households' financial needs, whether theoretical, empirical and/or directly observed. And, we will examine how the financial sector and adjacent industries are providing products and services to serve those households and small businesses, not always in helpful ways. We will look at eco-systems, providers, regulators and financial literacy. A major portion of the class will be project-based and will have you take a deep dive into one of the Philly organizations involved in access to finance to better understand what they do, how they are doing it and how they are making strategic decisions. We will develop basic analytical skills and deploy useful frameworks to better understand the operations of each organization. And, we will assess how their success is affected both by the capabilities they bring and the environment in which they are working. This class will be taught in Philadelphia as part of the Tri-Co Philly Program. Come join Professor Mudd in the city and learn together the issues and current local efforts to deal with them. Prerequisites: Priority in registration will be given to students participating in the Tri-Co Philly Program (https://www.haverford.edu/philly-program) and PJHR concentrators. Remaining seats are available to other Tri-Co students, by lottery, if demand exceeds remaining spaces in the course. If you are interested in the program, you must fill out the application, which is due on Friday, Nov. 1 by 11:59 pm. This program includes registering for two of three of the program’s courses, which include this course OR A City of Homes: Housing Issues in Philadelphia (ENGL B260) OR Philadelphia Music City (MUSI 005C). Those not participating in the Philly program do not need to complete the application and can simply pre-register for the class
ECON H243 DEBT, JUSTICE, AND SOVEREIGNTY (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Global indebtedness has reached astronomical and obscene proportions, and vast numbers of human beings are effectively enslaved to debt. This course examines the history of debt politics and the role of credit and debt in struggles for justice and sovereignty, in both pre-capitalist and capitalist societies. Particular focus will be placed on contemporary debates in the theory of money, and on the ambiguous and fraught relations between money and credit. Special consideration will be given to arguments for debt resistance politics as a strategy of emancipation and democratization in the context of neoliberal ideology, extreme wealth inequality, and environmental destruction, since these forces are arguably both the effects and causes of power relations enabling some to maintain perpetual creditworthiness while most have their futures foreclosed by the requirement that they pay their debts. Crosslisted: PEAC,ECON Prerequisite(s): one PEAC course or consent of instructor
ECON H298 IMPACT INVESTING (1.0 Credit)
Shannon Mudd
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
Impact investing is investing to generate both a financial return and a positive social benefit. It supports firms seeking to address social, environmental and /or governance problems (ESG) in a sustainable way often within market activity. The focus of this course is to not only gain an understanding of the theory and practice of impact investing across its many components, but also to gain practical experience by assessing a particular set of potential impact investments, making formal presentations of findings to an investment committee leading to a recommendation for investment to a partnering foundation. Crosslisted: Economics, Independent College Programs, PJHR Prerequisite(s): ECON 104 or 105 or 106
(Offered: Fall 2026)
Education Courses
EDUC B275 EMERGENT MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS IN U.S. SCHOOLS (1.0 Credit)
Kelly Zuckerman
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course, offered as both an elective as well as a course required for students pursuing secondary teaching certification in Pennsylvania through the Bi-Co Education Program, operates from a heteroglossic and culturally and linguistically sustaining stance that has four intersecting aims. First, the course seeks to support students in a critical self-examination of the ways that language has shaped their lives and learning, particularly in the context of racism, linguicism, ethno- and euro-centrism, marginalization and austerity in schools and society. Second, students investigate the ways that both historical and contemporary educational policy concerning the education of EMLLs in the United States has operated from a monoglossic orientation that has limited programmatic and pedagogical options within the classroom to those that fail to address the lived realities and needs of this growing population of students. Third, students collaboratively research and present their findings on heteroglossic classroom language practices that, in contrast to those above, respect and leverage students’ community cultural wealth and full linguistic repertoires. Fourth, students, drawing upon these findings as well as research on multiple language and literacy acquisition, hone their skills as curriculum designers and pedagogues, working to address EMLLs’ diverse strengths and needs in mainstream classrooms and other educational settings. All four aims are bolstered by weekly fieldwork opportunities to learn with and from EMLLs and their educators in the Philadelphia area. Lottery Preference(s): 1. EDUC majors and Certification students; 2. EDUC minors; 3. then by seniority
(Offered: Fall 2026)
EDUC H275 EMERGENT MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS IN U.S. SCHOOLS (1.0 Credit)
Kelly Zuckerman
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course, offered as both an elective as well as a course required for students pursuing secondary teaching certification in Pennsylvania through the Bi-Co Education Program, operates from a heteroglossic and culturally and linguistically sustaining stance that has four intersecting aims. First, the course seeks to support students in a critical self-examination of the ways that language has shaped their lives and learning, particularly in the context of racism, linguicism, ethno- and euro-centrism, marginalization and austerity in schools and society. Second, students investigate the ways that both historical and contemporary educational policy concerning the education of EMLLs in the United States has operated from a monoglossic orientation that has limited programmatic and pedagogical options within the classroom to those that fail to address the lived realities and needs of this growing population of students. Third, students collaboratively research and present their findings on heteroglossic classroom language practices that, in contrast to those above, respect and leverage students’ community cultural wealth and full linguistic repertoires. Fourth, students, drawing upon these findings as well as research on multiple language and literacy acquisition, hone their skills as curriculum designers and pedagogues, working to address EMLLs’ diverse strengths and needs in mainstream classrooms and other educational settings. All four aims are bolstered by weekly fieldwork opportunities to learn with and from EMLLs and their educators in the Philadelphia area. Lottery Preference(s): 1. EDUC majors and Certification students; 2. EDUC minors; 3. then by seniority
(Offered: Fall 2026)
English Courses
ENGL H230 POETICS OF ABOLITION (1.0 Credit)
Lindsay Reckson
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course explores the role of poetry and other forms of creative expression in the history of prison abolition and related social justice movements. Focusing on incarcerated writers and artists who theorize life worlds in and beyond racial capitalism and the carceral state, the course approaches art-making as a practice of imagining abolitionist futures. Pre-requisite(s): First year writing seminar Lottery Preference: English majors and PJHR concentrators.
(Offered: Spring 2027)
ENGL H286 LITERATURE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE MOVEMENTS (1.0 Credit)
Jeremy Gallion
Division: Humanities
We will examine memoirs, essays, and poetry by American writer/activists whose works illuminate the formation of -- and tensions between -- civil rights struggles, peace movements, feminist organizing, and LGBT movements. Readings include Baldwin, Rukeyser, King, Rich, Malcolm X, Lorde, Moraga and Stringfellow.
ENGL H309 AGAINST DEATH: OPPOSING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE (1.0 Credit)
Lindsay Reckson
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
Advanced inquiry into creative and critical responses to the death penalty in the United States from the 1830s to the 1970s. Our aim is to explore the relationship between art and social protest, and to examine how capital punishment has manifested U.S. histories of race, class, gender, religion, and sexuality. Readings in primary historical materials, literary and cultural analysis, and critical theory. Pre-requisite(s): Freshman writing, plus one 200-level ENG course; or freshman writing plus PEAC101 or PEAC201. Crosslisted: ENGL and PEAC
(Offered: Fall 2026)
Environmental Studies Courses
ENVS H338 CREATIVE ENVIRONMENTALISMS: FIELD EXPERIMENTS FOR PERFORMING NATURE (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression; B: Analysis of the Social World
This course explores creative process within the context of environmental interventions. It offers multi-disciplinary creative exercises to help students become the innovative and creative environmental professionals.The course unfolds as hands-on workshop through a series of micro-experiences, helping students evolve into fully-conscious, creative environmental professionals who approach communities empathically and connect to Nature profoundly, ethically facilitating the voices of humans and non-humans, as part of researching, assisting, protecting, and promoting fragile places under threat. Crosslisted: ENVS,PEAC,VIST. Lottery Preference: ENVS majors
(Offered: Spring 2027)
Gender and Sexuality Studies Courses
GSST H316 WOMEN AND THE ARMED STRUGGLE IN LATIN AMERICA (1.0 Credit)
Aurelia Unamuno
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
An examination of socialist armed struggles in 1970s, women’s rights and feminist movements in Latin America. A comparative study of literary texts, testimonials and documentary films addresses theoretical issues such as Marxism, global feminism, hegemony and feminisms produced in the periphery. This course is conducted in Spanish. Course taught in Spanish. Cross-listed: Spanish, Gen/Sex, and PJHR Prerequisite(s): One 200-level, preferred 300- level course, or instructor consent
(Offered: Spring 2027)
History Courses
HIST H272 DEMOCRACY AND RESISTANCE IN ASIA AND BEYOND (1.0 Credit)
Ruodi Duan, Vatsal Naresh
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
Democracy arrived in most of the world as an imaginary before its institutional or governmental form was established. In recent decades, state policies have engendered diverse modes of resistance across Asia, and popular uprisings today continue to challenge assumptions about passivity not only in authoritarian states, but under electoral rule as well. This co-taught interdisciplinary course reads the contemporary politics and histories of China, India, and other societies through the lens of democracy and resistance. Crosslisted: HIST,EALC,POLS.
HIST H336 HUMAN RIGHTS IN HISTORY: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD (1.0 Credit)
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This class will trace the historical evolution of the concept of rights in early modern Europe. We will explore the origins of notions of rights and consider whether rights were invented, as some historians claim—and if so, when. We will analyze how ideas about rights intersected with the histories of constitutionalism, colonialism, revolution, and liberalism. Additionally, we will examine competing theories of rights to understand which rights historical actors claimed, and whose rights they were. Crosslisted: HIST, PEAC. Pre-requisite(s): One prior course in history.
Independent College Programs Courses
ICPR H298 IMPACT INVESTING (1.0 Credit)
Shannon Mudd
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
Impact investing is investing to generate both a financial return and a positive social benefit. It supports firms seeking to address social, environmental and /or governance problems (ESG) in a sustainable way often within market activity. The focus of this course is to not only gain an understanding of the theory and practice of impact investing across its many components, but also to gain practical experience by assessing a particular set of potential impact investments, making formal presentations of findings to an investment committee leading to a recommendation for investment to a partnering foundation. Crosslisted: Economics, Independent College Programs, PJHR Prerequisite(s): ECON 104 or 105 or 106
(Offered: Fall 2026)
ICPR H313 SOCIAL JUSTICE: A WORKSHOP ON ETHICS AND SOCIAL CHANGE (1.0 Credit)
Terrance Wiley
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This interdisciplinary course (workshop) will pivot around close readings of classic and contemporary writings and robust discussions with distinguished visitors about the ethical dimensions of and practical responses to contemporary social conditions, problems, and controversies. Crosslisted: Independent College Programs (HU), Peace, Justice and Human Rights (SO)
Music Courses
MUSC H119 ECOMUSICOLOGY & ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course examines the intersections of music, sound, and the environment, especially focusing on environmental justice issues. Throughout the class, we will explore alternative conceptions of the natural world, including the misnomer of ‘pristine’ wilderness as idealized nature, conflicting engagements with various political ecologies, and the intersections of music, sound, identity, coloniality, and nature. A critical aspect of this course is its investment in learning about activist research practices, which will be discussed via ethnographic studies, guest lecturers, multi-media presentations, and documentaries. Subtopics for this course include queer ecologies, sound studies, post-humanism, cultural sustainability, soundscapes, climate justice, musical activism, and more.
Peace, Justice and Human Rights Courses
PEAC H101 INTRO TO PEACE, JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS (1.0 Credit)
Tim Cunningham
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
Introduction to the study of peace, justice and human rights, surveying philosophies of rights and justice; approaches to (and reasons for) peace, war, and nonviolence; clashes between human rights and conflict resolution; why study of human rights is necessarily interdisciplinary.
(Offered: Fall 2026, Spring 2027)
PEAC H105 GLOBAL SOLIDARITY AND LOCAL ACTIONS: INTERDEPENDENCE, INTERCULTURAL UNDERSTANDING, SOCIAL CHANGE (0.5 Credit)
Emily Drummond, Sabea Evans
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course considers a civics of interdependence. We have a role to play, but who are “we,” what role is that, and what ideas, methods, and skills might help us take action for more just, inclusive, sustainable communities? We take up this analytical challenge and the action-oriented disposition it suggests, through consideration of key concepts in local-global civic inquiry and action - through the lens of the Philadelphia region and broader national and international partnerships. Pre-requisite(s): Students must be selected for a summer CPGC Fellowship.
PEAC H116 ETHICAL STRUGGLES IN CATASTROPHIC TIMES: QUAKERS’ RESPONSES TO THE HOLOCAUST (1.0 Credit)
David Harrington Watt
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
In the 1930s and 1940s, Quakers engaged in a number of remarkable—and controversial—activities that were intended to provide assistance to people who were being persecuted by the Nazis. Those actions were criticized by some US citizens (who thought that Quakers were giving unwitting aid to the Nazis) and also derided by Nazis such as Joseph Goebbels (who thought that Quakers were demonstrating a complete lack of awareness about how the world really works.) Nevertheless, Quakers’ actions did end up saving some lives. Students in this course will examine what Quakers accomplished—and failed to accomplish—in the 1930s and 1940s. The course is not designed as a venue in which to decide, once and for all, which of the Quakers’ actions were wise and which were foolish. The course is meant, rather, to offer students an opportunity to reflect on the ethical questions with which Quakers wrestled and an invitation to compare those questions with the ones they face themselves. Crosslisted: Independent College Programs; Religion; Peace, Justice and Human Rights
(Offered: Spring 2027)
PEAC H201 APPLIED ETHICS OF PEACE, JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This course surveys major legal and ethical theories with a view to helping students understand arguments about peace, justice and human rights and formulate their own creative approaches to ethical problems. Theories will be applied to concrete problems of justice. No prerequisites.
(Offered: Spring 2027)
PEAC H202 FORGIVENESS, MOURNING, AND MERCY IN LAW AND POLITICS (1.0 Credit)
Jill Stauffer
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course examines the possibilities and limits of forgiveness, apology and mercy in politics, and the role mourning plays in recovery from violence. In our readings we will focus on specific historic and contemporary instances of forgiveness and apology, violence and recovery; but our overall approach to the topic will be philosophical: The course will propose a thought experiment wherein we subject our ideas and presuppositions about what justice is, what it can and cannot be, and what forgiveness is, and what it can and cannot do, to a critical reappraisal. Prerequisite(s): PEAC 101 or 201, a Philosophy course, or instructor consent
(Offered: Fall 2026)
PEAC H206 WHY LOW-INCOME FAMILIES AND SMALL BUSINESS LACK ACCESS AND HOW TO MAKE IT BETTER. (1.0 Credit)
Shannon Mudd
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
Households of low to moderate income struggle in multiple ways. To what extent can access to appropriate financial tools help alleviate some of their stress? While microcredit, the provision of small loans to people in poverty, is typically associated with developing countries, issues of access to appropriate financial products are everywhere. This course focuses on Access to Finance in the US and will involve direct engagement with Philadelphia organizations dealing with the issue that finance might address - and both the potential and actual problems that arise within households, small business and the industries that are in the ecosystem supporting them. We will read books, articles and studies to ground us in different understandings of poverty and households' financial needs, whether theoretical, empirical and/or directly observed. And, we will examine how the financial sector and adjacent industries are providing products and services to serve those households and small businesses, not always in helpful ways. We will look at eco-systems, providers, regulators and financial literacy. A major portion of the class will be project-based and will have you take a deep dive into one of the Philly organizations involved in access to finance to better understand what they do, how they are doing it and how they are making strategic decisions. We will develop basic analytical skills and deploy useful frameworks to better understand the operations of each organization. And, we will assess how their success is affected both by the capabilities they bring and the environment in which they are working. This class will be taught in Philadelphia as part of the Tri-Co Philly Program. Come join Professor Mudd in the city and learn together the issues and current local efforts to deal with them. Prerequisites: Priority in registration will be given to students participating in the Tri-Co Philly Program (https://www.haverford.edu/philly-program) and PJHR concentrators. Remaining seats are available to other Tri-Co students, by lottery, if demand exceeds remaining spaces in the course. If you are interested in the program, you must fill out the application, which is due on Friday, Nov. 1 by 11:59 pm. This program includes registering for two of three of the program’s courses, which include this course OR A City of Homes: Housing Issues in Philadelphia (ENGL B260) OR Philadelphia Music City (MUSI 005C). Those not participating in the Philly program do not need to complete the application and can simply pre-register for the class
PEAC H211 DECOLONIAL THEORY: INDIGENEITY AND REVOLT (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course is an introduction to “decoloniality,” a mode of critical theory that examines and attempts to systematically undermine the notion that ascendance to power of European modernity (including contemporary American culture) can be understood without a constitutive and ongoing relation to colonial domination. This includes domination on the basis of race, gender, religion, and a variety of other ways that modern systems of rationality, governance, normalcy, order, and accumulation have been constructed through practices of domination and subjugation. The course focuses specifically on the American context, including the interplay between the African continent and North and South America. Key writers from Afro-diasporic, Afro-Caribbean, and indigenous Latin American perspectives will be studied in depth. While introducing students to salient currents in decolonial thought, the course will also examine relations between decolonial and postcolonial thought, as well as between decolonial theory and recent work in feminist and query theory.
PEAC H214 ETHICS OF WORLDBUILDING: SCIENCE FICTION AND SOCIAL/POLITICAL THEORY (1.0 Credit)
Jill Stauffer
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course will use science fiction to situate contemporary problems of political life and political theory in new contexts. Our main aim will be to decenter some of our presuppositions about what form political writing, persuasion, and action ought to take. Readings include science fiction, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, political science, neuroscience, poetry, literature, gender studies, Indigenous studies, and Black studies. Assignments include analysis of texts, storytelling, worldbuilding thought experiments, political writing, and visual argument. Pre-requisite(s): PEAC 101 or 201 or consent of instructor Lottery Preference: PJHR concentrators, 7 spaces reserved for first years
(Offered: Spring 2027)
PEAC H218 WORK AND JUSTICE: PERSONAL GROWTH, STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS, AND CHANGE (0.5 Credit)
Emily Drummond, Sabea Evans
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course provides students with focused opportunities to identify and develop their applied skills. It engages text, experience, and reflective processes to develop the methods, skills, and habits for translating theoretical inquiry and applied experiences for continuous growth, improvement and informed ethical action. Each student should grow in their understanding of themselves and their vocation, while also developing capacities to better contribute to broader organizations, communities, businesses, and movements. Pre-requisite(s): Students must participate in a summer internship through the College.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
PEAC H220 CASTE AND POWER (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course explores the existence and effects of caste as a manifestation of power through several vectors such as religion, gender, class, etc.
PEAC H221 PLANTATION LEGACIES (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course investigates the plantationocene, a term used to describe the connections between the exploitation of natural resources and forced labor on plantations and ecological destruction around the world. Topics discussed include: the history of forced labor systems, such as slavery and indentureship, the consequences of subsequent geographical changes, plantation tourism, land dispossession, the possibilities and limitations of small-scale farming and plantation housing, and what repair might look like in the wake of the plantation. Lottery Preference: PJHR first, space for 10 first-years and sophomores.
PEAC H222 HUMAN RIGHTS AND CULTURE (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course offers an overview of the human rights system, looking at its basic elements and studying how it works. At the heart of this course is the question of “culture” and its relation to human rights. We will focus on the tensions and translations between human rights and culture and between global ideas and practices and local ones. The goal of the course is developing an understanding of human rights in practice and theorizing the intersections between social fields thought of as global and local. Crosslisted: Anthropology; Peace, Justice and Human Rights Prerequisite(s): Intro to Anthropology OR Intro to PJHR
PEAC H223 HUMAN RIGHTS, CONFLICT, AND THE CITY (1.0 Credit)
Tim Cunningham
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course examines the relationship between urban space, conflict, and human rights. Drawing on a range of disciplines, including urban planning, architecture, geography, law, and human rights scholarship, students will investigate how the built environment has been used as an instrument of domination, segregation, and violence, and how it can also become a site of resistance, repair, and restorative justice. Lottery Preference: PJHR and Cities students first, then all other students.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
PEAC H234 THE POLITICS OF RESISTANCE IN LATIN AMERICA (1.0 Credit)
Anita Isaacs
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course examines how citizens challenge state power and repression across a range of tactics — armed insurgency, mass nonviolent campaigns, resistance through law, and indigenous self-governance. Drawing on cases from Guatemala, Chile, and Colombia, we analyze why movements choose the tactics they do and whether resistance delivers the change it promises. Cross-listed: Political Science/Peace, Justice and Human Rights Prerequisite(s): One course in Political Science
(Offered: Fall 2026)
PEAC H243 DEBT, JUSTICE, AND SOVEREIGNTY (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Global indebtedness has reached astronomical and obscene proportions, and vast numbers of human beings are effectively enslaved to debt. This course examines the history of debt politics and the role of credit and debt in struggles for justice and sovereignty, in both pre-capitalist and capitalist societies. Particular focus will be placed on contemporary debates in the theory of money, and on the ambiguous and fraught relations between money and credit. Special consideration will be given to arguments for debt resistance politics as a strategy of emancipation and democratization in the context of neoliberal ideology, extreme wealth inequality, and environmental destruction, since these forces are arguably both the effects and causes of power relations enabling some to maintain perpetual creditworthiness while most have their futures foreclosed by the requirement that they pay their debts. Crosslisted: PEAC,ECON Prerequisite(s): one PEAC course or consent of instructor
PEAC H257 ANTIGONE’S ECHOES: ACTIVISM AND THE LAW FROM ANCIENT GREECE TO TODAY (1.0 Credit)
Ryan Warwick
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Where should the law come from, the individual or the state? How can you protest an unjust system, and how can an ancient story help you do it? Who owns a “Classic”? These are just a few questions that Sophocles’ Antigone has raised for philosophers and playwrights from the Enlightenment to today. We'll read several versions of the Antigone myth and explore this character’s enduring relevance to theories of gender, performance, world literature, and politics. Crosslisted: COML,PEAC.
PEAC H281 FEMINIST POLITICAL ECONOMY (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course is an introduction to current debates in radical feminism. Beginning with the psychanalytical, Marxist, and Black Radical feminists of the 1960’s and 70’s, the course outlines contemporary radical feminist positions on race, gender, consumption, domesticity, care, labor, ecology, and the prospects of collective life within and beyond capitalist planetary endgame. Crosslisted: POLS. Pre-requisite(s): PEAC 101 or 201 or any PHIL or POLS class, or consent of instructor. Lottery Preference: PJHR and GenSex students first
PEAC H298 IMPACT INVESTING (1.0 Credit)
Shannon Mudd
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
Impact investing is investing to generate both a financial return and a positive social benefit. It supports firms seeking to address social, environmental and /or governance problems (ESG) in a sustainable way often within market activity. The focus of this course is to not only gain an understanding of the theory and practice of impact investing across its many components, but also to gain practical experience by assessing a particular set of potential impact investments, making formal presentations of findings to an investment committee leading to a recommendation for investment to a partnering foundation. Crosslisted: Economics, Independent College Programs, PJHR Prerequisite(s): ECON 104 or 105 or 106
(Offered: Fall 2026)
PEAC H300 ADVANCED TOPICS IN PEACE, JUSTICE, AND HUMAN RIGHTS: ABOLITION (1.0 Credit)
Miranda Young
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
What does it mean to “abolish” an institution, and how does abolition differ from reform? Throughout the semester, we will explore how abolition has been used to imagine political, ethical, and social projects of transformation. The course takes a historical approach, examining the evolving meanings and contexts of abolition within theoretical debates and political struggles against institutions and social practices such as serfdom, slavery, the death penalty, prisons, and gender-based and racialized violence. By tracing abolitionist thought across different historical moments, students will consider how movements and thinkers have challenged systems of domination and proposed alternative visions of justice and social organization. Readings will draw from theoretical, historical, and activist traditions and may include works by Karl Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, C. L. R. James, Michel Foucault, Frantz Fanon, W. E. B. Du Bois, Angela Davis, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Tarana Burke, and Mariame Kaba. Prerequisite(s): one PEAC course
(Offered: Fall 2026)
PEAC H309 AGAINST DEATH: OPPOSING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE (1.0 Credit)
Lindsay Reckson
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
Advanced inquiry into creative and critical responses to the death penalty in the United States from the 1830s to the 1970s. Our aim is to explore the relationship between art and social protest, and to examine how capital punishment has manifested U.S. histories of race, class, gender, religion, and sexuality. Readings in primary historical materials, literary and cultural analysis, and critical theory. Pre-requisite(s): Freshman writing, plus one 200-level ENG course; or freshman writing plus PEAC101 or PEAC201. Crosslisted: ENGL and PEAC
(Offered: Fall 2026)
PEAC H313 SOCIAL JUSTICE: A WORKSHOP ON ETHICS AND SOCIAL CHANGE (1.0 Credit)
Terrance Wiley
Division: Social Science
This interdisciplinary course (workshop) will pivot around close readings of classic and contemporary writings and robust discussions with distinguished visitors about the ethical dimensions of and practical responses to contemporary social conditions, problems, and controversies. Crosslisted: Independent College Programs (HU), Peace, Justice and Human Rights (SO)
PEAC H316 WOMEN AND THE ARMED STRUGGLE IN LATIN AMERICA (1.0 Credit)
Aurelia Unamuno
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
An examination of socialist armed struggles in 1970s, women’s rights and feminist movements in Latin America. A comparative study of literary texts, testimonials and documentary films addresses theoretical issues such as Marxism, global feminism, hegemony and feminisms produced in the periphery. This course is conducted in Spanish. Course taught in Spanish. Cross-listed: Spanish, Gen/Sex, and PJHR Prerequisite(s): One 200-level, preferred 300- level course, or instructor consent
(Offered: Spring 2027)
PEAC H325 LAW: SETTLER AND INDIGENOUS (1.0 Credit)
Jill Stauffer
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Explores legal theories underpinning legal systems in settler colonial states. Studies settler legal forms and Indigenous legal forms alongside each other, and thinks about what gives law power, how that power stays in place, and what law is supposed to be and do for those who are guided by it. Readings include classics of settler/western legal theory and various Indigenous traditions. Assignments include papers, presentations, research, storytelling, and moot courts in multiple traditions. Pre-requisite(s): PEAC 101 or 201 or consent of instructor Lottery Preference: PJHR Concentrators
PEAC H329 AFRO-ASIAN SOLIDARITIES (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This interdisciplinary course analyzes the relationship between Black and Asian communities in the Americas, highlighting moments of solidarity and unity and areas of divergence and conflict. Moving from slavery to indentureship to U.S. immigration, particularly post 1960s, students will examine the rhetoric of the yellow peril, the myth of the model minority, the rise of Black Power movements, orientalist stereotypes, and anti-blackness within the Asian (inclusive of South Asian and Indo-Caribbean) community. Pre-requisite(s): PEAC 101 or 201 or consent of instructor Lottery Preference: PJHR, AFST, and FGSTC students
PEAC H332 INEVITABILITY, & OTHER MYTHS OF TECHNOLOGY (1.0 Credit)
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This discussion seminar explores technologies from a cultural, sociological, and always critical perspective. Drawing on literature from an interdisciplinary set of fields including science and technology studies, media, cultural, and infrastructure studies, we will explore how relationships and understandings of technology are built throughout society. Through this social constructivist view, students will be exposed to the politics of technology while also building awareness of how these politics have and can be challenged.
PEAC H335 REMEMBER THE FUTURE: COSMOLOGY AS POLITICS (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
A study of the relations between political possibility and visions of ultimate reality, this course introduces students to a range of visions for order and change both within and beyond the West, past and present. Special attention is given to conceptions of "the end of the world" in relation to the ongoing ecological crisis and its political causes and consequences.
PEAC H336 HUMAN RIGHTS IN HISTORY: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This class will trace the historical evolution of the concept of rights in early modern Europe. We will explore the origins of notions of rights and consider whether rights were invented, as some historians claim—and if so, when. We will analyze how ideas about rights intersected with the histories of constitutionalism, colonialism, revolution, and liberalism. Additionally, we will examine competing theories of rights to understand which rights historical actors claimed, and whose rights they were. Crosslisted: HIST, PEAC. Pre-requisite(s): One prior course in history.
PEAC H337 TECHNICAL CITIZENSHIP: INCARCERATION, REDEMPTION, ABOLITION (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
Co-developed with members of Right2Redemption currently incarcerated in SCI Phoenix, this seminar explores how technologies have been deployed to expand the the prison-industrial complex, restricted the agency of community members from having their voices heard in political decision-making, and what can be done about this. Students must undergo clearance checks at SCI Phoenix in order to gain access to participate in the workshops, and visits may require time outside of class (approx. 4-6h extra month). Lottery Preference: PJHR, Political Science, Sociology
PEAC H338 CREATIVE ENVIRONMENTALISMS: FIELD EXPERIMENTS FOR PERFORMING NATURE (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression; B: Analysis of the Social World
This course explores creative process within the context of environmental interventions. It offers multi-disciplinary creative exercises to help students become the innovative and creative environmental professionals.The course unfolds as hands-on workshop through a series of micro-experiences, helping students evolve into fully-conscious, creative environmental professionals who approach communities empathically and connect to Nature profoundly, ethically facilitating the voices of humans and non-humans, as part of researching, assisting, protecting, and promoting fragile places under threat. Crosslisted: ENVS,PEAC,VIST. Lottery Preference: ENVS majors
(Offered: Spring 2027)
PEAC H395 CAPSTONE IN PEACE, JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS (1.0 Credit)
Jill Stauffer
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This capstone course consolidates student experience of a program that integrates scholarship, theory, library and field research, and policy perspectives. It incorporates research assignments, collaboration, a conference presentation and a dossier on student work in the concentration. For PJHR senior concentrators.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
Political Science Courses
POLS H151 INTERNATIONAL POLITICS (1.0 Credit)
Barak Mendelsohn
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course offers an introduction to the study of international politics. It considers examples from history and addresses contemporary issues, while introducing and evaluating the political theories that have been used by scholars to explain those events. The principal goal of the course is to develop a general set of analytical approaches that can be used to gain insight into the nature of world politics – past, present and future.
POLS H171 AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL THEORY (1.0 Credit)
Vatsal Naresh
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course offers a modestly global introduction to political thought. This year, the course will focus on six anchoring thinkers – Jean Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Mohandas Gandhi, Simone de Beauvoir, and Hannah Arendt. Along the way, we will read influential interlocutors, antecedent, contemporary, and subsequent. The course aims to equip you to write theoretical papers that forward a specific and contestable thesis and defend it with argumentation and evidence.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
POLS H234 THE POLITICS OF RESISTANCE IN LATIN AMERICA (1.0 Credit)
Anita Isaacs
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course examines how citizens challenge state power and repression across a range of tactics — armed insurgency, mass nonviolent campaigns, resistance through law, and indigenous self-governance. Drawing on cases from Guatemala, Chile, and Colombia, we analyze why movements choose the tactics they do and whether resistance delivers the change it promises. Cross-listed: Political Science/Peace, Justice and Human Rights Prerequisite(s): One course in Political Science
(Offered: Fall 2026)
POLS H235 AFRICAN POLITICS (1.0 Credit)
Susanna Wing
Division: Social Justice
Analysis of political change in Africa from the colonial period to contemporary politics. Selected case studies will be used to address central themes including democracy, human rights, gender, interstate relations, economic development, and globalization.
(Offered: Spring 2027)
POLS H241 IMMIGRATION POLITICS AND POLICY (1.0 Credit)
Anita Isaacs
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
Examines the causes and rights of forced migrants and refugees along with the responses and responsibilities of the international community. Focus on Mexico and Central America. Prerequisite(s): One political science course or instructor consent
POLS H242 WOMEN IN WAR AND PEACE (1.0 Credit)
Susanna Wing
Division: Social Science
Analysis of the complex issues surrounding women as political actors and the ways in which citizenship relates to men and women differently. Selected cases from the United States, Africa, Latin America, and Asia are studied as we discuss gender, domestic politics, and international relations from a global perspective. Prerequisite(s): one course in POLS or instructor consent
POLS H272 DEMOCRACY AND RESISTANCE IN ASIA AND BEYOND (1.0 Credit)
Ruodi Duan, Vatsal Naresh
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
Democracy arrived in most of the world as an imaginary before its institutional or governmental form was established. In recent decades, state policies have engendered diverse modes of resistance across Asia, and popular uprisings today continue to challenge assumptions about passivity not only in authoritarian states, but under electoral rule as well. This co-taught interdisciplinary course reads the contemporary politics and histories of China, India, and other societies through the lens of democracy and resistance. Crosslisted: HIST,EALC,POLS.
POLS H276 CONSTITUTIONS: THEORY AND POLITICS (1.0 Credit)
Vatsal Naresh
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
What is its binding force of a constitution? Do constitutions obstruct or can they foster social change? What is the relationship between constitutions and democracy? The course explores these fundamental questions of political theory through a historical, a theoretical and a comparative perspective. Reading encompasses historical accounts of constitution-making, constitutional text, case law, and scholarship on constitutionalism in the US, France, India, South Africa, Mexico, and Haiti.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
POLS H281 FEMINIST POLITICAL ECONOMY (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course is an introduction to current debates in radical feminism. Beginning with the psychanalytical, Marxist, and Black Radical feminists of the 1960’s and 70’s, the course outlines contemporary radical feminist positions on race, gender, consumption, domesticity, care, labor, ecology, and the prospects of collective life within and beyond capitalist planetary endgame. Crosslisted: POLS. Pre-requisite(s): PEAC 101 or 201 or any PHIL or POLS class, or consent of instructor. Lottery Preference: PJHR and GenSex students first
Religion Courses
RELG H230 RELIGION AND BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLE (1.0 Credit)
Terrance Wiley
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course will examine the background for and the key events, figures, philosophies, tactics, and consequences of the modern black freedom struggle in United States. The period from 1955-1965 will receive special attention, but the roots of the freedom struggle and the effect on recent American political, social, and cultural history will also be considered.
RELG H268 ANARCHISM: RELIGION, ETHICS, POLITICAL OBLIGATION (1.0 Credit)
Terrance Wiley
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
Anarchism emerged in the nineteenth century as an important transnational sociopolitical philosophy and religious movement. Course participants will analyze anarchism as a political philosophy and as a social movement, from the nineteenth century labor movement to the ongoing global justice movement.
(Offered: Fall 2026)
RELG H322 RADICAL PACIFISM (1.0 Credit)
Terrance Wiley
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This seminar explores the development of pacifism or the philosophy of nonviolence, particularly yet not exclusively in the American context, from the middle nineteenth century to the latter part of the twentieth century. Students will consider different articulations of pacifism and nonviolent direct action and the social-historical context in which modern pacifism emerged, focusing on movements for racial justice, gender liberation, economic justice, and against nationalism.
Russian Courses
RUSS B237 CRIME OR PUNISHMENT: RUSSIAN NARRATIVES OF INCARCERATION (1.0 Credit)
Jose Vergara
This course explores Russian narratives of incarceration, punishment, and captivity from the 17th century to the present day and considers topics such as social justice, violence and its artistic representations, totalitarianism, witness-bearing, and the possibility of transcendence in suffering. Taught in English. No knowledge of Russian language/culture necessary. Open to all.
Sociology Courses
SOCL B350 MOVEMENTS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE (1.0 Credit)
David Sorge
Throughout human history, powerless groups of people have organized social movements to improve their lives and their societies. Powerful groups and institutions have resisted these efforts in order to maintain their own privilege. Some periods of history have been more likely than others to spawn protest movements. What factors seem most likely to lead to social movements? What determines their success/failure? We will examine 20th and 21st-century social movements to answer these questions. Prerequisite: At least one prior social science course or permission of the instructor.
Spanish Courses
SPAN H316 WOMEN AND THE ARMED STRUGGLE IN LATIN AMERICA (1.0 Credit)
Aurelia Unamuno
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
An examination of socialist armed struggles in 1970s, women’s rights and feminist movements in Latin America. A comparative study of literary texts, testimonials and documentary films addresses theoretical issues such as Marxism, global feminism, hegemony and feminisms produced in the periphery. This course is conducted in Spanish. Course taught in Spanish. Cross-listed: Spanish, Gen/Sex, and PJHR Prerequisite(s): One 200-level, preferred 300- level course, or instructor consent
(Offered: Spring 2027)
Visual Studies Courses
VIST H239 VISIONS OF JUSTICE: INTERSECTIONALITY AND LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN ASIAN CINEMA (1.0 Credit)
Emily Hong
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This course aims to deepen understandings of Asian struggles for justice and representation through independent films by Asian (including diaspora) directors. We will analyze films that offer a window into legal and social movement struggles for gender justice, self-determination, and environmental justice. Crosslisted: Visual Studies; Anthropology; East Asian Languages & Cultures; Peace, Justice and Human Rights
(Offered: Spring 2027)
VIST H338 CREATIVE ENVIRONMENTALISMS: FIELD EXPERIMENTS FOR PERFORMING NATURE (1.0 Credit)
Staff
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Creative Expression; B: Analysis of the Social World
This course explores creative process within the context of environmental interventions. It offers multi-disciplinary creative exercises to help students become the innovative and creative environmental professionals.The course unfolds as hands-on workshop through a series of micro-experiences, helping students evolve into fully-conscious, creative environmental professionals who approach communities empathically and connect to Nature profoundly, ethically facilitating the voices of humans and non-humans, as part of researching, assisting, protecting, and promoting fragile places under threat. Crosslisted: ENVS,PEAC,VIST. Lottery Preference: ENVS majors
(Offered: Spring 2027)