Peace and Justice Studies Major

Peace and Justice Studies Department Purpose and Learning Objectives

The Peace and Justice Studies Department offers students an engaged intellectual focus on diminishing violence, transforming conflict, making and building peace, and achieving justice. It combines the social scientific analysis of conflict with the multidisciplinary study of strategies for promoting peace and justice. Areas of major focus in the Department are international and intra-national conflict and peacemaking in the United States and elsewhere; forms of conflict transformation; inequities of race, class and gender; the political economy of conflict and peacebuilding; human rights; grassroots organizing; justice; and nonviolence. The core of the Department consists of five courses: an introductory course, three mid-level courses, and a capstone seminar. Peace and Justice Studies includes coursework, research opportunities, advising, experiential and co-curricular opportunities, including field-based courses and a wintersession course in India.

The Department equips students to:

1. Recognize, articulate, analyze, and assess the nature and sources of large-scale as well as small-scale violence, conflict, conflict transformation, and perspectives about peace and justice.

2. Analyze and apply general theories of conflict and conflict transformation to specific cases, regions, and issues.

3. Engage and put into practice theories of social justice, peace, and conflict transformation in the outside world, through externships, internships, field-study-based courses, and through the cultivation of intelligent compassion and a sense of justice.

4. Apply the knowledge, skills, and values acquired in P&J studies to enhance their capability in their areas of concentration and interest.

5. Use concepts from multiple disciplines to examine the causes of violence and conflict, to transform conflict, and to seek justice.

6. Make ethical decisions based upon critical thinking, empathy, and responsibility.

Requirements for the Peace and Justice Studies Major (starting with class of 2028)

The major and the concentration should be designed in consultation with the Department Chair. Students are expected to complete nine (9) units of coursework.

The major consists of the following:

5 required units:

Two additional PEAC courses above the 100 Level (1.0 each)

Four units above the 100 level in an area of concentration, including at least one at the 300 level. Students must elect a concentration in consultation with the Department Chair and a faculty member knowledgeable in the area of concentration, and demonstrate the intellectual coherence of the concentration.

Students majoring in Peace and Justice Studies must also undertake an experiential education component at the same time or prior to enrolling in the capstone seminar (PEAC 332). This component is intended to provide students with experience that complements and extends their theoretical learning in PEAC 332. It should be discussed with the major advisor and may include Wintersession, summer or yearlong internships, course-related experiential education, or community service projects.

Honors in Peace and Justice Studies

The Peace and Justice Studies Department offers majors two programs for pursuing honors

Eligibility
In order to be able to participate in the honors program, students must have a 3.5 GPA in courses above the 100-level that are listed on their major declaration form. If the GPA falls between 3.0 and 3.5, the Department may petition CCAP on the student’s behalf, if it supports the student’s honors work. In addition, students must have completed PEAC 104, PEAC 204 and at least two PEAC courses at the 200 level or above before the project commences. Students interested in pursuing honors should discuss their plans with one or more potential advisors and the Peace and Justice Studies Department Chair during the semester prior to the start of the project.

Program I: Senior Honors Thesis
Students pursuing departmental honors under program I enroll in a full year sequence (PEAC 360/PEAC 370) in which they write a senior thesis. Engaging in the completion of an honors thesis in Peace & Justice Studies enables students to examine a number of questions that they co-discover working closely with their advisor(s) during the course of an entire academic year. Peace & Justice Studies students seeking to undertake a thesis will work closely with one or two Peace & Justice Studies faculty members throughout their thesis process, who will supervise the thesis.

Program II: Independent Action/Reflection Study (PEAC 350) and Written Exam

Under this program, seniors Peace & Justice Studies majors qualify for honors on the basis of a project carried out in the context of a one-semester PEAC 350. The project has both an action and a reflection component. For the action component, students in consultation with their faculty advisor undertake a Wintersession, summer, semester, or yearlong internship, experiential education program, or community service project. The reflection component consists of a research project and final paper related to the student’s internship and area of concentration (PEAC 350), conducted under the supervision of a Peace & Justice Studies faculty member in the fall of the student’s senior year. In the spring semester, the student will take a written self-scheduled examination in the broad field of Peace & Justice Studies that includes the topics covered in the PEAC 350 project and internship and also the field in general and the student's area of concentration. Receiving honors depends upon satisfactory performance in the PEAC 350 and internship projects as well as the written examination.