Instructor: Dr. Nancy Doubleday
Office Hours: Wednesday 10:30 AM -12:30
PM
in TSH 312 or by appointment
Tel. 905-525-9140 x 23087
Email: doublen@mcmaster.ca
2011 Course Outline: PEACE ST 3B03
PEACE-BUILDING AND HEALTH INITIATIVES
Instructor: Dr. Nancy Doubleday, HOPE Chair in Peace and Health
Email: doublen@mcmaster.ca Tel. 905-525-9140 x 23087
Class meets: TERM 1 Tuesdays 14:30-15:20 and Thursdays 14:30-16:20 in MDCL/1009
PS 3B03 Course Description: Calendar Summary
“An examination of the multiple links between health and peace, concentrating on social
determinants, conflict reduction, food, sanitation and water supplies, and violence prevention in
crisis and non-crisis situations.”
Detailed Description:
This course will examine the intertwined processes and complex relationships relevant to
producing and/or sustaining conditions conducive to healing and leading to peace and health at
(and across) multiple scales of human organization.
The McMaster approach to project-based learning about health will be adapted to address peace
and health concurrently, as co-existent and interdependent domains. The "McMaster Approach"
to health sciences education is founded on the belief that the study of health encompasses not
only the problems of illness, but also the impact of biological processes, environment and
lifestyle on the individual, the community, and society. Community oriented, people-centered,
interdisciplinary, and problem-based, this approach has become a hallmark of the Faculty of
Health Sciences at McMaster University, and has been adopted in whole or in part by many
universities around the world. (see http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/mhsi/the.htm)
We will construct an action-learning approach oriented toward understanding the process of
attaining enhanced peace and health as a process of “healing” in which individuals and
institutions are understood to have “agency” to work for change for the health and well being of
themselves and others. To this end we will examine the broad contextual determinants of health,
including social, cultural, ecological, economic, and institutional arrangements, as well as issues
of capacity for adaptation, empowerment, engagement and agency. We will employ a relational
ethical stance to allow us to situate ourselves and to understand more deeply our own
positionality with respect to contextual issues and to the development of capacity and agency.
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Peace Studies 3B03 Peace Building and Health Initiatives Term I 2011
Professor Nancy Doubleday
We will consider multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary sources concerning peace, health and
healing and related practices; develop an appreciation of complex social-cultural-ecological
systems, and examine examples of the connections to peace and health resulting from such
systems, for individuals and groups. We will consider relational ethical practices and their
potential for transformation and for “healing” where conflict, or the potential for conflict, exists.
We will also engage in practice exercises intended to enhance self-knowledge through
experiential learning and students are asked to reflect on their experiences in written work.
Specific themes for this course include:
1) identifying and connecting social determinants of health and peace through processes that
have the potential to heal;
2) non-violent processes and practices of conflict reduction avoidance and elimination and
violence prevention in crisis and non-crisis situations, across scales from person to globe;
3) food, sanitation and water supplies: rights, responsibilities and opportunities for creative
engagement;
4) building peace and health through human development strategies; and
5) building peace and health by design: designing processes, practices and institutions for
change.
The course will use student-centred learning processes, including action learning, drawing on
group work and project based learning strategies. The course themes will be offered as modules
and students will work individually and in interest groups within the course themes throughout
the term to conduct student projects. Each project will produce one presentation in PowerPoint,
one (or more) posters, and one live show displaying their background research, the educational
project they designed in response, and their insights and their findings about their themes.
Students will work in self-selected groups around topics of mutual interest. Groups will form in
Week 1 to 4 and will report in Weeks 10 to 13.
IMPORTANT DATES
The last day to add Term 1 and 3 courses is September 16, 2011.
The last day to cancel Term 1 course without academic penalty is November 12, 2011.
Weekly Course Schedule
Week #
1
Date of start of
week
September 8
(Thursday is the
first day of
Topics and readings
Introductions: To the course, and to each other
Peace and Health initiatives across scales: personal, community, social,
global relationships – an exploration of healing as a process of changing
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Peace Studies 3B03 Peace Building and Health Initiatives Term I 2011
Professor Nancy Doubleday
classes)
relationships.
Introduction to Course Themes and discussion.
Class work: What is “health”? What is “peace”? How does healing happen?
2
September 12
In-depth consideration of the course themes, contextual issues and
possibilities for engagement from the viewpoints of theory and practice.
Reading: Children’s Health and the Environment in North America
http://www.cec.org/Storage/27/1799_CEC_Children_and_Health_en.pdf
discussion: How should we view children’s health in the context of peace?
Please note: On September 13 at 7PM there will be a presentation by Dr. McBean at UNU-INWEH,
McMaster Innovation Park. http://www.inweh.unu.edu/documents/AnotherDrop_Sept2011_001.pdf
Please plan to attend if possible. Pre-registration is requested. Please see UNU-INWEH website.
RSVP: contact@inweh.unu.edu
Workshop 1: Peace and Health – Social-Cultural-Ecological Determinants –
Public Health Considerations (water, sanitation, services)
Please note: The last day to change course registrations is Friday September 16, 2011
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September 26
Healing practices, healing places, the role of memory in healing. Exercise 1:
therapeutic landscapes - solo experience. Assignment 1 Report due week of
October 11 in class.
3
September 19
4
October 1
Saturday
October 3
5
Gandhi Peace Festival – please plan to attend.
Workshop 3: Peace and Health Campus Walk – developing personal
reflection on violence and perspectives of transformation, agency and
efficacy in relation to peace and health
7 PM Public Lecture: Richard Falk – please plan to attend
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October 11
Tuesday
7
October 17
Workshop 4: Integration and world-making across scales: From crisis to
healing - from healthy and peaceful individuals to a healthy and peaceful
world;
Workshop 5: Food, Health and Peace: key issues
8
October 24
Workshop 5: Policy, Intervention, Practice: First Aid to Transformative
Change
9
October 31
Integrating what we have explored and reporting back on group work
10
November 7
Presentation day 1& 2
11
November 14
Presentation day 3 & 4
12
November 21
Presentation day 5 & 6
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Peace Studies 3B03 Peace Building and Health Initiatives Term I 2011
Professor Nancy Doubleday
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November 28
Presentation day 7 and celebration!
End of classes
December 1
NO Exam
EVALUATION
There will be four heads of evaluation:
1. Individual Walk for Peace and Health Event Project: Due in class during the week of
October 11, 2011
Value: 20%
Prepare a summary of your design for a peace and health walk event at McMaster University in a
maximum of 4 pages. Addition pages can be used for references. Please provide 10-12 references
to support your work. Please include a campus map with your proposed walk shown on it.
In the summary, please be sure to address all of the following questions:
1) Which course themes have you chosen to work under in designing your walk event
activity? How does your design reflect formative personal experiences?
2) How does the walk you have designed help us to see and understand important links
(e.g. between personal experiences and social transformation; past events and future
conditions; engaging with the community; or other links you wish to make?)
3) How can we use this activity help us to create alternatives and constructive scenarios
for the future (e.g. as individuals, groups, or through media?)
4) What is the “peace dividend” of this project i.e. what potential do you see in this
exercise to encourage us to think more broadly about the relationships, processes and
actors involved in creating peaceful outcomes through health-oriented initiatives?
2. Group Project: Due in class after November 7, 2011
Value: 40%
The group project consists of 4 stages:
1) forming a cohesive group and defining your collective topic and sub topics relating
peace and health to one or more of the course themes;
2) completing your research investigation, using library, documentary and internet
sources to acquire material for your presentation and/or activity;
3) presenting the project to the class and submitting a record of the presentation as a
handout; and
4) completing the peer to peer evaluation.
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Peace Studies 3B03 Peace Building and Health Initiatives Term I 2011
Professor Nancy Doubleday
Participation at all stages is required. The peer to peer evaluation process will be used in part to
determine your participation grade. This means that if your peers identify you as a nonparticipant in any of the stages, your participation grade will be reduced.
3. Peer to peer evaluation: in class periods in November.
Value: 30%
4. Participation: Throughout the term.
Value: 10%
The participation grade will be based on:
1) Attendance at course activities: workshops, seminars, classes, and group project
meetings;
2) Active participation in class discussions, and
3) Peer to peer evaluations of group project participation.
Total:
100%
IMPORTANT NOTES:
1) Course Material – No Required Text:
Reading and viewing materials will be identified and assigned in class as well as through your
projects. We will use Avenue to Learn and links to online resources will be used whenever
possible. When weekly readings are assigned, please complete any assigned readings BEFORE
class. Assignments will be submitted online or in class as appropriate. Please check the
assignment instruction sheet.
2) Attendance:
Attendance is expected and it is in your interest to join us.
3) Submission of Assignments and Late Submissions:
Assignments are due in class or at other times, according to the assignment instructions. Please
check the individual assignment sheet for details on submission requirements for each
assignment. Assignments will not be accepted in the Department of Philosophy Office, the
Office of Peace Studies or under my office door. Thank you!
4) Medical Emergencies
Extensions will be granted for medical emergencies with a doctor’s note. Be sure to see your
doctor or go to on-campus health services if you are ill. If you are sneezing, coughing or have a
temperature, please do not come to class.
5) Other Emergencies
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Peace Studies 3B03 Peace Building and Health Initiatives Term I 2011
Professor Nancy Doubleday
If other extenuating circumstances arise, please notify me or the Office of Peace Studies as soon
as possible to make arrangements.
6) Late Penalties: Penalties for late assignments without extensions will be 2% per day,
including weekends.
7) Copies and Back-up
You must retain copies of all work submitted, both in hard copy and digital form. Back-up of
computer files must be done on a regular basis and neglecting to perform backing up is not an
acceptable reason for failing to hand in your work.
Other Faculty of Humanities and McMaster University Requirements and Notices
8) Academic dishonesty consists of misrepresentation by deception or by other fraudulent
means and can result in serious consequences, e.g. the grade of zero on an assignment, loss of
credit with a notation on the transcript (notation reads: “Grade of F assigned for academic
dishonesty”), and/or suspension or expulsion from the university. It is your responsibility to
understand what constitutes academic dishonesty. For information on the various kinds of
academic dishonesty please refer to the Academic Integrity Policy, specifically Appendix 3,
located at http://www.mcmaster.ca/senate/academic/ac_integrity.htm
The following illustrates only three forms of academic dishonesty:
1. Plagiarism, e.g. the submission of work that is not one’s own or for which other credit has
been obtained.
2. Improper collaboration in group work.
3. Copying or using unauthorized aids in tests and examinations.
9) E-mail policy: It is the policy of the Faculty of Humanities that all email communication sent
from students to instructors (including TAs), and from students to staff, must originate from the
student's own McMaster University email account. This policy protects confidentiality and
confirms the identity of the student. Instructors will delete emails that do not originate from a
McMaster email account
10) Course Changes: The instructor and the University reserve the right to modify elements of
the course during the term. The university may change the dates and deadlines for any or all
courses in extreme circumstances. If either type of modification becomes necessary, reasonable
notice and communication with the students will be given with explanation and the opportunity
to comment on changes. It is the responsibility of the student to check their McMaster email and
course websites weekly during the term and to note any changes.
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© N.C. Doubleday