Alternatives to Violence
University of Maryland
Fall Semester 2014
Prof. Colman McCarthy
Syllabus
PURPOSE
If every government claims it wants peace, and if every human heart yearns for peace, why is
there so little of it? Why is violence routinely used as the way to settle conflicts, whether across
an ocean or across the living room? And one more question: why are so few of the nation’s
78,000 elementary schools, 34,000 high schools and 4,100 colleges and universities offering
courses on peaceful solutions to conflicts?
This course is a modest effort on offering a chance for students to break away from
conventional thinking, worn-out politics, quick-fixes and slow progress. Studying nonviolence is
not for the faint or weak of heart, nor conformists or the close-minded. Instead, it is for those
who are intellectually brave, spiritually alive, socially engaged and lovers of long-shots.
METHOD
The course is discussion based. Dissents and debates are welcomed. One skeptic enlivens the
class more than a dozen passive agreers. Let’s be good listeners. Listening to others is an act of
caring. When expertise is needed, guest speakers may be invited to offer their thoughts.
COURSE TEXTS
Solutions to Violence
Strength Through Peace
Peace Is Possible
WRITING REQUIREMENTS
A 2,000 word paper is required, to be turned in by or at the final class of the semester. The
ideal paper is a mix of personal reflection, analysis, commentary and perhaps personal
experiences. Break new ground. Avoid replowing the old depleted soil of term paper dullness.
Write what is uniquely and creatively your own, that no one else could produce—because your
thoughts, passions and bents belong only to you. Pick a topic that you care about, especially one
based on your own life experiences that are linked to the ideas found in the course texts. The
writing should be fresh, clear and convincing. It should not be a conventional research paper.
Instead, try the unconventional: research your own life, your experiences with violence or
nonviolence, how you have dealt with conflicts with your family and friends, how you have
shaped your personal or political values. Another possibility is to write your reflections on one or
more of the essays in our texts and how those ideas relate to your own life. It’s fine to use the
first person pronoun. In fact, it’s often better that way: to write the kind of paper that only you
could write because it contains only experiences or reflections you have had.
GRADES
The course is pass/fail. A passing grade is assured by a well-written, creative and original
paper.
ATTENDANCE
The best reason for missing class is a death: mine or yours.
AVAILABILITY
I’m reachable at the Center for Teaching Peace, 4501 Van Ness St., Washington DC 20016.
Phone 202 537-1372. Email: cmccarthy@starpower.net. Appointments easily arranged.
The following is a plan of what’s ahead, and like all plans it is subject to changes when needed.
Week One. An introductory discussion of the basic questions of what the course is about: are
there alternatives to violence? Do they work? How? When? Where? Why or why not?
Week Two. What about peace in our personal lives and relationships. It often breaks down
when verbal or emotional violence is inflicted on us by those we know—or don’t know, as in
catcalling women which is a common form of violence against women. For class, read chapter 2
in “Peace Is Possible.”
Week Three The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: necessary or a waste? Why and how did they
begin. An examination of both questions. Readings: chapter 9 in The documentary “ War Made
Easy” will be shown.
Week Four Emotionally and intellectually, are humans wired for violence? Does empathy
come naturally? What about competition?
Week Five The longest war in recorded history, and probably before history was recorded, is
the war on animals as waged by humans. Readings: chapter 12 in “Strength Through Peace”
and chapter 8 in “Solutions to Violence.”
Week Six When the violence finally ends and the futility of it becomes clear, what happens
to former enemies. How does reconciliation work? For answers, read chapters 7 and 9 in “Peace
Is Possible.”
Week Seven A discussion of legalized violence, as in the death penalty. Readings: chapter
10 in “Strength Through Peace” and pages 95 to 110 in “I’d Rather Teach Peace.”
Week Eight Vietnam. Where and when was that? For American students, it was your parents’
or grandparents’ war, one they may have been in or may have refused to be in. For class, read
chapter 8 in “Strength Through Peace,” and the King essay p. 69 in “Solutions to Violence.”
Week Nine Where has nonviolence worked? In many places. Let’s examine the Danish
Resistance in he early 1940s against the invasion of the German army. Read chapter 6 in
“Strength Through Peace and from the bottom of p. 82 through p. 88 in “I’d Rather Teach
Peace.”
Week Ten Time now for Gandhi, the Indian peacemaker. Read the Gandhi essays in
“Solutions to Violence,” chapter 3, and “Strength Through Peace,” chapter 5.
Week Eleven What about civil disobedience? How does it work? Is it effective? For class,
read chapter 6 in “Solutions to Violence” and chapters 4 and 10 in “Peace Is Possible.”
Week Twelve Is nonviolent self-defense ever successful? Yes, more than we are led to
believe. How to deal with unruly roommates or the daily frictions in personal relationships? For
class, read chapter 7 and 9 in “Peace Is Possible.”
Week Thirteen What is love? A feeling? A force? Chapter 9 in “Solutions to Violence” has
some answers. So does chapter 11 in “Strength Through Peace.”
Week Fourteen A summing up, a chance to put it all together.