Week 1: Mohandas Gandhi: The Origins of Non-violence
We begin our engagement with practitioners of non-violence with perhaps the most famous proponent of this strategy: Mohandas Gandhi. We will discuss the moral and strategic bases of his use of non-violence in the context of his support for India’s independence from Britain.
Week 2: Martin Luther King: Non-violence in the American Context
Moving from the Indian sub-continent to the United States during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s allows us to see continuities between Gandhi’s non-violence and Martin Luther King’s practice, which was self-consciously modeled on Gandhian principles. We will also trace the Civil Rights movement’s non-violence in Christian ideas.
Week 3: Rachel Carson and Wangari Maathai: Environmentalism and Peace
We will explore how environmental consciousness forms an intrinsic part of many peace movements. Well-known for her conservationism in the United States, the late Rachel Carson’s work is echoed by that Wangari Maathai, the late Kenyan peace activist and feminist.
Week 4: Mairead Maguire and Betty Williams: Sowing Seeds of Peace in Ireland
“The Troubles” in Northern Ireland fostered generational hatred and bred violence for decades. Two courageous women interrupted that cycle of violence and helped to inaugurate a peace process that would ultimately offer a peace agreement, disarmament, and the healing of a divided society.
Week 5: Nelson Mandela: From Non-violence to Violence and Back Again
Mandela’s career provides striking insights into the strategic value of non violence, and the cost of maintaining this method. Disillusioned with the slow pace of change in South Africa, Mandela was imprisoned as a terrorist. Rediscovering non-violence made him an icon of peaceful social change.
Week 6: Leymah Gboweh: Growing a Peace Movement in Liberia
Leymah Gboweh and the Liberian Women’s Peace Movement offer a striking contrast to the Western media’s representation of Africa as a locus of horrifying wars and civil conflict.. Exploring the creation of a social movement from the ground up provides insight into the nature of non-violent resistance.
