Culture, Conflict and Society

The course is compulsory for Master's degree students in Peace and Conflict Transformation, and open to other Master's level students as an elective course.

The course enables students to critically analyse and evaluate the relevance of contextual cultural and societal issues in efforts at understanding violent conflicts and peace-building. It applies perspectives from anthropology, religious studies and psychology to conflicts, peace and conflict transformation. It represents an attempt to conceptualise violent conflicts and related issues as inter-subjective experiences with cultural and psychological dimensions.

The topics addressed include: Anthropological perspectives on culture and conflict; Anthropology of difference and images of the other; Ethnicity, nationalism and conflict; Psychology, health, war and peace; and symbolic meanings and cosmologies.

Students who have successfully completed the course should have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

• have an understanding of diverse perspectives from anthropology, religious studies and psychology and how they relate to conflicts, peace and conflict transformation.
• have a conceptual understanding of violent conflicts and related issues as inter-subjective experiences with cultural and psychological dimensions.

Analytical understanding

Have the ability to:

• explore the cultural and societal issues underlying violent conflicts and peace processes.
• determine how different cultural groups conceptualize and respond to violence.
• explore the broad issues informing inter-subjective and inter/intra-group experiences in violent conflict situations.

Skills and competences

Capable of:

• relating perspectives from anthropology, psychology, and religious studies to conflicts and peace processes.
• bringing inter-cultural understandings to bear on violent conflicts and peace-building processes.
• taking responsibility for one's own learning by working independently towards the realisation of the course objectives.

Language of instruction and examination

This course is open to incoming exchange students.

Study level: Master’s

Admission prerequisites:
This course has admission prerequisites, which are listed under the Admission requirements section. Please review this information carefully before adding the course to your Learning Agreement.

For details on how to apply for exchange, course selection guidelines, or to contact the Incoming Admissions Team, please visit: Admissions for Student Exchange.

More info about the coursework requirements

Re-sit examination