Høst 2024

SVF-3022 Culture, Conflict and Society - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Senter for fredsstudier (CPS)

Type of course

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 contents

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.

Admission requirements

Students who are not registered for the Master's Degree Programme in Peace and Conflict Transformation (MPCT), must have a Bachelor`s degree in the Humanities or Social Sciences. All other bachelor degree holders may be admitted to the course upon application.

Objective of the course

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.
have the ability to determine how different cultural groups conceptualize and respond to violence.
have the ability to 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.
capable of bringing inter-cultural understandings to bear on violent conflicts and peace-building processes.
capable of taking responsibility for one's own learning by working independently towards the realisation of the course objectives.

Language of instruction

All lectures, readings, assignments, discussions and the final exam shall be in English.

Teaching methods

There will be a mix of lectures and seminar discussions.

The course is to be evaluated by the SSL forum each semester the course is offered, as well as in an anonymous online evaluation every second time the course is offered.