A Justice Site
Mirror Sites:
CSUDH Habermas UWP
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: May 19, 2001
Latest update: July 25, 2001
jeannecurran@habermas.org
When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants, and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it, always.
-Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), Quote from Anu Garg, A.Word.A.Day
- Lectures and Reading Summaries
- Theoretical Foundations
- Transforming Discourse: Introduction
- Forgiveness Will be updated soon. jeanne
- Peacemaking Primer Harold Pepinsky. Micro peacemaking, that is, struglling with interpersonal relations.
- Hot Damn, I'm a Discourse Theorist! by Hal Pepinsky
- The Methods of Peacemaking by Howard Richards. Macro peacemaking, that is, struggling with bringing peacemaking to larger groups.
- Topic Subdivisions
- Barriers to Social Justice:
- More Than a Quarter Million Prison and Jail Inmates Are Identified as Mentally Ill Government Report.
- Enriching Lives by Relearning African Culture and Dance By Valerie Gladstone, New York Times, Arts and Leisure, p. 35, Sunday, May 20, 2001.
- Images from Leonardo, The Last Supper by Pinin Brambilla Barcilon and Pietro C. Marani. University of Chicago Press. Spring 2001. this is the University of Chicago's Web Feature, including fourteen images from the book. Don't miss it!
- Awareness and Consciousness Raising as Transformative Tools
- Pepinsky, Making Peace with Our Childhood External Site
- Oral History as a Transformative Tool:
- GATHERING THE FORGOTTEN VOICES: AN APPROACH TO ORAL HISTORY BY PLATER ROBINSON. SOUTHERN INSTITUTE AT TULANE UNIVERSITY. NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
This activity will require some intensive planning.
- Describe the status characteristic in which you are intersted: race, dialect, size, darkness of skin color, gender, weight, class (Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Moliere.). A status characteristic is fairly immediately discernible, visually, or by accent or language pattern. We tend to develop expectations that these characteristics will be associated with a specific kind of behavior, to which we assign status. These are normative expectations, generally out-of-awareness, and not very susceptible to rational modification. We tend to treat people differently according to the status characteristics we assign to them.
Brief review of status characteristic differential theory.
Use oral history to investigate life experiences with status characteristic differential theory. Build on Katz', Elizabeth Cohen's work, but use this approach to collect qualitative data to flesh out the empirical data.
- Sociodrama as a Transformative Tool:
- Art as a Transformative Tool:
- Measures of Learning for Grades
- Discussion Topics
- Guided Essays
- Guided Essay on Structural Violence and Education
- An Interactive Writing Project Rewrite the story of the Farmer and the Snake to illustrate transformative measures that could have provided a different outcome, one that might have benefitted all.
For criminology, rewrite the Farmer and the Snake to lead to an understanding of the definition of crime.
For sociology of law, rewrite the story to illustrate why many perspectives must be listened to in good faith.
For theory, rewrite the story to illustrate that operating on an Empire theory, the sovereign can do great harm, even meaning to do good. Relate this to post-colonialism.
You may work together, but each of you must discuss your own work with me.
- Sociodrama Topics
- Painting/Drawing Topics
- Abstracts
- Abstracts: Use in Review of Literature
- Doris Lara's Notes on Goffman Creating summaries for sharing. To have the theory repeated in different words sometimes does the trick.
- Trivia Quizzes
- Research and Writing In Class Project
- I don't have one of these up yet, because I need to transfer them from earlier semesters. You will be asked to read a page of material, and then write a brief essay, citing the page of material for references. This is about a 40 minute exercise we'll do at the end of class.
Week 1: Review of Love and Peace Series
Hardcopy: Fellman, Rambo and the Dalai Lama. pp. xi to p. 16.
- Foreword: by the Dalai Lama.
Question: In what way are compassion and non-vilence in our own self interest?
jeanne's thoughts on the question:
We are social animals. We need the emotional and group support of others in order to survive. Recall the ethically questionable research in which orphaned infants who received no human touching and holding died, while those who were touched and held survived.Week 2: Modernism, Postmodernism
- Theoretical Standpoints The S-Cool Site on Sociology. Good explanation of the basic standpoints we will need to consider over the semester. Be sure you understand the following terms:
- Week 1
- Oppression and Revolution. Curran and Takata.
Introduction to Transforming Discourse
This is the fourth course in the series Love and Peace. We will review the theories and issues covered by Leo Buscaglia in Love 1A, by Gordon Fellman in Rambo and the Dalai Lama, and by Martha Minow in Not Only For Myself and ArchBishop Desmond Tutu in No Future Without Forgiveness. Then we will focus on applying the knowledge we have gained to practical considerations in making everyday changes to the dominant discourse around us.We have already begun the project of Writing the City, grown out of the previous three courses in the series. Perhaps we will manage to complete that project during the semester, with a published book at the end.
For a sense of how others are going about a similar effort to transform our discourse, read Culture, Society, Self & Nature on Transparency Now. Ken Sanes seems to have a very similar project in mind.
. . . More soon. jeanne May 18, 2001.
Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan Takata, May 2001. "Fair use" encouraged.
Readings
BEFORE CONFLICT: ORIGINS AND PREDICTORS OF ETHNOPOLITICAL CONFLICT Includes excerpts on: