300656 Introduction to peace and development (MA: Soziologie der Globalen Welt) (S) (WiSe 2023/2024)

The course examines a variety of anthropological and multi-disciplinary approaches to the study of violence, poverty, development and humanitarian intervention around the world. It looks critically at the theoretical, methodological and ethical questions raised in studies of violence and development through ethnographic case studies from Mainland Southeast Asia and many other regions. The course gives particular emphasis to the structural reasons of poverty and the efforts of local populations to transform conflict, to build peace, to engage in reconstruction of livelihood, health care and education, and to repair the environment. Therefore, the course gives particular attention to the voices, the social suffering, the agency, the resilience, and the resistance of the poor and their grassroots social movements, networks and organizations. The course provides a deep understanding of continuous dependency and global inequality, as well as a glimpse on decolonizing strategies.