I have made several key assumptions in constructing this course on Nonviolence that I need to briefly explain. First, I have assumed that contemporary theory and practice of nonviolence needs to based in more than the Christian tradition. If we look at most major 20^th century practitioners and theorists (Gandhi, King, Thich Nhat Hanh, etc.), they have either deliberately broken the bounds of traditional religion or created multi-religious movements. Even if a student bases her nonviolence squarely within the Christian tradition, s/he needs to be aware of the multi-religious quality of nonviolence. So this course is explicitly multicultural, growing out of a framework set by Sharon Welch's Communities of Solidarity and Resistance. The framework constructs a dialectic of skepticism and commitment based on feminist analysis and the work of Michael Foucault.

Second, I have chosen to begin with nonviolent movements for social change and work back to the personal dimension of nonviolence. This reverses what I have seen as the standard progression in courses on nonviolence, from the personal to the social. I change the order to emphasize the importance of involvement and the centrality of praxis to involving people in the work of nonviolence.

Third, I have based 1/3 of the course in exercises that get the students to "embody" nonviolence. Again, this emphasizes the centrality of praxis. But more than that it comes from my belief that nonviolence is literally an affair of the body, that few people "think" themselves into being nonviolent. I also decided that this embodiment work needed to be something other than a "service project," which many of our courses include. Nonviolent social change is very different from the type of service learning that is readily available for students to do. The embodiment of nonviolent social change involves engaging the motions, dealing (in a controlled setting, in this case) with risk, fear, anger, threat. I have been surprised at how effective limited, safe role plays are in getting students to embody nonviolence and have at least a distanced experience of nonviolent resistance. Having this component to the course changes the dynamic of discussion and the direction of writing. And, when the opportunity to engage in civil disobedience presented itself to students in 1995, the students who had taken Nonviolence were ready for the risk of arrest. My class "graduates" were 10 of the 20 students arrested in ongoing labor protests and formed the planning core for a six-month civil disobedience campaign.

"Nonviolence" is a nebulous, frequently misunderstood, frequently abused term. As we will see during the course of the semester, it can be used in very narrow or broad constructs and can be based on a wide variety of philosophies and practices. The approach that this course will take to this variety will have several characteristics.

First, the approach will be constructive rather than comparative/critical. While we will examine several significantly different approaches to nonviolence, the focus will not be on comparing them for strengths and weaknesses, or comparing them with theories of social ethics that accept violence. Instead, we will work on constructing a nonviolent ethic that meets our own circumstances (or developing a critique of nonviolence that shows why it is inadequate).

Second, we will work within a broad understanding that nonviolence is a way of life. Thus, we will not be thinking of it as merely a set of tactics to effect social change, or, conversely, as merely a philosophy that has little bearing on how we live our lives. Instead, we will consider what it means to construct a theory of nonviolence that affects our thinking, our feelings, and our actions, that forms a coherent approach to real life in a real world.

Third, in order to accomplish this, we will focus as much on the ways that the practice of nonviolence has been used to change human societies as on any individual application. Thus, we will begin the course by examining social movements related to a philosophy of nonviolence.

Fourth, we will treat nonviolence as an experience, not merely a way of thinking. That is, we will wrestle with the idea that acting nonviolently, not merely thinking about it theoretically, is what changes perceptions and behavior. And we will wrestle with this in practical ways. If we need to "enact" nonviolence in order to understand it, how do we accomplish this "real world" activity in the artificial situation of a course and a classroom?

Fifth, we will work from the assumption that, in our day and time, no understanding of nonviolence based on one religion or philosophy is adequate. Thus, we will examine several of the main currents of nonviolent thought and practice (Gandhian, Christian, Buddhist, Feminist, Liberationist, Social Scientific) as approaches that have much to offer but that may be inadequate by themselves. So our approach to the works that we read will be simultaneously (or alternately) appreciative and skeptical.

This course will require intense involvement by all participants, in the classroom and outside. The classroom experience will focus on cooperative discussion that will build over the course of the semester. It will involve continuing interaction between the theoretical and the personal, between critical analysis and personal appropriation. This interaction and our continuing reflection on the interaction will ask that you be open, flexible, and continually engaged. For the course to achieve the depth encounter and analysis that is possible, each participant will need to be fully prepared for each class and each assignment.

I hope that you will focus on the learning, the deepening, and the growth that we regard as the core of the course. But there are specific elements of the course (which may or may not accurately reflect what you learn) that I will use to give you a grade for the course.

Exams

Written Assignments.

1. First Paper. A 10-15 page paper analyzing Martin Luther King, Jr.'s work and the Birmingham movement, using Bondurant's analysis of Gandhian nonviolence as a framework for your analysis of King. You will write the paper with no prior discussion of King's movement. We will suspend class for a week to allow you to write the paper. Due before midterm.
2. Outline of Nonviolence Theory. An outline of the main points that you would write about if you were constructing an adequate theory of nonviolence, with possible resources. The purpose of the Outline is to get you to think about the scope of nonviolence. Due near the end of the semester.
3. Second Paper. A 10-15 page paper that takes one key question, point or insight from your outline and develops it thoroughly. Due near the end of the semester.

Preparation and Participation.

The completion of all these elements are necessary for credit in the course. It is your responsibility to make arrangements with me if you are having difficulty meeting deadlines or completing the work.

Sharon Welch, Communities of Solidarity and Resistance

Joan Bondurant, The Conquest of Violence.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Why We Can't Wait.

Fred Eppsteiner, Ed. The Path of Compassion.

Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade.

Gene Sharp. The Politics of Nonviolent Action: Part I, Power and Struggle.

Supplemental Readings on Nonviolence. (Photocopied reader.) Readings in this text are marked with an asterisk (*) in the Course Outline.

Jeff Jeske, Writing at Guilford: A Manual.

1. W 8/28 Introducing Nonviolence

I. FRAMES, QUESTIONS, AND CAUTIONS

2. F 8/30 Thinking About Language, Power, Knowledge, & Truth

3. M 9/2 Analyzing Resistance & Oppression

4. W 9/4 Praxis as a Mode of Inquiry

5. F 9/6 About Praxis:

II. NONVIOLENT ACTIVISM AS COLLECTIVE ACTION

A. GANDHI

6. M 9/9 Constructing a Gandhian Vocabulary for Nonviolence

7. W 9/11 How Satyagraha Works

8. F 9/13 About Praxis:

9. M 9/16 Nonviolence and Religious Roots Read: Bondurant, 105-45

10. W 9/18 Questioning Fundamental Assumptions Read: Bondurant, 146-88.

11. F 9/20 About Praxis:

12. M 9/23 Nonviolence and Political Theory Read: Bondurant, 189-233.

13. W 9/25 About Praxis:

B. KING

14. F 9/27 NO CLASS: Preparing your paper.

15. M 9/30 NO CLASS: Preparing your paper.

16. W 10/2 NO CLASS: Preparing your paper.

17. F 10/4 About Praxis

18. M 10/7 King's Nonviolence

19. W 10/9 King's Nonviolence

20. F 10/11 About Praxis:

C. LIBERATION THEOLOGY

21. M 10/14 Liberation Theology and the Question of Violence

22. W 10/16 Base Christian Communities as Nonviolent Praxis

23. F 10/18 About Praxis:

MIDTERM BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

III. NONVIOLENT ACTIVISM AS ALTERNATIVE THINKING

A. BUDDHISM

24. M 10/28 Basic Buddhist Attitudes

25. W 10/30 Challenges of Buddhist Experience

26. F 11/1 Historical and Contemporary Principles of Nonviolence

27. M 11/4 American Buddhism and Social Action

28. W 11/6 About Praxis:

B. FEMINISM

29. F 11/8 Re-envisioning History

30. M 11/11 Critiquing Patriarchy

31. W 11/13 The Perseverance of Alternative Paradigms

32. F 11/15 About Praxis:

33. M 11/18 Envisioning Possibilities

34. W 11/20 Consciousness of Language and Nonviolence

35. F 11/22 About Praxis:

36. M 11/25 NO CLASS: Preparing Outline on Theory of Nonviolence

37. W 11/27 NO CLASS: Preparing Outline on Theory of Nonviolence

C. SOCIAL SCIENCE

38. M 12/2 Power and the Possibility of Nonviolence

39. W 12/4 Nonviolence as Active Struggle

40. F 12/6 Envisioning Nonviolent Defense

IV. PULLING THE STRANDS TOGETHER

41. M 12/9 TBA

42. W 12/11 TBA

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