5 unique courses for spring semester [Part 2]

Spring registration beings tomorrow and to help you prepare C2M presents part two of our series on interesting courses to help round out your schedule for the upcoming semester.

Discovering Organizations and Actors in the Conflict Field (CONF 399-004)

This seminar course aims to acquaint students with the work of professionals in the conflict field through lectures, guest speakers, and field trips to conflict analysis organizations and institutions located throughout the DC area.  Topics will include the role and structure of nongovernmental organizations in conflict resolution, the ethical challenges faced by conflict practitioners, and the translation of theoretical concepts into practical action.

Religion and Law in the United States (RELI 364-001)

In this course, students will explore issues related to law and religion, focusing on the legal doctrines that have arisen under the Establishment and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.  Topics covered will include religion in public schools, government aid to religious institutions, government endorsement of religious symbols, and freedom of religious expression and practice.

Gods and Bombs (SOCI 395-002)

Religious violence has long been a pervasive aspect of human culture.  In this course, students will examine the relationship between religion and violence through three different lenses: the warrior, who believes it is a sacred duty to fight, the pacifist, who believes it is a sacred duty not to harm, and the nonviolent activist, who fights like the warrior while not harming like the pacifist.  The course will emphasize the ways in which the world’s major religious traditions legitimate both ends of the spectrum, from pacifism to holy war. Towards the end of the course, students will explore nonviolent action as a type of demilitarized conflict, and how this concept grew out of the religious traditions of men such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

American Noir (ENGL 202-005)

Noir fiction has remained an enigmatic part of the modern literary corpus since the genre’s beginnings.  These “detectiveless crime novels,” as they have been called, continue to defy classification, despite a number of uniting elements. This course seeks to examine the concepts behind this mysterious literary movement and what makes it an integral part of the landscape of modern fiction. Readings will include both classics of the genre such as The Postman Always Rings Twice and The Killer Inside Me, as well as more recent entries.

Mystery, Madness, and Murder (PSYC 405-001)

People are often intrigued by what they find frightening, otherwise horror would not be such a successful genre of fiction. This course will provide a multidisciplinary approach to the taboo topics that frighten and fascinate us.  Instructors from disciplines throughout the arts and sciences will provide students with varying perspectives on provocative issues such as cannibalism and serial murder. Students will need to think critically and objectively as they examine the use of these tropes in myth, literature, and popular culture.