September 9th

Journal WritingJournal prompt (topic):

How do you define peace? What is your greatest memory of a peaceful moment or experience?

You will have about 7 minutes to write your thoughts about this topic.

Groups for PART IAmelia (Hyun Jung Lim), She Hee

Park (Paula), Sun Kil Chang, AlenaDong Gyu Kang, Kristina, BillyErika, An Jeong Su, Choi In Young Christine, Hyung Suk Park, Kim Hee

Tae, Jeon Hee WonKim Ji Youn, Yvonne Fatima Flores,

Joon Sang HoonRoh Kyeong Ran, Lee Kyeong Jin

(Trisha), Nabil KassiElya, Su Min (Sue), Lee Chung Eun,

Hee Tae Kim 

Thinking about peaceWith your groups, first introduce yourselves.

This will be a more relaxed style discussion than others we will have in class.

You will have about 20 minutes to discuss any of the questions I give you. Talk about as many as you can in 20 minutes.

Each member should participate in the discussion, sharing your thoughts, ideas, or personal experiences.

I’ll be walking around to help you or answer any questions you may have.

Peace…What comes to your mind when you think about this word?

What does “peace” mean?Many different definitions exist, but most

importantly, we recognize peace by its absence.

Some social definitions of peace:“freedom from civil clamor (protest) and

confusion”“State of public quiet”“State of security or order within a

community”

Some other definitions of peace“Mental or spiritual condition marked by

freedom from upsetting or oppressive thoughts or emotions” Like inner peace (peace of mind)

“Harmony in human or personal relations”Good relationship between people within society

“A state of mutual between governments: absence of war”Political peace between nations = absence of war

Shades of PeacePeace is not a black or white concept, but has

many shades of grey and degrees

Different Cultures, Different Concepts of Peace Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu (founder of

Taoism): referred to military action as against the natural way and used images like water and wind to represent peace.

Confucius: thought peace was the greatest human goal and peace came from social harmony.His Golden Rule: Treat your subordinates as

you would like to be treated by your superiors.

Bhagavad Gita (Indian Text): tells about a terrible civil war and the main character, a warrior named Arjuna, doesn’t want to fight because many of his loved ones are on the opposing side.

The god Krishna tells him he must fight out of duty.

War and violence are seen as duty

Judeo-Christian ConceptsOld Testament (Judaism): God

was shown as inclined to start wars and many Israelites were warriors.

Islamic, Christian and Jewish traditions have war as an important part in their history.

Irony in Christianity/Catholicism: much warlike history (Crusades from 11 – 13th centuries) but the main message is peace, love, and nonviolence.

Negative Peace Negative peace: absence of war, no organized or

active military violence is taking placeAlso known as the “realist” or “realpolitik”

perspective on peace. Some examples of negative peace:

A cease-fire (like in the case of South and North Korea)

The Cold War between US and USSR because the peace was based on Mutually Assured Destruction(MAD) = when both sides have serious weapons and if used by both, would completely destroy both sides.

Positive PeacePositive peace: social condition where

exploitation is eliminated or minimized and there is no violence, including no structural violence.

When positive peace exists, there is social order and harmony and there is a focus on peace building and creating a system that has equality for all. Difficult to form positive peace within societyFor the individual, positive peace can be seen in the

old philosophies of both Jesus and Buddha, have ideas of "inner peace", calmness and meditation.

Negative Peace and Structural ViolenceStructural Violence is

a serious form of social oppression.

It’s unlike direct violence, which can be seen by bodily injury (it’s very visible to the eye)

Structural violence is built into the “structure” or system of social, cultural, and economic institutions.

Examples of Structural ViolenceStarvation Extreme PovertySlaverySuffering from preventable diseasesNo access to educationFGM (Feminine Genital Mutilation)

Often these kinds of structural violence go unacknowledged

Achieving Positive PeaceMost cultures have political and social goals that

are closer to positive peace than negative peace.Peace in languages

Arabic: “Salaam” “Peace is welcome” used to say “hello and goodbye”

Hebrew: “Shalom” same as Arabic (but a deeper meaning)

Sanskrit: "Shanti" "peace“. "Om Shanti" is used more as a parting salutation as a way of sending one off with well wishes.

Chinese: “Ping” used as a noun and a person’s name"Yu" can mean "universal" or "universe“ "Ping" can mean "peace" or "peaceful”. So "Yuping" can mean "universal peace”.

Russian: “Mir” “world,” “peace,” “village”Origin: The village community formed the

word for the peasants, where they tried to keep a peaceful society. Over time, the meaning of mir changed, depending on the political structure of the empire, and came to mean different things to different people.

Peace in other language?Korean? Any peaceful implications in:

annyeong haseyo 안녕하세요 ?

Other ideas?

Common Goal

The Peace – War ContinuumPeace and war are at two ends of a continuum, with

an unclear or ambiguous transition between the two:

Some examplesPage 11 has many examples of this transition

where the first intentions were peaceful, but became violent (war)

- US involvement in Vietnam- No declaration of “war” in the “War on

Terrorism”- No official end of the North / South Korean war

(just a cease fire)- Many wars never declared officially- Some of these conflicts may be considered for

your research paper

Group Discussion With your groups, select a leader, recorder, and

reporter. You should change your leader, recorder and reporter every time you have a group discussion.

You will have about 20 minutes to discuss the questions at the end of chapter 1.

Each member should participate in the discussion, sharing your thoughts, ideas, or personal experiences.

I’ll ask some groups to share their thoughts on some questions after the discussion.

I’ll be walking around to help you or answer any questions you may have.

Questions: Opinion Based1) Do you think peace is pure or perfect, or are

there degrees of peace? Think about inner and outer peace.

2) Are peace and war, nonviolence and violence, mutually exclusive? (incompatible, one can’t exist with the other and vice versa)

3) Think of some examples (if any exist), that conflict or violence inescapable or necessary?

4) If peace on Earth possible? Why or why not? Give reasons to support your thoughts.

Research Paper GuidelinesGo over these again at home and please feel free to ask me any questions.

You can schedule a time with me or come to my office hours, but please let me know if you plan to come to my office hours so I can make time for you.

Groups for PART IGroup 1, October 14th (Chapter 3): Amelia (Hyun Jung

Lim), She Hee Park (Paula), Sun Kil Chang, AlenaGroup 2, October 16th (Reasons for Wars: pages 91 - 118):

Dong Gyu Kang, Kristina, BillyGroup 3, October 28th (Reasons for Wars: pages 119 –

147): Erika, An Jeong Su, Choi In Young Group 4, October 30th (Chapter 4): Christine, Hyung Suk

Park, Kim Hee Tae, Jeon Hee WonGroup 5, November 4th (Chapter 9): Kim Ji Youn, Yvonne

Fatima Flores, Joon Sang HoonGroup 6, November 6th (Building Negative Peace): Roh

Kyeong Ran, Lee Kyeong Jin (Trisha), Nabil KassiGroup 7, November 11th (Chapter 11): Elya, Su Min (Sue),

Lee Chung Eun, Hee Tae Kim