Coexist: Culture and Conflict Project

This course will familiarize students with a myriad of religious traditions and groups present in Paris and how practical co-existence works in different parts of the Paris region. Through classroom discussion and lecture, students will learn about projects, both face to face and using the new media, for overcoming religious differences in the service of tolerance and understanding. In the field, students will engage with different institutional frames such as school canteens, hospitals, prisons, mosques, synagogues, churches, sports clubs associations and also work with the organization “co-exister” to examine and document the practical realities of co-existence. Learn More Here.

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How does communication work as local government bodies, civil-society actors and NGOs put together sustainable development initiatives? How can communication be made to work better? Cutting across disciplines, this practicum allows students to see individuals, groups and communities in collaboration (and sometimes conflict) in a South Asian context marked by the 2004 tsunami. Based in the international eco-community of Auroville (Tamil Nadu, south-east India), students will explore substantive areas including micro-credit, health care with special reference to HIV/Aids, socially responsible business and environmental management. On-site visits and team-work are central to the course, leading to the production of multi-media reports on the interface between communication, development and sustainability. Learn More Here.

“Civil society” is one of the more elusive entries in the social science lexicon, and not a few have argued that we could do well without it. In a critical but appreciative spirit, this seminar introduces to the various meanings and uses that have been attributed to, or made of, civil society across time and national contexts. A constant in its various meanings is the reference to an elementary capacity of social self-organization beyond states and markets. This has made civil society an attractive alternative to diminished states and unfettered markets in the era of globalization, interestingly for the political left and right alike. Learn More Here.

This trip introduces students to the workings of justice and civil society in Israel, the influence of social justice groups, and the ways in which Israelis and Palestinians construct common spaces. Explore the north of Israel, center and south in search of these initiatives.