Peace Studies
The Middle East, Bosnia, Oklahoma City, Central America, the streets of Chicago. The world is awash with violence and conflict. The 20th century has seen far more soldiers and civilians die in warfare than any other century. Our cities and suburban regions, too, are hit by frighteningly high levels of violence. Systemic poverty grinds away at healthy community life in certain urban and rural districts even as sexism continues to support patterns of violence against women.
Likewise, the last 40 years have seen an upsurge in humanity's impact on the natural biosphere. Advances in technological, industrial and agricultural power have changed patterns of production and consumption and increased humanity's conflict with basic ecological balances on the earth. Given the pervasiveness of contemporary violence and conflict, it is imperative to explore patterns of conflict resolution and peacemaking grounded in commitments to social justice.
Loyola's Peace Studies minor program is the only such program in the Chicago area. It focuses on three distinct spheres of violence, conflict and peacemaking: international, societal and ecological. Peace Studies offers an intergrated examination of violence and conflict in these diverse spheres, the linkages between and among these different patterns of violence, and modes of conflict resolution and peacemaking pertinent to each sphere.
If you want an interesting program of engaged education focused on significant concerns of everyday relevance, then consider minoring in Peace Studies.
Dr. Claudio Katz,
Director of Peace Studies
Chair of Political Science
"The chain reaction of evil—hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars—must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." -- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.