Below is the English translation of an outline for the student manual I am preparing for graduate-level courses to be offered in Spanish. To see the background of how I came to develop this proposal, see My Fight for Peace.
1. Conflict as a Cultural and Hegemonic Construct:
Postulates that violence and conflict are no more natural to human beings and their society than are compassion and cooperation, and that their apparent ‘naturalness’ is because they are part of a cultural construct that is prevalent in today’s world. Proposes that this view of humanity came to be put forward as part of the myth developed to justify the European conquest and colonization of the rest of the world. Analyzes its modern–day reproduction as a hegemonic imaginary, those who stand to gain and lose, how it is propagated, and whether or not one could speak of a conspiracy. Finally, explores a number of mechanisms to exchange that culture of conflict and ‘agonism’ for a culture of peace and mutualism.
2. Agonistic Theories regarding Human Beings and their Society:
Poses the potential role of science in justifying, legitimizing and reinforcing cultural hegemonies. Critically reviews some historical ‘epistemological loans’ from physics, biology, genetics, and logic, which have served to strengthen the myth of violence and conflict as endemic to human beings and their society, followed by the implications of their more recent developments as supportive of a culture of peace. Then deconstructs certain traditional theories from the social and human sciences that have served to naturalize and essentialize an agonistic culture, and looks at some alternative proposals. Finally explores the possibility of peace activism among scientists in diverse fields.
3. Socio–cultural Elements that Institutionalize the Culture of Agonism:
Postulates that the institutions that structure today’s society were built on the foundations of agonistic assumptions, which is neither natural nor unchangeable, as is commonly believed. One key assumption is seen the definition of power as something that is wielded ‘over and against’ others, and alternative concepts of power as a force for building a culture of peace are explored. Next, critically reviews some of the modern–day institutions that give expression to the culture of violence and conflict and at once reproduce it by serving as models of its foundational principles in action. Finally, explores some alternative configurations that have been proposed to replace them in an attempt to build a culture of peace and mutuality.
4. Psycho–cultural Factors that Express and Reproduce the Culture of Conflict:
Critically analyzes some of the psycho–cultural factors that reproduce –and are reproduced by– the culture of agonism, including elements of early upraising at home and the subsequent process of socialization and acculturation. Explores psychological phenomena such as projection versus empathy, identity formation as a differentiation against –versus identification with– an ‘other’, developing and surpassing di¬chotomist thinking, particularly the insider–outsider dichotomy, prejudice and stereotypes. Concludes that there is a ‘psychopathology of the norm’ –diseases of the spirit that are so common in today’s agonistic culture that they have become ‘normalized’, requiring an intensive reeducation in order to correct them.
5. Review of Alternative Referents and Implications for a Theory of Mutualism:
Seeks to answer the question “Where is there any society based on mutualism and cooperation?” This is done from a perspective of pre–industrial cultures, modern nations, intentional communities, alternative institutions, social movements, parallel subcultures, and daily anonymous heroism. Reviews in some detail certain samples of these different types of referents, emphasizing that they need not be perfect to serve as alternative models, and ends by asking whether or not conflict and competition would have any appropriate place in a culture of peace.
6. Role of Utopia in Forming New Imaginaries on which to Build a Culture of Peace:
Reviews the process that lead the Western world from the utopophilia of the Nineteenth Century to the utopophobia of the Twentieth Century, and explores the vital role that utopia plays in empowering socio-cultural change. Proposes a typology of utopias using the opposite pairs method, and reviews various alternative utopias in the search for alternative futures that meet the criteria for a ‘corporate vision’ of planetary dimensions.
Available Bibliography:
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Araujo, María Caridad: “Entropía y procesos productivos: una aplicación a la economía ecuatoriana”. Quito: Ediciones Abya-Yala, 1998.
Ball, Philip: “Critical Mass - How one thing leads to another”. Nueva York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2004.
Barker, Joel: “Paradigmas - El Negocio de Descubrir el Futuro”. Bogotá: McGraw Hill, 1995, p. 35.
Baum, Patricia. La Comuna, una Alternativa a la Familia. Madrid: Ediciones Guadarrama, 1975.
Boulding, Elise: “Cultures of Peace - The Hidden Side of History”. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000.
Bushrui, Suheil. “Derechos Humanos - Fundamentos Espirituales”. Barcelona: Arca Editorial, 2004.
Capra, Fritjof. “The Tao of Physics”. Nueva York: Bantam Books, 5ª ed. 1980.
Capra, Fritjof. “The Turning Point - Science, Society and the Rising Culture”. Nueva York: Simon & Schuster, 1982.
Capra, Fritjof. “The Web of Life - A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems”. Nueva York: Anchor Books, 1996.
Casa Universal de Justicia, “La Promesa de Paz Mundial”, Octubre 1985. Declaración dirigida “a los pueblos del mundo” con ocasión del Año Internacional de la Paz.
Cerbino, Mauro (ed.): Violencia en los Medios de Comunicación - generación noticiosa y percepción ciudadana. Quito: FLACSO, 2005.
Comunidad Internacional Bahá'í: “Prosperidad Mundial”, declaración presentada ante la Cumbre Mundial de Desarrollo Social en Copenhagen en 1995.
Diamond, Jared. “Guns, Germs and Steel - The Fates of Human Societies”. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997.
Ducat, Stephen. The Wimp Factor: Gender Gaps, Holy Wars, and the Politics of Anxious Masculinity. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004.
Fellman, Gordon: “Rambo and the Dalai Lama – The Compulsion to Win and its Threat to Human Survival”. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998.
Frankl, Victor E.: “Man’s Search for Meaning, an Introduction to Logotherapy” (título original: “From Death-Camp to Existentialism”, Nueva York: Beacon Press, 1959)
Fromm, Erich. Marx's Concept of Man. New York; Frederick Ungar Publishing, 28th Ed.,1980.
Giraldo, Javier. “Juegos Cooperativos – Jugar para que Todos Ganen. Barcelona: Editorial Océano, 2005.
Hatcher, William: “Minimalismo”. Hong Kong: Juxta Publishing Ltd., 2004, p. 79.
Huddleston, John. “The Search for a Just Society”. Oxford: George Ronald, 1989.
Karlberg, Michael: “Beyond the Culture of Contest – From Adversarialism to Mutualism in an Age of Interdependence”. Oxford: George Ronald Publisher, 2004.
Kohn, Alfie: “No Contest – The Case against Competition. Why we Lose in our Race to Win”. Nueva York: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.
Laszlo, Ervin, “The Systems View of the World - A Holistic Vision for our Time”. Nueva Jersey: Hampton Press, Inc., 4ª impresión 2002.
Lerche, Charles O, editor. “Healing the Body Politic”. Oxford: George Ronald, 2004.
Lewontin, R.C., et al.: “Not in our genes - Biology, Ideology and Human Nature”. Nueva York: Pantheon, 1984.
Lewontin, R.C: “Biology as Ideology - The Doctrine of DNA”. Nueva York: Harper-Collins Publishers, Inc., 1991.
Lopera, Jaime. El Lado Humano del Conflicto. Bogota: Intermedio Editores, 2006.
Lorenz, Konrad. “On Aggression”. Nueva York: Bantam Book, 15ª impresión, 1977.
Mansbridge, Jane J. “Beyond Adversary Democracy”. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983.
Mansbridge, Jane J, editora. “Beyond Self Interest”. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.
Mihajlo Mesarovic / Eduardo Pestel. Mankind at the Turning Point – The Second Report to the Club of Rome. New York: New American Library, 1974.
Ong, Walter J. “Fighting for Life – Contest, Sexuality and Consciousness”. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981.
Perkins, John. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2004.
Robalino, Magaly; Villarruel, Marco; Isch, Edgar. “Mujeres Invisibles: un estudio del sexismo en la docencia y en los textos escolares ecuatorianos. Quito: DINAMU – UNICEF, 1992.
Ross, Marc Howard. The Culture of Conflict: Interpretations and Interests in Comparative Perspective. Londres: Yale University Press, 1993.
Schelling, Tomas and Halperin, Morton. “Strategy and Arms Control”. New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1961.
Segerstrale, Ullica. “Defenders of the Truth - The Sociology Debate”. Oxford: University Press, 2000.
Shiva, Vandana. “Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace”. Cambridge: South End Press, 2005.
Storer, John H. “Man in the Web of Life”. Nueva York: Signet, 1968
Tannen, Deborah. The Argument Culture – Moving from Debate to Dialogue. Nueva York: Random House Inc., 1998.
Thomas, Lewis. “The Lives of a Cell - Notes of a Biology Watcher”. Nueva York: Bantam Books, 7ª edic., 1975.
Toynbee, Arnold. Change and Habit – the Challenge of our Time. New York: Oneworld Publications, 1992.
Suggestions and donations to enrich this bibliography are very welcome, as books are hard to come by and expensive in Ecuador.
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