Peace and Global Studies has a central place at Earlham, whose Quaker roots stress the values of social justice, equality and non-violence in the search to create a better world.

About Peace and Global Studies at Earlham College

In the Peace and Global Studies (PAGS) Program, students explore strategies for constructing a just and peaceful world. They study issues of war, sexism, racism, and poverty, non-violent initiatives for social change, and conflict resolution. The primary goal of the program is to develop students' competencies in fields contributing towards peace and social transformation. Some students combine PAGS with other fields, producing interdepartmental majors with fields as diverse as Spanish, Politics, Mathematics, Biology, Art, Theatre, Economics, and Management. Others prefer the ten-course sequence of the PAGS major. In recent years, by combining PAGS courses with offerings in other fields as well as off campus study, the program has initiated concentrations in conflict resolution, urban studies, social movements, environmental studies, and other topics. PAGS graduates work around the globe. They are affiliated with non-governmental organizations, human rights groups, presidential and gubernatorial campaigns, churches, and international agencies. In the United States, they are employed as lobbyists, rights advocates, mediators, ministers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and university professors.

The course of study begins with a sequence of classes in Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and History. These classes help students understand the structure of our existing society, which in turn is part of and intersecting pattern of global networks, including war and injustice as systemic characteristics.

At the upper class level, the program offers courses which analyze ways of transforming existing structures on all levels from the personal to the global in the interest of ending violent and abusive practices and encouraging respectful behavior towards one another and towards the earth. Courses such as International Law, Conflict Resolution, Philosophy of Social Science, and others expose advanced students to methods and methodologies for change.

Finally, the program is committed to creating opportunities for students to apply what they have learned to particular sites under guidance of experienced activists. These actvities sometimes take the form of semester-long courses in Northern Ireland, Mexico, on the U.S.-Mexican border, or at the Indianapolis Peace House, but they also may involve May Term experiences, internships, occasional workshops, and participating in some of the many Earlham student groups committed to progressive social change.

Considering PAGS as a major?
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