This fall, Graduate Liberal Studies will introduce a full slate of new seminars.
“The History of Political Non-Violence,” taught by Martin Miller, investigates the history of nonviolence in the modern world by focusing on individual Americans who have historically made significant contributions to the theory and practice of nonviolent solutions to national and international conflicts, as well as case studies of peaceful resolutions of seemingly intractable conflicts during the twentieth century as alternatives to traditional tactics of warfare and counter-terrorism.
In Kathy Rudy’s course “Midwifery of Birth and Death,” students will consider birth and death as “natural” events that take place outside of any politics or ideology. This class argues that the processes of birth and death are managed by several competing institutions, and that most of the practices overlook what have been thought of as traditionally women’s roles. These institutions—science, medicine, and religion—do not intend to usurp women’s work. Rather, they fulfill their mandate: goals of progress, cleanliness, and modernity inadvertently (or not?) hide the power of these institutions from public view. Thus, at the beginning of the 21st century, we know very little about what actually happens during these two important life events, birth and death.
Jonathan Shaw will present “Evolution and Human Life,” an extension of GLS perennial favorite, “The Darwinian Revolution.” Evolution provides the framework on which the science of biology rests, and is central to research in agriculture, medicine, ecology, conservation, and even psychology. The modern science of evolution began with publication of Charles Darwin’s landmark book, On the Origin of Species, in 1859, and has grown in importance as the scientific foundation of biology ever since. Moreover, evolutionary ideas pervade virtually all realms of human experience. In this course students will consider, among other topics, Darwin’s introduction of the modern science of evolution, what sorts of evolutionary ideas existed before Darwin, the relationship between evolutionary biology and various religious beliefs (including but not limited to modern “creationism”), and why evolution is still so controversial, especially in the United States.
A few spots are still available in each of these courses. GLS students who have questions about fall registration should contact Dink Suddaby (dink.suddaby@duke.edu). For full course details, see our Liberal Studies Seminars page the GLS website.