Rupture and Repair: How to Lead Wisely in the Midst of Disagreement and Conflict

(3 Credits)

How do we navigate polarized perspectives and ideologies in today’s world without compromising our own? How can we sustain a better quality of disagreement across divides rather than cycles of revenge and retaliation? Centered on the lived experiences of conflict and sustainable peace, this course explores how to live and lead wisely amidst disagreement, with attention to the role of story, memory, power, and identity. Drawing from conflict transformation, peacebuilding, interfaith dialogue, and trauma-informed practice, the course blends classroom learning with dialogue groups, simulations, and fieldwork in polarized communities, turning conflict into collaboration. Students will use tools like the PIN Tool, Polarities, and Photovoice to map and transform conflict, wrestling with how to build a better quality of disagreement while focusing on what makes us different rather than shared commonalities. For the final project, students will design a collaborative action to repair the world and themselves. Living in an 800-year-old castle on the border between England and Scotland near Hadrian’s Wall, students learn from the site’s role in centuries of repairing rupture. This is an Away course taking place in the United Kingdom.