The following is a selection of some of the undergraduate courses and graduate (MA & PhD) seminars I have taught over the years.
CONFLICT ANALYSIS AND RESOLUTION
Course Description
This seminar introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of conflict analysis and resolution from both theoretical and applied/practical perspectives. We will examine the key concepts, definitions and theories of conflict causation, and consider a range of practical tools and approaches to conflict management.
PROJECT DESIGN, MONITORING, EVALUATION & LEARNING
Course Description
This graduate seminar provides an overview of the basic principles and methodologies for program design, monitoring, evaluation and learning (D-MEL) with emphasis on practical applications in development, humanitarian, or peacebuilding projects. This approach seeks to improve project performance and learning from their successes and failures by providing answers to three essential questions: 1) are we doing the right thing? 2) are we doing it well? And 3) are there better ways of doing it?
ADVANCED RESEARCH METHODS
Course Description
This graduate seminar prepares students in anthropology and cognate disciplines to design research projects, write grant proposals, collect and analyze data, and write up research findings. Topics addressed include the relationship between theory and method, defining researchable questions, participant observation, writing fieldnotes, interview techniques (unstructured, semi-structured, structured), transcription, sampling, designing questionnaires, coding data, data analysis, and research proposal evaluation criteria.
PEACE EDUCATION
Course Description
This undergraduate course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of peace education from both theoretical and applied/practical perspectives. The course content and processes will explore a range of conceptual, analytical, and praxis-oriented perspectives and encourage students to reflect on the possibilities and challenges of educating for peace in a world of complex and escalating conflicts and violence. It provides an overview of the history, central concepts, scholarship, and practices within the field, with a particular focus on case-studies of peace education in practice worldwide.
YOUTH & INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Course Description
This graduate seminar examines the key concepts and theories underpinning both social studies of childhood and youth, and international development scholarship and practice. Beginning with the recognition that engaging young people in a constructive manner constitutes a development imperative, we will analyze the role of youth as significant actors in international and local community development as well as key players in civil society and peacebuilding. Topics to be discussed include young people’s education and health, their involvement in labor and contribution to livelihood strategies, environmental issues, the situation of youngsters living in especially difficult circumstances, and youth’s engagement in peacebuilding, social and economic justice and community organizing.
POST-CONFLICT JUSTICE & RECONCILIATION
Course Description
This course offers a critical assessment of justice and reconciliation processes in conflict and post- conflict settings across the globe. It examines the most prevalent approaches to transitional justice; that is, the sometimes competing, sometimes complimentary prescriptions for responding to the imperative of prosecuting those responsible for mass human rights violations while also addressing the need to facilitate some form of national reconciliation. Topics discussed include peacebuilding, truth commissions, retributive, restorative & distributive justice, amnesties and reparations, indigenous justice mechanisms, and apologies, memorials and commemorations.
CHILDREN AND DISPLACEMENT: CHILD MIGRANTS, REFUGEES, SOLDIERS AND DISASTER SURVIVORS
Course Description
This upper-level undergraduate course examines some of the most relevant issues facing displaced children worldwide from socio-cultural and human rights perspectives. Topics to be discussed include the theory, methods and ethics of research with displaced children, the international legal framework, the role of culture, refugee movements and internal displacement, children as labor migrants, child soldiers, unaccompanied minors, children in disasters, and human trafficking.
CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION
Course Description
This upper-level undergraduate course offers a thorough grounding of conflict transformation as a philosophical orientation, theoretical framework, analytical strategy and practical approach to engage in contested situations. Course materials and activities seek to “transform” three major aspects of conflict: 1) what we think about conflict; 2) how we think about conflict; and 3) how we engage in conflict.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Course Description
Community development refers to the broad set of skills and institutions that local communities utilize in an effort to improve the wellbeing and quality of life of its residents. This introduction to the field of community development explores the meaning of key ideas such as “community” and “development,” and analyzes the roles that various stakeholders play in developing community. We will use a multidisciplinary approach to better understand the historical roots of community development, as well as its key theories, methods and practices. Both older “expert-driven” traditions and more recent approaches privileging participatory development and community action research will be discussed.
PROJECT DESIGN, MONITORING, EVALUATION & LEARNING
Course Description
This graduate seminar provides an overview of the basic principles and methodologies for program design, monitoring, evaluation and learning (D-MEL) with emphasis on practical applications in development, humanitarian, or peacebuilding projects. This approach seeks to improve project performance and learning from their successes and failures by providing answers to three essential questions: 1) are we doing the right thing? 2) are we doing it well? And 3) are there better ways of doing it?
ADVANCED RESEARCH METHODS
Course Description
This graduate seminar prepares students in anthropology and cognate disciplines to design research projects, write grant proposals, collect and analyze data, and write up research findings. Topics addressed include the relationship between theory and method, defining researchable questions, participant observation, writing field notes, interview techniques (unstructured, semi-structured, structured), transcription, sampling, designing questionnaires, coding data, data analysis, and research proposal evaluation criteria.
PEACE EDUCATION
Course Description
This undergraduate course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of peace education from both theoretical and applied/practical perspectives. The course content and processes will explore a range of conceptual, analytical, and praxis-oriented perspectives and encourage students to reflect on the possibilities and challenges of educating for peace in a world of complex and escalating conflicts and violence. It provides an overview of the history, central concepts, scholarship, and practices within the field, with a particular focus on case-studies of peace education in practice worldwide.
YOUTH & INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Course Description
This graduate seminar examines the key concepts and theories underpinning both social studies of childhood and youth, and international development scholarship and practice. Beginning with the recognition that engaging young people in a constructive manner constitutes a development imperative, we will analyze the role of youth as significant actors in international and local community development as well as key players in civil society and peacebuilding. Topics to be discussed include young people’s education and health, their involvement in labor and contribution to livelihood strategies, environmental issues, the situation of youngsters living in especially difficult circumstances, and youth’s engagement in peacebuilding, social and economic justice and community organizing.
POST-CONFLICT JUSTICE & RECONCILIATION
Course Description
This course offers a critical assessment of justice and reconciliation processes in conflict and post- conflict settings across the globe. It examines the most prevalent approaches to transitional justice; that is, the sometimes competing, sometimes complimentary prescriptions for responding to the imperative of prosecuting those responsible for mass human rights violations while also addressing the need to facilitate some form of national reconciliation. Topics discussed include peacebuilding, truth commissions, retributive, restorative & distributive justice, amnesties and reparations, indigenous justice mechanisms, and apologies, memorials and commemorations.
CHILDREN AND DISPLACEMENT: CHILD MIGRANTS, REFUGEES, SOLDIERS AND DISASTER SURVIVORS
Course Description
This upper-level undergraduate course examines some of the most relevant issues facing displaced children worldwide from socio-cultural and human rights perspectives. Topics to be discussed include the theory, methods and ethics of research with displaced children, the international legal framework, the role of culture, refugee movements and internal displacement, children as labor migrants, child soldiers, unaccompanied minors, children in disasters, and human trafficking.
CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION
Course Description
This upper-level undergraduate course offers a thorough grounding of conflict transformation as a philosophical orientation, theoretical framework, analytical strategy and practical approach to engage in contested situations. Course materials and activities seek to “transform” three major aspects of conflict: 1) what we think about conflict; 2) how we think about conflict; and 3) how we engage in conflict.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Course Description
Community development refers to the broad set of skills and institutions that local communities utilize in an effort to improve the wellbeing and quality of life of its residents. This introduction to the field of community development explores the meaning of key ideas such as “community” and “development,” and analyzes the roles that various stakeholders play in developing community. We will use a multidisciplinary approach to better understand the historical roots of community development, as well as its key theories, methods and practices. Both older “expert-driven” traditions and more recent approaches privileging participatory development and community action research will be discussed.
Marisa O. Ensor, PhD, LLM 
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