GBL 287 Divided Lands: Politics, Borders, and Identities in Bosnia and Cyprus

This course will take students on a journey to two different divided lands - states where conflict, both local and international, has resulted in geographic, political, and cultural borders between different, yet also similar, communities striving for peace and coexistence.  Through a comparative and global lens, students will learn about the politics and identities in Bosnia and Cyprus, how and why they became divided, how their communities have worked to coexist despite divisions, how international actors have both served to create and resolve conflicts, and the different contemporary forms of peacebuilding and resistance. We will also learn about the complicated politics of memory, narrative, and truth telling and the role that the media, art, and other arenas that participate in the construction of competing narratives.

Credits

4

Prerequisite

GBL 187

Course Types

Civilization; Society

Offered

• Winter

Notes

Application, acceptance and additional travel fee required.

1. Describe and explain the similarities and differences between the historical legacies and conflicts (and their causes) in Bosnia and Cyprus
2. Evaluate and debate how the role of external and international actors and their conflicting interests (e.g. United Nations, European Union, United States, Britain, Turkey, etc.) have influenced the conflicts and peacebuilding efforts; and how they should respond to and shape the contemporary realities on the ground.
3. Re-examine their own perspective on global and personal responsibility and “intervention” in the face of genocide and human rights abuses in other countries (including Bosnia and Cyprus)
4. Analyze and compare the effects of history and war/conflict in Bosnia and Cyprus on contemporary borders and cultural, religious, and political identities and communities
5. Formulate and articulate their own perspectives on the conflicts and contemporary socio-cultural, political, and international dynamics
6. Weigh the perspectives of the different communities (NGOs, youth, religious, ethnic, gender, etc.) in the post-conflict environment