Anthropology of War and Peace

If peace provides such obvious benefits, why is warfare so persistent in human history? Why can organized violence be so appealing and even generate sanctity? Has human evolution selected for aggression, making violence an innate characteristic of human beings, or is violent behavior better understood as a product of how we are socialized? Why are religious and ethnic tensions interrupting the benefits of technological progress and global trade? Why has human rights activism been unable to halt the latest wars? What works to end wars? This course will begin with the cross-cultural study of war in pre-state societies, then turn to how states and empires provide the context for gang warfare in the U.S. and Latin America, civil wars in West Africa, and religiously-based violence in the Mideast. Simultaneously, we will explore how social groups make peace through intermarriage, other sociopolitical rituals, and religious conversion. 3 hrs. lect./disc., 2 hrs. screen (Anthropology)