The Many Voices of Peace Studies: Celebrating 50 Years

Theodore Koditschek

Theodore Koditschek – History emeritus, Peace Studies professor, and long-time member of the Peace Studies Faculty Advisory Committee – has been involved in the peace movement since he arrived on campus more than 30 years ago, and as a result holds a lot of institutional knowledge.

“I’ve been involved with Peace Studies in a number of different capacities,” Koditschek explains. “I’ve taught Peace Studies courses. I’ve taught courses that I taught for history that were cross listed with Peace Studies. More recently, since I retired, I’ve been teaching mostly Peace Studies and honors courses.”

Koditschek also developed a couple of courses with Peace Studies that he cross listed with multiple departments. This was completed when Clarence Lo was director of Peace Studies.

“I can remember way back to when Robbie Lieberman was the director (mid-80s). That’s when I first came,” he recalls. “She was one of the earliest directors and very influential in the early years of Peace Studies.”

What does an Advisory Board Do?

Koditschek says his role on the advisory board is as simple as it sounds: advising.

“I mean frankly different directors have interpreted that differently. But pretty much the advisory board does what the director is interested in having them do. When Clarence Lo was director, we met at least as a board once a year, sometimes more frequently, and he would consult with many of us, you know on specific questions. I remember once we met with the dean, Pat Okker. We haven’t really done that since.

“When Andrew Hoberek was director, he was very busy with a lot of other things, and we really only had one meeting. We did have a bunch of subcommittees that did various things, such as preparing a mission statement.

“Since Daive Dunkley has become director, even though it’s only been a short period of time, he’s made it very clear that he’s going to rely heavily on the advisory committee, which I think is a good thing. It’s good for the program; it’s good for him; it’s good for us.”

Koditschek currently is reviewing curriculum to see what is needed, what is already taught, and ways to improve content.

Peace Studies Evolves?

Koditschek says Peace Studies has changed, yet it hasn’t changed …. “I think there’s been a long-standing commitment to Peace Studies, and I would say the connecting thread really is critical thinking. All the people I’ve known who’ve been involved in Peace Studies are all committed to critical thinking. Most come from humanities and social science departments, though there have been a few STEM people involved.

As far as change… “The world has changed. When Peace Studies started, it was very much something that emerged out of opposition to a particular war, the Vietnam War. But by the time I came, the Vietnam War was long over.

“But there were a lot of little wars, and there were questions about American foreign policy, and American involvement in various parts of the world and whether this was a good thing, and what form it should take. And I would say that was the dominant interest of Peace Studies, although there was also some interest in social justice movements.”

He says when John Galliher was director, his interests were in criminology, which gave the program a more domestic focus.

“But at that time, various Iraq wars were occurring and many of the same kinds of concerns emerged as they did from the Vietnam War. Opposition to immoral and unnecessary war was reemerging in a different form a generation later. And so many of those same impulses that had been part of the early stages of Peace Studies were reactivated – not that they ever entirely went away – but it just became more of an urgent issue.”

He says Peace Studies also has changed in the last decade, a result of the “old guard” retiring. “In some cases, you know, leaving, dying.”

Koditschek adds that some like him, the new “old guard” have continued their involvement and actually increased it because in retirement they could teach more. “That’s certainly the case with me,” he adds.

He says faculty has turned over to the point there’s a new cohort, new generation of faculty who focus on the issues on intersectionality, both international as well as domestic.

“And you know, that has really affected the direction of Peace Studies. Peace Studies is becoming much more diverse in every sense of the word, both in terms of the faculty, their participation in it, and also in the general direction of student interests.”

Is War Necessary

Koditschek has blended feelings about war and what should be done about it. “Is there ever a good reason for it? Well different people would give different answers to that.

“I’m a historian and you know the fact is history is littered with wars, so I don’t even know exactly how to answer that question. I know realistically war has been a long, long part of our human experience. It’s not gone away and it’s not likely to go away. And so have any of these wars ever been justified? Certainly. I think some of them have been fought for good causes, and I would have to say some of them have been necessary. I’m not somebody who believes that in all circumstances you simply turn the other cheek.”

Why Peace Studies?

So, what role does Peace Studies play and why does it exist?

“Speculation? Peace Studies emerged because the mainstream departments simply did not have room for some important perspectives that need to be out there, and these perspectives were not being accommodated by the mainstream social science departments. But I think over time that has become less true.

“But that’s partly because Peace Studies was pushing things, you know into more mainstream curricula. These perspectives percolated their way into mainstream social science disciplines.”

Koditschek says Peace Studies is providing courses that need to be taught and that students want, but are harder to find in mainstream disciplines.

“Peace Studies is actually more and more needed, and is playing a more and more important role. That’s one of the reasons why I’ve gotten very involved in it. The other thing that Peace Studies does that’s really important and that is really difficult to do in any other venue on campus, is to do interdisciplinary courses. I think they play a critical role.”

As an example, Koditschek says he developed a course on Globalization Identity and Citizenship, originally for the honors college in the early 2000s. He says when he flipped through the catalog, he found none like it. Nothing at all on globalization anywhere in the university. As he started teaching, it morphed from an honors class on contemporary globalization toward a Peace Studies course.

“And now we cross list it with a number of departments: geography, political science, sociology, history, economics ….”

He hopes Peace Studies will still be around 20, 30, 50 or more years from now, way into the future.

“I would see it as changing. It needs to retain some continuity particularly with the idea of courses that involve critical thinking being at the core of everything we do. But it would also be responding to changes in the world. And you know, it would obviously be focused on questions of peace broadly understood focusing on how to attain peace and how to make it sustainable.

“Not just saying we like peace. But what do we need to do to get peace and to keep peace and to prevent war, to limit war, to stop war?”