Within the broad field of peacebuilding scholarship, the scales are decidedly tipped to study phenomena around conflict resolution, transitional justice, and third-party interventions ~ most of them at the hands of diplomats and politicians. While these areas represent legitimate efforts to negotiate treaties and monitor compliance between state actors, history has shown the Sisyphean nature of these approaches in terms of implementation and securing sustainable peace. What has drawn far less attention are the valiant and courageous efforts of peace builders on the ground who are working in unimaginable circumstances, and in many cases in partnership or cooperation with sworn enemies. This course will examine the elements of a construct known as “positive peace,” which can and does exist even in areas where conflict continues (such as the Middle East) through the lens of peace activists working on the ground. The six-week program will include a mix of background reading, video, faculty presentations and small-group interaction.

Dr. Libby Bischof is Executive Director of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education and Professor of History and University Historian at the University of Southern Maine.  Dr. Matthew Edney is Osher Professor in the History of Cartography, Osher Map Library Faculty Scholar, and Professor of Geography at the University of Southern Maine, and director, History of Cartography Project, University of Wisconsin–Madison. His most recent book is Cartography: The Ideal and Its History (Chicago, 2019). He blogs at mappingasprocess.net. Louis Miller is the Cartographic Reference and Teaching Librarian at the University of Southern Maine’s Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education.