Fall 2018/Fuller Online
MR578
Tan
MR578: MUSIC, PEACEBUILDING AND INTERFAITH DIALOGUE (4 Units: 160 hours). Sooi Ling Tan.
DESCRIPTION: Instances of conflict, violence, polarization and injustice are escalating at an alarming rate in our world today. As fracture lines deepen, there is an urgency to respond by engaging in practices that foster dialogue, peacebuilding and reconciliation across the divides. This course explores the contribution of music and the performing arts in fostering sustainable peacebuilding among Muslims and Christians. Based on research in the Arab world (Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, and Morocco) and Southeast Asia (Indonesia), the course focuses on music’s transformative role in conflict and post-conflict settings as it examines how music and song are used in our faiths and daily lives.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will (1) identify and articulate the contribution of music and the arts in fostering sustainable peacebuilding among Muslims and Christians; (2) knowledgably address commonalities and differences between religious peoples and music traditions related to music, peacebuilding and interfaith dialogue; (3) understand the dynamic interaction and sociological roles of music and the arts in global and local societies within interreligious contexts; (4) design an contextualized interfaith event that employ music and the arts for peacebuilding; and (5) articulate a personal philosophy of ministry and mission that effectively encourages, catalyzes, and incorporates musicians and artists in peacebuilding and interfaith dialogue.
COURSE FORMAT: This course will be conducted online on a ten-week schedule aligned with Fuller’s academic calendar for a total of 40 instructional hours. Students are required to interact with the material, with each other, and with the instructor regularly through online discussions, reading, and other assignments that promote active learning.
REQUIRED READING: 1,200 pp. required. If you have read any of the required texts for another course, please select an alternative text from the recommended reading list in the syllabus or a book approved by the instructor.
Hodge, Daniel White. Homeland Insecurity: A Hip-Hop Missiology for the Post-Civil Rights Context. Intervarsity Press. 2018. ISBN: 978-0830851812, Pub. Price $27.00 [160 pages assigned].
King, Roberta R. and Sooi Ling Tan, eds. (un)Common Sounds: Songs of Peace and Reconciliation among Muslims and Christians. Cascade Books. 2014. ISBN: 978-1625644886. Pub. Price: $38.00. [300 pp. assigned].
Lawrence, Felicity and Oivier Urbain. Music and Solidarity: Questions of Universality, Consciousness, and Connection. Vol. 15, Peace & Policy. Transaction Publishers, 2011. ISBN: 978-1412842303, Pub. Price $44.95 [201 pp. assigned].
Lederach, John Paul. The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN: 978-0195174540, Pub. Price $44.95 [180 pp. assigned].
O'Connell, John Morgan and Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco, Eds. Music and Conflict. University of Illinois Press, 2010. ISBN: 978-0252077388, Pub. Price $32.00 [250 pp. assigned].
Articles on Peacebuilding, Interfaith Dialogue, Peace, accessible on the course website during the entire quarter the class is taught [110 pp. assigned].
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:
PREREQUISITES: None.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Option to meet the C1 or C2 requirement in the 120 MDiv Program. Serves as a course substitute for MB501.
FINAL EXAMINATION: None.