International Peace Studies
This class, taught by the curator of the Kyoto Museum for World Peace (attached to Ritsumeikan University), explored the various issues of the world preventing humans as a whole from living in world peace. We explored the mindsets of the world that had given us the first and second World Wars, then dove into current issues such as poverty, hunger, race relations, refugee/asylum seekers, dictatorships, biological and chemical warfare, and the use of nuclear energy and the habit by many nations of weaponizing that potential. The class presented me with the view of such issues outside of the American lens. I spoke with classmates from countries around the world as we discussed exactly why these problems came to be, and possible solutions to fixing them. The discussion in the class that most deeply affected me was the testimonial of a woman who had survived the Nagasaki atomic bomb. She spoke through a translator, but even without the translations, you could feel the terror and emotion that haunted her still 70 years later. By the time her story was over, I was completely speechless. The next week in class, when it came time to decide exactly what we would be giving our final group projects on, I joined the Nuclear Weapon group. so that I could explore exactly what the world's governments were doing to prevent such a nightmare from happening again. This class, much like much culture class, was interesting in that it gave me a global perspective rather than an American perspective. By the time the semester was over, I can say without a doubt that I was happy I chose it.