Many students of ethnicity and nationalism try to explain ethnic roots of conflicts and examine cases where ethnic conflicts with varied level of violence/non-violence. However, a study of ethnic conflict should encompass various dimensions of the issue including the causes, process, and outcomes. This course will use literature from sociology and anthropology to study the roots of ethnic conflicts, geography to discuss the spatial meanings attached to ethnic differences, literature from political science to examine how different political systems accommodate ethnic differences and ethnic violence and international relations to come up with possible strategies to prevent and reconcile them. We will also refer to historical case study examples.
