Monthly Archives: July 2022

Mural in Latin America

Prof. Wilson Becerril Brings New Courses in Fall 2022

In a recent blog post, we announced the arrival of Prof. Mike Wilson Becerril, who will offer TWO NEW COURSES in Peace and Conflict Studies for the fall semester 2022. We hope you will check them out and share with your friends:

  • PEAC 030: War in Lived Experience
  • PEAC 045: Peace and Conflict in Latin America

Find course descriptions below. These courses can be ADDED NOW through MySwarthmore.

PEAC 030: War in Lived Experience
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 10:30 am – 11:20 am

Protestors in front of riot police

What is violence, and how do we learn to think of it? What is war and why is it started? How can it be avoided? How do we know when we are safe, or what insecurity is? How does media treat war and different forms of violence? How does war end? What are the links between war and everyday life? This course centers on these open questions to develop a framework to make sense of, and critically engage with, issues of conflict, violence, war, and peace. In history books, the news, and our language, violence and war seem to be pervasive. To understand and confront them, we must explore in-depth how they are experienced, interpreted, remembered, institutionalized, normalized, and challenged by everyday people. Exploring diverse approaches to war and peace “from below” and across different contexts, we will build tools to recognize and transform different forms of violence.

PEAC 045: Peace and Conflict in Latin America
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 11:30 am – 12:20 pm

Most people in Latin America live under various forms of “violent peace.” Although most states are not at war formally, the means of violence have not receded despite several “waves of democratization,” and in fact, these have become normalized or concealed in everyday relations. Latin America today is reported to have the highest rate of homicides, worst levels of economic inequality, deadliest settings for environmental defenders, highest levels of police-committed killings, and highest levels of gender-based violence in the world. Likewise, it showcases a wide range of political plurality and representation, cultural and biological diversity, and rich historical trajectories often marked by successful struggles for alternative worlds, social justice, and international peace. This interdisciplinary course centers on a comparative, thematic, and chronological study of Latin America to understand the layered meanings and forms of violence, different methods and challenges of promoting justice, and lessons from attempts to build durable peace.

We are excited about these new courses and the opportunity to expand our department’s offerings. Thank you Prof. Wilson Becerril!

Prof. Michael Wilson Becerril
Professor Michael Wilson Becerril
Prof. Michael Wilson Becerril

Prof. Michael Wilson Becerril Joins Peace and Conflict Studies Faculty

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of Dr. Michael Wilson Becerril as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Peace and Conflict Studies Department!

Prof. Wilson Becerril will bring new courses into our curriculum, and this fall semester 2022, he will offer PEAC 030: War in Lived Experience and PEAC 045: Peace and Conflict in Latin America. Check out the course descriptions and take advantage of the add period.

Dr. Wilson Becerril joins us from the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN and before that the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, where he completed majors in Political Science and International Studies, with minors in Peace Studies, Anthropology, and History. 

Of ten fellowships he has held, two include the Jennings Randolph Peace Scholarship at the United States Institute of Peace and a Ph.D. Fellowship with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. 

Prof. Wilson Becerill’s first book, Resisting Extractivism: Peruvian Gold, Everyday Violence, and the Politics of Attention is published with Vanderbilt University Press. He is the author of peer-reviewed articles in journals that include Journal of Resistance Studies, Terrorism and Political Violence, Peace Review, and Feminist Review. Michael is also a public intellectual, publishing regularly in popular journalistic and online outlets.

Mike says that his scholarship “generates practical and policy-relevant understandings of pressing issues, focusing on how the environment is entangled with various forms of conflict and violence as well as with diverse notions of justice, peace, and security—particularly in Latin America.”

Prof. Wilson Becerill is an experienced instructor of peace and conflict studies courses including:

  • Introduction to Peace and Conflict
  • Violence & Peace in Latin America
  • Environmental Justice in Latin America
  • Conflict Resolution
  • War in Lived Experience
  • International Human Rights and Advocacy

Mike says of his teaching: ”…my teaching is explicitly crafted to cultivate critical reflection, via discussion and writing, on structural and embodied forms of power—including race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, age, and more—investigating histories of oppression and resistance through the experiences and voices of marginalized groups.”

We look forward to Prof. Wilson Becerril’s arrival on campus. Drop by his office hours, and if you see him on a sidewalk, stop and welcome him!