The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) announces its Curriculum Fellowships to support and advance teaching in the field of civil resistance studies.
In 2015, up to six curriculum fellowships, each in the amount of $1,500, are offered on open, merit and competitive bases to academic instructors and high school teachers to develop ‘a curriculum unit’ on civil resistance. The unit will be incorporated into the existing elective or mandatory course taught either in the 2015 summer, 2015 fall or 2016 Spring semesters. The application deadline is February 2, 2015.
A curriculum unit would, at minimum, cover five 90-minute sessions during an academic course (either in fall, spring or summer semesters) and would consist of either instructor guides, readings, modules, exercises, or simulations in the field of civil resistance studies. It is strongly encouraged that a course hosts a suitable guest lecturer provided it syncs well with the content of the developed curriculum on civil resistance. It is also encouraged to video-record, edit and upload online the presentation for public viewing.
Resources
In developing the curriculum proposal, applicants are encouraged to review the ICNC universal e-classroom for ideas on new curriculum content in the field of civil resistance studies. In addition, applicants may wish to consider integrating into the sessions on civil resistance the following resources:
- People Power: The Game of Civil Resistance
- ICNC conflict summaries on civil resistance
- ICNC educational resources
- A Force More Powerful, 2000 documentary
- Bringing Down a Dictator, 2001 documentary
- Orange Revolution, 2007 documentary
- Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan, Why Civil Resistance Works. The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011)
- Ackerman, Peter, and Jack DuVall, A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict (New York: Macmillan, 2000)
- Maciej Bartkowski, ed. Recovering Nonviolent History. Civil Resistance in Liberation Struggles (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2013)
- Shaazka Beyerle, Curtailing Corruption. People Power for Accountability and Justice (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2014)
- A Diplomat’s Handbook for Democracy Development Support
- Applicants’ draft curriculum (submitted as part of the application process) should include a list of resources on civil resistance that an instructor plans to use in the course and should identify a potential guest speaker suitable for proposed civil resistance sessions.
Eligibility
Educators, teachers and academics from high schools, colleges and universities who are interested in expanding their institutions’ existing curriculum to include topics on civil resistance are encouraged to apply.
Since ICNC is interested in promoting teaching of civil resistance in academic institutions that have not yet developed coursework on the subject, we especially encourage applications from candidates who do not currently teach civil resistance at the institutions where they want to develop the new curriculum unit. We also prefer that the institutions have at present no courses on civil resistance offered as part of the departmental, school, or university curriculum.
Applications should demonstrate that the proposed new curriculum unit on civil resistance will not be temporary or implemented on a one-time basis, but rather that the applicant will make an effort to implement it in a regularly-offered course (i.e. at least once a year).
Award
In addition to financial support, each awardee will receive a package with some academic books and documentaries on civil resistance – provided by ICNC free of charge – to help the instructor with the implementation of the coursework.
How to Apply
To be considered applicants should fill out the online application form, submit their CVs and curriculum proposal, including a revised course syllabus.
The curriculum proposal should include a detailed description of the content of at least five 90-minute sessions with the assigned relevant literature that will become an integral part of the existing course. The applicant should also attach a revised syllabus that will include the new sessions on civil resistance and explain how these new topics relate to the existing course material. Finally, the proposal will identify the course number, its elective or mandatory status, departmental/institutional affiliation for the course, average number of enrolled students, and the semester when it will be offered.
Application Deadline
The deadline for proposal submissions is February 2, 2015 for the courses offered in summer or fall 2015 or spring 2016. The length of the review process will be determined by the number of applications, though it should not exceed four weeks after the deadline. Only selected candidates will be contacted.
Fellowships Distribution
The fellowships will be disbursed in two equal installments. The first installment will be made after the course begins (including the relevant modules on civil resistance), the student enrollment is confirmed and the syllabus with a civil resistance component has been satisfactorily reviewed by ICNC. The second installment will be made after the course ends and ICNC receives instructor’s and where possible students’ evaluations of the sessions that pertained to civil resistance studies.