Peace, Justice and Praxis
You also will connect your academic studies regarding peace and justice to “praxis” or “practice” – this will take place as you work with your faculty advisor to develop some sort of “hands on” experience that helps you to dig more deeply into real world peace and justice as it connects with your life, your course of studies, your own hopes and goals for your life.
Examples of praxis / internships taken on by our students:
Niki Maffettone: "Think Before You Drink"
I created a film that is the culmination of the Peace and Justice Studies Capstone, examining the culture of alcohol abuse among student athletes at ɫɫ, and directing my focus on the dangers this culture poses for student athletes. As a student athlete myself for four years, I draw on my own experiences to better understand and explain the alcohol abuse here at ɫɫ, as well as attempting to answer some questions by implementing interventions, raising awareness, and analyzing ways to help create change within this destructive environment.
**Special Note** Niki Maffettone is the first ɫɫ University student to complete the Peace Corps Preparation Program, and is serving in Ukraine.
Fatma Susan Tufan: "Missing Pieces of Peace and Justice: A Glance into the Lives of Incarcerated Women"
In my praxis project, I focused on the lives of incarcerated women and how social injustices in our society impact them. In order to discover missing pieces of peace and justice, I worked with incarcerated women at a facility in New Jersey, designing and implementing a writing course for women inmates. My goal was to create an environment with women in this facility to find open space to reflect on and write about their own lives and the connections therein with peace and justice questions, issues and dilemmas.
**Special Note** Fatma Susan Tufan was the recipient of the Academic Prize in Interdisciplinary Studies at ɫɫ University as a result of her work in the Peace and Justice Studies Program.
Dylan Grubb: “Understanding Masculinity and Violence on College Campuses”.
I knew that I had to do something to counter this violence. I decided to design a program that the fraternities would participate in, to talk about this problem. To design the program, I did both academic research on men's programs, and performed an ethnography on violence. This resulted in an intervention with a moderator to lead discussions with men on their perspectives on masculinity and violence.
Marissa Blose, English Major: In my Peace and Justice Capstone experience, I volunteered with LEPOCO, attending events sponsored by LEPOCO, contributing to their monthly newsletter and writing articles. In addition, I hosted poetry workshops through LEPOCO at the Bethlehem Library, where we read poetry about peace and social justice, do activities designed to spark inspiration, write poems, and critique one another’s’ work in a group setting.
Lydia Reynolds, Nursing Major: I worked to develop a response to the "Road to Health", in particular, to identify some systemic and institutional limitations not addressed in the original report. My focus regarded the connection between food and health, with a focus on industrialized food, and income/knowledge access to quality food in the Lehigh Valley. My goal was to improve awareness of community and healthcare professionals regarding the systemic negative influences on patient health which exist outside the agency of personal choice. In the end I became trained as an advocate for low income citizens attempting to apply for insurance through the Affordable Health Care Act in the Lehigh Valley.