Arrupe Jesuit University Short Courses

By | May 11, 2019
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Arrupe Jesuit University Short Courses

Short Courses

August – December 2018

ELECTIVE: BIOETHICS: ABORTION & EUTHANASIA

Dr. Buckland

These two issues in bioethics, the ‘ethics of life’, raise in a strikingly direct and immediate way fundamental questions about the nature, purpose and value of the lives of human persons, one at the beginning of life and the other at the end. To reflect on them is usually to encounter in oneself strong and even visceral emotions of sympathy and revulsion, and these reactions and the reasons for them are themselves not without philosophical interest. Such matters of life and death also evoke for many people important religious and theological principles. Neither are they without legal, political, social and economic dimensions. This course will treat the issues of abortion and euthanasia separately and will address them more narrowly from a philosophical point of view. That is to say, it will set aside both legal and religious considerations and, as far as possible, emotional reactions, and will focus on the arguments. Are there, or are there not, good rational grounds for maintaining either the moral permissibility or the moral impermissibility of abortion and/or of euthanasia? The first part of the course aims to familiarize students with arguments on both sides of these debates, as well as possible criticisms of these arguments, with the objective of allowing them to adopt a coherent and defensible position on both. In the second part of the course, the course will attempt to reflect at a ‘meta-ethical’ level on the nature and basis of the moral reasoning that is involved in making life choices of this kind; this will return our reflections to the social, economic and political contexts in which such reasoning takes place.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT AND TRAUMA COUNSELLING

Sr. Mandeya

This course equips the learners with the skills, knowledge, attitudes and competencies in identifying and responding to different types of hazards. This course helps individuals to respond to disasters and make recovery in disaster situations thereby enabling healing process and resilience to the survivors. This course is an essential one in the sense that disasters effects can erode years of developmental gains at different levels. If not addressed they can render organizations, communities and families dysfunctional. With increasing magnitude and impacts of disasters due to factors that include climate change, rapid urbanization and other human causes, disaster risk management should be deeply embedded in organizational culture and structures. Therefore, having skills, knowledge attitudes and competences on this subject would be of great importance to all human beings.

THE ART OF INSPIRING LEADERSHIP

Prof. E. Ngara

There is a leadership crisis in the world, and Africa is called upon to help the continent to rise and flourish. This course will teach students the fundamentals of leadership, and will equip them with skills, attitudes and habits that turn them into inspiring leaders for both church and state. Participants will interrogate the following topics, among others:

What are the essential qualities of a leader?
Is there a distinction between leadership, management and administration?
Is there a distinction between generic leadership and Christian leadership?
What kind of leadership did Jesus promote?
What is considered to be the highest form of leadership?

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES – SHORT COURSE

Dr. Kaulem

The course responds to the challenge that Pope Francis makes in Laudato Si. Working in the Jesuit tradition and drawing from African and other eco-spiritualities, the course will encourage students to gain scientific knowledge about the natural environment, appreciating the beauty of the natural world as well as the damage that human activities have contributed to its “woundedness”. The course will challenge students to develop ethical and spiritual awareness that will help them consider major moral questions around the environment and to critically discuss personal life-styles, human cultures and practices as well as public policies that affect the environment. Of particular interest will be an assessment of the interaction between the environment and the dominant models of the economy with their emphasis on growth, production-consumption, efficiency and rationalization.

Industrial Psychology

Fr. Makamure

This course will introduce you to the major concepts of and debates surrounding industrial psychology.

Industrial or Organisational Psychology is the application of psychological research and theory to human interaction (both with other humans and with human factors or machines and computers) in the workplace. The focus is on the people in these areas. This discipline takes research findings and theories that may have originally been used to explain a general phenomenon of human behaviour and applies them to human behaviour in the workplace. The course will attempt to answer the following questions; how do we decide whether a given applicant is fit for the job? How do we evaluate jobs? What type of leadership and group influence are at work in the workplace? How do working conditions affects job performance? What motivates people to work e.t.c

Sociology of Education

Fr. Makamure

Education like health is often seen as an unproblematic social good to which everyone is entitled as a right. Who would not be in favor of it? The sociology of Education is the study of how public institutions and individual experiences affect education and its outcomes. It is mainly concerned with public schooling systems of modern societies, including the expansion of higher, further adult and continuing education. Some of the issues we will deal with are: Why do we have an achievement gap between students from different communities, racial and ethnic groups and social classes.

What do societies want from school?

How do sociological lenses on education explain what works and what does not work in schools?

What role do social forces outside school have in student learning experiences and outcomes?

What is the relationship between society, schools, teachers and students?

Who gets ahead or falls in our schools and by what mechanisms?

Like health education is a complex political, economic and social issue. Sociology of education is a discipline that focuses on the role of education in society. It views education as social institution through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills and cultural of norms and values. This course will go a long way in analyzing education from social perspective and highly augments other disciplines in education currently taught at arrive college and will enhance the teaching capacity of students when they go for teaching practice.

Social Entrepreneurship

Fr. Okoh

Social entrepreneurship (SE) is blossoming in many regions around the world. Lauded as an important means for generating economic growth, addressing social issues, and creating community wealth, a growing number of thought leaders and organizations are fostering this entrepreneurial awakening. Collectively, they are contributing to the emergence of social enterprise as a “fourth sector” bridging the conventional rationalities of public, private and non-profit organizations. This emerging sector places social impact ahead of profits. It is unleashing creativity in solving vexing social problems and defining new market opportunities. It is also a potential wellspring for disrupting mainstream markets.

This course requires students to use a disciplined market-based approach to refining business plan recommendations for developing a sustainable and scalable solution. This analysis will encompass an assessment of strategy, environment analysis, and market segmentation. It will also encompass an assessment of critical success factors in value chain innovation, operations, and human talent, as well as organization and governance considerations. Particular attention will focus on business model innovation and the validity of assumptions about revenue and expense drivers, as well as the effective use of metrics to support continuous innovation adaptation, and learning, and to assess both social impact and financial viability.

African Psychology

Br. Zvaiwa

The course will deal with the cultural issue as seen from the perception of African Psychology. Traditionally from the western world it was believed erroneously that the African people had no psychology so whatever abstraction made from their lives was predicated on the western thinking.

This course will assist the learner to see African psychology as a way of thinking separate from the way it is seen by the outsiders. No condemnation will be made on the latter.

African Poetry

Prof. Chennells

The course will look at a range of poems written in or translated into English from different regions of Africa. We shall look at the earliest surviving poems from Egypt and poems whose origins are lost in time but which have survived as part of religious rituals, praise songs to local leaders or epics of a people’s heroic past. Most of the poems though will be those published in the twentieth century and they will be read chronologically. Anti-Colonial protest poetry characterized the poetry written before independence in most African countries. This is no longer the case and a wide range of themes both public and private are now being written from all over the continent. There is a vast amount of poetry being published each year and this shows that we are distanced from the preoccupations of the 1950s and 1960s

Disputes in Ethics

Mr. Ngirinshuti

It is often very difficult to pinpoint the right answer to some questions not because there are no answers but because (1) there are many answers and because (2) passions rather than reason dominate the debates. This is true of questions that are necessarily and simultaneously philosophical, political and moral. Abortion is a good prototype of such questions. In a number of countries, abortion is legal. But, what makes it legal? Does its legality make it morally permissible? What kinds of cases of abortion are illegal? In a number of debates, some answers to such questions are better or worse than others and they come from conservative, liberal or moderate schools of thoughts. Experience shows that it is not uncommon to find people who hold skeptical or cynical views about our capacity to answer a number of such controversial questions.

Social Spirituality

Fr. Von Nidda, SJ

Spirituality is often envisioned as comprising a vertical relationship between me and God. This is of course true, but it is inadequate. God’s spirit runs throughout creation. So an openness to that spirit implies an openness to all creatures of spirit. There is an essential social and eco-dimension to spirituality. Here we will concentrate on the social dimension. My relationship to God deeply affects and transforms my relationships with people, both as individuals and as social groupings. This course will explore these issues. Topics to be dealt with include the following:

  1. How does my spirituality affect the way I see others and interrelate with them? Difficulties in personal relationships are often dealt with on a purely psychological level. Important as this is, it neglects the deeper spiritual level where deepest love resides. Spirituality enters into all human relationships, including sexual ones. Is there such a thing as a spirituality of sex? If so, what is it and how does it transform the way we live out our sexuality?
  2. Coming to the wider social dimension, here too issues relating to this dimension are often treated on purely social, economic and political lines. Of course these are important, but are they enough? This course will aim to show that they are not. Deepest social problems are solved not only on the political and economic levels, but require a transformation of social consciousness if a healthy social order is to be lasting. This is the business of spirituality.
  3. This will be examined through exploring some biblical principles, particularly those enunciated and practiced by Jesus. We will also take a look at some great spiritual writers, both ancient and modern on this subject.
  4. Issues concerning the individual in society (like human rights) will be examined from the viewpoint of biblical spirituality and its emphasis on the dignity of the person as one made in the image and likeness of God.
  5. Wider social questions concerning governance and social justice will be looked at from Jesus’ spiritual teaching on the Kingdom.

Special Needs Education in Early Childhood Development 

Dr. T. Chikutuma, OP

The course explores how Early Childhood Development special needs children develop and learn. The students will also be equipped with ideas on how to encompass the planning of environments, strategies, resources and the assessment of ECD special needs children’s progress.

  • Aims

The course aims to help students:

  • establish conducive environments for special needs children.
  • integrate special needs education across the programme.
  • Objectives

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

  • develop skills of effectively dealing with special needs children at primary level
  • create special needs rich environments for all ECD children
  • integrate special needs education across the curriculum
  • design activities for enhancing development in ECD children with special needs

Gender Studies

Mrs Ndoro

Gender and Women Studies is an interdisciplinary program. Gender Studies and Women Studies courses examine women’s lives, conditions, and contributions within their historical, social, cultural, national and transnational contexts and explore how gender is constructed and negotiated within and across societies.  Women’s and men’s identities and experiences are examined through the constructs of gender, race, class, age, ability, sexuality, culture, religion, nation, etc. within broader historical, social, and global contexts, such as colonialism, globalization, among others.

Through feminist and gender-based theories and methodologies, the Gender and Women Studies Program offers critical analyses, reflections, and contributions to knowledge regarding interlocking systems of oppression and privilege, thereby addressing issues of power, resistance and social transformation.  In addition, the emphasis on critical theory and analysis allows for work that interrogates feminist discourses as well as those of other disciplines in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.  By crossing the boundaries of traditional fields of study, the program seeks to create new, coherent understandings of human experiences.

Latin Language Study

Dr. Chidavaenzi

Course description

Studying the Latin language provides students with a literary perspective which they would otherwise never experience such as precision and insight into cognate languages such as Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Rumanian and the origin of many words used in the English language. It also provides one with an access into Latin classics, the Latin Bible translations such as the Vulgate, and Church documents and to appreciate certain succinct terminologies used in civil law and philosophy.

Aim and Objective

The aim of the course is the study of the Latin language. In order to do that the course will familiarize the student with the five areas of language that apply to any language but here will be applied to the Latin language, namely:

Phonology, which looks at and describes the sound system of Latin

Morphology which looks at the way words are formed in Latin

Syntax which seeks to describe the way words fit together to form sentences or utterances in Latin

Semantics and Pragmatics which is the study of meaning

Grammar which in our case is a descriptive grammar that is a systematic description of the Latin language as found in sample of written materials (e.g. in classics, Church document or the Bible)

This approach is meant to assist the student at this introductory level to develop a competence in the Latin language to read, understand and appreciate some texts in the original Latin to acquire a taste of the logic, clarity and precision of the language to develop the required analytical grammatical demands of the Latin group of languages and yet acquire the love and liking for the beauty of the Latin language.

Corporate Governance

[New Faculty]

Given the prevailing highly competitive, global operating environment characterized by Complex business requirements, the need for good corporate governance is increasing. Worldwide questions are being asked around issues of accountability, transparency, value addition, legitimacy and overall credibility of corporate institutions from various stakeholders i.e Shareholders, taxpayers, customers etc. Good Corporate Governance has emerged not only as an essential tool to enhance professionalism but more importantly, to ensure business operations are effective, sustainable, efficient and positively perceived by all stakeholders. The credibility of an organization can be enhanced by adherence to the principles and practices of good corporate governance.

2. PROGRAMME AIMS

 The Programme aims are threefold:

 _To equip participants with skills to set an ethical governance tone within their respective organisations with a view to ensuring that business practices within their entities are sustainable;

 _To enhance the practical skills needed by participants to positively contribute to the performance of their Boards; and

 _To define the clarity of roles and responsibilities of boards, management and staff so as to determine the power relations, balance of authority and the extent to which an organization will be run smoothly, effectively and efficiently.

There is increasing global attention on how corporate bodies are being run particularly in respect to their performance, service delivery and social accountability.


Electives and Short Courses

Second Semester 2016-2017

  • CHINUA ACHEBE: THINKER AS ARTIST

Prof. Anthony Chennells

Achebe is probably Africa’s most important writer and in this course we will look at four of his novels:  Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, A Man of the People and Anthills of the Savannah and at some of his non-fiction selected from Morning Yet on Creation Day, Hopes and Impediments and Home and Exile.  As the title of the course suggests we will show how Achebe uses the form of the novel and its dependence on character and the temporal and geographical positioning of narrative to reproduce the diversities of African knowledge systems which are both rooted in past cultures and open to development or perhaps decadence. This rejection of novelty and openness to change in traditional societies are particularly evident where the novels deal with societies in the process of radical transformation. In novels that deal with independent Africa there is an absence of shared ideology although perhaps the novels themselves are indicating the content new ideologies may assume.The non-fictional work will show us a fine African thinker addressing a wide range of issues in contemporary Africa  although we will have to consider whether his fiction shows Achebe dealing with African thinking with greater complexity than in writing that is arguing for a particular political position or dealing with issues that are only of local or immediate  interest

 

  • Charles Taylor on the ‘Sources of the Self’

Dr. Stephen Buckland

characterised by deep divisions regarding the understanding of human nature.  These divisions have roots in the cultural and philosophical traditions to which we, as ‘modern’ men and women, are heirs.  Charles Taylor, in his ambitious book, *Sources of the Self* (1989), has attempted to “articulate and write a history of the modern identity”, by which he means “the ensemble of (largely unarticulated) understandings of what it is to be a human agent: the sense of inwardness, freedom, individuality, and being embedded in nature”, understandings which are at home in the modern West.  These questions are, however, not merely abstract intellectual and philosophical matters.  Concepts of identity shape culture and society, morality and rationality.  In this course we will together read major chapters of *Sources of the Self*, with occasional reference to other material.

  • Gabriel Marcel on Reflection, Intersubjectivity, Freedom, Hope and Other Themes

Prof. Johnny Stacer

 

Gabriel Marcel (1889-1974) – playwright, composer, and philosopher – experienced the brokenness of society, particularly during the two World Wars.  In response he developed and communicated a hope-filled, concrete philosophy that challenges us to respect the unconditional dignity of every human person.  His twenty-chapter The Mystery of Being and other writings guide us to live freely as unique, feeling persons called by the Ultimate Thou to a communion which overcomes the brokenness.  Partly through flexible concepts such as reflection, intersubjectivity, freedom, and hope Marcel invites us to be lively, creative, available, at home with ourselves, with one another, and with our world.

We read three chapters most weeks during the first 2/3 of the course.  Seminar members take turns leading discussions on what each considers the chapter’s most practical points, on questions it raises, and on what each appreciates most and criticises most.  At the last class  on each of the two volumes, each member submits a 750-1000 word essay – ‘My Top Practical Reflection Invited by Reflection and Mystery’ for volume I and ‘My Top Practical Reflection Invited by Faith and Reality’ for volume II. Each turns in the essay and tells about it concisely during the class.

During the last 1/3 of the course, each member chooses for the group’s reading and leads discussion on a chapter from Homo Viator or another Marcellian source other than The Mystery. Chapters may be chosen as helps to writing a 1500 to 2000 word essay on ‘A Marcellian Response to a Burning Issue in Contemporary Africa’, which members present orally during one of the last two classes  and submit in writing prior to the beginning of the final written exams in other courses.

 

  • Morality in African Modernity

Dr David Kaulemu

This is a course that tries to understand the nature, status and effect of morality in the context of the experiences of modernity in Africa. It analyses the ethical paradox that explains why Africans, especially African leaders are ambivalent about modern morality. They are both inspired by it yet they also are also suspicious of it. The course applies this paradox to the major institutions of African modern social order. This is not an introductory course.

Aims and Objectives

  1. To interrogate the modern social order and how it is instantiated in Africa.
  2. To make sense of the nature of morality that is constructed in African modernity
  3. To understand the moral ambivalence experienced in African modernity and how it impacts on possibilities for development and social justice.
  4. To encourage reflection on how to deal with African ethical ambivalence.

 

  • Introduction to Catholic Social Teaching

Dr. David Kaulemu

This is an introductory course in Catholic Social Teaching. It will introduce the history of the Catholic social teaching tradition and the major values and principles. The course will focus on a close reading and discussion of three major documents that are relevant to the African context.

Aims and Objectives

  • To introduce the major CST concepts, values and principles
  • To encourage students, especially the lay faithful to be familiar with and reflect on CST.
  • To reflect on the relevance of Catholic Social Teachings to African contexts.
  • Discuss the limits of Catholic Social Teaching.

 

  • Elective: Using Microsoft Office, Photo Editing, and Picasa.

Dr. Keith Esenther

This course examines the menus of MS Office in depth. The final grade is based on a single PowerPoint presentation on a theme developed by the student.

  • Social Psychology

Fr. K. Makamure

Social psychology is a discipline that uses scientific methods in an attempt to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influenced  by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others.  Issues that are dealt with the self and its development the self as the target of attention and contemplation, social perception n biases in personality  judgements, attitudes, social influence, interpersonal attraction, prejudice and discrimination, group behaviour etc. the course will help students to understand how their behaviour influences by those around  them and this course will go a long way in enhancing community living and quality formation.

 

  • Governance in Africa Code: APH 602

Sr Mandeya

This course seeks to develop critical understanding of the concept of governance and its interplay with the values of democracy and development. It examines some issues of governance, social responsibility and control. The course makes students to appreciate the growing international consensus that good governance is vital for the democratization and poverty eradication. During this course we explore the complex relations between law, governance and challenges in Africa.

  • Issues of Gender in Society

Mrs R. Rufu

This course offers an introduction to issues of gender such as gender relations in society, and evolution of approaches to the conceptualization of gender. It explores a number of prominent answers to questions and issues such as,

  • What is gender equality?
  • How is equality achieved?
  • How different  is  gender  from  sex  and  are  the  two  independent?
  • Gender and Culture
  • Gender and Religion
  • Gender and Violence

Broadly  speaking,  the  course  also  reviews  women’s position in  the narrative  of  academic  discourse  and  broadens  the  understanding  of  the  forces  that  have oppressed  them  from  the  past.  We will also explore how gender identities were shaped by politics of race, class, community, religion and nation in different parts of the world.

  • Introduction To International Relations

Mrs R. Rufu

International Relations is a course that examines the behaviour of states and international organisations. The multi – dimensional and changing international environment influencing relations between and among states and other global actors. That is, behaviours that ultimately shape the international political, economic and security system, and the level of both conflict and cooperation that characterises the contemporary world. States relate through various processes including war and diplomacy, trade economics, politics and security. The course considers states as sovereign and principle actors in the international system. However, some states are more powerful than others. The system has a number of informal rules about how things should be done, but these rules are not binding.

 

  • (Major Thinker) Aquinas’ Moral Philosophy

Dr. T. Sherman

In this elective course we will study Aquinas as a major thinker by examining Aquinas’ moral philosophy as found (mainly) in his Summa Theologiae I-II and we will focus especially on Aquinas’ understanding of natural law and how this understanding o f natural law has contributed to our understanding of the moral issues involved in the life of the family and in particular human sexuality and we will try to do this in the African context.

  • Introduction to the Philosophy of Time (Masters)

Dr. T. Sherman

In this masters level course we will explore the nature of time.  Not unlike God, in time we live and move and have our being but (as with God) we usually take time for granted.  In this course we will try to think seriously about the nature of time to see if a better understanding of time might have some positive practical impact on our lives.   To help us do this, we will read and discuss important contributions to our understanding time from a number of classical (Plato, Aristotle, Augustine), modern (Kant) and contemporary (McTaggart, Heidegger) philosophers as well as consider some contributions offered from classical and relativity physics.  The class will be conducted as a seminar with students taking turns preparing short introductions to the material for each class and prepared to lead discussion.

  • Guidance and Counselling

Dr. T Chikutuma

This course is designed to help the student explore and consider what therapists believe to be fundamental issues in the guidance and counselling process. It will compare what different therapists believe guidance and counselling is with the system of education prevailing in their times. It will also examine the extent to which the therapists have influenced guidance and counselling practice in both the short term and long term.

 

AIMS

The course aims to help the student to:

  • relate Psychological theory to guidance and counseling;
  • develop skills of educational enquiry which assist in the understanding of guidance and counselling;
  • acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes consistent with guidance and counselling;
  • gain an awareness of current issues and the implications to guidance and counselling, and

 

 OBJECTIVES

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

  • display an understanding of the Psychological framework within which guidance counselling operates in schools and other educational institutions work;
  • illustrate an understanding of the theory underlying guidance and counselling
  • project a holistic view of the developing child at various stages of development in relation to guidance and counseling;
  • guide and counsel students according to their individual differences including those with special needs;

 

  • Phenomenology of Religion

Mr. Zangairai

The central gaol of this course is to discern the meaning of religion from a phenomenological perspective along –side the traditional methods of studying religion. It also aims at critically examining the strengths and weaknesses of the phenomenological approach in the study of religion. The course seeks to examine methods of studying of religion and explore categories of religious phenomena among them myths, rituals, sacred places, objects, calendars (time), practitioners,  etc. Sacred religious traditions are studied in overview including  the traditional religion of Zimbabwe. Hinduism, Islam and Taoism are treated the same.

Objectives

1: to introduce the student to some of the main areas in the study of religion.

2: to acquaint the student with the issues of method in the field of religious studies.

3: to stimulate an appreciation of the indispensable tool of studying religion “sui generis” in the leaner in order to cultivate the objectivity of any religious tradition without value judgement.

See also  BUSE Bachelor of Environmental Science Honours Degree in Safety, Health and Environmental Management(Block Release and Conventional)

4: to encourage a value free and independent mind in the student when approaching a religion which is not theirs.

5: to introduce the student to the basic history and beliefs of the religious studies.

6: to cultivate an appreciation of the religious diversity in the world.

7: to challenge the student to dispel prejudices when studying other people’s religions and be ready to dialogue fraternally with them.

 

  • Political Theology

Mr . Zangairai

The Scope and goal of this course is to discern and examine the meaning of Political Theology in the contemporary world.  The course will make an exploration the theological ideas, views and issues as well as treating the historical events, the different movements and the leading figures.  Eventually the course will make a critical reflection on the relevance of the present polotical dispensation and the christian faith at large.

AIMS

The course aims at presenting the students with the diversity, richness and significance of Political Theology.  It also aims at making students appreciate and relate the different political thought systems and make that appreciation applicable to contemporary christian who is also a political theologian.

OBJECTIVES

  1. To incroduce the student to the main stream political theology in the Church.
  2. That the student is able to make a survey about the critical issues in Political Theology to the present generations of students and those to come.
  3. To stimulate an appreciation of the indispensability of the interactive between the Church and secular society.
  4. To cultivate in the student the need to contribute to the welfare of the church and state in an informed manner
  5. To challenge the student to identify major trends in theology today and that the student examines them with a critical mind.

 

  • PHILOSOPHY AND MODERN PHYSICS

Mr Mayamiko Kachipapa

Physics has claimed primacy among the natural sciences since Galileo. Although this claim to primacy is now being challenged, with fundamental and illuminating discoveries coming from such branches as neuroscience, physics still sets the bar for scientific knowledge and the scientific worldview. Philosophers who ignore physics risk being ignored. But physics itself continues to undergo momentous changes with new perspectives from Quantum physics. This course will introduce students to the key aspects of classical, relativistic and quantum physics, such as the nature of inertial frames, space and time, relativistic paradoxes, simultaneity, wave-particle duality, measurement, and entanglement. We will begin by looking at notions of space and time in modern physics. We will then move on to the philosophical puzzles raised by quantum physics and explore whether quantum physics offers us a complete description of reality. We will also deal with the major issues in cosmology and explore how shifts in cosmological thinking ultimately changes whole world views. It is hoped that by the end of the course the student will be able to reflect on the relationship between physics and philosophical analysis.

  • Further Logic

Dr. Kizito Kiyimba, SJ

Many departments of Philosophy around the world, and especially in the analytic tradition expect of their students to take a course in symbolic logic. Symbolic logic is a more powerful tool of analysis for validity than traditional logic. In it the student is introduced to and taught critical, systematic, and rigorous thinking (and writing) through the treatment of argument structure and evaluation; propositional and predicate logic, and the calculus that underlies these forms of reasoning. The uses of the subject reach beyond philosophy into mathematics, computer science, artificial intelligence, strategy, to mention but a few. Contrary to Arrupean rumours, you do not need a background in higher mathematics to profit maximally from this course. The concepts are explained in accessible ways, even to people who claim they have a “mathematics allergy” on to Statistical Analysis – Dr. Susan Nduna (New Faculty)

  • Introduction to Statistical Analysis II

Dr. Susan Nduna

Numeracy is another aspect of human understanding that is seriously lacking in most modern education. The emphasis is usually placed on reading and writing languages that the aspect of calculations and understanding of numbers and statistical data is ignored. This course will explore statistical understanding of data through the exploration of probabilities, operations research and decision making. Numbers tend to scare people away, yet within the numbers lies the root of all understanding of the known world. This course will expose students to basic statistics and the use of statistical data in decision making, management and in accounting.

  • Liturgy And Inculturation

Rev. J. Togarepi (New Faculty)

Preamble

This course seeks to make students aware that inculturation is the continuous effort of the Church in achieving “ that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations” (SC14” It ushers the candidates into the process of inculturation by providing relevant content and skills for them to be animators in their Christian communities.

Aims

This course aims at:

  • Defining and describing the process of liturgical inculturation.
  • Ushering students into the process of contextualizing Christian worship into their cultural set up.

Objectives

At the end of the course, students should be able;

  • Discuss the nature and process of liturgical inculturation.
  • Promote and supervise the adaptation and inculturation of liturgy/Christian worship in their Christian communities. Students are expected to approach and to take advantage of the possibilities of adaptation and inculturation in a critical and creative way.
  • The Thought of Georg W. Hegel

Mr. F. Koshoffa

The course is an introduction to the speculative thought of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. The Hegelian method of thinking, which is dialectical in nature will be explored as a way of entering into Hegelian metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy and philosophy of religion. These various schools of philosophy form the building block of the Hegelian system.  Hegel takes up the lingering discussion regarding consciousness, its contents and the possibility of knowledge. In the final analysis, he affirms that knowledge is possible, and this knowledge is absolute. In this way, Hegel hopes to dispel the ‘ghost’ of skepticism that has haunted philosophy with the advent of Cartesian thinking and carried forward by Kantian thought in affirming the unknowable status of das Ding an sich.

Hegel’s analysis of philosophical disputes is also reflected in the way he understands our social reality and human progress. He uses the concept ‘spirit’ as a hermeneutical category to aid a better understanding of history and our social reality. Familiarity with the Hegelian method is an indispensable tool for the student of philosophy since it deepens our sense of history, be it personal, communal, national, local or global.

The implication of Hegel’s metaphysical analysis of freedom, using history and the unfolding of ‘spirit’, for state and political and moral life will also be discussed in the course. All these will lead to the consideration of religion, which is an absolute necessity in the unfolding of ‘spirit.’

  • Practicum in Retreat Direction

Fr. Von Nidda

This is a sequel to the course on contemporary Ignatian Spirituality that is taught in the first semester. It is a required course for Jesuits. The two courses are required for graduation.

  • Introduction to ICT Networking

Dr. E Ekwueme

This is an introductory course on computer networking, the web technologies and social media. It will introduce students to networking essentials, wireless networking technologies and basic network securities. The basic requirement for enrolment in the course is a functioning laptop and curiosity to explore the basics of ICT.

  • Amartya Sen and the Capability Approach

Prof L. Daka SJ

DESCRIPTION

Doing well is not enough we also need to do good. But how can we evaluate the quality of life, human happiness, and achieve human well-being? What are development and the freedom to live worthwhile lives? These are some of the questions answered by the Capability Approach which is a philosophical framework and informational basis Amartya Sen proposes for evaluating a person’s individual and social advantages. Sen is arguably one of the most polarizing economic and philosophical thinkers of our time, and his brain child, the Capability Approach, now permeates many influential academic and practical fields and institutions including influential the UN’s different branches – especially the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and many functioning and developing democracies. Understanding Sen’s thought can provide many approaches and answers as well as questions to complex realities of our time especially in the developing world. Sen thinks life is better with expanded capabilities. This course explores Sen’s influence and contribution as an economist and philosopher, his discontent with ethical and economic theories as debated by mainstream economists, utilitarianism, the seminal work of Rawls and its influence on Sen. Considerable time will be spent on studying the idea of the capability approach by focusing on, but not exclusively, functionings and capabilities, commodities and capabilities, freedom and development, and social justice. Major themes of human development, Economic growth, equitable and inequitable distribution of resources, poverty, governance, cosmopolitanism (globalization), policy, public reason, Profit-People-Planet (PPP) argument, and Financial and Economic security and insecurity. We will also test the plausibility and credibility of the capability approach with realities and emerging challenges of many African countries. The course will adopt the lecture and discussion format.


Cognitional Theory of Bernard Lonergan – Dr. Glibert Mardai

John Stuart Mill – Mr.  Ngirinshuti Theogene (New Faculty)

Merleau- Ponty – Dr. Fidele Ingiyimbere, SJ (New Jesuit Faculty)

First Semester 2016-2017

John Dewey’s Philosophy of Education and Democracy — Prof. Johnny Stacer

Pragmatic philosopher John Dewey (1859-1952) passionately dedicated himself to bring theory and practice together, particularly in education. He founded and guided Chicago University’s ‘Laboratory School’ of primary education. He communicates what many consider the twentieth century’s most influential philosophy of education. He balances depth in epistemology, philosophical anthropology, ethics, psychology, political science, sociology, natural sciences, and humanities to fashion a philosophy which guides educators, other leaders, and all citizens to teach and live by wisdom relevant to our contemporary world of process and variety. He embodies this in Democracy and Education, our major text.

After the director guides the seminar group’s study of the first few chapters, each seminar member presents and leads discussion on one of the remaining chapters. In preparing to present each writes a preparatory draft of 700 to 900 words on what he or she finds most practical in the chapter, on questions the chapter raises, and on appreciating and criticising it. After the presentation and discussion, each revises to write an essay of 900 to 1100 words due at latest the last class before reading week.

During the seminar’s final part, each member writes on ‘A Deweyian Response to a Burning Issue in Contemporary Africa’, which members present orally and on which they guide discussion during a seminar meeting. In preparing they use to some extent a writing of       Dewey other than Democracy & Ed. Possibles include How We Think, Reconstruction in Philosophy, Human Nature and Conduct, Experience and Nature. An initial draft of 800 to 1000 words is submitted at least a week prior to the presentation, an essay of 1000 to 1200 words, revised in light of discussion, is due at latest the last class before study week.

Along with essays and presentations, one or two oral examinations, partly related with the essays but extending to other key reflections of the course, will contribute to assessment.

Immanuel Kant: Critique of Pure Reason – Mr. F. Koshoffa

The fundamental problematic which the CPR deals with is what can I know? Kant responds to this question by developing an anthropology of knowledge that is peculiar to us as human beings. In reconstructing Kant’s analysis of the epistemic possibilities available to us, one also engages in an investigation concerning the three faculties of the mind (sensibility, understanding and reason). Although the CPR is epistemological in nature, it nevertheless has far reaching consequences for traditional metaphysics, moral philosophy and also philosophy of religion. This elective then serves as a propaedeutic for a critical engagement of thought in the other aspects of philosophy. In addition, this elective will provide students with the skills necessary to have an easy access into the architectonic framework of Kantian thought. More importantly, students will be confronted with new way of doing philosophy, and this is the transcendental method.

Sigmund Freud                                 – Bro. Zvaiwa

When Freud was studied at universities there was no doubt he was a great authority  in the whole discipline of psychology and human development. Even today the position still stands but with very new ideas on his theories. Questions are being asked about this great thinker and psychologist. Was  he as irreligious as he was stigmatized? In Africa we also ask “Are his theories relevant to our situation.”

This course will look at Freud and his major theories:

  • Freud’s Psychodynamic theories
  • Freud and his psychosexual theories and stages of human development
  • Freud’s psychoanalytic theories
  • Freud’s religious affiliations or lack there of .

The course will also look at the idea of the unconscious mind [are we aware of what we do?]

Who is responsible for what we do [the conscious mind.]

The course will expose the student to the study of the psyche [the mind] namely

  • The ide
  • The ego
  • The superego
  • Freud also dealt with what is generally confused in our life today DEFEENSE MECHANISMS. We label people as having SOME DEFENSE mechanisms. Are they negative or they are ways of coping with life?

The students will be required to apply these theories to the African context and to be critical on their relevance.

Chiekh Anta Diop (African Philosopher) (Seminar) Dr. E. Ekwueme

Chiekh Anta Diop was a Senegalese Philosopher, Egyptologists and Linguist who created the first Carbon Dating System in Africa to scientifically examine the true identity of the ancient Egyptians. In general this course will examine his philosophy of African history. Africa is systematically erased or ignored in the general history of the world because of the simple notion that Africans or its inhabitants have contributed nothing to world civilization. This course therefore is not meant for such bigotry but to examine the origin of African civilizations, the present crisis and the future hope of self determination. His methodology of scientific and technological perspective to African problems will be equally explored.

Maximum No. of Students 10.

Philosophy of Mind  (MA Students)– Dr. S. Buckland.

The question of consciousness is crucial for contemporary philosophy, as much for the ‘analytical’ tradition as for the phenomenological’.  At the same time, consciousness is the subject of empirical research in a number of scientific disciplines, from psychology to neuro-physiology.  What is consciousness, and how is it related to our bodies and, in particular, to our brains?  Can a purely materialistic ontology, in which matter is the only reality, give an adequate and coherent account of consciousness?  Or is some form of dualism needed, an ontology that allows for the possibility of a non-material, non-physical component of reality?  Could computers, which are purely material, ever be conscious?  Are other animals conscious and, if so, is there any significant difference between our consciousness as human beings and

theirs?  For we are not merely conscious: we are *self-conscious*, conscious of ourselves *as being conscious. * And it is not merely that we are self-conscious: we are also able to reason and draw conclusions concerning the world (including ourselves) of which we are conscious.  What is the significance of these facts?  Using Edward Feser’s useful introduction, *Philosophy of Mind*:* a Beginner’s Guide* (2006), this course will engage with the contemporary debate in analytical philosophy about the ‘mind-body problem’, perception, dualism vs. materialism,

consciousness, thought, intentionality and persons.

Marxism, Liberalism and Laudato Si  – Dr Kaulem

The course reviews a number of carefully selected analytical articles on the ethical commitments of Marxism and Liberalism in order to compare, contrast and clarify the arguments of Ladato Si. It will grapple with issues raised in Pope Francis’s Encyclical including how to deal with social inequalities, distribution of social goods, role of technology, justice between generations, the ecological crisis and the common good.

Aims and Objectives

  • To introduce students to the main ethical concepts inspired by marxism and liberalism.
  • To introduce the Laudato Si
  • To encourage students to reflect on selected ethical issues raised in Laudato Si
  • To stimulate students into the Catholic social justice tradition of social analysis and building social conscience.

 

Aesthetics or Philosophy of Art – Mr. Zhou Anold (New Faculty)

This course will explore the history of philosophy of art and examination of key philosophers in the field of aesthetics. It will also aim to examine African notions of arts and the philosophies behind African arts.

Art and Political Ideology: Ngugi Wa Thiong’o – Prof. A. Chennells

Ngugi wa Thiong’o is one of Africa’s most important novelists and has also published several collections of essays which are often concerned with how Africa can recover from the consequences of its historical connections with the West both through slavery and colonisation and the continuing implications of its colonial heritage. The course will look at three of Ngugi’s novels from an early novel which can be characterised as an expression of cultural nationalism to novels which show him beginning to employ an orthodox Marxism to identify and analyse the various ideologies that shape Africa. We will also look more briefly at how both nationalism and Marxism inform Ngugi’s theoretical writing and consider his debt to Fanon. The principal focus of the course will be on how narratives can encourage readers or an audience to identify complexity in Africa’s public life and recognise the range of responses that are possible if we wish to come to terms with this complexity

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:  By the end of the course we will have a detailed knowledge of the three fictional texts and we will have discussed how Ngugi shifts from the cultural retrieval of The River Between to socialist realism, a concept which accurately describes the structures and informing ideologies of both A Grain of Wheat and Petals of Blood. We will also have looked at some of Ngugi’s theoretical writing and how his ideas are reproduced  and possibly transformed in his fiction. We will have had to consider how important Marxism is to his view of Africa or whether he writes more as an African nationalist than as a socialist. We will have to ask what Ngugi’s contribution has been to our understanding of post-colonial Africa and whether both nationalism and socialism have had the same importance in the continent that he implies that they should have. We will also have to consider what role urbanization and industrialization have played in creating modern Africa and how Ngugi regards these historical processes. We will have identified Ngugi’s debt to Fanon and recognised how the two thinkers differ from one another. Above all we will have seen how Ngugi is an artist who uses various narrative devices, particularly flash-backs, multiple narrators and allegory in order to describe the complex political processes which Africa has experienced.

THE ART OF INSPIRING LEADERSHIP (Saturdays 3-5:30 PM) Prof. E. Ngara (New Faculty)

There is a leadership crisis in the world, and Africa is called upon to help the continent to rise and flourish. This course will teach students the fundamentals of leadership, and will equip them with skills, attitudes and habits that turn them into inspiring leaders for both church and state. Participants will interrogate the following topics, among others:

  • What are the essential qualities of a leader?
  • Is there a distinction between leadership, management and administration?
  • Is there a distinction between generic leadership and Christian leadership?
  • What kind of leadership did Jesus promote?
  • What is considered to be the highest form of leadership?

 

African Theology – Mr. F. Zangairai

The course introduces students and initiates the student to the African theological school. The course will undertake the survey of the interrelationship between Christian and African heritage: an examination and exploration of what African theology is and the historical development of this discipline. Special attention will be paid to the basic sources of African Christian theology, Africanization, accommodation or adaptation, inculturation and vernacularization. It treats principally major African theological reflections such as the meaning of liberation theology in Africa, the faces of Jesus in Africa and the theology of land in Africa. The study concludes by way of making a reflection on the African view of the fall, peace and reconciliation, essence of marriage, celibacy, veneration of ancestors, African initiated (indigenous, independent, instituted churches) theology and eventually African theology in the spirit of both ecumenism and religious pluralism. An appreciation of theologizing as an African and fraternal interaction with other global theologies will be expected of the student at the close of the course.

Christianity in Africa  – Mr. F. Zangairai

This course traces the Christian presence and its impact in Africa through the centuries beginning with Christianity in Egypt down to the present day. It examines the supplanting of Christianity by Islam, the various missionary movements, the emergence of Independent churches and the growth of Black Theology. It enhances the knowledge and appreciation of Christianity as a religion in Africa.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of the course is to enlighten the students the history behind the advent of Christianity in Africa, the work that the early missionaries did in Africa, so that they appreciate the hard work and guard the Christian legacy jealously in Africa all for the glory of God in contemporary Africa and the entire world.

 

Sociology of Education – Dr. Nyandoro

This course deals with how membership in a specific socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, linguistic, political or other group affects one’s access to and success in the educational setting.  Recent research, some of which contradicts long/established theories, will be explored.  Students will be expected to apply the concepts to the African context.

 

Special Needs Education in Early Childhood Development – Dr. T. Chikutuma

The course explores how Early Childhood Development special needs children develop and learn. The students will also be equipped with ideas on how to encompass the planning of environments, strategies, resources and the assessment of ECD special needs children’s progress.

  • Aims

The course aims to help students:

  • establish conducive environments for special needs children.
  • integrate special needs education across the programme.
  • Objectives

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

  • develop skills of effectively dealing with special needs children at primary level
  • create special needs rich environments for all ECD children
  • integrate special needs education across the curriculum
  • design activities for enhancing development in ECD children with special needs

 

Psychology and Spirituality– Fr. K. Makamure

Psychology is a science and community of scholarship whose endeavour is to utilise rational models to organise empirical data about human mental functioning and behaviour. What aspect of human function and experience could be more challenging and interesting than spirituality? This course is designed to introduce students to the psychological study of spirituality through a critical and reflective study of major themes and perspectives that characterise psychology and apply them to spirituality. It takes into consideration various sub-discipline of psychology like developmental and educational psychology personality psychology, social psychological  and industrial psychology and from these draw a variety of theoretical  approaches to psychological aspects of spirituality. The course is especially characterised by its attention to both theory and practice in the field of psychology and its relevance to select issues in pastoral care and practice. Also ground is laid  for students to Ignatian spirituality helping skills and counselling.

African Psychology  – Br. Zvaiwa

The course is meant to make the student familiar with the current wave towards Afrocentric thinking. African Psychology has not been given its place in the academic field. With the current thinking of many universities and colleges the course definitely will find a home in those institutions that have  Centres for African Studies. The course will look at new thoughts in African psychology as brought in by contemporary writers like Azibor, Akibar and others who have championed  the revival of this discipline.

Methodology

Students will  be encouraged to make their own decisions on African Psychology after some personal research, lectures and readings. Theories come from research and this is the main thrust of the course. Some of the questions to be answered include; ‘How does African Psychology differ from Western psychology, Asian psychology?”

Photographic and Motion Media – Dr. K. Esenther

This course intends to provide resources and projects in producing effective photographs and short films. The final project for the course will be a 5-10 minute movie showing how to take photographs and digital films.

Introduction to Project Management and Planning – Mr. Kirenga

Projects are all around us. Virtually every organization runs projects, either formally or informally. We are engaged in projects at home and at work. Across settings, planning principles and execution methodologies can offer ways in which projects can be run more effectively and efficiently. Project management provides organizations (and individuals) with the language and the frameworks for scoping projects, sequencing activities, utilizing resources, and minimizing risks. In this course, you will acquire such skills.

Introduction to Project Planning and Management will introduce basic concepts from project planning, critical path method, network analysis, and simulation for project risk analysis. You will gain an appreciation for what is required in planning and executing both small and large-scale projects and gain an understanding of Agile Project Management principles. Together, we will develop an awareness of some behavioral biases that come to play in project settings and identify how these impact the planning and execution of a project.

By the end of the course, learners will be equipped with the language and mind-set for planning and managing projects by properly setting project goals and objectives, and thus able to prioritize amongst project objectives. Learners will be more cognizant of considering project stakeholders’ opinions, recognize the need and benefits from proper project planning, be aware of the different project lifecycle stages and the role each stage has in the evolution of a project, and will be capable of selecting the most appropriate project management methodology given the project objectives, the degrees of uncertainty, and the project constraints.

Peace & Conflict Management  Sr. Mandeya

This course employs on the causes of conflict and violence and the ways to resolve, manage, and control both violent and nonviolent conflicts at all levels such as international, national, intergroup and interpersonal. Conflict presents an opportunity for personal change and transformation, strengthened relationships, improved communications, problem solving, collaboration, and social change. Hence the course is intended to provide students with knowledge and skills on approaches to conflict resolution such as negotiation, mediation, and facilitation. It also analyses leadership roles in reconciliation, mediation, and conflict management. The course critically examines the link between leadership Conflict Transformation and Peace building.

 

Introduction to Public Administration  – Dr. R. Rufu

Public Administration is a multidisciplinary field that seeks to understand the internal structure and functioning of government taking into account complex intertwined and interdependent societal changes. Basically, how government implements its rules, policies and norms. The strategies used by bureaucratic authorities to interact with a civilized, multifaceted, and modern society.

Religion and Politics           – Dr. R. Rufu

The main objective of the course is to evaluate recent research on the role of religious actors, institutions, and ideologies in policymaking, state-building, democratic politics, regime change, conflict, war, and other political processes.

Introduction to Statistical Analysis – Dr. Susan Nduna (New Faculty)

Numeracy is another aspect of human understanding that is seriously lacking in most modern education. The emphasis is usually placed on reading and writing languages that the aspect of calculations and understanding of numbers and statistical data is ignored. This course will explore statistical understanding of data through the exploration of probabilities, operations research and decision making. Numbers tend to scare people away, yet within the numbers lies the root of all understanding of the known world. This course will expose students to basic statistics and the use of statistical data in decision making, management and in accounting.

Saturdays 2PM-4PM

Workshop on Christian Prayer and Spirituality

Arrupe College August 10 – November 30, 2016

Fr. Tom Sherman, S.J. and Guest Lecturers

In this workshop we will explore various topics in Christian prayer and spirituality in theory as well as in practice.   We will meet Saturday afternoons from 2:00 until 4:30pm with a half hour coffee break at 3:00pm.  For those who wish, we will conclude our workshop each Saturday with the celebration of the Eucharist.

See also  BUSE Bachelor of Science Education Honours Degree in Chemistry (BScEdH)4 years

Our topics will include:

  1. Prayer and the types of prayer. How to pray, meditate, and contemplate.  How to pray with Scripture.  How to pray every day.  The challenges in prayer.
  2. Living the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Confession/Reconciliation.
  3. Different ways of living the Christian Life: the types of Christian spiritualities: the Contemplative and Active Life. The Spiritualities of the Laity, the Different Religious Orders, and Diocesan Priestly Spirituality.
  4. Special topics: forgiveness and reconciliation. Temptations and Responses.  Discernment of Spirits in one’s daily life.  The place of Mary and the Saints in the Christian life.

 

Saturdays 9AM-12PM

 

Applied Ethics for NGOs and Faith-based Social Centres

Arrupe College August 10 – November 30, 2016

Dr. David Kaulemu

 

  1. Course Description

This course introduces, analyses and discusses ethical frameworks relevant to NGO work and social centres – both faith-based and non-faith-based. It encourages students to reflect on various ethical principles and decision making, using case studies, codes, group discussions and other techniques encouraged in the Training for Transformation method.

 

  1. Aims and Objectives
  • To unpack and discuss the underlying ethical and spiritual assumptions made in NGO work and faith-based social apostolate.
  • To inform and inspire course participants to consider participating in development work.
  • Using participatory methods, to stimulate debate and evaluation of some existing NGO and social apostolate programmes.

To deepen self-reflection by participants with experience of development work.



Second Semester 2015/2016 Academic Session

 MAJOR THINKERS 

CHARLES TAYLOR ON THE SOURCES OF THE MODERN SELF

Dr. Stephen Buckland, SJ

Our times are characterised by deep divisions regarding the understanding of human nature. These divisions have roots in the cultural and philosophical traditions to which we, as ‘modern’ men and women, are heirs. Charles Taylor, in his ambitious book, Sources of the Self(1989), has attempted to “articulate and write a history of the modern identity”, by which he means “the ensemble of (largely unarticulated) understandings of what it is to be a human agent: the sense of inwardness, freedom, individuality, and being embedded in nature”, understandings which are at home in the modern West. These questions are, however, not merely abstract intellectual and philosophical matters. Concepts of identity shape culture and society, morality and rationality. In this course we will together read major chapters of Sources of the Self, with occasional reference to other material.

THE THOUGHT OF THOMAS REID

Mr. Francis Koshoffa, SJ

 Philosophers are generally accused of living in a world that is not accessible to the “ordinary person.” Thomas Reid shares this sentiment and locates the problem in the high sounding speculative metaphysics, which was the prevailing philosophy at the time. In an attempt to explain the nature of reality, philosophers resort to what Reid calls “the ideal system”, be it problematic or dogmatic. Such a system in Reid’s view is counterintuitive to our beliefs in daily life. In this elective, we shall see how Reid develops a philosophy that speaks to the “ordinary person”, a philosophy that is devoid of all paradoxes and obscurities. This is not to say that Reid waters down the rigorousness associated with the discipline of philosophy. On the contrary, by basing his philosophy on common sense, Reid systematizes philosophy in such a way that it becomes accessible to all so as to make philosophical sense of our ordinary affairs of life.

NATION, RACE AND IDENTITY IN THE WORK OF KWAME ANTHONY APPIAH

Prof. Anthony Chennells

Throughout Appiah’s career, he has contested the idea of identities that are dependent on origin or race and has argued that race in particular is a problematic concept. His argument is that identity is never something that is simply “known” but is constructed through experience and our national and/or cosmopolitan selves are acquired through performance in national or cosmopolitan contexts. Appiah’s arguments have sometimes aroused controversy and he has been accused of being anti-African and of not taking seriously a political agenda based on the fact of being black. Scholars of the stature of V.Y. Mudimbe and Henry Louis Gates, however, have collaborated with him and all of these thinkers have been concerned in different ways to deconstruct “Africa” as an essentialist category. The course will look at the ideas in three of Appiah’s works: In My Father’s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture (1998)Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers (2006); and Lines of Descent: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Emergence of Identity.

NGUGI WA THIONG’O: ART AND POLITICAL IDEOLOGY

Prof. Anthony Chennells 

Ngugi wa Thiong’o is one of Africa’s most important novelists and has also published several collections of essays which are often concerned with how Africa can recover from the consequences of its historical connections with the West both through slavery and colonisation and the continuing implications of its colonial heritage. The course will look at three of Ngugi’s novels: The River Between which can be characterised as an exploration of cultural nationalism; A Grain of Wheat which is informed by a more radical nationalism; and Petals of Blood which employs orthodox Marxism to identify and critique the various ideologies that shape Africa. We will also look more briefly at how both nationalism and Marxism inform Ngugi’s theoretical writing and consider his debt to Fanon. The principle focus of the course will be on how narratives can encourage readers or an audience to identify complexity in Africa’s public life and recognise the range of responses that are possible if we wish to come to terms with this complexity.

OTHER ELECTIVES

THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

Dr. David Kaulem

The Course reviews theories of development in the context of Africa’s need to escape poverty, hunger, ignorance and environmental disasters. It discusses the role of aid, trade, economic development and the respective roles played by governments, NGOs, civil society, business, churches and international organizations.

Aims and Objectives

  • To stimulate students to reflect on the meaning of development.
  • To develop a sense of the history of the discourse of development.
  • To problematize the development discourse and consider post-development.
  • To inspire students to take up the social apostolate and link it to the goals of their formation and life orientation.
  • To prepare students to participate in the active and continuing formation of the laity.

CHRISTIAN SOCIAL TEACHING, DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Dr. David Kaulem

The course is aimed at introducing the basic concepts, values and principles of Christian Social Teaching through the tradition of Catholic Social Teaching (CST). The course will apply the principles to issues in development and social justice in the African context. The course will cultivate a good understanding of three major Vatican documents making important assertions on social development and social justice (Rerum Novarum, Populorum Progressio & Gaudium et Spes ) and two major documents of the Africa Synod (Ecclesia in Africa (1994) & Africae Munus (2011). Major CST concepts will include the Common Good, Human Dignity, Solidarity and Subsidiarity. This course will support scholastics, pastors and consecrated man and women working or planning to work in the fields of development and social justice. Apart from that, it will inspire and give theoretical tools to professional lay people of faith working in government, private sector, civil society and the church. The course will also cultivate a good understanding of major church documents making important assertions on social development and social justice.

MIRACLES

 Dr. Stephen Buckland, SJ

Alongside the impressive prestige of science and technology, we find in modern societies such as ours persistent and sometimes sensational claims for miracles and other supernatural events. Miracles have long been part of religious traditions such as Christianity, as is evidenced in the New Testament, for example. The coming of ‘modernity’ and the advent of science have placed these ideas and claims in a radically new philosophical context. An examination of miracles, apart from its intrinsic interest, can reveal much about our conceptions – now and in times past – of God and God’s relations with the world and with us. This course will consider both the various philosophical theories of miracles which have been put forward, as well as the philosophical background of such ideas.

ETHICS OF WAR AND HUMANITARIAN ACTION

Dr. Evaristus Ekwueme, SJ

War is a common phenomena in the animal kingdom. However, no specie of animals, except the human primate, deliberately and systematically aims at the complete annihilation of an entire tribe, race, nation or continent of its kind. What a group has destroyed in war another group makes equal effort to restore in peace. This course will comprise of two dimensions, first, it will deal with traditional wars and their ethical theories. It will also examine the traditional humanitarian actions of restoration. Second, it will examine the contemporary national and international ethics of war and humanitarian actions in and after the wars. As case studies, the course will focus on three major conflicts in African history, the North-South Sudanese wars of independence, the Rwandan Genocide and the Biafra-Nigerian war. The participants will be required to research, reflect, discuss and write about any wars in Africa of their choice.

N:B. Please note that this is a seminar, not a lecture course. Maximum Numbers 10.

AFRICAN THEOLOGY

 Mr. F.T Zangairai

 The course introduces students and initiates the student to the African theological school. The course will undertake the survey of the interrelationship between Christian and African heritage: an examination and exploration of what African theology is and the historical development of this discipline. Special attention will be paid to the basic sources of African Christian theology, Africanization, accommodation or adaptation, inculturation and vernacularization. It treats principally major African theological reflections such as the meaning of liberation theology in Africa, the faces of Jesus in Africa and the theology of land in Africa. The study concludes by way of making a reflection on the African view of the fall, peace and reconciliation, essence of marriage, celibacy, veneration of ancestors, African initiated (indigenous, independent, instituted churches) theology and eventually African theology in the spirit of both ecumenism and religious pluralism. An appreciation of theologizing as an African and fraternal interaction with other global theologies will be expected of the student at the close of the course.

PEACE AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

Sr. Mandeya

This course employs on the causes of conflict and violence and the ways to resolve, manage, and control both violent and nonviolent conflicts at all levels such as international, national, intergroup and interpersonal. Conflict presents an opportunity for personal change and transformation, strengthened relationships, improved communications, problem solving, collaboration, and social change. Hence the course is intended to provide students with knowledge and skills on approaches to conflict resolution such as negotiation, mediation, and facilitation. It also analyses leadership roles in reconciliation, mediation, and conflict management. The course critically examines the link between leadership Conflict Transformation and Peace building.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT AND TRAUMA COUNSELLING

Sr. Mandeya

This course equips the learners with the skills, knowledge, attitudes and competencies in identifying and responding to different types of hazards. This course helps individuals to respond to disasters and make recovery in disaster situations thereby enabling healing process and resilience to the survivors. This course is an essential one in the sense that disasters effects can erode years of developmental gains at different levels. If not addressed they can render organizations, communities and families dysfunctional. With increasing magnitude and impacts of disasters due to factors that include climate change, rapid urbanization and other human causes, disaster risk management should be deeply embedded in organizational culture and structures. Therefore, having skills, knowledge attitudes and competences on this subject would be of great importance to all human beings.

INTRODUCTION TO LAW AND JUSTICE

Sr Mandeya

The course seeks to explore the concept of law and its social, economic, political, historical and philosophical context. This course not only provide students with knowledge of legal rules but also helps them to develop a critical understanding of the operation of those rules in society. The critical and analytical skills required by a lawyer are looked into in their valuable many contexts. This study is therefore, suitable not only for students who intend to seek entry into the legal professions but also for students intending to seek careers in many other areas, such as social worker, management, economics, pastoral ministry, and many others.

INTRODUCTION TO QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS

Lecturer: Rachel Rufu

The course introduces the language of conducting research, principal ethical considerations and challenges inherent in any research work. It offers an opportunity for students to develop a clear, logical, and conceptual understanding of the nature of empirical research in any field of interest. Fundamental focus will be on the principal research techniques, that is, qualitative, quantitative and mixed method approaches to collecting and analyzing relevant or applicable research data. Practical advice on preparing a research proposal, writing a literature review, and analyzing different types of data will be given to participants.

Students will be able to inform the reader about the rationale of their research. Briefly explain why a specific research topic is worth studying and its significant contribution to the body of already existing research. Thus, students are bound to be able to point out the goal or objective of their different research topics, as well as craft focused and clear research questions that will guide the parameters of their areas of research.At the end of the course, the participant will:

  • Understand research terminology;
  • Be aware of the ethical principles of research, ethical challenges and approval processes;
  • Describe quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approaches to research;
  • Critically analyze published research;
  • Drawing legitimate and reasoned conclusion of written papers. 

INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE

 Lecturer: Rachel Rufu

Politics is about who gets what, when and how. What do people mean when they talk about “power”? Where do we find power? How do you acquire and maintain power? Do individuals and groups possess power? This course will take up these and other questions about power. Political Science is the study of governments, public policies, political processes, behavior and ideas about politics. When we study Politics we study a particular aspect of the life of humans, where decisions, within a social context are made for and enforced on a whole society. This includes a number of fields: institutions, political dynamics (political behavior and public policy), political values and political change. The study of Politics overlaps to most if not all other fields of study. Students who study Political Science will have substantive knowledge of basic political concepts and systems. A good understanding of the institutions, processes and values that shape politics within and among states and are able to apply that knowledge to the world. Students will develop an understanding of the importance of engaging in Politics and a realization of Political competence.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 524

Dr. Keith Esenther, SJ.

This is the same course I have taught in previous years. It is directed primarily for finalists who are going out to regency. It provides computer tools for working more successfully with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Picasa, Gmail, and graphics programs to assist teachers in presenting materials to others. The final project is a PowerPoint presentation on the student’s preferred theme that includes all of the tools the student has explored during the classes.

INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL—SUNDAY MATINEE

 Dr. Keith Esenther, SJ

This is a “course” for those interested in learning how different cultures present themselves in cinema. There will be 14 movies on Sundays at 14:30. If the person wishes to get credit for the movies, he/she must write a 15-page paper analyzing and comparing at least two of the films. The films will reflect the cultures of the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and USA. Because of the nature of this “course,” which can be either for fun or for credit, it does not affect the course scheduling for the College.

EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND LEADERSHIP

 Dr. Keith Esenther, SJ

This course is a reading course. It is intended for those seeking further credentials in education. The readings will be drawn from two sources: 1) the model of Ignatian pedagogy that has been developed for Jesuit high schools (and later by universities) by the JSEA and 2) the symposium on African leadership in education that has set managerial goals for schools in sub-Saharan Africa. The intent is to design a school leadership model for Jesuit secondary education in Africa. Apart from extensive reading, the final 15-page paper will propose a school leadership model that is both Jesuit and African. Students will meet as needed with the instructor.

AFRICAN PSYCHOLOGY

Bro. Zvaiwa

The course is meant to make the student familiar with the current wave towards Afrocentric thinking. African Psychology has not been given its place in the academic field. With the current thinking of many universities and colleges the course definitely will find a home in those institutions that have Centres for African Studies. The course will look at new thoughts in African psychology as brought in by contemporary writers like Azibor, Akibar and others who have championed the revival of this discipline. Some questions to be addressed include “What is liberated African Psychology? What is colonial Psychology?” Students will be encouraged to make their own decisions on African Psychology after some personal research, lectures and readings. Theories come from research and this is the main thrust of the course. Some of the questions to be answered include; ‘How does African Psychology differ from Western psychology, Asian psychology?” Findings will enrich bank of information in the Centre for African Studies.

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Bro. Zvaiwa

Education has had various definitions and this course will attempt to give the student broader perception of what education is all about. One of the most fascinating phenomenon of education is how do we learn? The course will look at how for example humans learn languages from the infancy stage basing the whole process on an internalised dictionary. What makes our learning process differ from that of other human animals? Some theories of learning will be discussed: Pavlov’s theory, Piaget’s theory, Skinner’s theory and Watson’s theory. The relevance of these theory to the learning of the African people will be discussed. Students may be asked to make some case studies of children around the area. The course is of fundamental value to those who will in future do a diploma or degree in Education.

LOGIC MPA 513

Dr. Kizito Kiyimba, SJ

 Many departments of Philosophy around the world, and especially in the analytic tradition expect of their students to take a course in symbolic logic. Symbolic logic is a more powerful tool of analysis for validity than traditional logic. In it the student is introduced to and taught critical, systematic, and rigorous thinking (and writing) through the treatment of argument structure and evaluation; propositional and predicate logic, and the calculus that underlies these forms of reasoning. The uses of the subject reach beyond philosophy into mathematics, computer science, artificial intelligence, strategy, to mention but a few. Contrary to Arrupean rumours, you do not need a background in higher mathematics to profit maximally from this course. The concepts are explained in accessible ways, even to people who claim they have a “mathematics allergy”

UNDERSTANDING HUMAN RIGHTS

 Robert Kirenga Rucogozo MA., PGD Int. Law, BA

 Human rights are basic to humanity. They apply to all people everywhere. An understanding of human rights is an important part of our individual status as human beings and our collective status as members of the global community of human kind. To understand how human rights affect us in our daily lives and to acknowledge our responsibilities in recognising the need to balance those rights with the rights of others, we require an understanding of what human rights are. Thus the course shall attempt to define what human rights are? Where did they come from? How do they impact on humanity? How do they affect me? i.e. An understanding of how human rights are relevant in everyday life.

 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Fr. Kenneth Makamure

Social psychology is the scientific disciplinary that attempts to understand and explain how thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influential by the actual imaged or implied presence of others. This course deals with classical plus current theoretical issues and research findings in the area of social psychology and applied social psychology. It explores both the bizarre and the ordinary from religious cults to what makes friends turn into lovers. It tries to answer three basic questions: How do our thoughts affect how we explain and judge others (attributions and attitudes)? What feelings are most important in our social interaction (prejudice, discrimination and interpersonal attraction)? How do our actions towards others affect their lives and our own (group processes, aggression and altruism)? Engaging in this course will help students understand contemporary social psychological research, inculcate the mastery of the general and specific principles and concepts in social psychology and help situate social psychological principles and concepts within the current local and   global realities (formation, religious life, politics, religion etc.).

JUNG AND POST JUNGIANS

Fr. Kenneth Makamure

The psychology of Carl Gustav Jung has attracted increasing numbers of people because of its helpful and unique ways of experiencing the human psyche. With due consideration of religion, philosophy and the spirit of individuals, it also embraces the collective history of humanity, wholeness and centring. There is consequently a focus on the healthy elements of the human mind and soul and a quest for balance. The course deals with Jungians psychology and how it has been applied to therapy, human formation and personality tests. It will help prepare students for more practical application of personality psychology in diverse areas of everyday life

EDUCATIONAL TESTS AND MEASUREMENT (Reading Course)

Dr. Claire Nyandoro

This course will survey a variety of tests and other measurement techniques. Emphasis will be placed on the classroom teacher as a researcher who uses the participant-observer approach to educational research.

PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE (MASTER AND DEGREE PROGRAM)

Fr. Thomas Sherman, S.J

The growing interest in the philosophy of language over the past forty years is commonly characterized as the “Linguistic Turn” in contemporary philosophy – the attempt to re-conceive the problems of modern philosophy (most notably that of skepticism) as problems of language and how language is related to the world.

This course is meant as an introduction to the philosophy of language. We will examine the nature of language, particularly with respect to two important issues: first, how we mean things in our use of language (how language is related to reality) and second, how a philosophical understanding of language may help us overcome the skeptical problem as this has been understood in the classical modern philosophical tradition.

The course will be divided into two parts. In the first part we will consider the nature of language in the classical realist tradition of Aristotle and Aquinas. In the second part of the course we will consider some contemporary philosophers of language such as Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Hilary Putnam, and John MacDowell as the major representatives of various attempts to come to grips with the skeptical problem of knowledge arising from the thought of classical modern thinkers, in particular, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume.

The course will be conducted as lecture with class discussion. For those taking the course in the degree program there will be a mid-term and final examination and a paper of five pages required. For those in the masters program there will be a fifteen page paper on some topic of interest to the student (with the instructor’s approval) and a final exam.

MA ELECTIVE

 GABRIEL MARCEL ON REFLECTION, INTERSUBJECTIVITY, FREEDOM, HOPE AND OTHER THEMES

Prof. John Stacer, SJ

Gabriel Marcel (1889-1974) – playwright, composer, and philosopher – experienced the brokenness of society, particularly during the two World Wars. In response he developed and communicated a hope-filled, concrete philosophy that challenges us to respect the unconditional dignity of every human person. His The Mystery of Being guides us to live freely as unique, feeling persons called by the Ultimate Thou to a communion which overcomes the brokenness. Partly through concepts such as reflection, intersubjectivity, freedom, and hope Marcel invites us to be lively, creative, available, at home with ourselves, with one another, and with our world.

We will reflect together about the two volumes of Marcel’s The Mystery of Being, about selected chapters of his The Philosophy of Existentialism and Homo Viator: Introduction to a Metaphysics of Hope, and about burning issues in Africa and Marcellian responses. Assessment will include leading classes on two or three of Marcel’s chapters (10% or 6.7% each, depending on our number of participants), an essay and presentation on “A Burning African Issue and a Marcellian Response” (20%), and a written final exam (60%).

PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: AN ELECTIVE FOR MA STUDENTS. (Dr. Claire Nyandoro) 

ELECTIVE: ARISTOTLE’S Nicomachean ETHICS AND POLITICS (GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE)

Lecturer: Fr. Tom Sherman, S.J.

Course Description

In this course we will explore Aristotle as a major thinker by concentrating on his practical philosophy, that is, his ethical and political philosophy as presented in his Nicomachean Ethics and Politics. Among the topics we will examine in these works are Aristotle’s analyses of the nature of the human good of happiness, human action, voluntariness and freedom of choice, the nature of virtue and vice, moral weakness, justice and friendship, as well as the nature of political institutions, the requirements of a just state and the nature of a good constitution.

Aim and Objective of the Course

The student will acquire a first-hand knowledge of the whole of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and important parts of the Politics by a personal study of the texts and class lecture and discussion.

Content of the Course: We will examine the entire Nicomachean Ethics and sections of the Politics.

Methodology: The class will be conducted in lecture style with the opportunity for the students to engage in questions and discussions.

The Thought of Friedrich Nietzsche

Dr. Virgilio Costa, SJ

The course will be  based on the reading of some of Nietzsche’s major works, such as The Birth of Tragedy (1872; 1886), Human, All-Too-Human (1878), The Gay Science (1882), Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Beyond Good and Evil (1886), On the Genealogy of Morals(1887), Twilight of the Idols (1888), The Antichrist (1888) and Ecce Homo (1888). Through the reading of these works we will grasp the major themes of Nietzsche philosophy, such as: the Apollonian/Dionysian dichotomy, Perspectivism, the Will to Power, the “death of God” and nihilism, the slave revolt in morals, the Übermensch, eternal recurrence. Nietzsche’s main project – the critique of modern culture and the preparation of his generation to a great hope for the coming age – will be present throughout the course.

We will start by looking at some of the predecessors to whom Nietzsche is indebted, such as Schopenhauer, and at Nietzsche’s influence on existentialism, expressionism and post-modernism.

 

Portuguese Language I (This course is also offered as a “Short Course”)This course teaches the Portuguese language to beginners. The students can be of any language background. The main objective of the course is to train students in the ability of listening, comprehension of the language and oral and writing expression in colloquial Portuguese.

Portuguese Language II (This course is also offered as a “Short Course”)

This course teaches the Portuguese language to students who have done Portuguese Language II. It is an intermediary course that develops the students’ ability of listening, comprehending and expressing themselves in the Portuguese language.

The thought of Martin Heidegger This course will be presented as a reading course. The students will be required to read and discuss extracts from Heidegger’s major works: Being and Time (1927); Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics (1929); Introduction to Metaphysics (1935); Contributions to Philosophy (1936-38); Identity and Difference (1955-57); On the Way to Language (1959). This will be done in order to understand Heidegger’s existentialism (although he distanced himself from existentialism later on), phenomenalism and hermeneutics process. We will also look at his reception and some criticism by contemporary Western philosophy.

French Language Studies

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