University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 30

ECTS credits : 15

Level : SCQF level 11

Semester: 1

Planned timetable: Mondays 11.00 -1.00pm

This module situates mediation concepts, assumptions, and practices within the fields of critical, feminist, and post-/de-colonial peace and conflict studies. It applies insights from these fields to contextualise and critique mediation levels (‘tracks’), locate the presence and absence of diverse mediation actors, explore the affective power of languages and discourses of mediation, and teach critical reading and archival collation of traditional, surprising, aesthetic, and community-generated mediation texts. Its critical orientation centres questions about who mediates what for whom. The module deploys case studies of mediation that cut across levels of interactions and involve differently-located actors. It also features a mediation and negotiation simulation.

Relationship to other modules

Co-requisite(s): null

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: 1x2 hour seminar (x10 weeks)

Scheduled learning hours: 22

Guided independent study hours: 266

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: Coursework = 100%

As defined by QAA
Coursework: 100%

Re-assessment: Written Examination = 100%

Personnel

Module coordinator: Dr K Giri
Module teaching staff: Dr K Giri
Module coordinator email kg233@st-andrews.ac.uk

Intended learning outcomes

• Develop an understanding of the key concepts, assumptions, and practices of international mediation
• Challenge the temporal and spatial location of mediation, through a structured case study approach drawing on indigenous, community-level, and other mediation sites
• Understand and apply theoretical insights from feminism, critical theory, and post-/de-colonial approaches to identify absent and alternative mediation ideas, subjectivities, and practices
• Develop a critical understanding of diverse mediation actors, levels, and approaches across a range of issues relevant to conflict management and resolution
• Achieve an in-depth and rigorous understanding of case studies and how they might contribute to theoretical thinking
• Hone reflexive writing and case study research and writing skills