Cousinage, part two
I wrote about the concept of cousinage in Mali last week, which I read in one of the peacebuilding books Eli 20.0 has accumulated. I had to finish reading it before he left for school, because he was taking it with him.I told him about cousinage and also about cognitive behavioral therapy, which is remarkably useful when trying to reintegrate ex-rebels into society. Dealing with anger, in particular, and basically relearning how to have acceptable emotions in regular society. Rebels consistently evaluated that portion of their reintegration training as the most helpful, even several years later.
He called me today to ask where in the book the cousinage section was, because he wants to incorporate it into the peacebuilding class he's teaching this fall (yes, he's teaching an honors class for freshmen and sophomores). One of the things he wanted to do was have people mix in the class more freely, even when they didn't know each other, so he's going to incorporate cousinage as a way for people to socialize.
I don't know if he's going to use an approved insult list or not. Missed opportunity if he doesn't, I said.
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