[MUSIC] I think global violence is so important because it effects every single person who's ever lived or really probably who will live in the many futures. I live in the United States, which is indeed a very violent society. I also have worked in other places such as Liberia and South Africa, which for different reasons also incredibly violent. We are all either victims of violence, perpetrators of violence, sometimes and often both and touched by violence whether directly or indirectly. >> I study violence because I actually viewed the emergency room as a laboratory for myself. I don't just take care of a patient, I take care of the population. And in the ER, I can see trends and injuries and things like that that come through. And what I've realized is that we can prevent it and if we educate others about things like sexual assault, partner violence and what to look for. We can truly impact and improve lives for people. >> We are really interested in bringing people together from different disciplines and fields to discuss the issue of violence. And so this course will have Deb Houry and myself giving our own lectures on topics. But we will also bring in experts from the law school, from medicine, from criminology, from psychology to talk about how we understand violence, and how we might also address it. >> We thought it was important to do this course together because we do bring these different disciplines and perspectives together, and can hopefully reach a really wide audience this way. >> Hello, I'm Professor Pamela Scully. >> And I am Dr. Deb Houry, and we will be co-teaching this course, Understanding Violence. >> Each week we will hear from different guest speakers about various contexts and situations that impact violence. We will also learn about different forms of violence such as youth violence, elder abuse and sexual violence. We will cover different topics, such as theories about the causes of violence, the roll of religion in preventing or contributing to violence, and the consequences of violence for the United States and internationally. >> Each week Professor Scully and I will discuss the current topics through an informal coffee chat type conversation. We hope that our conversations will help all of us have a productive and respectful conversation on the forums. >> Dr. Houry and I know want you to come away from this class with solutions, and a positive outlook on how to help lessen violence. As part of this class, you will be asked to critically reflect on violence, and to participate in a day of action and compassion. We look forward to exploring this important topic with you. >> The preceding program is copyrighted by Emory University.