Blood Diamonds: The Search for an Ethical Alternative


ID : 2075   

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ClassGraphic Thanks to publicity campaigns, we came to celebrate diamonds as a girl's best friend and to think of diamonds as enduring forever. But the reality behind diamonds has been more controversial and costly than the glamour of movie stars and the successful efforts diamond marketers' suggest. This class will explore the crisis that developed in the 1990s in West Africa that threatened to destroy the positive image of diamonds that so many people worked hard to establish and protect, as well as the international efforts of industry, governments, and civil society to end the crisis. There’s a lot to learn about diamonds, from what a natural diamond is to what approaches exist to provide conflict-free alternatives.
 

Class Details

4 Session(s)
Weekly - Tue

Location
OLLI

Instructor
Matthew Runci 

 

Notice

Please read:  Suggested reading: Books Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa (Houghton Mifflin, 1999)

Ian Smillie, Blood on the Stone: Greed, Corruption and War in the Global Diamond Trade (Anthem Press, 2010)

Ian Smillie, Conflict Diamonds (Polity Press, 2014)

Suggested Viewing: Lord of War (2005) and Blood Diamond(2006)

Tuition: 

$45.00


Registration Closes On
Monday, April 6, 2026 @ 12:00 AM

Schedule Information

Date(s) Class Days Times Location Instructor(s) Instructional Method
4/7/2026 - 4/28/2026 Weekly - Tue 09:30 AM - 11:00 AM Kingston, OLLI  Map Matthew Runci  ClassRoom