Séverine Autesserre

I honestly expected a lot going into this class, given that Professor Autesserre had such great reviews, is the chair of the Barnard Political Science department, and is a seemingly world-renowned expert in her field. I ended up incredibly disappointed not only in the course, but in her teaching style and availability to her students. Autesserre would not only make herself incredibly unavailable outside of office hours and rarely respond to emails, but was very often unhelpful when my peers and I would make it to her office hours. She had very high standards for coursework, and when we tried to clarify her standards she wouldn't make them clearer, often making them more confusing, and graded harshly based off of arbitrary standards. It felt impossible to improve in this course - almost as if she had set our grades at the beginning of the class and was unwilling to help us improve further. Prof. Autesserre should stick to doing her own research, as she seems uninterested in becoming a better professor or being helpful in any way to her students. I felt like I learned absolutely nothing in this course - other than "top-down" vs. "bottom-up" peacebuilding - a self-explanatory concept.

Dr. Autesserre is by far the best professor I have had at Barnard and Columbia. Sometimes, it feels as though intelligence and organization are mutually exclusive in professors. Some professors are very well-known in their field, yet their syllabi are haphazardly written and teaching styles are mediocre at best. Other professors are the opposite: they are great instructors but not yet well-established in their field. Dr. Autesserre is an exception. She is the whole package: brilliant, honest, organized, caring, dedicated, modest, eloquent, and very, very prominent in her field. A quick google search will prove just how exciting it is to learn from a person like Dr. Autesserre. She has published two award-winning books, both of which you'll read in her Building Peace colloquium (for free!), and both of which are absolutely fascinating. She's also authored many articles on peacebuilding, peacekeeping, and the wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She's spent years working in conflict zones with various NGOs and is very well-connected in the UN community. As if that's not impressive enough, Dr. Autesserre did a very well-known TED talk (which everyone should watch...it's amazing!) and has even testified in front of Congress! One would think someone with such an impressive resume may be a bit older, stuck in their ways, or arrogant, but Dr. Autesserre is the exact opposite…

I LOVE THIS PROFESSOR! I mean, not only is she one of the absolute nicest people ever, but she's also an incredible lecturer; she is so energetic and encouraging of all her students to speak up.You can really just tell she loves the subject. She also happens to be my advisor and she really just goes above and beyond, she always makes herself available if you need any help or to meet with her last minute. As for the class, it's just incredible. The way she teaches it gives you a whole new way of looking not just at African theory but also at political science theory in general, giving you the pros and limitations of every single argument or theory she presents (even the ones she favors). Even if you aren't super interested in sub-saharan African conflict and violence, take this class just to have her as a professor. And by the end of the second day, you probably will be interested anyway because it's a fascinating subject.

Take this class! Séverine is an exceptional professor—intelligent, challenging, prepared, knowledgeable, engaging... not to mention that she spent years in the humanitarian and development aid world prior to becoming an academic. She has done extensive research on conflict in the DRC, and was referred to by a colleague as the expert on the DRC (her colleague who she invited to come speak to our class was the representative of Médecins Sans Frontieres to the UN for 12 years). In short, Séverine is exceptionally knowledgeable about the humanitarian and development aid community, in theory and practice. In terms of the class, you will learn about the history of humanitarian and development aid, the challenges between theory and practice, contemporary aid work and interventions, etc. Not only does the class give you a broad understanding of the field, but in-depth study on various conflicts, aid strategies, international actors, etc. This class is taught from a critical perspective, so expect to spend the majority of the time critiquing how aid is flawed and inherently problematic. Throughout the semester, Séverine invites multiple guests to come speak to the class—ranging from an economic analyst for the UN to the MSF rep to the UN. The speakers are usually very interesting and engaging. As other reviews have mentioned, yes, there is a lot of reading. But, it is not overwhelming…

INCREDIBLE class – really changed my perspective on the world of peacebuilding, especially regarding the UN and international orgs. Prof. Autesserre is a brilliant and passionate person, and that translates to her teaching. It is a seminar-style class, so she lets students do most of the talking/discussing and rarely interrupts except to give directions or advice, and this means you NEED to have been doing the readings for the week. She's always happy to clarify anything you didn't understand, though, and is really kind and understanding in general. Crisis simulation seemed scary, but ended up being SUPER fun and definitely helped us bond as a class.

This is the single best class I've taken thus far in my college career! The first day of the course, Professor Autesserre will tell everyone that the class is very challenging, so those who are not ready should drop the course immediately so other students can sign up. She has the very best interests of her students in mind, but I don't think the course is too challenging at all. In fact, the amount of reading was manageable, the take-home exams do-able, and overall the material was easily understood and INTERESTING! That doesn't mean the material wasn't challenging to a certain extent, but it made the class all the more engaging. Professor Autesserre is also a fantastic lecturer! Each class is jam-packed with information and super engaging - I only missed one lecture during the entire semester (for an interview). Note that they do take attendance every class though, and in every discussion section. During the first half of the semester, Professor Autesserre presents different theoretical models for understanding civil war - colonialism, economic opportunity, etc... Then, during the second half of the semester, she covers humanitarian aid, peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding. Each lecture, she also describes cases of civil wars in a few countries that exemplify these models. At the end of class, she asks students to share the strengths and weaknesses of each model, an…

This class, and professor were absolutely fantastic! Severine is a knowledgeable and dedicated professor, who is genuinely interested in challenging her students and making sure that they learn. She encouraged engaging discussions and brought in guest lecturers, without losing the focus of the topic we were discussing. I've probably learned more from this class (both about the specific topic and about poli sci as a discipline) than all the other poli sci classes I've taken, combined, and the syllabus is full of fascinating texts. You will definitely work in this class, but it's worth it!

LOVED THIS CLASS!!! Was warned by other reviews not to take this as my first Colloquium, and I did anyway and have no regrets. Professor Autesserre is brilliant, compassionate, engaging, and supportive. The workload is a lot but expected for a polysci colloquium. It is very very very reading heavy and important to do the readings so that you can participate in class, but it is worth it. If a reading is boring, you can get away with skimming it or focusing on just one chapter. She was extremely helpful in helping me finetune my research question. I feel lucky to have the privilege of learning from Professor Autessere and her passion for humanitarian work is unmatched by any professor I have heard from. She is unbelievably intelligent and feels strongly about what she teaches, which contributes to the content of the course. Hard class but SO worth it!!!! ALSO the mock peace talks are so so soo so fun. And I learned so much!!!!

Amazing class, amazing teacher. She's brilliant, caring, and compassionate, and worth taking just to hear her speak about her work on the ground and theories about the world. The readings are totally worth it. There are a lot of them, but they are all very different, and will open you up to many perspectives about how the world/violence works. Professor Autesserre is, in addition, very good at presenting the different readings, and presents them all as if they are correct, even though she disagrees with most of them. The papers are standard papers, and the TA's will help you with anything you have questions on. Would definitely recommend this class.

This class is amazing and a must for anyone who wants to do humanitarian/development work in the future. The reading list is fabulous - Professor Autesserre hand-picked engaging texts that allow you to really understand the aid enterprise and its effects (shockingly negative). It focuses on Africa, but she assigns readings that have to do with other humanitarian crises around the world (former Yugoslavia, India, etc). The work is pretty standard for a colloquium and there is a 25 pg paper on humanitarian aid/development due at the end of the semester. What is great about the paper is that you can write about any aspect of aid/development you want on any place on earth, not only Africa. Make sure to do all the readings because the discussion is entirely class based, she neatly summarizes the readings/main points of the discussion at the end of the class. Professer Autesserre also brings a lot of great guest speakers to class - for example she got a UN development worker, an Action Against Hunger officer, and a Doctors Without Borders representative to speak to us throughout the semester. Overall, it was a very enjoyable class that completely changed my outlook on the humanitarian field.