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Congratulations to all of the students of the class of 2013! It was a great day for Commencement, and we enjoyed meeting the friends and family of many of our Peace and Conflict Studies students.  We love having new alumnae in the program. Stay in touch!

Marina Tucktuck celebrates graduation with her brother.

Daniel Duncan, special major in East European Peace Studies.

Jeewon Kim celebrates graduation with her family in front of Parrish Hall.

Faculty process into the amphitheatre.

Prof. Lee Smithey and Jeewon Kim ’13.

Lorene Cary receives an honorary degree.

Tralance Addy ’69 receives an honorary degree.

Retiring Prof. Aurora Camacho de Schmidt is much-loved and will be missed!

The view from the amphitheater stage.

Max Rennebohm ’13 (Peace and Conflict Studies minor).

Elowyn Corby ’13 (special major in Peace Education)

Kanayo Onyekwuluje ’13

Prof. George Lakey and Josh Satre ’13 (Peace and Conflict Studies honors minor)

Swarthmore faculty cheer their students as they exit the amphitheater.

Marina Tucktuck ’13 (Peace and Conflict Studies minor)

The traditional diploma delivery device.

Drop-add has begun, and spots are available in Professor Lee Smithey’s course, Transforming Intractable Conflict (SOCI 025B).  This course is registered in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology but can also be counted toward a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies.

How can long-term deadly conflicts between groups with opposing ethnic identities change in ways that diminish violence and open up opportunities for more constructive forms of conflict in democratic and civil society? This course operates from an assumption that one must often dig deeply into the psychological and cultural dynamics that underpin division in ethno-political conflicts. Northern Ireland will serve as the primary case study for this kind of deep exploration.

The course will include a unique opportunity in Fall 2013 as funding has been secured from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to bring a mural artist, David “Dee” Craig, from Belfast for a month-long residency beginning after Fall Break in October. Our class will have the opportunity to explore with the artist the role of mural making in conflict, division, peacebuilding, and community relations in Northern Ireland. We hope we will also be able to participate in the painting of a mural on campus! For photos of some of the artist’s work, visit http://bit.ly/14iiDUH

The course description for SOAN 025B reads:

This course will address the sociology of peace processes and intractable identity conflicts in deeply divided societies. Northern Ireland will serve as the primary case study, and the course outline will include the history of the conflict, the peace process, and grassroots conflict transformation initiatives. Special attention will be given to the cultural underpinnings of division, such as sectarianism and collective identity, and their expression through symbols, language, and collective actions, such as parades and commemorations.
Eligible for PEAC credit.

1 credit.
Smithey.

This course can serve as a pre-requisite for students wishing to study in Northern Ireland as part of the college’s Northern Ireland Semester program. See http://northernireland.swarthmore.edu

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the instructor, Lee Smithey at lsmithe1@swarthmore.edu

The rain that was predicted during our end-of-year lunch yesterday did not materialize, and we enjoyed a beautiful  lunch on the front lawn of the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. As always, it was wonderful to catch up with one another.

We also took the opportunity to congratulate and say farewell to our seniors! (Though we encourage all of our alumni to stay in touch with us. We need you to help fulfill our academic mission.)

PEACE & CONFLICT STUDIES STUDENTS FROM THE CLASS OF 2013

• Nida Atshan
• Samantha Bennett
• Elowyn Corby
• Daniel Duncan
• Jacqueline Grand Pre
• Jeewon Kim
• Hannah Kurtz
• Hannah Lehmann
• Kanayo Onyekwuluje
• William Rennebohm
• Joshua Satre
• Marina Tucktuck

Classes have ended, and we know students are preparing for exams.  Best wishes for good health, inspired studying, and an exciting and rejuvenating summer. We’ll see most of you back here in the Fall!

Prof. George Lakey and Elowyn Corby ’13

Prof. Krista Thomason and Dr. Chris Densmore, Curator of the Friends Historical Library

The Department of Theater Presents:

Hello, my name is

The Directing II Night of Scenes

featuring scenes directed by:
Katie Goldman ’14
Joshua McLucas ’15
Marta Roncada ’14
Sam Swift Shuker-Haines ’14

Wednesday May 8th
and Thursday May 9th
@ 8 PM

LPAC Frear Ensemble Theatre

You are invited to a special Peace and Conflict Studies program luncheon to celebrate the end of the academic year and congratulate our 2013 Special Majors and Minors! Our end-of-the-year event provides an important opportunity for us to relax together, catchup, and get to know others in the program.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013
12:00 Noon – 1:30 p.m.
The Keith Room
Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility

We hope to see you there!

Here are a few pictures from previous years:

MOVEMENT THEATRE WORKSHOP SOIREE
5pm, Thursday May 2
Tarble in Clothier (upstairs space)

Come see a series of short pieces created by students in this
semester’s Movement Theatre Workshop.  The pieces will include mask
work, a melodrama, tragic chorus pieces and other original works of
physical theatre created by the students during the semester.  Should
last no more than an hour. -Professor Quinn Bauriedel

Monday, May 6th

4:30PM

LPAC Boyer (#003)
The ballet pointe repertory class will present a showing of four works that integrate pointe technique, musicality and performance quality.  The pieces include “Pas de Trois” from Petipa’s Swan Lake with music by Tchaikovsky, Jerome Robbins’ “2&3 Part Inventions” set to piano exercises of Bach, and the “Gold” and “Diamond” variations from Petipa’s Sleeping Beauty, also with music by Tchaikovsky.

and

Bryan Chen ’15 will also present his latest multimedia, experimental dance piece with puppetry in LPAC Troy (#002).

Please come support these student showings of some works in progress!

The Swarthmore College Dance Program presents the 2013 Spring Student Dance Concert which features African, Circus Arts, Flamenco, Kathak, Modern, Taiko and Tap performances. There will be several pieces using live music. Come celebrate our graduating seniors and the hard work and creativity of all our dance students and faculty. The concert, which is appropriate for all ages, is free and open to the public.

LPAC Pearson-Hall Theatre
Swarthmore College

May 3 and 4 at 8PM

Info: lpacevents@swarthmore.edu

From Swarthmore News and Events:

Original Earth Day Proclamation Arrives on Campus in Time for This Year’s Celebration

by Mariam Zakhary ’13
April 22, 2013

The original Earth Day proclamation, above, was donated by the family of Earth Day originator John McConnell.

The original 1970 Earth Day Proclamation, signed by 35 international dignitaries, is now a permanent part of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection, thanks to a gift from the family of its author.

“John McConnell’s work for the last 50 years helped many to connect international peace with the need to preserve the environment,” says Wendy Chmielewski, the Collection’s George R. Cooley Curator, of the holiday’s founder. “McConnell reached many world leaders, as the Earth Day Proclamation shows, but his message also inspired ordinary people around the globe.”

In 1968, McConnell, a Presbyterian minister and peace activist from Iowa, designed the Earth Day flag showing planet Earth as seen from space. He proposed the idea of Earth Day the next year in order to celebrate a peaceful planet. McConnell also authored a second proclamation, the Star of Hope, with signatures from world scientists. That doucument, as well as a large collection ofMcConnell’s papers detailing his 50-plus years of work for world peace, is also part of the Collection.

The Earth Day proclamation is a poster-sized, hand-created, and hand-colored document. Among the 35 signators are anthropologist Margaret Mead, former Senator Eugene McCarthy, Nobel Prize-winning former President of Costa Rica Oscar Arias, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Earth Day is now celebrated internationally on the Vernal Equinox.

The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is one of the most extensive research libraries and archive collections in the country that focuses solely on movements for peace. The Collection’s holdings on the environmental movement span the papers and records of numerous peace organizations and activists who have worked for the benefit of the environment during the second half of the 20th-century and beyond.

UNSTUCK is a new story about memory, creation, and the reality of loss. Inspired by the works of Jorge Luis Borges, Salman Rushdie, David Mazzucchelli, and more, this is a collaboratively crafted tale of magical thinking collapsed into stark magical realism. Shadows dance around an artist and his sister as they push the boundaries of what makes our world physical.

Directed and Conceived by Meryl Sands ’13

and Featuring and Created by
Christina Aruffo ’14, Amelia Dornbush ’15, Sam Swift Shuker-Haines ’14, Joshua McLucas ’15, & Benjamin Books Schwartz ’13.

Stage Managed by Zack Martin ’13
with Set Design by Matt Saunders, Costume Design by Dyan Rizzo-Busack ’15, Lighting Design by Josh Schulman, Sound Design by Elizabeth Atkinson, & Projection/Media Design by Fernando Maldonado ’13

Showings:

May 3 and May 4 @ 9PM
May 4 and 5 @ 2PM

LPAC Frear Ensemble Theatre