Author Archives: Lee Smithey

100th anniversary of the start of World War I

Recognition of the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I-the Great War

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Anti-conscription demonstration 1916

Wendy Chmielewski, Curator of the Peace Collection attended the “Resistance to War” conference at the University of Hull (UK), September 7-9, 2014 . The conference included presentations historians and other scholars from the UK and other countries focused on resistance to war from the mid nineteenth century through World War I. Chmielewski presented a paper on the role of women in fundraising efforts that financed the peace movement in Great Britain in the 1850s.

On September 30th, Anne Yoder, Peace Collection Archivist, spoke on World War I conscientious objection at the Kate Furness Public Library in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. This presentation was part of the Furness Library’s program recognizing the centenary of the Great War.

Yoder and Chmielewski will both be attending the “World War I: Dissent, Activism, and Transformation” conference at Georgian Court University (NJ), and co-sponsored by the Peace History Society, in mid October. Yoder will be speaking about WWI conscientious objectors, David and Julius Eichel. Chmielewski will present on the war and anti-rhetoric in the suffrage speeches and writings of movement leaders Carrie Chapman Catt and Jane Addams. Both papers will use resources housed in the Peace Collection.

Peace Collection staff have contributed articles on resistance to World War I as part of the new web site “Home Before the Leaves Fall, Digital Resources in the Delaware Valley on the Great War”. The web site <http://wwionline.org/> contains information about resources in the Peace Collection and Friends Historical Library on peace congresses leading up to the war, women efforts for peace from 1914 onward, conscientious objectors, the varieties of opposition to the war, and the work of British and American Quaker relief organizations.

Racialized-Gendered Partition and Dissensus in Bahrain’s Pearl Revolution

Frances S. Hasso, Associate Professor in Women’s Studies and Sociology at Duke University, will give a talk entitled:

“Racialized-Gendered Partition and Dissensus in Bahrain’s Pearl Revolution”

October 20, 2014 at 4:30 p.m.
Science Center Room 199

This paper examines the co-production and “interarticulation” of racializing/sectarian and gendering dynamics in Bahrain as longstanding conflict between the majority of citizens and the ruling Al Khalifa regime intensified into the ongoing 14 February Revolution, also called the Pearl Revolution. These dynamics are stamped on and produced through the organization of bodies and space. Embodied and spatialized dynamics are highlighted by the small geographic area of Bahrain, its residential partitions based on sect, ethnicity, and citizenship status, and its post-1979 culture of gender segregation in street life inspired by the Iranian Revolution. Among the Pearl Revolution’s notable dimensions is a rise in women-led confrontational street politics that is not necessarily authorized by Bahraini opposition men and has produced sublimated tensions not captured by images of gender-segregated orderly marches. For their part, Bahraini state officials and their supporters strategically deploy conservative ideologies of sexual respectability and purity to discredit women and men activists. Sectarian discourse, racialized naturalization and policing policies, and gendered and sexual forms of violence and control intersect in marked ways. The Pearl Revolution is a point of historical rupture, I argue, for imaginaries, subjectivities, and how gendered bodies inhabit space.

Co-sponsors: Departments of Sociology and Anthropology, Modern Languages and Literature (Arabic Section) and Political Science and programs in Gender and Sexuality Studies, Islamic Studies, and Peace and Conflict Studies.

Waging Peace: David Hartsough book talk

David Hartsough
Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Lifelong Activist

Thursday, December 4, 2014
5:00 PM
Bond Hall at Swarthmore College
500 College Ave, Swarthmore, PA

This event is open to the public.
Maps and directions to campus are available.
A flyer is available for download.

David Hartsough knows how to get in the way. He has used his body to block Navy ships headed for Vietnam and trains loaded with munitions on their way to El Salvador and Nicaragua. He has crossed borders to meet “the enemy” in East Berlin, Castro’s Cuba, and present-day Iran. He has marched with mothers confronting a violent regime in Guatemala and stood with refugees threatened by death squads in the Philippines.

Inspired by the examples of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., Hartsough has spent his life experimenting with the power of active nonviolence. His new memoir, Waging Peace, offers a peace activist’s eyewitness account of many of the major historical events of the past sixty years, including the Civil Rights and anti–Vietnam War movements in the United States and the little- known but equally signiﬁcant nonviolent efforts in the Soviet Union, Kosovo, Palestine, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines.

Hartsough’s story demonstrates the power and effectiveness of organized nonviolent action and shows how this struggle is waged all over the world by ordinary people committed to ending the spiral of violence and war.

Read more about David Hartsough and his work in this 2004 interview in the New Internationalist magazine.

Photo: David Hartsough (seated at right end of counter) with fellow students at a lunchtime sit-in Arlington, Virginia – circa 1960

Co-sponsored by Swarthmore Friends Meeting and the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at Swarthmore College.

Daniel Hirschel-Burns ’14 awarded the 2014 Peace and Justice Studies Association Undergraduate Paper Award

We are thrilled to announce that, for the second year in a row, a Swarthmore peace and conflict studies special major has won the Peace and Justice Studies Association‘s Undergraduate Student Paper Award. Danny Hirschel Burns ’14 will receive this year’s award for his thesis, “Filling the Gap: Nonviolent Strategies for Civilian Self-protection during Mass Atrocities.” (Elowyn Corby won the award last year.)

The PJSA is the primary professional association for peace and conflict studies educators and researchers in North America, and it is the North American affiliate of the International Peace Research Association.

Danny’s thesis was co-advised by Professors Krista Thomason and Lee Smithey. The award will be presented at the association’s award ceremony on October 18, 2014 during the annual PJSA meeting at the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego. Danny’s award comes with a $500 travel stipend and an invitation to present his thesis at the conference.

Danny is currently serving as an atrocity prevention intern at Humanity United in Washington D.C.

Please join us in congratulating Danny (@DHirschelBurns) on his excellent work!

The Arab Spring, Four Years Later: Hope or Despair?

The Arab Spring, Four Years Later: Hope or Despair?
Lecture by Dr. Sean Yom, Temple University

Monday, Oct. 6, 4:30 p.m., Kohlberg Scheuer Room

Four years on, the Arab Spring had generated wildly contrasting outcomes. From democratization in Tunisia to authoritarian revival in Egypt to civil war in Syria, the regional wave of popular protest has certainly washed away the foundations of the old order.

Can democratization spread to other countries without incurring the risk of war? This lecture aims to answer this question, giving a bird’s eye view of different processes and events from a political scientist’s perspective.

Sean Yom is Assistant Professor of Political Science (comparative politics). His research broadly focuses on authoritarianism and development, and he is now finishing his first book on state-building and political order in the post-colonial Middle East.

Sponsored by the Islamic Studies Program.

Job opening: Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College

Revised 10/28/2014: The Peace and Conflict Studies program is no longer accepting applications for this position.

The Peace and Conflict Studies Program of Swarthmore College invites applications for a full-time three-year position at the assistant professor level, beginning Fall 2015. Swarthmore College is committed to excellence through diversity in its educational program and employment practices and actively seeks and welcomes applications from candidates with exceptional qualifications, particularly those with demonstrable commitment to a more inclusive society and world. Racial minorities and others from underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

Candidates should have expertise in peace and conflict studies and either conflict analysis and transformation / conflict resolution and / or social justice studies. The successful candidate for the position will be expected to teach five courses in our interdisciplinary undergraduate program, one of which will include the program’s introductory course, and assist in the coordination of the program. We seek a candidate with strong teaching and research skills and a knowledge and passion for peace studies that will support student advising and contribute to the development of a dynamic program. We also seek a candidate who is committed to fostering an inclusive classroom environment. A Ph.D. in peace and conflict studies or in another discipline accompanied by extensive intellectual and professional engagement in the field of peace and conflict studies is required.

Consideration of applications will begin on October 10, and we expect to begin interviewing candidates in early November. Candidates should send a cover letter, curriculum vitae, writing samples, and three letters of recommendation.
(The cover letter should address teaching philosophy, experience, and research agenda.) Please apply at https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/4550. If unable to submit online [due to lack of access to the internet], send your materials to: Anna Everetts, Peace and Conflict Studies Program, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081-1397 peacestudies @ swarthmore.edu. Direct inquiries to the program coordinator, Lee Smithey, at lsmithe1 @ swarthmore.edu

Screening of “The 5 Powers” film to celebrate the International Day of Peace

The 5 Powers

A film about the transnational peace work of Thich Nhat Hanh, Sister Chan Khong, and Alfred Hassler.

Thursday, September 18, 2014
7:00 – 8:45 p.m.
Swarthmore College
Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema (directions)
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Download a flyer and help advertise the event.

Each year, we mark the International Day of Peace at Swarthmore College as part of Peace Day Philly.

This year, we will screen a new documentary film, “The 5 Powers” about the transnational peace work of Thich Nhat Hanh, Sister Chan Khong, and Alfred Hassler during the Vietnam War.

Discussion with the producers of the film (Anthony Nicotera, Gregory Kennedy-Salemi, and Stuart Jolley), Laura Hassler ’70, and George Lakey (who worked with Alfred Hassler of the Fellowship of Reconciliation) will follow the screening.

The 5 Powers film is organized around central tenets of Buddhist philosophy and features a captivating mix of comic book style animation (by Dave Gibbons of Watchmen fame), live interviews, archival audio, photos, and documents, some of which were procured from the Peace Collection at Swarthmore.

Read more about the film and view the trailer here:

http://vimeo.com/92386876

Sponsored by Peace and Conflict Studies, Film and Media Studies, the Religion Department, Asian Studies, the Swarthmore College Libraries, the Peace Collection, and Alumni Relations

For parking: See the campus map at http://www.swarthmore.edu/campusmap/ Enter campus at the NORTH ENTRANCE and follow the drive, Whittier Place, to the first large parking lot on the right. For drop-off, continue to follow Whittier Place, turning right at the corner of the parking lot. The drive will proceed around the back of several buildings to a circular turn around at the Lang Performing Arts Center. For more information about accessibility at the Lang Performing Arts Center, visit http://bit.ly/1uKd9uR For those parking in the large lot, walk to the corner of the lot, cross the street, and proceed diagonally across the quad to the Lang Performing Arts Center. The cinema is located just to your left as you enter the main lobby.

Welcome back and new PCS courses for Fall 2014

Opposition to Vietnam War
Welcome back to all staff, students, and faculty! We are off and running, having completed the first week of classes, and we look forward to an exciting semester.

As students will know, the first two weeks of class constitute the drop-add period during which you can change your schedule. That means there is still time for us to announce two new courses to be added to the list of courses that may be counted toward a peace and conflict studies minor. Spots remain open in the following two courses. Check them out!

First-Year Seminar: Revolution and Revolt
English ENGL 009J
Professor Lara Langer Cohen

This course investigates the literature of rebellion from the late eighteenth century’s “Age of Revolution” to the Occupy movement. By taking such a long historical view, we will explore how the revolutionary past of the Atlantic world has helped—and might still help—renegades, outcasts, and dissidents imagine its revolutionary futures. We will read the work of not only famous revolutionary leaders but also infamous and obscure ones, including radical abolitionists, communists, anarchists, feminists, student activists, and more. Throughout the class, we will ask: How do writers define revolution? How do they measure its successes and failures? How do they interpret the memory of previous uprisings and envision possibilities beyond them?

Music and War
Music MUSI 105
Professors Micaela Baranello and Barbara Milewski

For centuries, and across different cultures, music has both served war and illustrated its victories and terror. Music has also provided powerful commentary on war, articulating human pain and protest in equal measure. In this seminar we consider these functions in key works of art and popular music of the 20th century—a century of two world wars—with excursions into previous periods and our own contemporary experience with the war in Iraq. We will discuss music of war; about war; against war; and in the shadow of war.

Student campaign to establish Peace Studies at Stanford U. (video)

Last year, two Stanford students, Cole Manley and Jocelyn Lee interviewed members of the Peace and Conflict Studies Committee at Swarthmore as well as faculty at many other college and universities. They produced this video as part of their campaign to start a peace studies program at their university.

The big picture on nonviolent resistance and global peace

A couple of interviews that address the big pictures of nonviolent action, militarism, and peace praxis have appeared online. See them here!

Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan, the authors of the award-winning book, Why Nonviolent Civil Resistance Works were interviewed on NPR on August 21, 2014

Peace researcher Jan Oberg recently conducted a half-hour interview on RT.

Note from Lee Smithey: There is lots of useful thought here, though his labeling the Ukrainian resistance in Kiev a Western coup is unlikely and unsubstantiated in the interview.