Congratulations and thanks to Chris Densmore and everyone involved in the production of this short video on Lucretia Mott. Swatties will recognize several of the locations in which interviews were filmed.
Author Archives: Lee Smithey
Gratitude for Ann Yasuhara
We have learned that one of our Swarthmore alums, Ann Yasuhara, passed away on June 11,2014. Ann, a Quaker, had become a strong influence in the direct action organization, Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT), working to end mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. Friends lovingly referred to her as their “Mountain Woman”. EQAT recently honored Ann as one of their Elders at a special ceremony at the Friends Center on Cherry Street in Philadelphia.
Others gathered for a memorial service and outdoor reception in Princeton:
We encourage you to read all of the obituary published in Princeton’s Town Topics, but we offer a few excerpts here:
A logician and computer scientist, she was known for combining her Quaker faith with action focused on peace, social justice, racial equality, and the environment. Her life balanced her love for the sacredness of all life, the compassionate concerns of a Quaker activist for the world and the local community, her delight in music, gardening, and art, and her generosity to friends and family. Ann Yasuhara belonged to the living tradition of Quaker spirit-led peace and justice activists. Unflagging in her resistance to war and violence, she studied the philosophy and methods of non-violent resolution of conflict with George Lakey, the noted Quaker peace activist. In turn, she led training groups for inner city children.
Most recently she enthusiastically supported — and went on protests with — the nonviolent direct action group, Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT), which works to end mountaintop removal coal mining. On her 79th birthday she protested on a strenuous mountain climb in West Virginia mining country. In January, just before she was diagnosed with cancer, the Philadelphia-based group honored her as one of its outstanding “wise elders.”
“Ann was a leader in the Quaker faith and an inspiration to all of us. She set the bar very high and gave us confidence to fight for a better world,” says Janet Gardner, a documentary film maker at the Gardner Group and a member of Princeton Friends Meeting.
We appreciate Ann for her profound influence on so many pursuing peace and justice.
Quakers and Abolition
Quakers and Abolition, a book just released by the University of Illinois Press, includes essays by Ellen Ross (Religion), J. William Frost, (Professor Emeritus) and Christopher Densmore (Friends Historical Library). The book was edited by Geoffrey Planck (Swarthmore graduate) and Brycchan Carey, with an acknowledgement to the Cooper Foundation for its support of the 2010 Quakers and Slavery Conference.
Fall Semester 2014 Courses in Peace and Conflict Studies
Advising for fall 2014 registration is underway, so let us draw your attention to the course offerings that can be counted toward a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies. Visit http://bit.ly/1oKHc6Q to see the list of courses. (Please remember that any courses marked with an asterisk require the approval of the instructor and the program coordinator. The necessary form is available at http://bit.ly/1hf9Hob )
Our Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies course (PEAC 015) will meet on Mon/Wed/Fri 9:30-10:20. You can view and download a flyer at http://bit.ly/intropeaceflyer (Click the gear icon at the bottom of the screen.)
Let Lee Smithey know if you have any questions! His office hours during advising are available at http://bit.ly/Smithey_office_hours
P.S. Lee Smithey will be teaching Social Movements and Nonviolent Power (SOCI 035C) on Fridays 2:00-5:00. You can also view and download a flyer for that course at http://bit.ly/socmovsnvflyer
TODAY: Learn about Joshua Evansc an active Quaker abolitionist
Joshua Evans Event at Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
Wednesday, April 9, 4:30 PM
Ralph Greene of New England Yearly Meeting will present a program on Joshua Evans (1741-1798). Evans was considered “singular” even by the Quakers. He was an early and active abolitionist, traveling as far South Carolina to bear testimony against enslavement, he worked on behalf of the Native Americans in New Jersey, his scruples against any support of slavery led him to wear undyed clothes, because the dyes used at the time were produced by slave labor, and he criticized the worldliness of Quakers of his time, suggesting among other things that the wearing of shoe buckles, where a simple lace would do, was vanity.
The manuscript Joshua Evans Journals at Friends Historical Library are being digitized and transcribed as part of a Digital Humanities Program.
Ralph Greene is very active in New England Yearly Meeting and the Friends Church in South China, Maine.
All are invited to Friends Historical Library, just inside McCabe Library, to hear more about the life and witness of Joshua Evans. Please forward this invitation to anyone who might be interested.
Iraqi cultural production after the invasion and occupation
The William J. Cooper Foundation and the Arabic section of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Swarthmore College invite you to “Debris and Diaspora: On Iraqi Culture”, a lecture by Iraqi writer and filmmaker Sinan Antoon
6:00 pm Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Science Center 101
Swarthmore College
Sinan Antoon, associate professor at the Gallatin School of New York University and fellow of the university’s Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, has authored The Poetics of the Obscene: Ibn al-Hajjaj and Sukhf and many essays on the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish. His translation of Mahmoud Darwish’s last prose book, In the Presence of Absence, was published by Archipelago Books in 2011 and won the 2012 National Translation Award given by the American Literary Translators Association. Antoon is also a poet and a novelist. He has published two collections of poetry in Arabic and one collection in English titled The Baghdad Blues. His novels include I`jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody and The Corpse Washer, nominated for the 2014 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. His essays and creative writing have appeared in major Arab and international journals and publications, including The Nation, Middle East Report, Banipal, Journal of Palestine Studies, World Literature Today, Ploughshares, Washington Square Journal, and the New York Times. He is co-founder/co-editor of Jadaliyya.
In this lecture, Antoon will give a bird’s-eye view of Iraqi culture today. This lecture asks: What has become of Iraqi cultural production since the invasion and occupation? What are the major dynamics or cultural institutions, if any, regulating or influencing cultural production? What sort of cultural hegemonies are in place? Have the cultural practices of the previous era disappeared or re-emerged under a new guise?
Troubled Political Transitions: A Perspective from Egypt
Ann Mosely Lesch ’66, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, American University in Cairo, will present the 2014 Islamic Studies Annual Lecture, “Troubled Political Transitions: A Perspective from Egypt”.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
4:30 pm,
Science Center Room 199
Swarthmore College
Three years ago, Egyptians rose up to remove Hosni Mubarak’s corrupt authoritarian regime. Since then, they have been on an emotional roller-coaster, from the excitement of participating in three elections, to rising anger during the Muslim Brotherhood’s presidency, and then taking back to the streets to remove that president.
Today, they face uncertainty as to whether presidential elections will strengthen democracy or entrench the security state. Given Egypt’s centrality in the Middle East, it is important to examine and assess its troubled transition.
Sponsored by the Islamic Studies Program, Arabic Section of Modern Languages & Literatures, Department of Political Science, and the Department of Sociology & Anthropology.
Why is the Conflict So Intractable?: 20 Years of Crisis in the DR Congo
Why is the Conflict So Intractable?: 20 Years of Crisis in the DR Congo
A lecture by Prof. Laura Seay, Colby College
Wednesday, April 9th
4:30 PM
Science Center Room 199
Swarthmore College
STAND (formerly known as “Students Taking Action Now: Darfur,”) is bringing Laura Seay to discuss the conflict in the DR Congo. She will explain the dynamics of the conflict, which is the deadliest war since World War II, and propose possible advocacy options. Laura Seay is a professor of Political Science at Colby College and is one of the top American experts on Central Africa. She has written for the New York Times, Foreign Policy, the Atlantic, and other prominent publications. Laura Seay has worked with the World Bank and is currently finishing a book called Substituting for the State.
Sponsored by the Political Science Department, the History Department, and Forum for Free Speech.
David Kennedy ’80 to speak on an applied ethics of crime control
“What if criminal justice had a Hippocratic Oath? Toward an applied ethics of crime control”
David Kennedy ‘80
Director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City
April 14, 2014
2:00-3:30 p.m.
Science Center 199
Swarthmore College (directions)
Download a flyer (follow the link, and click on the gear icon)
David M. Kennedy (Swarthmore class of 1980 and an honorary degree recipient in 2011) directed the Boston Gun Project, whose “Operation Ceasefire” intervention was responsible for a more than sixty per cent reduction in youth homicide victimization and won the Ford Foundation Innovations in Government award. He is the author of Don’t Shoot, One Man, a Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America. Read more about David Kennedy.
Watch David Kennedy address the senior class of 2011 during the Commencement in which he received an honorary degree from the College:
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Sponsored by the Peace and Conflict Studies Program, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility.
Using Class and Race Awareness to strengthen Social Action
Please be aware of this important upcoming workshop on “Using Class and Race Awareness to strengthen Social Action,” to be led at Pendle Hill by faculty and friends of our Peace and Conflict Studies program!
Invitation to Pendle Hill Workshop on Action Groups Moving Forward
George Lakey, Ingrid Lakey, and Sarah Willie-LeBreton will be leading a workshop at Pendle Hill entitled “Using Class and Race Awareness to strengthen Social Action,” beginning the evening of April 11 and concluding at noon on April 13, 2014.
We hope folks from Haverford, Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore Colleges will participate in this workshop. Commuters pay $230 for the workshop which includes meals. (Students at Swarthmore College can apply for up to $50 to support workshop attendance, through a form on the LC website.)
Here is a link to the workshop description. http://pendlehill.org/workshops/spring-2014/939-using-class-and-race-awareness-to-strengthen-social-action
Commitment to the entire workshop is required.