Author Archives: Lee Smithey

Quaker Rhetoric and the Birth of American Antislavery, 1657-1761

We would like to share this exciting announcement from our friends in the Department of Religion and the Friends Historical Library. Visit the Quakers and Slavery exhibit online in Triptych.

From Peace to Freedom

Quaker Rhetoric and the Birth of American Antislavery, 1657-1761

Lecture by Brycchan Carey

Wednesday, March 6, 7:00 pm, Friends Meeting House, Swarthmore College

In his book “From Peace to Freedom,” Carey shows how the Quakers turned against slavery in the first half of the eighteenth century and became the first organization to take a stand against the slave trade. Through meticulous examination of the earliest writings of the Friends, including journals and letters, Carey reveals the society’s gradual transition from expressing doubt about slavery to adamant opposition.

Brycchan Carey is Reader in English literature, Kingston University, London.

Sponsored by The Department of Religion and Friends Historical Library

Maps and directions 

Download a flyer.

 

The picture and transcription below are posted with the permission of the Friends Historical Library from the Tri-college online archive of documents and photos, Triptych. John Woolman published the second part of his book, Considerations on keeping Negroes, in 1762. The first part was printed in 1754.

Press and Woolmans book

From the Overseers of the Press Concerning Jn. Woolmans Negro Book

To the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings of Friends belonging to the Yearly Meeting which is held for Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  Our Friend John Woolman having wrote some Considerations on keeping Negroes Part the second, the same hath been inspected by the Friends appointed to oversee the Press, and are now printed containing fifty two Pages, and are to be sold by David Hall at the New Printing Office near the Jersey Market in Philadelphia at [sevenpence] per Piece. A considerable Number of them are lodged with our Friend James Pemberton, and with our Friend William Wilson at his Store in Market Street, opposite to the London Coffee House between Front and Water Streets, and if such Friends who are inclined to purchase would at the Close of a Monthly Meeting when Time permits give in their Names to some one of their Members the Books are ready to be delivered to the Purchasers by our said Friends at [4/9]. per Dozen that being no more than the Cost of publishing & binding them. Signed in Behalf of the Overseers of the Press aforesaid By Jams. Pemberton. Philad. 28. 3 mo 1762.

Duncan Morrow on 35 Years of Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland

Dr. Duncan MorrowLessons for Peacebuilders:

Northern Ireland and 35 Years of Community Relations Work

Dr. Duncan Morrow

The University of Ulster

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

4:15 – 5:30 p.m.

Science Center 183

Swarthmore College

(Maps and directions) (Download a flyer)

Dr. Duncan Morrow served for a decade as the Executive Director of the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council and is one of the most knowledgeable people in Northern Ireland when it comes to ethnopolitical conflict, peacebuilding, and community relations.

Northern Ireland is in a state of transition; large-scale organized political violence has all but ended, yet it remains a deeply divided society that, by many measures, is becoming increasingly segregated. On March 20, Dr. Morrow will speak at the college and assess almost 35 years of peacebuilding work during “the Troubles” and since the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998.

Morrow is a co-author of The Equity, Diversity and Interdependence Framework  that has been highly influential in shaping community relations work in Northern Ireland.

He has recently returned to his post as a Lecturer in the Department of Criminology, Politics, and Social Policy at the University of Ulster, where he also serves as the university’s Director of Community Engagement.

This event is open to the public and is sponsored by the Northern Ireland Semester, Peace and Conflict Studies, the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, the Rotary Club of Swarthmore, the Provost’s Office, and Sociology and Anthropology

Duncan Morrow spoke on the subject of creating a shared future at the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland’s Observatory project’s Community Convention.

New course on Security and Defense: Nonviolent Strategies

Advising is coming up, and Prof. George Lakey will be offering a new course in Peace and Conflict Studies for Fall 2013!

SECURITY AND DEFENSE:  NONVIOLENT STRATEGIES

PEAC 040 / SOAN 040 H

Prof. George LakeyThreats to security exist on many levels: environment, community, nation, human rights, and others.  People naturally mobilize for defense, but often choose among a very narrow set of options.  This course broadens the framework to focus on modes of nonviolent defense which have had concrete application sometimes involving millions of people, but which remain “off the radar” of most strategic analysis.

The course will learn from cases of successful nonviolent defense of nations, communities, environmental resources, and human rights under threat.  Students will research and write “forgotten cases” for publication in the Global Nonviolent Action Database, giving them experience with the data of civilian resistance.  They will also take an example of threat in today’s world and begin to explore how a nonviolent strategy could be devised given the circumstances.  Through these activities students will gain research skills and broaden their view of the dynamics of struggle.

Green Islam in Indonesia

Green Islam in Indonesia: Lecture by Anna M.Gade’89

Fri., Feb. 22, 4:30 – 6:00 pm, Science Center L26

greenislamMuslim Indonesia is becoming known globally as a leader in faith-based responses to environmental challenges. Based on fieldwork in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, Gade will explain recent trends in this area. She focuses on a new movement in traditional Islamic education, called “eco-pesantren,” that embraces revitalized approaches in teaching, learning, and practice of global Islamic ecology with respect to multiple issues of concern, including deforestation, water management and climate change.

Dr. Gade teaches in the Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia and the Religious Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she is also a faculty member of the Center for Culture, History, and Environment. She is author of the books, “Perfection Makes Practice: Learning, Emotion and the Recited Qur’an in Indonesia” (University of Hawaii Press, 2004), “The Qur’an: An Introduction” (Oneworld Publications, 2010), and revising editor of “The Cham Rebellion: Survivors’ Stories from the Villages” by Ysa Osman (Phnom Penh: Documentation Center of Cambodia, 2006). Short videos on “Green Islam in Indonesia” are available on www.vimeo.com/hijau.

Gade received a B.A. from Swarthmore College in 1989 and a M.A., Ph.D., from the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Sponsored  by   Islamic  Studies ,  Environmental  Studies,   Peace  &  Conflict  Studies,   and  the  Department  of  Religion

Poetic Injustice: Writing on Resistance and Palestine

A poetry reading and discussion by Remi Kanazi, poet, writer and activist.

Remi KanaziMonday, February 25, 2013

9:30 PM

Paces Cafe

Remi Kanazi is a poet, writer, and activist based in New York City. He is the editor of Poets For Palestine and the author of the collection of poetry, Poetic Injustice: Writings on Resistance and Palestine. His political commentary has been featured by news outlets throughout the world, including CNN, Al Jazeera English, GRITtv with Laura Flanders, and BBC Radio. His poetry has taken him across North America and the Middle East, and he recently appeared in the Palestine Festival of Literature as well as Poetry International.

For more information email: sfpatswat@gmail.com

For more information about Remi visit: www.poeticinjustice.net

Download a flyer

Sponsors: Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine (SPJP), Forum for Free Speech (FFS), Peace and Conflict Studies, Political Science, Arabic and French departments.

[Photo credit: DefPoetics, Creative Commons License]

Fossil Fuel Student Convergence

Swarthmore Mountain Justice

Over 200 people from 70 student campaigns nationwide are coming to Swarthmore for a Fossil Fuel Student Convergence organized by Swarthmore Mountain Justice. Guests include speakers from communities fighting extraction, socially responsible investment funds, and programs focused on intersectionality and environment. There are several events open to the wider community, and the organizers are excited to invite people from all different perspectives to participate.

Here’s a schedule of the weekend:

FRIDAY 2.22

Silent Solidarity March// Location and time tbd

Swarthmore students, faculty, staff, and alumni will join together for a march through campus during the Board of Managers meetings to urge powerful action on climate change through fossil fuel divestment.

(For more information, contact swarthmoremj@gmail.com)

SATURDAY 2.23

“Before Rachel Carson: Workers and the Origins of Environmentalism in the United States”

Sci. 181 // 9:30 & 10:30 AM

Chad Montrie is a Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts–Lowell, and author of To Save the Land and the People, Making a Living, and A People’s History of the Environment. His talk confronts mainstream visions of environmentalism, focusing instead on working class resistance to extraction. (Sponsored by Environmental Studies & History Dept.)

“Resisting Fossil Fuels: Voices from the Frontlines” – Panel Discussion

LPAC//11:30 AM

Crystal Lameman, Beaver Lake Cree Nation, tar sands resistance, Canada

Yudith Nieto, Tar Sands Blockade, TX

Junior Walk, Coal River Mountain Watch, WV

Deirdre, anti-fracking organizer, PA

Michael Bagdes-Canning, Marcellus Outreach Butler, PA

“Growing Stronger: From Divestment to Climate Justice” – Keynote

LPAC//7:30 PM

Crystal Lameman, Beaver Lake Cree Nation, tar sands resistance, Canada

Aura Bogado, The Nation, NY

Ellen Dorsey, Wallace Global Fund, Washington DC

SUNDAY 2.24

Divest the Nation Action

1PM // Meet in Front of Parrish

Join students from across the country in a monumental show of support for the national divestment movement, frontline communities, and international action for climate justice!

“What We Can Learn from Economic and Immigrant Justice Work” 

Location TBA // 9:30 & 10:30

Chris Hicks (Jobs with Justice)

Unite Here! Organizer

Erika Nuñez (DREAMer and Bryn Mawr Student)

(personal outreach only at this point) “Environmental Justice in Chester” Panel –

Location TBA // 9:30 & 10:30 AM

Speakers: Ciara Williams (Swarthmore student), Desire Grover (community media maker and organizer), Mike Ewall (Energy Justice Network)

If you have questions about the weekend or the events, feel free to send an email to Swarthmore Mountain Justice at swarthmoremj@gmail.com

Michael Walzer on Politics, Justice, and Jewish Thought

Monday, March 18th, 2013

Q & A session at 4:15 pm, Kohlberg Scheuer Room

Lecture at 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Science Center 101

Michael WalzerMichael Walzer, emeritus professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey is one of the most renowned living political philosophers.

Walzer’s pioneering work on justice, communitarianism, just war theory, and Jewish political thought has illuminated a variety of intellectual landscapes for decades. Walzer has also been a co-editor of the democratic socialist journal “Dissent” for nearly half a century.

He is the author of dozens of books including “Spheres of Justice,” “Just and Unjust Wars,” “Exodus and Revolution,” and most recently “In God’s Shadow: Politics in the Hebrew Bible.”

Michael Walzer will offer a Q & A session at 4:15 pm in Kohlberg Scheuer Room. The Q & A will center on questions offered by students who have been reading his work in their classes, but all interested members of the Swarthmore community are welcome to attend.

Sponsored by the Religion Department, Department of Political Science, Peace and Conflict Studies, Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility.

Teach-in on Climate Change and Divestment

Faculty will speak briefly on a variety of issues, and then open the floor to questions and discussions.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11TH, 2013

8:30 PM – 10:30 PM

storm surgeSCHEUER ROOM

All students welcome

FACULTY PARTICIPANTS:

  • BETSY BOLTON
  • PETER COLLINGS
  • MARK KUPERBERG
  • GIOVANNA DI CHIRO
  • CINDY HALPERN
  • PHILIP JEFFERSON
  • GEORGE LAKEY
  • LEE SMITHEY
  • MARK WALLACE

Peace Studies and Action Course Partners with GunCrisis.org

From the Daily Gazette

By Cristina Abellan-Matamoros

January 31, 2013

Professor Lee Smithey’s class, Peace Studies and Action, is partnering this semester with GunCrisis.org, which aims to provide a hard look at the gun violence situation in Philadelphia and innovative solutions to it.

“I think the College as a Philly neighbor, so to speak, can be a voice in raising concern about the epidemic of gun violence,” said Smithey, who teaches sociology and coordinates the Peace and Conflict Studies Program.

According to Smithey, the Peace Studies and Action course is designed to use peace building to bridge the gap between academic peace research and peace action.

Taught each spring semester, the course is meant to provide a service to a local organization focused on solving a social problem.

“It’s also a peace and violence problem in our backyard and in many ways we’re isolated from the gun violence in North and West Philadelphia,” he added.

Smithey said the objectives for the course would be to learn more about the program as well as understand the range of initiatives addressing gun violence in Philadelphia while situating it within peace and conflict studies literature.

Aaron Moser ’12, who interned with GunCrisis.org last summer, hopes that the class will educate students about what goes on in Philadelphia concerning gun violence.

“I hope the extra mind power and writing power of these students will allow the organization to have a wider reach to continue building a network in the city and around the country as well as to bring more attention to the gun violence in America’s urban settings and look for solutions,” he said.

The students will be writing journalistic style pieces that GunCrisis.org can post as content for its blog.

Jim MacMillan, co-founder of GunCrisis.org and Manager for Media and Social Responsibility in the Lang Center, hopes that the class will help him build a peace-oriented vertical on the site.

He hopes to encourage use of a “‘#phillypeaceplan’ hashtag to every communication on social media, so we can gather information and get an idea of what the community thinks we should do,” he said.

“There is an opportunity now to embrace the momentum across the nation to reduce gun violence and the human suffering in Philadelphia. The sooner we can expedite the process of ending this violence the fewer people will die, if somebody wants to stop the shooting we would love to work with them,” MacMillan said.