Author Archives: Lee Smithey

Prof. Jennifer Magee coordinates the Peace and Conflict Studies Program

by Lee Smithey

Please allow me to publicly welcome Jennifer Magee as Coordinator of the Peace and Conflict Studies program this spring.

Jennifer Magee

Prof. Jennifer Magee

Many of you know Jennifer through her work as Associate Director for Student Programs and Training at the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. Jennifer earned a Post-Graduate Diploma (with commendation) in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland before developing an interactive conflict resolution curriculum for high school students and founding and directing Peace Initiatives, Inc. She completed her Ph.D. in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University and began teaching peace and conflict studies courses at Swarthmore in 2007.

As you can tell, Jennifer brings a wealth of experience working closely with our students and valuable expertise in conflict resolution, peace studies, social action, and community-based learning. Please do not hesitate to direct students to her for advising or for any matters related to the Peace and Conflict Studies program. (jmagee1@swarthmore.edu)

Again, we are immensely thankful for Jennifer’s experience and leadership. As you have the opportunity, please welcome her!

Think, Care, Act – A new book by a local peace educator

Susan Gelber CanonSusan Gelber Canon, a local peace educator, appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer recently. She will speak 7 p.m. Jan. 26, 2012 at Haverford College, in the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship Cafe, Stokes Hall, Room 104. Admission is free. For information, contact Karen Barton of the Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition at 610-525-3784 or astrique@aol.com

Well Being: A teacher with a passion to spread peace

Philadelphia Inquirer

01/16/2012

When she was a girl growing up in Wynnefield, Sue Gelber’s sleep was often interrupted by her father’s screams as he struggled with nightmares triggered by memories of his experiences as a combat infantryman during World War II… Read more.

Appreciation for Dean Rafael Zapata

by Lee Smithey

This afternoon, I attended a remarkable (and tasty and musical) reception in appreciation of Dean Rafael Zapata, who will be taking up a new position as Chief Diversity Officer and Associate Vice President at Providence College. Those who spoke shared Dean Zapata’s personal warmth, his deep intellectualism, his love and concern for students, and his relentless commitment to social justice and diversity. It really was moving, especially the spoken word tributes by students and Prof. Kai Campbell.

Dean Zapata, from the Peace and Conflict Studies program, we wish you all success in your new position at a very fortunate institution! You will be missed, but I am already committing myself to think of you as our friend at another college. We still have much to learn from you.

Islam: Reform and Revival

From our friends at Haverford:  A one-day symposium on “Islam: Reform and Revival.”

This will be an opportunity to share in the reflections of four distinguished participants in current debates about the nature of Islam (sponsored  by the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship and the Distinguished Visitor’s Committee). On Thursday, 8 December, in Stokes 106, Abdulkarim Soroush, MohsenKadivar, Ali Mirsepassi, and Mahoud Sadri will be on campus sharing their thoughts and inviting our reflections on contemporary reform in Islam.

  • Professor Soroush has been visiting with us at Haverford this semester;
  • Professor Kadivar is a distinguished Iranian “cleric” and philosopher, who studied with Grand Ayatollah Montazeri in Qum and received his Ph.D. in Islamic Philosophy and Theology  from Tarbiat Modarres University in Tehran.
  • Ali Mirsepassi is Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Sociology at NYU, and Mahoud Sadri is Professor of Sociology at Texas Woman’s University.

The symposium begins at 9:30 and ends at 4:30 with a break for lunch in the CPCG Cafe.

Download a poster here.

Contact: Prof. Mark Gould

Listen to Prof. George Lakey on #Occupy

Prof. George LakeyIn case you missed Peace and Conflict Studies Prof. George Lakey’s interview about the Occupy movement on Radio Times today, you can listen at the bottom of this post or on the Radio Times site.

Summary From Radio Times:

Occupy protesters were evicted in Philadelphia and Los Angeles overnight. We’ll get an update on the latest news of the confrontations between protesters and police and we’ll take stock of the Occupy movement, what it’s done and failed to do, how it fits into U.S. political mainstream and social movement history, and how it doesn’t, and the messages the campaign has sought to project vs. the message we in the media have conveyed vs. the messages received by the public at large. Joining us in studio is GEORGE LAKEY, longtime nonviolence activist, founder of Training for Change and research associate at Swarthmore College’s Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. And we’ll also hear from WILL MARSHALL, president and founder of the Progressive Policy Institute, a leading intellectual of the American centrist left and a critic of the Occupy movement. And finally, we’ll hear from MATTATHIAS SCHWARTZ, a writer whose examination of the roots and dynamics of the Occupy movement, “Pre-Occupied,” was published in this week’s The New Yorker.

Peace and Conflict Studies Professor George Lakey on Radio Times on #Occupy November 30, 2011

One of our own, Theresa Williamson ’97, returns to talk about community development in Rio de Janeiro

Theresa Williamson ’97 graduated with a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies, and she is coming back home to tell us about her work with Catalytic Communities, a development organization she founded and directs. Come to her talk on December 5 in the Scheuer Room.

Catalytic Communities: Entrepreneurship in Community Development in Rio de Janeiro

A Talk by Theresa Williamson ‘97

Theresa Williamson '97

Theresa Williamson '97

Monday, December 5, 2011

4:30 p.m.

Scheuer Room, Kohlberg Hall

(maps and directions)

Theresa Williamson will discuss her work after Swarthmore in creating Catalytic Communities (CatComm), a successful nonprofit organization supporting Rio de Janeiro’s favela communities. Founded in 2000, CatComm has provided communications, networking and training support to over 1500 leaders from over 250 different neighborhoods across Rio.

Since 2009 CatComm, has been increasingly recognized as a watchdog organization as Rio prepares to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, and local officials begin intervening significantly in the city’s favelas.

Williamson will discuss the organization’s development with a particular emphasis on the organizational philosophy that made it possible to adapt quickly to a rapidly changing urban policy shift and evolving needs of its community partners, all within the setting of one of the most dynamic cities in the world today. Topics Williamson will include in her talk: Rio de Janeiro, slum upgrading, alternative and mainstream media, nonprofit management, urban planning, and dynamism.

Theresa Williamson received her Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and has published articles in Progressive Planning, The Journal of Urban Technology, and Cidadania.org. Williamson is the founder and executive director of Catalytic Communities and received her undergraduate degree from Swarthmore in Biological Anthropology.

CatComm has been working extensively around issues of forced evictions as Rio prepares for the Olympics.

 

Sponsored by the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, Peace and Conflict Studies, Alumni Relations, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and Latin American Studies

 

Nuremberg film screening

NUREMBERG: ITS LESSON FOR TODAY (1948)

The Schulberg/Waletzky Restoration

Writer-director Stuart Schulberg, left, pictured at his film’s 1948 premiere in Stuttgart, Germany, with John Scott. (Courtesy photo)

One Screening Only!

Monday, December 5, 2011

7:00 pm

Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema

(maps and directions)

Special guest Sandra Schulberg (’71) – daughter of filmmaker Stuart Schulberg & producer of the restoration – will speak about the making of Nuremberg and its subsequent suppression in the U.S.

Visit www.nurembergfilm.org and Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today on Facebook

Co-sponsored by Peace and Conflict Studies and German Studies. Event made possible by the Serendipity Fund.

Sandra Schulberg '71 and Sam Hirshman '13

Sandra Schulberg '71 and Sam Hirshman '13 talk after the screening of the film in LPAC Cinema.

Student Conference on Democracy and Ethnic Conflict

Student Conference on Democracy and Ethnic Conflict

Monday, November 28, 1:15-4pm, Trotter 301

The final meeting of Pols 79: Democracy and Ethnic Conflict is a conference in which students will present concrete findings from their larger research projects-in-progress. In addition to presenting evidence from a wide variety of cases of ethnic conflict, the conference will seek to identify common themes and patterns, and generate discussion and questions about the cases.

Panel presentations will be followed by comments and a brief Q&A period. Students, faculty, and any other interested parties are welcome to attend all or part of the conference. Refreshments will be provided.

1:15 pm, Migration, Minorities, and Integration

Jeewon Kim: Muslim Integration in France

Natalie Litton: Roma Integration in Western Europe

Josh Gluck: Resources, Migration, and Ethnic Conflict

2:00 pm, Managing and Responding to Ethnic Conflict in Africa

Wen Huang: Post-Genocide Justice Mechanisms

Lorand Laskai: Resource Conflict and Ethnic Identity

Katerina Stampouloglou: Liberation Movements, Democratization, & Ethnic Conflict

BaLeigh Harper: Federalism, Leadership, and Ethnic Conflict in Nigeria

3:00 pm,

Ben Geselowitz: Institutions and Ethnic Conflict in New Democracies

Hanna Kozlowska: International Intervention and Ethnic Conflict – Bosnia and Kosovo

Amalia Feld: Humanitarian Intervention and China

3:45 pm, Final Comments and Open Q&A

Discussants will include:

Matt Murphy, Political Science

Lee Smithey, Peace & Conflict Studies

Seminar students from Pol 110: Identity and Conflict

Contact: mmurphy1

Latoya Peterson hip-hop feminist and anti-racist blogger

Latoya PetersonThe Pop Culture Hustle

Latoya Peterson, blogger at Racialicious.com, is coming to speak at Swarthmore!

A certified media junkie, Latoya Peterson provides a hip-hop feminist and anti-racist view on pop culture with a special focus on video games, anime, American comics, manga, magazines, film, television, and music.

Tuesday, 11/22 7:00 pm

SCI Center, 199

Hosted by Swarthmore Feminists, Co-sponsored by Forum for Free Speech, Black Studies, BCC, GSST, Islamic Studies, Intercultural Center, Dean’s Office, Political Science, Sociology/ Anthropology, Peace and Conflict Studies, Educational Studies, and the Office of the President

 

Jim MacMillan’s photography: First Light, 09/12/01

Anyone who has worked with or studied with Jim MacMillan, instructor of Peace and Conflict Journalism, knows that he is a high-calibre journalist who lives and breathes his profession. You may also know that he is also a long-time professional photojournalist, whose work is recognized for its artistic quality. His photograph “First Light, 09/12/01,” is currently appearing in the exhibit “New York, New York! The 20th Century” at the Katonah Museum of Art and was covered this weekend in the New York Times. Read more and visit Jim MacMillan’s online portfolio.