Dominic Tierney, Political Science, Swarthmore College
How We Fight: Crusades, Quagmires, and the American Way of War
Wednesday, March 31, 2010; 4:30 p.m.
Faculty lectures are open to the entire community and provide an excellent opportunity to learn from the current research and scholarship of our colleagues. All faculty lectures are at 4:30 in the Scheuer Room.
Economist Sir Richard Jolly to lecture on the U.N. and Economic Development at Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, PA – Economist Sir Richard Jolly will visit Swarthmore College to give two talks about various aspects of U.N. agencies’ involvement in economic development. Both events are free and open to the public.
On Tuesday, March 23 at 7 p.m. in Science Center 101, Jolly will give a talk titled United Nations Ideas That Changed the World. Too often, people think of the United Nations as little more than an endless and often ineffective talk shop on issues of conflict, peace, and security. In fact, 80 percent of the U.N.’s work is on economic and social development. Drawing on a ten year project documenting the U.N.’s contributions in this area and on his nearly 20 years of professional experience with UNICEF and UNDP, Sir Richard Jolly will reflect on a number of successes in this area and the work remaining to be done. He will also share his thoughts on the challenges the U.N. faces today if it is to retain relevance in the world.
On Thursday, March 25 at 7 p.m. in Science Center 101, Jolly will give a talk titled Human Development: Challenges to Neo-Liberal Economic Thinking. Since 1990, human development—putting people at the center of national and international policy making—has gained increasing interest and attention. Economist Sir Richard Jolly has employed this approach to his work on the U.N.’s Human Development Report. Issued annually, it ranks countries by the Human Development Index (HDI). In contrast to GNP and per capita income, HDI measures the ability of a country’s population to live long, knowledgeable and varied lives. At a time when many are questioning the dominance and inadequacy of orthodox economic thinking—especially of the neo-liberal variety—human development is part of the shift of emphasis to broader issues of well-being, happiness and freedom.
Sir Richard Jolly is a co-director of the U.N. Intellectual History Project; in that capacity he is currently overseeing and working on a 14 volume history of the U.N.’s contributions to economic and social development since its beginning in 1945. As recipient of a Carnegie Scholarship, he is also undertaking a study of the trends in global inequality since 1820 and what can be done to narrow global gaps over the next 50 years. Jolly is a trustee of OXFAM, a director of the Overseas Development Institute and chairman of the U.N. Association of the United Kingdom. He was made a Knight of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in the New Years Honours of 2001 for his contributions to international development. Earlier in his career Richard Jolly served an Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, holding senior positions in UNICEF and UNDP.
Sponsored by Swarthmore College and The William J. Cooper Foundation.
Cooper Series events are free and open to the public; there is no reserved seating. Event details may be subject to change without notice.
Directions to Swarthmore College
Contact: Rob Hollister – rhollis1@swarthmore.edu
A Back to Black Film Festival Presentation
Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
7:00 p.m.
Science Center 199
Swarthmore College
Taking Root tells the inspiring story of the Green Belt Movement of Kenya and its unstoppable founder, Wangari Maathai, who, in 2004, became the first environmentalist and first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Taking Root illustrates the development of Maathai’s holistic worldview and model for sustainable development. Maathai discovered the core of her life’s work when she turned her attention to the rural women with whom she had grown up in Kenya’s central highlands. Daily life was intolerable: walking exhaustive distances for firewood, clean water was scarce, the soil was eroding, and their children suffered from malnutrition. One hundred years of colonialism and neocolonialism had devastated the forests they’d lived with for centuries. “Why not plant trees?” Maathai thought and marked the beginning of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya.
Through chilling first person accounts and TV-news footage, Taking Root documents the Green Belt Movement’s dramatic political confrontations of the 1980s and ’90s, a time when Maathai and other Kenyan women endured violent suppression, hunger strike, and risked personal injury. Taking Root also chronicles the women?s successful political action in 2002 that helped to bring down Daniel Arap Moi, dictator of Kenya for 24 years. Faculty Discussant: Mark Wallace, Professor of Religion
Sponsored by: Black Studies, Environmental Studies, and the Swarthmore College Library
Eyes Wide Open Exhibit
Monday, March 22, 2010
10:00 am – 6:00 pm
McCabe Library – Second Floor Study Room
Followed by a talk with George Lakey on
the Military Industrial Complex and US Military Presence in Iraq & Afghanistan
Parrish Parlors at 7:00 pm
Eyes Wide Open, created by the American Friends Service Committee, is an exhibit and a memorial to inform the public and remember those lost in the Iraq war. Combat boots and shoes represent individual soldiers and civilians killed, and act as a physical reminder of the immense human cost of war.
The Eyes Wide Open exhibit will visit Swarthmore College on Monday, March 22, 2010 to commemorate the March 20th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war in 2003. The exhibit will be located in McCabe Library and is free and open to the public.
This event is co-sponsored by Students for a Democratic Society and the Swarthmore Peace and Conflict Studies.
Directions to Swarthmore College
Contact: hbrilli1@swarthmore.edu
This new blog entry by Sigma Chang begins to compile a list of annual meetings with Peace Studies content. (http://bit.ly/a91ATA) Attending meetings is a great way to learn more about the latest developments and meet others in the field.
On Thursday, February 18, 2010, Lester Kurtz, Professor of Sociology at George Mason University, presented a webinar lecture on a paper co-authored with Lee Smithey (Sociology and Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College). You can view the presentation, “When Repression Backfires,” via You Tube by following these links:
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR: Friday, April 2, 2010, 5 to 7 pm, and Saturday and Sunday April 3-4, 4 to 6pm
Dorothy Marder was a peace activist, feminist, and gay rights advocate. Her freelance photography offers a glimpse into activism during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
At the Kitao Gallery
Friday, April 2, 2010, 5 to 7 pm, and Saturday and Sunday April 3-4, 4 to 6pm
The Kitao Gallery is a student gallery located on the Swarthmore College campus between Sharples dining hall and Olde Club.
(see campus map) (pdf map) (Google map) (directions)
Hosted by Swarthmore College Peace Collection, Peace and Conflict Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Kitao Gallery
contact: Elizabeth Matlock
Upcoming events of interest at Haverford College:
From the Laws of War to Humanitarian Law
March 31 at 4:30PM in KINSC Hilles 109
This event is sponsored by the Distinguished Visitors Program and the CPGC.
March 3 at 4:30pm in Chase Auditorium
Adam Thurschwell, Professor of Law at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and author of Capital Punishment and Political Sovereignty (Routledge 2008), currently working as defense lawyer for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Thurschwell will give a public talk about the workings of the tribunal system at Guantanamo. He will also visit my Levinas/ethics seminar.
This event is sponsored by the Distinguished Visitors Program.
“Talking to the Troops about the Archaeology of Iraq and Afghanistan” will be presented by C. Brian Rose, James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, March 17 at 4:15 in Science Center 199. Shortly after the looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, the Archaeological Institute of America launched a new program wherein lectures on the cultural heritage of Iraq and Afghanistan are provided at US military bases to soldiers who are about to be deployed to those countries. Professor Rose will provide an overview of the history of the program during the last four years, highlighting the archaeological and diplomatic issues that arose in the course of the planning. A reception will follow.
Dialogue key to Israeli-Palestinian cooperation
Published February 4, 2010
The deeper I sank into the morass of literature on the Israeli-Arab conflict, the more I realized it is impossible to truly know anything about it.
After a while, I developed the only kind of “balanced opinion” one can have on such a contentious subject: an amalgamation of polarizing tidbits. It became an assortment of equally-weighted opposing blurbs, dictated by two different national narratives. My conversations became quite ambivalent, often starting with “Well, it’s clear that…” soon to be followed by “But, on the other hand…”
The truth is, there are enough facts, figures and well thought-out arguments on all sides that you can believe whatever you want to believe. There is no “getting to the bottom of it.” Anyone who tries to convince you otherwise is selling something. Sage advice for the real world, Swatties: Beware the zealots who pass out leaflets on the sidewalk. There will be many. … [read the full article in The Phoenix]
Jessa is a senior. She can be reached at jdeutsc1@swarthmore.edu.
