Scripps College Humanities Institute has announced its fall 2002 program planned to explore the topic "War and Peace," under the leadership of Institute Director Julia E. Liss. Slated events include symposia, lectures, a two-day conference, and a related film series; program guests range from authors to scholars to artists to a first-hand witness of the recent activity in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For more information and a complete schedule of events, please call the Humanities Institute at (909) 621-8326.
Scheduled speakers hail from a range of disciplinary perspectives and expertise and will address issues related to the theme "War and Peace," such as problems of violence, conflict, revolution, reconciliation, and peace-making in different geographic environments. While the subject of 9/11 will be included in discussion, it will not serve as the primary focus, rather as case study.
"I hope that one of the outcomes of the program will be a deeper understanding of how recent events are part of this moment in history," notes Director Liss. "There has been a tendency since 9/11 to see current problems as unique, as ones that have or will change our world completely. Just whether or not they will, or to what extent this may be the case, is something that this program will address by expanding the dialogue to include a more globalized and historical context."
Other issues to be explored in these events include intersections of gender, ethnicity, political violence; colonialism and nationalism; the culture and politics of the nuclear age; the politics of pacifism and reconciliation; and the comparison of state violence and movements for liberation.
Among the scholars and guests participating in events will be: Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch; Jonathan Schell, Harvard University and peace and disarmament correspondent for The Nation; Miriam Cooke, Duke University; Susan Jeffords, University of Washington; Jacqueline Siapno, University of Melbourne; Hugh Gusterson, MIT; Margot Henriksen, The University of Hawaii at Manoa; Begoña Aretxaga, University of Texas at Austin; Mark Juergensmeyer, director of Global and International Studies Program, University of California, Santa Barbara; Mary MacNaughton, Scripps College and director, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery; Allen Feldman, International Trauma Studies Program, NYU; and Heather Zwicker, University of Alberta.
In addition, a film series, "When The War Was Over: Eight Films On Peace … And War," will take place to supplement the Institute events. Curated by Rick Berg, this series of internationally produced films will be screened on Fridays at 7:30 p.m., beginning September 20, in the Humanities Auditorium on the Scripps campus. Open discussions with the directors of two scheduled films-the Palestinian "Roadblocks" by Director Hanna Elias on September 20, and "Testament," an American film by Academy Award-winning Director Lynne Littman on October 11—will take place immediately following the screenings. All films and discussions are free and open to the public.
For a full schedule of events, please contact the Humanities Institute at (909) 621-8326.