Class
Course Description | Syllabus | Colloquium Members
Course Description
It is better to be feared than loved.
- Machiavelli
The thing I fear most is fear.
- Michel de Montaigne
In the twentieth century, the idea of human universality rests less on hope than on fear, less on optimism about the human capacity for good than on dread of human capacity for evil, less on a vision of man as maker of history than of man the wolf toward his own kind. Michael Ignatieff
Fear is one of the most basic and motivating of human emotions. Corey Robin, in his new book Fear: The History of a Political Idea, argues that fear is the first emotion mentioned in the Bible. Philosophers from Aristotle to Locke to Burke have seen fear as a motivating force, a means to action, without which the human populace remains passive and satiated. It can be a source of human industry or of human misery.
Political fear finds its place in the competing ideas and ideologies of our time: traditional values in opposition to modernity, religion in opposition to secularism, freedom in relation to security, globalization in relation to nationalism, etc. These are arguments that tend to be posed in an either-or polarity, often representing the Manichean struggle of good versus evil. Fear often forces societies and its citizens to choose sides and relegates complexity and ambiguity to the sidelines. Is this political manipulation or a clash of civilizations on a range of levels?
The Spanish Inquisition...The Rise of the National Socialist Party...The Red Menace and McCarthyism...The Cold War and its subsequent proxy wars...Desaparecidos... Kosovo’s Field of Blackbirds...Apartheid...Radio Milles Collines...Bharatiya Janata Party, Ayodhya and the Babri Masjid Mosque...Darfur.
Has any country gone untouched by the politics of fear? From Argentina to Bosnia to Burma to Chile to China to Iran to Iraq to Russia to Rwanda to the United States? The politics of fear has been and is pervasive in society, from the military juntas of Latin America to Mao’s Cultural Revolution to the autogenocide in Cambodia to environmental movements to the media and advertising industries.
Some argue that decades ago, the idea of collective fear had a specific source: the atom bomb. Today, our shared anxiety has become far more complex and insidious, arising from tyranny, terrorism, and the invisible power of the quasi-state.
Are the two prongs of the U.S. anti-terror strategy -- preventive war and democratization -- at odds? Can fear be used as a democratic weapon in the fight against terrorism without undermining the values of liberalism? Benjamin Barber argues that “Terror succeeds in what it promises, rather than in what it actually achieves, and so turns the effort to defend against it into its chief tool.” Are patriotism and criticism of the government mutually exclusive? Has the war on terrorism compromised the First Amendment?
To what extent, if at all, are citizens or segments of society willing to sacrifice the rule of law for security? From Italy to Uruguay? From Russia to the United States? Are fascist states only an early 20th century phenomenon or could they return? Is there a current trend in South America toward more authoritarian states? Will totalitarianism re-emerge?
What are the means for countering political fear? How do societies transition from repressive to democratic governments?
Syllabus
Thursday, September 8:
The Politics of Fear and the Psychology of Hate
Karen Weis
PhD Candidate, University of Heidelberg
Co-author, Robert Sternberg, Psychology of Hatred (forthcoming - Yale University Press)
Handouts:
“Explorations of the Duplex Theory of Hate” by Karin Weis, September 2005
“A Duplex Theory of Hate and its Development and its Application to Terrorism, Massacres, and Genocide” by Robert J. Sternberg, August 2002
Tuesday, September 13:
The Conflict in the Former Yugoslavia - Fear, Hatred, and Nationalism - Ethnic Cleansing and its Repercussions
Zlatko Lagumdzija
President of the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Former Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Member, House of Representatives, Parliamentary Assembly, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bruce Hitchner
Professor and Chair, Department of Classics and Director, Archaeology Program, Tufts University; Chairman, Dayton Peace Accords Project
Books:
The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing by Michael Mann, chapters 12 and 13
Handouts:
The Fall of Yugoslavia: The Third Balkan War by Misha Glenny, chapters 1 (The Heart of the Matter, Knin), 2 (Dress Rehearsal ? Serb Eat Serb, Belgrade), and 5 (Bosnia-Hercegovina ? Paradise of the Damned)
“Yugoslav Nationalities Policy” from Nationalism and Federalism in Yugoslavia 1962-1991 by Sabrina Ramet
“Nationalist Tensions, 1968-90: Muslims, Albanians, Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins” from Nationalism and Federalism in Yugoslavia 1962-1991 by Sabrina Ramet
“The Balkan Tragedy” by Michael Ignatieff, The New York Review of Books, May 13, 1993
“Bosnia: ‘No More than Witnesses at a Funeral’” from A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power
Op-ed from Dnevi Avaz by Bruce Hitchner
Opinion on the Constitutional Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Powers of the High Representative, European Commission for Democracy through Law (for those who have not done a lot of reading about the former Yugoslavia, read the handouts in the order listed and then the two chapters in Mann’s book)
Thursday, September 15:
"Metus Hostilis" - Fear of Enemies and Collective Action
Professor Ioannis Evrigenis
Assistant Professor of Political Science, Tufts University; Coeditor and Co-translator, Jonathan Gottfried’s Another Philosophy of History and Selected Political Writings; Author, “Carthage Must Be Saved”: Fear of Enemies and Collective Action (forthcoming)
Book:
Climate of Fear: The Quest for Dignity in a Dehumanized World by Wole Soyinka
(this will be discussed in the first hour of class)
Handouts:
Carthage Must Be Saved: Fear of Enemies and Collective Action by Ioannis D. Evrigenis, paper from the 2003 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association
Sallust’s Theorem: A Comment on “Fear” in Western Political Thought by Neal Wood, History of Political Thought, Summer 1995
Tuesday, September 20:
The Geopolitics of Fear
Padraig O’ Malley
For most of his professional life he has been involved with the conflict in Northern Ireland. Working with all the political parties to the conflict he convened the Amherst Conference on Northern Ireland (Massachusetts, 1975), the Airlie House Conference (Virginia, 1985) and co–convened the Arniston Conference with the government of South Africa (Western Cape, 1997). He was also a member of the Opshal Commission, which authored the report "Northern Ireland: A Citizens' Inquiry" (Belfast, 1993). He is the author of a number of prize winning books on Northern Ireland including The Uncivil Wars: Ireland Today (1983) Biting at the Grave (1990), and Questions of Nuance (1990). He has also extensively researched the transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa; his work is archived online at The Heart of Hope: South Africa's Transition from Apartheid to Democracy, 1989-1996.
Book:
The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War by Andrew Bacevich, pp 1-96
Handouts:
Torture: A Collection, Sanford Levinson, editor, pp 1-141
Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib, and the War on Terror by Mark Danner, pp. 1-24
Biting at the Grave: The Irish Hunger Strikes and the Politics of Despair by Padraig O’Malley, parts I (Hunger Strikes) and II (Reactions)
Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power by David Rothkopf, chapters 1 (The Committee in Charge of Running the World) and 13 (U.S. Foreign Policy in the Age of Ambiguity)
Thursday, September 22:
The Politics of Fear in Central America: From Civil War to Anomic Violence
Professor Victor Valle
Dr. Valle is the Dean for Academic Administration and Professor of Human Security at the University for Peace. As Dean, he oversees admission and registrar processes as well as the management of all academic programmes. He serves as Vice Chair of the Headquarters Management Committee, the Programme Academic Committees and Secretary of the Academic Board.
Handouts:
“Truth as Justice: Investigatory Commissions in Latin America” by Margaret Popkin and Naomi Roht-Arriaza in Transitional Justice: How Emerging Democracies Reckon with Former Regimes, Neil Kritz, editor
“The United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador” by Thomas Buergenthal in Transitional Justice: How Emerging Democracies Reckon with Former Regimes, Neil Kritz, editor
“A Miracle, A Universe: Settling Accounts with Torturers” by Lawrence Weschler in Transitional Justice: How Emerging Democracies Reckon with Former Regimes, Neil Kritz, editor
"Myrna Mack" by Elizabeth Oglesby
"Living in a State of Fear" by Linda Green
Tuesday, September 27:
Rushdie and Beyond: Literature and the Politics of Fear
Professor Modhumita Roy
Book:
Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies by Ian Baruma and Avishai MargolitHandouts:
"Literature Can Close the Fear Gap" by Salman Rushdie, New Perspectives Quarterly, Summer 2005
"Massacre of Arcadia" by Pantcaj Mishra
"Letter from Europe" by Jane Kramer from The New Yorker, Jan 14, 1991
"Kashmir: Learning from the Past" International Crisis Group
Thursday, September 29
First Exam
Friday, September 30 - Sunday, October 2:
Fear and U.S. Foreign Policy: The War on Terror
Sargent Camp for Outdoor Education, Peterborough NH
EPIIC Weekend Immersion with Professor Andrew Bacevich
Dr. Bacevich is professor of international relations and the former Director of the Center for International Relations at Boston University. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and has taught at West Point and at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Bacevich is the author most recently of The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War (2005). His previous books include American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy (2004), The Imperial Tense: Problems and Prospects of American Empire (2003), and War over Kosovo: Politics and Strategy in a Global Age (2002). He was a member of a Cato Institute task force that produced the report, "Exiting Iraq: Why the U.S. Must End the Military Occupation and Renew the War Against al-Qaida. In 2004, Dr. Bacevich was a Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin.
Book:
The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War by Andrew Bacevich
Thursday, October 6:
US Foreign Policy: Manufactured Fear?
Professor Paul Joseph
Paul Joseph is a political sociologist at Tufts University with a specialty on the influence of US domestic politics on military policies. He examines the impact of social movements, public opinion, and various business and bureaucratic interests particularly with regard to the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons policy. He is writing a book on public opinion and military interventions during the period bookended by the two wars in Iraq.
Book:
Fear's Empire by Benjamin Barber (all)
Handouts:
“Terror and Fear Post 9/11.” by Paul Joseph
"Virtual War" from Virtual War: Kosovo and Beyond by Michael Ignatieff
"New Rome, New Jerusalem," from The Imperial Tense: Prospects and Problems of American Empire by Andrew Bacevich
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, Prologue by Steve Coll
"Supremacy By Stealth" by Robert Kaplan from The Atlantic Monthly, July/August 2003
Wednesday, October 12:
The Holocaust and Anti Semitism: The Historical Context
Professor Steve Cohen
Steve Cohen has taught high school history for twenty-five years and is in his sixth year at Tufts. He has also had the opportunity to work on educational projects beyond the classroom. He edited and wrote anthologies to accompany the public television documentaries Vietnam A Television History and Eyes On The Prize. Steve has been a Program Associate with Facing History and Ourselves for two decades and written articles about teaching controversial issues like Vietnam, the dropping of the Atomic Bomb, and the Holocaust. His interests are teacher education, history and social studies.
Book:
The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing by Michael Mann, Chapters 7,8,9 (Nazis)
Handouts:
“I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years 1933-1941” by Victor Kelmperer
“The Jew Who Fought to Stay German” by Amos Elon
“The True Believer" by Gordon A. Craig from the New York Review of Books
"Contemporary Anti-Semitism" by Mary Robinson
“In the Wake of Barbarossa, ” Chapter 6 from Understanding Ethnic Violence: Fear, Hatred, and Resentment in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe by Roger D. Peterson
Tuesday, October 18:
Neuroscience, Aggression and Fear
Professor Turhan Canli, EPIIC '86, Tufts '88
Turhan Canli is a neuroscientist and psychologist working on the brain basis of individual differences in emotion and personality. Dr. Canli uses cutting-edge methodologies, including functional magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic brain stimulation, and molecular genetic techniques to investigate how and why we differ from each other in our responses to emotional experiences. He has also published, and appeared as a contributor to a PBS program, on the topic of neuroethics - an emerging field of inquiry that is concerned with the ethical implications of neuroscientific discovery.
Professor Klaus Miczek
Professor Miczek is a professor at Tufts University specializing in Psychopharmacology. The work in Dr. Miczek's pre-clinical psychopharmacology laboratory systematically dissects the difference between stimulant and alcohol abuse, violence and social stress in ethologically valid animal preparations integrating behavioral, physiological and neuropharmacological research strategies. The distinctive feature of the research is the characterization of individuals at the behavioral physiological and neurochemical level in terms of their vulnerability to the aggression-heightening effects of alcohol, psychomotor stimulants and opiates.
Books:
Fear: Its Political Uses and Abuses, "Fear and the Brain" Jacek Debiec and Joe Le Doux (the book is in the bookstore -- start with this chapter for Tuesday but keep reading)
Karaoke Fascism: The Politics of Fear in Burma
Handouts:
"Neuroimaging of Emotion and Personality: Scientific Evidence and Ethical Considerations" by Turhan Canli and Zenab Amin
"When Genes and Brains Unite: Ethical Implication of Genomic Neuroimaging" by Turhan Canli
"The Neurobiology of Trauma" by David Lisak
"Psych Professor Specializes in the Neurobiology of Fear" by Sue Moncure
"The Neurobiology of Fear" by Ned Kalin
"Brain Scans Raise Privacy Concerns" by Steve Olsen from New Focus
Thursday, October 20:
The Wars Against Terrorism and the Market State
Philip Bobbitt
Philip Bobbitt is the A.W. Walker Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas at Austin. As one of the nation's leading constitutional theorists, Mr. Bobbitt's interests include constitutional law, international security and the history of strategy. Mr. Bobbitt is a member of the American Law Institute, The Council on Foreign Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Aside from his recent book, "The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace and the Course of History," he has published five other books: Constitutional Interpretation (1991), U.S. Nuclear Strategy (1989), Democracy and Deterrence (1987), Constitutional Fate (1982) and Tragic Choices (1978).
Book:
The Lesser Evil, Michael Ignatieff
Handouts:
Bobbitt manuscript: "The Wars Against Terror" by Philip Bobbitt
"America First: The Case to Answer" by Philip Bobbitt and Paul Hirst
"The Truth about Terrorism" by Jonathan Raban
Tuesday, October 25:
The Politics of Fear, Retribution and Reconciliation in Chile and Argentina
Judge Juan Guzman
Juan Guzmán is the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals in Santiago, Chile and is currently in charge of the prosecution and trial of former General Augusto Pinochet. Judge Guzmán is also a Professor of Law at the Catholic University Law School and at the Central University Law School of Santiago.
Handouts:
"Sowing Fear: The Uses of Torture and Psychological Abuse in Chile" by Physicians for Human Rights, pp 1-50
"The CIA: Time to Come in from the Cold" from TIME Magazine
Roht-Arriaza, Naomi, The Pinochet Effect: Transnational Justice in the Age of Human Rights Preface - end of Ch. 3; Ch. 7; ch. 8 (all in one packet)
Kornbluh, Peter, The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability, Atrocity and Accountability: The Long Epilogue of the Pinochet Case
Robben, Antonius C. G. M., Political Violence and Trauma in Argentina, Part III: Breaking Hearts and Minds: Torture, Self, and Resocialization
Sluka, Jeffrey A., Death Squad: The Anthropology of State Terror, Chapter 3 - State Terror in the Netherworld: Disappearance and Reburial in Argentina
Thursday, October 27:
The Genocide in Rwanda: Revenge and Reconciliation
Ervin Staub
Professor of Psychology and Director of the Program in Peace Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; Authority on youth and mob violence, genocide, and the role of bystanders; Author of The Psychology of Good and Evil and The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence; Past president of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence (Peace Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association 1999-2000).
Handouts:
Staub, Ervin. "Reconciliation After Genocide, Mass Killing or Intractable Conflict: Healing Understanding and the Prevention of New Violence"
Staub, Ervin and Laurie Anne Pearlman. "Psychological Recovery and Reconciliation After the Genocide in Rwanda and in Other Post-Conflict Settings"
Staub, Ervin. (working manuscript) "The Roots and Prevention of Violence" (in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the rest of Europe)"
Power, Samantha, Ch. 10 (Rwanda: 'Mostly in a Listening Mode') from "A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide"
Tuesday, November 1:
Intellectual Biographies // The Politics of Fear in Argentina // Covering Coups and Wars
Jack Blum, INSPIRE Practitioner
Jack Blum is the Senior Counsel for Special Projects for Finance Sector Compliance Advisers Limited, and a US Attorney admitted at the district of Columbia Bar, the US Court of Appeals for the district of Columbia Circuit and the US Supreme Court. Blum is an expert on controlling government corruption, international financial crime, money laundering, international tax havens and drug trafficking.
Mort Rosenblum, INSPIRE Practitioner
Mort Rosenblum has reported on nearly every major international conflict since the Congo mercenary wars and the Biafra secession in the 1960s. Former chief editor of the International Herald Tribune from 1979-1981, Mr. Rosenblum took an American-style European newspaper to printing plants around the world and pioneered new forms of international journalism. He is author of numerous books including Coups and Earthquakes and the James Beard Award-winning Olives.
Handouts:
"The Lessons of Hannah Arendt" by Samantha Power
Thursday, November 3:
Critiquing the Precautionary Principle: Laws of Fear and the First Amendment
Jack Blum, INSPIRE Practitioner
Jack Blum is the Senior Counsel for Special Projects for Finance Sector Compliance Advisers Limited, and a US Attorney admitted at the district of Columbia Bar, the US Court of Appeals for the district of Columbia Circuit and the US Supreme Court. Blum is an expert on controlling government corruption, international financial crime, money laundering, international tax havens and drug trafficking.
Mort Rosenblum, INSPIRE Practitioner
Mort Rosenblum has reported on nearly every major international conflict since the Congo mercenary wars and the Biafra secession in the 1960s. Former chief editor of the International Herald Tribune from 1979-1981, Mr. Rosenblum took an American-style European newspaper to printing plants around the world and pioneered new forms of international journalism. He is author of numerous books including Coups and Earthquakes and the James Beard Award-winning Olives.
Book:
Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime by Geoffrey Stone
Laws of Fear by Cass Sunstein
Handouts:
Coups and Earthquakes by Mort Rosenblum
Thursday, November 10:
Addressing Michael Crichton’s ‘State of Fear’ // Fear mongering and the Politics and Science of Climate Change
William Moomaw
William Moomaw, who earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from MIT, is professor of international environmental policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy where he directs the International Environment and Resource Program. He is also senior director of Tufts Institute of the Environment, co-director of Tufts Global Development and Environment Institute, and co-director of the Public Disputes Program at the Program on Negotiations at Harvard Law School.
Handouts:
“Katrina’s Real Name” by Ross Gelbspan, The Boston Globe
“The Climate of Man I: Disappearing Islands, Thawing Permafrost, Melting Polar Ice ? How the Earth Is Changing” by Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker
“The Climate of Man II: The Curse of Akkad” by Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker
“The Climate of Man III: What Can Be Done” by Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker
“Taking Global Warming to Market” by Joseph Lieberman, The American Interest
“The Single Greatest Threat: The United States and Global Climate Disruption” by James Gustave Speth, Harvard International Review
“The Uses of Disaster: Notes on Bad Weather and Good Government” by Rebecca Solnit, Harper’s Magazine
“Rumsfeld’s Growing Stake in Tamiflu” by Nelson D. Schwartz, CNN Money
“Politics vs. the Integrity of Research” by Sen. John McCain and Peter Likins, The Chronicle of Higher Education”
“Michael Crichton’s State of Confusion” by Gavin Schmidt, Earth Institute News
“Michael Crichton’s ‘Scientific Method” by James Hansen
State of Fear excerpts (pp. 451-460, 477-492, 569-573, 581-603) by Michael Crichton
“Why Politicized Science Is Dangerous” , Appendix 1 from State of Fear by Michael Crichton
"The Role of Social Groups in the Persistence of Leaned Fear" by Andreas Olsson, Jeff Ebert, Mahrazin Banaji, Elizabeth Phelps
Tuesday, November 15:
Pandemics, Global Health and the Fear Factor
Edith Balbach
Edith Balbach is the Director of the Community Health Program at Tufts University. She is interested in how communities identify and solve health problems. Her academic training is in public policy, which leads her to a specific interest in how the policy process either facilitates or impedes the work of communities. Professor Balbach's primary research interest is in drug policy issues, especially tobacco.
Books:
The Truth about the Epidemic of Fear by Marc Siegel
The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time by John Kelly
Handouts:
"Recipe for Destruction" by Ray Kurzweil and Bill Joy, The New York Times, October 17, 2005
"Emerging Pandemic: Costs and Consequences of an Avian Influenza Outbreak" by Dr. Michael Osterholm and Helen Branswell
Thursday, November 17:
Liberalism and the War on Terror
Corey Robin
Corey Robin is an associate professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of Fear: The History of a Political Idea (Oxford University Press), which recently won the Best First Book Award in political theory from the American Political Science Association (Foundations of Political Theory section). Fear has been cited as “recommended reading” by the New York Times and “one of the best books of 2004” by Publishers Weekly.
Books:
Fear: The History of a Political Idea by Corey Robin
Fear: Its Political Uses and Abuses edited by Arien Mack, “Thoughts on Fear in a Global Society” by Stanley Hoffmann (also in the Inquiry Reader) and “McCarthyism: Political Repression and the Fear of Communism” by Ellen Schrecker
Handouts:
"Fascism and Counterrevolution" by Corey Robin, Dissent, Summer 2005
"The Liberalism of Fear" by Jacob Levy, excerpt (pp. 23-38) from The Multiculturalism of Fear
Excerpts from Political Thought and Political Thinkers by Judith Shklar (Foreword by George Kateb, Editor’s Preface by Stanley Hoffmann, Chapter One: The Liberalism of Fear (don’t confuse with reading from above), Chapter Nine: The Political Theory of Utopia: From Melancholy to Nostalgia, Chapter Ten: What Is the Use of Utopia?, Chapter Eighteen: Nineteen Eighty-Four: Should Political Theory Care?, Chapter Nineteen: Rethinking the Past, Chapter Twenty: Hannah Arendt as Pariah, Chapter Twenty-One: The Work of Michael Walzer)
Tuesday, November 22:
The Efficacy of Terrorism: Thinking About Suicide Terrorism and Political Violence
Ioannis Evrigenis and Sherman Teichman
Book:
Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism by Robert A. Pape
Handouts:
"The Truth About Terrorism" by Jonathan Raban from The New York Review of Books, January 13, 2005
"What Bush Wants to Hear" by David Cole from The New York Review of Books, November 17, 2005
"Why They Do It" by Christian Caryl from The NewYork Review of Books, September 22, 2005
"Is Terrorism Distinctively Wrong?" by Lionel K. McPherson (to be published)
Thursday, December 1:
Sovereignty, Migration and the Politics of Selectivity and Fear
John Tirman
John Tirman is Executive Director of MIT's Center for International Studies. A political scientist, Tirman is author, or coauthor and editor, of six books on international security issues, including The Maze of Fear: Security and Migration after 9/11 (2004), Fallacy of Star Wars (1984), the first important critique of strategic defense, and Spoils of War: The Human Cost of America's Arms Trade (1997). He is recipient of the U.N. Association's Human Rights Award.
Books:
The Maze of Fear: Security and Migration after 9/11 by John Tirman
Fear: Its Political Uses and Abuses (finish the book)
Karaoke Fascism: The Politics of Fear in Burma by Monique Skidmore
Tuesday, Deecember 6:
Violence and Politics: Fear and the Manipulation of Memory
Professor Roger Petersen
Associate Professor of Political Science. Professor Petersen studies comparative politics with a special focus on conflict and violence. He has written two books: Resistance and Rebellion: Lessons from Eastern Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2001) and Understanding Ethnic Violence: Fear, Hatred, Resentment in Twentieth Century Eastern Europe (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming). He also has an interest in comparative method and has co-edited, with John Bowen, Critical Comparisons in Politics and Culture (Cambridge University Press, 1999). He is currently researching war and violence in the Balkans, especially in Kosovo.
Handouts:
"Understanding Ethnic Violence: Fear, Hatred, and Resentment in Twentieth Century Eastern Europe" Ch. 1 (Introduction), Ch. 2 (An Emotion-Based Approach to Ethnic Conflict), Ch. 3 (Resentment), Ch. 4 (Fear, Hatred, and Rage) and Ch. 11 (Conclusion) by Roger Petersen
"Fear and Hatred in Transitions" by Roger Peterson
Thursday. December 8
EPIIC committee reports
End of Semester
Colloquium Members
Jessica Anderson 08
Jessica Anderson is a sophomore at Tufts University hailing from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She is currently majoring in International Relations and Community Health, and hopes to pursue a career in international human rights law. For over a decade Jessica's passion has been jump roping competitively with the Brewster Bayside Skippers. On campus however, Jessica puts her waitressing skills from the Cape to work as a manager for Tufts Catering, and a supervisor for Mugar Cafe. She is also a writing fellow and an active member of both Exposure and the Leonard Carmichael Society. Through EPIIC, Jessica conducted research in Ghana on the domestic violence bill and its potential to reduce HIV/AIDS. She was then selected to present her research on a panel at the Women As Global Leaders Conference in Abu Dhabi this March. Most recently, Jessica attended an Exposure workshop in Philadelphia on the gun violence issue, and plans to make a documentary on Philadelphia's gun culture with an EPIIC classmate this summer. In her spare time, Jessica enjoys cooking, live jazz music, laughing, and digging her toes into sand.
Elien Becque 08
Elien is a sophomore from Hancock, Maine. She grew up on the coast and attended John Bapst Memorial High School. At Tufts, she is studying International Relations and English as she can never decide on just one pursuit. She is intrigued by issues of sustainable development, religion and anthropology, conflict resolution, and education. She sometimes struggles with an unwieldy scope of interest. She conducted research this January in Turkey with a group from NIMEP, studying ethnic tensions, political history, foreign policy, potential EU membership, and the relationship between religion and the state. She believes that the negative repercussions of pervasive fear are most effectively mitigated and by and prevented with education. The pursuit of education within and beyond the academic embodies the hope that awareness on personal and collective levels will in some measure succeed in furthering those ancient ideals of enlightenment and peace that will never lose their immediacy.
Matthew Benson 07
Matthew Benson is a member of the class of 2007 majoring in International Relations and Peace & Justice Studies. He was born in Cambridge, England and raised on both sides of the pond in several places in the UK and USA. Benson attended high school in St. Louis and in Washington DC where he worked as a Page for the US House of Representatives. At Tufts he is an active member of Pangea, a student organization promoting humanitarian action and awareness. Outside of Benson's pursuits and studies at university, his many interests include travelling the world, rowing, and stencil graffiti. For the summer of 2006 Matthew has been selected as a Luce Student Research Scholar in which he will be interning with a professor at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda examining the humanitarian response to the country's internally displaced populations.
Meena Bhasin 07
Ms. Bhasin is a fourth year student in the dual degree program with Tufts University and The New England Conservatory where she studies International Relations and Viola performance. Through music she has been able to travel and collaborate with musicians in Israel, China, and Japan. Ms. Bhasin has performed in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and was invited to perform in the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations. This year, through the Institute for Global Leadership, Ms. Bhasin was able to travel to the United Arab Emirates where she participated in the Women as Global Leaders Conference, and to Istanbul where she conducted research on contemporary women's movements in Turkey. This summer Ms. Bhasin will be interning at the Americas Society in New York.
Beth Bishop 06
Beth is a senior hailing from Rochester, MN majoring in Political Science and German, and is a member of this years EPIIC colloquium. At Tufts she is a member of the Tufts Women's Varsity Swim Team and the Tufts Marathon Team. She will be running her fourth marathon this May in Vermont. This year in EPIIC she travelled to Abu Dhabi, UAE for the Women as Global Leaders Conference, and played Alice Fisher in the senate mock hearing on the Patriot Act at the Law Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Next year she will be in Hamburg, Germany on a Fulbright scholarship. In her free time beth likes to cook and play drums and guitar.
Julia Clark 06
Julia Clark is a senior majoring in International Relations and Spanish from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She spent last year abroad on the Tufts in Madrid program, where she interned with the Club of Madrid, an innovative democracy promoting organization. In addition to democracy building and development studies, her other greatest professional interest is education; she has taught at inner-city summer school programs for the past three years. This year, she was fortunate enough to be able to attend the second annual Women as Global Leaders conference in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and also conducted her EPIIC research on immigration policy in Spain and France. Julia will be moving to Chicago after graduation to work before continuing on to a Masters Degree.
Floor de Ruyter van Steveninick 08
Floor de Ruyter is a sophomore majoring in International Relations. She is originally from the Netherlands and currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana. Floor deferred her admission to Tufts and spent a year studying and volunteering in Salamanca, Spain and San Carlos, Costa Rica. In January 2006 she traveled to Turkey with NIMEP in order to study some of the complex realities facing Turkish society today. The group's research included the EU accession process, the role of Islam in a democracy, contemporary ethnic tensions and Turkish foreign policy. Her academic interests include immigration issues and international development. She is looking forward to studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the spring. This summer she will travel to Paraguay as an intern for the Fundación Paraguaya, where she will work with a microfinance program for low-income women.
Nora Elmarzouky 06
Nora Elmarzouky was born to an Egyptian Muslim father and an American mother in the United States. She moved to Egypt for high school, but had visited every summer before, making both places a home to her. Her mother still lives in Egypt with her three younger siblings and her father lives in Pennsylvania. Being in the delicate position of having a dual-identity or rather a ‘third-culture’ of my own, Nora feels it is her responsibility to make both sides realize this through her own interactions and working with average people on both sides. For these reasons she did a research project while she was in Egypt over the winter break of 2005-2006 trying to show a humanized image of the Egyptian people that can be forgotten about the Arab and Muslim population through western media. The current situation has led to this idea in the West for different reasons that Americans and everything about the way of life and culture is hated by the Arab and Muslim people, which was something that she had never felt before and wanted to know how much it exists and if so why. In the research Nora talked to over forty Egyptians from different regions and backgrounds. The most important conclusion was the automatic separation of the American people from the American government no matter how much a person disagreed or agreed with their perception of US foreign policy in the Middle East. Nora grew up Arabic due to my religion and ethnicity and learned Spanish within the past three years. She is constantly snapping pictures no matter what the occasion. I love all kinds of sports, but developed a great adoration for rugby in college, which she played during her sophomore year at Tufts. She is now nearing the end of her college career come May 2006 and ready to move out into the real world.
Arlyn Escalante 06
Arlyn Escalante (pronounced like Arlene) is a senior from San Diego, California. She grew up speaking Spanish at home and visiting Tijuana, were most of her family lives, regularly. Arlyn has been interested in International Relations and travel from an early age. Before college she traveled extensively in Mexico and went on an amazing trip to China. She spent her junior year studying abroad in Paris, traveling across Europe and interning at an NGO within the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. At Tufts she is a University College scholar, through which she has learned about the many dimensions of active citizenship. Her scholar project this year has been working with an immigrant’s rights activist organization and with the lobby to pass the In-State Tuition Bill. She is also a sister in the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. She is planning on going back to San Diego for a year after graduation, hopefully working as an Americorps VISTA or in some kind of law-related job, she will be applying to law school next fall. Arlyn has taken part in many of the opportunities that EPIIC has to offer, she was a member of the Tufts delegation to the Women as Global Leaders Conference in Abu Dhabi, UAE and conducted research on “Contemporary Issues of Immigration in Spain” with two other colloquium members.
Anna Gollub 08
Anna Gollub is a sophomore majoring in international relations and women's studies from Anchorage, Alaska, which is farther away from Boston than London. As part of the Tufts Debate Society she has won speaker awards and participated in a public debate exhibition. She has also been involved in the Tufts chapter of Amnesty International, teaching ESL and participating in the EXPOSURE photojournalism program. As chair of the Tufts Feminist Alliance, she co-coordinated the Take Back the Night rally to stop violence against women and started a web log for Tufts students interested in gender issues called GADFLIES, (Gender Awareness Discourse For Living in Equal Societies.) During the spring semester she has been interning for a state representative doing research and drafting legislation. Anna is a recipient of the Anne E. Borghesani Memorial Prize for her research project on Islamic feminism in western Europe and plans to spend this summer and next year in Barcelona to do field work and study abroad. When Anna is not busy with her passions of feminism and political philosophy she pursues music composition and photography.
Jesse Gossett 08
Jesse Gossett is a sophomore double majoring in Environmental Studies and History. Jesse grew up on the Swinomish Indian Reservation in Washington State. During the his sophomore year, Jesse competed in the Ignite Clean Energy competition run through MIT, worked as a Resident Assistant on campus and worked as an on campus representative for JetBlue during the fall. Over spring break Jesse traveled to Philadelphia with 7 other students in EXPOSURE for a photojournalism workshop. Working with Jim MacMillan, the students addressed the issue of gun violence in Philadelphia. Over the summer Jesse plans to travel the world with his older brother, possibly getting tan in Vietnam.
Rachel Greenspan 08
Rachel Greenspan is a sophomore from Virginia double-majoring in International Relations and Peace and Justice Studies with a concentration in the Latin American region. In the summer of 2005, she spent nine weeks in La Plata, Argentina, building capacity within Radio Itinerante, a community radio initiative designed to empower youth through local media. She returned to Argentina over winter break to conduct her EPIIC research on the re-integration of democratic values and the development of historical memory through public education. As a University College of Citizenship and Public Service Scholar, Rachel has spent the year leading an after-school TV studio production workshop for teens in Somerville. She has also worked with various student action groups and advocated for indigenous rights, genocide intervention, sustainable development, and progressive political causes through internships and community activism.
Su Hamblin 07
Susannah Hamblin is a junior, majoring in International Relations with a minor in Political Science. Her interests include international security studies, foreign policy analysis and realist political theory. In addition to being an EPIIC student this year, Su was accepted as a member of the Director’s Leadership Council for the IR department and co-founded the Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services (ALLIES), a partnership with American military academies dedicated to addressing the civil-military gap. She has been granted the Institute’s Leonard Silk Fellowship and will be an intern at the Center for Public Integrity in Washington D.C. this summer. Susannah is very proud to be from the great state of Maine, the way life should be.
Jessica Harris 06
Jessica Harris is a senior majoring in International Relations and French. Born in Philadelphia to South African parents, the time she has spent outside of the United States has profoundly shaped her perspective on what it means to be American. At age 12, her family moved to Surrey, England, and her six years there fostered her passion for travel, photography, and British Indian cuisine. Although an Anglophile at heart, Jessica spent her junior year in Paris and loved every minute of it. Her academic interests include European literature, postcolonial politics, and immigration issues. In January 2006, along with 106 other Tufts students, she traveled to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi to help clean up in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed with a camera provided by EXPOSURE, her photographs are testimony to the hopes and fears that residents continue to face months after the disaster. Jessica is currently an Editorial Assistant at Boston Review, a political and literary magazine based in Cambridge, MA. Upon graduation, she plans on working for a few years before pursuing a degree in law and/or international business. EPIIC has validated her conviction that intellectual discourse can and should defy disciplinary traditions and boundaries, a value she hopes to sustain throughout in the years to come.
Nimrod Hashinovsky 06
Nimrod was a member of this year's EPIIC colloquium. He was raised in New Jersey and is proud of it. He is a senior at Tufts University, and will graduate in May. He is interested in international development, venture capitalism, and finance. In his free time, he enjoys playing tennis and reading the "classics." This summer he will remain in the Boston-area and intern at a human capital consulting firm.
Jason Hill 09
Coming to Tufts from the Southeastern United States, Jason Hill took the EPIIC course as a freshman. Majoring in History and contemplating a double major in Peace and Justice Studies, Jason is interested in the modern condition of European colonies, and as such, wants to work in international development. Outside of working with the IGL, Jason is active in programs in the Queer community and also gives tours in the admissions department. This summer, Jason will be in Annecy, France through the Tufts-in-Talloires program, volunteering with the YMCA at their high school Conference on National Affairs, and then backpacking Central and South America.
Sarah Jacobson 08
Sarah Jacobson, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is sophomore at Tufts University. She is majoring in English at Tufts, as well as participating in the 5-year Dual Degree Program with the School of Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Sarah has participated in EXPOSURE, an offshoot of the Institute for Global Leadership, since her freshman year. She is very interested in pursuing journalism and photography that is focused on global issues. In January 2006, Sarah traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and participated in an EXPOSURE workshop concentrating on inhabitants of abandoned government buildings. She also worked with Jim MacMillan in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, examining gun violence. She looks forward to studying abroad in Senegal, concentrating on the role of art in society. Additionally, Sarah loves to sing, eat, paint, and draw. When Sarah grows up, she wants to have a career involved heavily with fine arts, documentation, and social change.
Sarah Kafka 06
Sarah Kafka is a senior graduating with a degree in International Relations. At Tufts University her studies have focused on global conflict, cooperation and justice and she was recently inducted into the IR Honor Society Sigma Iota Rho. As a member of this year's EPIIC Colloquium, Sarah planned a Mock Senate Hearing on the Patriot Act which was held at the Law Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Sarah spent her junior year abroad in Madrid immersing herself in Spanish language and culture, traveling and coordinating a Model European Union Summit attended by study abroad students from all over Europe. During the summer of 2004, Sarah interned for t he New York City Commission to the United Nations International Business division and during the summer of 2003 she worked with the group organizing the submissions to the World Trade Center Memorial Competition.
Lauren Kari 08
Lauren Kari is a sophomore at Tufts University who plans to major in International Relations and Comparative Religions. Born and raised in southern California (Los Angeles and Orange County), moving to Boston has been quite an adventure. At Tufts, Lauren is a member of the women’s varsity fencing team, where she competes with the saber squad. She also is the Treasurer of the Class Council of 2008 and an active member of Programming Board. She has studied Arabic since coming to Tufts, and hopes to explore the Middle East and Asia. For her independent research project with EPIIC, she traveled to the Philippines to study counterterrorism and the US-Philippine relationship. In EPIIC, she participated on the Military-Institute Committee, the initial effort to link the IGL with various military academies. In that effort, she attended the US Military Academy’s Student Conference on United States Affairs on the ethics of military involvement. She also was on the Logistics Committee which required her to coordinate the van schedule for the year’s EPIIC symposium. At the symposium she moderated the panel South Africa: Terror, Fear and Reconciliation.
Samantha Karlin 08
Samantha Karlin is a sophomore working towards a major in psychology and a minor in political science. As part of the EPIIC class, she was on the Voices from the Field and Inquiry committees. She is specifically interested in conflict resolution and negotiation, and traveled to England this fall as a participant in a conference at the College of Birkbeck:University of London entitled "Fear of the Other:The Arab Israeli Conflict." At the EPIIC symposium, she spoke on the panel "What do we Fear?" about the Arab-Israeli conflict. She also role-played the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, at EPIIC's mock trial on the Patriot Act at the Law Library of Congress this April. Currently, she is collaborating on research for a photojournalistic book entitled "Healers" with photojournalist Lori Grinker (author of AfterWar: Veterans from a World in Conflict, 2004) and journalist Paul McEnroe (Minneapolis Star Tribune). She is also a development assistant with the Canavan Research Foundation, dedicated to researching cures for genetic brain diseases. This summer, she will be interning in Manhattan with the non-profit organization Media For Humanity, working to promote awareness of child trafficking through the media. Next semester, Samantha will be studying abroad in Prague through New York University, specifically through NYU Music in Prague. She is an opera singer, this year having performed in Amelia Al Ballo by Gian Carlo Menotti as Amelia.
VJ Kesavan 08
Vijaylaxsmi Kesavan is a sophomore majoring in international relations and english. In line with the theme of Politics of Fear, Vijay has done research on her home country Singapore. She anticipates doing similar research on the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, where she will be this summer. She is interested in conflict resolution, particularly in mediation work and hopes to guide her research in Sri Lanka towards that end. Vijay is a passionate writer. She hopes to be published before she turns 21. She is also a social change activist, and hopes to take her volunteer work within the Somali Bantu community in Boston further. Vijay would like to be in any one of these countries, the U.K., Sweden or Switzerland, for her semester of studying abroad next year.
Anastasia Konstantakatou F'08
Anastasia Konstantakatou is a senior majoring in Political Science and Foreign Languages and a joint degree student with the Fletcher School at Tufts beginning in the Spring semester of 2006. Within the realm of political science she has a special interest in public diplomacy and social policies, including immigration, an issue she has been exploring since 2003 in the context of Latin America. Exploring the "Politics of Fear" from a multi-disciplinary perspective has been eye-opening; still the experience of being a member of the EPIIC class itself has been highly rewarding both academically and personally.
Daphne LaBua 06
Daphne is a senior at Tufts University double majoring in Political Science and French. She was born and grew up in the United States attending school in a small Northern New Jersey suburb of New York City, but considers Greece as much her country as the US and holds dual citizenship. Her parents recognized the importance of instilling a love and appreciation for different cultures in their children, and Daphne and her brother grew up traveling to Greece every summer to be with family and friends as well as to travel. She credits her love of learning and traveling to her parents' tireless efforts. Her experience in EPIIC has been rewarding, exhausting, exhilarating, stupefying, powerful, and most importantly, filled with a sense of love and community. Over winter break, she attended an Africa Symposium in Cape Town, South Africa, on Conflict Resolution and Negotiation through the Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution (IIMCR). In March, Daphne attended the Women as Global Leaders Conference in Abu Dhabi, UAE, after which she traveled to Madrid, Spain, to conduct field research through interviews with professionals on contemporary issues of immigration. These experiences have directed her towards a career path which will involve international and national humanitarian issues as she strives to be a responsible and active global citizen. Outside of her interest in international affairs, Daphne enjoys learning new languages and dancing, which she considers one of the most beautiful and powerful forms of personal expression. She thanks Sherman and Heather for their tireless and contagious passion, and wishes all the best to the graduating seniors and those with which she has had the honor of experiencing the ride that is EPIIC.
Ilya Lozovsky 06
Ilya majored in International Relations and German Studies. He grew up in three great metropolises of the world - Moscow, St. Louis, and Newton, Massachusetts. Perhaps this is why he feels he will spend most of his life travelling. Last year, when not bribing policemen in Russia or taking pictures of drug dealers in London, he studied in Tuebingen, Germany. He speaks Russian fluently, German well, and has just enough Spanish to hit on girls at bars. His passions include Russian literature, German beer, and the Boston Red Sox.
Barbara Magid 06
Barbara Magid is a senior majoring in International Relations and French. Originally from New York City, she enjoys traveling and spent her junior year abroad in France. There, she interned with a Parisian NGO that promotes children’s rights in developing countries. The summer she spent in Costa Rica doing development work and her experience as an intern at the United Nations in New York further fueled her interest in international development and aid. At Tufts she is involved in a wide range of activities; she runs a couple of LCS volunteer programs and is an active member of the Tufts Table Tennis Club. She also currently interns in Dorchester with a public health organization called YPACT, which is associated with Partners in Health. Through EPIIC she had the opportunity to attend the Women as Global Leaders Conference in Abu Dhabi, sponsored by Zayed University, and to conduct research in Turkey on Contemporary Women’s Movements. After graduating, Barbara will be moving to Costa Rica where she will continue to work in the field of development. She hopes to complete graduate work in Public Health and International Relations.
Peter Maher 07
Peter Maher is a junior majoring in International Relations. He is originally from Salem, NH and attended Salem High School. At Tufts, Peter's academic interests include foreign policy analysis, defense and security studies, and militant Islamist organizations. Under the auspices of EPIIC, Peter and Jackie Silbermann went to Israel and the West Bank for three weeks and conducted a research project entitled "The Implications of Hamas' Integration into the Palestinian Political Process." Peter also co-founded the Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services (ALLIES), an initiative committed to education regarding military affairs and civil military relations on campus and collaboration with other American military academies. With ALLIES Peter attended the New York Military Affairs Symposium and the Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference in Annapolis. Peter hopes to work in the public sector after he graduates and at some point attend graduate school.
Emily Mangone 06
Emily Mangone is a senior majoring in international relations and French. Although she has accomplished many things during her Tufts career, she feels her time as an EPIIC student has been invaluable. Over winter break Emily traveled to Cape Town, South Africa to attend a conference on mediation and conflict resolution. This was a breathtaking experience and it helped her to realize how much work there remains to do in SA. Two months later, Emily was in Sarajevo, Bosnia working on her thesis on university students and integration with the European Union. Geographically, Emily’s interests in the world continue to be broad but since the conference in Africa, she is has decided that peace and conflict studies are the subject she would like to continue to study at a higher level. To this end, she is attending a conference at the UNHQ in April to participate in discussion about the reform of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Alex McCabe 08
Alex McCabe was born in Manila, Philippines where he lived, on and off, for twelve years. He spent three years in Port-Vila, Vanuatu and all four years of High School on the sunny island nation of Singapore graduating from the Singapore American School. Although a US citizen, he had never lived in the US until his freshman year at Tufts and has a very hard time answering the seemingly simple and innocent question “Where are you from?” He is an avid public speaker participating debate, Model United Nations, and extemporaneous speaking in High School. After spending the summer of 2005 in China teaching English, he is making an effort to learn Mandarin and as much about China as possible. Alex also is a major in International Relations and Economics. During his free time (which he so rarely has during the school year) he enjoys movies, reading books that are not required for classes, and long walks on the beach.
Padden Murphy 09
Padden Murphy is a Freshman majoring in International Relations and Chinese. Son of Timothy and Deborah Murphy, Padden comes to the colloquium from Great Falls, Montana. Before coming to Tufts, Padden attended Rowland Hall-St. Mark’s School in Salt Lake City Utah. After graduation, he deferred matriculation for one year, during which he interned for Senator Max Baucus in Washington D.C, and Senator Edward Kennedy in Boston. Through EPIIC and EXPOSURE, Padden was able to conduct photographic research on Argentina’s Policia Bonarense during the winter recess. Also through EPIIC, Padden co-founded the Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services (ALLIES), an initiative partnered with the U.S. Service Academies aimed at bridging the civil-military gap. Padden is in Tufts’ improvisational comedy troupe Cheap Sox, and is a member of the TCU Senate. This summer Padden will be furthering his language studies at Peking University in Beijing, China.
Amara Nickerson 06
Amara Nickerson is a Tufts senior studying International Relations. Especially fascinated by Latin American politics, Amara recently completed an International Relations honors thesis about humanitarian food aid sent from the United States to Guatemala. She also did research in Guatemala about the effects of the country's civil war. Amara spent her junior year studying in Valparaiso, Chile where she had the opportunity to learn not only about Chile's political history but also the country's unique culture, customs, and daily life. At Tufts Amara helped start a chapter of Americans for Informed Democracy and ran with the women's cross country team. She has participated in various volunteer activities including ESL classes for Hispanic immigrants. She is also an avid Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics fan and long before she had heard of international relations dreamed of being a professional sports commentator. Amara will be teaching in Brownsville, Texas beginning in fall 2006 as part of Teach for America.
Laura Reed 06
Laura Reed is a senior majoring in International Relations and Environmental Studies. Her intellectual and career interests include sustainable development, alternative energy and micro-finance. She plays rugby for Tufts and hails from Sydney, Australia. This year, she attended the Women as Global Leaders Conference in Abu Dhabi and interned with the United Nations Association of Greater Boston. Next year she will be living in the Marshall Islands, working for the WorldTeach program.
Seth Rosenberg 06
Hailing from Shaker Heights, Ohio, Seth Rosenberg is a senior political science and economics major. A competitive swimmer for 12 years, Seth was excited to breathe deep of something more stimulating than chlorine fumes while partaking in EPIIC's intellectual rigors. Seth comes out of EPIIC with little idea of what he'd like to do after he graduates in May, although EPIIC has distilled in him a deep desire to continue to question assumptions and strive for deeper truths (and conundra!). EPIIC taught Seth, among many other things, that limits on learning are scalable hurdles, and that it is possible to read 1000 pages a week. Hopefully, a job in public policy or the media is somewhere in his immediate future. In the fall of 2004, Seth co-taught an Explorations seminar entitled "World Hunger and Famine in the 21st Century," and continues to be interested in food security issues and development. In his free time, no longer spent grinding out the laps in the pool, Seth enjoys watching movies, dusting off his violin for the occasional practice session, dabbling in tennis and running, and compulsively rereading his favorite books.
Nina Scheinman 08
Nina Scheinman is currently a sophomore at Tufts and a member of the 2005-2006 EPIIC class. Nina was born and grew up in Tanzania, so her interests are in Africa and the development of Africa. With the support of EPIIC and the Institute she is planning a research trip to Sierra Leone this summer. While she is there, she will interview women to understand their felt and unfelt needs and requirements. Her task is will be to conduct a needs assessment that will subsequently help the NGo Youth Action International design and implement appropriate programs for women. Next Fall Nina will be spending the semester in Washington with the Tufts In D.C. program.
Ajaita Shah 06
Ajaita Shah is a senior double majoring in International Relations and Political Science with a focus on US Foreign Policy Analysis. She was born and raised in New York. As a proud alumnus of the 2004 EPIIC Symposium: Dilemmas in Nation Building – America’s Role in the World, she is beyond thrilled for this year’s EPIIC program. This year, in light of Politics of Fear, Ajaita researched Energy Security and Conflict Resolution Tactics for India and Pakistan by interviewing corporation leaders, politicians, scholars, and journalists in India assessing the market shifts in South Asia and the potential shift from Politics of Fear to Politics of Opportunity within the region. Since then, Ajaita spent last year abroad in the Tufts Program in Washington during the fall, and Madrid, Spain in the spring. She speaks Hindi, English and Spanish. Her interests include US Foreign Policy, South Asian studies, security issues, and conflict resolution. Upon graduation, Ajaita is going work with NGOs in Pune, Mumbai and Banglore India through the American-Indian Foundation Fellowship. She hopes to eventually get a joint Masters and Law degree and work mainly on security and energy issues in South Asia.
Lauren Shields 08
Hailing from the great state of Montana, Lauren Shields shares with Padden Murphy the unique distinction of being the first Big Sky State residents that Sherman Teichman has ever met. Lauren’s interests cover a wide range. Last summer she followed women’s issues and worked with the YWCA, coordinating a panel on Native American women. Eager to get involved with local organizations, Lauren interned for Senator Max Baucus in her hometown of Missoula, where she assisted groups write grant requests. Another passion, environmental issues, led to research for the Great Bear Foundation, teaching classes on bear safety, and was a recycling intern at Tufts. In addition, she worked as a fundraiser for Tufts. During the first semester of EPIIC, Lauren was a member of the Program Committee and helped mold the Symposium. In January, Lauren took a leave of absence from Tufts to intern in Washington DC for the Senate Committee on Finance, on the international trade team. As an international relations major with a concentration on international economics and development, the internship provided a singular opportunity to be involved in the formation of trade policy. During her time in Washington, Lauren worked on free trade agreements with Peru, Oman, and Korea, issues related to China such as currency manipulation and rural unrest, the Doha round of WTO negotiations, customs and trade facilitation, the India nuclear initiative, and more. Her responsibilities ranged from logistical support for staff to writing memos and floor statements for the ranking member of the Committee. In her time off, Lauren enjoys flyfishing, backpacking, art museums, and honing her barista skills. Upon the conclusion of her internship, Lauren plans to return to Tufts in the fall, and then spend the spring semester in Morocco, followed by a semester in Paris.
Jackie Silbermann 08
Jacki Silbermann, a sophomore majoring in International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies, hails from Lancaster, Pennsylvania (that's right, Amish country). She deferred admission to Tufts in order to spend a year studying and doing volunteer work in Israel. A student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem during the fall 2003 semester, Jacki studied Israeli politics and Islam, and spent her second semester living and working on a kibbutz near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip. She is fascinated by Islam and Arabic culture, and studies Arabic at Tufts, in addition to Hebrew. She is currently conducting research on Hamas and political integration and, through EPIIC, had the chance to complete part of this research in Israel and the West Bank during the winter of 2005-06. Her academic interests outside of the realm of Middle Eastern politics and culture include environmental policy and sustainable development education. She spent a week last spring doing sustainable development work in a small, Haitian village in the Dominican Republic, and she currently works at the Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE) at Tufts University. Additionally, Jacki enjoys Ultimate Frisbee, Japanese food, the outdoors and the New York Yankees.
Nicki Sobecki 08
Nicki Sobecki is from Pleasantville, New York. Yes, Pleasantville. Along with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations at Tufts, she is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Nicki is fascinated by photography’s role in documenting the running record of human events and the ways in which such a record can inform and change the world. This fascination has led her down a windy and unpredictable path lit by experiences such as interning for James Nachtwey, participating in a journalism workshop in Kosovo, and traveling to Rwanda to document the reconstruction efforts. She has also been given the opportunity to work with Jim MacMillian to document gun violence in Philadelphia, a project she hopes to continue this upcoming summer. Her passions are simple, numerous, and in a state of constant expansion.
Mark Sy 08
Mark Sy is currently a sophomore majoring in International Relations and Political Science. He speaks fluent Mandarin, and plans to fine tune his French when he goes abroad to study for a semester in Paris in the spring of 2007. In his spare time, Mark likes to paint, read, swim and cook. He has recently become very interested in photography and plans to take it up as a new hobby. He is also very interested in Africa, and plans to explore the possibilities of incorporate art into his research plans for next summer.
Stephan Vitvitsky 06
The son of post-world war II immigrants from Ukraine, Stephan was born on December 3, 1983, in Boston, Massachusetts and spoke Ukrainian and English growing up. A senior majoring in Economics and Political Science at Tufts, he is currently a member of the Club Hockey team, VP of the Russian/Slavic Circle, and is a reading tutor through the Tufts Literacy Corps. He also played soccer at Tufts his freshmen and sophomore years, was Photography editor of the Tufts Observer during his sophomore year, and was a columnist for The Tufts Daily during his junior fall. Over winter break, Stephan participated on an EXPOSURE workshop in Buenos Aires, researching and documenting aspects of Argentina's economic recovery following the financial crisis in 2001. Finally, he has an appetite typical of a 300-pound football player (he likes to eat) and will be studying and researching in Kiev next year as a recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship.
Molly Whittington 06
Molly Whittington is a senior majoring in Anthropology. She grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina where her passions were visual art and hurdles on the track team. In 2004 she worked with African refugee youths in Jamaica Plain with the International Rescue Committee and in 2005 she worked on a Cambodian mental health research project at the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma. Both art and photography are still an important aspect of her life as she is an active member in EXPOSURE, a photojournalism and human rights group and in 2004 she volunteered at an art therapy organization for teen girls who have experienced traumatizing events: The Arts Incentive Program in South Boston. In the summer of 2005 she attended a photography workshop in Bali under the guidance of John Stanmeyer and Gary Knight, made possible through EXPOSURE. Her active involvement in campus life is reflected in the participation and activities she helped design in such groups as EXPOSURE, the International Funds for Children's Computer Assistance/Computers for Cambodia, Oxfam Café, and two Fletcher student groups: the International Migration Group (formally the Refugee Roundtable) and Sudan Divestment Group. She was one of the founding members of the Anthropology Collective in 2004 and is the current president and coordinator. Her new project in progress is building a community garden in Chelsea for the Somali Bantu refugees as well as acting as a mentor and tutor for their children. Upon graduation, she hopes to continue her work with resettling refugees in the US and maybe one day she will go to the refugee camps of post-conflict/disaster regions.
Erika Wool 06
Born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama, Erika Wool is a senior graduating with a major in History. Her intellectual interests also include moral philosophy and philosophy of law. When not in the Philosophy department, Erika can be found on the tennis court, reading, or trying to learn to speak Spanish. Outside of academics, she is the Head Writing Fellow and an active member of the Tufts HIV and AIDS Collaborative. This past March she attended the Women as Global Leaders Conference in Abu Dhabi. Upon graduation, Erika is moving to London to work in an art gallery and decide whether she should go to graduate school for development studies or philosophy.
Liz Yates 08
Liz Yates is a sophomore majoring in International Relations, with an emphasis on International Development. With funds from the IGL and the Undergraduate Research Fund, Liz was able to complete a research project in Ghana over winter break. There, she studied a cultural tradition of much contention in Ghana; assessing the attempts to address it and the social and cultural implications of the practice and the debate for the nation. She was chosen to present this research at the 2006 Women as Global Leaders Conference at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. This summer, she will be interning at the Economic Development Institute in her hometown of Seattle, before leaving for Santiago, for a semester abroad in Chile. Other interests include editing the Tufts Daily, jogging, and visiting her extensive family around the country.