THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF WAR
By Lauren Daley

The first evidence of war is about 14,000 years old:

A swath of land in Sudan discovered in 1964, where 59 skeletons and arrowheads lay scattered near the banks of the Nile River in an area called “Cemetery 117.”

A  team of researchers deemed that about half of the dead suffered violent wounds, probably from arrows to the chest, back or skull; they speculated perhaps a tribal battle over resources.

Some things never change.

When it comes to understanding human warfare and its consequences, whether you lean to the left or the right, are secular or religious, it’s helpful both to look back and to hear first hand from people who have experienced war.

That’s why Dr. Peter Ubertaccio, director of the Joseph W. Martin Jr. Institute for Law and Society, created this year’s ongoing “War” series.

Through the series – discussions, lectures, artistic representations, films, and academic conferences – the College seeks to better understand the role of war in human history.

“My hope is that at the end of the conversation, students will better appreciate this complicated issue from a historical, culture and moral point of view,” Ubertaccio said.

“We wanted a theme that would unite many of our programs and be relevant to our contemporary world, which has countless ongoing conflicts.”

• The series kicks off Jan. 30 with a screening of “My Country, My Country,” a documentary by Laura Poitras. Working alone in Iraq over eight months, director Poitras creates an intimate portrait of  life today in strife-torn Iraq.
  
  
• Born to a Jewish mother and an Iraqi father, Dr. Dahlia Wasfi spent her early childhood in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, returning with her family to the United States in 1977. A few years ago, she put her medical career on hold to spend three months in Basra and Baghdad. Wasfi will talk about her experiences in Iraq and discuss the life of Iraqis under occupation at the Martin Institute Feb. 7 at 4 p.m. with “The Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq.”
  
  
• On Feb. 11, Stonehill’s Mary Joan Leith, associate professor of Religious Studies Ancient History/Archaeology, will discuss “War in the Bible” at a brown bag luncheon at the Martin Institute.
  
  
• From Feb. 17-22, Stonehill hosts A. Richard Norton, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and professor of International Relations and Anthropology at Boston University and expert on the Middle East; Norton will spend a week on as a guest of Ubertaccio.
  
  "I applied to host a Wilson Fellow as soon as we knew what our theme was going to be," Ubertaccio said.
  
  The Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows program sends highly regarded, accomplished individuals to colleges across the country for a week of residency.
  
  "Professor Norton will immerse himself in campus life, meeting with student groups, classes, faculty, and staff to discuss his areas of expertise." Ubertaccio said.
  
  An expert on the Middle East, his analysis and data will be essential for our students trying to navigate the thorny issues that confront that part of the world."  For more information on Professor Norton, visit here.
  
  
• Ubertaccio said another highlight is the Aku Project on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m.
  
  In Aku, Nigeria, clean water is hard to come by — never mind food or the chance for an education. The village was devastated by the Biafran War and today, three and a half decades later, people are still picking up the pieces and rebuilding.
  
  John Edoga’s father died at age 45 of appendicitis — an illness routinely treated in the U.S.  Edoga left Aku at age 18 to attend Columbia University. He is now one of the top vascular surgeons in the world. 
  
  He and his wife, Delia, started the Aku Project, whose mission is to equip young people in Aku and other impoverished African villages with the power to organize and transform their world through access to clean water and a growing reservoir of knowledge, a secure livelihood, and basic resources.
   
• Independent filmmaker Peter Yost — currently producing four films for National Geographic Explorer—will screen “Inside North Korea” Feb. 26 at 4 p.m.
  
  The film explores life inside the cult of personality and humanitarian nightmare that is North Korea under Kim Jong ll. 

Ubertaccio said a number of events are planned for March, the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.

• On March 17, the Martin Institute will screen “The Ground Truth” at 4 p.m.
  
  Patricia Foulkrod's documentary follows men and women serving in the military in Iraq through recruitment, training, combat, homecoming, and their ultimate struggle to reintegrate with their families and communities.
  
  
• The series caps off with a two-day finale conference, “The Music of War: An Interdisciplinary Conference,” featuring scholars discussing the role of music in war.
  
  The two-day special event is April 18 and 19; it will explore the diverse musical responses to war, ranging from the various types of traditional war protest music to the music of soldiers and comrades-in-arms to patriotic and nationalistic music from a global perspective.

Ubertaccio said students in the classes of 2009, 2010, and 2011 are invited to compete in art and writing contests on war.  For information, visit the Martin Institute’s Web site here.

Lauren Daley ’05 is a living arts writer in New Bedford, Mass. and a freelance writer for Stonehill College.

01/23/08