“Lecture Series Brings in Expert on African Violence” |
| Lecture Series Brings in Expert on African Violence Posted: 03 Nov 2010 07:00 AM PDT Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Scott Straus was invited last Thursday to deliver the second annual Peter C. Schaehrer Memorial Lecture on the trends of violence in Africa. At the lecture, he discussed why Africa is wrongly pictured as a "lump sum" but how there are areas of stability on the continent. Straus has been recognized as an acclaimed scholar of the Rwandan genocide, writing multiple books and many journal articles on the subject. As a young man, Straus was a reporter who witnessed the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. Since then, he has done extensive field research across the continent. Straus is now an academic, and has been awarded numerous grants for his work from organizations such as the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the United States Institute of Peace. The Peter C. Schaehrer Memorial Lecture was founded last year by Colgate alumni who knew Peter Schaehrer '65, a civil rights activist. These alumni wanted to celebrate Schaehrer's memory by sponsoring an annual lecture series that focused on civil rights. During the lecture, Straus informed the audience in Love Auditorium of the misconceptions surrounding Africa. He articulated a trend in Africa's violence, from large-scale wars to small-scale wars and referenced the fact that there have been eight to nine sub-Saharan conflicts in Africa recently, though years following the Cold War had double this number. According to Straus, Africa's conflicts have become "small rebellions" that are in "zones" rather than larger wars in particular countries, citing Al Qaeda's kidnapping operation in Mali as an example. Straus concluded that violence has been at the core of Africa's "post-colonial experience," but that it is often overstated. He feels that "violence is the exception rather than the norm." He also argued that Africa's violence is not as prevalent as in other areas of the world, particularly compared to Asia. Straus pointed to the "resilience" of Africa and how leaders have sought many "non-violent accommodations." Junior Andrew Pike reflected that, before the lecture, he viewed Africa as "doomed" to an unbreakable cycle of violence, but that the lecture had inspired him to "hope" for a "brighter [African] future." Associate Professor of Anthropology and Peace & Conflict Studies Nancy Ries was most interested with the "mechanisms of all levels actively intervening to prevent conflict situations." She suggested an answer to this phenomena that Straus lightly touched on. According to Ries, because of the "post- Rwanda situation," there is a higher degree of consciousness of the costs of violence. Like Straus, she worried that the United States and other countries do not understand how much effort African people put into "[resolving] conflicts before they evolve to violence." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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