Cambridge Post-Conflict and Post-Crisis Group
Research Colloquium
EASTER
6 May
Gender, Crisis and Conflict
Speaker: Liz Panorelli
Title: "Iron Ladies": Liberian Women Building Peace?
Bio: Liz is currently an MPhil student in International Relations. She
graduated last year from Harvard, where she studied Biological
Anthropology with a focus on sex differences in aggression and decision
making.
Speaker: Steve Hemming (Flinders University, Australia)
Title:The 1995 Hindmarsh Island Bridge Royal Commission
into Ngarrindjeri 'secret' women's business and Ngarrindjeri strategies for
recovery
Abstract: The 1995 Hindmarsh Island Bridge Royal Commission was a
unique, national inquisition into Indigenous women's traditons. It had
devastating consequences for the Ngarrindjeri nation and Indigenous people
in Australia more generally. I will provide an overview of these
consequences, some insight into the experiences of key Ngarrindjeri women
with whom I have worked, and highlight Ngarrindjeri strategies for
recovery.
Bio: Steve Hemming is a senior lecturer in Australian Studies at Flinders
University in South Australia. He has been working with Ngarrindjeri people
since the early 1980s. His recent work with the Ngarrindjeri nation has
focussed on governance, community development, natural resource
management and cultural heritage management.
(NOTE: Time Change 2:30-4:30)
13 May
'Debris': dealing with the physical aftermath of the post-crisis
post-conflict situation'
Speakers: Dr. Gilly Carr and Benjamin Morris
Dr. Gilly Carr
Title: 'The changing role of the debris of war: a case study from the Channel
Islands'.
Abstract: During and immediately after the German occupation of the
Channel Islands in WWII, everything connected with the occupation was
thrown away, destroyed or dumped at sea. This was especially true of the
heavy and light artillery and all weapons. The German-dug trenches were
filled in and the concrete bunkers and tunnels were buried. As the years
passed, collectors started to dredge or dig up what they could to furnish their
museums. The bunkers were uncovered and slowly 'rehabilitated'. These
once-hated reminders of the occupation are now seen as historic
monuments. This seminar paper examines the changing reactions of the
population to the debris of war over the last 60 years.
Extra Reading: Paul Virilio 1975. Bunker Archaeology. Princeton
Architectural Press.
Bio: Dr Gilly Carr is a University Lecturer in Archaeology, based at
Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education. She is also a
Fellow, Tutor and Director of Studies in archaeology and anthropology at St
Catharine's College. Her current field work is a British Academy funded
project, the 'Archaeology of Occupation' using the case study of the German
occupation of the Channel Islands in WWII.
Speaker: Benjamin Morris (University of Cambridge)
Title: No Shelter After the Storm: Considering Debris after Natural Disasters
Abstract:This presentation will examine the difficulty in dealing with debris
after natural disasters, and consider the way in which the material remains
of formerly lived-in and used structures becomes debris both in the practical
sense (needing disposal) but also in the symbolic sense (needing reckoning).
Looking at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, it will
consider both nondescript rubble and ruined houses as forms of debris, and
look at some of the efforts of the community to deal with this process.
Biography: Benjamin Morris is a PhD Candidate in Archaeology at
Cambridge. His research focuses on the relationship between cultural
heritage and the environment, in particular the rebuilding of New Orleans
after Hurricane Katrina. His creative work appears in both the US and the
UK.
Brief Reading List
Ted Steinberg. Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in
America. Oxford UP, 2000.
Andrew Jones. Memory and Material Culture. Cambridge UP, 2007.
David H. Shayt. “Artifacts of Disaster: Creating the Smithsonian’s Katrina
Collection.” Technology and Culture 47.2 (April 2006): 357-368.
20 May
Latin America through Crisis and Conflict
Speakers: Chandra Morrison, Dr. Page, Dr. Magalhães
(University of Cambridge)
Chandra Morrison:
Title: Arte Callejero y Escrache:
Visual Aids to Socio-Historical Spatial Memory in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Dr. Page
Title: Celluloid Crimes in Post-Crisis Argentina: A Reading of Bielinsky’s Nine
Queens and The Aura.
Bio: Dr Joanna Page is a University Lecturer in Latin American Cultural Studies
and specializes in contemporary Argentine literature and cinema. Her book
Crisis and Capitalism in Contemporary Argentine Cinema is being published this
year by Duke University Press.
27 May
Natural disasters and memorials in India and Sri Lanka
Speakers: Edward Simpson, Lecturer in Anthropology, SOAS
Malathi de Alwis, Senior Research Fellow, ICES, Colombo.
3 June
Justice and Reconciliation
Speaker: Dr. Phil Clark – University of Oxford.
10 June
Religion and Conflict – Reading Group session
Moderator: Stacey Gutkowski