ISS325: War and Revolution

I had a lovely time earlier this week at the award ceremony for the AT&T Instructional Technology Awards. Thanks to AT&T for providing the funds for this recognition–it’s always so exciting to see how instructors from around campus use technology to enhance learning.

My submission video can be viewed on the AT&T awards site.

Thanks also to MSU’s Virtual University Design & Technology group–it’s great to have such supportive people on campus!

ACJS 2011

I’m honored to have been invited to participate in two events at the annual meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in Toronto, ON.

First, I’ll be a “critic” on the author-meets-critic panel for Nick Jones’ book, The Courts of Genocide: Politics and the Rule of Law in Rwanda and Arusha.

Second, Beth Huebner, Jennifer Cobbina, and I have been invited to participate as a featured poster presentation at the Justice Quarterly Invitational Showcase.

I’m very excited to visit Toronto in March!

ASC 2010

I’m excited to be presenting my first papers on genocide at this year’s American Society of Criminology conference. Both papers will be presented in roundtable format:

“Media Reports of War Rape: The Rwandan Genocide”.

The United States has been criticized by Samantha Power and others for refusing to intervene in genocidal incidents. Typically, there is little public support for such intervention in the U.S. and some claim the American media avoids publishing stories of genocide. In addition, while rape is a frequent occurrence in genocidal events it may not be accurately reported in the United States. In this paper, we analyze media accounts of rape during the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and determine whether U.S. media outlets avoided reporting of “rape” and “sexual assault” as compared to European media outlets and reports from humanitarian advocacy groups.

“War Rape and Prison Rape: Theoretical Perspectives”, with Tazin Karim (Anthropology doctoral student, Michigan State University.

From ethnic cleansing to the torture of political prisoners, sexual violence is by far one of the most atrocious, yet least understood acts of war. While the use of sexual violence during times of unrest dates back to the early antiquity; modern conflicts in Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur have raised timely questions as to the origins and manifestations of these acts. Some argue that sexual violence during war—particularly sexual violence against men—is situational, and occurs during times when the normal constraints against rape are lifted. In this paper, we review theories of war rape and male rape and determine whether these perspectives can provide insight into another form of situational male rape—rape in prison.