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Race Relations

A MiddLab Project

CCSRE Life Stories Project: Arthur Choo

Learn more about the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity  at Middlebury College.

“Life Stories of Middlebury College” is a multi-phase initiative intended to gather people’s experiences while at the college, particularly reflections that highlight issues of diversity. In his interview, Arthur Choo talks about the “global community” ideal in higher education, the experience of activism while being an ethnic minority, how an individual’s idea of race affects their perception of self, the effect of political correctness on classroom discussions, the humor of stereotypes, the difference between the ideal of diversity and the reality in the dining halls, combating the feeling of exclusivity in the Korean American Student Association, and the paradox of the success of minority students.

People

Arthur Choo
Sociology Major at Middlebury College

Susan Burch
Associate Professor of American Studies; Director, CCSRE; Head of Life Stories project

Related Links

SOAN 0105 Society and the Individual

SOAN 0356 ignificance of Race in the US

Korean American Student Association

Downloads

Interview Transcript

 

A MiddLab Project

CCSRE Life Stories Project: Claudia Cooper

Learn more about the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at Middlebury College.

“Life Stories of Middlebury College” is a multi-phase initiative intended to gather people’s experiences while at the college, particularly reflections that highlight issues of diversity. In her interview, Claudia Cooper talk about teaching literature with Middlebury College students in Africa, her work in advocacy for community building to overcome AIDS, adopting a foreign-born child, and the feeling of difference at home and abroad.

People

Claudia Cooper
Visiting Assistant Professor of English & American Literature & Education Studies

Susan Burch
Associate Professor of American Studies; Director, CCSRE; Head of Life Stories project

Related Links

Betasab – Building Families, Building Communities

Ethiopia Reads

FYSE 1290 – Images of Africa

ENAM 0211 / TEDU 2011 – Global Literature for Youth

Downloads

Interview Transcript

 

A MiddLab Project

Framing and Blaming: The Role of Media in the 2005 Parisian Riots

Learn more about Political Science and Media Culture at Middlebury College.

The media played a significant role in the riots of Paris in 2005. This study examines the French and American media’s role in the formation of the identity of the rioters. The study draws on media content analysis based on news sources from the political right and left in each country. The results suggest two things. First, media on the political left, in both France and the United States, tends to frame the cause of the riots as a structural issue of exclusion while the political right tends to characterize the source of conflict as an agency issue of integration based on social differences. This can be explained by differences in political influences and underlying goals. Second, American media uses national and religious terms to describe the rioters’ identity while French media portrays them as a frustrated suburban youth. This reflects the respective historical contexts and political traditions.

People

Zoe Hamilton
Researcher

Erik Bleich
Sponsor & Associate Professor of Political Science

Related Links

Downloads

Symposium Presentation Slides

A MiddLab Project

Towards a Verified Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone

Learn more about Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

Since 1995 there have been no forward-looking and realistic program of action to promote the goals of the 1995 Middle East Resolution. Remarkably, regional powers are yet to contemplate on concrete steps toward implementing the resolution due to complex security dynamics and daunting geopolitics that have stymied previous efforts for decades. A combination of regional challenges and opportunities to implement the 1995 Middle East Resolution provide reasons to revisit the concept of the zone and suggest next steps that could lead to progress. The paper concludes that peace and security are both sides of the same coin and suggests practical mechanisms; inter alia, the establishment of parallel processes between efforts to establish a WMDFZ and peaceful relations in the Middle East.

People

Foy Hubert
Researcher

Dr. Patricia Lewis
Supervisor

Interviews with Dr. Randy Rydell and Amb. Shaker I Mohammed

Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones

Related Links

MIIS CNS Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Clearinghouse

Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons

Randy, Rydell. Arms Control Today. April 2005.

Background Note: Iran. US State Department.

Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East. April 2006.

UN. 2005 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

UN. NUCLEAR-WEAPON-FREE ZONES. July 2010.

Mohamed, Said. Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs. November 2002.

IAEA. Strengthening the NPT and World Security

Remarks by President Barack Obama. Prague, Czech Republic.

US DoD: Nuclear Posture Review.

Downloads

Hubert, Foy. Towards a Verified Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone: Challenges and Next Steps

UN GA Resolution 3472

Egypt’s NPT Working Paper

Tariq, Rauf, and Johnson Rebecca. “Nonproliferation Review/Fall”

Steps Toward a Middle East WMD Free Zone

2005 NPT Review Conference: Reasons and Consequences of Failure and Options for Repair

Inventory of International Nonproliferation Organizations and Regimes

The 2010 NPT Review Conference: Deconstructing Consensus

A MiddLab Project

Fall 2010 Student Symposium: American Poverty in Context

October 21st- 29th will be the Fall Student Symposium, “American Poverty in Context.” We aim to build awareness and encourage discussion of poverty-related issues on the local and national level. The symposium will tackle issues such as hunger and local foods, social determinants of health, labor legislation, community action, and homelessness. In addition to inspiring intellectual discourse on poverty, we hope to motivate more students to participate in volunteer activities and to consider pursuing careers in non-profits.

Please click on the posters below in the downloads section for more detailed information about each event!

People

Joel Berg

Executive Director of the New York Coalition Against Hunger

Harlan Beckley

Director of the Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability at Washington and Lee University

Robert Prasch

Middlebury College Professor of Economics

Samantha Marder

Project Manager, Project Health  Providence

Hannah Nichols

Talent and Technology Coordinator, Project Health National Offices

Hal Colston

Founder and Director of Good News Garage and Neighborskeepers

Doug Sinclair

Co-Founder of Middlebury Community Care Coalition

Ingrid Pixley

Property Manager for Addison County Community Trust

Jeanne Montross

Executive Director of HOPE (Helping Overcome Poverty’s Effects)

Yuan Lim

Student Organizer

Veronica Muoio

Student Organizer

Dan Murphy

Student Organizer

Related Links

To Learn More and Take Action, check out these links

First Stop:

Alliance for Civic Engagement (ACE) !

Hunger and Food Justice Issues:

VT FoodBank

Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger

New York City Coalition Against Hunger

Health Equity:

Project Health

Unnatural Causes: Documentary on Poverty and Poor Health

Housing Issues:

National Coalition for the Homeless

Vermont Committee for Temporary Shelter (COTS)

Middlebury Community Care Coalition (MCCC)

Helping Overcome Poverty’s Effects (HOPE)

Feel Free to Post your own links below as well.

Downloads

Full Symposium Schedule

Information about Individual Events:

Harlan Beckley

Joel Berg

Hal Colston

Ingrid Pixley and Doug Sinclair

Professor Robert Prasch

Samantha Marder and Hannah Nichols

A MiddLab Project

CCSRE Life Stories Project: Miguel Fernández

Learn more about theComparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at Middlebury College.

“Life Stories of Middlebury College” is a multi-phase initiative intended to gather people’s experiences while at the college, particularly reflections that highlight issues of diversity. In his interview, discusses growing up while living abroad, studying Russian, French, Spanish, and Japanese, differences between rural and urban settings, performing a wedding at Middlebury, diversity, raising a family in Middlebury, and being ‘the other’.

People

Miguel Fernández
Professor of Spanish; Interview Subject

Amy Rebecca Chin
Interviewer

Susan Burch
Associate Professor of American Studies; Director, CCSRE; Head of Life Stories project

Related Links

The Posse Foundation

Voices of Indigenous People (VIP)

Weddings in Mead Chapel

Life Stories Project

Downloads

Human Relations Committee Report ’99

Recent Publications

Interview Transcript

A MiddLab Project

CCSRE Life Stories Project: Ryan Kellett

Learn more about the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at Middlebury College.

“Life Stories of Middlebury College” is a multi-phase initiative intended to gather people’s experiences while at the college, particularly reflections that highlight issues of diversity. In his interview, Ryan Kellett discusses issues of diversity he encountered growing up in San Francisco, his time studying and working in China, being part of a diverse group of students at the PALANA House, reflecting on work at Middlebury, and blogging.

People

Ryan Kellett
Interview Subject

Amy Rebecca Chin
Interviewer

Susan Burch
Associate Professor of American Studies; Director, CCSRE; Head of Life Stories project

Related Links

PALANA House

February Admissions

Life Stories Project

Downloads

San Francisco and its Neighborhoods

Interview Transcript

A MiddLab Project

Restorative Justice at Middlebury College

Learn more about Philosophy, Biology, Sociology & Anthropology and Justice at Middlebury College.

According to Howard Zehr (2002), “Restorative justice is a process to involve, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offense and to collectively identify and address harms, needs, and obligations, in order to heal and put things as right as possible.” We propose various methods of incorporating restorative practices into the Middlebury College judicial system.

People

Ben Manger ’11, Philosophy
Dana Callahan ’13, Biology
Matthew George ’12.5, Biology
Clayton Paschke ’13, Sociology
Researchers

Jon Kidde
Sponsor, Sociology & Anthropology

Related Links

Judicial Boards at Middlebury

Diversity at Middlebury

Downloads

Watch the Presentation with Slides (requires RealMedia player)

Presentation Slides

A MiddLab Project

Chinese Interethnic Marriage: Passion or Rational Choice?

Learn more about Economics and Chinese at Middlebury College.

The One Child Policy (OCP) has had an enormous impact on Chinese society over the past thirty years and has further exacerbated the gender imbalance of the nation. The ensuing ?”marriage market shortages” in China have had important implications for marriageable-aged Chinese men and women. The scarcity of Han women in Chinese marriage markets and the concessions of the OCP with regard to ethnic minorities may increase the propensity of female Han to marry out when they see gains to marriage such as being able to have more than one child. Given this and other potential gains to intermarriage, under certain circumstances, interethnic marriage may be a rational choice for females in Chinese society.

People

Rachel Butera
Researcher

Thiery Warin
Thesis Advisor& Associate Professor of Economics

Hang Du
Second Reader & Assistant Professor of Chinese

marriate_rates
marriate_rates2

(click to enlarge)

Related Links

National Population and Family Planning Commission

Downloads

Read the Thesis

A MiddLab Project

Hidden Cities: Locating Slums on the Globalized Map

Learn more about Geography at Middlebury College.

From the Spring 2010 issue of the student-published Middlebury Geographic magazine, Andrea Jones examines the economic and geographic conditions that lead to the creation of slums and shantytowns across three continents.

People

Andrea Jones
Author

Emily Allison
Photographer

hidden_cities

Related Links

Middlebury Geographic Spring 2010

Middlebury Geographic Spring 2009

Downloads

A MiddLab Project

Deconstructing Butter

Learn more about theatre and race at Middlebury College.

Can a fiction based upon a hoax tell us anything about who we are? “Spinning Into Butter” is a controversial and award-winning play, inspired by a racial incident that occurred while playwright Rebecca Gilman was a student at Middlebury in the early ’80s. On April 9th a multi-racial cast presented scenes from “Spinning Into Butter,” interspersed with audience reactions, to explore the script, its source material, and how we experience and respond to race at Middlebury in 2010.

People

Related Links

After the play, audience members were asked to write a question they were left with on the back of their programme. We collected these questions and posted them on our project blog. Please share your perspective on these issues.

Downloads

Show Poster
Sites DOT Middlebury: the Middlebury site network.