LOST BOYS OF SUDAN’S BENSON ATHIIN DENG TO SPEAK AT SDSU

Deng and Co-Author Judy Bernstein to Address “Missing Global Agenda” in Sudan and Darfur

SAN DIEGO (Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007)-- At the age of seven, Benson Athiin Deng fled his village when it was attacked by fanatical Sudanese National Islamic militants.  Twenty years later, Deng will recount his brave escape from war ravaged Sudan at a lecture being held at San Diego State University on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. in Hardy Tower, Room 140. The event is free an open to the public on a first come first serve basis.

Deng along with Judy Bernstein, co-author of Deng’s memoir “They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky:  The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan,” will present “The Lost Boys of Sudan and Darfur: The Missing Global Agenda.” 

“To hear this harrowing story first hand is a rare opportunity,” said Dipak Gupta, SDSU political science professor and the Fred J. Hansen Professor of Peace Studies.  “The ongoing struggle in this region of the world is something we should all be concerned about, and is an example of a local conflict becoming a global issue.”

The lecture is co-sponsored by The Baron Fund for Ethics Education, which was established in 1996 to promote interdisciplinary discussions about contemporary ethical issues at SDSU.

The event is part of The Fred J. Hansen Distinguished Lecture Series, a semester-long series exploring the topic of international interdependence and its implications for wide-ranging disciplines such as medicine and capitalism.

The lecture series is free and open to the public. It’s being organized by Gupta, and Ron Bee, director of the Charles Hostler Institute on World Affairs. 

“Globalization is changing the world in a most profound way,” Gupta said.  “These lectures will provide students with a glimpse of the topic’s many facets and explore its influence in their own lives, now and in the future.”

The series, which began Jan. 18, will conclude on May 3 with an SDSU faculty panel discussion about globalization and how it will affect the future of the world.  See below for the complete schedule of lectures.

The series is funded by the Fred J. Hansen Foundation and the Charles Hostler Institute on World Affairs. Hansen was one of the San Diego region’s first avocado growers and, based on his travels around the world, Hansen became convinced that if adversary nations could be encouraged to work together on projects of mutual benefit, they could help heal their differences. Hostler is a former U.S. ambassador to Bahrain and a former SDSU adjunct professor of political science.

In addition to this week’s lecture, the following lectures will be presented as part of the “Understanding Globalization” lecture series:

Feb. 15 — Raymond Clemencon will address "Globalization and Climate Change." Clemencon is based at the UCSD Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, where he also edits the Journal of Environment and Development.  Clemencon served as a member of the Swiss delegation to the 1992 Rio Conference where the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, also known as the Climate Convention, got its start. He has consulted for the World Bank on environmental change and biodiversity issues.
Hardy Tower, Room 140, 7-9 p.m.

Feb. 22 — Globalization of Service Work features a presentation by Rhacel Parrenas, associate professor of Asian American studies at the University of California, Davis.  Hardy Tower, Room 140, 7-9 p.m.

March 1 — Globalization, Human Rights and Crimes Against Humanity: The Case of Pinochet's Chile features a presentation by Peter Kornbluh, director of the National Security Archive’s Chile Documentation Project. 
Hardy Tower, Room 140, 7-9 p.m.
                                                             
March 8 — “Who Are the Rulers of the World?” features a presentation by internationally renowned author, lecturer and political analyst Michael Parenti.
Hardy Tower, Room 140, 7-9- p.m.

March 15 — Globalization and Alienation of the Muslim Youth features a presentation by John Horgan, author and lecturer at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Horgan is also senior research fellow at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. 
Hardy Tower, Room 140, 7-9- p.m.

March 22 — Globalization: Transnational Terrorism and Crime features Loretta Napoleoni, the best-selling author of “Terror Incorporated” and “Insurgent Iraq.” She is an expert on financing of terrorism and advises several governments on counter-terrorism.
Hardy Tower, Room 140, 7-9 p.m.

April 5 — Global Rise of Religious Violence features Mark Juergensmeyer, director of the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies and professor of sociology and religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. 
Hardy Tower, Room 140, 7-9 p.m.

April 12 — Globalization and Global Poverty features Pranab Bardhan, professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-chair of the MacArthur Foundation-funded network on the “Effects of Inequality on Economic Performance.”
Hardy Tower, Room 140, 7-9 p.m.

April 19 — The Labor of Globalization: How Chinese Workers Confront 21st Century Capitalism features Ching Kwan Lee from Princeton University’s Institute for Advanced Studies. 
Hardy Tower, Room 140, 7-9 p.m.

May 3 — Understanding Globalization will feature a roundtable discussion with SDSU political science faculty members Latha Varadarajan, Jonathan Graubart, Ahmet Kuru and Lei Guang. 

San Diego State University is the oldest and largest higher education institution in the San Diego region. Since it was founded in 1897, the university has grown to offer bachelors degrees in 81 areas, masters degrees in 73 areas and doctorates in 16 areas. SDSUs more than 34,000 students participate in an academic curriculum distinguished by direct contact with faculty and an increasing international emphasis that prepares them for a global future. For more information, visit www.sdsu.edu.

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