The Immanent Frame, a blog on secularism, religion, and the public sphere run by the Social Sciences Research Council, recently asked a handful of scholars from across the nation to sound off on the impact of hurricane Sandy to the presidential campaigns. Ebrahim Moosa sees the president’s deployment of troops to help with relief efforts as a turn to the proverbial “swords into ploughshares.”
Over 100,000 students have enrolled in KIE Faculty member Walter Sinnott-Armstrong’s Coursera course, co-taught by UNC-Chapel Hill professor Ram Neta. The course, “Think Again: How to Reason and Argue,” is the third course to appear under the Duke banner, does not confer university credit but is free of charge. It is offered through Coursera, a California company that offers free content in collaboration with several international universities.
Sinnott-Armstrong discusses the opportunities and challenges of this new venture in a profile by Duke Today.
Photojournalists and documentary photographers are often forced to navigate difficulties in how their work with small communities is received and presented. On November 1, the Duke Human Rights Center at the Kenan Institute for Ethics hosted a panel discussion, “The Ethics of Photography for Social Change” to address some of the ethical complications that arise with photographic fieldwork. Panelists included Greg Constantine, an American-born photographer now based in Asia who works with stateless peoples around the world; John Moses, a pediatrician at Duke Medicine with experience documenting patient photographs; and Charity Tooze, Senior Communication Officer at the United Nations Refugee Agency. Tom Rankin, the Director of the Documentary Studies program, moderated.
The panelists spoke passionately of the need to lend a voice and sense of agency to those being photographed, whether they be ethnic minorities, underage mothers, or refugees. Several questions from the audience dealt with the implications of using individuals and their photos as representatives of a larger group. While it is impossible to capture each individual in a refugee community, there are ways in which the narrative that is presented can best describe personal experiences. The role of the photographic series or photo essay was brought up as a means to give a broader context, as well as the importance of intent by the photographer to act as an observer. In many of the projects that were discussed, little attention was given to the plights of particular communities prior to the documentary projects, and it is worthwhile to consider how the importance of educating the public on social issues might outweigh whatever misrepresentation may be introduced by the photographer as editor. By working directly with communities and being up front with the purpose and future distribution of the project, documentarians can limit the ways in which the stories that emerge from the photographs or videos distort the perspectives of the people being photographed. Legal issues were raised as well, in terms of the types of agreements made between the photographers and subjects, and the ways in which photographers can stipulate to larger agencies how their work is used or displayed.
The panel occurred in conjunction with the opening of “Nowhere People: The Global Face of Statelessness,” a photography exhibition of Constantine’s work now on view at the Kenan Institute for Ethics in the West Duke Building through the end of March.
Duke’s ongoing video podcast series “Office Hours” has featured KIE Senior Fellow and Divinity School Associate Professor of Theological Ethics Luke Bretherton. In the interview, Luke Bretherton: A Theological View of US Politics, the topic of Christianity’s role in politics is discussed, including the tension of church and state as competing mechanisms for social cohesion and the role of Christianity as an agent for civil reform.
At the recent American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) symposium in New York, Tim Büthe was named the recipient of the 2012 DAAD Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in German and European Studies. Büthe is a member of Rethinking Regulation Faculty Advisory Group, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, and Associate Director of the Center for European Studies at Duke University. His work focuses on the effects institutions have on the international political system and global economy. Specifically, Büthe analyzes how regulatory authority has devolved to private and non-state actors.
AICGS presents the DAAD Prize to scholars in Politics and International Relations, Humanities, and Economics in rotating years.
A year ago, Brianna Nofil was taking midterms in her last fall semester as a Public Policy and History major at Duke. This October, she found herself in the growing democracy of Mongolia, listening to native nomadic herders discuss encroachments by new foreign-funded mineral mines as part of a United Nations Working Group.
Nofil is the Stephen and Janet Bear Post-Graduate Fellow at the Duke Human Rights Center at the Kenan Institute for Ethics, a one-year position that allows recent Duke graduates to work closely with the UN Working Group on Human Rights and Business. Established in June 2011, the Working Group supports efforts to prevent and address adverse impacts on human rights arising from global business activities.
The Working Group consists of professional experts in business and human rights who are appointed by the UN. The relationship between the Kenan Institute for Ethics and the Working Group is unique, and Nofil’s participation affords unprecedented opportunities.
This ten-day trip was the first of the Working Group’s country missions—traveling assignments meant to engage stakeholders, examine business and human rights in a national context, and create recommendations for governments. In 2011, Mongolia saw $5.3 billion in foreign direct investment, and the national GDP could as much as quadruple in the next five years. The economic gains made from mining large deposits of precious minerals must be balanced with maintaining land rights of nomadic herders.
During her time in Mongolia, Nofil met with representatives from the miners, nomadic herders, government officials, business leaders, and Non-governmental organizations. Along with the Working Group, she also attended a conference titled “Human Rights and Mining in Mongolia,” sponsored by the National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia.
Nofil notes that it will be “interesting to see how business interests and human rights concerns are reconciled as Mongolia launches into one of the most significant new mining operations globally. Multinational companies moving into this emerging economy have the opportunity to utilize best practices and set a precedent of cooperation on human rights issues.”
In a recent post to the Huffington Post, Christine Bader discusses the difficulty in maintaining socially responsible consumer practices while shopping for goods on the “baby market.” When faced with little information from producers on their labor practices, Bader suggests ways in which ethics can come to play when shopping for baby goods. (Originally posted on the Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire.)
Mentorship, Academics, and Self-esteem: Tutoring and Engaging with Refugee Youth (MASTERY) is a weekly K-12 tutoring program for refugee youth in Durham run by Kenan Institute for Ethics students Grace Benson and Jennifer Sherman.
The program pairs Duke undergraduate tutors and refugee students with the goal of providing mentorship, assistance with schoolwork, English tutoring, and a supportive community. While tutors help with studying and homework, their primary job is to encourage the students, support their creativity and potential, and help students to develop and achieve ambitious goals. Through the relationships developed in this class, college students help mentor and inspire younger students by sharing their own passion for learning.
This program is designed to inspire Duke undergraduates through their engagement with the Durham community. We hope that by working with refugees, students will develop a better awareness of global issues present at a local level. We want both tutors and students to come away with a more clear understanding of their community and a renewed love of learning.
Plans for MASTERY throughout the year include creative projects, celebrations of holidays from our many cultures, academic achievement and community building.
Applications for the DukeEngage Dublin program need to be submitted by noon on Tuesday, November 6 at noon.
During their two months in Dublin students will work in organizations either directed by migrants to Ireland, focused on the needs of refugee and migrant communities, or involved in developing innovative community based educational and cultural programs that bring migrants and native born Irish together in meaningful ways. DukeEngage students will be placed with one of more than seven different NGOs engaged in this work. The objective in each placement is not just to serve but to undertake something that could not have happened without the Duke students’ leadership and participation.
Students interested in applying to the DukeEngage Dublin program should do so through the DukeEngage website.
For more information, contact faculty director Suzanne Shanahan.
For more on the program from the participants themselves, watch “What is Discover University?”
The Campus Grants program allows members of the Duke community to incorporate ethics into their own work. Grants of up to $500 are available to all members of the Duke community—students, faculty, and staff—to support initiatives that promote ethical or moral reflection, deliberation, and dialogue at Duke and beyond.
Applications must be received by November 1. For application and submission instructions, please see “How to Apply” on the Campus Grants site.