Together with three colleagues, KIE Senior Fellow and Duke Law Professor Laurence Helfer has filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case addressing the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage. Many briefs have been filed for both sides of the case. The court will hear oral arguments later this month.

Twelve undergraduates working with the Duke Human Rights Center at the Kenan Institute for Ethics are currently en route to Egypt and Nepal for a month of research with refugees. The students are participants in DukeImmerse: Uprooted/Rerouted, a program sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Education that allows students to spend an entire semester engaged in team based research on the effects of displacement on refugee populations. The students have spent the first third of the semester skilling up on field research methods and beginning to understand the dynamics of migration as well as the social, health, and legal challenges faced by refugee communities across the globe.

Beginning this week, the students form two research groups, one engaging with Iraqi refugees in Egypt and the other Bhutanese refugees in Nepal. They will work closely with refugee families to collect photos and personal narratives. The information collected will allow for comparison between the two communities and become a resource for human rights practitioners and advocates. In the final third of the semester, the refugees’ stories collected abroad will be transformed into monologues to be performed by the students on April 21 at the Nasher Museum.

Both the Bhutanese and Iraqi refugee communities are priority U.S. State Department groups for resettlement to the United States, and many are settling here in Durham. This allows for continued engagement between students and refugee families on the local level, such as the current ESL and mentoring project begun by former DukeImmerse students.

Once a week, observations and photos by the students will be posted to the DukeImmerse: Uprooted/Rerouted page.

Grants of up to $500 are available to all Duke students, faculty and staff for projects that support initiatives that promote ethical or moral reflection, deliberation, and dialogue at Duke and beyond. We welcome diverse perspectives and submissions from organizations and individuals in all areas of the University and the Medical Center. Campus Grant funding provides support for speakers, workshops, meetings, curriculum development, publications, organizational collaborations, and other activities. Travel grants for attending conferences or other individual activities will not be awarded.

For more information and to download the application, visit our Campus Grants site.

The Ethics Film Series is a signature series at KIE meant to engage the Durham community in conversation on ideas such as justice, personal freedoms, and social responsibility through the lens of feature films. This year’s theme is “Love and Justice,” with four films that will explore how individuals – both alone and in context of their communities – engage the tension between the demands of justice and the grace of love. When justice executed is seasoned by love, the boundaries of the ethical, social, and political expand in unprecedented ways. After each film, the audience is invited to stay and discuss issues raised by the films with Duke faculty and specialists. The screenings are free and open to the public, with parking passes and refreshments provided.

The first film, Gran Torino (2008), will be screening Monday, January 14. It features actor-director Clint Eastwood as disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski. The story follows his growing friendship with his neighbor, a young Hmong teenager who tried to steal Kowalski’s prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino. The post-film discussion will be led by Professor Marianna Torgovnick (English Department and Arts of the Moving Image). Torgovnick’s research and teaching expertise relates to film and media studies, cultural criticism, religion, and contemporary American issues.

On Monday February 11th, Le fils (The Son) (2002) will be shown. In this award-winning Belgian-French mystery film, themes of compassion and justice unfold in unexpected ways. The story follows Olivier, a carpentry instructor at a vocational school, who is still recovering from the murder of his only son five years earlier and the subsequent dissolution of his marriage. When a new student applies to join his class, Olivier initially refuses but then secretly begins following the boy.

The last two films in the series are selections from the Human Rights Watch Traveling Film Festival. Brother Number One (2011) will be screened Monday, March 18. The director of the film, New Zealander Rob Hamill, tells the story of his brother’s death at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. It explores the violence of the regime and its followers, killing nearly 2 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979. Thirty years later, Rob Hamill has a rare chance to take the stand as a witness at the Cambodia War Crimes Tribunal. In this documentary,  Rob retraces his brother’s final days, meeting survivors who tell the story of what countless families across Cambodia experienced at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.

The award-winning and international festival favorite Habibi (2011), by director Susan Yousef, will show April 8. The film follows young lovers Qays and Layla, university students in the West Bank who are forced to return home to Khan Yunis, Gaza. In conservative Khan Yunis, their relationship can only be sustained through marriage, but Qays is too poor to con­vince Layla’s father that he can provide for his daughter. As the couple struggles to be together, Qays paints verses from the classical Sufi poem Majnun Layla all over Khan Yunis, a rebellious act that angers Layla’s father and the local self-appointed moral police. Lyrical and passionate, Habibi depicts a reality where personal happiness must be weighed against society’s opinions, and a choice sometimes made between one’s people and one’s heart.

All films begin at 7:00pm
Griffith Theater, Bryan Center
Free admission, parking passes, and movie snacks

The series is sponsored by the Kenan Institute for Ethics and presented by Screen/Society at Arts of the Moving Image and the Center for Documentary Studies.

DukeImmerse: Uprooted/Rerouted is a semester-long, research-based, student-faculty collaboration on a single theme–forced migration–plus a weekly dinner meeting and a four-week mid-semester field trip to Nepal or Egypt with international travel funded by Duke (watch a video of students in the 2012 program performing monologues of refugee experiences).

The students who have been chosen for the 2013 program are:

Leena El-Sadek is a sophomore from Terry, Mississippi. She plans to do an interdisciplinary major in Global Health and Biology with a minor in Cultural Anthropology. Her passions include the Deep South, the Middle East, language, education, understanding the world, running, and seasonal ice cream flavors.

Jack Stanovsek is a freshman from Kitty Hawk, NC.  He is planning to major in Cultural Anthropology with a minor in Biology.  Jack lived in Melbourne, Australia before North Carolina and plans on returning there after Duke.

Alexa Barrett is a sophomore from Southampton, NY. She is an International Comparative Studies major with an ISIS and Arts of the Moving Image Certificate. Alexa loves filmmaking, salsa, and sharing tea with friends.

Lexy Steinhilber is a sophomore from Los Altos, CA. She is planning to major in International Comparative Studies with a minor in Cultural Anthropology. Lexy’s hobbies include hiking, reading, tutoring, and swimming.

Leah Catotti is a sophomore from Durham, NC.  She is planning to major in Cultural Anthropology with a certificate in Global Health. Leah dances, works for the Duke Sustainability Department, and gives tours around campus.

Max Ramseyer is a sophomore originally from Paris, France. He is leaning toward a major in Public Policy, Sociology, or Political Science, with a minor in Music. He enjoys playing basketball and playing piano.

Ciera Echols is a sophomore from Marietta, GA. She is planning to double major in International Comparative Studies and Arabic. Ciera’s hobbies include: helping those in the community, learning new things, and  playing sports.

Caroline Marschilok is a junior from Rochester, NY. She majors in Public Policy and minors in history, with an Ethics Certificate. Caroline studied abroad in Scotland last semester in the Duke in Glasgow program.

Dechen Lama is a sophomore from Raleigh, North Carolina, who was born in Thailand and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal. She is pursuing a Public Policy major, Global Health Certificate, and Spanish minor. She is excited to study contemporary refugee dynamics because the Tibetan refugee situation is an important part of her own personal narrative.

Maura Guyler is a freshman from Marlboro, NJ. She is planning on majoring in Public Policy and ICS, with a minor in Arabic. She is passionate about international development and human rights.

Christine Delp is sophomore from Fuquay-Varina, NC who plans to major in Program II: Ethics and Documentary Studies. Christine’s hobbies include writing, filmmaking, and traveling.

Nikita Yogesh is a sophomore studying Art History and Evolutionary Anthropology. She is passionate about animal rights and fine art, and her hobbies include finding the perfect tofu scramble and spending time with her cats and foster dog.