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UC Davis experts: Sources on the war at homeThe following University of California, Davis, faculty are available to comment on impacts of a pending war at home. Peace advocates
The media Coping with war Cultural dimensions Military issues Legal ramifications PEACE ADVOCATES More sophisticated peace movementsThe growing peace movement promises to be more sophisticated than any of the past because it has learned from mistakes committed during the Vietnam and Gulf wars, says UC Davis American studies professor Michael Smith. Peace movements have changed from simply avoiding organized violence to seeking a more nuanced discussion in the public arena about alternatives to war, according to Smith. "The discussion of how to balance security and civil liberties always comes up in war times, and it's especially acute with cross-cultural misperceptions." Contact: Michael Smith, American Studies, (530) 752-7196 or (530) 752-3377, mlsmith@ucdavis.edu. History of women's peace movementsUC Davis women's history scholar Lisa Materson can talk about the pivotal role American women have played in protesting wars from the 1830s through the Vietnam War era. She can talk about the origins of the largest peace organization, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, as well as give the history of the Women's Peace Party and the Vietnam-era Women Strike for Peace. Contact: Lisa Materson, History, (530) 752-9991, lgmaterson@ucdavis.edu. Invisibility of religious witnessUC Davis American studies professor Jay Mechling can talk about how the opinions of mainstream religious leaders are being omitted from the national debate about going to war. Although Washington leaders have invoked religious rhetoric, such as the term "evil," to talk about the war, they seem to be skirting public protest by the Catholics, Methodists and other religious denominations, Mechling says. In particular, the Catholic Church has a list of conditions for a just war that aren't being addressed. Mechling writes and teaches about American culture, including rhetorical analyses of popular culture in film and on television. He can also talk about the construction of masculinity and the socialization of boys in regards to going to war. His book, "On My Honor: The Boy Scouts and American Culture," was published in 2001. Contact: Jay Mechling, American Studies, (530) 752-1983, jemechling@ucdavis.edu. THE MEDIA Media and the public during a warJohn Theobald, a lecturer in the Department of Communication, can comment how the public is affected by war coverage in the media. He can also discuss the politics that print and broadcast media encounter in attempting to communicate war news to the public. He teaches "The Media Industry," "Media Analysis" and "News Policies and Practices." Theobald, a former television news producer, often provides television commentary on debates and public speeches. Contact: John Theobald, Communication, (530) 752-4916 MTW office, (707) 942-1132 home, (707) 322-6340 cell, theobald@worldnet.att.net. How war is shown in the mediaEric Schroeder, lecturer in American Studies and in English at UC Davis, can talk about representations of war in American culture. Schroeder is an expert on the representations of the Vietnam War in American culture and teaches a course on the 1960s. He can discuss the way war is represented in film and on television and issues surrounding those representations. Contact: Eric Schroeder, English (530) 752-4942, ejschroeder@ucdavis.edu. COPING WITH WAR War stress and copingCarolyn Aldwin, an expert on how people cope with stress and the long-term effects of stress, can talk about how people react differently to war, based on age and closeness to the battlefields. She can talk about how veterans have historically dealt with war stress, the probability of post-traumatic stress disorders, and strategies for people for dealing with the war. Contact: Carolyn Aldwin, Human and Community Development, (530) 752-2415 office, (530) 752-5117 lab, (530) 758-5867 weekend, cmaldwin@ucdavis.edu. CULTURAL DIMENSIONS How artists will respondGiven the significant changes to visual art following other historic political traumas such as World War I, the Holocaust and the Vietnam War, it is inevitable that artists will produce work that incorporates their new sense of the world in response to the war with Iraq, says art historian Blake Stimson. Stimson, an assistant professor in the Art History Program and co-director of the Critical Theory Program, writes and teaches about how political events of the postwar period transformed the social role of art. He is editor of "Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology" (1999). Contact: Blake Stimson, Art History Program, bstimson@ucdavis.edu. (Stimson is abroad but available by e-mail for queries.) MILITARY ISSUES Military social issuesUC Davis sociologist Bruce Haynes, who specializes in the study of race and ethnic group relations, can talk about black and other ethnic social issues in the American military, especially in regards to desegration and non-racial promotions. He is author of "Red Lines, Black Spaces: The Politics of Race and Space in a Black Middle-Class Suburb" (Yale University Press, 2001), a case study of race and class politics in a New York City suburban community. He is currently writing a book on African-American Jews in the United States. Contact: Bruce Haynes, Sociology, (530) 754-7127, bdhaynes@ucdavis.edu. History of blacks in warUC Davis historian Clarence Walker can talk about historical changes in African Americans' participation during U.S. wars and, particularly, political and social issues for blacks that have arisen in modern wars. Walker specializes in the study of the sociology of American race relations and American popular culture. Walker teaches a two-quarter course called "Race in America" and is doing research for his newest book, "Founding Parents: Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings and the Racial Origins of the American Republic." Contact: Clarence Walker, History, (530) 752-0779, cewalker@ucdavis.edu. Constitution abroad, detainees, gays in militaryProfessor Tobias Barrington Wolff of the UC Davis School of Law can offer comment on U.S. constitutional law and its application beyond the country's boundaries; the status and rights of detainees including enemy combatants, prisoners of war and others; and the military's recent stop-loss orders and the exception for lesbians and gays under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Wolff studies constitutional law, civil procedure and the federal courts, free speech and the First Amendment, and conflict of laws. One of his articles exploring the application of the Constitution outside of the country was recently published in the Columbia Law Review. His article "Compelled Affirmations, Free Speech, and the U.S. Military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy'' was published in the Brooklyn Law Review. Wolff teaches courses on both the Constitution and civil procedure. Contact: Tobias Barrington Wolff, School of Law, (530) 754-6981, tbwolff@ucdavis.edu. LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS A war's effect on racial profiling, civil libertiesPossible legal fallout from a war against Iraq includes reforms to immigration laws and cutbacks on civil liberties protections, says Kevin Johnson of the School of Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis. A specialist in immigration and civil rights law, Johnson can provide comment on these and other issues such as race profiling in screening for terrorists and the civil rights implications of this practice, as well as hate crimes against "foreign"-appearing people. Also associate dean for academic affairs at the law school, Johnson is vice president and director of Legal Services of Northern California. He recently published articles in law reviews about the targeting of Arabs, Muslims and Mexicans after Sept. 11, 2001. Contact: Kevin Johnson, School of Law, (530) 752-0243, krjohnson@ucdavis.edu. Racial profiling againAmericans risk losing an aspect of what makes the nation great by racially profiling groups of South Asians and Arabs, says Professor Bill Ong Hing of the UC Davis School of Law and Asian American studies. "We have gone down this slippery slope before during World War II when we incarcerated more than 120,000 Japanese Americans (mostly citizens), only to regret it," Hing says. "We can enforce existing laws and still get tough on terrorists, without trampling on the rights of innocent people who happen to have the wrong complexion." Hing's areas of expertise include race relations and immigration law and history. His books include "Making and Remaking Asian America Through Immigration Policy" (1993) and "To Be an American -- Cultural Pluralism and the Rhetoric of Assimilation" (1997). Contact: Bill Ong Hing, Law and Asian American Studies, (530) 754-9377, bhing@ucdavis.edu. Media contact:
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