August 29, 2001

Ramapo College to Host World History Conference

(Mahwah) -- Ramapo College of New Jersey will host the Sixth Annual Mid-Atlantic World History Association Conference Friday and Saturday, October 12 and 13. "Global Interactions and Interdisciplinary Perspectives" is the theme of this year’s conference, reflecting the discipline’s emphasis on global processes and cross-cultural encounters. The conference will be co-sponsored by the Eastern Community College Social Science Association.

Several prominent historians will be featured speakers, including Professor Alfred Crosby, emeritus professor of American studies, University of Texas-Austin, and author of numerous works on environmental and world history. Crosby, whose talk is scheduled October 12 at 1 p.m. in the Sharp Theater in the Berrie Center, will connect themes from his new history of projectile technology, Throwing, and his earlier works such as Ecological Imperialism. His talk is entitled "Up From the Skies: Missile Weaponry, Culture and Environment, 20,000 BCE - 2000 CE."

Also speaking is Professor Howard Spodek of Temple University, author of The World’s History and works relating to his specialty of comparative urbanization. Spodek will give the keynote address at the conference dinner at 7 p.m. on October 12 at the Apple Ridge Country Club in Mahwah.

The conference is open to anyone interested in furthering his/her understanding of world history and its teaching. Funding for the conference has been generously provided by the Ramapo College of New Jersey Foundation, McGraw-Hill Publishers and Houghton Mifflin Publishing.

The main conference sessions will take place in the Alumni Lounges of the Robert Scott Student Center at Ramapo College. More information, including the program schedule, can be obtained at the conference Web site, http://www.brookdale.cc.nj.us/fac/history/lhartzell/index.html, or by contacting Professor Frank Karpiel, Ramapo College, at fkarpiel@ramapo.edu.

Sessions at this year’s conference include:

"Aspects of British Imperialism, 19th and 20th Centuries" (10:45 a.m. Friday)
"National Identity, War, and Diplomacy" (10:45 a.m. Friday)
"Women's History in Africa, India and Brazil" (2:15 p.m. Friday)
"Women's History, Religion, Property and the State" (4 p.m. Friday)
"Conflicts and Conflict Resolution" (9 a.m. Saturday)

Among highlights of this years conference:

"History as Hypertext: Representing the Past on the Web," Susan Jacobson, Marymount Manhattan College (9 a.m. Friday)

"Incorporating Music, Art, and Literature in the Teaching of World Civilizations," Jane Scimeca and Sherri West, Brookdale C.C., and Maia Conrad, Christopher Newport University (9 a.m. Friday)

Teaching Workshop, "Using Psychohistory in Teaching," Paul Elovitz, Ramapo College of New Jersey (9 a.m. Friday)

"Transforming and Imagining Elite Femininity: Globalization and the Elite Female in Mumbai," Susan Parulekar, Ph.D. candidate, Syracuse Univ. (2:15 p.m. Friday)

A Visual Resources Workshop, "Visual Resources and Teaching World History" by Harry Stein, Ramapo Indian Hills High School (4 p.m. Friday)

"Egyptian-Israeli and Anglo-Egyptian Conflicts During the Suez Crisis," Michael Duran, Princeton University, and "Twentieth Century World Movements Countering Inhumanity," Catherine Clay, Shippensburg University. Conflicts and Conflict Resolution Session (9 a.m. Saturday)

Annette Palmer, Morgan State Univ. "Teaching World History: An African-Centered Perspective" at the "Constructing World History" Session (9 a.m. Saturday)

"A Tale of Two Cities: London and Bordeaux in the Late 18th Century," Jackly Swansinger, State University of NY- Fredonia (10:45 a.m. Saturday)

"The World History Survey in College: Selling to the Skeptics," Sam Mustafa, Ramapo College (1:15 p.m. Saturday)