October 22, 2008

UAlbany Professors Look at Human Cost of War in Security Disarmed

In times of war, the tragic toll � not just the soldiers who lose their lives, but families and civilian victims - may often get lost amid debates over national security. A new book co-edited by UAlbany professors Barbara Sutton and Julie Novkov, along with University of Oregon professor Sandra Morgen, challenges the notion that increasing militarization will ensure human security.

UAlbany's Women's Studies Department will officially launch the book Security Disarmed: Critical Perspectives on Gender, Race, and Militarization at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24, in the University Art Museum. The collection of essays voices an alternative vision to militarization by analyzing the relationships among gender, race, and war.

"This book critically examines the human costs of armed conflict, exposes linkages between heightened militarization and social injustice; and advances positive alternatives to prevailing conceptions of security," said Sutton, an assistant professor of Women's Studies. Novkov is an associate professor with a joint appointment in political science.  UAlbany  Associate Professor of Women's Studies Janell Hobson is a contributor to the book.

A panel discussion with four of the book's contributors and a reviewer will be followed by a book-signing reception.

Panelists Sutton, Novkov, and Hobson will be joined by Simona Sharoni of the SUNY Plattsburgh Women's Studies Department. Kathy Ferguson of the University of Hawaii's departments of Political Science and Women's Studies will add her insight as a reviewer.

Margo Okazawa-Rey of Fielding Graduate University called Security Disarmed, "One of the most important and exciting books among the recent flurry of feminist collections that elucidates the inextricable links among militarism, war, economic globalization, and neoliberalism and gender."

The event, which is free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the Latin American, Caribbean and U.S. Latino Studies Department and the Department of Political Science with the support of University Auxiliary Services.

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