Cultures of Conflict

Professor Rebecca Adelman traces connections between citizenship and images of the war on terror.

Flying home from New Orleans to Cleveland in August 2003, Rebecca Adelman encountered a faulty metal detector at a security checkpoint. The alarm blared as she passed through once, then again and again, until several federal agents and police officers guided her to a windowless room where she was questioned for nearly an hour. A security agent finally suggested trying a different detector, and she was deemed a non-threat after passing through the new device without triggering the alarm.

Adelman, now an assistant professor of media and communication studies at UMBC, started graduate school just a few weeks later. Her distressing experience seemed like nothing but an interesting dinner party anecdote at the time, but it stayed on her mind. Years later, it provoked a powerful research question.

�I started to think that maybe something more important had happened there,� Adelman reflects. �Maybe in the moment of me having this encounter with these security technologies and the people who were wielding them, something more important happened to me than just this fluke or mistake. I began to think about the ways that experience changed me as a thinker and citizen.�

From this experience, and years of research that followed, emerged Adelman�s new book, Beyond the Checkpoint: Visual Practices in America�s Global War on Terror (University of Massachusetts Press 2014). The book provides a comprehensive overview of the visual culture of the Global War on Terror, including imaging technologies like those at security checkpoints. Adelman contends that since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, American citizenship has been redefined by images of the Global War on Terror.

�The book tries to rethink how we envision the relationship between state and citizen and image,� Adelman observes. �I hope it encourages people to think differently about the role of the visual in wartime and to think more critically, comprehensively and creatively about it.�

Some Global War on Terror images are familiar to most Americans, including footage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 2003 �Shock and Awe� campaign in Iraq. However, Adelman argues that by studying images that are frequently overlooked but are part of our everyday experiences, Americans can better understand how they have shaped the country�s thinking as it relates to prosecution of this war domestically and abroad.

�When we�re talking about war and terrorism, we�re talking about phenomena that can�t ever be fully represented because they�re so big and overwhelming. They can�t fit in the frame of a single picture or a three-minute news story, so representations are always limited,� Adelman says.

Adelman�s research traces connections between citizenship and spectatorship, and focuses on institutions that create, monitor and regulate the visual culture of the Global War on Terror. She�s hopeful her work will provide a blueprint for looking beyond common images and thinking more broadly about how visual cultures of conflict will be portrayed in the decades ahead.

�We can all understand now that there is an intimate relationship between war and visual media. It�s been that way since the Civil War,� Adelman says. �It�s going to continue to evolve, and I hope my book provides a way to think about that evolution.�

Adelman discussed her new book as a guest on WYPR�s Maryland Morning. You can listen to the complete interview here.

(06/12/2014)

It’s a standard of yuppies and inner-city health freaks, but the health-food supermarket Whole Foods is gearing up to conquer entirely new territories. 

And not just in the neighborhoods of the richie rich. 

Last year, Whole Foods landed in Downtown Detroit. Despite naysayers who claimed the chain’s products would be too expensive for residents, the store is doing well.

The store opening in Detroit is an example of the “smaller, urban” approach to expansion the chain is promoting.

With “food deserts” being a hot-topic in activism right now, Whole Foods is trying to find new markets in impoverished neighborhoods.

In order for these stores to succeed, there are two things to consider: cost and culture.

The food must be affordable, and the customers must know how to use or cook with the food. Many new customers may ask – What do I do with quinoa?

So far, the results from Detroit and Chicago seem to be in favor of Whole Foods. So will Whole Foods be the Giant of a health-conscious future? 

The company also has potential to impact communities as an employer – in 2013 it ranked 71 out of 100 in Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. The thing is, the chain could drop off that list fast in favor of profits. CEO John Mackey is famously pro union-busting. He once claimed

“The union is like having herpes. It doesn’t kill you, but it’s unpleasant and inconvenient, and it stops a lot of people from becoming your lover.”

There have been a fair share of employee protests. While Whole Foods isn’t WalMart, it’s important to keep the company in check as it moves forward. If Whole Foods wants to move in to underserved neighborhoods, it shouldn’t pick pockets when it gets there. 

The 2014 Shriver Center Public Service Scholars Programs have all been launched within the last several weeks. This year’s programs, The Governor’s Summer Internship Program (GSIP), the Sondheim Maryland Nonprofit Leadership Program and MDOT Fellows Program have a total of 50 participants from institutions across the state of Maryland, as well as some out of state institutions. With all of the programs, students are placed with senior-level officials in government agencies and nonprofits across the state.

The Governor’s Summer Internship Program introduces college students to the unique challenges and rewards of working within Maryland state government. Interns work for ten weeks during the summer in state government agencies doing substantive tasks ranging from drafting speeches and correspondence to researching policy options and assisting with constituent case work. Students develop policy papers on a significant issue facing Maryland and present their findings to Governor O’Malley in person. The program is led by the Shriver Center in partnership with the Office of the Governor.

The Maryland Nonprofit Leadership Program offers summer internship opportunities in the nonprofit sector to college juniors, seniors and graduate students attending Maryland institutions. Interns work for ten weeks during the summer and participate in bi-weekly seminars in non-profit management. The Shriver Center coordinates the program in conjunction with the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations and the Office of the Governor.

The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) Fellows Program introduces college students to working within Maryland’s integrated transportation system. Interns work in policy development, engineering, planning and financing, neighborhood conservation, and computer networking, among other areas. The Shriver Center leads the program in conjunction with Office of the Secretary of Transportation.

Several UMBC students are participants in this year’s programs. The complete list is below, along with the intern’s mentors. You can learn more about the Shriver Center Scholars Programs by clicking here.

Governor’s Summer Internship Program

Colby Conley
Major: Political Science
Mentor: Mary Gable/Danielle Susskind
Assistant State Superintendent/Education Policy Specialist
Division of Academic Policy and Innovation
Maryland State Department of Education

Walter Sondheim Jr. Maryland Nonprofit Leadership Program

Katharine Evans
Major: Psychology, Sociology
Mentor: Kim Sauer
Legal & Medical Coordinator
Baltimore Child Abuse Center

Katia Fortune
Major: Psychology
Mentor: Dionne Waldron
Program Manager
Operation HOPE

Ibitoye “Kathy” Tokunbo
Major: Economics
Mentor: Joe Brown
Site Coordinator
College Gardens

Rachel Thomas
Major: Political Science, Psychology
Mentor: Michelle Sardone
Legalization Program Director
Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.

MDOT Fellows Program

Jordan Weddington
Major: History, Asian Studies
Mentor: Michele Gardner
Title VI/ADA Coordinator
Maryland Transit Administration

Jeanie Lai
Major: Environmental Science
Mentor: Benjamin Chin
Director, Office of Design and Construction
Maryland Aviation Administration

Benjamin Loeb
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Mentor: Kevin Pippin
Manager, Division of Utilities
Maryland Aviation Administration

Every so often, we highlight the importance of student scholarships by introducing you to the very students they help to succeed. Today, we’re featuring Kristine Galli, health administration and policy, who is a Barbara E. Burkman Health Administration and Policy Program Scholarship recipient. This scholarship is given to a student who has demonstrated academic stature and scholarly/creative activity in their chosen discipline.

Name: Kristine Galli ’14
Major(s): health administration policy
Scholarship(s): Barbara Burkman Scholarship Award

Q: Why did you decide to attend UMBC?

A: The school has a great reputation and I love the diversity of our campus community. I knew I could learn from experts in my field while cultivating relationships that have enriched my life more than ever expected. I will be graduating with an amazing degree and incredible friends.

Q: What’s been the most amazing discovery you’ve made so far as a student here?

A: Definitely learning about other students has lead to the most amazing discoveries. People are amazing and everyone has a story, so take the time to listen because both of your lives are enhanced through that connection.

Q: Tell us about a class or club that has really opened your mind.

A: Being a Peer Health Educator through University Health Services for two years was a fun and influential way to empower myself and benefit the campus community. This position helped me learn about health issues that are most pertinent to college students and engage many different subcultures to help empower them through knowledge, as well.

Q: How important is it to you as a student to get scholarship support?

A: It was extremely important for me to receive scholarship support for multiple reasons. Having your hard work acknowledged is always fulfilling, but more than that I am very grateful that this support takes some of the financial burden off of myself and my family. There are many areas of life to manage in university, so when someone helps you in such a significant way it allows you to focus more energy on succeeding in school versus worrying about how to pay for it.

Q: What are you most proud of accomplishing in your time at UMBC?

A: Thankfully I have been able to do a lot with my time at UMBC including founding a mental health awareness student organization, Active Minds. I am very happy I was able to bring this organization to campus and am extremely impressed by the students who have taken over its management. They are definitely making a powerful and positive impact on the well being of UMBC students.

Q: What would you say to the people who provided your scholarship?

A: Thank you so much!  It means a lot that people like you invest their hard-earned money to help students succeed.

Q: What do you hope to do after graduation?

A: I was accepted into the University of Manchester to earn a Master’s in International Disaster Management. While this is awesome, I have deferred for a year to explore other interests before committing to this path. We will see what life has in store!

Support the Barbara E. Burkman Scholarship!

Co-Lab(oration): Front Stoop/Back Yard, organized by the School 33 Art Center, will hold an opening celebration this month for the collaborative installation including work by Kelley Bell, visual arts. The pieces presented, by Bell, Melissa Webb and Linda DePalma, are “highly detailed birdhouses that are scale replicas of iconic Baltimore buildings – Penn Station, the Patterson Park Pagoda, the “Painted Ladies” of Charles Village and Form Stone row homes.”

Download the flyer to learn more about the celebration and Co-Lab(oration).

The opening celebration, scheduled for June 21 from 3-6 p.m. at the School 33 Art Center, will be held in connection with School 33’s 35th Annual Exhibition, 35 [33] 35, featuring the work of other prominent Baltimore artists, including Tim Nohe, Visual Arts. Co-Lab(oration): Front Stoop/Back Yard will be on display through the Summer 2015.