Honors Institute: Your Great Gift
"It's rare in your life to have this opportunity - to gather with a group of
like-minded scholars and thinkers - this is a great gift that Phi Theta Kappa
has given you," Honors Institute speaker Dr. Michael Galaty told his audience.
Dr.
Galaty is one of five speakers to address Phi Theta Kappa's 42nd Honors Institute,
being held June 22-26 at the University of Richmond in Virginia. Participants
learn about the Honors Study Topic, The Paradox of Affluence: Choices,
Challenges, and Consequences, from a variety of academic perspectives.
Small-group discussions follow each presentation.
Dr. Galaty's
presentation focused on affluence as an influence on war and violence,
and cited theories relating genetics and choice to the origins of conflict.
From pre-history to current times, conflict is generally linked
to the need to control land and resources, he said.
He spoke of
studies of early humans, primate communities and remote civilizations
that have not changed in hundreds of years, such as the Yanomamo of the Brazilian
rainforest.
Dr. Galaty described the people of the Shala Valley
in Northern Albania, where he has directed a study and research project
since 2004. The Shala people are warlike and also feud among themselves,
he said, over land and property but mainly over honor.
Given
the shared characteristics of various societies, such as the Shala Valley
peoples and the Swiss, there can be no clear resolution on the question of
genetic over cultural influence, Dr. Galaty concluded. "The truth lies
in between - many human societies historically may have had genetic propensities,
but war and violence have also been cultural choices."
The opening
session featured an overview presented by Dr. Douglas W. Foard, who discussed
the paradox of affluence from the perspective of the host city of Richmond,
Virginia.
Prior to the Civil War Richmond was the industrial
center of the South, and one of the nation's wealthiest cities. The foundation
of that wealth, however, was tobacco and slavery. Among the paradoxes of
affluence associated with Richmond was the famous "Give me liberty or give
me death" speech by Patrick Henry, a slaveowner.
The defeat
of the Confederacy ended slavery. For the last decade the tobacco industry
has declined as health advocates and the government make the public aware
of the dangers associated with smoking.
The affluence of American
society in recent years has been based on cheap oil, cheap credit and the
exploitation of foreign resources, Dr. Foard said. "Within a breath-taking
space of time those foundations have crumbled before our eyes and we now
struggle to find new foundations upon which to build our futures."
"You
have taken the surest path toward that new paradigm," he said. "No one can
doubt that higher education, with the critical thinking and analytical
skills it fosters, will be central to mankind's progress in the years ahead;
even its survival."
NPR producer Davar Ardalan discussed the
paradox of affluence as it relates to her one-time home, Iran and her present
home in the United States. She spoke about Iran's history and the modern-day
conflicts, and focused on the current political situation surrounding
the June 12 elections.
Incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
a critic of the United States and Israel, and his chief challenger, Reform
candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, engaged in heated campaigning prior to
the election. When Ahmadinejad's victory was announced, Mousavi's supporters
mounted protests, citing fraud and clashing with police.
The
government responded by shutting down communications and expelling many
foreign journalists, including NPR's correspondent, Ardalan said. She
described the difficulties of obtaining news from the country from a journalist's
perspective, combined with her own emotional response to seeing citizens
denied of their rights in her former home country.
She described
emails from inside Iran, calling on the global community to help. "Death
seems so close," a student wrote.
"What's the end? We don't know
- this is still a breaking story," Ardalan concluded. "We know the people
of Iran want and deserve to know the truth."
