Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 22, 2005|Volume 33, Number 27|Two-Week Issue

This old postcard of Texas, bearing the legend "'Black Gold.' One of the Many Oil Gushers of the Rich Odessa Oil Field," is from the poster for the "Conference on Global Oil Frontiers."

Conference explores historic
impact of global quest for oil

The ways the quest for petroleum has impacted people throughout the world will be explored in the "Conference on Global Oil Frontiers," being held at Yale Friday-Saturday, April 29-30.

The event is hosted by the Howard R. Lamar Center for the Study of Frontiers and Borders and International Security Studies at Yale.

"Few discoveries have so fundamentally transformed the world and the organization of human life as that of oil," write the conference organizers. "While policy analysts in political science and economics have long considered the subjects of oil exploration and oil production within their purview, there remain relatively few historical studies of the petroleum industry. ... This conference will seek to redress that imbalance."

In addition to underlining "the importance of American oil frontiers to national life," note the organizers, the conference will explore the ways in which "oil has left its mark across the globe." The speakers, they add, will address such themes as "the impact of the oil industry on indigenous cultures and local politics, the geopolitical battles over oil-rich lands, and the legacy of frontier attitudes toward expansion and resource extraction in the postwar period."

The "Conference on Global Oil Frontiers" will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Friday with a panel titled "Oil and the 'American Century': Historical Boundaries, Exploratory Claims." The speakers will be Karen Merrill of Williams College, Paul Sabin of the Yale Law School and Brian Frehner of the Clements Center at Southern Methodist University. The panel will take place in Rm. 211 of the Hall of Graduate Studies (HGS), 320 York St.

At 4:30 p.m., Michael Klare, the Five-College Professor of Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College, will deliver the keynote address for the conference, titled "Petroleum Flows and Political Conflict." Klare is the author of the books "Resource Wars" and "Blood and Oil." His talk will take place in Sudler Hall of William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St.

On Saturday, there will be a roundtable on "International Frontiers: The Oil Industry, Local Politics and Indigenous Cultures," in Rm. 211 of HGS, 9:3011:30 a.m. Participants will be Robert Vitalis of the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania; David S. Painter of the Department of History and the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University; and Jane Guyer of the Department of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, who is an adviser to the World Bank and the governments of Chad and Cameroon on the Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project.

The conference is free and open to the public and no registration is required. For more information, contact the Lamar Center at (203) 432-2328, lamar.center@yale.edu or visit the website at www.yale.edu/lamarcenter.

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Thomas C. Duffy chosen to serve as interim dean of the School of Music

Link between stress, insomnia and obesity shown

Event explores unique singing tradition shared by disparate groups

Conference explores historic impact of global quest for oil

Unbiased reporting is not always noble, CNN journalist says

Veteran coach with over 400 wins to head women's basketball

Symposium honors chemist's '30 years in the trenches'

The drama school stages 'The Real Thing' . . .

Yale honors 116 staff members at Long-Service Recognition Dinner

Juniors honored for their scholarship, contributions

IN MEMORIAM

Biologist Dr. Alvin Novick, noted advocate for people with AIDS

Lloyd Reynolds, shaped fields of labor relations and economics

contributions