Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

IU School of Liberal Arts

SLA Spirograph Ideas. Inspiration. Impact.

Featured Archives

Words on a Page: How One Good Idea Became An Award-Winning Book

In Civil Rights Memorials and the Geography of Memory, Associate Professor of Geography Owen Dwyer, along with Derek H. Alderman, an associate professor at East Carolina University, explore the parks, museums, streets, and monuments honoring those involved in the civil rights movement. Dwyer and Alderman consider the movement’s history, present, and future while also asking why some participants have not received the same recognition as others. Theirs is the first book published on the topic.

Dwyer and Alderman’s research also lead to the study of place-why a certain monument exists where it does and how location shapes perception of an event-and how geography shapes a people’s view of whom we are and how we perceive our past. The uniqueness of the book and the many years of research paid off with a 2008 Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography from the Association of American Geographers. The annual award recognizes a book that conveys the nature and importance of geography to a non-academic audience.

"This was a story worth telling, and it’s very satisfying," Dwyer says of the book and the honor.

The book’s origins lie with an idea Dwyer had as a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University, where he read about Confederate attempts to enshrine their lost cause. He became interested in how the civil rights movement was being honored and decided to tour the south. He found a vibrant memorial scene generating millions of dollars in revenue. But he also discovered that only travel journalists were covering the phenomenon. "This is a bigger story than the attention it’s getting," Dwyer thought at the time.

As the project grew in Dwyer’s mind, he approached Alderman. Alderman was well known for his work on the renaming of streets for Martin Luther King Jr., and the two men had become familiar with each other’s work while presenting at the same conferences.

"If I wanted to write a book with a large scope I would have to retrace Alderman’s work," Dwyer says. "So I asked Alderman if he would be interested in working with me." 

"He was in high demand, and he did work that was highly recognized. I was very gratified he would work with me," Dwyer says of his co-author.

A lasting memory from the project for Dwyer involves students from IU-South Bend and Notre Dame who participated in a 16-day Civil Rights field trip in 2002. Along the way, he conducted interviews and took photos of the students and places they saw. 

"I was very moved by the students," the professor says. "It was a discovery moment for them as they experienced history.

All these facts, names, and places they always read about in books became real. It was powerful."

While on sabbatical in 2005, Dwyer began writing in earnest. During this process, he received a Center on Philanthropy grant, an IU Arts and Humanities grant, as well as support from The Graham Foundation, which subsidized the reproduction of the photos. "Without the support of these funders as well as the School of Liberal Arts, the book would still be a work in progress," he says.

Luckily that is not the case because more than a few agree that it was indeed a story worth telling.

Learn more about the book by visiting the publisher site: http://www.ugapress.uga.edu/

- Josh Flynn, BA 2007 English



From Indianapolis to Dublin: Research Project Takes Student to Ireland to Present Her Work

[Photo]: Courtney SingletonWhile most kids in sixth grade don’t know what anthropology is, Courtney Singleton knew it was her future. Arriving at the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, anthropology led her to archaeology. "I’ve always liked being outside and doing physical labor and exploring ideas of the past and working with communities and people," she recalls. Recently Singleton-now an IUPUI senior majoring in anthropology with a focus on archaeology-took one step closer to a successful career in the field when she presented her paper, "There Are No Rules For Radicals: Can archaeology be a form of activism?" at the 6th annual World Archaeological Conference (WAC-6).

The paper asks the question: Do we have activist archaeology and can archaeology organize for social change today? "Archaeology can be a component in a larger social movement," Singleton says. "The past has always played a huge role in any mass social movement. That mixed with the socially creative process of archaeology itself-of actually being out in the field and digging and interpreting artifacts and bringing people together in the process-those two mixed together can be powerful tools but the difference is you have to be challenging something. You have to be going after power structures."

Singleton-whose archaeological work focuses on race relations-developed her paper after a trip to a historical archaeology conference in New Mexico. She sat in on a session that was an open forum discussing race. The discussion began with activism in archaeology and Singleton listened to some of the best historical archaeologists dealing with race. She was amazed at the inconsistencies in their definitions of activism. She walked out of forum thinking "there are a lot of people considering just consulting the public as activism and it’s not. Talking with members of society is not activism. It’s much greater than that." Singleton took her concerns to anthropology professor Larry Zimmerman and he told her to put them down on paper. So she did. Then he told her to write more. Eventually, Singleton had enough to craft into a proper academic paper, and Zimmerman convinced her to submit her work.  In the past, Singleton’s colleagues had recommended it was good to get started doing presentations on a small scale, and Singleton herself hoped she could present her paper at the IUPUI library. The next thing she knew, she was being asked to present at the WAC-6 conference in Ireland.  "The turn out for the presentation was very good," she says. "I was amazed at the amount of people who were interested in it. And the reaction that it got took me by surprise. Not everyone was happy, but as an activist you are used to that. I’m not going to please everybody."

Singleton says her paper had the largest reaction of those presented at the conference and during the question and answer session that followed, it sparked discussion. Afterwards people approached to discuss her work one on one or request interviews. "It’s hard to put your thoughts out there. You’re worried about upsetting people-you know-I’m just a lowly undergrad student from Indiana. What can I contribute? Then you realize you can contribute just by saying it and getting out there and doing it," Singleton says. "No matter what, any feedback is good. Your work should always be growing and your thoughts should be developing. And that definitely happened. By putting my work out there in that venue, I had people from all over the world reacting to it."

—Josh Flynn, BA English 2007



Professor’s Research Leads to International Conference

[Photo]: Scott PeggImagine living in a nation which didn’t officially exist. These places and their citizens, known as de facto states-countries that have claimed their independence but are not officially recognized-were the focus of a one day conference held on May 16th, 2008 in Brussels, Belgium. The conference, entitled "Opening the World Order to de facto States," was the first of its kind and among the special guests were leaders from de facto states such as Taiwan and Somaliland and academics who have spent time researching these places, such as IUPUI’s very own Scott Pegg.

Pegg, an associate professor of political science and director of the International Studies program in the IU School of Liberal Arts, has spent the majority of his academic career focusing on de facto states, writing his dissertation on the subject and then reworking it into a book entitled "International Society and the de facto State." It was released in 1998, and shortly thereafter, Pegg stepped away from the subject to explore other areas of interest. Years later, he came back to the topic and found many people were carrying on with his work. "It’s nice to see some scholars pick up the work I began and take it in different directions and do a lot of really good fieldwork in a lot of these places," he says.

Pegg was the first to make the argument de facto states were significant and merited study and were worth paying attention to. "The conference was gratifying in that there are now a lot of people who have picked that up and are paying attention to it," he says. "Its nice to see something that I used to be alone in the woods on being much more widely accepted in academic communities and increasingly in policy and world affairs communities as well."

The invitation to attend and play a major role in the conference came as a surprise. Pegg delivered one of the conference’s opening addresses, presented a paper based on his research, served as a panel moderator and also helped deliver a declaration in support of de facto states at the end of the event-a declaration he also played a part in creating. "It basically made the argument that whether or not these entities should be recognized as sovereign states, we have to find some way to deal with them," he says. "They exist. They have impacts on international relations. They have security impacts. They have political economy impacts. They potentially are places that could be vectors for criminal activity. They are places that could be potentially engaged much better than they are. I think they did a really great job of putting that declaration together."

Pegg says the traditional method of dealing with de facto states is to ignore them, isolate them or embargo them. He cites the Turkish Republic of Northern Cypress, a state that has been embargoed for nearly 35 years, as one example. Another is Taiwan, who wanted to be a part of the World Health Organization, only to be blocked by the People’s Republic of China from doing so. When SARS broke out over Asia, Taiwan was deprived information and not allowed to use their doctors and health care services to help out. "We have to find a way for places like Taiwan to be an active participant rather than being marginalized on the sidelines just because they don’t have sovereign status in the eyes of many people in the international community," he says.

Pegg says it was a great honor to represent IUPUI at such an event. "I was sitting at the podium with members of the European Parliament and the president of The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, the Taiwanese delegate to the European Union. I was the only academic sitting at that table. It was great," he says. "I’m very happy I could carry IUPUI to the European parliament and to a truly global audience with people all over the world in attendance."

—Josh Flynn, BA English 2007