San Francisco State University will host a conference September 16-17, 2010 exploring the question and place of rights in history, politics, and society.

Rights, both individual and collective, have long been a theme in American society, often seen in conflict with state power. The conference welcomes papers on assertions of rights by insurgent groups, resistance to rights claims, and governmental efforts to suppress or promote rights, in areas including but not limited to: civil liberties; disability rights; labor and economic rights; feminism and antiracism; immigration; environmental justice; access to healthcare; the prison industrial complex; sexual orientation; the stateless; and human rights.

The goal is to bring together a wide variety of people from a range of academic, activist, legal, and community spaces to examine the place of rights within the context of American society (as situated within a boarder global political community). To that end, the conference is open to historians, both senior and junior scholars, graduate students, community advocates, archivists, and lawyers.

The deadline for submission of proposals, consisting of an abstract of 1000 words for panel and workshop proposals or 300 words for individual presentations and a one-page CV for each participant, is March 15, 2010. Send your proposals to

Christopher Waldrep
Department of History
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, California 94132

or via email to cwaldrep@sfsu.edu.

More information is available at this link.

PHILLIP JAMES FALCON

July 19, 1961 - January 04, 2010

Phillip James Falcon of Stanford, California and Marion, Iowa died of respiratory failure in his family's arms on January 4, 2010 at Stanford University Hospital.

Phillip was born in Boston on July 19, 1961. After spending his early years in Lexington, Massachusetts, he moved with his family to Stanford, California in 1972. He continued to reside with his parents on the Stanford campus and on their Iowa farm until his death.

Phillip completed the special education program in the Palo Alto School System, and was long associated with HOPE Workshop. He traveled extensively in Asia with his parents, and he especially loved the farm in Iowa. He was also one of Stanford's most loyal football fans.

Phillip profoundly touched many lives with his sociability, good cheer, and zest for living life each day as an adventure. His bravery in the face of many medical challenges was an inspiration to everyone. He evoked the best of the human spirit, making all those around him the better for it.

Phillip is survived by his mother and father, Laura and Walter Falcon; his sister and brother-in-law, Lesley and Michael Hammond, of Aurora, Nebraska; and his brother, sister-in-law and their children, Andrew, Mary, Hallett and AJ Falcon, of Upland, California.

A memorial service for Phillip is planned for 10:30 am on Saturday, February 6th, in the Bechtel Room within Encina Hall, Stanford University. His burial service will be in the spring at Marion, Iowa. A Phillip Falcon Memorial Fund (c/o his parents) has been established to assist young people with special needs.

This paper challenges the conventional wisdom that oil causes international contention by explaining how the high costs of petroleum conquest deter territorial aggression. In oil-rich territories, interstate violence is inspired by other factors. The claim is tested through an examination of Nigeria and Cameroon's dispute over the Bakassi Peninsula, drawing on the author's fieldwork in both countries.

Emily Meierding is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago and a predoctoral fellow at CISAC. Her dissertation examines how the presence of petroleum resources affects the initiation and escalation of international territorial disputes. She has conducted dissertation research and language study in Syria, Morocco, Nigeria and Cameroon. Meierding holds a BA in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a MA in Political Science from the University of Chicago.

Jessica Gottlieb is a PhD Candidate in the Political Science Department at Stanford University.  Her research is on the relationship between democracy and development, particularly in her region of interest, francophone West Africa.  She studies the impact of decentralization and local democracy on political accountability and public goods outcomes.   She received her BA in Political Science from Yale University and has also spent time in Washington, DC working at the Center for Global Development.