IN THIS ISSUE . . .
 Introducing the ATWS Newsletter |
 President Clausen’s Term Ends |
 New President John M. Mbaku |
ATWS in Williamsburg |
Introducing the ATWS Newsletter
This is the first issue of the ATWS newsletter. Initially, the newsletter will be an insert in the triennial newsletter of Georgia Southern University’s Center for International Studies. The Center and ATWS would like to acknowledge the support of Georgia Southern University for additional printing and mailing costs that made this newsletter possible.
Okay, so “Why” a newsletter? Very simply, as the ATWS grows the need for communication becomes evermore important. This communication should include informational items from the ATWS Executive Council and, hopefully, news items from the general membership.
Okay so what “specifically” will the newsletter become? What we decide we want to make of it!! We all get a small mountain of newsletters every year and we read very few of them. Which ones do we read and Why?? Well, most people read those newsletters that are closest to their primary academic interest or work environment. In other words, we read those newsletters that have news we actually care about.
First and foremost the newsletter needs news from YOU!!!! What research project are you working on? What have you published recently? Have you travelled somewhere and have observations you wish to share? This is the kind of personal news we need to supplement the information that the Executive Council will generate.
We also need your suggestions. What sort of information do you look for in a newsletter? Any ideas for regular columns? Special features? Letters to the Editor? A catchy name? This newsletter needs your in-put!!
Send news and ideas : Dr. Paul A. Rodell, Editor, ATWS Newsletter, Center for International Studies, Georgia Southern University, Landrum Box 8106, Statesboro, GA 30460.
In October at the annual conference ATWS President Edwin Clausen will conclude his fruitful year as the Association’s President. In the past year, the ATWS has continued its remarkable growth and Prof. Clausen can rightfully take part of the credit for this accomplishment. It will be recalled that Prof. Clausen hosted last year’s conference in Tacoma. Rather than going into ATWS “retirement” Edwin Clausen will remain active as Chair of the ATWS Fund Raising Committee.
In addition to his work in the ATWS Edwin Clausen is Associate Professor of Chinese History at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. He has published four books and has served in editorial capacities on two publications. His Asian fieldwork has included a Visiting Lectureship in Hong Kong and membership in a Fulbright sponsored research project in Thailand.
Professor John M. Mbaku begins his presidential term of office with a firm commitment to continue the Association’s rapid and solid growth. In a real sense, John Mbaku has served as the Association’s Secretary (1990-1993) and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Third World Studies.
John Mbaku is a Professor in the Department of Economics at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah where he has taught since 1991. Professor Mbaku began his academic career in Georgia at Kennesaw State College after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in 1985. His scholarship includes twenty-five articles, summer teaching trips to China (1988 and 1993) and Zimbabwe (1994), and service as a reviewer for three journals. On his home campus Professor Mbaku has won recognition for excellence in teaching and scholarship (1992, 1993, and 1994).
Professor Mbaku’s long list of scholarly accomplishments, teaching skills, and past service to ATWS speak well for him and is a clear indication that his will be an active presidential term.
On the weekend of October 6-8 the twelfth annual ATWS meeting will be held in Williamsburg, Virginia, thanks to our hosts at the College of William and Mary. This year’s meeting will be the largest in the Association’s history and promises to offer the most diverse program yet of panels and roundtable sessions. This year’s theme is “The Third World on the Eve of the 21st Century: Perspectives, Problems, and Prospects.”
In keeping with this theme, the guest speaker for Friday night’s banquet, Dr. Paul F. McCleary, President of the Christian Children’s Fund, will raise the question “Can the Complex 90’s Be Managed?” Earlier, on Thursday night, Dr. Julius O. Ihonvbere of the University of Texas at Austin will present a special public lecture. His talk will address the theme more specifically and is titled “Democratization in Africa: Challenges and Prospects.”
The size and complexity of this year’s conference is impressive and reflects the growth of the Association. The meeting will host 172 participants, many of whom will serve in more than one capacity as chairs, paper presenters, roundtable members, or discussants. The 156 participants from the United States come from twenty-five states and the District of Columbia and represent eighty-five colleges and universities and three community colleges. In addition, the schedule includes two participants who work for the federal government and four “independent” scholars.
Those states represented by the largest number of academic institutions are Georgia (11), New York (8), and Virginia (6) plus Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas (5 each) and California, Florida, and Washington, D.C. (4 each). The largest single contingent is the sixteen member delegation from Georgia Southern University. Other universities sending numerous participants are: Florida Atlantic University, Kent State University, and Pacific Lutheran University (5 each) and Clark Atlanta University and the University of Virginia (4 each).
An exciting addition to this year’s meeting is the increased number of scholars and government officials attending from other countries. Altogether eleven faculty from ten foreign universities will take part in the proceedings. One is from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and another teaches at Queen’s University in Toronto. Meanwhile, another nine international participants are on the staffs of eight universities in Sub-Saharan Africa and Egypt. We will also meet representatives of the embassies of Israel and Pakistan as well as an official of a support office of the Egyptian Cabinet.
Everyone will be busy attending the conference’s forty-one panels where 146 papers will be read and then commented on by fifty-four discussants. Interspersed in this already impressive schedule are an additional six roundtable sessions with twenty-five more presenters. Again this year the conference’s panels represent a wide variety of topics the most popular being “Development.” Many panels address the development process directly while others investigate closely related issues including ethnicity, regionalization, and government policy and leadership. As well, other topics such as the environment, human rights, women, security, and religion will occupy the energies of a number of panels. This year, too, three panels will consider pedagogical questions about the teaching of Third World cultures and issues.
As in prior years, the region represented by the most panels and papers will be Africa, although the Americas (the Caribbean, Central America, and South America) will also receive a great deal of scholarly attention. Much less in evidence are panels on the Middle East and, especially, Asia. Of course, individual papers on these regions will also be found in those panels that have a thematic rather than a geographic reference. Still, as the Association continues to grow we ATWS members should increase our efforts to attract more of our colleagues who study these underrepresented regions.
As the ATWS moves further into its second decade, the annual meeting reflects the Association’s growth and dynamism. Five years ago the Seventh Annual Meeting at the University of Florida had twenty-five panels, seventy-nine papers, and eighty-nine participants from sixty-two colleges and universities and two community colleges. From then until now the ATWS has grown by almost forty percent to become the largest professional organization of its kind in the world. Reflective of this growth and dynamism, this year’s conference is also establishing the ATWS as a truly international organization.
