Name: Dave Stone
Amount Requested: $1950
Time Frame: June 14-26, 2009
One Sentence Description of Planned Use of Funds:
Requested Stoddard funds will be used to pay the $1550 cost of attending this seminar (Chicago-Washington DC round trip airfare, Metropass, housing, all meals in Decatur, most meals in Washington DC, and museum admissions) plus $400 to cover additional transportation, parking and some meals in Washington, DC.
Narrative Description:
I’m quite interested in participating in the upcoming Genocide and Human Rights Summer Institute. Review of the materials and activities comprising the institute makes clear a focus on historical, political and sociological/anthropological connections. I am very interested in pursuing these connections and being updated regarding current genocide situations across the world, but think as educators can go a step further, investigating the role that science plays in problem solving associated with genocide.
I first became particularly interested in the use of science (specifically genetics) in historic problem solving regarding children of “the Disappeared” of Argentina. During Argentina's 1973-80 military regime an estimated 40,000 people disappeared. Known as "The Disappeared," this group included large numbers of students, teachers, professors and others who opposed the military regime. The whereabouts of many of these individuals is no longer in question since the discovery of numerous mass gravesites throughout Argentina. Eyewitness accounts make clear that a number of pregnant abducted women were allowed to give birth before being murdered. Infants were given up for adoption or sold, often to military families and their associates. It is estimated that 210 infants were born in this situation. Records show that mothers whose capture was imminent handed off their infants to passer-bys so that the infants' lives would be spared. Many of these children eventually reached an age when they began questioning where they came from and some expressed interest in being reunited with their original families.
A number of geneticists became involved in matching children to surviving relatives. Numerous different genetic technologies were used in the identification and matching process. Often the technique used for a particular situation was based on the particular relationship between possible relatives. For example, because mitochondrial DNA is inherited solely from ones mother, this technique proved ideal in cases when a maternal grandmother or one of her siblings still survived. On the other hand, if the only surviving potential relatives of a child were paternal, mitochondrial DNA testing is useless, while HLA typing would be the technology of choice.
Because I wanted to incorporate learning about various genetic technologies in an engaging, practical situation I developed an online resource, currently accessible at http://www.uni.uiuc.edu/~stone2/disappeared_home.html . This resource introduces the Argentine background scenario and the technologies through online readings and Argentine political and historical web sites. Working in groups, students learned about different genetic testing methodologies and their viability for use in matching these children to their surviving relatives.
Specifically, I would like to establish background regarding various recent genocide situations throughout the world during the workshop. Upon completion of the workshop I will delve into the current use of genetic technologies in identification of individuals in each particular situation. I will select several of those situations and develop online resources, as I did for the Project Disappeared web site (http://www.uni.uiuc.edu/~stone2/disappeared_home.html) I developed in 2001. The new updated web site will be linked in its entirety to web pages housed on the school’s server, effectively preventing us from losing valuable information and resources as others continually modify, change or delete materials. Since the work will be entirely web-based, any individual with access to an Internet-connected computer will have full access to all of the site’s resources at no cost. I look forward to the opportunity to begin such an initiative.
Created March 10, 2009. Last modified March 10, 20009.