"Putting Things Back Together": Problems and Prospects in Rebuilding Liberia
in the Aftermath of Civil War
34th Annual Conference of the Liberian Studies Association (LSA)
University of Pennsylvania
(Philadelphia)
April 11-14, 2002
For Further Information, Contact:
Al-Hassan Conteh
Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict
University of Pennsylvania
St. Leonard's Court, Suite 305
3819-33 Chestnut St.
Philadelphia, Pa 19104
Tel: (215) 573-0656
Fax: (215) 573-0653
E-Mail:[log in to unmask]
The Problems and Issues:
Rebuilding a war-ravaged country is a major challenge. Huge cost outlays
are implied in the wanton destruction of life and property. Indeed, hard
choices must be made in mending the Republic of Liberia's social and
economic fabric, including its economy, infrastructure, institutions, and
human relationships. Although the sacrifices, which the earlier
generation made to put these things in place, occurred over a long period,
their destruction took a minute fraction of development time. For example,
although it took Liberia about a century to get to its take off stage of
development, the present generation spent about seven years, or seven
percent of the cumulative years of national survival, to throw the country
back another one hundred years. According to Liberia's recent Human
Development Report (UNDP, 1999), Liberia is now a worn-torn society with a
post-war population size of 2.6 million and an annual population growth rate
of 2.4 percent. The country has grim post-war development indicators: 80
percent of Liberians live on $US 1 per day; adult literacy rate is 31.2
percent; gross school enrolment is 58.8 percent; real Gross Domestic Product
per capita (PPP) is $US 225; and life expectancy at birth is now 42.3 years,
one of the lowest in the world. The war created nearly a million
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and close to a million refugees. About
10 percent of Liberia's prewar population of 2.1 million people died during
the country's bitter 1989-1997 civil war. And most of the socioeconomic
infrastructure of the state was destroyed. Liberia's environment and
ecology are in deep crisis with the remaining, rich rainforest reserve and
associated fauna alarmingly receding. Human relationships were so badly
damaged during the war that many erstwhile peaceful communities are now
unwilling to live side by side as they did before the war. These are some
of the problems of the civil war, which, if not quickly repaired, will
continue to stifle growth and development. The social costs of the Liberian
civil war are yet to be estimated. When the right data are assembled, they
will no doubt include the actual costs of socioeconomic destruction as well
as the foregone costs, those benefits that would have accrued in the absence
of war. In this context, this conference will address how to rebuild
Liberia in the aftermath of civil war. It will seek to address specific
issues on how to remove those things that have kept Liberia from moving from
war to peace and bringing about a path to sustainable development. The
close to forty research papers, based on proposals received by the
organizing committee, will address how to create the specific conditions
favorable to post-war development. The conference proceedings will be
published in the December 2003 issue of the Liberian Studies Journal. The
Journal will be widely distributed among all stakeholders of Liberian
Affairs. They include LSA Conference 2002 participants, Liberian Studies
Association members, individual and institutional subscribers to the LSA
Journal, other scholars, the private sector, civil society, international
agencies, and the Government of Liberia.
Preliminary Program:
Thursday, April 11
Registration & Reception: 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 PM
Friday, April 12
Registration: 8:00 AM - 12:00 Noon
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM Welcome Statement:
- Dr. Samuel Preston, Dean, School of Arts and Sciences, University of
Pennsylvania.
Greetings:
- Dr. Lee Cassanelli, Director, African Studies Center, University of
Pennsylvania.
- Dr. Roy Eidelson, Executive Director, Solomon Asch Center for Study of
Ethnopolitical Conflict, University of Pennsylvania
9:30 AM - 10:30 AM Opening Address : Making Democracy Work in Liberia
Hon. William Wagner
U.S. Federal Judge, Northern District of Florida & Former Chief, U.S. Dept.
of Justice Mission in Liberia
10:30 AM- 11: 00 AM Break
11: 00 AM - 12:30 PM Elections in Liberia: A Critical Look
- Dr. Patrick L.N. Seyon, Boston University, Early Elections in Liberian
History: 1847-1870
- Dr. D. Elwood Dunn, University of the South, Tubman Era Elections: 1943 -
1955
- Dr. George K. Kieh, Morehouse College, Post-1980 Coup Elections: 1985 and
1997.
- Dr. Byron Tarr, Reconstructing Liberia, "A Country Without Identity:" How?
- Dr. William C. Allen, Virginia State University, The Dimensions of Free
Press and Free Press in View of the Pending 2003 Liberian Elections and
Beyond.
12:30 PM - 1: 45 PM Lunch Break
1:45 PM-3: 15 PM Financing Economic Development in Liberia
- Dr. A Romeo Horton, Founding Managing Director, ECOWAS Fund, Financing
Economic Development in Liberia
- Dr. Brahima Kaba, Input-Output Considerations in Development
- Mr. Edwin Cooper, The Contribution of Commercial Banks
- Mr. Francis L.M. Horton, The Role of Central Banking
- Ms Cristiana Tah, Analyzing the Legal Ramifications of Development
Financing
3:20 PM -4:50 PM Reflection, Reconciliation and Healing
- Reverend Napoleon L. Divine
- Dr. Shaw, White Rock Baptist Church
- Liberian Association of Pennsylvania
- Representatives of Liberian Ethnic & Religious Groups
- Dr. S. Jabaru Carlon, And the World Looked in Noisy Silence
OR
Managing Change in the Educational Sector (To be Confirmed, Pending Receipt
of Replies from Liberia)
- Dr. Evelyn W. Kandakai, Minister of Education, R.L.
- Dr. Ben A. Roberts, President, University of Liberia
- Dr. Melvin J. Mayson, President, Cuttington University
- Rev. Walter D. Richards, President Board of Trustees, University of
Liberia
4:50 PM -5:00 Break
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM Developments in the Mano River Union
- Prof. Yekutiel Gershoni, Tel-Aviv University, The Endless Wars in West
Africa: The Cases of Liberia and Sierra Leone
- Dr. Marilyn Siberfein, Temple University, The Sierra Leone/Liberia Border
Area During a Decade of Conflict
- Dr. Anthony Paul Andrews, Global Trade Research Institute, The Impact of
Conflict, Trade and Development in the Mano River Region, West Africa.
- Dr. Boikai S. Twe, Sinclair Community College, Problems and Prospects for
Rebuilding the Mano River Region: The Dayton, Ohio Initiatives
6:35 PM Announcements & End of Day 1
Evening: Open
Saturday, April 13
9:00 AM - 10-30 AM Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Issues
- Mr. Jeffrey L. Gray, OIC International, OIC International & Liberia OIC:
Partnership for Changing Hopelessness to Hope
- Barbara A. Lakeberg Dridi, Concordia International Research,
Rehabilitating Child Soldiers to Prevent Future Wars
- Dr. Sakui Malakpa, University of Toledo, Chronos and Kairos: Temporal
Concepts With Implications for Nation-Building
- Anthony Paul Andrews, Global Trade Research Institute, Exports, Imports
and Economic Growth in Liberia: Evidence from Causality and Cointegration
Analysis
- Dr. Gordon C. Thomasson, Flumo Forges a Cutlass in the 1981 U.N. "Year of
the Disabled" and its Implications for Rehabilitation of Amputees and
Paraplegics in 1991 Post-War Liberia
10:35 AM- 12:05 PM Social Change and Transition to Democracy
- Dr. Mary H. Moran, Colgate University, Towards an Indigenous Democracy for
Liberia: Concepts of Autonomy and Local Political Practice
- Mr. Harry A. Greaves, kpmg Consulting, Transforming Liberia into a
Prosperous Functioning Democracy
- John Fobanjong, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Assessing Liberia's
Post War Recovery Within the Theoretical Framework of the Phoenix Factor
- Augustine Konneh, Morehouse College, Liberia's Transition to Democracy: An
Historical Analysis
- Mr. Jacobse Victor Ammons, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Missouri,
The Saliency Re-priotization Model: A Social Psychological Paradigm for
Effecting Lasting Change in Liberia
- Dr. John Gay, Dr. Alfred Kulah & Mr. Maxwell Poe, Impressions of Recent
Rural Development Issues With Particular Reference to the Galai Project
12:05 PM - 1:35 PM LSA Luncheon
- Distinguished Speaker: Dr. Svend E. Holsoe, Founding Editor, Liberian
Studies Journal & Professor Emeritus, University of Delaware
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM Conservation in Post-war Liberia
- Mr. Reg Hoyt, Conservation & Science, Philadelphia Zoo, & Mr. Alexander L.
Peal, Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia, Searching for
Solutions in Post-War Liberia
- Dr. Richard A. Nisbett, Texas Tech University at Lubbock & Benjamin
Karmoh, University of Liberia, Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases, and
Changing Land-use Patterns in the Mano River Union Basin: Revitalizing
Public Health Infrastructure and Surveillance Systems
- Mr. Cletus Segbe Wotorson, West Africa Consultants, Mining and the
Environment in Liberia
- Ms. Jill M. Frayne, Conservation & Science, Philadelphia Zoo, Bushmeat
Hunting in Liberia: An Evolving Crisis
3:35 PM - 5:05 PM Shattered Lives, Broken Dreams: African Refugee/Immigrants
in U.S. Schools
- Ms. Patricia Mitchel-Doe, School District of Philadelphia, Classroom
Research
- Mr. Richard De Gourville (Ph.D. Cand.), Pennsylvania State University,
Critical Ethnography
- Ms. Rosemarie Traore (Ph.D. Cand.), Temple University, Cultural
Intervention
5:05 PM - 5:15 PM Break
5:15 PM - 6:45 PM Unresolved Multidisciplinary Problems: History,
Literature and Education
- Dr. Edward Lama Wonkeryor, New Jersey Historical Commission, New Jersey
Dept. of State, America's African Colonization Movement: Implications for
New Jersey and Liberia
- Mr. Gabriel Guarino (Ph.D. Cand.), University of Cambridge, "Here We Live
Under Our Own Vine and Palm Tree: The Syncretism of African and American
Worldviews of Americo-Liberian Ex-Slaves
- Ms Jackie Sayegh, Institute for African Development, Cornell University,
The Role of Liberian Literature in the Reconstruction Process
- Dr. Massala Reffell, R&R Information Systems, The Black Mayflower (A
Historical Fiction): Its Relevance to Education in Liberia and Africa as a
Whole
- Ms. Krubo Kollie, University of Liberia, The Re-establishment of a Vibrant
Educational System in Liberia
6:50 - 7:00 Announcements & End of Day 2
8:00 PM - 12:00 Midnight Reception and Cultural Evening
To be hosted by the Liberian Community of the Delaware Valley (A
Collaborative Effort of the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania and Other
Groups)
Sunday, April 14
9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Official Closing Program and LSA Business Meeting
12:00 PM Departure of Conference Delegates
Registration fees:
$65.00 for LSA members, $75 for non-members, and $30 for students. Make
checks out to "Liberian Studies Conference 2002." Please register on April
11 or 12 at the LSA Conference Welcome Desk, Sheraton University City Hotel.
Conference Venue and Hotel Reservation:
Sheraton University City Hotel is the official venue of this year's LSA
conference. It is located on the campus of the prestigious University of
Pennsylvania: 36th and Chestnut Streets (Philadelphia, PA 19104-3361).
Participants are expected to make reservations directly with the Hotel,
identifying themselves as guests of the "Liberian Studies Conference." For
your convenience, please call the toll free, 24-hour reservation number (USA
and Canada only) at 1-877-459-1146. Other participants may call the hotel
reservation's desk at (215) 387-8000. Room rates are $124 for
single/double. This is a special rate for the conference. We have made a
limited number of room blocks for April 11-14. We recommend that you make
your reservation early, preferably before Tuesday, March 12, which is the
reservation cut-off date. Following this date, guestrooms are subject to
availability at the hotel's prevailing room rates. The hotel check-in and
checkout times are after 3:00 PM and before 12:00 PM respectively. The
Hotel will accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club, Discover,
and Carte Blanche. You may also pay by check if proper authorization can be
obtained. Adjacent to the hotel are the Wharton School, Drexel University,
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Children's Hospital, Sansom
Commons, shops and restaurants, and the University of Pennsylvania Museum.
Philadelphia's gateway, Amtrak 30th Street Station, is just six blocks away.
The city's famous historic and cultural attractions, including the Liberty
Bell, Independence Hall, Philadelphia Museum of Art, are a short distance
from the hotel. The hotel offers recently renovated guestrooms that feature
individual climate control, two telephones with voice mail and dataport
hookup, coffee maker, iron/board, AM/FM clock radio, and color television
with cable access. Guest services include outdoor heated pool, fitness
center, onsite-covered parking, full-service business and copy center, car
rental, Rose Florist, Gift Shop, safe deposit boxes, room service from Shula
's Steak 2 (Philadelphia's premier sports restaurant and bar), and evening
reception and continental breakfast.
Airport Transportation
Lady Liberty Transportation Service provides transportation to and from
Philadelphia International Airport at a cost of $8.00 per person each way.
Transportation is provided at the baggage claim area of each terminal at
Zone 8. Individual reservations are made by dialing (215) 724-8888.
Directions
From the Airport: Follow I-95 North to I-76 West. Proceed on I-76 West to
Exit #39 (3oth Street Station). Proceed through first traffic light. Turn
left onto Market Street. At second traffic light. Turn left on 36th Street.
Hotel is on the left.
From the Pennsylvania Turnpike/I-76: Exit #39 (30th Street Station). Follow
ramp around station. Turn right onto Market Street. Turn left on 36th
Street. Hotel is on the right.
About the Liberian Studies Association
The Liberian Studies Association is a non-profit, scholarly organization
created to provide a means for effective cooperation among persons
interested in furthering research in all scholarly disciplines, including
the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, on topics relevant to the
Republic of Liberia and adjacent areas; to publish and otherwise disseminate
the results of such research; to cooperate with scholarly organizations, and
cultural, scientific, and educational institutions, nationally and
internationally, having mutual interests in the exchange and presentation of
information and ideas resulting from research in the subject field; to
encourage interest in Liberian affairs; and to stimulate and facilitate
academic contacts and educational exchanges between Liberia and the United
States. The Liberian Studies Association produces the Liberian Studies
Journal, which is published bi-annually in June and December. It is the
second oldest African studies journal published continuously in the United
States. The Liberian Studies Journal is currently produced at the
University of Pennsylvania. The headquarters of the LSA is at Fayetteville
State University. Please click on the following link for LSA membership
and other information:
Liberian Studies Association Web Site -
http://spacer.uncfsu.edu/f_oyler/lsapg.htm
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