TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Eric Braem/Kansas
Craig Lee, Denver, Colo., freshman, sits in front of an image of Heidelberg, Germany. Lee lived in the city for two years and attended his high school prom in the castle that appears at the top of the poster.
An Army upbringing abroad
Living in Germany England gave student global understanding
By Vonna Keomanyvong
vkeomanyvong@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Every face in the crowd and every name in the phonebook has a story behind it. Every week, Kansas writer Vonna Keomanyvong tells the story of a randomly selected KU student.
Craig Lee learned at an early age that living in Europe has its disadvantages. For nearly half of his life, he had to wait until 2 a.m. to watch the Super Bowl.
Lee, a freshman born in Colorado Springs, Colo., said from the time he was 1 year old, his family, including his three brothers and his sister, had to pack up and move back and forth from the United States and Europe because his father was a colonel in the U.S. Air Force.
In his 18 years, Lee has lived in
Frankfurt, Germany; Norfolk, Va.; Sterling, Va.; Alconbury, England and Prattville, Ala. He spent the last five years in Heidelberg and Stuttgart, Germany. He said he considered Europe his second home. The hardest part about moving back to the United States was learning to make new friends, Lee said.
"When you come back to the United States, you're at a school
Faces in the Crowd
where people have been all their lives so it's real hard to
"I've gotten to visit military sites like Normandy, and just coming into contact with that has made me not take things for granted. When you're actually there walking through the cemetery you realize the sacrifices people made. It makes you want to give a little back." Creig Lee Colorado Sunnora, Colo, freshman
break in," he said. "In Europe, people are in the same situation as you so they're more open to people."
As he got older, moving got tougher. Lee remembered not wanting to leave Virginia in third grade because he didn't want to leave friends.
"When you're little, you don't think about it as much," he said. "Friendships and being accepted becomes important."
Since he came back to the U.S.
the day after classes started, Lee who speaks both German and English, has missed hearing people speak German and seeing Germany's landscapes.
"Germany has that old feeling to it," he said. "Europe just has so much history. To actually be where something had happened is just really neat."
He said the best place he visited was London. During his freshman year of high school, he went with his high school concert band to visit the Tower of London and watch musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera.
His mother, Khristine Lee, said experiences overseas forced her son to learn about different ways of life.
"He understands other cultures and his understanding has strengthened his ability to transition."she said.
Lee said the transition from Germany to Lawrence wasn't bad because he had visited Lawrence before.
He said he decided to come the University of Kansas because he was offered an Army and Air Force ROTC scholarship. He is majoring in psychology.
He said his experiences in Europe were one reason he joined ROTC.
"I've gotten to visit military sites like Normandy and just coming into contact with that has made me not take things for granted," Lee said. "When you're actually there walking through the cemetery you realize the sacrifices people made. It makes you want to give a little back."
—Edited by Lauren Beatty
African gender strife explored in forum
By George Schulz
gschulz@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A monthly seminar at the University of Kansas gives professors a chance to obtain feedback on their research from their peers.
The Gender Seminar, hosted by the Hall Center for the Humanities, gives faculty, staff and graduate students an opportunity for discussions on gender studies and cultural life. Professors get a chance to give each other feedback on essays and articles written outside their regular teaching curricula.
"That's what is nice about a forum like this," said Elizabeth MacGonagle, assistant professor of history, African and African-American studies. "Historians get a chance to hear from faculty members in other disciplines."
MacGonagle led this month's seminar at the Hall Center, titled "Living with a Tyrant: Gender, Memory and Identity in Southeast Africa."
After graduating from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., MacGonagle traveled to Mozambique to work on a graduate dissertation on the country's post-independence civil war. From there, she became interested in the Ndau people located in and around Mozambique and Zimbabwe in the southeastern region of the African continent. Her studies focused on how the Ndau people's cultural and gender identity was influenced by the domination of the Nguni people who migrated from southern Africa during the 19th century.
Lindsey Gold/KANSAN
MacGonagle spent most of her time in Maputo, Mozambique, studying archives of Ndau and Nguni history. She also spent time interviewing Ndau elders, including women, asking them how assimilation into Nguni culture had changed their lives. Ndau women were forced to conform to the Nguni's marital standards.
Professors at the seminar critiued portions of MacGona-
Judith Williams, assistant professor of African and African-American Studies and Humanities and Western Civilization and Elizabeth MacGonagle, assistant professor of history, African and African-American studies, listen to dis cussion on MacGonagle's essay.
gle's paper on the subject, but the discussion quickly turned into a debate about objective and subjective historical interpretations. Some argued history could only be interpreted through contemporary outlooks, while others said historical analysis was skewed by political ideology.
"History is messy, but we all have to think about how we're going to interpret it," MacGonagle said.
MacGonagle's work on the subject is far from finished. She will travel again to Mozambique next summer to continue her research and furtherdevelop her thesis.
The seminar was established in 1998 by two former women's studies professors, Lisa Bitel and Ann Scholfield.
"We wanted people to see how research done on gender could bring new ideas on how to fill gaps in history," said Marta Vicente, co-director of the seminar and professor of history and women's studies.
Vicente said she thought the seminar would help faculty and students understand research conducted in women's studies at the University.
Edited by Sarah Hill
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HOMECOMING
Traditions Anew in 2002
Groups will be competing for "Best Display of KU Tradition" and for most money raised. You can vote for your favorite chalk drawing by dropping your spare change in the corresponding buckets. All proceeds of this event benefit Hilltop, KU's Child Development Center. Sponsored by the Student Alumni Association.
Be sure to stop by Wescoe today for the Chalk Contest!
Don't miss the Homecoming Parade this Saturday 2 1/2 hours before the football game! Show your Jayhawk Pride! Parade begins at the Adams Alumni Center and will proceed down Jayhawk Boulevard. See you there!
www.kualumni.org