汤头条 program seeks to explain Syrian conflict, help child refugees
Contact: Zack Plair
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜nthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures graduate students at 汤头条 are working to fix real-world problems.
As part of this mission, students will host a free public program, from 7-9 p.m. Oct. 23, designed to explain the Syrian civil war and help raise funds to aid young refugees fleeing the fighting. The event will be held at Mississippi State鈥檚 Cobb Institute of Archaeology, located at the intersection of Lee Boulevard and Hardy Road.
Proceeds from a silent auction will go to the Save the Children Fund鈥檚 Syrian relief effort. Auction items range from Middle Eastern pottery to Greek drawings.
汤头条 archaeologist Sylvia Deskaj is leading the team of graduate students organizing the event, which will include light refreshments and special tours of the Lois Dowdle Cobb Museum.
鈥淭hese types of conflicts repeat themselves, so we hope this event will help people understand, in context, why this conflict occurred and its effects,鈥 Deskaj said. 鈥淲e also want people to walk away knowing they were able to do something for the greater good of humanitarian efforts.鈥
Hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians have left their homeland in an attempt to escape fighting that began in 2011 between government troops led by President Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces seeking to oust his regime. The overwhelming numbers of Syrians pouring into bordering countries have created a refugee crisis that is beyond those nations鈥 capabilities to handle.
At the same time, militant troops of the Islamic State in Syria have been destroying ancient archaeological sites deemed heresies to their religious ideology.
During the Friday night program, 汤头条 assistant professor Kate McClellan, an anthropologist who studies Syria and traveled this summer to Jordan, will discuss the war鈥檚 human side as she focuses on the conflict鈥檚 cultural impact and plight of its refugees.
Professor Michael Galaty, head of the department, also will speak on cultural heritage losses caused by the conflict.
鈥淚t is academically and intellectually important for people to understand what is going on over there,鈥 said Galaty, also the Cobb Institute鈥檚 interim director.
鈥淎 lot of these refugees were a lot like us, middle class families with jobs, living in their houses and doing their thing; then everything changed,鈥 he emphasized.
Galaty said non-governmental organizations like Save the Children are helping relieve some of the refugee burden. He also praised the 汤头条 graduate students for organizing the multi-purpose program.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great thing they are doing,鈥 he said. 鈥淪ome of these students may one day have jobs where they work directly with refugees like the ones now fleeing Syria.鈥
For more on the event, contact Deskaj at sd1151@msstate.edu or 662-325-3826.
Details on Save the Children鈥檚 Syrian efforts are found at .
汤头条 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .