February 2002
Research
Resources
Events
Notable
Welcome to Research Notes, a summary of Princeton
University research, events and experts of interest to the
media and general public. This issue includes news of
research on:
Natural pollutants: New
research finds that decaying autumn leaves appear to develop
concentrations of chemicals belonging to the same class as
DDT, suggesting that such dangerous compounds are not simply
the result of pollution.
Islam's civil war: A Princeton
professor concludes that the attack against the United
States Sept. 11 was a tool in a "civil war" over the soul of
Islam.
Second-generation immigrants: A
new book offers surprising insights into the lives of the
children of immigrants, but not all groups share in the good
news.
Marriage and violence: Despite
past research findings, the institution of marriage may not
appear to reduce violence in relationships, a new study
concludes.
Green lawns and picket fences: A
Princeton professor takes on suburban alienation.
Faculty experts identified in this issue can comment on
Argentina, Enron,
energy, school
vouchers, and continuing issues related
to the Sept. 11 attacks. Upcoming events also are
listed, including press events related to release of a
landmark book of Lewis Carroll
photographs. [top]
Research
Natural pollutants: Princeton geochemist Satish
Myneni has revealed a new side to the natural cycle of
autumn leaves turning beautiful colors, falling to the
ground, then decaying into the rich mulch prized by
gardeners as nourishment for a new season of plant life. As
the leaves and other plant materials decay, Myneni found,
they develop increasing concentrations of chemicals that,
while possibly harmless, belong to the same class that
includes the toxic pollutants DDT and PCBs.
In an article published in the Feb. 8 edition of Science,
Myneni writes that common leaf mulch from around the world
contains high concentrations of chemicals called
organochlorines, which were previously believed to come only
from pesticides and other man-made products. Earlier studies
by other researchers had found some natural organochlorines,
but they were not thought to be a ubiquitous part of the
ecosystem. Myneni's results raise the possibility that at
least some portion of organochlorines are actually natural
products, complicating attempts to trace pollution to
specific human causes.
The research does not mean that common dirt is suddenly
dangerous, said Myneni. The study did not identify the
specific kinds of organochlorines present in leaf mulch or
assess their toxicity. Some organochlorines are relatively
benign, and even some toxic ones could be bound up with
other natural leaf compounds that render them harmless to
people.
To contact Myneni, phone 609-258-5848 or email smyneni@Princeton.edu.
The abstract and full text of the article are available at
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/295/5557/1039. [top]
Islam's civil war: In a new book and in Foreign
Affairs magazine, Princeton's Michael Doran, assistant
professor of Near Eastern studies, presents a provocative
answer to the question many Americans have been asking since
Sept. 11: Why do they hate us so much?
Doran argues that the United States is not the primary
target of radical Islam at all, but is being used as a means
to polarize the Islamic world, foment Islamic revolution,
and topple regimes viewed by Muslim extremists as corrupt
and non-believing, such as the Saudi royal family.
"Osama bin Laden had no intention of defeating America,"
Doran writes. "War with the United States is not a goal in
and of itself but rather an instrument designed to help his
brand of extremist Islam survive and flourish among the
believers. Americans, in short, have been drawn into
somebody else's civil war."
In his essay, which appears in a new book, "How Did This
Happen: Terrorism and The New War," and is published in the
January/February issue of Foreign Affairs, Doran notes that
bin Laden's statements since the Sept. 11 attacks have been
carefully crafted to appeal to a Muslim audience, drawing on
Islamic history and symbolism little understood in the West.
"His sword jabs simultaneously at the United States and the
governments allied with it," Doran writes. "His attack was
designed to force those governments to choose: You are
either with the idol-worshipping enemies of God or you are
with the true believers."
While U.S. foreign policy plays a part in the outrage of
the Muslim world, Doran argues that even changes in policy
would not sap the anger and despair tapped by bin Laden and
other extremists. An end to sanctions on Iraq and the
removal of Israeli settlements in the West Bank would dampen
bin Laden's appeal for some Muslims, but for many, the
sources of despair lie beyond the realm of day-to-day
diplomacy, Doran says. Doran calls for a review of these
policies, but only after bin Laden has been vanquished.
"The fight over religion among Muslims is but one of a
number of deep and enduring regional struggles that
originally had nothing to do with the United States and even
today involve it only indirectly," Doran writes. "Until the
Arab and Muslim worlds create political orders that do not
disenfranchise huge segments of their own populations, the
civil war will continue and will continue to touch the
United States. The United States can plan an important role
in fostering authentic and inclusive polities, but
ultimately to live comfortably with outsiders, Arabs and
Muslims more generally must learn to live in peace with one
another. Whether they will do so is anybody's guess."
An excerpt of Doran's essay was published in The Guardian
newspaper and is available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4315332,00.html.
To contact Doran, e-mail msdoran@princeton.edu
or phone
609-258-0256. [top]
Second-generation immigrants: One in five Americans
18 or under are immigrants or the children of immigrants,
and in places like Los Angeles, Miami and New York,
immigrant children make up half or more of the school-age
population. As an insight into their lives, Princeton
sociologist Alejandro Portes and Ruben G. Rumbaut, a
sociologist at Michigan State University, have published
"Legacies," considered the most comprehensive study to date
of second-generation immigrant young people.
The study underlines successes that may surprise those
who back English-only requirements or fear immigrants don't
want to take part in American civic life. Children of
immigrants tend to do better in school than children of
native-born Americans, with higher grades and graduation
rates, Portes and Rumbaut found. And fully 98 percent of the
5,262 children interviewed said they can read, write and
speak English, compared to only 30 percent who said they
were fluent in both English and their parents' native
language. Indeed, the book quotes a Miami businesswoman who
laments that though there are 600,000 Hispanics in Miami,
"we have a hard time hiring a person who can write a proper
business letter in Spanish."
"The educational system, the media and American society
in general do such a good job of socializing people &emdash;
of teaching them English &emdash; that what is at risk is
the preservation of some fluency in the languages from their
parents' native land," Portes said. "Those are valuable
language skills that these kids acquire as a gift from their
parents, and in the course of their education and trying to
assimilate to America, they lose that."
Asian-American children have done particularly well in
school, which the authors attribute to a positive reception
in the United States, and the strong drive and guidance of
their parents and others in their communities, who
themselves often have limited education.
But the children's experiences are not uniform. Children
of certain immigrant groups, such as Mexicans, Haitians and
Nicaraguans, are more at risk of dropping out of school and
getting into trouble. Faced with a negative reception in
their new communities, many of these students fail to adapt
well to life here and do not expect to succeed.
"It is very telling that three-fourths of the black kids
in the sample, mostly Haitians and Jamaicans, say that no
matter how much education they get, they will always be
subject to prejudice."
To contact Portes, call 609-258-4596 or e-mail aportes@princeton.edu.
"Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation" is
published by the University of California Press/Russell Sage
Foundation. Portes has received a new grant from the Sage
Foundation to continue his research on children of
immigrants. [top]
Marriage vows and violence: Most research on
differences between married couples and those who live
together without wedding vows has found troubling trends
among couples who never married, particularly higher rates
of domestic violence, depression, and drug and alcohol
problems. A recent report by Princeton's Catherine T. Kenney
and Sara S. McLanahan, however, suggests that the picture is
much more complicated.
In a paper called "Are Cohabiting Relationships More
Violent than Marriages," available online at http://ryder.princeton.edu/crcw/publist/workingpapers/wp01-22-kenney.pdf,
the researchers find that commonly accepted research on the
topic may be biased because about half of all "cohabiting
unions" end in marriage or separation within the first year,
and many others end within the next two years. Those who
remain in these relationships are -- on average -- less
educated, poorer, more prone to using drugs and alcohol, and
more likely to use violence against their partners than
those who marryied or split up.
Until now, most researchers have concluded that there was
something aboutto the institution of marriage that kept
husbands and wives from each others' throats. That's not
necessarily true, the Princeton researchers conclude. As
evidence, they found that, during their first year together,
married couples had just as much violence in their
relationships -- or more -- as couplesthose who simply lived
together. The difference in violence between married and
cohabiting couples increases over time, however, in part
because of selection into and out of these different types
of unions.
"The results presented here suggest that previous family
violence researchers may have been premature in attributing
higher levels of violence among cohabitating couples to the
failure of institutional controls," wrote Kenney, a graduate
student in the Woodrow Wilson School, and McLanahan,
director of the Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child
Wellbeing.
You can reach Kenney at ctkenney@Princeton.edu
or 609-258-5508. McLanahan is available at mclanaha@Princeton.edu
or
609-258-4875. [top]
Green lawns and picket fences: In the last half
century, so many Americans moved from large cities and small
towns to a place in between that most U.S. residents now
live in the suburbs. What are the consequences of that
change on our basic form of government?
In "Democracy in Suburbia" ( Princeton University Press),
Eric Oliver, assistant professor of politics and public
affairs, applies statistical analysis to extensive survey
and census data to examine the health of American civic
society. Starting with the migration of people from the
cities to the suburbs in the 1950s to the urban sprawl of
today, Oliver describes how suburbanization impacts civic
engagement and the extent to which citizens do or do not
connect with their community or local government.
What happens to democracy in suburbia is crucial to
understanding the possible future of civic and political
life in the United States, he said. "Following movies like
'The Ice Storm' or 'American Beauty,' many people harbor
negative views or stereotypes about suburbs being alienating
or isolating places, but no one has ever systematically
examined whether or how suburbanites actually differ from
people in other places," Oliver said. "I wanted to find out
whether the myths of suburban alienation were really
true."
Oliver found that residents of large cities, and
residents of the most affluent communities, are generally
less politically interested and involved in their
communities. Racial segregation also is a deterrent to civic
participation -- a factor that comes into play in homogenous
suburbs. By contrast, small communities -- those with 10,000
to 20,000 residents -- with economic and racial diversity
have the highest levels of participation, he found.
In New Jersey, Oliver's data suggests a rich civic life
in Montclair, which has retained its diversity despite its
relatively small size, and less civic involvement in large
communities such as Newark and Paterson and homogenous
communities such as Short Hills and Camden.
"I think we need to fundamentally rethink how we organize
government at the local level," Oliver said. "Currently,
many of our local governments serve as instruments of
economic and racial exclusion rather than arenas of
democracy. Local governments are creatures of our state
governments and should not function in this way."
To contact Oliver, phone 609-258-2757 or e-mail eoliver@Princeton.edu. [top]
Resources
These Princeton experts can comment on topics in the
news: [top]
Argentina: History professor Jeremy
Adelman, director of Princeton's Program in Latin
American Studies, has a background in economics and is
working on a project that examines the modernization of
Latin America after World War II. He can be reached at
609-258-5562 or adelman@princeton.edu…Kent
Eaton, assistant professor of politics and international
affairs (609-258-6690 or keaton@princeton.edu),
is an expert on political economy in Latin
America…Politics professor Paul Sigmund
specializes in Latin American politics and political theory.
You may contact him at 609-258-4756 or paulsig@princeton.edu. [top]
Enron accounting: For many years, Professor Uwe
Reinhardt, best known for his expertise in health
economics, has taught an undergraduate course called "The
Development and Use of Accounting Data." Contact him at
609-258-4781 or reinhard@princeton.edu. [top]
Energy: Kenneth Deffeyes, an emeritus
professor of geosciences, advocates an alternative view of
the current world energy situation. While government panels
and many geologists assert that the availability of oil will
continue to rise and outpace demand for 20 years or more,
Deffeyes predicts in a new book, "Hubbert's Peak," that
world oil production will peak in the next couple of years
and decline forever thereafter. He is easiest to reach by
e-mail at deffeyes@Princeton.edu.
Telephone:
609-258-3597. [top]
School vouchers: The U.S. Supreme Court is
scheduled to hear oral arguments on school vouchers Feb. 20.
Two Princeton faculty members can comment on vouchers:
Stephen Macedo, director of the University Center for
Human Values (609-258-4763 or macedo@Princeton.edu);
and economist Cecilia Rouse, who focuses on the
economics of education (609-258-4042 or rouse@dakar.Princeton.edu). [top]
For your continuing coverage relating to the aftermath of
Sept. 11:
Rebuilding Afghanistan: Rick Barton, former
UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, has worked on
transitions in more than a dozen conflict-prone lands.
Barton, the Schultz Professor in Princeton's Woodrow Wilson
School of Public and International Affairs, can be reached
at (609) 258-0178 or by e-mail at barton@Princeton.edu
or krlfdb@aol.com
…Wolfgang Danspeckgruber has led a group of
Princeton faculty members in meetings with eight former
Afghan leaders to develop recommendations for a long-term
political solution in Afghanistan. Danspeckgruber, director
of the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination in the
Woodrow Wilson School, can be reached at 609-258-5685 or by
e-mail at wfd@Princeton.edu.
Islam: Paul Heck, a fellow in the Princeton
Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts, is a specialist in
Islamic political thought. He can be reached at (609)
258-7304 or by e-mail at pheck@princeton.edu
…Hossein Modarressi, professor of Near Eastern
studies, received a complete education from the Islamic
seminary at Qum (Iran) as well as a Ph.D. in Islamic law
from Oxford University. He can speak on Islamic law,
religion and thought. To contact him, call 609-258-4268 or
e-mail modarres@princeton.edu…Bernard
Lewis, professor emeritus, is one of the West's leading
experts on the Arab world, is the author of the 1996 book
"The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years"
and a recent New Yorker magazine piece on "The Revolt of
Islam," among other works. If you would like to speak with
him, please call the communications office at
609-258-3601…For an expert on Islam in the U.S.,
contact anthropologist Carolyn Rouse (609-258-4556,
crouse@princeton.edu),
who is completing a book on the conversion experience of
African-American Muslim women.
Global security and terrorism: Professor Fred
Hitz (609-258-5196, fhitz@princeton.edu)
is a former CIA inspector general and expert on global
security… Zia Ullah Mian (609-258-5468,
zia@princeton.edu) is
a research staff member specializing in science and global
security. He is from Pakistan, and is knowledgeable of that
region…Professor Jack Matlock (609-258-5748,
jmatlock@princeton.edu)
can address foreign policy issues in combating terrorism. He
was a member of the U.S. foreign service for 35 years and
served as ambassador to the Soviet Union before and during
its breakup…Professor Richard Ullman
(609-258-4779, rullman@princeton.edu)
was a member of the National Security Council and was on the
policy planning staff of the Office of the Secretary of
Defense. [top]
Events
Hundreds of alumni will return to campus Saturday, Feb.
23 for Alumni Day. While events are not open to the
public, some sessions are open to coverage by journalists.
"Talking with Children in a Post 9/11 World" is a
4:15 p.m. panel discussion with renowned pediatrician T.
Berry Brazelton Jr. (class of 1940) and moderated by
noted psychiatrist Marsha Levy Warren (class of
1973)…New Yorker editor David Remnick will speak
at 10:30 a.m. on "Life at The New Yorker." Remnick, a
member of the class of 1981, will receive Princeton's
Woodrow Wilson Award this year…Robert Tignor,
chairman of the history department, will speak on
"Thinking about World History in Light of September 11,
2001." For details and locations, call the Princeton
Communications Office at
609-258-3601. [top]
Journalists are invited to two events celebrating
publication of the landmark "Lewis Carroll, Photographer:
The Princeton University Library Albums" by Roger Taylor
and Edward Wakeling in March by the Princeton University
Press. Reproducing for the first time the world's finest and
most extensive collection of Carroll photographs, the book
presents a new view of the life and work of Lewis Carroll,
who was taking pictures of young Alice Liddell long before
the character named Alice debuted in Wonderland. Carroll
produced about 3,000 images over 25 years.
On March 16 at 3 p.m., reporters may attend a session
with the authors and view a small exhibition of Carroll's
albums, loose photographers and letters. The session begins
in Betts Auditorium on the Princeton campus with a
performance by Kevin Moore, an actor and Lewis Carroll
impersonator.
On March 18, the 145th anniversary of the day Lewis
Carroll purchased his first camera, the Princeton Club of
New York, 15 W. 43rd St., will host a similar program at
6:15 p.m.
In "Lewis Carroll, Photographer," Taylor, a photo
historian, provides a thorough discussion of Carroll not
only as a photographic artist, but as a prominent member of
Victorian society. Wakeling provides a fully illustrated and
annotated catalogue of the entire Princeton University
Library collection.
For additional information on the events and the book,
contact Holly Bittner of the Princeton University Press,
609-258-5165 or Holly_Bittner@pupress.princeton.edu.
Princeton's Program in Jewish Studies continues its yearlong
lecture series, "New Perspectives on the Holocaust,"
continues Thursday, Feb. 21, with a lecture by Ruth Kluger
of the University of California at Irvine on "Still Alive.
Memory, Memoir and the Voice of the Survivor." Kluger, a
former Princeton professor, is the author of "Still Alive: A
Holocaust Girlhood Remembered," a memoir published in German
in 1992 and just published in English. The book details her
journey from her life in Vienna as a doctor's daughter;
through work, concentration and death camps; through
American bombing in Germany, to her arrival at New York
Harbor in 1947, on her 16th birthday.
Information about this lecture and other speakers in the
series is available at http://www.princeton.edu/~jwst/events/HLectures.html. [top]
Notable
Several policy-analysis courses related to the Sept.
11 events are being offered in the Woodrow Wilson School
for the spring semester. "Counter-terrorism and Foreign
Policy After 9/11/01" will address the motives, capabilities
and operational procedures of terrorists; military and
nonmilitary tools useful for defeating terrorism abroad; and
how homeland security can be bolstered within the United
States. The course will be taught by visiting lecturer
Michael O'Hanlon, an expert on national security policy and
a senior fellow in the foreign policy studies program at the
Brookings Institution.
An undergraduate task force will take on issues of
international law and human rights as they relate to U.S.
responses to the attacks. The course, "Lawful Reponses to
Terrorism after Sept. 11: A Human Rights Perspective," will
be taught by visiting lecturer Jonathan Marks, who was a
member of the team of lawyers representing Human Rights
Watch in the Pinochet case before Great Britain's House of
Lords.
The Atlantic Partnership" focuses on the future of the
Atlantic Alliance and of U.S.-European relations in the
aftermath of the terrorist attacks. Topics include the
coming decisions on NATO enlargement, challenges of
peacekeeping in the Balkans, the advent of a common European
foreign and security policy, Russia's changing relationship
with NATO and the European Union, and prospects for
U.S.-European global cooperation, notably in the struggle
against terrorism. This course will be taught by Robert L.
Hutchings, assistant dean for graduate professional
education and career services at the Wilson School.
Hutchings has served as director for European Affairs with
the National Security Council and as special adviser to the
Secretary of State, with the rank of ambassador.
A new, special edition of the Princeton University
Library Chronicle contains previously unpublished
stories, essays and poems by some of America's most
prominent Jewish-American writers. Among the pieces are two
stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer, presented both in English
translation and in the author's handwritten Yiddish draft; a
story by Henry Roth, "Antica Fiamma," about a man who runs
into a former girlfriend, and a journal entry by Roth about
the same topic; excerpts from a novel in progress by Cynthia
Ozick; and facsimiles of previously unpublished letters by
Lionel Trilling, Hannah Arendt, Philip Roth and Afred Kazin.
The Chronicle is available from the Princeton University
Communications Office, 609-258-3601 or nat@Princeton.edu.
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