Staff WriterFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Raine Martin 646-269-4028
Nicole Harrison 917-520-2925
JAMPACT HOSTS DISCUSSION ON THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND CULTURAL IMPACT OF VIOLENCE IN JAMAICA
PANEL TO EXAMINE THE CAUSES OF AND INITIATIVES TO ADDRESS THE RISE OF VIOLENCE IN JAMAICA
March 24, 2005, New York, NY —Jamaica Impact, Inc. (JAMPACT) is hosting a panel discussion, Violence in Jamaica: Investigating Root Causes and Economic Impact, to look at several issues central to the rise of violence in Jamaica. Featured panelists include Dr. Donald Robotham, Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York Graduate Center and expert on public policy and violence in Jamaica; Carmeta Albarus, a social worker and advocate for Jamaican deportees who testified at the Lee Malvo capital murder trial; Christopher Charles, researcher and expert on garrison politics and gangs; and Lieutenant Colonel Oral Khan, Senior Director for Strategic Planning, Policy, Evaluation and Research in Jamaica’s Ministry of National Security. The event will be moderated by Maureen Denton, President of the Research Committee of Jamaica. It will be held at John Jay College of Criminal Justice – Rm. 1311N – North Building on Wednesday April 6th at 6pm.
The core of the discussion will focus on various root causes of violence – including social and cultural influences – as well as address various social programs and initiatives in place to address the issue in Jamaica.
RSVP: [email protected] by, Monday, April 4th
WHAT: JAMPACT Panel Discussion—“Violence in Jamaica: Investigating Root Causes and
Economic Impact”
WHEN: Wednesday, April 6th, 6pm
WHERE: John Jay College of Criminal Justice
1311N, North Building
445 W.59th Street (At 10th Avenue)
New York, NY 10019
Subway: 1, 9, A, B, D to 59th Street & Columbus Circle
To learn more about JAMPACT, please visit our website at www.jampact.org
Donald Robotham
Donald Robotham was educated at the University of the West Indies and obtained his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1987. He has worked extensively in the English-speaking Caribbean as well as among the goldminers of Ghana in West Africa. His interests are in the issues of Development in both the Caribbean and Ghana, in particular, the difficulties which Developing Countries face during a period of advanced capitalist globalization. Issues of race, ethnicity, class, alternative modernities, immigration and how to overcome these divisions and unite people, preoccupy him.
He is particularly critical of the concepts of Postcolonialism and Postmodernism which he argues have privileged difference over commonality. He argues that these perspectives have allowed Anthropology to evade the difficult theoretical and practical alternatives which Developing Countries actually face in reality and helped to marginalize Anthropology from public policy and debate. His work is also highly critical of what he perceives to be critiques of globalization and development from a romantic localist perspective. Strongly influenced by Hegelianism, his work argues that the contradictions of globalization cannot be overcome by a ‘return’ to a mythical communalism. On the contrary, one has to seek for theories which attempt to supersede the actually existing forms of globalization with forms which unite peoples internationally on an equal footing.
Currently, Professor Robotham is working on how the issues of crime and violence among young people in urban Jamaica have arisen and are understood in the particularly severe context of global economicpolitical constraints and rapid cultural change.
Carmeta Albarus
Carmeta Albarus-Rodney, a former teacher in Jamaica, is the Founder and President of CVA Consulting Services, a forensic social work firm based in New York City. She holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work and is a licensed clinical social worker. She has worked as a death penalty mitigation expert for over 16 years. Within this framework she has been qualified as an expert in social history investigations and psychosocial assessments in both state and federal court. She has consulted on a number of high profile cases, including the teenage DC sniper, Lee Boyd Malvo. She has assisted defense attorneys in a nu mber of states including New Jersey, New York, Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Maryland, Florida, Georgia and the District of Columbia. She has presented at numerous death penalty an d sentencing seminars nationwide where she raises the issue of cultural sensitivity and the advocacy process.
Additionally, Ms. Albarus-Rodney is the Founder and Director of FURI (Family Unification & Resettlement Initiative) where she works in close collaboration with other charitable organizations in providing tangible assistance to individuals who have been deported to Jamaica. She received the Jamaica National Association’s Marcus Garvey Award in Washington D.C. on August 14, 2004. This award was in recognitio n of her outstanding work on behalf of Jamaican youths in the United States and in Jamaica.
Lieutenant Colonel Oral Khan
Lieutenant Colonel Oral Khan is Senior Director for Strategic Planning, Policy, Evaluation and Research in Jamaica’s Ministry of National Security, having been seconded to the post from the Jamaica Defence Force. He held prior senior appointments in the JDF including Infantry Battalion Second-in-Command, Commanding Officer of the Support Battalion, Commandant for the Caribbean Junior Command and Staff Course, and Staff Officer for Operations and Training at the Force Headquarters.
His appointments throughout his military service have seen him being involved at the tactical, operational and strategic levels of Jamaica’s security apparatus. He has also written papers on The Military’s Role in Resuscitating Failed Inner-city Communities,” “Community Protection in Inner-City Kingston” and “The Counter Terrorism Capacity of Caribbean Security Forces” the latter two of which have been published.
Lt.Col Khan is a graduate of the University of the West Indies and the United States Army Command and General Staff College. He holds a Bachelors in Management Studies and Masters degrees in Development Studies, and Military Arts and Science. He is also a Fellow of the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies in Washington DC.
Lt Col Khan is a born again Christian and is married with two sons.
Maureen Denton
Maureen Denton holds as one of her main priorities, the commitment to improving literacy in the inner-cities and effecting meaningful political change in Jamaica. She earned her BA degree from Queens College of the City University of New York in 1975, where she graduated cum laude. She went on to pursue a post-graduate degree from the same University, completing a Masters of Arts in Spanish and French Languages and Literature in 1979. In 1981 she completed a Masters in International Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International Affairs. Ms Denton completed her J.D. at Columbia Law School in 1990, and is admitted to the Bar in New York. She currently holds the position of Senior Legal Counsel at Cisco Systems.
Ms Denton holds several directorships, including serving on the board of Grace Kennedy Food Division as well as that of Trench Town High School. She is the Coordinator of the Research Committee of Jamaica. Ms Denton firmly and passionately believes that we each have an obligation to do something that benefits another human being other than ourselves, regardless of the form in which such contribution materializes or where it is done. She believes that it is only important that we do not seek accolades but give of our time and energies out of the generosity of the human spirit.
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