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Globalization conference to examine social, economic effects of a global society

By Carole Engblom
February 18, 2005

"Consequences of the New Economy" was the theme of St. Olaf College's fourth annual Globalization and Social Responsibility conference Feb. 17, 18 and 19. Sponsored by St. Olaf College and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, the conference was part of the college's Globalization Week Feb. 14-19. All lectures and break-out sessions were free and open to the public; no registration was required.

The globalization of capitalism is rapidly reconfiguring life throughout the world. Increasing interdependence in global markets for labor, products and ideas are reshaping the way the American people work, the goods we buy and the media we consume. The three-day conference explored the social and economic effects of this transformation to a global society.

The keynote speaker for this event was tsunami-relief expert Raymond C. Offenheiser, a leader in the field of international development and philanthropy, and president of OXFAM America, an international nonprofit agency known for its strong human rights and its national public education program on issues of hunger and injustice throughout the world. Other conference speakers included Dr. C. Ford Runge, director of the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy and a professor of applied economics and law at the University of Minnesota; and New York City journalist Lisa Featherstone who has written extensively about student activism and women's rights.

Throughout his career Raymond Offenheiser has worked closely with some of the world's most pioneering and innovative grassroots social movements, including projects of community-based resource management, human rights and local governance, population and reproductive health, as well as international security and cooperation. Prior to joining OXFAM America he served for five years as the Ford Foundation Representative in Bangladesh and, prior to that, in the Andean and Southern Cone regions of South America. He also has directed programs for the Inter-American Foundation in both Brazil and Colombia and worked for Save the Children Federation as a program officer in Mexico.

Offenheiser is a frequent media commentator on such subjects as foreign aid, international debt, human rights, hunger and U.S. foreign policy, as well as the challenges facing the field of humanitarian assistance. His lecture was titled "OXFAM's Global Reach."

University of Minnesota economist C. Ford Runge lectured on the affects of globalization on food and nutrition. Runge also holds appointments in the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and the Department of Forest Resources. He is the author and co-author of many books, including the recent Ending Hunger in Our Lifetime: Food Security and Globalization.

Journalist Lisa Featherstone delivered the conference's concluding lecture, "Always Low Wages! The Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart." Featherstone is the author of Students Against Sweatshops and Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart. A contributing editor for The Nation, and also writes for Newsday and The Washington Post, Featherstone is a Visiting Scholar at New York University's School of Journalism and is based in Brooklyn.

Offenheiser was the 2005 Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow. During his week in residence at St. Olaf, he spoke to students about his fieldwork and, having recently returned from Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the tsunami, shared his experiences and insights. Offenheiser's visit adds yet another remarkable Visiting Fellow provided by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, including Lord Caradon, author of UN Resolution 242 that laid out a positive approach to resolving Israeli/Palestinian conflict and Paul Warnke, chief US negotiator in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks II. St. Olaf is one of a few selected colleges to be a participant in the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow Program.

In addition to the speakers, the St. Olaf Theater Department presented Nickel and Dimed, Joan Holden's adaptation of Barbara Ehrenreich's book and directed by Dona Werner Freeman.

St. Olaf social science faculty presented discussion sessions addressing what implications globalization will have on hunger, development and consumption as well as the political, moral and ethical issues facing an increasingly global society.

Contact Carole Engblom at 507-646-3271 or leigh@stolaf.edu.