FHSS News

Just who were the Celts?

By Christopher Williams

The Celts. To say the name is to invoke part of the mystery associated with this culture. To musicians, the Celts are the source of their own distinct style of ethnic folk music. To anthropologists the Celts are the source of a druidic form of religion and their own style of language that lingers on today. To the Greeks and Romans in 390 BC they were the fearsome barbarian enemy always to the west.

But just who were the Celts? This was the topic of Professor Barry W. Cunliffe on March 17, 2008 at the Annual Grace Elizabeth Shallit Memorial Lecture. Cunliffe, an Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and the British Academy, spoke on what exactly we do know about the Celts, and what we are finding out today.

He said that the word Celtic today means different things to different people, and the only sure and scientific things about the culture are where and how they originated and the legacy of the language they spread.

Cunliffe cited JRR Tolken in a dedicated lecture on the Celts in 1973, where Tolken underscored the belief that in modern times Celtic is whatever people want it to be.

"To many... 'Celtic' of any sort is... a magic bag," Tolken said, "into which anything may be put, and out of which almost anything may come."

Cunliffe said that up till recently written accounts of the Celtic civilization had lead experts to believe that they emerged primarily in Eastern France and Southern Germany, and from there had spread westward to terrorize Spain, Brittany, Britain and Ireland. This was the belief up till recently when archeologists renewed efforts to pull Tolken's magical Celtic bag apart.

Cunliffe shared DNA studies of the British population and other data to support an emerging idea that the Celts were pushed down to the Mediterranean area by an Ice Age, and then as the ice rose back up, so did the Celts, and they colonized much of western France and nearly all of Britain. According to this information, the genetics suggest that there was no significant migration; that their language and presence in Western Europe began as early as 3 or 4,000 BC.

"The new work is suggesting that the Celtic language developed VERY early in the British Isles," Cunliffe said, "much earlier than elsewhere on the continent."

Cunliffe argued that the Roman writers accounts were just being unspecific. Anyone from the west was considered Celtic.

"The Romans saw the Celts as a very noble enemy because of what they were capable of, an enemy worth beating," Cunliffe said.

The Celts were a culture that relied heavily upon the sea as a means of communication, sustenance, and tactical military advantage. By positioning themselves upon the sea, the Celts were in an excellent position to expand their culture and civilization out over all Europe.

"As the Celts traveled, they took their distinctive language and culture with them," Cunliffe said. "A heritage that still lingers on today in many forms and influences."

BYU Professor Receives Recognition as Brain Expert

BYU professor Dr. Erin Bigler was recently recognized as the Morita Distinguished Fellow for 2008 at the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific.  The Morita Distinguished Fellow Program was established in 2003 in memory of SONY founder Akio Morita and his wife, Yoshiko.

Dr. Bigler is a Professor and former Chair of the Psychology and Neuroscience Department at Brigham Young University.  In 1990, he established the Brain Imaging and Behavior Laboratory at BYU, which studies the role of neuroimaging variables in cognitive and neurobehavioral disorders such as traumatic brain injuries, neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, and learning disabilities, anoxic brain injuries, and other acquired injuries of the brain as well as aging and Alzheimer's disease.

In a recent article for the Honolulu Star Bulletin, Dr. Bigler discusses the recent advancements in the field of neuroimaging such as improved computed tomography (CT) scanners and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).  In the article, Dr. Bigler expresses his awe over the advancements made in neuroimaging.  He says, “The first time that I saw a CT scanner, it was like, Wow! It was very primitive and now we are looking at actual brain tissue, not just a silhouette of the internal cavity.”  Dr. Bigler goes on to state that “[w]hat we view today is exactly what you would see if you had an anatomic specimen.”

Dr. Bigler also discusses in the article that an increase in traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a result of the new era we live in.  The brain is not designed to withstand high-velocity impact from motor accidents, sports, and military combat.  According to Dr. Bigler, Roman gladiators were not at risk for traumatic brain injuries as much as today’s National Football League players.  Dr. Bigler himself suffered from a concussion caused by a high school football accident that led to a night in the hospital.  He underscores the importance and risk of TBI, saying traumatic brain injury is a huge issue and that over 1 to 1.5 million Americans have had a concussion and 5 to 10 percent of those did not experience a good outcome.

In the current Iraqi and Afghani conflicts, an estimated 40,000 head injuries have occurred.  Dr. Bigler is optimistic and says “that with continual advancements in neuroimaging such as three-dimensional work, doctors may be able to target specific areas of the brain and tell how functional that area is and there may be ways to engage that brain region.”  Using these advanced techniques, what used to take hours to accomplish now can be done in minutes thanks to automation.  Yet, Dr. Bigler states, the program is still in its infancy as new tools in neuroimaging allow doctors to better diagnose brain injuries.

For further information about Dr. Bigler’s publications, education, academic experience, and/or research activities, please refer to his curriculum vita at his website: Brain Imaging and Behavior Laboratory.

Sociology Professor Appointed Editor of Prestigious Religious Journal

By Christopher Williams

Brigham Young University continued its entry into mainstream academia earlier this year when Marie Cornwall, Professor of Sociology at BYU, won an appointment to be the next editor of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

The JSSR is a multi-disciplinary journal that publishes articles, research notes, and book reviews on the social scientific study of religion, and is considered to be the premier journal in the subject. It is published by the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, of which Cornwall was the executive officer several years ago, and is subscribed to by over 1,000 online and university libraries in addition to its substantial organizational membership.

The JSSR does not publish review articles, articles geared toward clinical or other practitioner audiences, or theological treatments of religion, but rather focuses on political, health, and sociological sciences and includes articles like Progressive Pentecostals, Body Images among Religious Women, and What Would Jesus Buy: the consumption of religious materials.

Cornwall became the new editor for the journal in January 2008, and will see Volume 48, the first issue that she's participated in, in March 2009.

Cornwall said one of the biggest advantages she had when she sought after the position was the support she got from her peers, leaders, and the university. BYU and the Department of Sociology offer substantial support for the organization.

"I sent in a proposal and was the best qualified, in best standing, and most well known," Cornwall said. "Now I've taken over the journal and handle all the business deals for the organization and coordinate 1,500 social scientists all over the world."

Cornwall is one of the only, if not the only person at BYU to have such an honor.

"This is what real universities do," Cornwall said. "They provide support for publishing and distribution of research."

She said this achievement sends a signal to other academics and universities about the status of BYU, that BYU is not only getting involved in what everyone else in academia is doing, but is providing substantial contributions to its progression.

"This is sort of like winning the orange bowl," Cornwall said.

Ends and Means

Given at Convocation of the College of Family Home and Social Sciences, Brigham Young University
August 15, 2008

Clayne Pope

Thank you Dean Magleby.  Congratulations to all the graduates on this important milestone in your lives.  I promise to keep this short.  I first came here as a student fifty years ago this fall and recently retired after teaching at BYU for 38 years and.  So in a sense, we are both graduating.  It just took me a long time.  It is natural for me to look back and reflect on changes that have occurred over the five decades that I have spent at BYU as a student and faculty member.

The physical facilities have changed a lot since only five academic buildings plus part of the Smith Fieldhouse remain of the 1958 campus and those five—Eyring Science Center, Brimhall, Maeser Memorial, Grant (which was the library then) and McKay have all been substantially remodeled.  Certainly, BYU is a much better university today than it was a half century ago.  The students are smarter (the faculty have doubts about this assertion) and the faculty is more accomplished, (the students have equivalent doubts about this statement).  But in the most basic sense, little has changed.  The end-purposes are still the same.  BYU is still about learning in a context of faith—students learning with the goal of a degree and faculty trying to stay current and to add a bit to what is known through their research and writing.  Moreover, the fundamental process of learning is much the same.  A student sees something they want to understand or more likely are required to understand to get the degree they want; they  then use the knowledge of others in the form of lectures, books, problem sets, exams, papers and so on to learn something and to store it in their memory for later use.  Similarly a faculty member or a student engaged in discovery learns all that is known about a particular subject then tries to add to that knowledge through a conceptual innovation or through new empirical evidence on the uncertain issues of that topic.  If they are successful in discovery, they usually try to put it in some durable form that is accessible to others such as an article or book.  Learning and discovery is hard, that is why we congratulate you this day.  Learning and discovery is the end goal here.  Unfortunately, we often confuse means and ends.  There are students who think a 4.0 GPA is the end rather than learning.  So they avoid classes that might reduce their all important GPA.  There are faculty who think the brilliance of their lecture is the end instead of seeing lectures as a means to student learning.  If you are like me, you are going to find that it is often confusing to separate means and ends.  So I would like to take you through a simple example that I hope all of us can appreciate.

One about learning and discovery has really changed since I started my efforts to avoid a real job.  The digital revolution has affected education and particularly research and discovery in a very significant way.  It is so much easier to search and obtain relevant books, articles and documents, conduct experiments, organize and analyze data, write and revise manuscripts and communicate with the rest of the world.  Allow an illustration, when I completed my dissertation on “the impact of the antebellum tariff on income distribution,” the equations in the text had to be typed by tediously changing out different type-face balls for Greek letters and for the usual alphabet.  It would sometimes take my future wife whom I had cleverly hired to type my dissertation over an hour to type one page.  Today the whole thing would be a trivial exercise on the computer.  Data projects that used hours and hours of computer time in the seventies and early eighties on a mainframe computer that took up three rooms in the Talmage Building can be done today easily and quickly on a laptop and it would not even have to be a very good laptop. 

There is no doubt that the digital revolution has been a tremendous benefit to learning.  But every innovation in technology comes with costs and some of us develop habits in our technology connections that work to our detriment.  Since you are likely to spend the rest of your life with ever-expanding digital technology, let me mention three costs of the digital world that might afflict us.  They are multi-tasking, fear of unconnectedness and instant reward.

Multi-tasking Last semester, I taught American Heritage and my son who also teaches the class attended my lectures to reassure himself that he was teaching it better than I.  He told me about one student who generally sat in front of him in the lectures “multi-tasking.”  This student was at the lecture with his computer in front of him, playing some kind of combat game where you compete against others on-line.  The student concentrated on the game most of the time, but every once in a while, some point from my undoubtedly outstanding lectures would intrude and prompt this student to take a note on the lecture.  To do so, he would hide his game avatar behind a bush or rock while he made a note on the lecture.  He would then go back to the game pursue and kill a couple of people before the lecture intruded again.  Even though I myself have reached an age where uni-tasking has become difficult, I realize that multitasking is a way to make moments of wasted time productive.  But, it is also a way to take two perfectly good activities designed to enrich our lives and destroy the value of both of them by trying to leap from one to the other.

Fear of Unconnectedness  A year ago, my wife and I were at Denali National Park in Alaska taking a bus ride from the entrance to Kantishna where the road ends.  On a clear summer day such as we had, this is arguably one of the most awe-inspiring experiences of the world with magnificent views of Mt. McKinley and its glaciers, beautiful tundra or taiga landscape, caribou, dall sheep, wolves, bear and moose.  As we began, some people were checking cell-phones to see when we lost signals.  At Kantishna a small collection of resorts where we ate lunch, people immediately pulled out the cell-phones for calls or message checks while others fired up their laptops for a little wifi.   A recent advisory on the possible health risks of cell phones recommended that people not sleep with them under their pillow.  (Why on earth would cell phones be under pillows? Does the cell-phone fairy come and upgrade your cell?) We all know people who have let connectedness become the end-purpose of their existence.  “I have an I-phone, therefore, I am.”   If you have 200 friends on facebook, but have not had a conversation with a three dimensional person in the past 24 hours, you are probably not in charge of your life, the net is. By now, many of you have text messaged friends saying, “I am stuck in my college convocation listening to some old geezer ranting on about technology.”  As an economic historian, I understand the vital place of technology in our world.  The Industrial Revolution and the economic growth of the past 200 years is essentially a story of the triumph of technology.  Our pressing problems in health care, energy production, climate change are all likely to be solved or at least diminished by technological change.  So I am not suggesting we be Luddites, the artisans in England during the Napoleonic war who smashed the textile looms they found so threatening.  I am just suggesting we consider a few possible negative consequences.

Instant Rewards  One of the great seductions of digital devices is their ability to give instant reward, albeit a very small reward at times.  Wherever you are, the internet can give instant news, instant video clips, instant games,  and instant communication.  A few keystrokes and you get rewarded.  But, of course, the problem is that the digital world values by number of hits, not necessarily by depth of information.  Hopefully, you have learned here at BYU that the deepest, most important information is not likely to pop up first on a google search.   In the actual world, real value normally involves a delayed reward.  Michael Phelps has worked for 12 years to receive the accolades and medals of the current Olympics. Charles Darwin worked for forty years on the ideas in Origin of Species.   For four or more years you have delayed many things in order to get an education which will lead to a more fulfilling life and, in all likelihood, a higher income.   Is it possible that the digital revolution with its capacity to deliver instantly is leading us away from those activities that will bring us more significant returns than a temporary buzz from a you-tube video or a quick check of the stock market?

In two weeks thousands of freshmen will arrive on campus with their laptops, phones glued to their ears, MP3 players, facebook accounts, text-messaging prowess (and about 50 power cords but soon it will all be wireless power).  But just like me and my fellow freshmen of 1958 who thought the key to success was the latest slide rule (a precursor to calculators), they will have to discover that learning absolutely requires their time, their concentration and painful operation of their brain.  Moreover, they will learn that learning does not often involve instant rewards.

Well what is the point of this diatribe against technology?  I am using technology as an example of how difficult it is to  distinguish correctly between means and ends.   Mistaking connectedness and the latest digital device for an end as opposed to the relatively minor means that it truly represents is just one example of the all too common problem of confusing ends and means.  Carefully defining the ends we want and then deploying the best means to achieve those ends is essential for success individually and as a society.  It is also difficult because the world sends many confusing signals trying to convince us that the latest, or the coolest, or the most expensive is the end we want.  Just as technophilia is not a true end, neither should work, income, fame, power, goods, leisure time nor a myriad of other possibilities be our true ends.  The Midas myth seems appropriate here.  King Midas takes care of Silenus, an old professor, and returns him to his former student, Dionysus.  Dionysus is so grateful that he grants Midas whatever he wishes.  To this point the story goes along fine.  Midas is compassionate and charitable.  Dyonysius loves his teacher—something for you to emulate.  But at this point, Midas makes a fatal mistake by assuming that gold or wealth is his end goal and wishes for a new technology, so that anything he touches turns to gold.  But gold wasn’t the correct end, happiness was.  Now he cannot eat or drink or touch another person.  He is miserable with his golden clothes, his golden palace, and his hard bed of gold.  Fortunately, Dionysus has compassion on him and allows him to wash in the headwaters of the river Pactolus and his golden touch is taken away from him. 

May God give you inspiration to distinguish ends from means; to find your own unique ends for the life ahead of you and to employ the best means to attain those ends.    

It’s All Greek to Me

Honor Societies of FHSS College

BYU is a unique institution—no caffeinated drinks are sold on campus, trash is neatly placed in receptacles, and lawns are cut to regulation height.  One major factor that makes BYU unlike many other higher learning establishments is the lack of Greek fraternities and sororities.  BYU makes up for this dearth of Greek housing by providing numerous and varied clubs and associations supported by the FHSS College for the benefit and use of its students.  Many even have Greek names.

Pi Sigma Alpha, Phi Alpha Theta, Psi Chi, and Theta Upsilon are just a few of the national honor societies with Greek names representing Political Science, History, Psychology, and Geography at the FHSS College.  These classically named clubs are not alone in supplying and supplementing additional opportunities for educational and extracurricular activities for its members.  There are also clubs for each of the departments including Anthropology, Sociology, Economics, and even clubs for those who enjoy donkeys and elephants—College Democrats and College Republicans.

The benefits of joining a national honor society and other clubs is more than just a chance to  associate and hang out with fellow History or Political Science lovers. It is an opportunity to advance a student’s academic aspirations with a FHSS College and nationally approved club.  An example of this is Phi Alpha Theta, the national honor society for the History Department.  Phi Alpha Theta has 800 active chapters throughout the nation and over 21,000 members.  In 2002 BYU’s Phi Alpha Theta Chapter, Beta Iota, received an award for the “Best Chapter” for the largest division.  With chapters on campuses scattered throughout the nation, a BYU member of a national honor society can connect, fellowship, and network with fellow members at other schools.  Scholarships, excursions, interactions with professors and other intellects, and the possibility of being published are additional benefits of being an honor society member.

Joining an honor society at the FHSS College is a lot less hassle and doesn’t include any hazing that might be associated with clubs at other colleges or universities.  To join an honor society or other department club, a student should maintain a healthy GPA, enroll in the specific department’s courses, and be willing to donate $45 or about the cost of dinner and a movie.  Camaraderie and intellectual advancement await each potential and current honor society member.  For additional information about FHSS College’s honor societies and clubs, check out the FHSS College’s webpage at fhss.byu.edu.

Archeologist Talks of Origins of Mesoamerican Civilizations

By Christopher Williams

When the Book of Mormon was first introduced to the world, criticism abounded about its so-called explanation of the origins of the Native American Indians. Now, almost two centuries later, the archeological landscape has changed immensely and new findings suggest that the Book of Mormon is in fine shape.

John Edward Clark, renowned archeologist of the Department of Anthropology at Brigham Young University, spoke March 13, 2008 at the Fifteenth Annual Martin B. Hickman Outstanding Scholar lecture on Brigham Young University campus. He spoke on "The Non-Biblical Genesis of New World Civilizations," and wished to share important facts about what archeology does and what it means to Latter-day Saint traditions and beliefs.

Clark based his lecture around three questions, posed to him previously by a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The questions involved what he was studying, what it meant, and how his findings applied to the Book of Mormon.

"Many of us accept the account of the Book of Mormon as it pertains to New World civilizations," Clark said, "But to those who don't believe in the Book of Mormon, these important questions of who were the people of the new world, and where did they come from, still exist."

Clark' work initially begins through field surveys in areas thought to be rich in Mesoamerican culture and history, he said. During these surveys he may or may not find artifacts and based on these findings will make judgment calls where to excavate next. Many of his findings include animal and human figurines, including early writing samples often written directly on the backs of these figurines.

"One of the biggest purposes of archeology is to make up stories," Clark said. "We reconstruct things."

Based on his findings, Clark believes that man in Mesoamerica evolved socially from very simple conditions, that civilization was unintended and unanticipated.

"Civilization in this case was often the consequence of men seeking fame and followers through flattery and gifting," Clark said.

Clark linked three major Mesoamerican societies in South America and major cities found there, with Book of Mormon cultures and their suspected locations. He underscored certain current lines of thought purporting correlations between the South American cultures of the Olmec, Mayan, and Aztec with the Book of Mormon civilizations of the Jaredites, Nephites, and Lamanites.

Clark said not only does the geography match, but also the Mesoamerican demographic history shows compelling correspondence to Book of Mormon accounts. Even after detailed comparison between anti-Mormon claims versus historical claims of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, Clark said the numbers work.

"The trend of correspondences to Mesoamerican archeology fits our expectations for an authentic historic document," Clark said.

So is the Book of Mormon justified or confirmed by archeology?

Clark urged the audience not to jump too highly on the evidence he had presented. He said confirmations do not matter much, because the statistics on archeological findings can be too easily pulled in either way. What he had discussed, he said, was merely one way of portraying facts that can be interpreted in many different ways.

"If you want to prove the Book of Mormon is true, burn all the archeology books in the world, grab the book of Mormon and go into a closet and get it done," Clark said.

Martin Berkeley Hickman was a professor of political science at Brigham Young University and served as dean of the College of Social Sciences for twelve years and dean of the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences for five years. He has also been an associate professor at the University of Southern California. He received his bachelor, master's, and PhD degrees from the University of Utah and master of public administration from Harvard University.

He was a remarkable man who did remarkable work for the College and BYU; work never directed at advancing his own career, but work done for the good of the Church, the University, and his faculty and associates. Because of Martin's many years of service to the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences, it is appropriate that the College established the annual Martin B. Hickman Scholar Award to recognize a distinguished member of the college faculty who emulates Martin's example.

2008 Annaley Naegle Redd Lecture: The Ghost Dance and the Close of the Frontier

By Christopher Williams

The issues of environmental awareness and tolerance for others beliefs are not new to America. In fact, generation after generation of Americans have stood up in unrelenting and peaceful protest, but to varied results and reactions.

During the 2008 annual Annaley Naegle Redd lecture, Dr. Louis S. Warren presented a new look to students of just such an era of intolerance and misunderstanding toward peaceful actions. Warren, the W. Turrentine Jackson Professor of Western U.S. History at the University of California at Davis, spoke to a packed Harold B. Lee Library auditorium March 25, 2008, on the topic of "A Hole in the dream: The Ghost Dance and the Making of Modern America.

Warren talked about the Native American Ghost Dance, a phenomenon many see as the official close of the frontier and the end of the nineteenth century. The Ghost Dance was an episode of what Warren called millennial movements of the Indian peoples. 

"The close of the 19th century was a moment of high crisis for the American government and Native Americans were feeling the brunt of that pressure," Warren said. "The Ghost Dance was a ritual dance meant to bring about a new earth and the resurrection of Indian dead, in other words, eternal respite from that pressure."

He credited the origin of the Ghost Dance to a Native American farm hand in Nevada named Jack Wilson. Warren said Wilson claimed to have had a vision of the land of the dead, and of God, and the deceased.

"Wilson said he had received a message that his people must put away all the old practices that favored war and in return received a promise to rejuvenate the exhausted earth through a new dance," Warren said. "He believed that if people danced and lived properly, they could bring heaven to earth and experience this great happiness without having to die."

Warren said that as Wilson was more widely accepted as a prophet among the Native Americans and followers flocked to him requesting apostleship, the American government began to suspect him of leading an uprising.

"The Great Basin represented a hole in the American dream during this movement of 1889-1890," Warren said. "It was seen as an unstable obstacle to a vision of America's "Brighter Day."

Warren explained that the American government's policies at that time held little room for tolerance of unknown rituals in frontier areas, especially from Indians, with whom the government had had many problems in the past. Thus the army was sent to contain and put down those participating in the Ghost Dance, resulting in the famed Massacre of Wounded Knee where a unit of the Calvary slaughtered many dancers.

"There was such a panic about what the Ghost Dance meant," Warren said, "but in reality many of Jack Wilson's teachings can be seen as borrowed from Christian gospel principles."

Warren said that at this time there was a real sense among many people in Nevada that the land was giving out. He suggested that Wilson's mingling of region in white forms expressed his innovation in carving out an enduring tolerance and space for his culture.

Another factor that played into this future rise in tolerance revolved around the government's reaction to what happened at Wounded Knee. Warren said after furious reactions to Wounded Knee, the government decided to take a different take on the situation and did something it had never done before: they sent an Ethnologist (anthropologist) to investigate the Ghost Dance and its rise.

The anthropologist, James Mooney, researched and visited Indians participating in the Ghost Dance and in 1896 published the first government scientific report on the matter, called The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890.

"Mooney saw the Ghost Dance as a product of deeply troubled Indian societies who were overwhelmed by poverty," Warren said. "Wilson saw the dance as a God-given means to create an earth having room enough for 'all' good people."

Warren said that despite the differences in perception between the two men, Mooney's work pointed towards cultural relevance for Indian beliefs and religion as it concerned a merge with Christian religion.

"Both men envisioned a multicultural America," Warren said. "Wilson's revelations started both men down paths that would change their lives, and the life of America too."

Warren said that Mooney's long fight against the deadening hand of assimilation through his work eventually did become American Indian policy, with the government allowing tribes to govern themselves as a result of Roosevelt's New Deal.

"The Ghost Dance brings on a peculiar American realization that recognizes that difference truly is our nation's Great strength," Warren said. "Wilson and Moony saw the meeting of cultures within our borders as a good thing, and we can connect the Ghost Dance to an epical shift in Americas understanding in the nations past, and its future; a point of beginning."

The Annaley Naegle Redd Lecture series began near the time of Annaley Redd's death in 2000. The lecture series invites speakers from off-campus and on-campus to share their understanding about the American West in the enlargement of student's visions and perception of their American heritage. A member of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, the foundation that sponsors the lectures, said the series is about primary old west themes like the renewal, huge cattle die-offs, and the ever-changing earth.

Prior to her death, Annaley Naegle Redd was the daughter of a second wife, growing up in the Mormon colonies of Mexico. She came to BYU to receive her teaching certificate to teach in lesser-populated areas where opportunity for learning was scarce. She was a caring and optimistic person, always willing to give to others. It was qualities like these that led her and her husband, Charles Redd, to marry and raise eight children until Charles's death in 1972. Annaley and her husband were prominent southeastern Utah ranchers and philanthropists, and inspired the creation of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies as well as the endowed Lemual Hartison Redd Junior chair of western history at Brigham Young University through generous gifts to the institution.

Counterfactuals and the War of American Independence: Could the British Have Won?

By Christopher Williams

Could the British have won the war of American Independence? In a strong, vibrant voice, this was the question raised to audience members by Professor Jeremy Black as he attempted to use a counterfactual argument to open student minds to thinking in different ways.

"A counterfactual is something that returns questioners to the fundamental nature of history: we do not believe that what happens or what will happen is predetermined," Black said. "They are helpful to us if they return us to a sense of uncertainty shared by those of the past."

Black, a professor of history at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, was the Russell B. Swenson Lecture guest speaker April 10, 2008. Black addressed audience members in the packed Harold B. Lee Library auditorium on BYU campus and described a stereotypical battlefield encounter between the British and Americans during the war.

"Imagine a green open field," Black said, "On one side you have the British red-coats advancing. On the other side you have the camouflaged American rebels taking cover who are about to blast these idiots."

Black said that standard accounts of the war like what he had just described depict a scenario in which the British could not have won.

"The above picture describes a military inevitability and the stereotype commonly shared and discussed," Black said. "If you take this perspective, it is quite obvious what is going to happen."

But Black said the British in fact had every advantage going for them. The British were financially strong and had much experience fighting in North America due to the recent French-Indian War in Canada. Also, half of the colonies did not rebel and the British were still in possession of key strategic naval bases. The American rebels, by contrast, were politically unstable and struggled throughout the war to secure funding to feed troops and to continue the war effort.

So Britain was a formidable foe, Black said, and even more so during the early stages of the war. Black pointed out that during the first half of the war, Britain had no one else to fight and was thus able to focus entirely on the uprising.

Black said the British wanted to sufficiently defeat their opponents so that they could begin negations to get America back under their control. The British were aiming for Americans to either swear neutrality or return to British control.  They did not intend to ever completely win the war because in such a situation neither side can win.

"Conventionally we think of the Americans as winning," Black said, "but all they really did is what the British couldn't do, which is get the other side to sit down and begin negotiations."

Black said the British faced the difficult question of how to part with colonies that no longer wished to be ruled by them, nor desired to negotiate.

"If you take that viewpoint," Black said, "then really the British were wasting their time. How do you actually part with colonies that no longer wish to be ruled by you?"

Even though the British lost the colonies and the war, Black said that both sides came out well with a series of common interests. The war resulted in a mutually beneficial, transformed relationship between the two states.

"The British were satisfied because, even though they had lost the war, they won the peace." Black said. "In any of Britain's future wars with America's former allies, the Americans were never found on the other side, and this worked well for America because they also believed they've won the peace!"

Black said he wanted to arouse in the minds of the audience a central mythos to American culture. He said he wanted to show the possibilities of looking into the past not to destroy it, but rather to raise questions about how the use of historic evidence can get people to agree with the myth, albeit in slightly different terms.

"The value in history is to think through things for yourself," Black said, "to take part in the process of intellectual engagement."

Many Hands Make Light Work

Student College Council

Meetings, societies, quorums, and councils are second nature to members of the LDS Church.  BYU continues this tradition with numerous university-approved clubs and associations.  The largest college at BYU is the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences.  Within the FHSS College is an excellent and useful council, the Student College Council, or SCC, which is prepared to meet the needs of the FHSS College faculty and students. 

Each of the FHSS College-approved clubs and associations has a representative that attends the SCC meeting once a month.  These members discuss the needs of the student members in the various clubs, associations, and organizations scattered throughout the FHSS College.  Dean Magelby uses the advice and insight of the SCC to help fulfill his duties as Dean of the FHSS College.  This monthly meeting is not all the Student College Council does.

The SCC is a lot like the U.S. Marines of the FHSS College: it is first to serve.  Whenever the FHSS College needs something accomplished, including participation in the Choose to Give program or other College events, the Dean calls upon the elite members of the SCC to spearhead and accomplish the tasks given to them.  The duties assigned to the SCC vary, but in years past they have included facilitating meetings with donors, giving prayers, lectures and forums, and making a film for the Administration.  The Dean can always count on the SCC to be present at any function where food is available since there is never a shortage of starving students at BYU.

The SCC is a program designed specifically to benefit the FHSS College experience of BYU students and faculty.  Through the SCC and other clubs and organizations, the educational experience of the individual student is raised beyond that of the ordinary to extraordinary.  If you would like additional information about the Student College Council or are interested in joining one of the exceptional clubs and organizations associated with the FHSS College, log onto the FHSS College website at fhss.byu.edu.

Understanding the Circle of Domestic Violence

By Christopher Williams

This may not surprise most people, but children tend to follow the examples set by their parents, including methods of emotional expression.

This simple fact was the basis of research presented by Rachel E. Kramer of Brigham Young University during the March 27, 2008 Woman's Studies Colloquium on BYU campus. Kramer talked about a study she participated in with other graduate and faculty researchers and examined how and why domestic violence is perpetuated through generations, as well as expressions of positive and negative emotions in those who had been witnesses to such violence.

Kramer is a graduate student at BYU and worked under Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, director of the Women's Research Institute on BYU campus. The study examined the effects of witnessing domestic violence on children's attributions of emotions and involved explorative research of the way children witnesses of domestic violence think, behave, feel, and perceive themselves in conflict situations.

Participants' range and intensity of emotions were tested and measured through questionnaires and interviews involving individuals in different social and private situations. The primary questions dealt with what emotions male and female witness and non-witness children associate with victimization and the perpetuation of conflict. Also examined was what circumstances provoked these children to anger and the emotions and regulation associated therewith.

Findings of the study showed that females are the most sensitized to domestic violence. Kramer said they tend to be more expressive of emotion and empathize more with victims of violence while being more aggressive towards perpetrators of such violence. Males however, while not being as polarized as females, were found to be the most intensely violent when they did express anger.

Kramer also said that witness children are more easily provoked to anger than non-witness children, but that the above stereotypes with males and females become very blurred, depending on any number of stimuli.

"Children's observations, reactions, and relationships are all connected to their form of socialization," Kramer said. "Children who become witnesses of intimate partner violence are significantly more likely to be victims or perpetuators in the future."

Despite the increased odds of becoming involved in domestic violence, Kramer said that the majority of witnesses would not be involved in its perpetuation. The odds of doing so simply increase by between 200 and 300%.

So what is to be done about the matter? What can be done to stop the spread of domestic violence?

Possible solutions involve a retraining of emotional expectations in victims of domestic violence, and possibly a restructuring of expectations for every-day life events, Kramer said.  But these were just a few of possible solutions.

Kramer cited an analogy involving an optometrist giving his patients the very glasses he was wearing, assuring them that the prescription worked well enough for him, so why not them? Research like what her group had conducted, she said, will hopefully find answers to these tough questions.

"When trying to prevent the perpetuation of violence," Kramer said, "we need to examine the problem and make sure we are addressing the correct one. Why this is happening and what is causing it to spread."