All history is political, especially the history of organized and state-sponsored violence. Multiple frameworks, disciplinary perspectives, and forms of expression are required to grasp this history fully and comprehensively. Such work has the potential to emphasize the importance of military history, war studies, and conflict history within our own historic moment. More importantly, it provides the opportunity to welcome and to learn from a new generation of scholars, students, and teachers of diverse experiences and perspectives.
Rethinking War will seek to re-evaluate and re-define the study of war, conflict, and military history, including its impact on gender and gender roles in society, the interconnectedness of medicine, health, and war, and the long-term consequences of trauma and memory on policy and ethics. Throughout this conference, we will challenge traditional binaries of war/peace, combatant/civilian, home-front/battlefield, and digital/physical sites of war and the effect this has on human well-being and the creation of narratives. We are honored to welcome presenters from around the world and from a wealth of diverse backgrounds for this conference, and we hope this is the beginning of an enriching annual event.
Keynote Lecture
Friday March 18 | Noon - 1:30 pm
Bodies of Evidence:
Local Memory and the Prosecution of War Crimes
Lada Šoljan
Former Legal Officer in the Immediate Office of the Prosecutor
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
Lada Šoljan is a lawyer admitted to the bar in New York, who worked as Legal Officer in the Trial and Appeals divisions, as well as the Immediate Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) from 2005 through the closing of the Tribunal at the end of 2017. She worked on a number of cases during her ICTY tenure, including those relating to the Srebrenica genocide. Lada contributed a chapter to the book Prosecuting Conflict-Related Sexual Violence at the ICTY, and coordinated its translation and publication into the Bosnian language in 2017. She has lectured and continues to provide customized training and mentoring on various international criminal law and human rights topics, including on the investigation and prosecution of sexual and gender-based violence crimes. Prior to her time at the ICTY, she worked in international commercial litigation in New York City, also handling pro bono asylum cases and consulting on the issue of ICC implementing legislation. Lada earned her bachelor's degree in European Studies and Biological Sciences from Smith College and her J.D. from NYU School of Law.