September 2009
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science,
International Development and International Affairs
University of Southern Mississippi
118 College Drive #5108
Hattiesburg, MS. 39406-5108
bob.press@usm.edu; 601-266-4011
Fax: 601-266-4311
2003 to present: Assistant Professor of Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs, University of Southern Mississippi
2001-2003: Adjunct Professor, Africana Studies; Stetson University; DeLand, FL
(1998-2003: PhD studies University of Florida. Graduated 2004)
1998 winter: Visiting Professor, Principia College, Elsah, IL.
1996-1997: Adjunct Professor, Journalism; Stetson University; DeLand, Fl.
1995-1996: Visiting Scholar, Stetson University (wrote a book: see below)
Previous:
The Christian Science Monitor: Nairobi, Kenya (Bureau Chief), 1987-1995. Covered East and West Africa, including Somalia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, and other countries. Themes covered included: human rights, democratization, development, ethnic politics, AIDS, culture, refugees, international intervention; genocide, war and peacemaking; the role and the work of the United Nations in conflict resolution and development.
Other Monitor Assignments included:
Washington, D.C.: international development; Atlanta (Southeast): state and regional politics; African-American issues including justice, economics, political and social; Boston and Chicago.
The U.S. Agency for International Development: Tanzania; Morocco; Washington.
Young Men's Christian Association: Lima, Peru.
PhD: University of Florida (Comparative Politics): 2004
My area of concentration was Africa and Latin America, including human rights, social movements, development and democratization. My other area of concentration was American government, including the presidency, Congress, political history and African American studies.
My dissertation is titled: Establishing a Culture of Resistance: The Struggle for Human Rights and Democracy in Kenya (1987-2002).
Masters of Government (public administration): George Washington University
In addition I was awarded a nine-month academic Fellowship at the University of Michigan where I studied international politics and Asian literature.
In the area of informal education, my wife, Betty Press, and I hitchhiked around the world for two full years, traveling overland from East to North Africa, Europe, and on to India, where we continued by plane through parts of Asia and to the United States. We arrived nearly broke but full of lifetime memories and a continuing passion for travel.
Received: Fulbright (2008-2009) for teaching and research at the University of Sierra Leone: $71,200.
Received: Madigan Foundation (2006) $7,000 for Liberia research on human rights.
Received: Lucas -USM (2006): $5,000 for summer research in Liberia on human rights.
Received: Community Service Fellowship at USM (2004): $1,500 (to the Department).
*In addition, I applied for the following grants: Templeton (2009);United States Institute of Peace (2008); Department of Defense peace study (2008); American Council of Learned Societies (2 grants) 2007; USM summer research 2006; 2007; Samuel Rubin Foundation 2006; United States Institute for Peace (pre-proposal) 2008; USM summer research 2008.
1. Books peer-reviewed (single author)
A. Peaceful Resistance: Advancing Human Rights and Democratic Freedoms; Ashgate 2006; peer-reviewed at Ashgate, an academic publishing house in the U.K.
http://www.amazon.com/Peaceful-Resistance-Advancing-Democratic-Freedoms/dp/0754647137/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217307108&sr=1-1
Two leading social movement theorists have endorsed the book on the cover: Sidney Tarrow and David S. Meyer. Tarrow states that the book “takes up the challenge of applying – and revising – social movement theory in the transitional polities of the South.”
B. The New Africa: Dispatches from a Changing Continent; University Press of Florida, 1999. http://www.upf.com/book.asp?id=PRESSF99
This won a national award in 2000 as one of 40 books selected by the Association of American University Presses as Best of the Best of University Presses, an award now cited on the University Press of Florida web page. The book, which has been used in some college classrooms (not including USM) has been rendered as an electronic book.
Reviews: http://www.upf.com/reviews.asp?id=PRESSF99&name=The%20New%20Africa
2. Peer-Reviewed (single-author) Journal Articles
Published:
“Candles in the Wind: Resisting Repression in Liberia (1979-2003). 55(3) April 2009; pages 4-22, in Africa Today, a leading regional studies publication. This examines how a peaceful social movement in Liberia resisted repression under two regimes, advocating for human rights and democratic freedom – without exogenous ‘opportunities.’ It offers four alternative explanations. http://muse.jhu.edu.lynx.lib.usm.edu/journals/africa_today/v055/55.3.press.html
“The Importance of Interpretive Methods in Detecting and Analyzing Social Movement in Repressive Countries: Contemporary Human Rights Activism in Liberia and Kenya. 2008. Theory in Action, Vol. 1, no 4 (October) 2008. This is a new, interdisciplinary journal.
http://www.transformativestudies.org/publications/theory-in-action-the-journal-of-tsi/volume-1-number-4-october-2008/
“Teaching Democracy Democratically.” Academic Exchange Quarterly. Winter 2007. (One of three featured “Editors Choice” articles and was thus available in full on line, free.)
http://rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/cho3617z6.htm
Under Review:
“Courage, Principle and Ambition: Understanding Human Rights Activism And Policy Implications in Authoritarian Regimes;” under review by Journal of Human Rights Practise, an Oxford University publication.
3. Non-peer reviewed journal article
“Guided by the Hand of God:” How Liberian Women Waged Peace To Try to End a Civil War;” Review of Faith and International Affairs. Scheduled for publication March 2010. I was asked by a guest editor from Morehouse College to contribute this article for a special edition focusing on peace. I agreed because the audience, he said, includes policymakers and a range of scholars.
4. Future Research/publication plans:
Standing up for Freedom: Resisting Repression in Africa. This will focus on Sierra Leone, Liberia and Kenya in a comparative analysis of small, peaceful resistance/social movements. It will use a new conceptualization of social movements based on the realities of small resistance campaigns in repressive, undeveloped countries rather than large movements that depend mostly on concepts stemming from industrialized democracies.
5. Reviews
(Requested) pre-publication review of book manuscript (2008): Oaxaca: Protest and Repression, for University of Arizona Press.
(Requested) comparative review of two published books (2007) Globalization from Below: Transnational Activists and protest Networks; and It Was like a Fever: Storytelling in Protest and Politics, for Perspectives on Politics.
(Requested) pre-publication review of manuscript (2007): “Struggling for Social Justice in the Era of Globalization: The Cases of African Americans, Oromos, and Southern Sudanese” for African Studies Review.
(Requested) pre-publication review of manuscript (2007) “Neoliberalism and Racial Redress: Indigenization and Politics in Tanzania and Fiji,” for Research in Political Sociology.
(Requested) pre-publication review of manuscript (2007) “The Unstable Warlords Trajectory: The Importance of Local Dimension in Contemporary Conflicts (in Africa),” for African Studies Review.
(Requested) review of published book (2006): A Burning Hunger: One Family’s Struggle Against Apartheid, for The Christian Science Monitor.
(Requested) pre-publication review of manuscript (2006): “Multinational and Ethnic Fragmentation: The Cases of Ache and Niger Delta,” for International Studies Quarterly.
(Requested) review of published book (2005): Guerilla Government: Political Changes in the Southern Sudan during the 1990s by Øystein H. Rolandsen, for African Studies Review.
(Requested) pre-publication review of manuscript (2005): “Undermining Development from below: Community-based Organizations, Politics and Sustainable Livelihoods in Western Kenya,” for African Studies Review.
(Requested) pre-publication review of manuscript (2005): “The Agency of Weak Authoritarian Regimes in Asymmetric International Relations: Framing ‘Regime Stability’ in Guinea and Mauritania,” for International Studies Quarterly.
(Requested) pre-publication review of manuscript (2005): “Freedom Fighters Were the First Human Rights Defenders A Comparative Perspective on the Politics of Opposition in Postcolonial Kenya,” for African Studies Review.
(Requested) review of published book (2004): Somalia: Economy Without State, by Peter D. Little, for African Studies Review.
(Requested) pre-publication review of manuscript: “Media Accountability in Nigeria: 1999-2003,” for African Studies Review (2003).
6. Non-peer reviewed publications:
“Cracking Down on Mexico’s Crackdowns,” op-ed February 6, 2007. The Christian Science Monitor. Focuses on human rights abuses in Oaxaca, Mexico, based on first-hand participation in a human rights delegation there December 06.
“Civil Rights Abuse in Mexico of Concern to All,” January 7, 2007. Hattiesburg American op-ed.
“We Have Fewer Civil Liberties,” September 10, 2006. Hattiesburg American op-ed.
“The Color Line Still Exists, but Only in Our Minds;” 2003. In African World Studies Reader for Dillard University; reprinted 2004.
“Correct Response to Terrorism,” op-ed; The News-Journal (Daytona Beach, Florida), September 25, 2001.
Literally hundreds of articles published in The Christian Science Monitor during my employment with the paper, including “Africa’s Turn,” a cover story in their magazine World Monitor, February 1992, about democratization in sub-Saharan Africa.]
“Teaching Political Science In the Poorest State in the U.S. And the Poorest Country in Africa: Similarities and Differences; American Political Science Association annual meeting, Toronto. (2009)
“Taming Authoritarian Rulers? Comparing the Non-Violent Resistance Movements in Three Sub-Saharan Africa Countries: Kenya, Liberia, and Sierra Leone; American Political Science Association meeting, Toronto.(2009)
“Researching and Comparing Resistance to Authoritarian Rule in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Liberian Studies Association: Liberian Studies Association: annual meeting. Monrovia, Liberia. (2009).
“The Importance of Interpretive Methods in Detecting and Analyzing Social Movements in Authoritarian Countries: Contemporary Human Rights Activism in Liberia and Kenya.” American Political Science Association annual meeting, Boston (August 2008).
“Uninvited Peacemakers: How Liberian Women Engaged Warlords in Quiet Talks to End a Civil War (19997-2003)”. African Studies Association Annual Meeting, New York (2007). I was Chair.
“Human Rights Activism in Peace and War: Comparing Resistance in Kenya and Liberia,” African Studies Association annual meeting; San Francisco, CA. (2006).
“Using Social Movement Theory to Analyze Resistance Movements: Kenya, 1987-2002”; African Studies Association annual meeting; Washington, D.C. (2005).
“When Domestic Resistance Outweighs International Influence: The Struggle for Human Rights and Democracy in Kenya 1987-2002;” International Studies Association annual meeting, Honolulu (2005).
“The Role of Principled Ideas in Early Resistance in an Authoritarian Regime: Kenya 1987-1991; International Studies Association annual meeting, Honolulu (2005).
“Making Community Service a Part of Political Science Classes;” Gulf-South Summit on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Through Higher Education; Cocoa Beach, Fl. (2005)
“Teaching Democracy Democratically;” Southwestern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans (2005).
“Establishing a Culture of Resistance in an Authoritarian Regime: The Role of Individual Activists in Kenya 1987-2002”; African Studies Association annual meeting; New Orleans. I chaired the panel, one of two panels featured by the political section of the ASA that year (2004)
“Understanding and Reducing Ethnic Conflict in Africa;” Fifth Annual Pan African Conference at Principia College; Elsah, IL. (2004).
“Foot Soldiers for Freedom: The Role of Youth in Establishing a Culture of Resistance in Kenya: 1987-2002;” African Studies Association annual meeting; Boston (2003).
[Prior to coming to USM] “Oil, Poverty and Cultural Strategies in Confronting the Nigerian State: The Ogoni Case Revisited;” African Studies Association annual meeting, Houston, Texas (2001).
Sierra Leone. Country-wide tour: “Human Rights and Alternatives to Violence,” in five towns, speaking with hundreds of secondary and university students, faculty members, and community leaders. Trip arranged by the U.S. Embassy in Sierra Leone for me as a Fulbright (State Department-funded) scholar and research on human rights 2008-2009.
Kenya: Conflict and Reconciliation 2008. Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Hattiesburg, MS.; March 2008.
Talk at annual Black History meeting of the USM African American Student Association: “Virtual and Voluntary ‘Segregation’ of Students at USM,” February 2007.
Talk on my Kenya research; USM College of Arts & Letters Research Symposium, April 2005.
Talk at USM forum on Katrina: “Human Rights Aspects of the Storm,” September 2005
Southern Political Science Association annual meeting, January 2010, Atlanta (accepted)
Fulbright acceptance process involved an intensive peer-review of research accomplishments and trajectory of potential publications.
Sidney Tarrow, Cornell:
“…takes up the challenge of applying – and revising – social movement theory in the transitional polities of the South…Against dominant political process models, Press makes an agency-based argument and against views that emphasize the role of transnational NGOs, for democratization, he sees the source of change as a ‘culture of resistance’ based on courageous and self-generated domestic activists.”
David S. Meyer, University of California, Irvine:
“Press puts heroic democracy and human rights activists at the center of his account of the ongoing process of reform in Kenya. Brokering great risks and encountering harsh repression, a few individuals repeatedly challenged an authoritarian government, building a culture of resistance, inspiring support and forcing government to respond. This important book shows how, offering lessons for scholars and activists as well as inspiration.”
In my studies of social movements and civil society in Africa and Latin America, I have noted that little attention is paid to the role of individual activists in affecting political change. For the most part, political scientists have focused on organizations. The argument usually runs that only when pressure for reform is institutionalized through organizations can real political change be realized.
USM Faculty of the Year Award: African-American Student Organization, 2007.
Recognition for “Dedication and Support for the Exoneration of Mr. Clyde Kennard,” from the Afro-American Student Organization of the University of Southern Mississippi, 2006. (Mr. Kennard was refused admission to USM as the first black student and immediately framed and jailed, being released just before his death. The Governor declared him innocent in 2006.)
Recipient of “Commitment to Diversity & Humanity Award,” of the Future Black Law Students Association of the University of Southern Mississippi, 2006.
Recipient of Excellence Award from City of Hattiesburg and the Hattiesburg Area African American Military History Committee for work with the Mobile-Bouie Neighborhood in Hattiesburg, 2005
African Studies Association
American Political Science Association
Non-academic interests: Running, choral singing, travel with my wife, Betty, who is a professional photographer
Languages: conversational French, Spanish and a little Swahili