Undergrad Research into Children and War tackles tough issues.
By Zachary Devereaux, Research Profile Project

Thanks to a new program funded jointly by the Vice-President (Research) and the Dean of Arts, Undergraduate Humanities Research Award recipient Anna Lund had the chance last summer to work with Professor Andy Knight here at the University of Alberta in the Political Science department.

Anna explained the nature of the research she carried out over the course of the summer: “I was looking at the sexual exploitation of children in conflict zones, in particular Sierra Leone. It started off as a survey of literature and writing of summaries for Dr. Knight. I started with a lot of human security and feminist perspectives on issues of children’s security.”

Research into this topic is extremely important as millions of children are victims of the ravages of war in drastic and detrimental ways. But such work is not for the faint of heart: “From there I moved into a lot of first hand accounts, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and the Congo have not had a lot of quantitative research done. I looked at a lot of the literature that was anecdotal, which developed into examining the legality of consent in war zones. I concentrated on questions such as ‘can you consent when there is such a coercive atmosphere?’ I also looked at the issues around how consent is constructed on the ground in the legal system there versus consent legally in the international system.”

When asked if she had expected to do this kind of work during her BA, Anna replied “No, I think I might have very skewed expectations about what university is supposed to be, but I didn’t expect it to be like that. Especially because I am in Arts and there aren’t typically that many opportunities in Arts for undergrads to do research it was nice to find there was an award for Arts undergrads that let me undertake a research project.” Anna was happy to “finally” have work that allowed her to delve into issues that she cared about: “It was really nice to be able to have a job related to political science. I’ve had a lot of jobs over the summers that aren’t like that. It was really good to feel that you were doing something that matters. It felt like I was contributing something to a project that would be published. I found it difficult working by myself; it was pretty lonely. And some days it was hard to get motivated working from home, and some of the material was really hard to be reading constantly because it was very graphic.”

Anna’s experience as a summer researcher brought home the seriousness of the issues faced by social scientists. Her appreciation of the real world problems confronting researchers grew rapidly, as she confronted issues at the core of Professor Knight’s project. The plight of child soldiers, child orphans, violence, rape, blood diamonds and HIV/AIDS are all directly approached by the project. The research program will include a conference here at the U of A from April 1-3 titled “Children and War: Impact.”. This is the first conference of its kind, and will include keynote addresses by former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy and Olara Otunnu, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict. The project will also include a book jointly published between the U of A and the UN University in Tokyo, and there are additional plans for a documentary film on the subject.

When asked how she felt the project related to the situation of the children she studied Anna answered: “I guess on one side it was heartening to see that progress was being made in the rehabilitation of child soldiers and the sex trade as well as legal protections for them. At the same time there is not a lot of change on the level of the individual; there is a long way to go to protect them.”

Anna, like many researchers working in the most critical fields of political science, had to deal with the frustrations inherent in serious study of the conflicts that ravage the globe. But the experience also helped to focus her resolve: “(This research) definitely made me want to continue on with study of the law. I’m planning to apply for law school, for example, because legal recourse is one way to protect these people.” Remaining focused, motivated, and positive is a real factor in research, and an issue that is best understood through the experience of research itself. Anna took her lead on motivation from Professor Knight, explaining in her own words: “We talked about it recently, Professor Knight feels that he can make a difference by knowing about these kinds of real world problems and situations and he really has a long term goal of improving the situation. That helps and I think that’s great.”

Professor Knight himself commented: “Sometimes the information is hard to digest and cope with. From my point of view when I look around and see our children benefiting from a calm environment it makes me think of the children in conflict zones and I want to better their situation. It can be discouraging but we have to keep at it until it becomes more of a priority on the international agenda.” As fourth year undergraduate researcher Anna Lund’s experience shows, research can be a tough job, but its one that’s worth it.