A three-day conference titled "Reflections on the War of 1898," exploring the political, social and cultural legacy of the Spanish-American War, commenced yesterday in Loew Auditorium with a showing of the film "Edison Filmmaking in 1898."
Co-coordinator of the conference and Latin American and Caribbean Studies Chair Marysa Navarro said the panel discussions scheduled to celebrate the war's 100 year anniversary should be great opportunities to reflect on an event that scholars have determined to be of great importance to the United States.
"The war has traditionally been looked at from such a narrow perspective," Navarro said. "Now it is time to look at its complexity."
The conference, which will end on Saturday, features top international scholars in the fields of American, Spanish, Filipino and Latin American and Caribbean studies as well as rare film footage of the war, the first war to be captured in moving picture.
"We tried to put together speakers who had worked as experts in the period or who were willing to think about the period in terms of history and cultural changes from film to literature to music," Navarro explained.
The wide focus on the war's political, social and cultural legacy is reflected in the conference's panel discussion topics, which range from "El 98 and its Effects on the Cultural Imagination" to Cornell University History Professor Walter LaFeber's keynote address "The War of 1898: The Beginnings of the 'American Century?'"
Navarro sees the conference as an opportunity for students and faculty to ask questions about the often-overlooked war. She pointed out that many people incorrectly assume the war only lasted a few months and involved a few former Spanish colonies.
During the War of 1898, the United States intervened in a three- year-old Cuban struggle for independence from Spain. Three months later, Spain declared defeat and the United States soon acquired not only Cuba, but also the former Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico and the Philippines.
The conference is one of many similar Spanish-American War panel discussions taking place in colleges across the country, Navarro said, including one at Princeton University last week.
All events are open to the public and free, due to sponsoring by the Dickey Center, the Rockefeller Center, the Hewlett Foundation and the Dartmouth Film Society.
