Marc Sommers – Associate Research Professor of Humanitarian Studies
Associate Research Professor of Humanitarian Studies Marc Sommers investigates the social and cultural nuances of international development and conflict, and his resulting discoveries are often surprising and thought-provoking. He has done research, evaluation, and policy analysis in 20 war-affected countries in Africa, Europe and Latin America, with a strong focus on children and youth at risk, conflict and education.
While interviewing Sierra Leonean refugees affected by the “Operation No Living Thing” attack on Freetown in 1999, Sommers made an interesting discovery. He recalls that the refugees “started telling me about Tupac’s music in Freetown, and how it was so much a part of the attack. I’ve been looking at this issue ever since.”
His subsequent research, funded by a grant from the Mellon-MIT Program on NGOs and Forced Migration, found that Shakur’s music, Stallone’s Rambo movies, Bob Marley’s lyrics and other western cultural iconography were employed as integral recruiting tools and incitements to violence in Sierra Leone’s rebel training camps. The ongoing research project, intended to culminate in a book entitled Terror and Transformation: Child Soldiers and Popular Culture in Sierra Leone, looks at the role of popular culture on youth lives during and after Sierra Leone’s civil war.
Along with his research on popular culture, Sommers’ interest in youth in conflict zones is reflected in his book Islands of Education: Schooling, Civil War, and the Southern Sudanese (1983-2004) which was published in 2005. Sponsored by UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning, the book is an exploration of the devastating effects civil war has had on education for southern Sudanese. More recently, Sommers has been conducting a review of literature on education in fragile states with Professor James Williams of George Washington University. He is also in the process of completing his seventh book, titled Manhood, Money and Food: Youth in Rwanda.
“Youth in war are considered engines of destruction and threats to peacebuilding,” Sommers says. “While things are beginning to change, their incredible positive energy, resilience, creativity, and resourcefulness are still too often overlooked.”
In addition to research, policy evaluation work takes Sommers—who is fluent in Swahili—throughout the world. In 2007-2008, he carried out fieldwork for the evaluation of a leadership training program in East Timor. As a consultant to the World Bank, he is providing technical advice on Rwandan youth issues.
At Fletcher, Sommers teaches two Spring Semester courses titled “African Communities in Crisis: Perspectives of War and its Aftermath” and “Qualitative Research in Communities Affected by War.”