Wurzweiler Professor Jonathan Fast was one of 22 academics from around the world invited to the annual Oxford Symposium at
Brasenose College in
Oxford, England. Dr. Fast presented a paper called
The School System From Hell, a reference to the
school district of North-Western Alaska and how its' embedded racism toward the local indigenous cultures, the Yup’iks and the Athbaskans, and structured inequality of services was one of the factors contributing to a school rampage shooting by Evan Ramsey in 1997. The paper was adapted by Dr. Fast from his book
Ceremonial Violence: the Psychologicl Explanation for School Shootings, which will be published in September by the
Overlook Press.
The five day event, organized by
University of San Franciso's
Center for Family and Child Development, began on August 10
th. Twenty-two attendees from the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, China, and the Phillipines, presented papers on topics at the cutting edge of school based health and family therapy. During their free time, attendees explored
Oxford’s narrow streets, marveled at the architecture, or practiced punting on the
Thames.
