‘America, Energy and War’ is focus of Rice lecture March 29

MEDIA ADVISORY

David Ruth
david@rice.edu
713-348-6327

Jeff Falk
jfalk@rice.edu
713-348-6775

 ‘America, Energy and War’ is focus of Rice lecture March 29

HOUSTON – (March 25, 2016) – Toby Jones, an associate professor of history at Rutgers University, will discuss the complex relationship between energy, American geopolitical anxiety and the Middle East at Rice University March 29.

Hosted by the university’s Department of History, the event is free and open to the public.

Who: Toby Jones, associate professor of history at Rutgers University, and author of “Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia” and “Running Dry: Essays on Energy, Water and Environmental Crisis.” He is currently working on a new book, “America’s Oil Wars.”

What: An Ervin Frederick Kalb Lecture in History titled “America, Energy and War.”

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 29.

Where: Rice University, Rice Memorial Center, Farnsworth Pavilion, 6100 Main St.

Over the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the United States waged what should reasonably be argued was a long war in the Middle East, according to Jones. “At the heart of this history is a complex relationship between energy, American geopolitical anxiety, revolution, radicalism and shifting crises in an embattled region,” he said. “While it is commonly posited that wars in the region can or should be understood as struggles for direct control over oil or that the militarization of the Middle East only reflects the pursuit of petrodollars, I encourage a new way of thinking.”

By examining the steady increase of violence in the Persian Gulf that began in the mid-1980s, Jones will argue that the distinction between energy and war was systematically erased and that a new material order of militarized-energy networks was made. The result has been a deeply entangled history of weapons, oil and war ever since, he said.

Members of the news media who want to attend should RSVP to Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.

For a map of Rice University’s campus with parking information, go to www.rice.edu/maps. Media are advised to park in the Central Campus Garage.

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