Hudsonhubtimes.com - Tess Wolfe: Professor unfolds map of humanity

by Tess Wolfe, reporter

Munroe Falls resident James Tyner, professor of geography at Kent State University, sits in his living room, surrounded by photographs of people and places he has visited.

Calm and relaxed, wearing a shirt of richly muted earth tones, the professor shares his interests with me.

"I teach the geography of East and Southeast Asia," Tyner, 42, begins. "So, I try to travel as much throughout the entire Asiatic region as I can."

Tyner said he tries to convey to his students the similarities of people throughout the world; his other emphasis in the classroom is on empathy for those of Asian cultures.

Having been to 18 countries during a 20-year period, including Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, China and Japan, as well as several trips to the Philippines and Cambodia, Tyner has focused his current research on the genocide the Kmer Rouge perpetrated on the people of Cambodia during the 1970s.

Hailing from Los Angeles, he remembers growing up seeing refugees arriving in the U.S. from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

"A lot of the problems they had arose from the fact that Americans didn't know where [the refugees] were coming from," said Tyner. "They didn't understand the context of the war, of genocide -- so, they viewed the refugees as being outsiders, and just very different -- that is part of the difficulty of the adjustment process."

He drew a comparison between earlier refugees with those coming today from the Sudan and Iraq.

"There are lessons we can still learn with Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam," Tyner said. "Understanding some of the trauma its peoples have gone through for the last 30-some years following civil war, war and genocide, and seeing how the societies have responded to that violence -- how they're rising up following that."

Tyner said he has learned genocide and episodes of mass violence can be organized by a small group of individuals who effect radical societal changes.

"You can have just a very small cadre of individuals," he said.

"If you're looking at Darfur today, Cambodia of the 1970s or China of the 1960s -- I think the scary thing you would want to take note of is these individuals feel justified in their actions."

After years of studying the mechanisms of oppression in diverse cultures and settings, Tyner sounded a warning.

"Once you open that Pandora's box, and you begin to acquiesce to the sacrifice of citizens and their civil liberties, it can be a very slippery slope all the way down," he said.

Seeming to change gears from his intense observations, Tyner smiled as he spoke of the warm reception he'd received in his travels.

He said he tries to focus on citizens in everyday life, avoiding most tourist sites to "just see what the people are doing."

"In many of these places, you're talking about individuals and their families who are very impoverished, materially speaking," said Tyner. "But, in terms of their spirituality and outlook, they are very wealthy -- open, receptive and eager to invite you into their home, to sit down and share dinner with them. It's really a wonderful experience."

As we talked, members of Tyner's family stopped by the living room. At one point, daughter Anica, 6, ran in from outdoors, where she had been playing with her sister, Jessica, 5.

"I'm interviewing your father for the newspaper," I said to her.

She smiled, broadly but shyly, and ran back outdoors.

Belinda, Tyner's wife, joined us toward the end of the interview. Born in the Philippines, Belinda moved to California with her family when she was 18. She and Tyner met when both were undergraduates in California: he at Long Beach State University and she at Long Beach City College. She visited the Philippines with Tyner in June, returning there for the first time in 23 years.

"It's a different world," she said. "I'm looking forward to taking the two girls, and letting them know there's a lot of world out there. Here, they fight over a Barbie."

I have since remembered Tyner's many thoughtful insights.

If there is discomfort in asking ourselves why we inflict horrors on one another, there is also comfort in knowing people like Tyner endeavor to make sure we don't sweep such atrocities under the rug of ignorance and indifference.

E-mail: twolfe@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-686-3916