The 'Rise of Drones' Explored in Oct. 17 Colloquium

Dr. John Hill and Dr. Ann Rogers will speak on “The Rise of Drones: From the Great War to Gaza” at VIU’s Arts and Humanities Colloquium on Friday, Oct. 17.

October 9, 2014 - 12:15pm

A discussion on drones today can range from annoyance at a neighbour kid’s spying to shock at the widespread use of drone technology in military surveillance throughout the world.

What might come as a surprise is the fact that drones have been used as far back as World War I, when they were used as targets and flying bombs.

Vancouver Island University’s (VIU) Arts and Humanities Colloquium Series continues Friday, Oct. 17 with a focus on the military use of drones: their history, the controversy surrounding their use, and some conclusions by two academics who have conducted extensive research and written a book on the topic.

In their presentation titled “The Rise of Drones: From the Great War to Gaza,” speakers Dr. John Hill and Dr. Ann Rogers will trace drones from their appearance in WWI, through experiments with unmanned combat aircraft in WWII, to the focus on surveillance during the Cold War, and on to the huge and controversial expansion of their usage in both military surveillance and combat roles during the last 20 years.

The speakers, a married couple, co-authored the newly released Unmanned: Drone warfare and Global Security (Pluto/Between the Lines). In the book, they consider the question of what difference it has made to take the pilot out of the aircraft.

“Our conclusion is that eliminating risk to personnel has resulted in a lowering of the threshold to the application of military force,” says Dr. Hill. “In combination with the increased level of surveillance this technology provides, this has allowed the development of a new form of warfare in which military scale force is applied to the targeting of individuals, that we call ‘nano-war’.”

Ladysmith-born Rogers, formerly deputy editor of the London-based international security journal, Jane’s Intelligence Review, was herself a student at VIU in the 1980s, and has taught in both the History and Politics departments at VIU. Hill is the coordinator of the VIU Writing Centre, and taught for five years in the English Department. Previously he wrote for a range of Jane’s publications on military and security matters.

The free Colloquium presentation will be held in the Malaspina Theatre in Building 310 from 10 to 11:30 am. Courtesy parking is available in Lot 5D off 5th Street from 9:15 am to 1:00 pm. The public is welcome to join the conversation in the theatre foyer, with cookies and coffee, from 9:30 am.

“With 2014 the centennial of the outbreak of WWI, our three fall presentations in VIU’s Arts and Humanities Colloquium series will touch on the theme of war and its consequences,” says Dr. Dawn Thompson, one of the faculty coordinating the series.

The Arts & Humanities Colloquium Series continues with one final fall presentation on November 28, with Terri Doughty and Dr. Justin McGrail presenting Cultural Contact Zones: Wroclaw, Poland, a look at how modern writers and artists are recovering Poland's multi-ethnic history and creating identities in a historically war-torn country.

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