Jan. 11 is the 10th anniversary of the opening of the U.S. military detention camp for terrorist suspects at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. UC Davis experts can comment on the following aspects of the detention camp:

DETAINEE POETRY -- Flagg Miller, an associate professor of religious studies, is the author of "Forms of Suffering in Muslim Prison Poetry" in the 2007 book "Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak," edited by Marc Falkoff. A linguistic and cultural anthropologist, Miller can speak broadly about the roles of language ideology and poetry in contemporary Muslim reform in the Middle East, as well as what Guantanamo detainees' poems reveal about the men who wrote them. "The ultimate reception of the detainees' verse is likely to be as varied as the aims of the poets, rendered in as many strains as an anthem can have," Miller writes. "However construed, the poets strike a deep chord with many audiences, reminding them of the stunted nature of justice at Guantanamo." Miller's newest book project is based on his study of an audiocassette collection formerly owned by Osama bin Laden and now held at Yale University. Miller, who is fluent in Arabic, is translating the collection and exploring its implications for deepening our understanding of bin Laden’s intellectual development and the development of al-Qaida. Contact: Flagg Miller, Religious Studies, fmiller@ucdavis.edu, (530) 574-3758.

JUVENILE DETAINEES, TORTURE -- Linguistics professor Almerindo Ojeda, who directs the UC Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas and its Guantanamo Testimonials Project, can talk about his efforts to compile and archive information related to Guantanamo from sources worldwide. He is launching a "Virtual Site of Remembrance for Camp X Ray" (the first camp for detainees) and has posted on a number of subjects, including dryboarding and "Guantanamo's Children," in which he concluded that the U.S. Department of State underreported to the United Nations by 50 percent the number of juveniles seized and sent to the prison. The volunteer-staffed Guantanamo Testimonials Project also gathers accounts of torture of Guantanamo Bay prisoners found in news media reports, e-mails, diaries and other sources worldwide. In addition, the project has published a book, "The Trauma of Psychological Torture," that contains the proceedings of a September 2006 conference sponsored by the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain, which drew psychologists, psychiatrists, neurobiologists, lawyers and historians from nine institutions in the U.S. and Germany. More information is available at http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/. Contact: Almerindo Ojeda, Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, aeojeda@ucdavis.edu, (530) 752-9933.

DECONSTRUCTING THE "AGE OF TERROR" -- Scott Shershow, professor of English, focuses his work on contemporary legal and political issues, including the Guantanamo detainees, illegal detention, torture, sovereign power and the laws of war. He is the author of "Does Torture Have a Future?" in the fall 2006 issue of the journal Boundary 2 and "Beyond or Before the Law at Guantanamo" in the fall 2004 issue of the journal Peace Review. He is at work on a book tentatively titled "Dignity, Sovereignty, Sacrifice: Rethinking a Fatal Triangle in the Age of Terror."  Contact: Scott Shershow, English, scshershow@ucdavis.edu, (530) 752-3269.

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For 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has 31,000 students, an annual research budget that exceeds $500 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges -- Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science -- and advanced degrees from five professional schools: Education, Law, Management, Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine. The UC Davis School of Medicine and UC Davis Medical Center are located on the Sacramento campus near downtown.