Scholars talk about NAFTA
"NAFTA and Beyond," a conference sponsored by University programs ranging from the Center for Migration and Development to the Center for Human Values, highlighted the impact of free trade on the developing world in discussions this weekend.Lectures and papers were generally focused on ways to fine-tune the North American Free Trade Agreement 11 years after its implementation."We wanted to bring together a group of acclaimed sociologists, economists, and anthropologists to discuss these topics of globalization," said sociology professor Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, who helped to organize the conference.Of the 23 speakers at the conference, 15 came from other universities, including some in Ecuador and Mexico, according to Nancy Doolan, who administers the Center for Migration and Development.Conference participants said an international and interdisciplinary approach to the study of globalization was important."They have brought together such a diversity of people," said Gary Gereffi, a globalization scholar at Duke University who spoke at the conference.