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122. Lecture: The Evolution of the Civic Space in Modern African Democracy
- Author:
- Idayat Hassan and Kwame Karikari
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Ghana Center for Democratic Development
- Abstract:
- Over the last decade, the world has witnessed a decline in democracy and the closing of civic spaces – the bedrock of democratic society through which citizens and civil society organizations are able to organize, participate and communicate without hindrance. These two phenomena have dominated conversations on various platforms globally and have intensified since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Democratic backsliding and shrinking civic space in our part of the world represent a major setback for the region and its people. This lecture seeks to deliberate on these evolving issues and offer practical recommendations aimed at influencing urgent interventions that will help halt democratic backsliding and the closing of democratic civic spaces.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Governance, Democracy, COVID-19, and Democratic Backsliding
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Ghana
123. Panel I: Deconstructing the Parallels between Holocaust Distortion and Genocide Denial
- Author:
- Tanya Domi, Laura Cohen, Riada Ašimović Akyol, Hikmet Karčić, James Smith, and Robert Williams
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- Genocide denial not only abuses history, including contemporary history, but it also insults the survivors and extends the impact of the original crimes. Denial is the final act that never ends for the survivors. This symposium examines some of the parallels of contemporary genocide denial in the Balkans with increasing Holocaust denial and distortion sweeping across Europe. What can we learn from Holocaust experts and scholars that is applicable to the present? And what are some ways that memory activists resist denial of the most brutal crimes?
- Topic:
- Genocide, History, Holocaust, Memory, and Activism
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe and Balkans
124. Cultural Encounters: Istanbul and Refugees from the Russian Empire (1919-1923) - Welcome & Panel I
- Author:
- Özalp Birol, Ipek Cem Taha, Valentina Izmirlieva, Vladimir Alexandrov, and Edward Kasinec
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- The Encounter in Context: Istanbul Under the Armistice Chair: Holger Klein Valentina Izmirlieva (Columbia University), "The Four Paradoxes of Istanbul's Beyaz Ruslar Moment" Vladimir Alexandrov (Yale University), "Frederick Bruce Thomas and Being Black in Constantinople" Edward Kasinec (Hoover Institution, Stanford University), "American Elite Philanthropy, Anna V.S. Mitchell and The Constantinople/Istanbul Russians, 1920-1929"
- Topic:
- History, Culture, and Refugees
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Eurasia, and Turkey
125. Cultural Encounters: Istanbul and the Refugees from the Russian Empire (1919-1923) | Panel III
- Author:
- Vladimir Alexandrov, Ayşenur Güler, Ekaterina Aygün, and Nadia Podzemskaia
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- Artists in Transcultural Dialog Chair: Vladimir Alexandrov Ayşenur Güler (Independent Researcher, London) [Via Zoom], "Findings on Gritchenko's Sojourn in Istanbul (1919-1921)" Ekaterina Aygün (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich), "Union of Russian Painters in Constantinople (1921/1922-1923) as an Émigré Artists' Collective" Nadia Podzemskaia (ITEM, CNRS-ETS, Paris), "Constantinople/Istanbul in the First Half of the 1920s, through the Eyes of the Émigré Artists from the Russian Empire"
- Topic:
- History, Culture, Refugees, and Dialogue
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Eurasia, and Turkey
126. Cultural Exchanges: Istanbul and Refugees from the Russian Empire (1919-1923) - Panel II
- Author:
- Valentina Izmirlieva, Holger A. Klein, and Sergey A. Ivanov
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- The Byzantine Legacy Rediscovered Chair: Valentina Izmirlieva Holger A. Klein (Columbia University), "From Russia to Byzantium: Thomas Whittemore's Intellectual Formation and the Work of the Byzantine Institute of America" Sergey A. Ivanov (Moscow Higher School of Economics), "Byzantium as Seen by the White Russians in Constantinople"
- Topic:
- History, Culture, Refugees, and Byzantine Empire
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Eurasia, and Turkey
127. Cultural Encounters: Istanbul and the Refugees from the Russian Empire (1919-1923) - Panel IV
- Author:
- Cengiz Kahraman
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- Cengiz Kahraman (Istanbul Photography Museum) and Valentina Izmirlieva present two archives of Iraïda Barry's life and work - one in Istanbul, the other in New York.
- Topic:
- History, Culture, and Refugees
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Eurasia, and Turkey
128. European Islamophobia
- Author:
- Farid Hafez
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
- Abstract:
- Islamophobia is on the rise at an alarming speed in Europe, a continent with tens of millions of Muslim citizens.
- Topic:
- Minorities, Discrimination, and Islamophobia
- Political Geography:
- Europe
129. Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law
- Author:
- Natsu Saito Taylor
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
- Abstract:
- Professor Natsu Saito Taylor builds on the premise that racialized disparities continue to persist in the United States and are unlikely to be effectively alleviated by the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection. Her book talk provides a functional analysis linking disparate forms of oppression and makes the case that structural racism will be more effectively dismantled by contesting the ongoing settler colonization of these lands and supporting the right of all peoples to self-determination.
- Topic:
- Settler Colonialism, Self-Determination, Equal Protection, and Structural Racism
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America
130. Consistent Partiality: US Foreign Policy on Palestine-Israel
- Author:
- Sarah Whitson and Peter Beinart
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
- Abstract:
- Although the Biden administration talks about supporting democracy and human rights, it has maintained unconditional US support for Israel even as human rights organizations label it an apartheid state. What are the political and ideological foundations of America’s hostility to Palestinian freedom? And what would it take to change them? Does the US’s unconditional support for Israel serve America’s national interests? Join the Center for Security, Race and Rights as we address these questions with two internationally known experts.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Apartheid, Human Rights, Politics, Democracy, Ideology, and Strategic Interests
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, North America, and United States of America
131. The War Economy of the Fragmented Healthcare System in Syria
- Author:
- Omar Dewachi, Duncan McLean, and Aula Abbara
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
- Abstract:
- This devastating conflict that has had a profound impact in Syria, the region and beyond, caused immense suffering. At least 400,000 Syrians have lost their lives. More than 6 million refugees, out of a pre-war population of 22 million, have fled the country and 6.7 million are internally displaced. Over 13 million people continue to need assistance, and yet Syria seems to have dropped off the radar. In this panel discussion, hosted by the Centre for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR) at Rutgers University, experts with in-depth knowledge of Syria and the region will examine some of the challenges humanitarian organisations faced as consequence of the war in Syria. Panellists will examine the relationship between health-care provision on the one hand, and the state’s claim to sovereignty and legitimacy on the other, and how the humanitarian response became quickly entangled into the polarized sides of the Syria war. They will look at how the protracted conflict in Syria has fragmented the country’s health system. They will also describe how, in the absence of a meaningful foreign policy, aid delivery came to fuel Syria’s war economy raising troubling questions as to the limits humanitarian organizations are prepared to accept when operating in a broader system of corruption, predation and denial of access. Guest speakers all contributed separate chapters to the book on Syria edited by MSF “Everybody’s war: politics of aid in the Syria crisis”
- Topic:
- Sovereignty, Economy, Syrian War, Humanitarian Organizations, and Healthcare System
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Syria
132. Power and Restraint in China's Rise
- Author:
- Chin-Hao Huang and Nick R. Smith
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Power and Restraint in China’s Rise Why and when does China exercise restraint—and how does this aspect of Chinese statecraft challenge the conventional narrative about rising powers’ behavior? In his recently published book, Power and Restraint in China’s Rise (Columbia University Press 2022), Chin-Hao Huang argues that China’s aspirations for legitimacy and acceptance provide a key rationale for refraining from coercive measures. Offering new insights into the causes and consequences of change in recent Chinese foreign policy, the findings show why paying attention to the targets of Chinese power matters and what the future of engagement with China might look like.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Power Politics, Political Science, Engagement, and Power
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
133. Taiwan Update: Local Elections and Cross-Strait Relations
- Author:
- Hungdah Su Dean, Yeong-Kang Chen, Min-Hua Huang, Eric Yu, Yeh-Chung Lu, Andrew Nathan, and Thomas J. Christensen
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- A high-level academic delegation will update our audience on current political events in Taiwan and developments in cross-strait relations.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Bilateral Relations, Elections, and Regional Politics
- Political Geography:
- China, Taiwan, and Asia
134. From Development to Democracy: The Transformations of Modern Asia
- Author:
- Dan Slater and Daniel M. Smith
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Over the past century, Asia has been transformed by rapid economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization—a spectacular record of development that has turned one of the world’s poorest regions into one of its richest. Yet Asia’s record of democratization has been much more uneven, despite the global correlation between development and democracy. Why have some Asian countries become more democratic as they have grown richer, while others—most notably China—haven’t? Slater and Wong demonstrate that Asia defies the conventional expectation that authoritarian regimes concede democratization only as a last resort, during times of weakness. Instead, Asian dictators have pursued democratic reforms as a proactive strategy to revitalize their power from a position of strength. Of central importance is whether authoritarians are confident of victory and stability. In Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan these factors fostered democracy through strength, while democratic experiments in Indonesia, Thailand, and Myanmar were less successful and more reversible. At the same time, resistance to democratic reforms has proven intractable in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Reconsidering China’s 1989 crackdown, Slater and Wong argue that it was the action of a regime too weak to concede, not too strong to fail, and they explain why China can allow democracy without inviting instability. The result is a comprehensive regional history that offers important new insights about when and how democratic transitions happen—and what the future of Asia might be.
- Topic:
- Development, Authoritarianism, Democracy, Economic Growth, and Industrialization
- Political Geography:
- Asia
135. A Pilgrim’s Diary: Khatag Dzamyag’s nyindep and Tibetan diary-keeping practices
- Author:
- Lucia Galli and Gray Tuttle
- Publication Date:
- 05-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This presentation offers an overview of diary-keeping practices in the Tibetan literary and historical milieus by taking as a case study the personal account of a 20th-century Eastern Tibetan trader named Khatag Dzamyag (Kha stag ’Dzam yag, 1896-1961). Belonging to the diaristic genre of nyinto (nyin tho)/nyindep (nyin deb), the work lends itself to multiple approaches. Recent studies in the literary field have already marked the existence of a hybrid form of (auto)biographical narratives, in which the factual and the fictional merge, mix, and intertwine. Facts are constantly subject to manipulation through processes of narrativization, selection, expansion, and omission that all together contribute to the coming into play of fiction. By taking life stories as a metaphor for the phenomena of human life, mind, and action, (auto)biographical narratives thus become a means of “doing living”, i.e. a way to understand the meaning of life while acting, thinking, and living it. Taking a narratological approach, Dr. Galli will reflect upon the dual structural core of Dzamyag’s autobiographical first-person pronoun – as self that is both “narrating” and “narrated”, extending the discussion to the way in which traditional structures and institutions of self-representation are actively engaged and reinterpreted throughout the nyindep.
- Topic:
- Religion, History, and Narrative
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Tibet
136. Toward an Intellectual History of Vietnam - A Book Talk
- Author:
- Martina Nguyen, Claire Edington, Duy Lap Nguyen, Yen Vu, and Lien-Hang Nguyen
- Publication Date:
- 05-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This event will be a book talk of Martina Nguyen’s latest book On Our Own Strength. The questions that orient the event are: What does a Vietnamese intellectual history look like? How does it contribute or challenge existing understandings of intellectual history, in both local and global senses? While these two events are distinct, they work toward establishing a subdiscipline that has yet to be defined in Vietnam Studies. Intellectual history, which comes from a European tradition, has predominantly focused on ideas in relation to philosophy, reserved for erudites distanced from the masses. Only more recently has ‘global intellectual history’ emerged to valorize different sources of epistemological contribution around the world, to encourage new perspectives and connections. In the case of Vietnam, so much of Vietnamese intellectual activity (at least in the modern context) is inextricable to nationalism, cultural exchange, societal transformations. At the core of major on-the-ground transitions is in fact a negotiation and discussion of ideas both from within and without. If we return to this fundamental understanding of intellectual history, as a transformation of ideas, then we are able to see how Vietnam’s intellectual activity offers an understanding of intellectual history that is integral to the making and shaping of social and political history. Such an event is important to continue to place Columbia as a burgeoning center for Vietnam Studies. The presentation of Martina Nguyen’s book is a clear example of how intellectual activity permeates social and political movements, and how intellectuals themselves were the main actors for radical political parties. The talk will be followed by short comments by the guests, informed by their own work on various ideas and their transformations, including the epistemology of medicine, and the importation of continental philosophy in Vietnam.
- Topic:
- Intellectual History, Philosophy, Political Movements, and Medicine
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Vietnam
137. Studying Maltreatment Through Polyvictimization: Evidence from the Salar Ethnic Group in Qinghai
- Author:
- Clifton R. Emery and Qin Gao
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This lecture uses in-depth river of life oral history data collected from 200 Salar mothers in Qinghai, China to study the invasiveness, exploitativeness, and severity of victimization among children. This event is part of the 2022-2023 lecture series on “Urbanization, Well-being, and Public Policy: China from Comparative Perspectives” and is sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by Columbia's China Center for Social Policy and the Columbia Global Centers | Beijing.
- Topic:
- Minorities, Ethnicity, Oral History, Victimization, and Qinghai
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
138. Migrant Worker Rights in Singapore: Advocacy, Legal Frameworks and Prospects for Change
- Author:
- Debbie Fordyce and Laavanya Kathiravelu
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Debbie Fordyce, President of Transient Workers Council Too, and Laavanya Kathiravelu, Associate professor at Nanyang Technological University, will discuss their advocacy and research on migrant worker issues in Singapore. COVID-19 highlighted some of the structural problems faced by the large population of migrant workers in Singapore. Systemic problems include high recruitment costs, restricted job mobility, employer’s right to terminate the worker at will, and weak wage protection. Our speakers will address these issues and what might be done to protect the rights and needs of migrant workers in Singapore.
- Topic:
- Advocacy, COVID-19, Migrant Workers, and Migrants
- Political Geography:
- Singapore and Southeast Asia
139. Organized Shinto’s Efforts to Restore the Imperial Rescript on Education in Postwar Japan
- Author:
- Hirokazu Yoshie and Paul Kreitman
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- In the 1960s, the Association for Shinto Shrines—comprising 98% of the shrines nationwide—began running a decade-old campaign to reinstate a prewar symbol of emperor-centered nationalism, i.e., the Imperial Rescript on Education (kyōiku chokugo). Member priests petitioned prime ministers and other LDP politicians, published manuals for adults and picture books for children, and held summer camps for young students. These efforts were based on a modern translation into which the organization had rendered from the originally archaic rescript. Puzzlingly, this modern paraphrase completely concealed the authorship and centrality of the Meiji emperor, leaving only generic words of patriotism, which apparently defeats the purpose of the restorationism. His presentation makes sense of the campaign by analyzing organized Shinto’s discourse with it and considering its broader historical context. The narrative starts from the US occupation era (1945-1952), when the official invalidation of the rescript by Americans left conservative Japanese aggrieved. After failed attempts to revise the new constitution (1952-1964), the restoration movement gathered momentum amid left-leaning campus activism in around 1970. Convinced that it was a result of America’s ideological colonization, the Shinto organization argued that the restoration would serve to overcome that negative influence. But they tried to do so without disrupting popular sovereignty of postwar Japan, which required dilution of the text’s politically incorrect elements. The talk ends by suggesting the significance of looking at prewar legacies in our understanding of the role of the monarchy in postwar Japan.
- Topic:
- Education, Religion, History, and Shintoism
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
140. The Urbanization of People- The Politics of Development in the Chinese City
- Author:
- Eli Friedman and Yao Lu
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- The Urbanization of People (May 2022, Columbia University Press) reveals how cities in China have granted public goods to the privileged while condemning poor and working-class migrants to insecurity, constant mobility, and degraded educational opportunities. Using the school as a lens on urban life, Eli Friedman investigates how the state manages flows of people into the city. He demonstrates that urban governments are providing quality public education to those who need it least: school admissions for nonlocals heavily favor families with high levels of economic and cultural capital. Those deemed not useful are left to enroll their children in precarious resource-starved private schools that sometimes are subjected to forced demolition. Over time, these populations are shunted away to smaller locales with inferior public services. Based on extensive ethnographic research and hundreds of in-depth interviews, this interdisciplinary book details the policy framework that produces unequal outcomes as well as providing a fine-grained account of the life experiences of people drawn into the cities as workers but excluded as full citizens.
- Topic:
- Development, Politics, Urbanization, and Cities
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia