CHIASMOS: The University of Chicago International and Area Studies Multimedia Outreach Source [audio]

A talk by Hal Whitesman, Financial Times' Chicago and Midwest bureau chief. Thanks to demand from big emerging economies, most South American governments have become increasingly "resource nationalistic" and have ramped up social spending to meet the needs of the poor and the indigenous, causing poverty levels to drop - at the same time as poverty has been on the increase in the United States. Will the U.S. continue losing influence in Latin America? Will China soon dominate the area both commercially and strategically? Can the U.S. do business with countries from Mexico to Argentina without interfering in their internal affairs?

A talk by David Scheffer, Director of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University. As senior adviser to Madeleine Albright and then as President Clinton’s ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, David Scheffer was at the forefront of the efforts that led to criminal tribunals for the Balkans, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia, and that resulted in the creation of the permanent International Criminal Court. All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals is Scheffer’s gripping insider’s account of the international gamble to prosecute those responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and to redress some of the bloodiest human rights atrocities in our time. Introduction by Susan Gzesh, Executive Director of the University of Chicago Human Rights Program and Senior Lecturer in the College.

Since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was established in 1994, efforts to secure international agreement on climate policy have gained increasing attention, but compromise on the issues has not been easy to achieve.

For the last decade, Venezuela’s “Bolivarian Revolution” has captured international attention. Poverty, inequality, and unemployment have all dropped, while health, education, and living standards have seen a commensurate rise. Venezuela Speaks! is the real, bottom-up account of the country's bloodless uprising and reorganization. Co-editor Carlos Martinez will explain how the stories in Venezuela Speaks! offer a different perspective than that of the international mainstream media, which has focused predominantly on Venezuela’s controversial president, Hugo Chavez.

In this talk, Robert Pape presents findings from the Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism demonstrating that, contrary to popular belief, religion alone motivates only a tiny minority of suicide attacks. Instead, the root cause is foreign military occupation, which triggers secular and religious people to carry out suicide attacks. From The World Beyond the Headlines series.

A talk by Whitney Cox, Lecturer in Sanskrit, School of Oriental and African Studies.

Imtiaz Gul is the Executive Director of the Centre for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad. He is the author of three books on the ongoing security concerns in South Asia: The Unholy Nexus, The Al-Qaeda Connection, and The Most Dangerous Place. Gul addresses the longer term political and social consequences of the floods in Pakistan of July of this year.

Dipesh Chakrabarty is the Lawrence A. Klimpton Distinguished Service Professor of History at the University of Chicago.

Raman Sukumar is the author of three books on the ecology and conservation of elephants, and the recipient of the International Cosmos Prize in 2006. He is presently completing a cultural history of the Asian elephant that will be published in late 2010. Using literary sources and artistic representation of elephants in painting and sculpture, Sukumar's talk traces the changing paradigms in the elephant-human relationship through history, and provides possible ecological explanations for the same.

Robert Glennon is a nationally-renowned water expert, and the author of Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It (2009). His previous books include the highly-acclaimed Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America's Fresh Waters (2002). Glennon is the Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy in the Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. Glennon explores potential water futures for the U.S. — one driven by passivity, the other by foresight.

A talk by Dipesh Chakrabarty, Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor of History, South Asian Languages and Civilizations and the College, University of Chicago and David Archer, Professor in the Department of Geophysical Science at the University of Chicago on the global climate crisis. As part of the quarterly Workshop on the Global Environment, historian Dipesh Chakrabarty and geophysicist David Archer meet to discuss human-environmental relationships. Archer served as discussant of Chakrabaty's presentation titled "Between Globalization and Global Warming: The Long and the Short of Human History".

A talk by Kapil Raj, Directeur d'études at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris.

Santiago Levy is Vice President for Sector and Knowledge at the Inter-American Development Bank and author of the book Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes: Social Policy, Informality and Economic Growth in Mexico. Mr. Levy speaks on the growth of Mexico’s informal economy.

A keynote address by David Hardiman, History, University of Warwick at the Seventh South Asia Graduate Student Conference. With the support of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies (COSAS), The Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture (CSRPC) and The Center for Gender Studies (CGS).

Srimati Basu, Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies University of Kentucky on "Impossible Translation: Beyond the Legal Body in Two South Asian Family Courts"

A talk by Debjani Ganguly, Head, Humanities Research Center, Australian National University. From the South Asia Seminar.

A speech by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General of NATO. In his first visit to Chicago as Secretary General, Anders Rasmussen discusses Afghanistan, the lessons learned after eight years, and implications for future operations.

A multi-disciplinary panel, held at the Shedd Aquarium, provided a public examination and discussion of the threat of Asian carp to Chicago and the Great Lakes. Experts in biology, economics and policy shared the most up to date information about how these species threaten the ecology of the Great Lakes, how closing Chicago waterways would affect the regional economy, and the broader implications for the Great Lakes region and environmental management. Cosponsored by the Program on the Global Environment and the Chicago Council on Science and Technology.

A talk by Robin Jeffrey, Director, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. From the South Asia Seminar.

Panel 3: Uday Singh Mehta, Amherst College; Arjun Appadurai, New York University; Sheldon Pollock, Columbia University. Co-sponsored by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT), the Franke Institute for the Humanities, and the Nicholson Center for British Studies.

Panel 2: Miranda Johnson, University of MIchigan; Bain Attwood, Monash University; Ajay Skaria, University of MInnesota. Co-sponsored by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT), the Franke Institute for the Humanities, and the Nicholson Center for British Studies.

Panel 1: Sandro Mezzadra, University of Bologna; Sanjay Seth, Goldsmiths, University of London; Faisal Devji, St. Anthony's College, University of Oxford. Co-sponsored by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT), the Franke Institute for the Humanities, and the Nicholson Center for British Studies.

A keynote address by Carlo Ginzburg, Scuola Normale di Pisa (partial recording). From the conference 'After Europe: Postcolonial Knowledge in the Age of Globalization'. Co-sponsored by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT), the Franke Institute for the Humanities, and the Nicholson Center for British Studies.

A talk by political scientist Gilles Dorronsoro, visiting scholar in the Carnegie Endowment's South Asia Program. His research focuses on security and political development in Afghanistan, particularly the role of the International Security Assistance Force, the steps required to achieve a viable government in Kabul, and the conditions necessary for withdrawal scenarios. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series. Cosponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the South Asian Language & Area Center, and the Center for East European and Russian/Eurasian Studies.

A talk by Kate Brittlebank, Senior Lecturer, School of History and Classics, University of Tasmania. From the South Asia Seminar.

A talk by journalist and author Roger Thurow. For more than thirty years, humankind has known how to grow enough food to end chronic hunger worldwide. Yet while the "Green Revolution" succeeded in South America and Asia, it never got to Africa. Now, an impending global food crisis threatens to make things worse. In the west we think of famine as a natural disaster, brought about by drought; or as the legacy of brutal dictators. But in this powerful investigative narrative, Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman argue that in the past few decades, American, British, and European policies conspired to keep Africa hungry and unable to feed itself. As a new generation of activists work to keep famine from spreading, Enough sheds light on a humanitarian issue of utmost urgency. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series. Cosponsored by the Program on the Global Environment.

Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson is an Indologist and fellow at All Souls College at the University of Oxford. His field is early medieval religion in India and Southeast Asia, focusing on the history of Saivism, its relations with the state, and its influence on Buddhism and Vaishnavism. In the last 26 years, Alexis Sanderson has published over 1,400 pages of articles covering Saiva, Vaishnava, and Buddhist Tantra in South and Southeast Asia.

A talk by Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz. The current global financial crisis carries a "made in America" label. In "Freefall", Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz explains how America exported bad economics, bad policies, and bad behavior to the rest of the world, only to cobble together a haphazard and ineffective response when the markets finally seized up. Drawing on his academic expertise, his years spent shaping policy in the Clinton administration and at the World Bank, and his more recent role as head of a UN Commission charged with reforming the global financial system, Stiglitz then outlines a way forward building on ideas that he has championed his entire career: restoring the balance between markets and government; addressing the inequalities of the global financial system; and demanding more good ideas (and less ideology) from economists. "Freefall" combines an account of the current crisis with a discussion of the broader economic issues at stake. From the World Beyond the Headlines series.

A talk by American University professor Deborah Brautigam. Is China a rogue donor, as some media pundits suggest? Or is China helping the developing world pave a pathway out of poverty, as the Chinese claim? This well-timed book provides the first comprehensive account of China's aid and economic cooperation overseas. Deborah Brautigam tackles the myths and realities, explaining what the Chinese are doing, how they do it, how much aid they give, and how it all fits into their "going global" strategy. Will Chinese engagement benefit Africa? Using hard data and a series of vivid stories ranging across agriculture, industry, natural resources, and governance, Brautigam's fascinating book provides an answer. Cosponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series.

A talk by Michael Dodson, Associate Professor of History, Indiana University. From the South Asia Seminar.

Greg Beckett, Anthropology PhD and Collegiate Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences, and Ann Clark, Principal at Nicholas Clark Architects, Ltd, contextualize US-Haitian relations and Port-au-Prince itself, and discuss the nature of Haitian political and social life before the earthquake.

A talk by author and Earth Policy Institute founder Lester Brown. As fossil fuel prices rise, oil insecurity deepens, and concerns about climate change cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new energy economy is emerging. Wind, solar, and geothermal energy are replacing oil, coal, and natural gas, at a pace and on a scale we could not have imagined even a year ago. For the first time since the Industrial Revolution, we have begun investing in energy sources that can last forever. Plan B 4.0 explores both the nature of this transition to a new energy economy and how it will affect our daily lives. Cosponsored by the Program on the Global Environment. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series.

Rodolfo Pastor is Minister of Culture, Arts and Sports of Honduras, and, since the coup of June 28 that overthrew the government of President Manuel Zelaya, he has also been Visiting Professor of History at Harvard University. Pastor discusses the current political situation of Honduras, the Honduran political system, as well as the upcoming election.

Panel 3: Science and Technology as a Basis for a New Development Model for the Amazon Tatiana Sá, Engenheira Agônoma, Diretora-Executiva da Embrapa, Brasília Adalberto Luis Val, Diretor do INPA, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, AM Mauro Barbosa de Almeida, Professor of Anthropology, UNICAMP Bertha Becker, Geógrafa, Professora Emérita da UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, RJ Respondent: Manuela Carneiro da Cunha, Antropóloga, Professora da Universidade de Chicago

Special Address: Sônia Guajajara, Vice-Coordinator of COIAB: Coordenação das Organizações Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira. Cosponsored by the University of Chicago Center for Latin American Studies and the Project on the Global Environment.

A talk by Indira Viswanathan Peterson, David B. Truman Professor of Asian Studies, Mount Holyoke College. From the South Asia Seminar.

Dain Borges, Director, Center for Latin American Studies Mark Hansen, Dean, Social Science Division Ambassador João Almino, Consul General of Brazil in Chicago Marina Silva, Senator, Green Party (from Brazil via video)

Panel 1 - Models of Development: An Assessment of the Last 20 Years of Public Policy for the Amazon Region: Roberto Smeraldi, Journalist, Director of Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira, São Paulo, SP Foster Brown, Pesquisador do Woods Hole Research Center e do Parque Zoobotânico, Universidade do Acre, Rio Branco, AC Phillip M. Fearnside, Ecólogo, Pesquisador do Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, AM Jorge Viana. Engenheiro Florestal, ex Governador do Acre, Rio Branco, AC Respondent: Mary Allegretti, Antropóloga, Consultora Independente, Curitiba, PR

Panel 2 - Social Movements and Chico Mendes' Legacy for the Sustainable Development of the Amazon: Mary Allegretti, Antropóloga, Consultora Independente, Curitiba, PR Ane Alencar, Geógrafa, Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia, Brasilia, DF Marianne Schmink, Professor, Director of the Tropical Conservation and Development Program, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL Ricardo Paes de Barros, Economista, Pesquisador do IPEA - Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada, Brasilia, DF Respondent: Mauro Barbosa de Almeida, Antropólogo, Professor da Universidade de Campinas, São Paulo, SP

20th Anniversary Roundtable with the Consuls General of Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Poland. A discussion concerning the historic events of two decades ago in Central and Eastern Europe, and the paths taken since then - through personal reflections and recollections of how the process developed, the spirit of the movements, the leaders, the political atmosphere, and the ways in which the transition has resonated through the past twenty years. Cosponsored by the Center for East European and Russian/Eurasian Studies and the International House Global Voices Program. Part of "With Immediate Effect": The Events of 1989 Revisited

A talk by New York Times journalist Neil MacFarquhar. His book, "The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday" reveals a cross-section of unsung, dynamic men and women pioneering political and social change. There is the Kuwaiti sex therapist in a leather suit with matching red headscarf, and the Syrian engineer advocating a less political interpretation of the Koran. MacFarquhar interacts with Arabs and Iranians in their every day lives, removed from the violence we see constantly, yet wrestling with the region's future. Cosponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series.

A talk by Bhavani Raman, Associate Professor of History, Princeton University. From the South Asia Seminar.

Susanna Hecht, Professor of Urban Planning at the UCLA School of Public Affairs, delivers a lecture entitled, "Tropicality, Tropicalism: Forest Resurgence and the Politics of Latin American Conservation"

Carlos Fernando Chamorro is the son of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, editor of the independent daily La Prensa who was assassinated during the Somoza dictatorship. Chamorro is among the nation's most respected TV journalists, and a leading voice for press freedom and the protection of independent journalism in Nicaragua.

A talk by professor and author David Bosco. From the Berlin Airlift to the Iraq War, the UN Security Council has stood at the heart of global politics. Part public theater, part smoke-filled backroom, the Council has enjoyed notable successes and suffered ignominious failures, but it has always provided a space for the five great powers to sit down together. Five to Rule Them All tells the inside story of this remarkable diplomatic creation. Drawing on extensive research, including dozens of interviews with serving and former ambassadors on the Council, the book chronicles political battles and personality clashes as it opens the closed doors of its meeting room. What emerges here is a revealing portrait of the most powerful diplomatic body in the world. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series.

A talk by David Shulman, Renee Lang Professor of Humanistic Studies, Department of Comparative Religion, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From the South Asia Seminar.

Rafael Hernández is the editor of Temas, the leading Cuban magazine in the social sciences and the humanities, which is renowned for its contribution to intellectual controversy on the island. Hernández addresses Cuba's unique social diversity and the emergence of growing inequality that accompanied and has followed the crisis of the 1990s.

A talk by Richard Eaton, University of Arizona. From the South Asia Seminar.

A talk by C.S. Lakshmi, founder and Director of Sound & Picture Archive for Research on Women (SPARROW) in Mumbai.

A talk by South African author and journalist Mark Gevisser. Mark Gevisser is currently The Nation's Southern African correspondent. In South Africa, his work has appeared in the Mail & Guardian, the Sunday Independent, the Sunday Times and many magazines and periodicals. Internationally, he has written widely on South African politics, culture and society, in publications ranging from Vogue and the New York Times to Foreign Affairs and Art in America. Read Mark Gevisser's featured CIS article connecting Barack Obama's election and the legacy of liberation in South Africa... From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series. Cosponsored by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT), the Political Science Department, the African Studies Workshop, and the Human Rights Program.

A talk by Ruby Lal, Associate Professor Department of South Asian Studies at Emory University.