Podcasts about African studies

This podcast episode, hosted by Kikee Doma Bhutia from the University of Tartu, features journalist and analyst Aadil Brar discussing India's foreign policy amidst rising global tensions. The conversation focuses on India's balancing act between the US, China, and its own strategic autonomy in a contested Indo-Pacific region. Key topics include India's evolving role as a middle power, responding to China's assertiveness along the India-China border and in the Indo-Pacific, while maintaining its traditional non-alignment stance. India's foreign policy is at a crossroads, shaped by five tense years since the Galwan Valley clash with China. Despite rounds of talks, the border remains uneasy and trust is scarce. Today, China's assertiveness drives nearly every major Indian strategic decision-from military deployments and Quad partnerships to concerns over Beijing's mega-dams on the Brahmaputra. Meanwhile, the US sees India as a key counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific, but Delhi is determined to maintain its independence and avoid being boxed into alliances. As India watches China's moves from the Himalayas to Taiwan, the question is clear: Are we witnessing a true pivot in Indian foreign policy, or simply a sharp recalibration to meet new realities? The answer will shape Asia's balance of power for years to come. The podcast was brought to you by host Dr. Kikee Doma Bhutia a Research Fellow and India Coordinator at the Asia Centre, University of Tartu, Estonia. Her current research combines folkloristics, international relations and Asian studies, focusing on the role of religion and culture in times of crisis, national and regional identities, and geopolitics conflict between India and China. The podcast guest speaker Aadil Brar is a journalist and international affairs analyst based in Taipei, currently a Reporter at TaiwanPlus News. His reporting focuses on international security, U.S.-China relations, and East Asian security. Previously, he was a China news reporter for Newsweek and has contributed to the BBC World Service, The Print India, and National Geographic. In 2023, he was a Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fellow and a visiting scholar at National Chengchi University in Taipei. Brar holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia and an MSc. in International Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. ​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

This podcast episode, hosted by Kikee Doma Bhutia from the University of Tartu, features journalist and analyst Aadil Brar discussing India's foreign policy amidst rising global tensions. The conversation focuses on India's balancing act between the US, China, and its own strategic autonomy in a contested Indo-Pacific region. Key topics include India's evolving role as a middle power, responding to China's assertiveness along the India-China border and in the Indo-Pacific, while maintaining its traditional non-alignment stance. India's foreign policy is at a crossroads, shaped by five tense years since the Galwan Valley clash with China. Despite rounds of talks, the border remains uneasy and trust is scarce. Today, China's assertiveness drives nearly every major Indian strategic decision-from military deployments and Quad partnerships to concerns over Beijing's mega-dams on the Brahmaputra. Meanwhile, the US sees India as a key counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific, but Delhi is determined to maintain its independence and avoid being boxed into alliances. As India watches China's moves from the Himalayas to Taiwan, the question is clear: Are we witnessing a true pivot in Indian foreign policy, or simply a sharp recalibration to meet new realities? The answer will shape Asia's balance of power for years to come. The podcast was brought to you by host Dr. Kikee Doma Bhutia a Research Fellow and India Coordinator at the Asia Centre, University of Tartu, Estonia. Her current research combines folkloristics, international relations and Asian studies, focusing on the role of religion and culture in times of crisis, national and regional identities, and geopolitics conflict between India and China. The podcast guest speaker Aadil Brar is a journalist and international affairs analyst based in Taipei, currently a Reporter at TaiwanPlus News. His reporting focuses on international security, U.S.-China relations, and East Asian security. Previously, he was a China news reporter for Newsweek and has contributed to the BBC World Service, The Print India, and National Geographic. In 2023, he was a Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fellow and a visiting scholar at National Chengchi University in Taipei. Brar holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia and an MSc. in International Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. ​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

This podcast episode, hosted by Kikee Doma Bhutia from the University of Tartu, features journalist and analyst Aadil Brar discussing India's foreign policy amidst rising global tensions. The conversation focuses on India's balancing act between the US, China, and its own strategic autonomy in a contested Indo-Pacific region. Key topics include India's evolving role as a middle power, responding to China's assertiveness along the India-China border and in the Indo-Pacific, while maintaining its traditional non-alignment stance. India's foreign policy is at a crossroads, shaped by five tense years since the Galwan Valley clash with China. Despite rounds of talks, the border remains uneasy and trust is scarce. Today, China's assertiveness drives nearly every major Indian strategic decision-from military deployments and Quad partnerships to concerns over Beijing's mega-dams on the Brahmaputra. Meanwhile, the US sees India as a key counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific, but Delhi is determined to maintain its independence and avoid being boxed into alliances. As India watches China's moves from the Himalayas to Taiwan, the question is clear: Are we witnessing a true pivot in Indian foreign policy, or simply a sharp recalibration to meet new realities? The answer will shape Asia's balance of power for years to come. The podcast was brought to you by host Dr. Kikee Doma Bhutia a Research Fellow and India Coordinator at the Asia Centre, University of Tartu, Estonia. Her current research combines folkloristics, international relations and Asian studies, focusing on the role of religion and culture in times of crisis, national and regional identities, and geopolitics conflict between India and China. The podcast guest speaker Aadil Brar is a journalist and international affairs analyst based in Taipei, currently a Reporter at TaiwanPlus News. His reporting focuses on international security, U.S.-China relations, and East Asian security. Previously, he was a China news reporter for Newsweek and has contributed to the BBC World Service, The Print India, and National Geographic. In 2023, he was a Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fellow and a visiting scholar at National Chengchi University in Taipei. Brar holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia and an MSc. in International Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. ​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

This podcast episode, hosted by Kikee Doma Bhutia from the University of Tartu, features journalist and analyst Aadil Brar discussing India's foreign policy amidst rising global tensions. The conversation focuses on India's balancing act between the US, China, and its own strategic autonomy in a contested Indo-Pacific region. Key topics include India's evolving role as a middle power, responding to China's assertiveness along the India-China border and in the Indo-Pacific, while maintaining its traditional non-alignment stance. India's foreign policy is at a crossroads, shaped by five tense years since the Galwan Valley clash with China. Despite rounds of talks, the border remains uneasy and trust is scarce. Today, China's assertiveness drives nearly every major Indian strategic decision-from military deployments and Quad partnerships to concerns over Beijing's mega-dams on the Brahmaputra. Meanwhile, the US sees India as a key counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific, but Delhi is determined to maintain its independence and avoid being boxed into alliances. As India watches China's moves from the Himalayas to Taiwan, the question is clear: Are we witnessing a true pivot in Indian foreign policy, or simply a sharp recalibration to meet new realities? The answer will shape Asia's balance of power for years to come. The podcast was brought to you by host Dr. Kikee Doma Bhutia a Research Fellow and India Coordinator at the Asia Centre, University of Tartu, Estonia. Her current research combines folkloristics, international relations and Asian studies, focusing on the role of religion and culture in times of crisis, national and regional identities, and geopolitics conflict between India and China. The podcast guest speaker Aadil Brar is a journalist and international affairs analyst based in Taipei, currently a Reporter at TaiwanPlus News. His reporting focuses on international security, U.S.-China relations, and East Asian security. Previously, he was a China news reporter for Newsweek and has contributed to the BBC World Service, The Print India, and National Geographic. In 2023, he was a Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fellow and a visiting scholar at National Chengchi University in Taipei. Brar holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia and an MSc. in International Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. ​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

African Studies professor and curator Monica Miller discusses The Met's new exhibition “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” which explores fashion as a form of identity, distinction, and expression in African American life.

2025 marks the centenary year of Malcolm X's birth. For the occasion, Dr. Rose Brewer, Thandisizwe Jackson-Nisan and additional planners have organized an event uplifting the politics and vision of Malcolm X. The event is on Saturday, May 17 at UROC at Plymouth and Oliver. The event is described in the promotional materials as gathering of "conscious minds that will include panel discussion, break out groups and vegan food!"  Dr. Rose Brewer is a Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor and Past Chair Person of the Department of African American and African Studies at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She took the time to hop on a ZOOM with Sean McPherson from Jazz88 to talk about the event, provide some modern context for X's impact and point listeners to some additional material if they want to learn more about Malcolm X. 

William Hatungimana is an assistant professor of Global Studies in the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages at the University of Oregon. He discusses his work on immigration and African-China relations. He also talks about the classes he teaches ie: "International Cooperation and Conflict" and "Transnational Migration." Research Notes-ICYMI Kemi Balogun is an associate professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Sociology, and director of African Studies at the University of Oregon. She discusses her book "Beauty Diplomacy: Embodying an Emerging Nation" published in 2020. The book takes a look inside the world of Nigerian beauty contests to see how they are transformed into contested vehicles for promoting complex ideas about gender and power, ethnicity and belonging, and a rapidly changing articulation of Nigerian nationhood.

2025 marks the centenary year of Malcolm X's birth. For the occasion, Dr. Rose Brewer, Thandisizwe Jackson-Nisan and additional planners have organized an event uplifting the politics and vision of Malcolm X. The event is on Saturday, May 17 at UROC at Plymouth and Oliver. The event is described in the promotional materials as gathering of "conscious minds that will include panel discussion, break out groups and vegan food!"  Dr. Rose Brewer is a Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor and Past Chair Person of the Department of African American and African Studies at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She took the time to hop on a ZOOM with Sean McPherson from Jazz88 to talk about the event, provide some modern context for X's impact and point listeners to some additional material if they want to learn more about Malcolm X. 

April: Welcome to the Weinberg in the World Podcast where we bring stories of interdisciplinary thinking in today's complex world. My name is April and I'm your student host of this special episode of the podcast. I'm a second year student studying physics and integrated science, and I'm looking forward to learning more about our guest's career. Today, I'm excited to be speaking with Rachel Pike who graduated from Northwestern in 2006 and is now COO at Modern Treasury. Thank you, Rachel, for taking the time to speak with me today. Rachel: Nice to be here. Nice to meet you April. April: You too. To start us off today, I was wondering if you could tell us more about your time at Northwestern as an undergrad. What did you study? And how did you get to your current career path? Rachel: Oh, man, two different parts. The easy part is to say what I did at Northwestern, so I majored in chemistry, physical chemistry specifically. I had a minor in African studies through the center or program for African Studies. And I did my honors chemistry work with Franz Geiger, Professor Franz Geiger in the chemistry department. So that's sort of the what. My major extracurricular was Fusion Dance Company. That's where I spent a lot of my time. How I went from there to here is such a circuitous, crazy path. It is not direct. I left Northwestern and did a Gates scholarship, I did a PhD in chemistry at Cambridge. Loved it, but I was not meant to be a professor. You could ask John Pyle or Franz Geiger, both of whom advised me. It's just it takes a very certain wonderful mindset, but it's not me, to be a lifelong academic. So I left academics and got an amazing role in venture capital and got to learn all about startups from the investing side. Did that for just over four years. And in my last couple years, started getting really close to one of our companies and operating with them and ended up launching products for them and got the bug. Realized that that was a better calling, a better match for me, which we can talk more about what I mean by that. And moved into operating, so then I worked for a health tech healthcare software company and then I moved here into FinTech. So it sort of couldn't be more random, but also each step made sense only as one step. It's just as a sum, they lead you very far from where you were. Not normal in any sense, but in the end I just don't think anything is normal. All paths turn out to be good as you make these accumulation of small decisions. April: Yeah, okay. What are the most challenging and rewarding aspects of your current job then? Rachel: There's a lot. The hardest thing in a startup, there's so many things that are hard about startups, growing startups, but prioritization and focus is one of the hardest things. And you have to actually prioritize not doing things you want to do, which is very antithetical to what it's like to be a driven, hungry person and be in a company of 200 driven, hungry people. You want to do everything that you see that seems like a big opportunity and a challenge that we need to fix, but you can't. There just literally is not enough time in the day and there's opportunity cost to lack of focus. So I think the hardest thing is, the phrase I always use with my teams is you have to let that fire burn. You just have to pick things that you know are broken that you're not going to fix, that it's not the highest priority thing to fix or things you want to work on that you know we just can't go work on that thing right now, we have to work on this other thing. So it's very counterintuitive and I would say that's the hardest thing to learn when you enter startups, how to get through that kind of mindset. April: Yeah, prioritization is pretty hard when there's so many options. Rachel: Yeah. Yeah, when there's so many options and when you're hungry and you feel like a small startup is always up against big Goliaths, so there's a billion things you can do to go after companies that are bigger. So I would say that's the hardest in terms of not the content of what we do is the wrong word, but what Modern Treasury builds and how we bring it and sell it in the market and how we run the company. Letting fires burn and ruthless prioritization is the most unnatural part of working for a startup, I would say. On the interpersonal part, so not what we do, but how we do it, like in every stage of life and everywhere I've been, the hardest part of anything is getting really good at giving and receiving feedback. And that is a lifelong, you have to dedicate your life to it and using that to make decisions with people. April: Could you talk a little bit more about what your company does and what your role is? Rachel: Yeah, sure. So I'm chief operating officer of Modern Treasury. Modern Treasury is a payment operations software platform. So we help companies of all sizes, from other startups to huge big public companies, manage their money movement. And it sort of sounds like a back office thing, but really, we actually mostly get bought by product and engineering teams. And those product and engineering teams that are our customers want to do payment stuff. They want to build a digital wallet or embed payments in their application. Or we also serve non-tech companies, so you're buying a house and you need to pay the real estate agent or you're buying a house and you have to go through the title and escrow process on that home purchase. A lot of money moves around in those businesses. In fact, it's core to all of those products to move and manage and track money. So we build the software for that. Complex payment systems get built on top of us and complex payment products. We have an engineering database product called Ledgers, which is how you, with high performance and perfect fidelity, track balances, which is a really hard computer science problem, although it seems that it should be easy. It's a very hard computer science problem. And then you can imagine that as we grow and have more and more data and understanding, we're building more and more AI into our platform, so teams can run in a safe way with AI helping them. So anyway, yeah, it's a complicated thing that we do, but we help companies move and manage their money movement. April: Okay, cool. So how well did college prepare you for this career, do you think? Or what was the most important skill that you learned from college? Rachel: There's so many things that you learn in college as you sort of separate from home life and become your own person. I think there's soft skills and hard skills. I obviously don't use the traditional academic knowledge that I got in my undergrad and graduate experiences in chemistry, not a chemist anymore. But I don't think there's anything that can replace scientific training in how to think and pursue questions and how to separate how to go through a research process and understand and also understand the limits of your knowledge. That is a very profound experience the more advanced you get in science. I didn't even get that advanced. But in understanding the boundaries of what the community of scientists knows and what personally and how to ask questions, build a hypothesis, and go again. And I know that the hypothesis process is something you learn in like second grade or fourth grade or whatever, you go to school, but truly, that process is very hard, like holding yourself to a standard of making a rigorous, very thought out hypothesis and understanding what would prove or disprove that. In a scientific setting in a lab, sometimes it's a little easier to go through that process. Hey, if this experiment works, I'll see X. In a business environment, that's actually very hard. How do you measure? Is that metric actually counting that? What else is getting conflated into these signals and systems? And then almost everything, unless it's something like website clicks or latency or something that's directly measurable, almost all the signal that you get is mediated through people. So not only do you have to go through this process of trying to constantly get to truth, everything that you're trying to pursue is going through people. So I would say academically, that's the longest lasting impression for me. My team gets annoyed because I say things like rate-limiting step all the time, which is a chemistry phrase. So it taught me how to think. I think another very impactful part of my college, two other very impactful parts of my college experience, Fusion was just getting started, I was one of the people that helped get it started. And starting a club that is, very proud to say it's long-standing and I could never audition and get accepted today, is a lot like starting any organization. How do you run things? What is governance like? How do you navigate people? What are the expectations? How do you communicate that? How do you do things excellently? Starting and building a club is very similar to starting and building an organization, it's just we get a lot more complicated with time. So I learned a lot in that process and running rehearsals and putting on a show and what it's like to run an audition process. I have very fond memories of that. And lastly, I would say is I studied abroad for all of junior year. And I don't know if this is true, but someone along the way of me, because chemistry has so many sequential requirements, and it was very hard for me to figure out how to do those requirements and still be away for a year, someone along the way told me I was the only chemistry major who was ever away for a year then. It's probably not true now. I also don't know if that's true, speaking of rigorous hypotheses, so that's an aside. But the experience of being abroad, I was in Tanzania, was obviously profoundly eye-opening. And being in multiple cultural contexts, not just for travel, but for a long period of time with real life, day-to-day life, it just changed my whole perspective on the world. And then same thing, I lived abroad again for my PhD, so I was abroad on and off again for about like five out of six years. It really changed my perspective on the world, my perspective on people, and I only got that opportunity because of college. April: Yeah, college is a great time to study abroad and do those things. Rachel: Yeah. Yeah. April: [inaudible 00:09:31] possibilities, yeah. Also, it's so interesting to hear that you found Fusion or helped found it because it's such a big thing on campus now. Rachel: It's such a huge thing now. April: [inaudible 00:09:39]. Rachel: Yeah, no. We really grew it, but it was small when we started. We were just in parades and doing small shows, and then we finally started putting shows on in Tech my last two years there. It was very fun, really meaningful experience. April: That's great. Yeah. Rachel: Yeah. April: Then you kind of touched a little bit on this, but could you elaborate more on the biggest adjustment you had to make going from undergrad to industry? Rachel: I actually got this piece of advice when I went from my PhD to venture. I went and had coffee. One of the coolest things about Silicon Valley and the technology community is that it's very open and if you ask people for advice, they're really open to giving it and having conversations like this, but times 10. So one of the coffees I had was with someone who had also had a PhD and moved into venture. And he said something to me that has always stuck with me, which is the biggest adjustment you're going to have to make is the complete lack of rigor in business decisions, which is hysterical, and I don't think fully true, which I'll explain, but it is true, the standards of rigor in academic science are completely different than the standards of rigor in making a business decision. So I always think about that moment of you got to get used to the fact that they make decisions with less information. I think that's only partially true. I think one of the reasons is true is what we talked about, that data is often mediated through people, and so it doesn't feel as rigorous. But actually, the decisions you're making about and with people are just as important. It's just different, and that is a very big adjustment. There is not always right. It's not a test or a thesis or whatever, and that's a big change. There's just making a decision and then owning the consequences of the decision and upside of the decision. But that, it's a huge change. So that's what I would say one of the biggest adjustments that I had to make. On a more practical basis, specifically like Silicon Valley and startups, they're just opportunities, they are roles, sorry, environments with very little management structure. That's the whole point, you're doing something from scratch. There's not someone telling you what to do. That's not true if you go into industry and go to a very big technology company or a bunch of industries I've never been in that are managed in totally different ways. That obviously is like two hops from undergrad. I had a PhD and then I had time in investing. But yeah, working without a lot of oversight, also a big change. April: [inaudible 00:11:58]. The training you get from undergrad to grad school and then going to industry, it's a bit of an adjustment, but yeah. Rachel: Yeah. April: It's an interesting problem, how you would apply your scientific training to the business world. Rachel: Yeah. What do we know and what do we not know, is a question I often try and ask myself. In fact, I was thinking about it late last night about something we're trying to figure out in our business. And it's hard because you sometimes feel like you know things that you don't. It's a trick of the brain. April: Then sort of related, but what are some current trends that you're seeing in the industry or in the area that you work or some of the modern day challenges? Rachel: I would be remiss if I didn't say the most enormous trend in technology right now is AI. So there's sort of no other answer you can give them that, this unbelievable explosion in technical capability and then it's application into all kinds of industries. So I don't know, Modern Treasury has been such an interesting ride. One of the things that is interesting about startups is you really cannot predict the world around you. So this tiny company, we're not tiny anymore, but this company that was tiny, I was the first employee, it was just the four of us, just us chickens in a co-working space, trying to build this payment operations company. And in the interim, COVID happened and we could never work together again until many years later. And then Silicon Valley Bank crashed and there were multiple bank failures all over the country. If that had happened two years earlier, it would've taken our business down. As it happened, it accelerated our business like, oh my god, better lucky than good. Now we're going through an AI transformation. Crypto has gone up and down three times in those six and a half years. It's just wild what happens around you and how that affects the work you do day to day. So I don't know. One thing I would say is things are unpredictable. I have never learned that more than in this particular job I'm in now. April: For sure. Would you say that kind of unpredictability is characteristic of working at a startup versus a larger company or even in academia, for example? Rachel: It's a good question. I'm not sure I'm the right person to answer because I've never worked in a huge company. I've always worked in... Investing is also in the business of startups, so I don't think I'm the right person to answer. I think I have a hypothesis that it affects you less. If you're in a big established company where things don't go, the amplitude of the curve isn't quite the same level, I don't think you necessarily feel it as much. AI is happening to everyone no matter where you work, right? I assume you're all using it every day in your undergraduate environment. So that's universal. I think how it affects your job or what you're using it for is probably different. If you're a computer science undergrad, it's really affecting what your experience is like compared to five years ago. If you're a physical chemistry undergrad like I was, doing some frequency generations two floors below in the basement of Tech, I'm sure it's helping on the research side, but nothing changes the lasers but hands yet, until the AI robots come. So I just think it depends how much the volatility affects your certain area of pursuit. April: That makes sense, yeah. So with all this volatility, how do you approach work-life balance? Rachel: I don't think there is any, in all honesty. My mornings are totally insane between the 27 things I'm trying to do, and I'm always later than I want to be to my first meeting, and that just is what it is. I actually have a four-page document called Working with Rachel and for people to get to know what it's like to work with me when I hire and bring on new teams or new managers, et cetera. And one of the things that's in here is my mornings are insane and I'm always late and I'm totally frazzled and whatever, but I can almost always talk in the afternoons and nights almost any day. You just have to know your rhythm. Exercise is a huge part of my management of work-life balance. So probably started before Fusion, but definitely long, hard dance practices helped me get through undergrad. And at every phase of life I've sort of had a different exercise, deep exercise pursuit and crutch, I would say, to get through the craziness of life. So that's really important for me personally to focus and, I don't know, just get to a different level than the overly intellectual all the time, brainwave level into the body and into the breath. So that's huge. And then more tactically, I'm terrible about always having my phone around, but I do always have my laptop on do not disturb. So when I'm working in my environment, Slack and email are going constantly nonstop, especially Slack. So if I actually want to write or actually want to read or actually want to listen, the pings don't help. But to do my job, I need to be ever present with my teams. So just practically, it's always on do not disturb, and then I pick when I check. So I don't know, that goes from small to big of how I manage and cope with work-life balance, but it's the truth. April: There's some pretty good tips though. Sympathize. Rachel: Do people in Northwestern use Slack? Is that part of an undergrad life or no? April: Some of the clubs use it. I have a couple- Rachel: More texting? April: Yeah, they use GroupMe. Yeah. And then I know a lot of the research labs use Slack. Rachel: Oh, that makes sense. April: Yeah. Rachel: Yeah. But less of the all in every day, all encompassing, et cetera. April: Yeah. Rachel: Yeah. April: Do you think those work-life balance habits were developed during your graduate school years or in college or as you go into industry? Rachel: I don't know about do not disturb because technology has, not technology, but the physical hardware of communication has advanced so much. I'm so old compared to you guys. And when I was an undergrad, Facebook came out when I was a sophomore. So just think about how different of a world it was then. We had really kludgy Hermes email, Hermes email server at Northwestern. So the never ending notification encroach on our life, it existed then. And of course, we texted, but we texted T9. So it's just a different world. So we had it and obviously we all needed to learn how to focus, but not to the extent that it is a challenge for people in college and PhD programs now, I don't think. That's my guess as an outsider. But some things, like exercise, 100%. I think those things get developed earlier on. But once you're in university, it's your decision to continue to pursue them and how much you pursue them and how much they're a part of the rhythm of your life. So that, I would say for sure, I established for myself at Northwestern. April: Was there anything at Northwestern that you wish you had participated in that you didn't? Or the other way around, that you did but you wish you had opted out? Rachel: I wish I'd done dance marathon earlier. I only did it senior year and it was like what an incredible experience. Once you had the experience, then you realize, oh, I should have been doing this the whole time because it's like, I don't know, it's just something you could only do in an all encompassing environment like that. My major regret at Northwestern is actually academic, which is a silly small choice, but I studied French in elementary and high school and I really wanted to learn Spanish as a California person. So I took it in college, but that ate up a lot of quarters of getting my language credit because I was going from scratch. So my regret, and I'm not very good at languages anyway, so it's not like it stuck around, my regret is actually not that I took it, it came from good intentions, but that I used up six possibilities of taking classes in non-chemistry, non-African studies. Just you're spoiled for opportunity in undergrad of going to learn about everything. And it's one of the amazing parts about Northwestern and the way they do the core curriculum, that everyone has to learn a little bit of everything somehow. And that's my biggest regret. I regret not taking a philosophy class or a whatever. I took one world religion class, but should I have taken two. That breadth is the thing that I crave and miss. And by the time you get to PhD, and certainly in the British education system, you specialize earlier, so that opportunity's gone. You can obviously go to lectures and stuff, which I did, but it's not the same as being in a class. So yeah, my biggest I wish I had is I wish I hadn't taken Spanish in that environment and done it some other way and had six quarters to go just do dealer's choice of interesting things in departments I never would've gotten to know. April: Did you have the Weinberg language requirement? Rachel: Yes. April: But you got out of it with French? Rachel: I could have taken I think only one quarter or no, I can't remember how my testing was, sorry. But I could have taken either one quarter or zero quarters of French. But I instead put myself from scratch with Spanish because I've never taken it before. So I don't know, I just think that was good intentions, wrong decision. April: It happens. Rachel: Anyway, yeah, that's my biggest, I don't know, regret is too strong a word, but if I had a magic wand and could do it all over again, I would've taken more general humanities or other types of classes. April: Speaking of classes, what were some of your favorite classes at Northwestern? If you were to- Rachel: Oh my God, do I even remember? April: Yeah. Rachel: The physical chemistry. I don't remember if it's physical chemistry honors class or physical chemistry practicum. It's the last thing you take senior year with real world lab problems. And that class, there were six of us and we were in lab, I don't know, four or five hours twice a week. We were there all the time. It was so hard and so intellectually stimulating. I remember that class extremely well. I remember my world religions class. I don't remember who taught it, but it was the only time I ever studied anything like that. That was interesting. And I remember some of the seminar debates I had with other people. I don't know, those are the two that come to mind. April: Very cool. Now that we're getting towards the end of our time, the last question is if you were to look back on your undergrad, which I suppose we already did a little bit, but what advice would you give, I suppose, other people in your position? Rachel: I have one very specific piece of advice that I give to a lot of undergrads or people early in career, which I can share. And then the other is one that I give all the time now, but I don't know if it's relevant, but I'll share that one too. I'll start with the second one first because it might be less relevant. The one I give now, that is also can be very counterintuitive to people who are working on giving and getting feedback and what it takes to truly manage and motivate teens, is that clarity is more compassionate than kindness. And I don't mean don't be kind because the goal is, of course, to deliver clarity with extreme compassion and care. But it's nerve wracking to tell someone, "You're not meeting expectations for this role," or, "We did not hit our goal as a company and we have to make this really hard decision," or whatever the hard thing is that you have to say. It's harder to say it clearer than to say, "Well, I know you this and what about that, and I'm so sorry and this is hard, blah, blah, blah. But I think maybe the role," and then the person walks away and is like, "I don't know what I heard," and they don't know that they're not meeting expectations. So I would say that took me, it's a lifelong pursuit, I don't think I'm perfect at it yet. No one anywhere in my academic career, undergrad or grad, really taught me that. So that's one. I'm not sure if that's relevant for a sophomore undergrad, but maybe. April: I think so. Rachel: Could be. The advice that I often give to undergrads or very early in career folks, who are either looking for startups or end up whatever. I actually have a call with one this afternoon who's a woman who's a family friend who's thinking about a job change and she's like just wants my advice. I think that one of the unrealistic things that somehow culturally gets imbued in very driven and successful students, like all of the people who get accepted to Northwestern, is that you can have it all in your first job. And that is fucking bullshit. And I think it leads to a huge amount of heartache and angst because it's not true. Now, what you can have is one or two awesome things. So when you're, like you graduated at 21 or 22 or whatever age you are, you have usually no strings attached. You can make incredible broad decisions that you can't make later on and that affords you the opportunity to go do amazing things. But what you can't do is do it all at once in that one first job. So the specific example that I often give is you could pick where you work or what industry you work in or that you make a lot of money, but it is basically impossible to pick all of those things. So if you're a econ undergrad at Northwestern, of which there are many, it's probably pretty hard to work in a mission-driven company, make a 300,000 a year banker undergrad job, and move abroad for that first job as an American, blah, blah. That doesn't exist. If you want to make a lot of money, there are incredible programs with established firms where they really reward you for hard work really early on and that's the trade that that job encompasses. And if that's valuable to you, awesome. But you're probably going to be in one of their major locations and they're unlikely to ship you to Sydney for being 22. If you have the opportunity to go do something extremely mission driven that speaks to you, that's amazing, go do that. But you're probably not necessarily going to pick where or you're not going to be highly compensated. So I often talk to people who are in their early 20s who are like, "But I really want to be in New York, but I really want to work, I want to be in the arts and I want to do this, but I need a lot of money to support this thing." You're like, "You can't have it all." And that's not bad, it's just true. And it's much more compassionate for me to tell you, April, if you want to pursue physics, that's awesome. I was a PhD student. You're not going to make any money in your 20s. April: That's true. Rachel: But you might work at the cutting edge of science in something incredible that super motivates you. That's awesome. So if I could wave a magic wand for undergrads, I would get rid of that angst of that decision making. And the decision can have angst because it can be hard to choose a path, but the you can have it all, I think is a great lie. That's not fair to people in their late teens and early 20s in undergrad. I thought of another one, so I'm going to give you a third, even though you didn't solicit another one. Which is you at the beginning of this you asked about my career, which is kind of all over the place from a traditional perspective. I was in academics and then I went to investing, and then I went to startups. And then in startups, I was in healthcare and I went into payments in FinTech. It's all over the place. Every time I made the jump, everyone around me told me I shouldn't because I was leaving their path. And to be an amazing professor, you stay in academics. So people leaving academics is like, they don't want to give you the advice to do that. Or when you're in investing, the way you stay in it, and particularly in private investing, it's long feedback cycles. You got to stay and practice the craft. So I said, "Hey, I'm an operator at heart. I'm going to go do this thing." Some people encouraged me, but many people said, "Why would you ever do that? Why would you ever leave the job you have? Stay in practice." And then same when I left healthcare and picked a totally new thing. So that's more mid-career advice, which is like it's okay to leave that perfect tracked path and trust your gut. April: Yeah, that's actually really valuable advice, so thank you. Rachel: I hope so. April: Yeah. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to talk with me and to give all this advice to whoever's listening. Rachel: Yeah. It's awesome. Nice to meet you, April. April: Mm-hmm. And thank you for listening to this episode of the Weinberg in the World Podcast. We hope you have a great day and go Cats.  

Cardinals from around the world are meeting at the Vatican to elect the next head of the catholic church in a secret conclave. There are thought to have been three popes from Africa in the past, but the last of those was more than 1,500 years ago. So, could the new pope come from Africa? And what is at stake for the continent as the catholic church chooses its next leader? Alan Kasujja speaks to Reverend Professor Paulinus Odozor, a Professor of Theology and African Studies at Notre Dame University.

On this special broadcast from Max and Benny's Restaurant in Northbrook, Illinois, WCPT's Joan Esposito, Patti Vasquez, Scott Duff and Richard Chew were joined by (listed in order of appearance): - Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson - Thom Hartmann, host of "The Thom Hartmann Program," weekdays at 11:00 a.m. on WCPT - State Sen. Laura Fine, Democratic member of the Illinois Senate for the 9th District - State Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl, Democratic member of the Illinois House for the 57th District - Chicago Ald. Scott Waguespack, member of the Chicago City Council representing the 32nd Ward - Marj Halperin, Democratic analyst, political commentator on "The Mincing Rascals" podcast, fill-in host for WCPT, and a moderator of the Hideout's live conversation series - Tom Moss of Indivisible Chicago and a moderator of the Hideout's live conversation series - William Muck, professor of political science at North Central College and regular WCPT fill-in host - Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton - Kurt Mullett, "Chew's Views" contributor (every Wednesday) and a social media influencer under the name HoosierBlue63 - Joel Ostrow, professor of political science at Benedictine University and co-host (with Brian Endless) of "The World Discord" podcast - Brian Endless, senior lecturer and director of African Studies and the African Diaspora at Loyola University Chicago; co-host (with Joel Ostrow) of "The World Discord" podcast; and founder of The Come Together Project - Mark Pinski, WCPT general manager The hosts also devoted a segment to remembering the late Dick Kay. Dan Levy is heard making live announcements throughout the broadcast.

At WCPT's 20th anniversary live broadcast at Max and Benny's in Northbrook, Illinois, Joan Esposito and Scott Duff are joined by Brian Endless, senior lecturer and director of African Studies and the African Diaspora at Loyola University Chicago and co-host of "The World Discord" podcast, and Joel Ostrow, professor of political science at Benedictine University and co-host of "The World Discord" podcast.

Today we discuss the New Scramble for Africa! Dominic and Ian Linden dive into the differences between the ‘new' scramble for Africa and the ‘old' scramble of Africa, how strong the US influence is and whether it is currently weakening - or not, the economic opportunities offered by foreign investments, and much more!Professor Ian Linden formerly taught at the School of Oriental & African Studies in London and is a visiting Professor at St Mary's University, Strawberry Hill, London. He worked for the Swedish Government in the 1980s liaising with the African National Congress in apartheid South Africa.  A past director of the Catholic Institute for International Relations where he first worked on the southern Africa desk, he was awarded an Order of St Michael and St George for his work for human rights in 2000. His research for the former- British Government Department for International Development, DfID, has been on faith and development with special emphasis on Muslim approaches to development in West Africa, and for the Commonwealth Foundation on multi-faith programmes in the Commonwealth. He has written books on conflict in Zimbabwe and Rwanda and his latest book Global Catholicism provides an historical analysis of the political impact of the Catholic Church.The International Risk Podcast is a weekly podcast for senior executives, board members, and risk advisors. In these podcasts, we speak with experts in a variety of fields to explore international relations. Our host is Dominic Bowen, Head of Strategic Advisory at one of Europe's leading risk consulting firms. Dominic is a regular public and corporate event speaker, and visiting lecturer at several universities. Having spent the last 20 years successfully establishing large and complex operations in the world's highest-risk areas and conflict zones, Dominic now joins you to speak with exciting guests around the world to discuss international risk.The International Risk Podcast – Reducing risk by increasing knowledge.Follow us on LinkedIn and Subscribe for all our great updates!Tell us what you liked!

Nicholas Richard-Thompson and Tunde Osazua from the Black Alliance for Peace join Breht to examine the life and legacy of Kwame Nkrumah—anti-colonial revolutionary, Pan-African visionary, and the first president of an independent Ghana. From leading the charge against British colonial rule to his bold attempts to unify the African continent under a socialist banner, Nkrumah's story is one of profound courage, political brilliance, and unfinished dreams. We explore his writings, his revolutionary vision for a liberated and united Africa, and the forces—both foreign and domestic—that sought to dismantle his project. Nkrumah's legacy still burns in the hearts of those fighting imperialism today, and this episode brings his voice back to the forefront of revolutionary memory.   Learn more and support Black Alliance for Peace    Follow Nicholas on Twitter    Follow Tunde on Twitter   BAP Chicago's Twitter   ---------------------------------------------------- Support Rev Left and get access to bonus episodes: www.patreon.com/revleftradio Make a one-time donation to Rev Left at BuyMeACoffee.com/revleftradio Follow, Subscribe, & Learn more about Rev Left Radio HERE Outro Beat Prod. by flip da hood

Grace Blakeley is a leading left-wing political commentator, author, and journalist who describes herself as a democratic socialist. She writes for the Tribune and is regularly seen working at the coal face battling Piers Morgan on Talk TV. She studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics and then African Studies at Oxford. She's a former fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, former New Statesman commentator and former member of Labour's National Policy Forum. She left the Labour party in 2023 over Starmer's position on Gaza, specifically his assertion Israel was within its rights to cut the power to the civilians.In this episode, Claire and Michelle talk about and ask her questions about various topics, like her stance on Brexit, the EU, Tariffs and what the world might look like in the future.Voxel Revolution Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This discussion is with Dr. Sandhya Shukla is associate professor of English and American Studies at the University of Virginia,where she is also an affiliate faculty member of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies. She is the author of India Abroad: Diasporic Cultures of Postwar America and England (Princeton University Press, 2003), and a co-editor of Imagining Our Americas: Toward a Transnational Frame (Duke University Press, 2007). Her work has appeared in academic publications such as American Quarterly, symploke, and Annual Review of Anthropology, as well as the news-oriented The Conversation. In this discussion, we explore her most recent work Cross-Cultural Harlem: Reimagining Race and Place (Columbia University Press, 2024). Dr. Shukla argues that cosmopolitanism and racial belonging need not be seen as contradictory. Cross-Cultural Harlem offers a vision of sustained dialogue to respond to the challenges of urban transformations and to affirm the future of Harlem as actual place and global symbol.

If you were to visit Turkey years ago, it might've felt both Middle Eastern and European. It was Muslim and secular. It was, more or less, free and democratic.  Host Cliff May says the food was great, too. Now? Well, he's told the food is still great.  To explain what has happened and what is happening in Turkey, Cliff is joined by his FDD colleague Sinan Ciddi. About SinanSinan is also an Associate Professor of National Security Studies at the Marine Corps University in Quantico. Earlier, Sinan was Executive Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies, based at Georgetown University. He continues to serve as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service. He received his doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He's the author of Kemalism in Turkish Politics: The Republican People's Party: Secularism and Nationalism.

If you were to visit Turkey years ago, it might've felt both Middle Eastern and European. It was Muslim and secular. It was, more or less, free and democratic.  Host Cliff May says the food was great, too. Now? Well, he's told the food is still great.  To explain what has happened and what is happening in Turkey, Cliff is joined by his FDD colleague Sinan Ciddi. About SinanSinan is also an Associate Professor of National Security Studies at the Marine Corps University in Quantico. Earlier, Sinan was Executive Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies, based at Georgetown University. He continues to serve as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service. He received his doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He's the author of Kemalism in Turkish Politics: The Republican People's Party: Secularism and Nationalism.

In this episode, Richard Pater speaks with Professor Ofra Bengio about the historical evolution and contemporary challenges of the Kurdish people across the Middle East. They discuss how being divided among four main states shaped Kurdish identity and delve into recent challenges, including the rise of the new Jolani regime in Syria. Professor Ofra Bengio is a senior research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle East and African Studies, where she directs the Kurdish Studies programme. She is also the author of 16 books and over 150 articles.

With this episode of Guerrilla History, were continuing our series on African Revolutions and Decolonization with an outstanding case study on the Congo, looking at the process of colonization, how decolonization unfolded, Lumumba's short time as Prime Minister, and the transition to the Mobutu regime.  We really could not ask for a much better guest than Prof. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, who not only is one of the foremost experts in not only this history, but also served as a diplomat for the DRC.  We're also fortunate that the professor will be rejoining us for the next installment of the series, a dispatch on what is going on in the Eastern Congo and the roots of the ongoing conflict there.  Be sure to share this series with comrades, we are still in the very early phases of the planned ~40 parts, so it is a great time for them to start listening in as well!   Also subscribe to our Substack (free!) to keep up to date with what we are doing.  With so many episodes coming in this series (and beyond), you won't want to miss anything, so get the updates straight to your inbox.  guerrillahistory.substack.com   Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja is Professor Emeritus of African and Afro-American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and previously served as the DRC's Permanent Representative to the United Nations.  Additionally, he is the author of numerous brilliant books, including Patrice Lumumba and The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People's History Help support the show by signing up to our patreon, where you also will get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/guerrillahistory 

In 1852, a book of philosophical enquiry was discovered in Ethiopia. But what if the Hatata Zera Yacob is a forgery? Does it matter, if the message is inspirational? Debates over its authorship rage and Jonathan Egid's essay asks what these tell us about politics then and now. Jonathan Egid is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. He's been a Postgraduate Fellow at the British Society for the History of Philosophy and lectures at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He is writing a book about the history of the Hatata Zera Yacob debate, and runs a podcast on philosophy in less-studied languages called Philosophising In ...Producer: Luke Mulhall

Ralph welcomes journalist Chris Hedges to talk about his new book "A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine." Then, Ralph speaks to David Swanson of World BEYOND War about what his organization is doing to resist this country's casual acceptance of being constantly at war. Finally, Ralph checks in with our resident constitutional scholar Bruce Fein.Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, who spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He is the host of The Chris Hedges Report, and he is a prolific author— his latest book is A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine.We not only blocked the effort by most countries on the globe to halt the genocide or at least censure Israel to the genocide, but of course have continued to sendbillions of dollars in weapons and to shut down critics within the United States… And that sends a very, very ominous message to the global south, especiallyas the climate breaks down, that these are the kind of draconian murderous measuresthat we will employ.Chris HedgesIt's a very, very ominous chapter in the history of historic Palestine. In some ways, far worse even than the 1948 Nakba (or “Catastrophe”) that saw massacres carried out against Palestinians in their villages and 750,000 Palestinians displaced. What we're watching now is probably the worst catastrophe to ever beset the Palestinian people.Chris HedgesIt's a bit like attacking somebody for writing about Auschwitz and not giving the SS guards enough play to voice their side. We're writing about a genocide and, frankly, there isn't a lot of nuance. There's a lot of context (which is in the book). But I expect either to be blanked out or attacked because lifting up the voices of Palestinians is something at this point within American society that is considered by the dominant media platforms and those within positions of power to be unacceptable.Chris HedgesIt eventually comes down to us, the American people. And it's not just the Middle East. It's a sprawling empire with hundreds of military bases, sapping the energy of our public budgets and of our ability to relate in an empathetic and humanitarian way to the rest of the world.Ralph NaderDavid Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, radio host and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. He is executive director of World BEYOND War and campaign coordinator for RootsAction. His books include War Is A Lie and When the World Outlawed War.The biggest scandal of the past two days in the United States is not government officials secretly discussing plans for mass killing, for war making, but how they did it on a group chat. You can imagine if they were talking about blowing up buildings in the United States, at least the victims would get a little mention in there.David SwansonThe Democrats are the least popular they've been. They're way less popular than the Republicans because some of the Republicans' supporters actually support the horrendous behavior they're engaged in. Whereas Democrats want somebody to try anything, anything at all, and you're not getting it.David SwansonYou know how many cases across the world across the decades in every hospital and health center there are of PTSD or any sort of injury from war deprivation? Not a one. Not a single one, ever. People survive just fine. And people do their damnedest to stay out of it, even in the most warmongering nations in the world. People try their very hardest to stay out of war personally, because it does great damage.David SwansonBruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.If there were really an attorney general who was independent, they would advise the President, “You can't make these threats. They are the equivalent of extortion.”Bruce FeinVigorous Public Interest Law DayApril 1, 2025 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm at Harvard Law School the Harvard Plaintiffs' Law Association is hosting Vigorous Public Interest Law Day with opening remarks by Ralph Nader. The program will feature highly relevant presentations and group discussions with some of the nation's most courageous public interest lawyers including Sam Levine, Bruce Fein, Robert Weissman, Joan Claybrook, and Pete Davis, to name a few. More information here.News 3/26/251. Starting off this week with some good news, Families for Safe Streets reports the Viriginia Assembly has passed HB2096, also known as the Stop Super Speeders bill. If enacted, this bill would allow would judges to “require drivers convicted of extreme speeding offenses to install Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) technology in their vehicles, automatically limiting their speed to the posted limit.” According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA, established by Ralph Nader, speeding was responsible for 12,151 deaths in 2022 and is a contributing factor in the skyrocketing number of pedestrians killed by automobiles which hit a 40-year high in 2023, per NPR.2. In more troubling auto safety news AP reports NHTSA has ordered a new recall on nearly all Cybertrucks. This recall centers on an exterior panel that can “detach while driving, creating a dangerous road hazard for other drivers, [and] increasing the risk of a crash.” This panel, called a “cant rail assembly,” is attached with a glue that is vulnerable to “environmental embrittlement,” per NHTSA. This is the eighth recall of the vehicles since they hit the road just one year ago.3. At the same time, the Democratic-controlled Delaware state legislature has passed a bill to “award…Musk $56 billion, shield corporate executives from liability, and strip away voting power from shareholders,” reports the Lever. According to this report, written before the law passed, the bill would “set an extremely high bar for plaintiffs to obtain internal company documents, records, and communications — the core pieces of evidence needed to build a lawsuit against a company.” On the other hand, “Corporate executives and investors with a controlling stake in a firm would no longer be required to hold full shareholder votes on various transactions in which management has a direct conflict of interest.” As this piece notes, this bill was backed by a pressure campaign led by Musk and his lawyers that began with a Delaware Chancery Court ruling that jeopardized his $56 billion compensation package. In retaliation, Musk threatened to lead a mass exodus of corporations from the state. Instead of calling his bluff, the state legislature folded, likely beginning a race to the bottom among other corporate-friendly states that will strip anyone but the largest shareholders of any remaining influence on corporate decision making.4. Speaking of folding under pressure, Reuters reports Columbia University will “acquiesce” to the outrageous and unprecedented demands of the Trump administration. These include a new mask ban on campus, and placing the school's Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies department – along with the Center for Palestine Studies –under academic receivership for at least five years. By caving to these demands, the University hopes the administration will unfreeze $400 million in NIH grants they threatened to withhold. Reuters quotes historian of education, Professor Jonathan Zimmerman, who decried this as “The government…using the money as a cudgel to micromanage a university,” and Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors, who called the administration's demands “arguably the greatest incursion into academic freedom, freedom of speech and institutional autonomy that we've seen since the McCarthy era.”5. The authoritarianism creeping through higher education doesn't end there. Following the chilling disappearing of Mahmoud Khalil, the Trump administration has begun deploying the same tactic against more students for increasingly minor supposed offenses. First there was Georgetown post-doc student Badar Khan Suri, originally from India, who “had been living in Virginia for nearly three years when the police knocked on his door on the evening of 17 March and arrested him,” per the BBC. His crime? Being married to the daughter of a former advisor to Ismail Haniyeh, who in 2010 left the Gaza government and “started the House of Wisdom…to encourage peace and conflict resolution in Gaza.” A court has blocked Suri's deportation. Then there is Rumeysa Ozturk, a PhD student at Tufts who was on her way home from an Iftar dinner when she was surrounded and physically restrained by plainclothes agents on the street, CNN reports. Video of this incident has been shared widely. Secretary of State Marco Rubio supposedly “determined” that Ozturk's alleged activities would have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.” These activities? Co-writing a March 2024 op-ed in the school paper which stated “Credible accusations against Israel include accounts of deliberate starvation and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians and plausible genocide.” The U.S. has long decried regimes that use secret police to suppress dissident speech. Now it seems it has become one.6. Yet the Trump administration is not only using deportations as a blunt object to punish pro-Palestine speech, it is also using it to go after labor rights activists. Seattle public radio station KUOW reports “Farmworker activist and union leader Alfredo Juarez Zeferino, known…as ‘Lelo,' was taken into custody by [ICE].” A farmworker and fellow activist Rosalinda Guillén is quoted saying “[Lelo] doesn't have a criminal record…they stopped him because of his leadership, because of his activism.” She added “I think that this is a political attack.” Simultaneously, the Washington Post reports “John Clark, a Trump-appointed Labor Department official, directed the agency's Bureau of International Labor Affairs…to end all of its grants.” These cuts are “expected to end 69 programs that have allocated more than $500 million to combat child labor, forced labor and human trafficking, and to enforce labor standards in more than 40 countries.”7. All of these moves by the Trump administration are despicable and largely unprecedented, but even they are not as brazen as the assault on the twin pillars of the American social welfare system: Social Security and Medicare. Social Security is bearing the brunt of the attacks at the moment. First, AP reported that Elon Musk's DOGE planned to cut up to 50% of the Social Security Administration staff. Then, the Washington Post reported that the administration planned to force millions of seniors to submit claims in person rather than via phone. Now the administration is announcing that they are shifting Social Security payments from paper checks to prepaid debit cards, per Axios. Nearly half a million seniors still receive their payments via physical checks. These massive disruptions in Social Security have roiled seniors across the nation, many of whom are Republican Trump supporters, and they are voicing their frustration to their Republican elected officials – who in turn are chafing at being cut out of the loop by Musk. NBC reports Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance subcommittee on Social Security, said “he had not been told ahead of time about DOGE's moves at the agency.” Senators Steve Daines and Bill Cassidy have echoed this sentiment. And, while Social Security takes center stage, Medicare is next in line. Drop Site is out with a new report on how Trump's nominee to oversee the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services – Dr. Oz – could shift millions of seniors from traditional Medicare to the insurer-controlled Medicare Advantage system. Medicare and Social Security have long been seen as the “third rail” of American politics, meaning politicians who try to tamper with those programs meet their political demise. This is the toughest test yet of whether that remains true.8. The impact of Oscar winning documentary No Other Land continues to reverberate, a testament to the power of its message. In Miami Beach, Mayor Steven Meiner issued a draft resolution calling for the city to terminate its lease agreement with O Cinema, located at Old City Hall, simply for screening the film. Deadline reports however that he was forced to back down. And just this week, co-director of the film Hamdan Ballal was reportedly “lynched” by Israeli settlers in his West Bank village, according to co-director Yuval Abraham, an anti-occupation Jewish Israeli journalist. The Guardian reports “the settlers beat him in front of his home and filmed the assault…he was held at an army base, blindfolded, for 24 hours and forced to sleep under a freezing air conditioner.” Another co-director, Basel Adra of Masafer Yatta, told the AP “We came back from the Oscars and every day since there is an attack on us…This might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like a punishment.” Stunningly, it took days for the Academy of Motion Pictures to issue a statement decrying the violence and even then, the statement was remarkably tepid with no mention of Palestine at all, only condemning “harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoints.”9. In some more positive news, Zohran Mamdani – the Democratic Socialist candidate for Mayor of New York City – has maxed out donations, per Gothamist. Mamdani says he has raised “more than $8 million with projected matching funds from about 18,000 donors citywide and has done so at a faster rate than any campaign in city history.” Having hit the public financing cap this early, Mamdani promised to not spend any more of the campaign raising money and instead plans to “build the single largest volunteer operation we've ever seen in the New York City's mayor's race.” Witnessing a politician asking supporters not to send more money is a truly one-of-a-kind moment. Recent polling shows Mamdani in second place, well behind disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo and well ahead of his other rivals, including incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, per CBS. However, Mamdani remains unknown to large numbers of New Yorkers, meaning his ceiling could be much higher. Plenty of time remains before the June mayoral election.10. Finally, in an extremely bizarre story, Columbia Professor Anthony Zenkus reports “Robert Ehrlich, millionaire founder of snack food giant Pirate's Booty…tried to take over the sleepy Long Island town of Sea Cliff.” Zenkus relays that Ehrlich waged a “last minute write-in campaign for mayor in which he only received 62 votes - then declared himself mayor anyway.” Though Ehrlich only received 5% of the vote, he “stormed the village hall with an entourage, declaring himself the duly-elected mayor, screaming that he was there to dissolve the entire town government and that he alone had the power to form a new government.” Ehrlich claimed the election was “rigged” and thus invalid, citing as evidence “One of my supporters voted three times. Another one voted four times…” which constitutes a confession to election fraud. Zenkus ends this story by noting that Ehrlich was “escorted out by police.” It's hard to make heads or tails of this story, but if nothing else it indicates that these petty robber barons are simply out of control – believing they can stage their own mini coup d'etats. And after all, why shouldn't they think so, when one of their ilk occupies perhaps the most powerful office in the history of the world. Bad omens all around.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Today's episode features a thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Charles Athanasopoulos, Assistant Professor of African American and African Studies & English at The Ohio State University, about his groundbreaking new book, Black Iconoclasm: Public Symbols, Racial Progress, and Post/Ferguson America. On the show, Alex and Calvin talk with Charles about the intricate relationship he charts between Black freedom struggles, the power of icons (and their destruction), and the complex liminalities of social change in contemporary America. We explore Charles's fresh analysis using his concept of "Black iconoclasm" as a guide - a process of Black radical discernment, which beckons us to constantly questioning established norms and the received wisdom of black liberation and social change more broadly.Our discussion touches upon the personal backdrop that informed Athanasopoulos's work, particularly his religious upbringing, the emergence and mainstreaming of the Black Lives Matter movement during his time as an undergraduate, and some of his observations of the 2020 BLM protests as a graduate student in Pittsburgh. We unpack key concepts from Black Iconoclasm, such as the "twilight of the icons," where the lines between image-making and image-breaking blur. We also explore his insightful application of the work of Frantz Fanon in communication studies, exploring the idea of "Fanonian slips" as accidental rhetorical slippages that reveal deeper investments in racial iconography, using examples like comments from political figures like Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, as well as Charles's own experiences. We also examine the visual rhetoric of a BLM mural in Pittsburgh through the lens of Édouard Glissant's "poetics of visual relation," considering the transformations and defacements the mural underwent, and its broader symbolic underpinnings. We conclude by hearing the inspiration behind Charles's creative story of “Black Icarus” that interweaves his chapters, reflecting upon his choice to include an innovative mythopoetic narrative as part of his scholarly work.Charles Athanasopolous's Black Iconoclasm: Public Symbols, Racial Progress, and Post/Ferguson America is available now as a free E-Book from Palgrave Macmillan (via SpringerLink)Works and Concepts Cited in this EpisodeBurke, Kenneth. 1970. The rhetoric of religion. City: University of California Press.Fanon, Frantz. 2018. Alienation and freedom. Ed. Jean Khalfa and Robert J.C. Young. Trans. Steven Corcoran. London: Bloomsbury Academic.Fanon, Frantz. 2008. Black skin, white masks. Trans. Richard Philcox. New York: Grove Press.Fanon, Frantz. 1967. The wretched of the Earth. Trans. Constance Farrington. London and New York: Penguin Books.Glissant, Édouard. 1997. Poetics of relation. Lansing: Michigan State University Press.Hartman, S. V. (1997). Scenes of subjection : terror, slavery, and self-making in nineteenth-century America. Oxford University Press.Hartman, S. (2008). Venus in two acts. Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism, 12(2), 1-14.Maraj, Louis M. 2020. Black or right: Anti/racist campus rhetorics. Logan: Utah State Press.Matheson, C. L. (2019). The instance of the letter in the unconscious, or reason since Freud. In Reading Lacan's Écrits: From ‘The Freudian Thing'to'Remarks on Daniel Lagache' (pp. 131-162). Routledge.Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1997. Twilight of the idols. Trans. Richard Polt. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.Spillers, H. J. (2003). Black, white, and in color: Essays on American literature and culture. University of Chicago Press..An accessible transcript of this episode can be found here (via Descript)

Last week, Columbia capitulated to Trump's extensive demands on the university, in hopes of recovering $400 million in government funding that was revoked by the Trump administration. Almost a week later, there is still no indication that Columbia will get the money back. The university has agreed to a long list of changes, among them the creation of a new 36-officer campus police force with the power to arrest students; the adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which conflates anti-Zionism and antisemitism; broad commitments to disciplinary action for student protesters; and even the advancement of Columbia's Tel Aviv Center. Strikingly, the university has placed the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies department into what the Trump administration is referring to as “receivership,” appointing a new senior vice provost to exert control over the teaching of Israel/Palestine in particular, starting with the Center for Palestine Studies. Meanwhile, the university committed to “the expansion of intellectual diversity among faculty,” indicating that they are going to hire more Zionists to teach in the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies and in the School for International and Public Affairs. All of this follows the targeting and abduction of Columbia students, including Palestinian green card holder and student activist Mahmoud Khalil, who remains in ICE detention, and Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian student who was not significantly involved in protests and who fled to Canada to avoid detention after her visa was revoked. It's hard to overstate the significance of Columbia's surrender, at a moment when the US appears to be in democratic freefall, and when academic freedom and the fundamental right to free speech hangs in the balance. Editor-at-large Peter Beinart and Columbia professor Nadia Abu El-Haj, who also serves as the co-director of the Center for Palestine Studies, spoke just hours before this shocking development, but their conversation probes what's been happening at Columbia and Barnard, and what's at stake—both for the study of Israel/Palestine and for the future of higher ed. This conversation first appeared in the Beinart Notebook on Substack.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).” ARTICLES MENTIONED AND FURTHER READING: “‘Mahmoud Is Not Safe,'” Nadia Abu El-Haj, New York Review of Books“The Columbia Network Pushing Behind the Scenes to Deport and Arrest Student Protesters,” Natasha Lennard and Akela Lacy, The InterceptLetter from Mahmoud Khalil from ICE detention in Louisiana“The Perils of Universities' Unscholarly Antisemitism Reports,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents“

The aid tap is being turned off. USAID has suspended all its programmes and the UK is diverting much of the budget for overseas development to buying tanks and bombs. Projects to vaccinate, medicate and educate have been suspended for millions of the world's poorest people. So what will happen? Will China step in to fill the gap? Will societies already in crisis collapse altogether? Michael Jennings, Professor of Global Development at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, tells Phil and Roger some people will die as a direct result, and the prospects of others finding a way out of poverty will be drastically set back. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The ongoing war in Sudan has displaced over 14 million people. Today, Colin Robertson sits down with Nisrin Elamin and Nicholas Coghlan about Canada's response to the crisis and it's large-scale implications to the African community. // Participants' bios -Nisrin Elamin is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the African Studies program at the University of Toronto. -Nicholas Coghlan served as Canada's First Resident in Khartoum, Sudan and the First Resident Canadian Ambassador in Juba, South Sudan. // Host bio: Colin Robertson is a former diplomat and Senior Advisor to the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, www.cgai.ca/colin_robertson // // Reading Recommendations: - Under Wide and Starry Skies: 50 Sailing Destinations in Seas Less Travelled, by Nicholas Coghlan. - "In Sudan, the People's Revolution Versus the Elite's Counterrevolution", by Sara Abbas, Nisrim Elamin, Rabab Elnaiem and Abdelraouf Omer. - Middle East Report: The Struggle for Sudan, by Deen Sharp, Nisrin Elamin, Najib Hourani and Paul Silverstein. Support Sudan here: https://www.sudansolidarity.com // Recording Date: March 14, 2025 Release date: March 17, 2025

n this episode of Convos with Marilyn I engage with Salim, a university student passionate about African studies. We discuss the importance of understanding one's cultural roots, the personal impact of insecurity in Nigeria, and the broader socio-economic issues that contribute to this insecurity. Salim shares his personal experiences with cultural identity and the need for education and awareness to foster change. The conversation also touches on the legacy of colonialism and its lasting effects on Nigeria's current state, emphasizing the need for a collective effort to address these challenges and build a better future. In this conversation, we explore the deep-rooted issues of colonialism and its impact on Nigeria's ethnic conflicts. We discuss the importance of community, long-term thinking, and the need to empower the next generation. Salim emphasizes the significance of respecting all contributions to society, particularly those of the less privileged, and advocates for a collective approach to societal improvement.Chapters00:00 Introduction to African Studies and Personal Journey04:11 Insecurity in Nigeria: A Personal Story10:18 Understanding the Root Causes of Insecurity17:15 The Role of Education and Privilege in Nigeria24:07 Afromorphosis: Understanding History for Future Progress30:57 Colonial Legacy and Its Impact on Modern Nigeria33:04 Colonial Legacy and Ethnic Conflict39:48 The Power of Community and Long-Term Mindset48:03 Empowering the Next Generation56:00 Respecting All Contributions to SocietyTakeawaysUnderstanding one's cultural roots is essential for personal identity.Insecurity in Nigeria has personal and societal implications.Poverty is a significant driver of insecurity and crime.Education and awareness are crucial for societal change.The youth have a vital role in shaping the future of Nigeria.Colonialism has left a lasting impact on Nigeria's socio-political landscape.Cultural identity can be rediscovered through education and exploration.The importance of community support in overcoming trauma.Brain drain is a challenge for Nigeria's development.Collective action is necessary to address Nigeria's issues. The ethnic conflicts in Nigeria are largely a result of colonial manipulation.Understanding history is crucial to addressing current societal issues.Community support and a long-term mindset are essential for progress.Investing in agriculture can significantly improve the nation's economy.Respecting all contributions, regardless of social status, is vital for societal growth.Empowering the youth is key to building a better future.Small acts of kindness can lead to significant changes in the community.A communal mentality is more beneficial than individualistic pursuits.Education and support for the less privileged can transform lives.Collective action can lead to a flourishing society.

n this episode of Convos with Marilyn I engage with Salim, a university student passionate about African studies. We discuss the importance of understanding one's cultural roots, the personal impact of insecurity in Nigeria, and the broader socio-economic issues that contribute to this insecurity. Salim shares his personal experiences with cultural identity and the need for education and awareness to foster change. The conversation also touches on the legacy of colonialism and its lasting effects on Nigeria's current state, emphasizing the need for a collective effort to address these challenges and build a better future. In this conversation, we explore the deep-rooted issues of colonialism and its impact on Nigeria's ethnic conflicts. We discuss the importance of community, long-term thinking, and the need to empower the next generation. Salim emphasizes the significance of respecting all contributions to society, particularly those of the less privileged, and advocates for a collective approach to societal improvement.Chapters00:00 Introduction to African Studies and Personal Journey04:11 Insecurity in Nigeria: A Personal Story10:18 Understanding the Root Causes of Insecurity17:15 The Role of Education and Privilege in Nigeria24:07 Afromorphosis: Understanding History for Future Progress30:57 Colonial Legacy and Its Impact on Modern Nigeria33:04 Colonial Legacy and Ethnic Conflict39:48 The Power of Community and Long-Term Mindset48:03 Empowering the Next Generation56:00 Respecting All Contributions to SocietyTakeawaysUnderstanding one's cultural roots is essential for personal identity.Insecurity in Nigeria has personal and societal implications.Poverty is a significant driver of insecurity and crime.Education and awareness are crucial for societal change.The youth have a vital role in shaping the future of Nigeria.Colonialism has left a lasting impact on Nigeria's socio-political landscape.Cultural identity can be rediscovered through education and exploration.The importance of community support in overcoming trauma.Brain drain is a challenge for Nigeria's development.Collective action is necessary to address Nigeria's issues. The ethnic conflicts in Nigeria are largely a result of colonial manipulation.Understanding history is crucial to addressing current societal issues.Community support and a long-term mindset are essential for progress.Investing in agriculture can significantly improve the nation's economy.Respecting all contributions, regardless of social status, is vital for societal growth.Empowering the youth is key to building a better future.Small acts of kindness can lead to significant changes in the community.A communal mentality is more beneficial than individualistic pursuits.Education and support for the less privileged can transform lives.Collective action can lead to a flourishing society.

In this episode of Convos with Marilyn I engage with Salim, a university student passionate about African studies. We discuss the importance of understanding one's cultural roots, the personal impact of insecurity in Nigeria, and the broader socio-economic issues that contribute to this insecurity. Salim shares his personal experiences with cultural identity and the need for education and awareness to foster change. The conversation also touches on the legacy of colonialism and its lasting effects on Nigeria's current state, emphasizing the need for a collective effort to address these challenges and build a better future. In this conversation, we explore the deep-rooted issues of colonialism and its impact on Nigeria's ethnic conflicts. We discuss the importance of community, long-term thinking, and the need to empower the next generation. Salim emphasizes the significance of respecting all contributions to society, particularly those of the less privileged, and advocates for a collective approach to societal improvement.Chapters00:00 Introduction to African Studies and Personal Journey04:11 Insecurity in Nigeria: A Personal Story10:18 Understanding the Root Causes of Insecurity17:15 The Role of Education and Privilege in Nigeria24:07 Afromorphosis: Understanding History for Future Progress30:57 Colonial Legacy and Its Impact on Modern Nigeria33:04 Colonial Legacy and Ethnic Conflict39:48 The Power of Community and Long-Term Mindset48:03 Empowering the Next Generation56:00 Respecting All Contributions to SocietyTakeawaysUnderstanding one's cultural roots is essential for personal identity.Insecurity in Nigeria has personal and societal implications.Poverty is a significant driver of insecurity and crime.Education and awareness are crucial for societal change.The youth have a vital role in shaping the future of Nigeria.Colonialism has left a lasting impact on Nigeria's socio-political landscape.Cultural identity can be rediscovered through education and exploration.The importance of community support in overcoming trauma.Brain drain is a challenge for Nigeria's development.Collective action is necessary to address Nigeria's issues. The ethnic conflicts in Nigeria are largely a result of colonial manipulation.Understanding history is crucial to addressing current societal issues.Community support and a long-term mindset are essential for progress.Investing in agriculture can significantly improve the nation's economy.Respecting all contributions, regardless of social status, is vital for societal growth.Empowering the youth is key to building a better future.Small acts of kindness can lead to significant changes in the community.A communal mentality is more beneficial than individualistic pursuits.Education and support for the less privileged can transform lives.Collective action can lead to a flourishing society.

Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900) is considered one of the last great ukiyo-e print designers of Japan. His evocative works helped shape some of the most significant prints from the latter era of ukiyo-e and burgeoning Meiji nishiki-e. I welcome back to the show Dr. Monika Hinkel, Lecturer in the Arts of East Asia at SOAS (the School of Oriental and African Studies) at the University of London and an Academic Member of the Japan Research Centre where we explore Kunichika's life and career. We discuss Kunichika's upbringing in Edo-period Japan (1603–1868), his training at the Utagawa School, and his evolution as an ukiyo-e artist. We discuss Kunichika's creative process, the woodblock production methods of the Edo and Meiji periods, and his favoured themes—kabuki actors, and beautiful women. We also discuss how Kunichika subtly incorporated Japan's emerging modernity into his designs. Lastly, Dr. Hinkel and I share our personal stories about why we have such an affinity for Toyohara Kunichika and his work. Please follow The Unfinished Print and my own mokuhanga work on Instagram @andrezadoroznyprints or email me at theunfinishedprint@gmail.com  Notes: may contain a hyperlink. Simply click on the highlighted word or phrase. Artists works follow after the note if available. Pieces are mokuhanga unless otherwise noted. Dimensions are given if known. Print publishers are given if known. Ichikawa Sandanji I (1842-1904) as Akiyama Kiimori from New Plays for the Meiji Theatre (1894) Published by Akiyama Buemon ukiyo-e - is a multi colour woodblock print generally associated with the Edo Period (1603-1867) of Japan. What began in the 17th Century as prints of only a few colours, evolved into an elaborate system of production and technique into the Meiji Period (1868-1912). With the advent of photography and other forms of printmaking, ukiyo-e as we know it today, ceased production by the late 19th Century.  Utagawa School - was a school of print designers starting with Utagawa Toyoharu (1735-1814). He employed one point perspective (vanishing point) in his print designs, being influenced by Western perspective. The influence of the Utagawa school goes far in Japanese print history and one of its most successful. This schools print designs of kabuki portraits, beautiful women (bijin-ga), and landscapes are excellent. Some famous names attributed to the Utagawa school are Utamaro (1753-1806), Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865), and Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858). A fine description of this school can be found, here at Artelino.  Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861) - is considered one of the last “masters” of the ukiyo-e genre of Japanese woodblock printmaking. His designs range from landscapes, samurai and Chinese military heroes, as well as using various formats for his designs such as diptychs and triptychs.   The Mirror of Women of Wisdom and Courage - Princess Chujo (1843) Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) is widely regarded as one of the most significant woodblock print designers in Japanese history. His diverse portfolio includes prints ranging from landscapes and books to erotica and sumo. Kunisada worked during the vibrant era of nishiki-e alongside notable artists such as Andō Hiroshige (1797-1858), Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), and the aforementioned Kuniyoshi. This period represents a rich and abundant chapter in Japanese woodblock print history. Beauty in a Mirror - Beauty Applying Perfume On Her Neck (date unknown)  Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915) - was a painter and woodblock print designer famous for his war prints on the First Sino-Japanese War (July 25, 1894- April 17, 1895). Kiyochika captured the transitional period in Japanese history as the country underwent rapid modernization and Westernization during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.   Light House at Kudan On A Rainy Night ca. 1930's   Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) -  was a mokuhanga designer who is famous for his prints depicting violence and gore. His work is powerful, colourful, and one of the last vibrant moments of the ukiyo-e genre of woodblock prints. More information about Yoshitoshi's life and his copious amount of work can be found, here.     Rising moon over Mount Nanping - Cao Cao (1885)   nishiki-e (錦絵) - is the Japanese phrase for multi-colour woodblock prints, otherwise known as brocade pictures. Usually attributed to the Meiji period (1868-1912).   © Popular Wheat Productions opening and closing credit - Evening Chimes in Japan logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny  Disclaimer: Please do not reproduce or use anything from this podcast without shooting me an email and getting my express written or verbal consent. I'm friendly :)  Слава Українi If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know. ***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***  

In Poverty and Wealth in East Africa: A Conceptual History (Duke UP, 2022), Rhiannon Stephens offers a conceptual history of how people living in eastern Uganda have sustained and changed their ways of thinking about wealth and poverty over the past two thousand years. This history serves as a powerful reminder that colonialism and capitalism did not introduce economic thought to this region and demonstrates that even in contexts of relative material equality between households, people invested intellectual energy in creating new ways to talk about the poor and the rich. Stephens uses an interdisciplinary approach to write this history for societies without written records before the nineteenth century. She reconstructs the words people spoke in different eras using the methods of comparative historical linguistics, overlaid with evidence from archaeology, climate science, oral traditions, and ethnography. Demonstrating the dynamism of people's thinking about poverty and wealth in East Africa long before colonial conquest, Stephens challenges much of the received wisdom about the nature and existence of economic and social inequality in the region's deeper past. Poverty and Wealth in East Africa: A Conceptual History is available open access here. Rhiannon Stephens is a Professor of History at Columbia University who specializes in the history of precolonial and early colonial East Africa from the first millennium CE through the twentieth century. Her work has been published in the American Historical Review, the Journal of African History, Past and Present, and African Studies Review. Rhiannon's current research is a collaborative project that focuses on questions of gender, power, and climate over fifteen-hundred years on the east coast of Africa. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in History from Northwestern University, M.A. in Climate & Society from Columbia University, and B.A. in Swahili & History from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Jessie Cohen holds a Ph.D. in History from Columbia University, and is an editor at the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-studies

This Week's Guests: Natan Sachs The director of the Center for Middle East Policy and a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings Institute. Episode 349 Natan Sachs is the director of the Center for Middle East Policy and a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings. He has taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Department of Government and its Security Studies Program. Prior to joining Brookings, Sachs was a Fulbright fellow in Indonesia, a visiting fellow at Tel Aviv University's Dayan Center for Middle East and African Studies, and a Hewlett fellow at Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. Sachs is an expert on Israeli foreign policy, its domestic politics, and on U.S. policy toward the Middle East. His writing has appeared in such publications as Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, The New York Times Global, Yediot Ahronot, and Haaretz. His forthcoming book describes the aftermath of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the dangers of both a one-state agenda and “anti-solutionism,” and recommends policy for promoting a more peaceful and just relationship among Israelis and Palestinians. Sachs has provided testimony before Congress and has offered expert commentary to the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, and many other publications. He has appeared on TV and radio with CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, the BBC, Bloomberg, Israel Channel 12, Haaretz, and Galei Tzahal, among others. Sachs is a graduate of the Amirim Excellence program at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He received his master's and doctorate in political science from Stanford University. Follow Live From America YouTube @livefromamericapodcast twitter.com/AmericasPodcast www.LiveFromAmericaPodcast.com LiveFromAmericapodcast@gmail.com Follow Hatem Twitter.com/HatemNYC Instagram.com/hatemnyc/ Follow Noam Twitter.com/noam_dworman #Gaza #TRUMPGAZA #GAZADEAL

Pablo Picasso was one of the most celebrated and radical artists of the 20th century. His styles shocked and outraged contemporaries, and are still instantly recognisable today. But while the artist was publicly fêted, behind closed doors there was a darker side, and many of his female companions protested at his behaviour. So what drove Picasso to master the rules of art, and then break them? How did a man who claimed he didn't ‘do politics' become a poster boy for revolution? And what makes him one of the most valuable artists of all time?  This is a short history of Pablo Picasso. A Noiser Production. Written by Jo Furniss. With thanks to Suzanne Preston Blier, a professor of Fine Art and African Studies at Harvard University, and the author of Picasso's Demoiselles, The True Origins of a Modern Masterpiece.  Get every episode of Short History Of a week early with Noiser+. You'll also get ad-free listening, bonus material, and early access to shows across the Noiser network. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started. Or, if you're on Spotify or Android, go to https://www.noiser.com/noiser-plus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

William Gallois joins the podcast to discuss his latest book, Qayrawān: The Amuletic City, published by The Pennsylvania State University Press in 2024. Qayrawān: The Amuletic City investigates the fascinating history of the Tunisian city of Qayrawān, which in the last years of the nineteenth century found itself covered in murals. Concentrated on and around the city's Great Mosque, these monumental artworks were only visible for about fifty years, from the 1880s through the 1930s. This book investigates the fascinating history of who created these outdoor paintings and why. Using visual archaeological methods, Qayrawān highlights the ‘unknown artist' as an actor of ‘unnoticed agency' and a practitioner of living traditional arts. Locating pictorial records of the murals from the backdrops of photographs, postcards, and other forms of European ephemera, Gallois identifies a form of religious painting that transposed traditional aesthetic forms such as house decoration, embroidery, and tattooing―which lay exclusively within the domains of women―onto the body of a conquered city. Gallois argues that these works were created by women as a form of “emergency art,” intended to offer amuletic protection for the community, and demonstrates how they differ markedly from “classical” Islamic antecedents and modern modes of Arab cultural production in the Middle East and North Africa. The book challenges tacit assumptions of foreign categories and standards of aesthetics imposed upon Islamic and African art. It contributes to further explorations of the exploration of the ways in which Islam was interwoven with preexisting cultures and forms of expression, particularly in calling for a continued reimagining of the study of “Islamic art.” The book makes welcome contributions to Islamic, African, and Middle Eastern studies, particularly in relation to colonial and art histories. It will be welcomed by scholars of Islamic Studies, African Studies, and Art History. William Gallois is Professor of the Islamic Mediterranean in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, in England. In addition to Qayrawān: The Amuletic City, Prof Gallois is the author of A History of Violence in the Early Algerian Colony (2013) and The Administration of Sickness (2008), among other works. Yaseen Christian Andrewsen is a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford, specialising in Islamic intellectual history in West Africa focusing on issues in Sufism, theology, renewal, and authority. Yaseen is a co-host for the New Books in Islamic Studies podcast. He can be reached by email at: christian.andrewsen@pmb.ox.ac.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

William Gallois joins the podcast to discuss his latest book, Qayrawān: The Amuletic City, published by The Pennsylvania State University Press in 2024. Qayrawān: The Amuletic City investigates the fascinating history of the Tunisian city of Qayrawān, which in the last years of the nineteenth century found itself covered in murals. Concentrated on and around the city's Great Mosque, these monumental artworks were only visible for about fifty years, from the 1880s through the 1930s. This book investigates the fascinating history of who created these outdoor paintings and why. Using visual archaeological methods, Qayrawān highlights the ‘unknown artist' as an actor of ‘unnoticed agency' and a practitioner of living traditional arts. Locating pictorial records of the murals from the backdrops of photographs, postcards, and other forms of European ephemera, Gallois identifies a form of religious painting that transposed traditional aesthetic forms such as house decoration, embroidery, and tattooing―which lay exclusively within the domains of women―onto the body of a conquered city. Gallois argues that these works were created by women as a form of “emergency art,” intended to offer amuletic protection for the community, and demonstrates how they differ markedly from “classical” Islamic antecedents and modern modes of Arab cultural production in the Middle East and North Africa. The book challenges tacit assumptions of foreign categories and standards of aesthetics imposed upon Islamic and African art. It contributes to further explorations of the exploration of the ways in which Islam was interwoven with preexisting cultures and forms of expression, particularly in calling for a continued reimagining of the study of “Islamic art.” The book makes welcome contributions to Islamic, African, and Middle Eastern studies, particularly in relation to colonial and art histories. It will be welcomed by scholars of Islamic Studies, African Studies, and Art History. William Gallois is Professor of the Islamic Mediterranean in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, in England. In addition to Qayrawān: The Amuletic City, Prof Gallois is the author of A History of Violence in the Early Algerian Colony (2013) and The Administration of Sickness (2008), among other works. Yaseen Christian Andrewsen is a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford, specialising in Islamic intellectual history in West Africa focusing on issues in Sufism, theology, renewal, and authority. Yaseen is a co-host for the New Books in Islamic Studies podcast. He can be reached by email at: christian.andrewsen@pmb.ox.ac.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

William Gallois joins the podcast to discuss his latest book, Qayrawān: The Amuletic City, published by The Pennsylvania State University Press in 2024. Qayrawān: The Amuletic City investigates the fascinating history of the Tunisian city of Qayrawān, which in the last years of the nineteenth century found itself covered in murals. Concentrated on and around the city's Great Mosque, these monumental artworks were only visible for about fifty years, from the 1880s through the 1930s. This book investigates the fascinating history of who created these outdoor paintings and why. Using visual archaeological methods, Qayrawān highlights the ‘unknown artist' as an actor of ‘unnoticed agency' and a practitioner of living traditional arts. Locating pictorial records of the murals from the backdrops of photographs, postcards, and other forms of European ephemera, Gallois identifies a form of religious painting that transposed traditional aesthetic forms such as house decoration, embroidery, and tattooing―which lay exclusively within the domains of women―onto the body of a conquered city. Gallois argues that these works were created by women as a form of “emergency art,” intended to offer amuletic protection for the community, and demonstrates how they differ markedly from “classical” Islamic antecedents and modern modes of Arab cultural production in the Middle East and North Africa. The book challenges tacit assumptions of foreign categories and standards of aesthetics imposed upon Islamic and African art. It contributes to further explorations of the exploration of the ways in which Islam was interwoven with preexisting cultures and forms of expression, particularly in calling for a continued reimagining of the study of “Islamic art.” The book makes welcome contributions to Islamic, African, and Middle Eastern studies, particularly in relation to colonial and art histories. It will be welcomed by scholars of Islamic Studies, African Studies, and Art History. William Gallois is Professor of the Islamic Mediterranean in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, in England. In addition to Qayrawān: The Amuletic City, Prof Gallois is the author of A History of Violence in the Early Algerian Colony (2013) and The Administration of Sickness (2008), among other works. Yaseen Christian Andrewsen is a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford, specialising in Islamic intellectual history in West Africa focusing on issues in Sufism, theology, renewal, and authority. Yaseen is a co-host for the New Books in Islamic Studies podcast. He can be reached by email at: christian.andrewsen@pmb.ox.ac.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/islamic-studies

William Gallois joins the podcast to discuss his latest book, Qayrawān: The Amuletic City, published by The Pennsylvania State University Press in 2024. Qayrawān: The Amuletic City investigates the fascinating history of the Tunisian city of Qayrawān, which in the last years of the nineteenth century found itself covered in murals. Concentrated on and around the city's Great Mosque, these monumental artworks were only visible for about fifty years, from the 1880s through the 1930s. This book investigates the fascinating history of who created these outdoor paintings and why. Using visual archaeological methods, Qayrawān highlights the ‘unknown artist' as an actor of ‘unnoticed agency' and a practitioner of living traditional arts. Locating pictorial records of the murals from the backdrops of photographs, postcards, and other forms of European ephemera, Gallois identifies a form of religious painting that transposed traditional aesthetic forms such as house decoration, embroidery, and tattooing―which lay exclusively within the domains of women―onto the body of a conquered city. Gallois argues that these works were created by women as a form of “emergency art,” intended to offer amuletic protection for the community, and demonstrates how they differ markedly from “classical” Islamic antecedents and modern modes of Arab cultural production in the Middle East and North Africa. The book challenges tacit assumptions of foreign categories and standards of aesthetics imposed upon Islamic and African art. It contributes to further explorations of the exploration of the ways in which Islam was interwoven with preexisting cultures and forms of expression, particularly in calling for a continued reimagining of the study of “Islamic art.” The book makes welcome contributions to Islamic, African, and Middle Eastern studies, particularly in relation to colonial and art histories. It will be welcomed by scholars of Islamic Studies, African Studies, and Art History. William Gallois is Professor of the Islamic Mediterranean in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, in England. In addition to Qayrawān: The Amuletic City, Prof Gallois is the author of A History of Violence in the Early Algerian Colony (2013) and The Administration of Sickness (2008), among other works. Yaseen Christian Andrewsen is a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford, specialising in Islamic intellectual history in West Africa focusing on issues in Sufism, theology, renewal, and authority. Yaseen is a co-host for the New Books in Islamic Studies podcast. He can be reached by email at: christian.andrewsen@pmb.ox.ac.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

William Gallois joins the podcast to discuss his latest book, Qayrawān: The Amuletic City, published by The Pennsylvania State University Press in 2024. Qayrawān: The Amuletic City investigates the fascinating history of the Tunisian city of Qayrawān, which in the last years of the nineteenth century found itself covered in murals. Concentrated on and around the city's Great Mosque, these monumental artworks were only visible for about fifty years, from the 1880s through the 1930s. This book investigates the fascinating history of who created these outdoor paintings and why. Using visual archaeological methods, Qayrawān highlights the ‘unknown artist' as an actor of ‘unnoticed agency' and a practitioner of living traditional arts. Locating pictorial records of the murals from the backdrops of photographs, postcards, and other forms of European ephemera, Gallois identifies a form of religious painting that transposed traditional aesthetic forms such as house decoration, embroidery, and tattooing―which lay exclusively within the domains of women―onto the body of a conquered city. Gallois argues that these works were created by women as a form of “emergency art,” intended to offer amuletic protection for the community, and demonstrates how they differ markedly from “classical” Islamic antecedents and modern modes of Arab cultural production in the Middle East and North Africa. The book challenges tacit assumptions of foreign categories and standards of aesthetics imposed upon Islamic and African art. It contributes to further explorations of the exploration of the ways in which Islam was interwoven with preexisting cultures and forms of expression, particularly in calling for a continued reimagining of the study of “Islamic art.” The book makes welcome contributions to Islamic, African, and Middle Eastern studies, particularly in relation to colonial and art histories. It will be welcomed by scholars of Islamic Studies, African Studies, and Art History. William Gallois is Professor of the Islamic Mediterranean in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, in England. In addition to Qayrawān: The Amuletic City, Prof Gallois is the author of A History of Violence in the Early Algerian Colony (2013) and The Administration of Sickness (2008), among other works. Yaseen Christian Andrewsen is a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford, specialising in Islamic intellectual history in West Africa focusing on issues in Sufism, theology, renewal, and authority. Yaseen is a co-host for the New Books in Islamic Studies podcast. He can be reached by email at: christian.andrewsen@pmb.ox.ac.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/art

59 MinutesPG-13Dr. J. Otto Pohl received his PhD in History from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He has taught at the American University Iraq Sulaimani, University of Ghana, and American University of Central Asia. He is the author of Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937–1949 (Greenwood, 1999), The Stalinist Penal System (McFarland & Co., 1997), and The Years of Great Silence The Deportation, Special Settlement, and Mobilization into the Labor Army of Ethnic Germans in the USSR, 1941–1955 (Columbia University Press, 2022). His articles have appeared in, among other journals, The Russian Review, Journal of Genocide Research, Human Rights Review, and Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism.Dr. Pohl joins Pete to field various questions about the Soviet regime, before, during, and after the War.The Years of Great SilenceDr. Pohl's SubstackDr. Pohl's PatreonDr. Pohl's TwitterPete and Thomas777 'At the Movies'Support Pete on His WebsitePete's PatreonPete's SubstackPete's SubscribestarPete's GUMROADPete's VenmoPete's Buy Me a CoffeePete on FacebookPete on TwitterBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-pete-quinones-show--6071361/support.

Almost two years since the Sudanese war f Irwin Cotler: Founder and International Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, and Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and Nisrin Elamin, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and African Studies at the University of Toronto. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Watch Call me Back on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CallMeBackPodcast To contact us, sign up for updates, and access transcripts, visit: https://arkmedia.org/ Dan on X: https://x.com/dansenor Dan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dansenor The collapse of Assad's regime in Syria has created a new geopolitical reality, in which Turkey has emerged as a dominant regional power, both militarily and diplomatically. For Israel, this new reality entails certain risks, but also opportunities for cooperation? What is Turkey's next move - and what are Erdogan's ambitions? And how is Israel preparing for this new order?  To help us understand, our guests are Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarojak and Call me Back regular Nadav Eyal.  Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarojak, who moved to Israel from Turkey, is a researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, and an expert on contemporary Turkish politics and society. Yanarocak is the editor of Turkeyscope, and a member of the Middle East Network Analysis Desk. He is a frequent guest on Israeli media, where he regularly appears to discuss contemporary Turkish issues.  Nadav Eyal is a columnist for Yediiot. He is one of Israel's leading journalists. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

While most of us can at least hope for a happy new year in 2025, the same can't be true for the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank. That, at least, is the view of Michael Scott-Baumann, author of The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine. Given the ineffectiveness of the United Nations and the unwillingness of the United States to rethink its alliance with Israel, Scott-Baumann suggests, nothing is likely to change this year. So while there will be lots of talk of an Abraham Accords 2.0 under Trump, he predicts, the world's most intractable problem will only become more miserably intractable in 2025. Indeed, given the increasing power of Netanyahu's right flank and Trump's indifference to the human suffering in Gaza and the West Bank, Scott Baumann suggests, things will probably only get worse for the Palestinians this year. Michael Scott-Baumann is a graduate of Cambridge University and has an MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He has 35 years' experience as a history teacher and lecturer. He has traveled widely in the Middle East and worked as a volunteer under the auspices of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, with whom he conducted field work on the West Bank. He lives in Cheltenham, England.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

This is our Favorite Episode for 2024! Friends Like Us with host Marina Franklin features guests Dr. Donna J Nickel and Nonye Brown-West.  Dr. Donna J. Nickel, an academic from California, discussing her latest book on Claudia Hampton's contributions to affirmative action and black education. The discussion extends to contemporary issues, including the repercussions of ending affirmative action, historical context of race-based discrimination, and the attack on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives. The episode aims to shed light on the broader history of race and conservative philanthropy while examining current racial and educational policies. Dr. Donna J. Nicol is the Associate Dean of Personnel and Curriculum in the College of Liberal Arts and a professor of history at California State University Long Beach. She is the immediate past department chair and professor of Africana Studies at CSU Dominguez Hills, a post she held from 2017-2023. She earned her doctorate degree in Educational Studies (with a specialization in History and Philosophy of Higher Education and a graduate minor in African American and African Studies) from The Ohio State University in 2007.  Dr. Nicol's research focuses race, conservative philanthropy, and U.S. higher education, and the history of African American women's educational activism. Her work has been published in Race, Ethnicity and Education, The Feminist Teacher (twice), History of Philanthropy, Palimpsest: A Journal of Women, Gender and the Black International, The Encyclopedia of American Women's History, Encyclopedia of Multiracial America, and Habitus of the Hood. In February 2021, Dr. Nicol was a featured guest expert for the Al Jazeera English documentary, The Big Picture: A Race for America. Dr. Nicol has also published opinion columns on racism in philanthropy for Al Jazeera Digital and has appeared on the Insufferable Academics podcast, the Fresh Off the Vote podcast, and the Peace and Justice Radio Show. Prior to becoming an academic, Dr. Nicol spent three years teaching secondary language arts and social studies for Los Angeles Unified School District and seven years in various academic administrative roles at Mt. St. Mary's College and The Ohio State University. She serves on the board of directors for the Historical Society of Southern California, co-principal investigator for the State of Black Los Angeles County Report (2023) and is active in a number of professional academic and social service organizations. Black Woman on Board: Claudia Hampton, the California State University, and the Fight to Save Affirmative Action examines the leadership strategies that Black women educators have employed as influential power brokers in predominantly white colleges and universities in the United States. Author Donna J. Nicol tells the extraordinary story of Dr. Claudia H. Hampton, the California State University (CSU) system's first Black woman trustee, who later became the board's first woman chair, and her twenty-year fight (1974–94) to increase access within the CSU for historically marginalized and underrepresented groups. Nonye Brown-West is a New York-based Nigerian-American comedian and writer. She has been featured in the Boston Globe's Rise column as a Comic to Watch. She has also appeared on Amazon, NPR, PBS, ABC, Sway In The Morning on Sirius XM, and the New York Comedy Festival. Always hosted by Marina Franklin - One Hour Comedy Special: Single Black Female ( Amazon Prime, CW Network), TBS's The Last O.G, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Hysterical on FX, The Movie Trainwreck, Louie Season V, The Jim Gaffigan Show, Conan O'Brien, Stephen Colbert, HBO's Crashing, and The Breaks with Michelle Wolf.  

Episode 154 with Bronwen Everill who was a fellow of Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge from 2015 and was the Director of Cambridge's Centre of African Studies. In August, she joined the faculty of the Princeton Writing Program. She is a visiting fellow at the Laboratory for the Economics of Africa's Past, in the Department of Economics at Stellenbosh University. Bronwen recently publishing Africonomics, which is a short, bold story of Western economic thought about Africa. Bronwen argues that these interventions fail because they start from a misguided premise: that African economies just need to be more like the West. Ignoring Africa's own traditions of economic thought, Europeans and Americans assumed a set of universal economic laws that they thought could be applied anywhere. They enforced specifically Western ideas about growth, wealth, debt, unemployment, inflation, women's work and more, and used Western metrics to find African countries wanting. The West does not know better than African nations how an economy should be run. By laying bare the myths and realities of our tangled economic history, Africonomics moves from Western ignorance to African knowledge.What We Discuss With BronwenIn what ways does Africonomics challenge conventional Western views of African economies?How have historical misconceptions about African wealth shaped Western interventions on the continent?How did Western economic policies during colonial times disregard Africa's indigenous economic systems?How have Western metrics like GDP distorted perceptions of Africa's economic success or challenges?Examples of African traditions of economic thought that have been overlooked by Western interventions.Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Powering Congo: Using Recycled Materials to Create Cutting-Edge Battery Technology for Businesses and Households? Make sure to check it out!Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps!Connect with Terser on LinkedIn at Terser Adamu, and Twitter (X) @TerserAdamuDo you want to do business in Africa? Explore the vast business opportunities in African markets and increase your success with ETK Group. Connect with us at www.etkgroup.co.uk or reach out via email at info@etkgroup.co.uk

It all went down with lightning speed and took the world by surprise: the toppling of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime by a group of rebels united in their hatred of the brutal dictator. Abu Mohammed al Jolani, who has led this so-far successful rebellion, has been working to present to the world a pragmatic image. He has been associated since his youth with various jihadist groups but is suggesting that the new Syria will be a proper country where civilians may go about their lives peacefully. Olive branches have been sort of extended to the Kurds as well as Israel, but in very guarded language. After all, Turkish President Erdogan has been Jolani's main benefactor and supplier of weapons, and he is not known to be a silent, benign actor. No. If Erdogan is in the mix, it is because he wants something. And we already know that he wants to bomb the Kurds into submission. Because that is what he has been doing for the past week or so. So—something's gotta give. Syria is a complex pastiche of minorities—religious and ethnic—and many scores to settle. ISIS-aligned jihadists remain strong in sections of northern Syria, where thousands of former ISIS fighters and their families are imprisoned in primitive camps controlled by the Kurds. Russia has been driven from its Syrian bases. Iran has suddenly lost its land bridge through Syria to Lebanon, cutting off Hezballah supply routes. And the Biden administration just isn't getting too fussed about Turkey these days. It will leave that mess for President-elect Trump. The Biden White House is doing its darnedest to negotiate a deal for the release of the remaining 100 hostages in Hamas captivity. The stuff of an emotional and enduring legacy. To untangle it all we speak with Turkish expert (and expatriate) Sinan Ciddi, whose biography is featured below.State of Tel Aviv is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Sinan Ciddi is an expert on Turkish politics and an associate professor of National Security Studies at Marine Corps University (MCU). Prior to joining MCU, Sinan was the Executive Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies, based at Georgetown University (2011-2020). He continues to serve as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.Sinan is the author of Kemalism in Turkish Politics: The Republican People's Party: Secularism and Nationalism (Routledge, January 2009) a book which explains the electoral weakness of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party.He obtained his Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2007 in the field of Political Science. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com/subscribe

Amira Rasool, Founder & CEO of The Folklore, is changing the way retailers and consumers discover diverse brands globally. Amira has experience as a writer and fashion editor, including notable publications including TIME, Vogue, Teen Vogue, i-D, PAPER, Glamour, InStyle, V Magazine, and WWD. Her work focuses primarily on Black culture in relation to fashion, travel, music, visual arts, and social justice. Amira is also a passionate Black history scholar. For her undergraduate education, she attended Rutgers University, where she received a B.A. in African American and African Studies. She later earned a Master of Philosophy in African Studies from the University of Cape Town, and whilst studying saw the whitespace in the market for diverse brands that inspired her to launch The Folklore at just 22 years old! In 2023, Amira was honored as one of Forbes 30 Under 30 2024 and Vogue Business 100 Next-gen Entrepreneurs and Agitators.In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:43] Intro[02:12] Building community for independent brand founders[03:15] Solving access issues for emerging global brands[04:09] Pivoting and returning to consumer roots[04:58] Empowering brands with resources and education[05:56] Supporting entrepreneurs outside core fashion cities[07:08] Creating workshops for local entrepreneurs to grow[07:43] Driving growth via accessible business resources[09:07] Simplifying sales with line sheet generators[10:16] Tailored solutions for brands at different stages[11:18] Pivoting to find the right formula for brand growth[12:25] Connecting with other new brands for mutual growth[13:34] Reaching beyond local markets to scale your brand[14:52] Building access to the fashion industry[16:38] The Folklore: opportunities for brands and retailersResources:Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on YoutubeThe membership community for independent brand owners thefolklore.com/Follow Amira Rasool linkedin.com/in/amira-rasool/If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Dr Brandon Friedman, a research fellow at Tel Aviv University's Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies specializing in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, discusses the future of Middle Eastern geopolitics in the wake of October 7th and ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration. This episode is made possible by the Israel office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, which promotes peace, freedom, and justice through political education.

What can African philosophers teach us about history, the modern world, and the good life? And can their ideas and teachings cross cultural boundaries?Join the IAI team for a reading of three articles about African philosophy, written by professor of communication Omedi Ochieng and professor of political theory Katrin Flikschuh. From the apparent divide between the philosophies of Africa and the Western world, to advice on how we can lead happier, more fulfilling lives, these articles provide an excellent foundation for anyone interested in learning more about the ideas and voices that have shaped Africa.Katrin Flikschuh is professor of political theory at the London School of Economics. Her research interests relate to the political philosophy of Immanuel Kant, metaphysics and meta-level justification in contemporary political philosophy, global justice and cosmopolitanism, and the history of modern political thought. Omedi Ochieng is an Assistant Professor of Communication at Denison University. His areas of specialization include the rhetoric of philosophy; comparative philosophy; and social theory. He has published articles in the International Philosophical Quarterly, Radical Philosophy, and the Western Journal of Communication. To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Donald Trump is being called a fascist – by his former appointees, as well as by his opponent Kamala Harris. On this week's On the Media, a historian of fascism explains why he sounded the alarm back in 2018. Plus, the science behind why horror films make your skin crawl.[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Jason Stanley, a professor of Philosophy at Yale University and who has written several books on fascism. He first warned about Trump's fascist rhetoric in 2018, and explains why it's more important than ever to call it by its name. [20:05] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with science writer Nina Nesseth to explore how horror filmmakers make our skin crawl, the anatomy of a jump scare, and why all screams aren't created equal. Her book Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films delves into question – why do we crave being scared senseless in the movie theater? [32:50] OTM producer Rebecca Clark-Callender dives into the history of Black horror to see what it is and who it's for, ft: Robin R. Means Coleman, professor of Media Studies and of African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia and co-author of The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar; Tananarive Due, author, screenwriter, and lecturer on Afrofuturism and Black Horror at University of California, Los Angeles; Rusty Cundieff, writer and director of Tales from the Hood (1995); and Betty Gabriel, actor widely known for her acclaimed performance as "Georgina" in Jordan Peele's blockbuster Get Out (2017). Further reading:Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future, by Jason StanleyHow Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, by Jason StanleyNightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films by Nina NessethHorror Noire: A History of Black American Horror from the 1890s to Present by Robin R. Means Coleman On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

#TURKEY: Threats.  Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak is the Turkey expert at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS) and the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies (MDC) at Tel Aviv University. 1920 Turkey aviators