Chicago Humanities Festival: Wangari Maathai (video)
Wangari Maathai is a Kenyan politician and environmental activist who was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize for Peace, the first black African woman to win a Nobel Prize. Maathai was elected to Kenya's National Assembly with 98 percent of the vote in 2002 and in 2003 was appointed assistant minister of environment, natural resources, and wildlife. She is the
"In Defense of Academic Freedom" (video)
The growing evidence of outside interference in the hiring process at universities and the recent tenure denials at DePaul University, has prompted leading scholars across the nation to begin to speak out in defense of academic freedom. The DePaul University Academic Freedom Committee, Verso Books, and Diskord Journal sponsored a public symposium chaired by Tariq Ali, editor of Verso Books and New Left Review, and featuring: Akeel Bilgrami (Columbia University), Noam Chomsky (MIT), Tony Judt (N
"Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror" (video)
A talk by David Cole, Professor of Law at Georgetown University. In "Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror," Professor Cole and Jules Lobel, two of the country's preeminent constitutional scholars, argue that the great irony is that the Bush administration's sacrifices in the rule of law, adopted in
"The Oil and Glory" (video)
A talk by journalist and author Steven LeVine. Pipeline politics became a modern day version of the 19th Century's Great Game, in which Britain and Russia had employed cunning and bluff to gain supremacy over the lands of the Caucasus and Central Asia. “The Oil and Glory” is the story of how, at the dawn of the 21st century, the game was played once more across the harsh e
"China's Brave New World and Other Tales for Global Times" (video)
A talk by Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine. If Chairman Mao came back to life today, what would he think of Nanjing's bookstore, the "Librairie Avant-Garde", where it is easier to find primers on Michel Foucault's philosophy than copies of the Little Red Book? What does it really mean to order a latte at Starbucks in Bei
"The Mind of the Market" (video)
Author and psychologist Michael Shermer explains how evolution shaped the modern economy-and why people are so irrational about money. How did we make the leap from ancient hunter-gatherers to modern consumers and traders? Why do people get so emotional and irrational about bottom-line financial and business decisions? Is the capitalist marketplace a sort of Darwinian orga
"The Closing of the ICTY and its Effect on Justice and Accountability in the Former Yugoslavia (vide
This panel explores how the impending closing of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will affect justice and accountability in the Balkans including: the integration of international human rights standards on a national level, the challenges and opportunities confronting the domestic courts and the role of the media/civil society.
Distinguished panelists in
"The Next Great Clash" (video)
A talk by Michael Levin. In The Next Great Clash, Michael Levin presents evidence of a global political order on the verge of a historic power shift from West to East. A reemerging China is the only nation with the latent capacity to challenge American hegemony, and Levin demonstrates that such challenges to the status quo usually lead to war. From the World Beyo
"Pens and Swords: How the American Mainstream Media Report the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" (video)
A talk by Marda Dunsky, former Arab affairs reporter for the Jerusalem Post and editor on the national/foreign desk of the Chicago Tribune. As world attention is renewed and refocused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the sixtieth anniversary of its seminal year of 1948, Marda Dunsky takes a close look at how more than two dozen major American print and broadcast outlets have reported the conflict i
PGE Distinguished Lecture: "Is Development Sustainable? Not Even Close" (video)
A talk by Robert Repetto. Is development sustainable? Certainly not the way the world is now going about it. Major trends are heading straight toward ecological and human disasters and if they are not changed and changed soon, development efforts will fail for billions of people, comprising mainly the world?s most vulnerable populations. Climate change, water
"Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War" (video)
In his book "Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War", Jimmie Briggs book provides a vitally important perspective on the global tragedy of child soldiers. More than 250,000 children have fought in three dozen conflicts around the world. From the "little bees"" of Colombia to the "baby brigades" of Sri Lanka, the subject of child soldiers is changing the face of terrorism. Briggs was awarded the Jo
"Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror" (video)
"Our government can make you disappear." Those were the words Steven Wax never imagined he would hear himself say. In his twenty-nine years as a public defender, Wax had never had to warn a client that he or she might be taken away to a military brig, or worse, a "black site", one of our country's dreaded secret prisons. How had our country come to this? The disappearance of people happens in places ruled by t
"Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan,
The growing instability and resurgence of Islamic extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan pose a great threat to U.S. interests and global security. In his new book, "Descent into Chaos", Ahmed Rashid examines the rising insurgency, booming opium trade, and weak governance in Afghanistan, concluding that U.S. strategy in the region has been a complete failure. Ahmed Rashid is a Pakistani journalist based i
"Hugo Chavez y la Realidad Venezolana de Hoy" (video)
A talk by Teodoro Petkoff, prominent Venezuelan politician, journalist and economist. From the Center for Latin American Studies.
"Taiwan's New Approach: Opportunities and Challenges for President Ma Ying-jeou's Government" (video
Introduction and Welcome: Professor Dali L. Yang, University of Chicago. Panel 1: Taiwan's Participations in International Affairs (Chair: Professor Te-Yu Wang, Illinois State University) -- Professor Chong-Pin Lin, Tamkang University, "Sightful Carrot and Shrouded Stick: Beijing's Adjusted Taiwan Policy" (Discussant: Professor John J. Mearsheimer, University o
"Prescription for Survival: A Doctor's Journey to End Nuclear Madness" (video)
A talk by Bernard Lown, MD.
Physician, author, and Nobel Prize-winning peace activist Bernard Lown discusses his new memoir, "Prescription for Survival: A Doctor's Journey to End Nuclear Madness". The inventor of the defibrillator, Dr. Lown was also a peace and anti-nuclear activist, participating in the founding of Physicians for Social Responsibility in 1960
"India: The Emerging Giant" (video)
A talk by Arvind Panagariya.
Arvind Panagariya discusses his new book, "India: The Emerging Giant", a history of the economic development of India since independence and the "definitive book on the Indian economy" according to Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria. Panagariya is Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy, International and Publ
"Challenges for the New Administration in Iraq and Afghanistan" (video)
A talk by Juan Cole.
Juan Cole will discuss the future of U.S. foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan beyond the November presidential elections. Juan Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan. He has written extensively about Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and South Asia. He studies and writes about contemporary Isl
"Terror in Mumbai: Reflections on the Aftermath" (video)
A panel discussion with Steven Wilkinson, Martha Nussbaum, Tarini Bedi, Robert Pape, and Manan Ahmed.
On November 26, 2008, the world watched while terror attacks paralyzed Mumbai, India's financial capital and largest city. Mumbai bounced back, but the bold, new strategies of the attacks shifted the discourse of the global war on terror. The panelists discuss the consequences of terror in Mumbai for the region and the world. Introductory
"Mexican Oil and Gas Policies" (video)
A presentation by Adrián Lajous, Former Pemex CEO.
Adrián Lajous is Chairman of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, President of Petrométrica, SC and non-Executive Director of Schlumberger, Ternium, Trinity Industries and Grupo Petroquímico Beta. He is senior energy advisor to McKinsey & Company. In 2003-04 he was a Senior Fellow at the Kennedy School of Governme
