Category Archives: Scholars’ Circle Interviews

Information and recordings from Schloars’ Circle radio show is posted here.

We interview the author of a new book CALIFORNIA, A SLAVE STATE (Yale University Press; June 27, 2023). Professor Jean Pfaelzer shows that, since the very first colonizers crossed the border, the Golden State was and still is powered by slavery – a piece of American history that many still try to bury.

Jean Pfaelzer is a public historian, commentator, and professor of American studies at the University of Delaware. Her books include Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans, (Random House; University of California Press) as well Parlor Radical: Rebecca Harding Davis and the Origins of American Social Realism and The Utopian Novel in America. She lives in Washington, DC.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Human rights of disabled persons in a society that favors able-bodied persons – July 9, 2023

July 9, 2023 host

The rights of persons with disabilities is a growing and important area of human rights. But what does it mean to ensure equal treatment under the law? What exactly is a disability, and who makes the judgment? And what do we mean by ableism? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Lydia X. Z. Brown is Core Faculty in the Disabilities Studies Program at Georgetown University as well as Adjunct Professional Lecturer in the Critical Race, Gender and Culture Studies Program at American University. Lydia is the author of Ableist Shame and Disruptive Bodies: Survivorship at the Intersection of Queer, Trans, and Disabled Existence.
Michael Ashley Stein is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, and a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. He is the editor of the book Mental Health, Legal Capacity and Human Rights.
Joel Michael Reynolds is a senior advisor to The Hastings Center and an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Disability Studies at Georgetown University. He is the co-author of The Harm of Ableism: Medical Error and Epistemic Injustice and the author of Three Things Clinicians Should Know about Disability.

This interview was recorded in October, 2021.

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Scholars’ Circle – Wetlands Protection, the Clean Water Act and the US Supreme Court – July 2, 2023

July 3, 2023 host

In the wake of the US Supreme Court decision that weakened the EPA’s capacity to protect wetlands, we explore the role of wetlands in sustainability, biodiversity, and the economy. What might the decision mean for our environment, and economy? We examine Sackett vs. EPA, in a broader context what this means for the implementation of the Clean Water Act, what it means specifically for wetlands. What is the implication of framing the EPA as being against economic development?

What exactly does “waters of the United States” mean as discussed in this decision? [ dur: 58mins.]

David Keiser is Professor in the Department of Resource Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the co-author of The low but uncertain measured benefits of US water quality policy, Consequences of the Clean Water Act and the Demand for Water Quality and Economic effects of environmental crises: Evidence from Flint, Michigan.
Richard N. L. (Pete) Andrews is a Faculty Fellow of the Institute for the Environment and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Public Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is the author of Managing the Environment, Managing Ourselves: A History of American Environmental Policy.

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Scholars’ Circle – US Supreme Court upholds Native American tribal sovereignty in adoption cases – June 25, 2023

June 26, 2023 host

What does the recent Supreme Court case, Haaland vs. Brackeen, upholding the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) mean for Indian adoption law? Is adoption of Indian children based on child welfare or Tribal interests? We explore why this is a false distinction. And why ICWA is essential for preserving the tribes and their identity, and perhaps most importantly, their sovereignty. [ dur: 58mins. ]

N. Bruce Duthu is the Samson Occom Professor (and former Chair) of Native American Studies at Dartmouth College. He is the author of Shadow Nations: Tribal Sovereignty and the Limits of Legal Pluralism , American Indians and the Law and was a contributing author of Felix S. Cohen’s Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law, the leading treatise in the field of federal Indian law. He has co-produced a documentary Dawnland. The film is about the impact of the removal of children from Wabanaki families for placement in foster homes with white families. Professor Duthu is an enrolled tribal member of the United Houma Nation of Louisiana.
Gregory Ablavsky is Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. He is the author of The Savage Constitution, The Indian Child Welfare Act And the Presentment Clause: A Very Pink Herring and Federal Ground: Governing Property and Violence in the First U.S. Territories. He also filed an amicus brief in the case of Haaland v Brackeen.
Robert J. Miller is Professor of Law at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. He is Interim Chief Justice at Pascua Yaqui Tribe Court of Appeals. He is the author of Reservation “Capitalism”: Economic Development in Indian Country , Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny and A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v. Oklahoma. He is an enrolled citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe.

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Scholars’ Circle – Can international finance protect human rights? ; Responsibility of individuals, state and institutions – June 18, 2023

June 15, 2023 host

Can international finance systems be harnessed to protect human rights? While historically financiers have funded some of the worse of human rights abuses, finances also enabled great human leaps. Our guest argues that it is time to alter the financial system for the good of humanity. [ dur: 29 mins. ]

David Kinley is Professor and Chair in Human Rights Law at the University of Sydney Law School. He is the author of Necessary Evil: How to Fix Finance by Saving Human Rights, and Civilising Globalisation: Human Rights and the Global Economy. He is also the co-editor of Human Rights: Old Problems, New Possibilities.

Then, our guest studies factors that shape our lives and ways of being in life, like ideas and events. What does it really mean to be responsible? It might depend on where you live. [ dur: 29 mins. ]

Susanna Trnka is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Auckland. She is the co-editor of Competing Responsibilities: The Politics and Social Ethics of Responsibility in Contemporary Life and State of Suffering: Political Violence and Community Survival in Fiji.

Re-broadcast – This interview was recorded in June, 2018.

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Scholars’ Circle – Turkey’s 2023 election and regional effects – June 11, 2023

June 12, 2023 host

Turkey’s election returned President Erdogan to power, despite the crises in the country. How did he win and what does his re-election mean for Turkish democracy? What are the foreign policy implications for the re-election of Erdogan. What does it mean for regional politics and for Turkey as a regional power? Will Turkey become even more interventionist in the region? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Serhun Al is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Izmir University of Economics in Turkey. He is the author of An anatomy of nationhood and the question of assimilation: Debates on Turkishness revisited , Human security versus national security: Kurds, Turkey and Syrian Rojava and Is Turkey Ready for the Post-Erdoğan Era? Roadblocks to a Democratic Transition.
Hamoud Salhi is Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean of International Education at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He is commentator for Arabic media. He is a host of SWANA Region Radio.

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Scholars’ Circle – Book interview – Madison’s Militia: The Hidden History of the Second Amendment – June 4, 2023

June 4, 2023 host

What did James Madison mean when he wrote the Second Amendment? What was his motivation? In a new book, our guest says the Second Amendment was intended to protect the states against slave insurrection, not to protect individual liberties. We explore the “original intent” of this controversial amendment to the US Constitution. And look at the epic debate between James Madison of the Federalists and Patrick Henry of the Anti-federalists and how they framed the motivations behind the Second Amendment. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Carl T. Bogus is Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law. He is the author of the book we are discussing today Madison’s Militia: The Hidden History of the Second Amendment (Oxford University Press 2023). He is also the editor of The Second Amendment in Law and History: Historians and Constitutional Scholars on the Right to Bear Arms and the author of The Hard, Simple Truth about Gun Control and Gun Control and America’s Cities: Public Policy and Politics.

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Scholars’ Circle – Food Insecurity and Famine , why they persist? – May 28, 2023

May 28, 2023 host

Famine and food insecurity threaten the lives of nearly a billion people worldwide. And the number of people living in food insecurity is increasing. Why is there food insecurity and what can be done? How much is food insecurity caused by environmental factors and how much is it caused by conflict? We will explore the conflict shock
that creates food insecurity particularly in East Africa , the Horn of Africa, and effective, efficient ways to address concerns of famine and food insecurity. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Daniel Maxwell is the Henry J. Leir Professor in Food Security at the Friedman School of Nutrition and Research Director at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. He is the author of Understanding the Humanitarian World with Kirsten Gelsdorf, Famine in Somalia: Competing Imperatives, Collective Failures with Nisar Majid and Humanitarian Challenges and Implications for Famine Early Warning Systems in Accountability for Mass Starvation.
Bill Moseley is DeWitt Wallace Professor of Geography at Macalester College. He is the author of “Climate crisis in Africa exposes real cause of hunger – colonial food systems that leave people more vulnerable” and “The trouble with drought as an explanation for famine in the Horn and Sahel of Africa“.
Bilal Butt is Associate Professor of Sustainability and Development at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Neoliberalism, Conservation and Dispossession in Kenya’s Arid Lands,” “Commoditizing the Safari and Making Space for Conflict: Place, Identity and Parks in East Africa” and Pastoral herd management, drought coping strategies, and cattle mobility in Southern Kenya”.

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Scholars’ Circle – Capital Punishment in US is explored as it faces ethical, political and legal concerns – May 21, 2023

May 22, 2023 host

The death penalty in the United States has faced increased opposition based on ethical, political, and legal concerns. Several states have outlawed it, but the federal government has returned to its use with a feverish wave of state executions last year. We discuss the implications of the use of the death penalty in the US and examine additional forms of extreme sentencing, such as life without parole. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Frank R. Baumgartner is the Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He is the co-author of The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence and Deadly Justice: A Statistical Portrait of the Death Penalty.
Lee Kovarsky is Bryant Smith Chair in Law and Co-Director of the Capital Punishment Center at The University of Texas in Austin School of Law. He is the author of The Trump Executions and the co-author of The Death Penalty: Concept and Insight.
Jenny-Brooke Condon is a Professor of Law in the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School. She directs the Equal Justice Clinic. She is the author of When Cruelty is the Point: Constitutional Restraints and Remedies for Family Separation and Denialism and the Death Penalty.

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Scholars’ Circle – Cancel Wars: How Universities Can Foster Free Speech, Promote Inclusion, and Renew Democracy – May 14, 2023

May 15, 2023 host

From the entertainment realm to higher education, political activists have complained that we live in cancel culture. But what is cancel culture? And what is its impact in the classroom and for democracy. How much is cancel culture a reaction to dis-empowerment and a means of resistance? And what has been the backlash to its successes? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Sigal Ben-Porath is Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds secondary appointments in the Departments of Political Science and Philosophy. She is the author of Making Up Our Mind: What School Choice is Really About, Free Speech on Campus and the book we are discussing Cancel Wars: How Universities Can Foster Free Speech, Promote Inclusion, and Renew Democracy.
Eve Ng is Associate Professor at Ohio University, in the School of Media Arts and Studies and the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. She is the author of Cancel Culture: A Critical Analysis and the forthcoming Mainstreaming Gays: Critical Convergences of Queer Media, Fan Cultures, and Commercial Television.

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Category Archives: Scholars’ Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – History of California as a Slave State – July 16, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Human rights of disabled persons in a society that favors able-bodied persons – July 9, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Wetlands Protection, the Clean Water Act and the US Supreme Court – July 2, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – US Supreme Court upholds Native American tribal sovereignty in adoption cases – June 25, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Can international finance protect human rights? ; Responsibility of individuals, state and institutions – June 18, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Turkey’s 2023 election and regional effects – June 11, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Book interview – Madison’s Militia: The Hidden History of the Second Amendment – June 4, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Food Insecurity and Famine , why they persist? – May 28, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Capital Punishment in US is explored as it faces ethical, political and legal concerns – May 21, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Cancel Wars: How Universities Can Foster Free Speech, Promote Inclusion, and Renew Democracy – May 14, 2023

By Maria Armoudian