Tag Archives: Central America

Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Guatemala election and inauguration drama explained; Puerto Rico’s struggle with corruption and self determination – January 28, 2024

In the summer of 2023, Guatemala elected as President an outsider with a famous last name—Bernardo Arevalo. But his political opponents used ever level of law they could to try to deny his Inauguration. Why was he victorious and what does his election mean for the future of democracy in the Central American nation? [ dur: 28mins. ]

The island of Puerto Rico has a complex relationship with the federal government in the United States. Should it seek statehood or independence? Or is the status quo the best option for the nation. This segment was recorded January 2023. [ dur: 30mins. ]

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Stephen Hawkin’s Universe -/- 1980 Assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero – April 1, 2018

First, the legacy of Stephen Hawking and what he has meant towards the understanding of this universe.[ dur: 25 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

  • Peter L. Galison is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Director of the Collection of the Historical Scientific Instruments at Harvard University. He is the author of How Experiments End, Einstein’s Clocks, Poincaré’s Maps, and Image and Logic. He is also the co-editor of Einstein for the 21st Century: His Legacy in Science, Art, and Modern Culture, Science in Culture and The Architecture of Science. He is the co-director of the documentaries Ultimate Weapon: The H-bomb Dilemma and Containment.
  • Priyamvada Natarajan is Professor in the Departments of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University. Her publications include Rapid growth of seed black holes in the early universe by supra-exponential accretion and New observational Constraints on the Growth of the First Supermassive Black Holes.

Then, last week was the anniversary of the 1980 assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador. We’ll explore the case to bring his killers to justice. [ dur: 33 mins. ]

  • Matt Eisenbrandt is a former Legal Director for the Center for Justice & Accountability (CJA) and a member of the trial team that brought Archbishop Óscar Romero’s assassination to court. He is now the Special Advisor at the Canadian Centre for International Justice (CCIJ), where he helps survivors of torture, war crimes and other atrocities seek justice. He is the author of The Assassination of a Saint: The Plot to Murder Oscar Romero and the Quest to Bring His Killers to Justice.

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle-Migrants-Journey-/-21st-Century-Social-Movement-Feb. 1st, 2015

First, thousands of migrants leave their countries in search of safety or a better life, but many are abducted, enslaved or disappeared never to be seen again. We’ll talk with an award-winning journalist who documented the lives of Central American migrants and the life-threatening dangers they faced. Oscar Martinez is the author of The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging the Narcos on the Migrant Trail. [ dur: 25mins. ]

  • Óscar Martínez is​ an award winning journalist​. He​ writes for ElFaro.net, the first online newspaper in Latin America and is the author of ​ The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging the Narcos on the Migrant Trail.

Then, how have social movements changed in the twenty-first century and how have new communication technologies facilitated change? What makes some social movements sustainable and successful while others are more short term? What is the future for social movements?  [ dur: 33 mins. ]

  • James M. Jasper is a Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His books include Protest: A Cultural Introduction to Social Movements, ​T​he Art of Moral Protest: Culture, Biography, and Creativity in Social Movements and The Social Movements Reader: Cases and Concepts.
  • Todd Wolfson is a Professor of Journalism and Media Studies and the Digital Media Coordinator for the MCIS Program at Rutgers University. He is the author of Digital Rebellion: The Birth of the Cyber Left and co-author of The Great Refusal Herbert Marcuse and the Contemporary Cycle of Struggle​​.​
  • Anita Lacey is Senior Lecturer in Political Studies at the University of Auckland. She is the co-author of Governing the Poor: Exercises of Poverty Reduction, Practices of Global Aid and Networks of social justice: Transnational activism and social change.

Visit our Store [ lists books written by each on this panel ]

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- Nov. 10th, 2013

First, thousands of migrants leave their countries in search of safety or a better life, but many are abducted, enslaved or disappeared never to be seen again. We ll talk w/ an award-winning journalist who documented the lives of Central American migrants and the life-threatening dangers they faced.  [ dur: 25 mins. ]

  • Oscar Martinez, author, journalist. Author of The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging the Narcos on the Migrant Trail.

 

We then dig deeper into the world of migration, and the systems and policies that perpetuate many of the inhumane conditions. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • Kevin Johnson is Dean and  Professor of Public Interest Law at UC Davis School of Law. He has co-authored., Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink Its Borders and Immigration Laws, and authored Immigration Law and the US-Mexico Border.
  • David Shirk is Associate  Professor of Political Science and International, and Director of the Justice in Mexico Project, at University of San Diego. He has co-authored, Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2013, Armed with Impunity: Curbing Military Human Rights Abuses in Mexico, and Contemporary Mexican Politics.
  • David Kyle is professor of Sociology at University of California, Davis. His publications include, Global Human Smuggling: Comparative Perspectives, and Transnational Peasants: Migrations, Networks and Ethnicity in Andean Ecuador.

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