Tag Archives: Politics and Activism

Scholars’ Circle – Immigrants to US and how they are treated by its Laws and Executive power of US Presidents – February 9, 2025

February 9, 2025 host

What exactly is the political, physical, and existential meanings of borders? Borders are human creations but often define state and national boundaries and even identities. They define belonging to a nation. And under this new administration, borders have become the most visible feature not just of policy but who belongs in the United States. Our first guest has written a new book on borders and their impact on our conversations on immigration, borders, and belonging. Hiroshi Motomura is the author of BORDERS AND BELONGING: TOWARDS A FAIR IMMIGRATION POLICY. [ dur: 27mins. ]

Hiroshi Motomura, the Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States (Oxford 2006) and his newest book Borders and Belonging: Toward a Fair Immigration Policy.

Then, the Trump Administration’s approach to immigration, the raids, mass deportations, concentration camps, and shipping people to Guantanamo Bay, may all be illegal. What is the relationship between law and national values and identity, and what legal changes has President Trump proposed? How are communities responding to ICE? [ dur: 31mins. ]

Victor Narro, Project Director for the UCLA Labor Center and Core Faculty for the UCLA Department of Labor Studies; He teaches immigration law and is author of The Activist Spirit – Toward a Radical Solidarity (Hard Ball Press 2022) , No One Size Fits All: Worker Organization, Policy, and Movement in a New Economic Age (Cornell University Press, 2018) and others.
Hiroshi Motomura, the Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States (Oxford 2006) and his newest book Borders and Belonging: Toward a Fair Immigration Policy.

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

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – US orders withdrawal from WHO ; Jimmy Carter’s Legacy – January 26, 2025

January 28, 2025 host

The United States has announced its intention to leave the World Health Organization. What does this mean for the US, for the WHO and for campaigns to maintain global health? [ dur: 29mins. ]

Sofia Gruskin is a Director of IIGH and Distinguished Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences and Law at USC. She is a co-author of Listening is Believing: Can Oral History Catalyze Greater Investment in Health and Human Rights?.
Laura Ferguson is a Director of Program on Global Health & Human Rights Associate Professor, Population and Public Health Sciences at USC. She has co-authored Are Rights-Based Services Important? An Adolescent PrEP Demonstration Project in Brazil

Then, Jimmy Carter died last month. Perhaps his greatest impact is the advancement of human rights and the near eradication of the Guinea Worm. We look at his legacy both as President and as post-President. [ dur: 29mins. ]

Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin. He holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the co-author of “Problems with President Records are Not Just About Trump” with Kenneth Osgood. He is also the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office. He is the host of the podcast This is Democracy.
Jill Sohm is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of the Program at the University of Southern California. She is the co-author of Microbial mats of the Dry Valleys: oases of activity in the cold desert and The distribution and relative ecological roles of autotrophic and heterotrophic diazotrophs in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Dr. Martin Luther King Legacy and its effect on contemporary civil rights movement- January 19, 2025

January 21, 2025 host

To commemorate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. we discuss Dr King’s life, his work, his legacy and his memory. We then explore the impact of Dr King and his memory on contemporary issues, including the role of women on the movement and the security of people of color as embodied in the Black Lives Matter movement. What is the meaning of Dr King’s dream today? [ dur: 58mins. ]

David Garrow is Professor of History and Law at the University of Pittsburgh and Former Senior Research Fellow at Cambridge University. He is the author of Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. His website is www.davidgarrow.com.
Keith Miller is Professor of English and Professor, Affiliate Faculty, at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University. He is the author of Martin Luther King’s Biblical Epic: His Great, Final Speech and Voice of Deliverance: The Language of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Its Sources. His website is: drkeithdmiller.com.
Jared Clemons is Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University. He is the author of “Freedom Now!” to “Black Lives Matter”: Retrieving King and Randolph to Theorize Contemporary White Antiracism.
Dewey M. Clayton is Professor of Political Science at the University of Louisville. He is the author of The presidential campaign of Barack Obama: A critical analysis of a racially transcendent strategy, African Americans and the politics of congressional redistricting and Black Lives Matter and the Civil Rights Movement: A Comparative Analysis of Two Social Movements in the United States .

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Sober view on Wildfire mitigation and adaptation – January 12, 2025

January 11, 2025 host

Western US is ablaze with intense and widespread fires. What role does climate change, forest management, overpopulation, and resource management play in the increasingly devastating fire seasons worldwide? How can climate mitigation and adaptation complicate forest management? [dur: 58mins. ]

George Perry is a Professor at the School of Environment at the University of Auckland. He studies the effects of humans on forest ecosystems. He is the co-author of many publications including, Positive Feedbacks to Fire-Driven Deforestation Following Human Colonization of the South Island of New Zealand, Pyrodiversity is the coupling of biodiversity and fire regimes in food webs, and Green firebreaks as a management tool for wildfires: Lessons from China.
Peter Ward is Professor of Biology and Professor of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington. He is the co-author of the best-selling Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe, the author of many books including, Out of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth’s Ancient Atmosphere, Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past and What They Can Tell Us About Our Future, and The Medea Hypothesis: Is Life on Earth Ultimately Self-Destructive? which was listed by the New York Times as one of the “100 most important ideas of 2009.”
Beverly Elizabeth Law is Emeritus Professor and was previously Professor of Global Change Biology and Terrestrial Systems Science in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. She is an American Geophysical Union Fellow and Aldo Leopold Fellow. She is an author or co-author of over 200 peer-reviewed publications including Drivers of Future Ecosystem Change in the US Pacific Northwest: The Role of Climate, Fire, and Nitrogen and Tree biomass mortality from fires, bark beetles, and timber harvest during a hot, dry decade in the western United States.
William Moomaw is Emeritus Professor of international environmental policy and founding director of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at The Fletcher School. He is the co-founder and current co-director of the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts. Professor Moomaw has been a lead author of five Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Reports. He is the author of Intact Forests in the United States: Proforestation Mitigates Climate Change and Serves the Greatest Good and Scientist Diplomats or Diplomat Scientists: Who Makes Science Diplomacy Effective?

This panel was recorded in September 2020.

This program is produced by the following team members: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Author interview – The Digital Fourth Amendment: Privacy and Policing in our Online World – January 5, 2025

January 6, 2025 host

The fourth amendment has protected privacy for Americans. But with new technologies, smart phones, the internet, and other devices, our protections are easily compromised. Will protecting privacy in the digital age require a new Digital 4th Amendment? We interview Orin Kerr author of The Digital Fourth Amendment: Privacy and Policing in our Online World [ dur: 58mins. ]

Orin Kerr is a professor of law at Stanford Law school. His new book titled The Digital Fourth Amendment Privacy and policing in our online world. He has also published 70 law review articles many of which has been cited by Federal Courts.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Samuel Ringgold Ward: A life of Struggle, a biography – December 29, 2024

December 28, 2024 host

The history of anti-slavery activism is a rich and important period in American history. But there are so many stories that still have yet to be written. Samuel Ward is one of those activists; an important figure in the African-American activist community working against slavery and racism, whose story is largely lost. Our guest R. J. M. Blackett is addressing this need to tell Ward’s story in a new book, Samuel Ringgold Ward: A life of Struggle. [ dur: 58mins. ]

R. J. M. Blackett is Andrew Jackson Professor of History emeritus at Vanderbilt University. His previous books are The Captive’s Quest for Freedom: Fugitive Slaves, the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, and the Politics of Slavery and Making Freedom: The Underground Railroad and the Politics of Slavery.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Why voters should strike down Dark Money in politics – December 22, 2024

December 21, 2024 host

Money can distort politics. And the lack of transparency where this money comes from can further distort politics and invite corruption. Since much of the money in campaign finance is not subject to transparency laws, it has taken the name dark money. This specifically references spending by nonprofit organizations created for political spending. How much has dark money skewed American democracy? What role does transparency in spending play in ensuring the legitimacy of democracies? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Stan Oklobdzija is Visiting Assistant Professor at UC Riverside’s School of Public Policy. He is the author of Public positions, private giving: Dark money and political donors in the Digital Age and Closing Down and Cashing In: Extremism and Political Fundraising.
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is Professor of Law at Stetson Law School. She is the author of Corporate Citizen? An Argument for the Separation of Corporation and State and Political Brands.
Maurice Cunningham is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He is the author of Dark Money and the Politics of School Privatization.

This interview was recorded October 2022.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – COP29 , its outcome and looking ahead – December 1, 2024

December 2, 2024 host

COP 29 in Azerbaijan has just ended. These annual meetings are intended to advance the cause of combating climate change. And while the meetings did result in an agreement, there has been intense criticism both within the attendees and critics from outside the halls of the meetings about this agreement. And of course the United States just elected a President who considers climate change to be a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. On this show, we explore what developed at COP 29, and what this means for global action on climate change. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Shannon Gibson is Associate Professor of Political Science, International Relations, and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California. She’s also the author of a recent article in the Conversation Throwing soup on a Van Gogh and other ways young climate activists are making their voices heard over Egypt’s climate summit protest suppression and State-led social boundary change: Transnational environmental activism, ‘ecoterrorism’ and September 11.
Amy Below, Associate Professor of International Relations and Comparative Politics at California State University East Bay. She specializes in environmental and climate politics and foreign policy with a regional emphasis in the Americas. She is author of Environmental Politics and Foreign Policy Decision Making in Latin America Ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and The Missing Link: Regionalism as a First Step Toward Globalizing U.S. Environmental Security Policy.

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

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Scholars’ Circle – Moldova Election 2024 – November 24, 2024

November 24, 2024 host

The small Southeastern European nation of Moldova sits at a crossroads. Once a part of the former Soviet Union, the nation has long ties to Central Europe (and in particular Romania). And recent political developments expose this tension. In October, the nation -reelected President Maia Sandu, despite allegations of Russian interference to aid her opponent Alexandr Stoianoglo. And the nation passed a referendum advocating membership in the European Union, but with a very slim majority. And it has seen ongoing conflicts that has separated a significant part of its Eastern territory, which has declared itself the breakaway republic of Transneister. So on today’s show, we will explore the nation of Moldova, its politics, its challenges and its human rights profile. [ dur:34mins. ]

Ecaterina Locoman is Senior Lecturer of Political Science at Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Moldova’s Critical Decision Between Europe and Russia Narratives of conflict: Russian media’s evolving treatment of Ukraine (2013–2022)
Christian Cantir is Associate Professor of Political Science at Oakland University. She is the author of ‘On the front line of the battle for reunification’: Nationalism and Romania’s identity paradiplomacy in Moldova and “Goodbye Moscow, Hello Brussels”: The City Diplomacy of Chișinău Mayor Dorin Chirtoacă.
Isabelle DeSisto is fourth-year PhD candidate in Politics at Princeton University. She is co-author of “Moldova chooses Europe again as Sandu wins re-election,” and “The high stakes in Moldova’s 2024 election,”

Following the re-election of Maia Sandu and the passage of a referendum on membership in the European Union, the nation’s human rights profile is particularly important. Membership in the EU requires substantial monitoring of human rights and a commitment to democracy. And while the election of October 2024 looks promising, the nation faces significant challenges. So we will discuss those challenges and the human rights commitments of the nation. [ dur: 24mins. ]

Nicolae Panfil is Program Director and Head of Election Observation Missions at Promo-LEX Association – an NGO dedicated to the advancement of human rights and democratic processes in the Republic of Moldova.

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

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Tag Archives: Politics and Activism

Scholars’ Circle – Immigrants to US and how they are treated by its Laws and Executive power of US Presidents – February 9, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – US orders withdrawal from WHO ; Jimmy Carter’s Legacy – January 26, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Dr. Martin Luther King Legacy and its effect on contemporary civil rights movement- January 19, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Sober view on Wildfire mitigation and adaptation – January 12, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Author interview – The Digital Fourth Amendment: Privacy and Policing in our Online World – January 5, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Samuel Ringgold Ward: A life of Struggle, a biography – December 29, 2024

Scholars’ Circle – Why voters should strike down Dark Money in politics – December 22, 2024

Scholars’ Circle – COP29 , its outcome and looking ahead – December 1, 2024

Scholars’ Circle – Moldova Election 2024 – November 24, 2024

By Maria Armoudian