Part two of “Afghanistan and Women” features Dr. Massouda Jalal and a special guest—her daughter, Hasina. The pair explore the implications of Dr. Jalal’s work, how to fuel the fight for gender equality in Afghanistan, and the current state of affairs in the country.

Dr. Jalal was the first woman to run for the Office of the President in the history of Afghanistan and, after placing 6th in the 2004 race, served in the first government after the fall of the Taliban that year. A graduate of Kabul Medical University, she has worked at the World Food Programme and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees offices in Afghanistan. She is an icon in her country and has fought for women across the world. In 2010, Dr. Jalal was awarded the UN Human Rights Global Prize.

In part one of our episode on "Afghanistan and Women," Dr. Massouda Jalal discusses her medical career, her extensive political career, and the famous race for the Office of the Presidency. Dr. Jalal recounts the threats from the Taliban and living in exile in Europe, all while preserving her commitment to human rights in her home country.

Dr. Jalal was the first woman to run for the Office of the President in the history of Afghanistan and, after placing 6th in the 2004 race, served in the first government after the fall of the Taliban that year. A graduate of Kabul Medical University, she has worked at the World Food Programme and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees offices in Afghanistan. She is an icon in her country and has fought for women across the world. In 2010, Dr. Jalal was awarded the UN Human Rights Global Prize.

On this season of the GlobalThought Podcast, Dr. Vishakha N. Desai discusses her recent memoir, “World is Family.” In conversation with four former students, Dr. Desai weighs in on the public perception of globalism and the varying reactions to increased interconnectivity in the world. She touches on the transnational identities of immigrants, relationships transcending cultural boundaries and the idea of belonging through the lens of global thought.

Dr. Vishakha N. Desai is a Senior Advisor for Global Affairs to the President of Columbia University, Senior Research Scholar at Columbia’s School of International & Public Affairs, and Chair of the Committee on Global Thought. A scholar of Asian art and thought leader on the intersection of arts and contemporary issues, Dr. Desai is the past president and CEO of the Asia Society.

CGT Chair Vishakha N. Desai speaks with committee member Manan Ahmed about his new book "The Loss of Hindustan: The Invention of India."

Ahmed provides a radical interpretation of how India came to its contemporary political identity. He argues that a European understanding of India as Hindu has replaced an earlier, native understanding of India as Hindustan, a home for all faiths. Turning to the subcontinent’s medieval past, Ahmed uncovers a rich network of historians of Hindustan who imagined, studied, and shaped their kings, cities, and societies.

Manan Ahmed is an Associate Professor of History at Columbia University and a member of the Committee on Global Thought. Ahmed is interested in the relationship between text, space, and narrative.

Copies of the book are available at: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674987906

In this episode of the Global Thought Podcast, Vishakha N. Desai speaks with Committee on Global Thought member Bernard E. Harcourt about his new book Critique & Praxis from Columbia University Press. Charting a vision for political action and social transformation, Harcourt argues that instead of posing the question, “What is to be done?” we must now turn it back onto ourselves and ask, and answer, “What more am I to do?”.

Bernard E. Harcourt is a leading critical theorist and advocate for social justice. His scholarship focuses on social and critical theory with a particular interest in punishment and surveillance.

Vishakha N. Desai interviews Committee on Global Thought member Rosalind C. Morris about the CGT Unsettlement project on this episode of the Global Thought Podcast. Led by Morris, the CGT project on Unsettlement aims to enable critical thought and a just response to issues that transcend the category of migrancy and border security. Beyond the false dichotomy of voluntary or forced movement, in areas where border regimes are mutating and climate change is precipitating profound demographic shifts, the project brings together scholars, policy makers, journalists and artists in forums that aim to inform and to foster new approaches to the challenges of our present and future.

Rosalind C. Morris is a professor of Anthropology at Columbia University. Her scholarship has focused on modernity, mass media, and global development. Her work addresses questions of the relationships between value and violence; aesthetics and the political; the sexualization of power and desire; and the history of anthropological thought and social theory.

On the final episode of season two, Vishakha N. Desai interviews Committee on Global Thought member, and former chair, Saskia Sassen. She discusses her latest book with Mary Kaldor, Cities at War. The book examines cities as sites of contemporary warfare and insecurity. Sassen’s perspective on cities and their geographies provides new insight into how cities and their residents encounter instability and conflict, as well as the ways in which urban forms provide possibilities for countering violence.

Saskia Sassen is the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology and a member of the Committee for Global Thought at Columbia University. Her research and writing focuses on globalization, immigration, global cities, new technologies, and changes within the liberal state that result from current transnational conditions. Her interests include urban sociology, the sociology of transnational processes and globalization, technology, the dynamics of powerlessness in urban contexts and migration.

On April 13, 2020, the project held a Global Think-In, a virtual conversation between 70 youth from nearly 10 countries, to share observations about the Coronavirus pandemic and its impact on how they think about their future and the post-pandemic world. Specifically, we asked them:

1. How has the Coronavirus affected your life? What is the most unexpected part of this impact?

2. What influence do you think this pandemic will have on your future, your country, and the world? What would you like to see change as a result of this pandemic?

The virtual conversation provided a safe space for young people to share their concerns and aspirations across national borders while we temporarily suspended in-person workshops at local universities and community organizations.

On April 13, 2020, the project held a Global Think-In, a virtual conversation between 70 youth from nearly 10 countries, to share observations about the Coronavirus pandemic and its impact on how they think about their future and the post-pandemic world. Specifically, we asked them:

1. How has the Coronavirus affected your life? What is the most unexpected part of this impact?

2. What influence do you think this pandemic will have on your future, your country, and the world? What would you like to see change as a result of this pandemic?

The virtual conversation provided a safe space for young people to share their concerns and aspirations across national borders while we temporarily suspended in-person workshops at local universities and community organizations.

On April 13, 2020, the project held a Global Think-In, a virtual conversation between 70 youth from nearly 10 countries, to share observations about the Coronavirus pandemic and its impact on how they think about their future and the post-pandemic world. Specifically, we asked them:

1. How has the Coronavirus affected your life? What is the most unexpected part of this impact?

2. What influence do you think this pandemic will have on your future, your country, and the world? What would you like to see change as a result of this pandemic?

The virtual conversation provided a safe space for young people to share their concerns and aspirations across national borders while we temporarily suspended in-person workshops at local universities and community organizations.