The Global Thinkers Series, Oxford

Prof PK Datta from Jawaharlal Nehru University speaks on Rabindranath Tagore. In this episode join us in a discussion with Professor PK Datta from Jawaharlal Nehru University - JNU New Delhi, speaking on the life and international thought of Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore was the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize and is widely admired for his poetry, plays, and novels. He was also a prescient political thinker, a humanist, universalist and internationalist. Tagore's visionary internationalism had a profound impact on the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi, and on Jawaharlal Nehru, the first and longest serving Prime Minister of India. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Professor Branwen Guffydd Jones, expert on African anticolonialism in International Relations from Cardiff University, discusses the life and internationalist thought of one of Africa’s foremost anti-colonial activists, Amílcar Cabral (1924-1973). In this episode of the Global Thinkers of the International Discussion Series, Professor Branwen Guffydd Jones, expert on African anticolonialism in International Relations from Cardiff University, discusses the life and internationalist thought of one of Africa’s foremost anti-colonial activists, Amílcar Cabral (1924-1973).

The revolutionary Cabral was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean intellectual, poet, theoretician, revolutionary, political organiser, diplomat and nationalist. Having led one of the most successful wars of independence in modern African history, Cabral was an inspiration to revolutionary socialists and independence movements globally.

This episode aims to shed light not only on his contribution to nationalist movements, but how this was shaped by his view and understanding of a just and equal international order.

Cornelia Navari, of the University of Buckingham, gives an expert talk on Prof Susan Strange. Cornelia Navari, of the University of Buckingham, gives an expert talk on Susan Strange, one of the world's leading scholars in international relations and the major European figure in international political economy (IPE). Born in 1923, Strange graduated with a First in Economics from the LSE during the Second World War, began a career in journalism, first at The Economist and then for The Observer. A research fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House from 1965, she directed its acclaimed transnational relations project. In 1978 she was appointed Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at the LSE, and with a few other virtually invented IPE as the study of the impact of power politics on market outcomes. She was robustly critical of what she argued were selfishly irresponsible US policies in their impact on the health of the world economy. A twice-married mother of six children, she was impatient with feminist complaints about the unfairness of life.

Prof Cecelia Lynch, of the University of California, Irvine, discusses the academic career of US foreign policy and disarmament expert Dr Merze Tate. Prof Cecelia Lynch, Professor of Political Science and International Studies at the University of California, Irvine, discusses the academic career of US foreign policy and disarmament expert Merze Tate.

The opening remark for this event is kindly given by Vice-Chancellor Louise Richardson.

Dr Merze Tate was a prolific expert on US diplomacy and in 1932, the first African-American woman to attend Oxford (she commented several times she was “the only colored American in the entire university, man or woman”), where she studied International Relations. She was also the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in Government and International Relations from Harvard. In 1942 and 1948, she wrote two books on disarmament. Through her stints in several committees, Tate tried to tackle gender and racial discrimination in the academic system.

Prof Cecelia Lynch, of the University of California, Irvine, discusses the academic career of US foreign policy and disarmament expert Dr Merze Tate. Tate was also the first African American graduate student at Oxford. Vice Chancellor Louise Richardson provides opening remarks in this session, marking the centenary of women being allowed to matriculate at Oxford.

Professor Manu Bhagavan, of Hunter College and CUNY, speaks on the life and work of Indian diplomat and politician Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit. For the fifth GTI Professor Manu Bhagavan speaks on the life and work of Indian diplomat and politician Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was the first woman to be elected president of the United Nations General Assembly, in 1953. A prominent politician and active Indian nationalist, she was also the first Indian woman to hold a cabinet position in pre-independent India. As newly-independent India's top diplomat, Pandit served as ambassador to the Soviet Union (1947-49), the United States and Mexico (1949-51), Ireland (1955-61), and Spain (1958-61), and high commissioner to the United Kingdom (1955-61). In 1979, she was appointed India's representative to the UN Human Rights Commission. Pandit was an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College.

Prof Peter Burke and Dr Maria Lúcia Garcia Pallares-Burke of the University of Cambridge speak on Gilberto Freyre. In the fourth episode of the Global Thinkers of the International Discussion Series, Professor Peter Burke, Professor Emeritus of Cultural History and Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge and Dr Maria Lúcia Garcia Pallares-Burke, Research Associate of the Centre of Latin American Studies at the University of Cambridge speak on Brazil’s Giberto Freyre. Freyre was a 20th century Brazilian academic and public figure known for his sociological treaties on the study of races and cultures in Brazil. Freyre’s thoughts were also developed through an illustrious journalistic and political career. His most widely known work is The Masters and the Slaves, which was study of races and cultures in Brazil. This session focuses on Frerye’s political thought, with a special focus on his views on international relations.

Professor Leslie Bethell of the University of Oxford traces the life and internationalist thought of Joaquim Nabuco. In the third episode of the Global Thinkers of the International Discussion Series, Professor Leslie Bethell, a leading expert on 19th and 20th century Latin America, Emeritus Fellow of St Anthony’s College and founder of the Centre for Brazilian Studies, Oxford, will trace the life and internationalist thought of Brazil’s Joaquim Nabuco (1849–1910). Nabuco was a Brazilian writer, statesman, and a leading voice in the abolitionist movement of his country. One of his most significant works in this regard is the book "O Abolicionismo" that was published in 1883. He later became the first Brazilian ambassador to the United States from 1905–1910 marking a significant shift in Brazil’s role in the world arena.

Professor Judith Brown discusses the international thought of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. In the second episode of the Global Thinkers of the International Discussion Series, join Professor Judith Brown to discuss the international thought of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. After independence, Nehru became the virtual director of India’s foreign policy. Under his guidance India became the first state to have pursued a policy that was new in the history of international relations- the policy of Non-alignment. He was supported by Naser of Egypt, Sukarno of Indonesia and Joseph Broz Tito of Yugoslavia. His policies of non-alignment and Panchscheel—principles of peaceful coexistence—guided India’s international relations until the outbreak of the Sino-Indian War in 1962, which contributed to his declining health and subsequent death in 1964, ending his 17-years in office.

Dr Faisal Devji from the University of Oxford speaks on the international thought of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. In the first episode of the Global Thinkers of the International Discussion Series, join Dr Faisal Devji from the Faculty of History, University of Oxford, to speak on the International Thought of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Jinnah was a lawyer, a politician, and the founder of modern Pakistan. Faced with the serious problems of a young country, he tackled Pakistan’s problems with authority. He was not regarded as merely the governor-general. He was revered as the father of the nation. He worked hard until overpowered by age and disease in Karachi, the place of his birth, in 1948.