The Scholars' Circle

We interview Maria Armoudian who has published a book on international human rights and the role that lawyers have played at advancing cases against human rights abusers. Maria Armoudian is the author of Lawyers Beyond Borders : Advancing International Human Rights Through Local Laws and Courts.

Then, we explore the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan a year after the war over the disputed region of Ngoro-Karabagh. What is the current status of the region following the cease-fire? Is there possibility of lasting peace?

How culture shapes our understanding and treatment of mental health. We speak with three experts. [ dur: 58 mins. ]

* Roberto Lewis-Fernandez is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University. He is also Director of NYS Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence and Hispanic Treatment Program and Co-Director of Anxiety Disorders Clinic at New York State Psychiatric Institute. He is the author and co-editor of the book DSM-5(R) Handbook of the Cultural Formulation Interview. He is also the co-author of the research publications Impact of motivational pharmacotherapy on treatment retention among depressed Latinos, and Conditional risk for PTSD among Latinos: A systematic review of racial/ethnic differences and sociocultural explanations.

* Tanya Marie Luhrmann is the Watkins University Professor in the Anthropology Department at Stanford University. She is the author of When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God, Of Two Minds: An Anthropologist Looks at American Psychiatry and Our Most Troubling Madness: Schizophrenia and Culture.

* Andrew G. Ryder is Associate Professor of Psychology and Co-Director of the Centre for Clinical Research in Health at Concordia University. He is the co-author of the research publications Culture and psychopathology, Revisioning psychiatry: Cultural phenomenology, critical neuroscience, global mental health, Depression in cultural context: Chinese somatization and Towards a cultural-clinical psychology.

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

The Supreme Court signaled with their upholding of the Texas abortion law that Roe v Wade is likely to be overturned. What does this mean for the reproductive rights of women around the country, and in particular women of color and poorer women? Is it the end of women’s rights to reproductive choice established by Roe v Wade? We look at how are many women ensuring access to abortions in light of the closure of abortion clinics. [ dur: 58mins. ]

* Rachel Rebouché is the Interim Dean of Temple University Beasley School of Law and the James E. Beasley Professor of Law. She is the co-author of “Eugenic Abortions” and the Problematic Popularity of the Reason-Based Ban, What the Public Gets Wrong About “Reason-Based” Abortion Bans, and The federal suit against Texas’s abortion law may fail. It’s still worthwhile.

* Lina-Maria Murillo is Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa. She is the author of an upcoming manuscript Fighting for Control: Power, Reproductive Care, and Race in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands.

* Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at 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 author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office and Foreign Policy Breakthroughs: Cases in Successful Diplomacy

* Sanford Levinson is W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. He is the author of many publications including Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) and Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance and, with Cynthia Levinson, Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect Us Today.

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

California's Recall process is broken. It may well be unconstitutional and undemocratic. With an upcoming recall election, we explore these issues and discuss potential reforms. Followed by, Q Anon has grown significantly in the last few years. We explore a new book that explains the conspiracy theory with the authors. Why did Q Anon become so widespread? Who does the theory appeal to? And how is it harming individuals and society?

Haiti has yet again suffered through a major political crises and an earthquake. Is the humanitarian and economic aid coming from abroad helping or harming the nation?

A parallel government of NGO’s may have removed sovereignty from the Haitian people. What does this mean for the county, its people and their future. [ dur: 58mins. ]

* Mark Schuller is Professor of Anthropology and Nonprofit and NGO Studies at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of Humanitarian Aftershocks in Haiti and Killing with Kindness: Haiti, International Aid, and NGOs.

* Jean-Eddy Saint Paul is Professor in the Department of Sociology, and Founding Director of the CUNY Haitian Studies Institute. He is the author of the article Assassinations and invasions – how the US and France shaped Haiti’s long history of political turmoil and Understanding Haiti through the power of the social force in interaction.

* Barrymore A. Bogues is Asa Messer Professor of Humanities and Critical Theory, Professor of Africana Studies and Director of the Center of the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University. He is the author of Empire of Liberty: Power, Freedom and Desire, The George Lamming Reader: The Aesthetics of Decolonization and Haiti: A saga of democracy, sovereignty and state rule.

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

The conflict in Afghanistan has transformed with the US withdrawal. We examine why the government fell and the impact on the country and the region.

What are the security threats within the country and the potential for increased violence with the fall of the government in Afghanistan? [ dur: 58mins. ]

* Thomas H. Johnson is a Research Professor of the National Security Affairs Department at the Naval Postgraduate School as well the Director of the Program for Culture & Conflict Studies. He is the author of Taliban Narratives: The Uses and Power of Stories in the Afghanistan Conflict.

* Amin Tarzi is the Director of Middle East Studies at the Marine Corps University. He is the co-editor of Taliban and the Crisis in Afghanistan with Professor Robert D. Crews. He is the author of Iran, Russia, and the Taliban: Reassessing the Future of the Afghan State.

* Robert Crews is Professor of History at Stanford University. He is the author of Afghan Modern: The History of a Global Nation and co-editor of Under the Drones: Modern Lives in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Borderlands.

* Steve Swerdlow is Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights in the Department of Political and International Relations at the University of Southern California. He was Senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. He has conducted extensive field work internationally with a particular focus on Central Asia and the Caucuses.

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

The IPCC’s assessment on climate change warns us of the environmental risk if we don’t take dramatic action. We explore the report, the state of scientific research on climate change, and the need for political action. What actions do we need to take to mitigate and adapt to climate change?

* Jennifer Allan is Lecturer in International Relations in the School of Law and Politics at Cardiff University. She is the author of The new climate activism: NGO authority and participation in global climate governance and A net-zero emissions economic recovery from COVID-19.

* Gabriel Vicchi is Professor in the Department of Geosciences and High Meadows Environmental Institute and Director of the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) at Princeton University. He is also Deputy Director of the Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System (CIMES). He is the author of Causes of large projected increases in hurricane precipitation rates with global warming, Increased frequency of extreme La Niña events under greenhouse warming and Weakening of the North American monsoon with global warming.

* Stephen R. Palumbi is Jane and Marshall Steel Jr. Professor in Marine Sciences at Stanford University and the Harold A. Miller Director of the Hopkins Marine Station. He is the co-author of Using naturally occurring climate resilient corals to construct bleaching-resistant nurseries, Ocean acidification causes variable trait shifts in a coral species, and Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem services.

* Pamels Chasek is Professor and Chair of the Political Science Department at Manhattan College. She is the author of Global Environmental Politics and co-editor of The Roads from Rio: Lessons Learned from Twenty Years of Multilateral Environmental Negotiations.

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

Since the 2020 election, Republican state legislators have passed a series of laws intended to shrink the number of eligible voters in future elections. What are the legal implications and what does this mean for the future of American democracy? Also, The search for minerals is leading some corporations to begin mining the ocean floor but scientists warn that this could devastate fragile ecosystems that will have repercussions that we still don't understand. What is going on in the deep sea? What precautions should be taken to prevent devastating fragile ecosystems?

We discuss the ongoing political climate in Cuba and the US response to them. How much is the US responsible for this state? And how should the US respond to the protests? [ dur: 58mins. ]

* Lillian Guerra is professor of Cuban and Caribbean History at the University of Florida. She is the author of Heroes, Martyrs and Political Messiahs in Revolutionary Cuba, 1946-1958 and the forthcoming Patriots and Traitors in Cuba: Political Pedagogy, Rehabilitation and Vanguard Youth, 1961-1981. She has also authored the article Cubans Want Much More Than an End to the U.S. Embargo.

* Brian Fonseca is Director of the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University’s (FIU) Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs. He is the author of Culture and National Security in the Americas and the co-author of Democracy and Security in Latin America with Orlando Perez and Gabriel Marcella.

* Richard Feinberg is a Professor of International Political Economy at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of Open for Business: Building the New Cuban Economy.

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

The filibuster threatens to block a great deal of the Democratic Party's legislative wish list. We examine its history, its function in democracy, and its future [ dur: 29mins. ]. Then, we explore a new book on the peaceful uses of nuclear power: The Wretched Atom by Jacob Hamblin [ dur: 29mins. ]