The Scholars' Circle

In this hour, as Beijing seeks greater control over Hong Kong, protesters are demanding the promised autonomy laid out in the 1997 agreement. What’s next for Hong Kong? What are the implications of China’s latest moves to strip more autonomy from Hong kong? We revisit our conversation from last year on this issue. Doug Becker hosts.[ dur: 58 mins. ]

* Dr Pradeep Taneja is professor of Chinese politics, political economy and international relations at the University of Melbourne. He is the co-author of China Since 1978 and co-editor of The European Union and China: Interests and Dilemmas.

* Katherine Chu is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Asian Pacific Studies at Cal State Dominguez Hills. She is the author of So You Think You Know Chinese Film: Beyond Jackie Chan and Crouching Tiger.

* Daniel C. Lynch is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at City University of Hong Kong. He is the author of China’s Futures: PRC Elites Debate Economics, Politics, and Foreign Policy. and Rising China and Asian Democratization: Socialization to “Global Culture” in the Political Transformations of Thailand, China, and Taiwan.

This program is produced with contributions from the following team members: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

The global Covid-19 pandemic has provided new openings to link global health with climate action. How will this influence the upcoming meetings on global climate action, called COP 26? Doug Becker hosts. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

* Shannon Gibson is Associate Professor of Political Science, International Relations, and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California. She is the author of the forthcoming book Politics of Global Environment.

We look at the implications of moral distress and clinical decision making in the time of COVID-19. Lillian Ng hosts. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

* Monique Jonas is a Senior Lecturer in Health Systems at the University of Auckland. Jonas is an ethical theorist specialising in health care ethics.

* Phillipa Malpas is an Associate Professor in Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland. Malpas is an expert in medical ethics.

This program is produced with contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

How do we ride the emotional roller coaster of difficult times? We discuss building emotional resilience. Lillian Ng talks to Marthinus Bekker about building emotional resilience. [ dur: 34mins. ]

* Marthinus Bekker is Clinical Psychologist and Research Fellow at University of Auckland, NZ. with a range of experience in both clinical work and research across a range of clinical, university, and private settings.

Then, how have our ancestors dealt with earlier changes in the climate and environment? What does it tell us about our current situation? [ dur: 23mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* Professor Simon Holdaway is the Head of School, School of Social Sciences, at the University of Auckland. He is the author of A Record in Stone: The Study of Australia’s Flaked Stone Artefacts and Geoarchaeology of Aboriginal Landscapes in Semi-arid Australia. His publications also includes, The Effects of Holocene Landscape Changes on the Formation of the Archaeological Record in the Fayum Basin, Egypt

This program is produced with contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

What is the role of psychological first aid in times of crisis? Lillian Ng explores ways to support psychological well being. [ dur: 24 mins. ]

* Kerry Gibson is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor at the University of Auckland. She is the co-author of Young People’s Reasons for Feeling Suicidal and Young Women’s Selfhood on Antidepressants: “Not Fully Myself”

* Zubeida Mahomedy is a psychiatrist with a special interest in maternal mental health.

Greenwashing culture. How journalism, the entertainment industry and museums impact our environment. Joining us is Toby Miller author of 30 books, including Greenwashing Culture. [ dur: 32mins. ]

* Toby Miller is a Professor Emeritus of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of 30 books including Greenwashing Culture. His Wikipedia page.

This program is produced with contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Brazil’s response to the coronavirus has implications not only for the country itself, but also the region and the world. We examine the policies and actions of the Jair Bolsanaro regime, the complexities of Brazilian federalism, and the state of the nation in the pandemic. Hosted by Doug Becker.[ dur: 28 mins. ]

* Erica Resende is Assistant Professor of International Relations and Security Studies at the Brazilian War College in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is the co-editor of Memory and Trauma in International Relations: Theories, Cases and Debates; and Crisis and Change in Post Cold-War Global Politics.

Then, what psychological challenges do children and young people face amidst the time of COVID-19? What ways families can support their children and adolescents? Hosted by Lillian Ng.[ dur: 29 mins. ]

* Dr Melanie Woodfield is a clinical psychologist and research scientist at University of Auckland, NZ.

* Dr Hiran Thabrew is Senior Lecturer and Postgraduate Course Coordinator within the Department of Psychological Medicine, and Deputy Director of the Werry Centre for Infant,Child and Adolescent Mental Health at Univeristy of Auckland, NZ.

This program is produced with contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Is this pandemic, the novel coronavirus, changing governance in the United States? Is it bringing about a different form of federalism? [ dur: 25mins. ]

* Sanford Levinson, is a Professor of law and political science in the Department of Government at the University of Texas. He is the editor of The Undemocratic Constitution and Nullification and Secession in Modern Constitutional Thought and author of Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance (2012)

Then, April is a notorious month for genocide and mass human rights abuses. We’ll analyze the forces of genocide and the means of preventing genocide. [ dur: 27mins. ]

* Ben Kiernan is Whitney Griswold Professor of History and Director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University. He is the author of, Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur, and The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79.

* Alex Hinton is Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution, and Human Rights, and Professor of Anthropology and Global Affairs at Rutgers University. He is the co-author of, Why Did They Kill?: Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide, and is the editor of Genocide: Truth, Memory, and Representation (The Cultures and Practice of Violence), and Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide.

* Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is the author of, Zero Degrees of Empathy, and he is the editor of Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives from developmental social neuroscience, and The Maladapted Mind: Classic Readings in Evolutionary Psychopathology.

This program is produced with contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

The great promise of the internet to provide interconnectedness and the spread of great ideas has brought great challenges in discerning facts from fiction. Our guest discusses ways we can identify misinformation and disinformation. [ dur: 27 mins. ]

* Damaso Reyes is a freelance journalist and a researcher, speaker and trainer in the field of media and information literacy.

What are the psychological states of Covic-19? How do we respond to fear and anxiety amid the threat and uncertainty. Lillian Ng, Senior Lecturer in Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland, hosts. [ dur: 31 mins]

* Rob Schieff is a psychiatrist. He is a specialist in cognitive behavioral therapy and has special interest in anxiety disorders.

Produced by the Scholars’ Circle team: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. What exactly does this mean? What is the relationship between countries and the WHO, and how does it promote cooperation on a global issue like this pandemic? Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 42 mins. ]

* Heather Wipfli is an Associate Professor of Clinical Preventive Medicine and International Relations at the University of Southern California (USC). She is the author of Investigating global mental health: Contributions from political science and Network influences on policy implementation: Evidence from a global health treaty.

Then, What is power? Who has it? How does it work? We discuss politics of power with William Domhoff renowned author of the classic book Who Rules America. [ dur: 16 mins. ]

* William Domhoff is a Research Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is the author of numerous books including Who Rules America?, Changing the Powers That Be: How the Left Can Stop Losing and Win, Class and Power in the New Deal: Corporate Moderates, Southern Democrats, and the Liberal-Labor Coalition , and co-author of Diversity in the Power Elite: How It Happened, Why It Matters.

Produced by the Scholars’ Circle team: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

We spend the hour looking at the environmental impact of the US military. How much does the US military pollute the environment? What is their role in climate change causing green house emissions? The military has taken some measures to reduce its impact on the environment and green gas emissions, but our guests say these measures do little to assuage the military’s bigger effects on climate change. What are these effects and what can be done about them?[ dur: 58mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* Benjamin Neimark is Senior Lecturer at the University of Lancaster, United Kingdom. He is the author of Speaking Power to ‘Post-Truth’: Critical Political Ecology and the New Authoritarianism and co-author of Hidden carbon costs of the “everywhere war” Logistics, geopolitical ecology, and the carbon boot‐print of the US military.

* Oliver Belcher is an Assistant Professor in Human Geography at Durham University, United Kingdom. He is the author of Anatomy of a village razing: Counterinsurgency, violence, and securing the intimate in Afghanistan, and co-author of Hidden carbon costs of the “everywhere war” Logistics, geopolitical ecology, and the carbon boot‐print of the US military.

* Neta C. Crawford is Professor of Political Science and Department Chair at Boston University. She is the author of the book Accountability for Killing: Moral Responsibility for Collateral Damage in America’s Post-9/11 Wars and the research paper Pentagon Fuel Use, Climate Change,and the Costs of War

Produced by the Scholars’ Circle team: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Is the age of privacy over? We spend the hour on technology, spying and privacy, exploring how privacy, and the lack of it, affects security, democracy and society. What exactly is at stake when we lose our privacy? [ dur: 58 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* Helen Nissenbaum is Professor of Information Science at Cornell Tech. She is the author of Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life, and co-author of Obfuscation: A User’s Guide for Privacy and Protest and Values at Play in Digital Games.

* Michael Patrick Lynch is Professor of Philosophy & Director of the Humanities Institute at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of The Internet of Us: Knowing More and Understanding Less in the Age of Big Data, True to LIfe: Why Truth Matters and In Praise of Reason.

* Bruce Schneier is Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School. He is the author of 14 books including the New York Times best-seller Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World, Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected World, and The Electronic Privacy Papers: Documents on the Battle for Privacy in the Age of Surveillance. His blog is “Schneier on Security.”

* Joshua A.T. Fairfield is William Donald Bain Family Professor of Law at Washington and Lee School of Law. He is the author of Owned: Property, Privacy and the New Digital Serfdom, Privacy as a Public Good , and Smart Contracts, Bitcoin Bots, and Consumer Protection.

Produced by the Scholars’ Circle team: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.