The Scholars' Circle

Is the US State Department using its diplomatic efforts to push genetically modified foods into other countries? Our guest says yes. She traced US multi-pronged effort to persuade Mexico to allow genetically modified foods. [ dur: 22mins. ]

* Yadira Ixchel Martínez Pantoja, PhD candidate in Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland. Her recent paper is titled, United States promotion of GM foods: the use of public diplomacy strategies and instruments to target government agencies in Mexico.

Then, guest host Sam Smith examines the flourishing of conspiracy theories. What are they? How dangerous are they? [ dur: 35mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* Matthew R. X. Dentith has a PhD from the University of Auckland and is an expert in the epistemology of conspiracy theories. He is the author of The Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories.

* Patrick Stokes is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Deakin University. He is an expert in the ethics of conspiracy theories. He is the author of the book chapters Conspiracy Theory and Perils of Particularism, On some moral costs of conspiracy theory, and his blog article, Why Conspiracy Theories Aren’t Harmless Fun.

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

First, why are the numbers of insects in fast decline? What does it mean for our food supply and our long term survival? Scientists say climate change is not the only reason.[dur: 11 min. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* Andrew Dopheide is Researcher at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. He is the co-author of “Estimating the biodiversity of terrestrial invertebrates on a forested island using DNA barcodes and metabarcoding data.”

Then, how much does the president truly matter for the direction of the United States and for the rest of the world. [ dur: 46 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* William F. Grover is Professor of Political Science at Saint Michael’s College in Vermont. He is the author of The President as Prisoner: A Structural Critique of the Carter and Reagan Years, co-editor of Voices of Dissent: Critical Readings in American Politics, and The Unsustainable Presidency: Clinton, Bush, Obama and Beyond.

* Joseph G. Peschek is Professor of Political Science at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of Policy-Planning Organizations: Elite Agendas and America’s Rightward Turn, co-editor of Voices of Dissent: Critical Readings in American Politics, and The Unsustainable Presidency: Clinton, Bush, Obama and Beyond.

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

First, how emigration could lead to greater democratization in the world. [dur: 11 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* Margaret Peters is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at UCLA. She is the author of Trading Barriers: Immigration and the Remaking of Globalization, and the co-author of the research paper Restraining the Huddled Masses: Migration Policy and Autocratic Survival.

Then, today’s panel hosted by Professor Doug Becker, International Studies at University of Southern California (USC), lays the foundations of public diplomacy, its techniques, and its effectiveness. It then examines the role of new technologies in the digital age and how it poses new challenges and opportunities. [ dur: 45 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* Daniel Aguirre Azócar is Assistant Professor at Universidad del Desarrollo in Santiago, Chile. He is the author of the book chapters Propaganda and Populist Communication in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela (forthcoming in the SAGE Handbook of Propaganda) and Public Diplomacy in Latin America: An Emerging Field of Practice? (forthcoming in the Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy, 2nd Edition).

* Nicholas J. Cull is Professor of Public Diplomacy and is the founding director of the Master of Public Diplomacy program at USC. He is the author of many books including The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945-1989, The Decline and Fall of the United States Information Agency: American Public Diplomacy, 1989-2001, and his latest Public Diplomacy: Foundations for the Global Engagement in the Digital Age.

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

First, the intersection of music, art and politics. Our guest producer Sam Smith explores how modern artists like Childish Gambino use music and video for political communication. [ dur: 15 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* Patrycja Rozbick is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Aston University. She is the author of Childish Gambino shows, pop music can be powerfully political – despite censorship, this article can be found here and Crisis in the Eye of Beholder: Contingency and Perplexity Along the Balkan Migration Route.

Then, the toll of trauma, its aftermath and how to heal after traumatic experiences. We speak with three renowned experts. [ dur: 43 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* Charles R. Figley is Distinguished Chair, Professor in Disaster Mental Health and Director of the Tulane University Traumatology Institute and School of Social Work. He’s Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the author of Mapping the Wake of Trauma: Autobiographical Essays by the Pioneers of Trauma Research; the Encyclopedia of Trauma: An Interdisciplinary Guide; and Beyond Trauma: Cultural and Societal Dynamics, and Death and Trauma.

* Richard A. Chefetz is a psychiatrist in Washington, D.C. and past President of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. Richard Chefetz is Founder and Chair of their Dissociative Disorders Psychotherapy Training Program, a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology and a faculty member at the Washington School of Psychiatry, the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis, and the Washington Center for Psychoanalysis. He is the author of Intensive Psychotherapy for Persistent Dissociative Processes: The Fear of Feeling Real.

* Dr. Daniel Siegel is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA. He is Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, the author of books, including The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are, The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being, and co-author of books including The Yes Brain: How to Cultivate Courage, Curiosity,

First, from broken heart to suicide bomber we explore the various drives that fuel deadly terror. [dur: 17mins. ]

Ken Ballen, author of Terrorist in Love.

Then, is the transmission of trauma multi-generational? Do the children of survivors of mass atrocities have higher risk of developing psychological disorders? What are the social and behavioral factors that result in the trauma of successive generations? We look at the impact of survivors’ post-trauma adaptational style in their children’s eyes. [ dur: 40mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* Andrei Novac is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California at Irvine, School of Medicine, and Founding Director of the Traumatic Stress Program. He is the author of the research papers Traumatic Stress and Human Behavior, Special Treatment Issues in Children of Holocaust Survivors and Free Artistic Expression: A Clinical Exploration of Resiliency and Healing After Trauma.

* Yael Danieli is Director of the Group Project for Holocaust Survivors and their Children. She is the Founding Co-President of the International Network of Holocaust and Genocide Survivors and their Friends, and a Founding Director of The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. She is the author of the pubications International Handbook of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma, International Responses to Traumatic Stress and the research papers Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma: Modeling the What and How of Transmission, and Differing Adaptational Styles in Families of Survivors of the Nazi Holocaust.

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

First, when does democracy have a dark side? Michael Mann says that majorities can and do oppress minorities in the name of majoritarian democracy. He is the author of The Dark Side of Democracy. [ dur: 15 mins. ]

* Michael Mann is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at UCLA. He is author of The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing.

Then, what is consciousness? Is it just brain activity? and how does it differ from the subconscious? [ dur: 43 mins. ]

* Valerie Gray Hardcastle is Professor of Philosophy, Psychology, and Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati. She is the author of Locating Consciousness, The Myth of Pain, How to Build a Theory in Cognitive Science, and Constructing the Self.

* Dr. Rocco J. Gennaro is the Philosophy Department Chairperson and a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Indiana. He is the author of Consciousness, The Consciousness Paradox: Consciousness, Concepts, and Higher-Order Thoughts, and is the editor of the anthology Disturbed Consciousness: New Essays on Psychopathology and Theories of Consciousness and the Routledge Handbook of Consciousness.

* Hakwan Lau is Professor in the Department of Psychology (Cognitive & Behavioral Neuroscience) & Brain Research Institute at UCLA. His numerous research papers include What is consciousness, and could machines have it? Should a few null findings falsify prefrontal theories of consciousness? and Heuristic use of perceptual evidence leads to dissociation between performance and metacognitive sensitivity.

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

First, we look at history of Armenians living in Turkey and systematic ways they became victims of genocide. [ dur: 17 mins. ]

* Peter Balakian is a professor of humanities. He is a noted poet, his books include “Black Dog of Fate: A Memoir” and “The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response“

Then, exposing how the Young Turks codified and hid the systematic effort at brutal genocide of the Armenian population in 1915. [ dur: 40 mins. ]

* Altuğ Taner Akçam is Professor of History, Clark University. Scholar of Turkish-German history and sociologist. He is one of the first Turkish academics to acknowledge and openly discuss the Armenian Genocide, and is recognized as a “leading international authority” on the subject. He is the author of many books including, Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide (Palgrave Studies in the History of Genocide), The Young Turks’ Crime against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire (Human Rights and Crimes against Humanity Book 17) and A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility

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

First, what’s behind the rise in suicide? [ dur: 30 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* Mark S. Kaplan is a professor of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. His publications include, The social nature of male suicide: A new analytic model; Suicide among male veterans: a prospective population-based study; and Physical illness, functional limitations, and suicide risk: a population-based study.

Then, a look at how the unconscious mind and biological predispositions effect political outcomes, waging war and prejudice biases. [ dur: 26 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

* Shankar Vedantam is a science correspondent with NPR. He is the author of The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elects Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives.

* Guillermo Jiménez is an Associate Professor of International Trade at the Fashion Institute of Technology. He is the author of Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality.

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

First, Scholars’ Circle contributor Doug Becker examines the impact of Jair Bolsonaro’s election on Brazil and globally. How does Bolsonaro compare to other populist leaders in Latin America, as well as President Trump? [ dur: 40 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.

* Guilherme Casarões is a Lecturer of International Relations at Fundação Getulio Vargas (São Paulo School of Business). He is the author of Brazil and the Middle East, Geo-economic Competition in Latin America: Brazil, Venezuela, and Regional Integration in the 21st century. And the co-author of Brazil, East Asia, and the Shaping of World Politics.

Then, did predatory developers use the law to confiscate thousands of acres from African-American families? [ dur: 16 mins. ]

* Leah Douglas is a reporter and analyst with the Open Markets program at New America Foundation. Her investigative article “African Americans Have Lost Untold Acres of Land Over the Last Century” was just published in the Nation Magazine.

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

How is the Trump presidency transforming the United States? How might the resistance affect this? We speak with 4 experts. [ dur: 58 mins. ]

* ​Doug McAdam is The Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Sociology at Stanford University and a former Director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. His 18 books include the prize winning Freedom Summer and Deeply Divided: Racial Politics and Social Movements in Postwar America.

* Kenneth M. Roberts is Richard Schwartz Professor of comparative and Latin American Politics at Cornell University. He is the author of Deepening Democracy? The Modern Left and Social Movements in Chile and Peru and the co-author of The Resurgence of the Latin American Left .

* David S. Meyer is Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the University of California at Irvine. He is the author of The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America and co-editor with Sidney Tarrow of The Resistance: The Dawn of the Anti-Trump Opposition Movement. He blogs at politicsoutdoors. com.

* David Karpf is Associate Professor in the School of Media and Public Affairs at the George Washington University. He is the author of the award-winning book, The MoveOn Effect: The Unexpected Transformation of American Political Advocacy and Analytic Activism: Digital Listening and the New Political Strategy.

They’re all contributors to The Resistance: The Dawn of the Anti-Trump Opposition Movement.

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