Andrew Horton believes the best way to understand a country’s people is to learn what makes them laugh. “Laughter crosses borders,” he says. Horton, a professor in the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Film and Media Studies, is currently working on a documentary titled Laughing Without Borders . The film features the organization Clowns Without Borders , who sends clowns to entertain children in stressful environments, like refugee camps, across the world. Twelve different countries send

Suzette Grillot talks to Joshua Landis about the latest in Syria. Then, Suzette interviews Andrew Horton about his new documentary Laughter Without Borders. The film tells the story of clowns who visit children in stressed environments, like refugee camps.

Suzette Grillot and Rebecca Cruise talks about nominees in the Best Foreign Language films category at the 2017 Oscars. Then, Joshua Landis discusses Iran with Narges Bajoghli, an anthropologist and filmmaker. She’s a researcher in International Public Affairs at the Watson Institute at Brown University.

The Iranian regime faces a daunting puzzle: How to translate the ideals of the 1979 revolution to a new generation. That question launched Narges Bajoghli into her research in Iran, which focuses on pro-revolution communication. “In Iran this is an important question because over 75 percent of the population is under the age of 35, meaning they don't remember the revolution,” Bajoghli said. Bajoghli told KGOU’s World Views that young Iranian people want reform, but they don’t necessarily want

Suzette Grillot and Joshua Landis talk about the future of the two-state solution in Israel. Then Suzette speaks with Nadim Shehadi, director of the Fares Center for Easter Mediterranean Studies at Tufts University. They discuss Lebanon's relative stability in a region that is engulfed in conflict.

During the 20th century, countries in the Middle East developed strong, nationalist states that created a homogenous model for their societies. Lebanon, however, did not follow suit. As Middle East expert Nadim Shehadi likes to say, Lebanon skipped the 20th century altogether. Shehadi is the director of the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies at Tufts University and Associate Fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House. As an expert of Lebanese history,

As a college student, China was something of a forbidden land for Orville Schell. He was mystified by the Chinese language, but found it difficult to find a good language course in the United States. “It was a bit of a terra incognita,” Schell said. “I think the very fact that I couldn't go there was most interesting to me.” He dropped out of college twice to study Chinese in Taiwan, where he lived with several Chinese roommates - a great language education, he says. His time as a young man

Suzette Grillot and Rebecca Cruise talk about ongoing protests in Romania. Then, Suzette interviews Orville Schell about China's relationship with the world. Schell is an award-winning journalist and former dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at University of California-Berkeley.

Suzette Grillot and Rebecca Cruise talk about President Trump's executive order that pauses the resettlement of refugees in the United States and bans travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. Then, Suzette talks with John Harris about sustainable development and informal communities in Africa.

Urbanization is rapidly expanding on a global scale, and it is creating a demand for reorganization of cities and spaces. Urban and regional planners, like John Harris, weigh the different needs of societies to ensure the city suits the people who live in it. Harris focuses on sustainable urbanization, especially in Africa where he has dealt with informal settlements. Informal settlement arise as a result of rapid urbanization, combined with inadequate government action or skewed policy agendas.