International & Global Studies

Russia's Invasion, Ukraine's Resistance, and Prospects for Peace

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 13:30:05 +0000

Russia's Invasion, Ukraine's Resistance, and Prospects for Peace Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/17/2025 - 08:30 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room Open to the Public

Why did Russia invade Ukraine, how is the war (un)likely to end, and why? Oxana Shevel’s talk will argue that the roots of Russia’s war on Ukraine lie not in NATO enlargement but in the growing identity and regime divergence between the two states since 1991. Drawing on Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States (Polity 2024), it will explain how Ukraine’s democratic nation-building and European orientation collided with Russia’s return to authoritarian and imperial ambitions, shaping both the outbreak of the war and prospects for its resolution.

Sullivan, Heidi (802) 443-2603 hsullivan@middlebury.edu Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs; Political Science; Russian; International & Global Studies; Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies

The Manchu Conquest of China in World History

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 20:15:06 +0000

The Manchu Conquest of China in World History Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/10/2025 - 15:15 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room Open to the Public

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Global and International History presents “The Manchu Conquest of China in World History” with Nicola Di Cosmo.

How did a small coalition of pastoralists and hunter-gatherers from the forests of Manchuria manage to conquer the Chinese empire in 1644? This talk attempts to provide a few answers based on events and developments in the early modern history of the world that contributed to changing the position of marginal peoples, and propelled them into previously unimaginable political arenas. By exploring economic, technological and even climatic dynamics emerging from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the “world-historical” dimension of the Manchu conquest appears as a key perspective to investigate a world-changing event.

In person event. Organized by Prof. Don Wyatt.

For more information on the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs, visit our website.

DeFoor, Margaret (802) 443-5324 mdefoor@middlebury.edu Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs; International & Global Studies

The IHRA Definition of Antisemitism and Academic Freedom

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 17:40:06 +0000

The IHRA Definition of Antisemitism and Academic Freedom Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 11/05/2025 - 12:40 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room Closed to the Public

Faculty, staff, and students are invited to a conversation with Kenneth Stern, drafter of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism, and Emma Saltzberg of the Diaspora Alliance, on its implications for teaching, research, and campus policy. Speakers will explore how universities can address antisemitism while safeguarding academic freedom and open discourse.

This event will be in hybrid format, with virtual speakers.
Register via the Middlebury website at: go/AAUPIHRA/

Luksch, Victoria (802) 443-3112 vluksch@middlebury.edu American Association of University Professors; International & Global Studies; Gender, Sexuality, & Fem Studies; Jewish Studies; Anthropology

Bridging Science and Community for Climate Solutions

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 12:45:05 +0000

Bridging Science and Community for Climate Solutions Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 09/26/2025 - 08:45 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room Open to the Public

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Science, Technology, Environment and Global Affairs presents “Bridging Science and Community for Climate Solutions” with Kyla Westphal.

Join us for a fireside chat with Kyla Westphal, Vice President of External Affairs at Ebb Carbon, where she leads efforts to responsibly scale marine carbon dioxide removal. Kyla works at what she calls “the intersection between technology and humanity,” leading both stakeholder engagement and ecological safety initiatives at Ebb Carbon. Her talk will highlight Project Macoma, Ebb’s marine carbon storage pilot, which builds on years of foundational environmental research and collaboration with Washington State regulators, community groups, and tribal governments. Project Macoma illustrates how marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) projects can contribute to climate solutions in ways that are both inclusive and environmentally responsible—offering a model for how new climate technologies can earn trust and support from the communities where they operate.

In-person event organized by Prof. Allison Jacobel. For more information on the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs, visit our website or stop by the Center in the Robert A. Jones ‘59 building.

DeFoor, Margaret (802) 443-5324 mdefoor@middlebury.edu Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs; Earth and Climate Sciences; International & Global Studies

Family Trees and Paper Uncles: Customary Land Rights, Hybrid Formalization, and the Forestry Boom in Southern Tanzania

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 18:55:04 +0000

Family Trees and Paper Uncles: Customary Land Rights, Hybrid Formalization, and the Forestry Boom in Southern Tanzania Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/23/2025 - 14:55 McCardell Bicentennial Hall 338 Open to the Public

Come hear how village residents, local officials, and urban investors draw on customary norms, family networks, and bureaucratic documents in order to conduct land sales and to produce vast areas of commercial forestry in Tanzania.

Ewan Robinson is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Pulte Institute for Global Development and the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. He previously worked as a policy advisor on food systems and nutrition at the Institute of Development Studies, in the UK. Ewan holds Ph.D. and M.S. in Global Development from Cornell University, and an M.A. in Geography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Kimambo, Niwaeli E. (802) 443-5000 nkimambo@middlebury.edu Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs; Geography; African Studies; International & Global Studies

Soda Science: Making the World Safe for Coca-Cola

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 18:45:05 +0000

Soda Science: Making the World Safe for Coca-Cola Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/17/2025 - 14:45 Munroe 311 Open to the Public

In this talk, Greenhalgh (Professor of Chinese Society Emerita at Harvard University) tells the story of how, during 1995-2015, industry leader Coca-Cola mobilized allies in academia to create a soda-defense science that would protect profits by advocating exercise, not dietary restraint, as the priority solution to obesity, a view few experts accept. Drawing insights and methods from anthropology and science studies, Greenhalgh describes a hidden world of science-making — with distinctive organizations, social networks, knowledge-making practices, and ethical claims — dedicated to creating industry-friendly science and keeping it under wraps. Tracing the impact of this project of corporate corruption of science in two sites — the U.S. and China — Greenhalgh unearths the ways giant corporations come to shape our diets, lifestyles, and health to their own needs. This talk draws from her 2024 book of the same title.

Harder, Caitlin 802-443-5671 harder@middlebury.edu Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs; International & Global Studies; Anthropology; Food Studies

Restorative Justice and Lived Religion: Transforming Mass Incarceration in Chicago

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 18:40:05 +0000

Restorative Justice and Lived Religion: Transforming Mass Incarceration in Chicago Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/17/2025 - 14:40 Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103 Open to the Public

This lecture by Jason Springs (Professor of Religion, Ethics, and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame) introduces a novel understanding of what restorative justice is and how it should be implemented. It explores the ways in which restorative justice ethics and practices exhibit moral and spiritual dynamics, and what difference such “lived religious” dynamics can make in transforming structural violence.

Harder, Caitlin 802-443-5671 harder@middlebury.edu Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs; Religion; International & Global Studies; Global Migration & Diaspora

Power, Exclusion, and Identity: The Politics of Muslim Marginalization in India

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 20:01:05 +0000

Power, Exclusion, and Identity: The Politics of Muslim Marginalization in India Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/26/2025 - 16:01 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room Open to the Public

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Autocracy and Democracy presents Feyaad Allie and “Power, Exclusion, and Identity: The Politics of Muslim Marginalization in India.”

Over the past decade, India has been central to debates on democracy. Many viewed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) under performance in the 2024 election as a sign of democratic resilience. This lecture will argue instead that BJP’s poor performance signaled further backsliding in the country’s most vulnerable dimension of democracy — its liberal democracy. The election reinforced a troubling status quo for India’s largest religious minority: explicit exclusion from one side of the political spectrum and strategic silence from the other. These dual forces leave Indian Muslims in a political bind, further constraining their prospects for political inclusion.

Global Trends in Autocracy and Democracy is supported by the Cangiano Family in memory of Leon M. Cangiano, Jr., ’63

For more information on the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs and the New Frontiers podcast, visit here.

This event is in-person.

DeFoor, Margaret (802) 443-5324 mdefoor@middlebury.edu Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs; Political Science; International & Global Studies

Protest and Policy

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 18:45:10 +0000

Protest and Policy Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/26/2025 - 14:45 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room Open to the Public

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs program on Security and Global Affairs presents David Cortright and “Protest and Policy.”

Can mass movements for nonviolent social/political change actually influence government policy? If so, how? How much? And under what conditions? These are the issues that David Cortright—author, analyst, educator, peace activist, and military veteran—examines in his new book, “Protest and Policy in the Iraq, Nuclear Freeze, and Vietnam Peace Movements” (Cambridge University Press 2025). In this lecture, Professor Cortright unpacks some of the major findings of his research and explains what lessons peace campaigns of the past can hold for contemporary movements that aim to prevent wars, save democracy, and halt the nuclear arms race.

For more information on the Rohatyn Center, click here.

Organized by Shinkyu “James” Lee.
In person event.

DeFoor, Margaret (802) 443-5324 mdefoor@middlebury.edu Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs; International & Global Studies; Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation

IGS Majors Reception

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 12:30:03 +0000

IGS Majors Reception Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 06/05/2025 - 08:30 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room Closed to the Public

The IGS program welcomes majors, prospective majors, and faculty to celebrate the beginning of the academic year. The reception is also meant as a way for students returning from abroad to reconnect with friends and professors.

Sullivan, Heidi (802) 443-2603 hsullivan@middlebury.edu International & Global Studies