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Ideas: Professor Omar G. Encarnación Writes “Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' Bill Is Part of the State's Long, Shameful History” for Time

In an ideas piece for Time, Omar G. Encarnación, professor of political studies, asserts that Florida’s “long history as America’s breeding ground for toxic anti-gay politics” is pivotal in trying to understand how the state’s “Parental Rights in Education Bill,” which prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools from kindergarten through the third grade, was signed into law last month.

Ideas: Professor Omar G. Encarnación Writes “Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' Bill Is Part of the State's Long, Shameful History” for Time

In an ideas piece for Time, Omar G. Encarnación, professor of political studies, asserts that Florida’s “long history as America’s breeding ground for toxic anti-gay politics” is pivotal in trying to understand how the state’s “Parental Rights in Education Bill,” which prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools from kindergarten through the third grade, was signed into law last month. 
 
Rather than understanding Florida as the battleground of a contemporary right-wing culture war, Encarnación discusses “Florida’s dark and painful LGBTQ history,” with homophobic legislation spanning back to the 1950s, and the lack of any formal reckoning with that past as crucial in understanding the politics leading to this new law. “In the absence of such a reckoning, history continues to repeat itself in Florida with grave consequences for the state’s reputation, the welfare of its LGBTQ citizens, and even for the American nation as a whole,” he writes.
Read more in Time 

Post Date: 05-17-2022

Diplomat in Residence Frederic C. Hof Discusses His New Book about the Secret Effort to Broker a Syria-Israel Peace Deal

In an interview with New Lines magazine, Diplomat in Residence Frederic C. Hof reflected on his time as a U.S. ambassador and the insights laid out in his new book, Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace. One basic but essential challenge, according to Hof, was that “neither side was ever convinced that the other side was serious about wanting peace and ready to do what it would take to bring it about.”

Diplomat in Residence Frederic C. Hof Discusses His New Book about the Secret Effort to Broker a Syria-Israel Peace Deal

In an interview with New Lines magazine, Diplomat in Residence Frederic C. Hof reflected on his time as a U.S. ambassador and the insights laid out in his new book, Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace. One basic but essential challenge, according to Hof, was that “neither side was ever convinced that the other side was serious about wanting peace and ready to do what it would take to bring it about.” The talks, once initiated, were carried out in secrecy, making significant progress, even reaching the state of “a discussion paper that could serve as a draft peace treaty and a separate U.S.-Israeli memorandum of understanding,” writes Nicholas Blanford for the Christian Science Monitor.

Full Interview in New Lines
 
Read More in Christian Science Monitor

Post Date: 05-10-2022

Diplomat in Residence Frederic C. Hof on the Importance of Diplomacy, Teaching at Bard, and His New Book

Speaking with Joe Donahue on the Roundtable on WAMC, Diplomat in Residence Frederic C. Hof talked about what makes for a good diplomat, his insights as the chief architect and mediator of the United States effort to broker a Syria-Israel peace deal, and how his experiences have influenced his teaching at Bard College. “The Bard student body is terrific,” Hof says at the top of the interview. As the conversation shifted to the war in Ukraine, Hof emphasized that, even now, diplomacy remains an option.

Diplomat in Residence Frederic C. Hof on the Importance of Diplomacy, Teaching at Bard, and His New Book

Speaking with Joe Donahue on the Roundtable on WAMC, Diplomat in Residence Frederic C. Hof talked about what makes for a good diplomat, his insights as the chief architect and mediator of the United States effort to broker a Syria-Israel peace deal, and how his experiences have influenced his teaching at Bard College. “The Bard student body is terrific,” Hof says at the top of the interview. As the conversation shifted to the war in Ukraine, Hof emphasized that, even now, diplomacy remains an option. “Diplomacy is always, always in the equation,” Hof said. “I think we have to keep in mind that diplomacy has to be backed by the potential use of military force if it’s going to be effective.” Hof’s new book, Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace, was published April 5, 2022. 
 
Listen Now on WAMC

Post Date: 05-03-2022
More News
  • Professor Sanjib Baruah on How the UN’s Ukraine Vote Shows the Racial Subtext of Global Politics

    Professor Sanjib Baruah on How the UN’s Ukraine Vote Shows the Racial Subtext of Global Politics

    In Professor of Political Studies Sanjib Baruah’s article “Not the World’s War,” published in the Indian Express, he argues that the ambivalence of many countries in condemning  Russia has made the fault line between Europe and non-Europe visible. The UN resolution was supported by an overwhelming majority of countries with 35 abstaining to vote. Baruah points out that commentators have mostly speculated on the interests of the abstaining countries rather than try to understand their positions. “Ukrainians now strongly identify with ‘Europe’ and ‘the West.’ Unfortunately, these concepts are haunted by the memories of colonialism and racial segregation,” writes Baruah. “Orientalism, as Edward Said put it memorably, ‘is never far from … the idea of Europe, a collective notion identifying “us” Europeans against all “those” non-Europeans.’ ” Ambivalence from abstaining countries in “non-Europe,” according to Baruah, should hardly be surprising. “One can’t expect the struggle for recognition as privileged ‘Europeans’ to inspire warm sentiments of solidarity in non-Europe. In these circumstances, abstaining from the vote to reprimand Russia for its war on Ukraine was not an untenable position.”
     

    Not the World’s War

    (Originally published in print by Indian Express, excerpt below)
    by Sanjib Baruah

    “Like sex in Victorian England . . . race is a taboo subject in contemporary polite society.” This is how the late R J Vincent, a highly regarded British international relations theorist, began his 1982 article, ‘Race in international relations’. Behind the diffidence about race, he said, there lurk dire apprehensions about racial divisions in international affairs. Apparently, Alec Douglas-Home, British prime minister in the early Sixties, was among the few politicians to publicly acknowledge such forebodings. Douglas-Home is reported to have said, “I believe the greatest danger ahead of us is that the world might be divided on racial lines. I see no danger, not even the nuclear bomb, which could be so catastrophic as that”.

    His fears were not unfounded. It was during his brief tenure as prime minister (1963-64) that radical Black American leader Malcolm X appealed to the leaders of newly-independent African countries to place the issue of the persecution and violence against Blacks on the UN agenda. “If South African racism is not a domestic issue,” he said, “then American racism also is not a domestic issue.” US officials worried that if Malcolm X were to convince just one African government, US domestic politics might become the subject of UN debates. It would undermine US efforts to establish itself as leader of the West and a protector of human rights.

    Two years ago, the worldwide protests against racism and police violence sparked by the police killing of George Floyd reminded everyone that the influential Black intellectual W E B Du Bois’s contention that America’s race problem “is but a local phase of a world problem” still resonates in large parts of the world.

    Perhaps America’s Ambassador to the UN, Black diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield could have given some thought to DuBois’s prophetic words before commenting on the large number of African abstentions in the UN General Assembly vote deploring the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She vigorously rejected any analogy with the non-aligned stance of former colonial nations during the Cold War. The resolution was supported by an overwhelming majority of countries: 145 to 5 with 35 abstentions — India, China, and South Africa among them.
    Full Article in the Indian Express

    Post Date: 03-29-2022
  • Professor Sanjib Baruah Reflects on Why the Capitol Attack Remains Hotly Contested in the United States

    Professor Sanjib Baruah Reflects on Why the Capitol Attack Remains Hotly Contested in the United States

    Writing for the Indian Express, Sanjib Baruah, professor of political studies, examines the impact of the January 6 Capitol attack in the United States. Tracing the demographics of those who participated in the attempted insurrection, most were from counties “that have seen the white population shrink fast and the non-white population grow rapidly,” Baruah writes. One year later, many Republican representatives remain wary of denouncing the attack on the Capitol, a position Baruah argues is in line with the current U.S. political climate. “The Republican Party’s ambivalence towards the insurrection is largely because of its mainstream provenance and because the ideas and values underpinning it have purchase among many white Americans,” he writes.
     
    Full Story in the Indian Express

    Post Date: 01-11-2022
  • Fifty Years Later, Professor Sanjib Baruah Reflects on the Impact of the Civil War That Split Pakistan 

    Fifty Years Later, Professor Sanjib Baruah Reflects on the Impact of the Civil War That Split Pakistan 

    On the 50th anniversary of the 1971 civil war in East Pakistan, Sanjib Baruah, professor of political studies, wrote about its destabilizing effects and impact on India’s national identity for the Indian Express. “The standard story is that most refugees returned home soon after the liberation of Bangladesh,” Baruah writes. “This is partly responsible for the unfounded myth that India’s domestic political order was insulated from the refugee influx. This is, of course, not how the refugee influx is remembered in Assam and other Northeastern states.”

    Full Story in the Indian Express

    Post Date: 12-21-2021
  • Bard Students Assist Local Government Leaders on Key Projects for a New Course, All Politics Is Local, Taught by Jonathan Becker and Erin Cannan

    Bard Students Assist Local Government Leaders on Key Projects for a New Course, All Politics Is Local, Taught by Jonathan Becker and Erin Cannan

    Bard Executive Vice President and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Director of the Center for Civic Engagement Jonathan Becker and Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Civic Engagement Erin Cannan are coteaching a new course on local politics and civic engagement. As part of the course, Bard students have accepted internship positions in local governments, including the offices of Red Hook Village Mayor Karen Smythe, Red Hook Judge Jonah Triebwasser, and Tivoli Deputy Mayor Emily Major. Students are also working at the City of Hudson mayor’s office, and with State Sen. Michelle Hinchey (D-46). 

    “Jonathan and I realized that there is very little engagement with local government here, when more engagement of local people and Bard means more civic literacy and a better functioning government,” said Cannan in an article appearing in the Red Hook Daily Catch. “Few people have access to youth voices, the perspective of someone who is current on certain trends that older people don’t have. Students are going to move into the world soon, and this experience gets them ahead of the times and properly engaged in politics.”
    Read the article in the Red Hook Daily Catch

    Post Date: 11-23-2021
  • For Foreign Policy, Professor Omar G. Encarnación Asks What Is Behind Prime Minister of Spain's Pledge to Ban Prostitution

    For Foreign Policy, Professor Omar G. Encarnación Asks What Is Behind Prime Minister of Spain's Pledge to Ban Prostitution

    Reporting on Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s pledge to ban prostitution, Omar G. Encarnación, professor of political studies, writes on the politics of regulating sex work for Foreign Policy. “The news caught many by surprise,” Encarnación writes. “Spain is one of the world’s most socially progressive societies, and in 2005, it became the first overwhelmingly Catholic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, ahead of Sweden, Britain, and the United States.” Though politically and legally complicated, “Sánchez is looking to his proposed ban—whatever shape it takes—to bolster an already impressive record of improving the lives of women in Spain as he ponders reelection in 2023.”
    Full Story in Foreign Affairs

    Post Date: 11-16-2021
  • The COP26 Summit and the Global Age of Shams | Professor Mead Pens Wall Street Journal Opinion

    The COP26 Summit and the Global Age of Shams | Professor Mead Pens Wall Street Journal Opinion

    The intellectual and political disarray on display at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow was terrifying, writes Walter Russell Mead, James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and the Humanities at Bard, in the Wall Street Journal. “Pandering is much more dangerous to human civilization than methane, strategic incompetence a graver threat than CO2; and dysfunctional establishment groupthink will likely kill more polar bears than all the hydrofluorocarbons in the world.”

     
    Read More in the Wall Street Journal

    Post Date: 11-13-2021

Political Studies Events

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2022

Monday, May 9, 2022
  Henderson 106  4:30 pm – 6:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
In February 2022, Russia launched an unprovoked, genocidal attack against the Ukrainian people. This lecture will review the origins of the conflict, how the United States and our NATO allies are likely to respond and what possible outcomes are on the horizon.

Scott Licamele ’91 is a Russia expert with over 20 years of experience dealing in the former Soviet Union. He has worked in various Russia-related capacities, including capital markets (at Sberbank CIB, Troika Dialog, and Alfa Bank) and government-related activities (at an NGO in Russia which was funded by the United States Information Agency in the 1990s). Licamele has lived and worked in Russia and Ukraine for seven years and is fluent in Russian. He is a graduate of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, where he studied Russian political economy. He received his BA in European History at Bard College. Licamele is currently unaffiliated with any Russia-related business or political entities.


Thursday, April 28, 2022
Seungyeon Gabrielle Jung 
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities,
Stanford University


This event is presented on Zoom.

11:50 am – 1:10 pm EDT/GMT-4
Olympic design needs to express the universal values that the Olympic Movement promotes, and it should be understood easily by a global audience; at the same time, it needs to set the host apart from other nations visually and highlight the uniqueness of its culture. This is a particularly difficult task for non-Western countries, whose national culture and identity can easily fall victim to Orientalism when presented on the world stage. This lecture examines the design style and strategies chosen for the 1988 Summer Olympics and how this design project, which is deemed successful by many, “spectacularly failed” to understand the concepts such as universalism, modernity, modernist design, and Orientalism.

Seungyeon Gabrielle Jung studies politics and aesthetics of modern design with a focus on South Korean and Silicon Valley design. She received her PhD in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University in 2020. Trained in graphic design, Gabrielle also writes on the issues of design and feminism. Her book project, Toward a Utopia Without Revolution: Globalization, Developmentalism, and Design, looks at political and aesthetic problems that modern design projects generated in South Korea, a country that has experienced not only rapid economic development but also immense political progress in less than a century, from the end of the World War II to the beginning of the new millennium. In Fall 2022, she will join the Department of Art History and PhD Program in Visual Studies at the University of California, Irvine as Assistant Professor of Korean Art History.


Wednesday, April 27, 2022
E. Tammy Kim (New York Times)
Olin, Room 102  5:30 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
When the U.S. military finally withdrew from Afghanistan, an old tally reappeared in the news. Our “forever wars” were not only the live military operations we’d pursued in the Middle East since 9/11; they also encompassed some 500 U.S. bases and installations all over the world, stretching back to the early 20th century. Some call this “empire;” some call it “security,” even “altruism.” In East Asia, the long arm of U.S. power reaches intimately into people’s lives. 

South Korea has hosted U.S. military personnel since World War II and remains a primary base of operations in the Asia Pacific. Some thirty thousand U.S. soldiers and marines are stationed there, on more than 70 installations. In 2018, U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys opened in the city of Pyeongtaek, at a cost of $11 billion. Humphreys is now the largest overseas U.S. military base by size and the symbol of a new era in the U.S.-South Korea alliance. Meanwhile, South Korea has become the tenth-richest country in the world and has one of the largest militaries—thanks to universal male conscription and an extraordinary budget. The country’s arms industry is also world-class, known for its planes, submarines, and tanks.

This talk will draw on reporting and family history to explore the evolving U.S.-South Korea alliance. How do the martial investments of these historic “allies” affect the lives of ordinary South Koreans—and Korean Americans? And if the two Koreas are still technically at war, what kind of war is it?

E. Tammy Kim is a freelance magazine reporter and a contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, covering labor issues, arts and culture, and the Koreas. She cohosts Time to Say Goodbye, a podcast on Asia and Asian America, and is a contributing editor at Lux, a new feminist socialist magazine. She holds fellowships from the Alicia Patterson Foundation and Type Media Center. In 2016, she and Yale ethnomusicologist Michael Veal published Punk Ethnography, a book about the aesthetics and politics of contemporary world music. Her first career was as a social justice lawyer in New York City.

This event is part of the Asian Diasporic Initiative Speaker Series.

For more information, please contact Nate Shockey: [email protected]


Thursday, April 21, 2022
Andre Haag, Assistant Professor of Japanese Literature at the University of Hawaii, Manoa
Online Event  5:00 pm – 6:15 pm EDT/GMT-4
The field of post/colonial East Asian cultural studies has recently rediscovered the transpacific potential of the theme of ethnic passing, a problematic that is deeply rooted in North American racial contexts but might serve to disrupt global fictions of race and power.  Although tropes adjacent to ethnonational passing frequently appear in minority literatures produced in Japan, particularly Zainichi Korean fiction, the salience of the phenomenon was often obscured within the avowedly-integrative and assimilative cultural production of Japanese colonialism. This talk will challenge that aporia by demonstrating how the structural possibility of Korean passing left behind indelible traces of racialized paranoia in the writings of the Japanese colonial empire that have long outlived its fall.  Introducing narratives and speech acts in Japanese from disparate genres, past and present, I argue that paranoia was as an effect of insecure imperial modes of containing the passing specters of Korea and Korean people uneasily absorbed within expanding Japan by colonial merger. I trace how disavowed anxieties of passing merge with fears of treachery, blurred borders, and the unreadability of ethnoracial difference in narrative scripts that traveled across space, from the colonial periphery to the Japanese metropole along with migrating bodies, between subjects, and through time. If imperial paranoia around passing took its most extreme expression in narratives of the murderous 1923 “Korean Panic,” popular Zainichi fiction today exposes not only the enduring structures of Japanese Koreaphobia (and Koreaphilia) but the persistence of shared anxieties and precarities binding former colonizer and colonized a century later. 

This meeting will be on Zoom: https://bard.zoom.us/j/89025574917


Thursday, March 10, 2022
Has Covid-19 changed the way we communicate or write about pandemics? 
Online Event  6:00 pm – 7:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Covid-19 has become a staple headline for the past two years. Has it changed the way we communicate or write about pandemics? Amy Maxmen, an award-winning science writer who covers the entanglements of evolution, medicine, science policy and of the people behind research, will join us to discuss. Amy won the Victor Kohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting in 2021 for her body of work covering Covid-19 and other diseases.

RSVP here


Thursday, February 24, 2022
  Jorge Maldonado Rivera is a union representative with the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) and a former staff organizer with UNITE HERE.
Campus Center, Yellow Room 214  3:30 pm – 4:50 pm EST/GMT-5
This talk is part of a speaker series on political organizing. It is co-sponsored by the Center for Civic Engagement, the Human Rights Project, and the Political Studies program. It is open to all members of the Bard community, especially students interested in labor organizing.


Thursday, February 3, 2022
As China sets to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, we look at the games
Online Event  12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5
China will host the 2022 Winter Olympics amid controversy—the worsening Covid-19 pandemic and a diplomatic boycott of the games over China's treatment of the Uyghur Muslims. Should the games go on? Jules Boykoff says no—for reasons that go beyond COVID and genocide. The Olympics create serious problems for local populations. Join us for a discussion that looks at why the Olympics are broken.

RSVP here


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