How are racial boundaries defined, and who decides where they lie? What aspects of power and privilege are at work in designing the rules that rule race? Why do states make and manipulate racial classification schema, and with what effects? Northwestern University Associate Professor of African American Studies Dr. Barnor Hesse was joined by Dr. Debra Thompson, Associate Professor of Political Science at McGill University, for a dialogue about the racial state and the politics and structures that create, shape, and maintain it. This session is part of the Northwestern Buffett Institute for Glo ..read more

Many observers expect that Joe Biden’s presidency will quickly restore federal climate change measures and reverse the U.S. withdrawal from international commitments that we witnessed over the past four years. Many hope for substantial new domestic efforts—some sort of "new green deal"—and for the United States to fuel far-reaching international cooperation around climate change. Are those expectations warranted or unrealistic? What can we expect from the new administration? A panel of Northwestern University faculty experts will discuss these questions from U.S. and international perspectives ..read more

Northwestern University researcher Dr. Adia Benton discussed topics central to the COVID-19 pandemic. She touched upon (1) what is and isn’t known about the virus and its transmission dynamics; (2) how scientific and public health expertise is brought to bear (or not) in calibrating recommendations at various levels of governance and responsibility; (3) alternative ways of framing our conversations about and approaches to ‘flattening the curve’ of infection in our communities. This is Episode 1 of Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs "Confronting COVID-19: Global Implications and ..read more

How can we "read" or understand policy responses to climate change? We can "read forwards," drawing on scientific evidence and reasoning to project consequences and dictate policy responses. Or we can "read backwards"; we can look to the human beliefs, values, and goals that impute meaning to the world to understand the many lines of evidence and reasoning leading to policy responses. University of Cambridge professor of human geography Michael Hulme will discuss the power of "reading backwards" and the importance of embedding "climate actions" inside human stories, both dominant and marginali ..read more

More than 2.2 million people are currently incarcerated in the United States, over 20% of the world’s 10.35 million imprisoned people. As of mid-June, at least 46,249 people in United States prisons tested positive for COVID-19, and at least 548 incarcerated people died from the virus. Five of the U.S.’s top 10 hot spots are prisons or jails, including Chicago’s very own Cook County Jail. What can we understand about pandemics and public health in prisons from the country with the world’s largest prison population?  Northwestern philosophy professor and director of the Northwestern Prison ..read more

The year 2020 has brought about global insecurity in unprecedented and inexplicable ways. This webinar will take the Arab World, primarily Syria and Lebanon, as a place from which to think about insecurity and crisis. How are these lived? What does it mean to be living-in-crisis and with constant insecurity? How do people imagine their futures when their present is incommensurable? In this Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs webinar, Villanova University Associate Professor of Global Interdisciplinary Studies Samer Abboud and Northwestern University Associate Professor of Anthro ..read more

The COVID-19 pandemic, and political and economic responses to it, have raised urgent questions not only about access to education, but also about education’s deeper purposes, challenges and possibilities. Drawing from distinct and complementary scholarly perspectives, Northwestern professor of political science Sally Nuamah and Northwestern professor of learning sciences Shirin Vossoughi provide a critical analysis of educational discourse, policy and practice in these times, and address the crucial need to imagine and enact educationally just futures. This is part of the Northwestern Buffet ..read more

Even before the coronavirus crisis, humans had been drifting toward individualism and apart from one another, creating an increasingly human-free world. How has this trend toward disengagement with humanity influenced the way we're responding to COVID-19, and how could the pandemic either exacerbate or ameliorate our disengagement with one another? Social psychologist and Northwestern Kellogg School of Management professor Dr. Adam Waytz explores these questions and more, drawing on his new book, The Power of Human: How Our Shared Humanity Can Help Us Create a Better World.   An install ..read more

Months into the novel coronavirus pandemic, researchers around the world are working to understand its effects on people’s attitudes and behaviors. How do people feel about isolation and lockdowns? What kinds of media are we consuming, and how do those media affect our knowledge of COVID-19 and our social distancing practices? What are people willing to sacrifice for the economy?  Northwestern University assistant professor of sociology Beth Redbird spoke about her efforts to find answers to these and other questions through an ongoing large-scale, nationally representative panel survey ..read more

With social distancing and shelter-in-place mandates in effect worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic is necessitating large-scale behavior change and taking a significant psychological toll. How can leaders and the media promote cooperative behavior? What kind of messages work best? Northwestern University professor of political science Dr. Jamie Druckman and University of Cambridge social psychology professor Dr. Sander van der Linden addressed these questions and more in a Northwestern Buffett webinar this week, drawing on a century of social science research that sheds light on how to better ali ..read more