Hosted by GETSEA

A community book read with Teren Sevea, author of Miracles and Material Life: Rice, Ore, Traps and Guns in Islamic Malaya and winner of the 2022 Benda Prize.

Open to current graduate students at GETSEA institutions (which includes Cornell), click here to register.

Sevea’s book Miracles and Material Life is a remarkable scholarly achievement that breathes new life into the intractable themes of cultural hybridity and religious syncretism in Southeast Asian studies. This extraordinary book combines ethnography, oral histories, archival research, pilgrimage, and translations to depict the cosmopolitan imaginations of pawangs and bomohs in colonial Malaya—the miracle workers who operated simultaneously as powerful, resourceful, and problematic actors in the development of colonial capitalism. Miracles and Material Life is a highly original approach to the study of vernacular Islam and colonial statecraft and their zones of overlap and interaction. Its turn to colonial historiography revivifies colonial texts by analyzing the contradictory scenes and terms of their production, acknowledging the multilayered collaborations between scribes, pawangs, courts, and fastidious colonial officers. Tracing the vital economic role of pawangs in colonial Malaya, Sevea shows how indigenous knowledge and spiritual prowess were foundational to the colonial state project of territorial expansion, resource extraction, and cultural control.

Conducting international fieldwork provides significant value for dissertation research in various disciplines. Panelists will share information, guidance, and lessons learned related to planning, preparing, and conducting fieldwork overseas. Topics include factors shaping field site location(s) and/or partner(s), handling the logistics of fieldwork, data accumulation and protection in varied contexts, models and practices of in situ collaborations, and planning for and getting acclimated to living and working in a new environment and culture.

Moderator

Chris Barrett (Dyson School)Panelists

Emily Dunlop (Government, A&S)Samantha Lee Huey (Nutritional Sciences, CHE)Stacey Langwick (Anthropology, A&S)***

Grad Chats: Conversations on International Research and Practice is a series hosted by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies to support graduate students with interdisciplinary training and planning around conducting international research.

Spring 2023 Schedule

From Plan A to Plan B: Designing Research for a Changing World (Thursday, February 16, 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm, Uris Hall G02)Beyond the IRB: Ethics and International Research (Wednesday, March 29, 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm, Uris Hall G08)Best Practices and Challenges in International Field Research (Thursday, March 30, 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm, Uris Hall G02)Finding a Research Focus through Creative Writing (Tuesday, April 18, 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm, Uris Hall G08)Travel Health and Safety Awareness for Conducting Research Abroad (Tuesday, May 9, 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm, Uris Hall G08)

Cornell’s Migrations initiative and the Centre for the Study of Migration at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) invite you to join a discussion on global migrations, featuring postdoctoral fellows and early career scholars from both universities. This virtual symposium will include presentations and faculty-led discussion.

Cornell Speakers

Eleanor Paynter is currently an ACLS fellow and Migrations fellow at Cornell. Her work is in the area of critical refugee studies, incorporating approaches from narrative, media, and cultural studies to consider experiences and representations of precarious and undocumented migration, asylum, and human rights. Focused on the Black Mediterranean, her research and public writing respond to anti-immigrant racism and postcolonial border dynamics. Ángel A. Escamilla García is a Migrations postdoctoral fellow at Cornell. His research focuses on how migrant youth negotiate high-risk environments. His current project uses ethnographic methods and interviews to explore the different strategies that Central American youth use to migrate through Mexico on their way to the United States.Discussants

Eric Tagliacozzo, co-chair of the Migrations initiative and the John Stambaugh Professor of History. He is also the director of Cornell's Comparative Muslim Societies Program, the director of the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project, and the contributing editor of the journal Indonesia. Kavita Datta, Director of the Queen Mary Centre for the Study of Migration, Queen Mary University of London, and Professor of Development Geography. Kavita is also Deputy Vice-Principal (Research Impact) of the Queen Mary Centre for the Study of Migration.QMUL Speakers

Yasmin Fedda is a fellow of the Institute for Humanities and Social science (IHSS) at QMUL. Yasmin works as a filmmaker, researcher, and film programmer who has focused on themes that broadly fit under film, anthropology, and political sciences, with a focus on documentary, interactive storytelling, forced migration, representation, film & ethics, language, disability, activism and human rights. Keren Weitzberg is a tech and migration researcher with 15 years of experience in East Africa conducting fieldwork in cross-cultural, multilingual settings. In September 2022, she joined the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London as a senior lecturer and a fellow at the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences. Keren works at the intersection of science and technology studies, migration studies, and critical race studies, examining problematics related to mobility, digital identity, biometrics, and fintech.Ria Kapoor is a lecturer in history and IHSS Fellow at QMUL. She is a historian of refugees, immigration, and rights, with a focus on the Afro-Asian world and its impact on the international and global orders. Ria joined QMUL in 2022, following a year as a Simon Fellow at the University of Manchester.Register for the symposium.

Lund Critical Debate

Democracies worldwide—even many wealthy democracies long considered safely consolidated—are at risk today. Governments, policymakers, and voters face new conflicts over democratic institutions, checks and balances, which citizens can compete for office or deserve representation, and what rules of accountability apply.

This year's Lund debate from the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies examines the threats democracies around the world are confronting, both from external forces and from within—and what governments and citizens can do to fight back.

Join Thomas Garrett of the Community of Democracies and Damon Wilson of the National Endowment for Democracy for a conversation on democratic backsliding, strategies for resilience, and the conditions and practices that undermine democracy: democracy ... and its opposites.

A reception with refreshments will follow the conversation.

Lund Debate: 5:00–6:30 p.m. | Alice Statler AuditoriumFree ticket required for in-person attendance. Reserve your ticket today! Join the lecture virtually by registering at Cornell.

Reception to follow.

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Panelists

Thomas E. Garrett is secretary general of the Community of Democracies, a global intergovernmental coalition comprised of the Governing Council member states that support adherence to the Warsaw Declaration's common democratic values and standards. Garrett previously worked for the International Republican Institute for 12 years overseas in Ukraine, Mongolia, and Indonesia, returning to Washington, DC, in 2005 as director of Middle East programs and then as vice president for global programs.

Damon Wilson is president and CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a nonprofit grant-making foundation supporting freedom around the world. Prior to joining NED, he helped transform the Atlantic Council into a leading global think tank as its executive vice president. He previously served as special assistant to the president and senior director for European affairs at the National Security Council. Wilson also served at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad as the executive secretary and chief of staff, where he helped manage one of the largest U.S. embassies during a time of conflict.

Moderator

Rachel Beatty Riedl has served as the Einaudi Center's director since 2019. She is the Einaudi Center's John S. Knight Professor of International Studies and professor in the Department of Government and Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. Her research interests include institutional development in new democracies, local governance and decentralization, and authoritarian regime legacies in Africa.

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About the Debate

The Lund Critical Debate is a signature event of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. This year's dialogue is part of Einaudi's work on democratic threats and resilience. Established in 2008, Einaudi's Lund Critical Debate series is made possible by the generosity of Judith Lund Biggs '57.

Faculty and staff are invited to join for an overview and open discussion of the Global Hubs initiative.

Vice Provost Wendy Wolford will explain the purpose of the Global Hubs, and faculty leads for several of the Hubs locations will discuss their experiences with institutional partners and ways for faculty and staff to be involved.

Please bring your questions about the Hubs and join us in person on March 13 at 11:30 a.m. in G10 Biotech.

Moderator:

Wendy Wolford, Vice Provost for International Affairs

Faculty Presenters:

Gustavo Flores-Macias, faculty lead for Tecnológico de Monterrey, MexicoNate Foster, faculty lead for University of Edinburgh, United KingdomYing Hua, director of Cornell China Center, BeijingLee Humphreys, faculty lead for DenmarkTom Pepinsky, faculty lead for National University of Singapore, SingaporeMark Milstein, representative for the Faculty Senate CAPP on the faculty advisory committeeRachel Beatty Riedl, director of the Mario Einaudi Center for International StudiesKen Roberts, faculty lead for Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador

Join us for a night of celebrating Syrian and Turkish culture through food, performances, and a silent auction.

On February 6, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Syria and Turkey. With a 7.5 magnitude aftershock. There have been more than 38,000, making this the deadliest earthquake worldwide since 2010.

Please join us for a night of activities organized to raise awareness of the gravity of the situation and provide aid for survivors.

To raise awareness of the gravity of the situation and provide aid for Syrian and Turkish survivors, please join us for a night of cultural activities, including henna, Turkish games, tawla, and live Syrian musical performances.

Admission by donation, starting at $7

All proceeds will be donated to Syrian NGO Basemeh & Zeitooneh and Turkish NGO AHBAP.

Sponsored by:
Arab Student Association (ASA)
Muslim Educational and Cultural Association (MECA)
Turkish Student Association (TSA)
International Students Union (ISU)