Learn more about the Laidlaw Leadership and Research Program for undergraduates, tips for connecting with faculty research mentors, and advice for writing a successful application.

Laidlaw promotes ethical leadership and international research around the world—starting with the passionate leaders and learners found on campuses like Cornell.

Open to first- and second-year students, the two-year program provides generous support to carry out internationally focused research, develop leadership skills, engage with community projects overseas, and become part of a global network of like-minded scholars from more than a dozen universities.

Register for the information session here.

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The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies hosts info sessions for graduate and for undergraduate students to learn more about funding opportunities, international travel, research, and internships. View the full calendar of fall semester sessions.

Come to the LRC to practice your language skills and meet new people. Conversation Hours provide an opportunity to use the target language in an informal, low-pressure atmosphere. Have fun practicing a language you are learning! Gain confidence through experience! Just using your new language skills helps you learn more than you might think. Conversation Hours are are open to any learner, including the public. Campus visitors and members of the public must adhere to Cornell's public health requirements for events.

Artistic freedom is a fundamental democratic right.

Creative expression, from poetry to street art, theater, and literature, is often at the vanguard of political resistance and change, and so artists are some of the first to be silenced. In this panel, speakers discuss their own experiences as artists in authoritarian contexts where their ability to produce art was violently suppressed.

These artists have all found haven at Cornell. Their art speaks to the trauma of authoritarianism and the hope for change.

Speakers:

Sharifa “Elja” Sharifi, Afghan visiting scholar and 2022–23 Artist Protection Fund Fellow at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art

Pedro X. Molina, Nicaraguan political cartoonist and visiting critic with the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies

Khadija Monis '24, Afghan student, poet and artist

Rachel Beatty Riedl (moderator), director of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and John S. Knight Professor of International Studies

The event is sponsored by the Johnson Museum and Global Cornell as part of the university’s theme this year on The Indispensable Condition: Freedom of Expression at Cornell. The event will be held in person and livestreamed.

Come to the LRC to practice your language skills and meet new people. Conversation Hours provide an opportunity to use the target language in an informal, low-pressure atmosphere. Have fun practicing a language you are learning! Gain confidence through experience! Just using your new language skills helps you learn more than you might think. Conversation Hours are are open to any learner, including the public. Campus visitors and members of the public must adhere to Cornell's public health requirements for events.

Come to the LRC to practice your language skills and meet new people. Conversation Hours provide an opportunity to use the target language in an informal, low-pressure atmosphere. Have fun practicing a language you are learning! Gain confidence through experience! Just using your new language skills helps you learn more than you might think. Conversation Hours are are open to any learner, including the public. Campus visitors and members of the public must adhere to Cornell's public health requirements for events.

Join us October 13-14 for a two-day conference featuring distinguished Cornell faculty, prominent economists, and Indian corporate leaders. We will delve into the latest advances in the Indian economy and its challenges, anchored under the theme "India's Economy in a Changing Global Landscape."

View and download the final conference program

A collaboration between CRADLE, a research group in the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, and the Department of Economics, the India Conference promises a multifaceted perspective that spans economics, politics, and policy.

The Indian economy stands at a critical juncture. With advanced economies experiencing a slowdown, India has emerged as an economy with many possibilities. However, the nation faces its own set of challenges. The rapid integration of new digital technologies is reshaping the economic landscape and transforming the nature of work, while societal divisions are becoming more pronounced. In this pivotal moment, India's decisions will be significant in terms of economic, political, and social aspects.

The conference brings together some of the finest intellects to examine India's historical, present, and future trajectories, delving into micro-level foundations and macroeconomic policies.

Note: Registration is not required for in-person attendance.

Register for live-streamed sessions:

Session 1 (October 13 at 10:00 ET): Naushad Forbes & Arvind SubramanianSession 6 (October 14 at 9:30 ET): Narayana Murthy

The Closed and the Open Prison: The Shifting Horizon of Carceral Reform in India

Trishna Senapaty is PhD candidate in Socio-Cultural Anthropology at Cornell University with a graduate minor in Feminist Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her PhD project examines the politics of prison reform and the intersections of carceral and familial regimes in postcolonial India. She studies everyday engagements between prisoners and citizen collectives and the forms of care, strategies of governance and imaginations of safety in the city that they illuminate. Her community-engaged research has been funded by the Social Science Research Council. It contributes to dialogues in critical critical carceral studies, queer and feminist studies, law and society, and political and legal anthropology.

Prior to Cornell, she received a Masters and MPhil in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics and a Bachelors in Literature from Miranda House, Delhi University. She is the co-founder of the Abolitionist Anthropology Working Group - a mutually supportive community of anthropologists invested in diverse anti-carceral scholarly and social justice work.

Talk by Smita Lahiri

Official Hindi (my term) is a widely used linguistic register that owes its existence to state-sponsored language development in newly independent India. Ideologies projecting Official Hindi as “pure” and legitimate (shuddh Hindi) resonate with many groups, including both users and non-users of the register. Others deride so-called Sarkari Hindi (i.e., “government-speak”) as leaden, rolling their eyes at its Sanskrit-derived coinages and constructions. Moreover, secular-minded cultural critics charge that Official Hindi perpetuates upper caste hegemony and Hindu majoritarianism and consistently draw attention to the registers’ origins in post-Independence language modernization efforts, which systematically targeted elements of palpably Arab and Persian for replacement by Sanskrit-based neologisms. This talk offers a different look at Official Hindi, tracing its spread beyond bureaucratic-administrative settings and its normalization within key educational and mass media domains nationwide. Subsequently, it discusses ongoing developments in Official Hindi, notably its transition from the primarily written mode into public speech, using examples from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oratory and other sources.

Bartels World Affairs Lecture

Fantasy author N. K. Jemisin discusses how she learned to build unreal worlds by studying our own—and how we might in turn imagine a better future for our world, and reshape it to fit that dream.

Jemisin's lecture kicks off The Future—a new Global Grand Challenge at Cornell. We invite thinkers across campus to use their imaginations to reach beyond the immediate, the tangible, the well-known constraints. How can we use our creativity to plan and build for a future that is equitable, sustainable, and good? Learn more on October 4.

After her talk, Jemisin joins a panel of distinguished Cornell faculty to explore how we can take a brave leap into the visionary future. What can we collectively achieve when we focus on "what we want," rather than "what I can do"? And when we've imagined a better future for our world, how do we chart the path—starting today—with practical steps to take us there?

Anindita Banerjee, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, College of Arts and SciencesJohn Albertson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of EngineeringKaushik Basu, Carl Marks Professor of International Studies, Professor of Economics, A&S***

A reception with refreshments will follow the lecture and panel.

Lecture: 5:30 | Rhodes Rawlings Auditorium, Klarman HallThe Future panel, featuring Jemisin and Cornell faculty: 6:15Reception and book signing: 7:00-8:00 | Groos Family AtriumReserve your free ticket for the in-person watch party.

General admission seating is now sold out. By registering for a watch party ticket, you will have an in-person seat reserved in an adjacent classroom near the auditorium where the lecture will be livestreamed. Please follow signage upon your arrival. All watch party attendees are invited to join the post-lecture reception and book signing at 7:00 in Groos Family Atrium, Klarman Hall.

Livestream: For Local, National, and International Viewers

The lecture and panel will be livestreamed. Register to attend virtually at eCornell.

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How are N. K. Jemisin’s novels acts of political resistance? Read a Bartels explainer by Anindita Banerjee.

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Book Signing

Ithaca’s cooperatively owned independent bookstore, Buffalo Street Books, will be selling a wide selection of N. K. Jemisin’s books after the lecture.

Meet N. K. Jemisin and get your book signed at the reception!

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About N. K. Jemisin

N. K. Jemisin is the first author in the science fiction and fantasy genre’s history to win three consecutive Best Novel Hugo Awards, for her Broken Earth trilogy. Her work has also won the Nebula and Locus Awards. She was a 2020 MacArthur Fellow. Jemisin’s most frequent themes include resistance to oppression, the inseverability of the liminal, and the coolness of Stuff Blowing Up. She has been an advocate for the long tradition of science fiction and fantasy as political resistance and previously championed the genre as a New York Times book reviewer. She lives and works in New York City.

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About Global Grand Challenges at Cornell

Global Grand Challenges bring together Cornell's world-class strengths—vision, expertise, people, and resources—in a multiyear focus to understand humanity's most urgent challenges and create real-world solutions. Global Cornell organizes and supports related research collaborations, courses and academic programs, student experiences, campus events, and more. Cornell's first Global Grand Challenge is Migrations, launched in 2019.

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About the Bartels World Affairs Lecture

The Bartels World Affairs Lecture is a signature event of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. This flagship event brings distinguished international figures to campus each academic year to speak on global topics and meet with Cornell faculty and students, particularly undergraduates. The lecture and related events are made possible by the generosity of Henry E. Bartels ’48 and Nancy Horton Bartels ’48.

This conference aims to bring together Afghan scholars and Afghanistan experts, primarily the next generation, to engage in discussions about the future of Afghanistan by analyzing past failures.

Afghanistan has faced conflict, crisis, instability, and civil war for the past half-century. In each period, political elites implemented top-down approaches, paired with external interventions, to overcome these problems. Unfortunately, these political frameworks failed to bring about lasting positive change in Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan have experienced communist, Islamic, and democratic regimes, and they have witnessed the destructive consequences of these political designs. To envision a better tomorrow for Afghanistan, it is crucial for the country's next generation of scholars to critically examine the past and ask several critical “what” and “why” questions.

What events led us to the current situation? What failures and problems prevented us from seizing opportunities for state-building and nation-building? Why did different political designs fail in Afghanistan? Why did the democratic establishment collapse? Why has Afghanistan been unable to utilize international aid effectively for infrastructure and development? By asking such questions, we can move on to asking “how” questions. How can the people of Afghanistan come together, learn from the past, and build a brighter future? This future must be inclusive, egalitarian, multicultural, democratic, free, and, above all, a home for every citizen of the country.

SCHEDULE

9:00 am Welcome Sharif Hozoori, South Asia Program, Cornell University

9:15-10:45 am Panel 1: Balancing Governance in Afghanistan: Secularization, Sharia, and Patrimonialism

Farid Tookhy, Senior Fellow, Institute for Peace & Diplomacy Divergent Notions of Political Authority: A Century of Theoretical and Physical Contestation

Mohammad Mansoor Ehsan, International Affairs, George Mason University Sharia Vigilantism Under the Taliban Rule in Afghanistan

Zinab Attai, Government, Cornell University Seeing like a Neopatrimonial State: Reframing the Study of Afghanistan’s Political Architecture

Chair: Mathew Evangelista, Government, Cornell University

11:00 am – 12:30 pm Panel 2: Afghanistan's Nation-Building Struggle: Identity, Inclusivity, and the Public Sphere

Mirwais Balkhi, Fellow, Wilson Center Afghanistan’s Next Generation’s Initiative: A New Social Contact for Living Together

Omar Sadr, Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh The Rise and Fall of Afghanistan’s Public Sphere

Sayed Hassan Akhlaq, Philosophy and Critical Thinking, Coppin State University Acknowledging Effective Afghan subjectivity

Chair: Seema Golestaneh, Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University

1:30-3:00 pm Panel 3: Constitutional Law: Political Order, Rule of Law, and Public Perspectives

Bashir Mobasher, Sociology, American University Islamic Republic versus Islamic Emirate: What Constitutional Order People Want?

Mahir Hazim, Law, Arizona State University The Politics and Constitutionality of Law-Making in the Afghan Republic: An Authoritarian and Unrestrained Executive

Shamshad Pasarlay, Law, University of Chicago A Constitutional Postmortem: The Rise and Fall of Afghanistan’s 2004 Constitution

Chair: Chantal Thomas, Law School, Cornell University

3:00 pm Conclusion Tawab Danish, Law School, Cornell University

Register to attend virtually. No registration required for in-person attendance.

Organized by the South Asia Program and the Cornell Law School's Clark Initiative for Law and Development in the Middle East and North Africa. Cosponsored by the Departments of Near Eastern Studies and Government, and the Religious Studies, Comparative Muslim Societies, and Peace & Conflict Studies Programs.