The Nanovic Institute for European Studies presents: Current Affairs Cafe: Is International Travel Ethical? With Professor Clemens Sedmak Join us for an engaging discussion on the ethics of international travel! From climate impact to cultural exchange, from business class flights to Caribbean cruises, we’ll explore the challenges and opportunities of global travel. This is a chance to challenge your preconceived ideas, build your civic discourse skills with an introduction to evidence-based productive dialogue techniques, and connect with fellow students over tea and biscuits. Snacks, tea, and coffee will be provided. All undergraduates welcome—bring your curiosity and an open mind! About the Current Affairs Cafe The Current Affairs Cafe is a chance for undergraduate students to come together over coffee, tea, and snacks to discuss timely issues facing our world. While these conversations can seem difficult in our increasingly polarized society, this series will teach best practices on productive dialogue so that students can build critical discourse skills. The Nanovic Institute for European Studies will be presenting these student events a few times each semester, bringing in a speaker to start a conversation on a globally relevant topic, so while we will discuss Europe, we will also consider perspectives and questions drawn from all continents. Any undergraduate looking to engage and have a stimulating conversation is most welcome to attend. Originally published at nanovic.nd.edu.

This panel presents the recent book Righteous Demagogues: Populist Politics in South Asia and Beyond by our guests Adnan Naseemullah and Pradeep Chhibber in a conversation moderated by Kellogg faculty fellow Susan Ostermann. The book looks at the causes, dynamics, and consequences of populist politics in South Asia and beyond. It argues that populist mobilizations are rooted in crises of representation, and populism is a symptom, not an underlying cause, of democratic malaise. Cosponsored by the South Asia Working Group and the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. Presenters: Adnan NaseemullahReader (Professor) in International PoliticsKing's College LondonPradeep ChhibberProfessor and Indo-American Community Chair in India StudiesUniversity of California, Berkeley Susan OstermannAssistant Professor of Global Affairs, Keough School of Global AffairsKellogg Faculty Fellow   More information here

The Keough-Naughton Institute and the Department of Irish Language and Literature invite you to a talk by visiting speaker Davis Sandefur. Lecture Abstract Sa gcaint seo, pléifidh mé an aistear a bhí agam le Gaeilge, ag tosaí ag Ollscoil Notre Dame (’14) agus ag críochnú agus mé i m’Oifigeach Pleanála Teanga in Inis Oírr, Árainn. Pléifear polasaí Rialtas na hÉireann i leith na Gaeilge (Plean 20 Bliain, Acht na Gaeltachta 2012) chomh maith le coincheap na pleanála teanga. Beidh béim ar leith ar an teanga agus ar an bpleanáil teanga in Inis Oírr. In this talk, Sandefur will share his journey with Irish, starting at the University of Notre Dame (class of 2014) and culminating with working as the Oifigeach Pleanála Teanga (Language Planning Officer) on Inis Oírr, in the Aran Islands. The government’s Irish language policy (20 year plan, Gaeltacht Act 2012) as well as the concept of language planning will be discussed. Specific focus will be given to the status of the language and language planning on Inis Oírr. Speaker Biography Originally from Beaver Dam, Kentucky, Davis Sandefur started learning Irish at the University of Notre Dame (class of 2014). After a period working as a secondary school teacher, he moved to Ireland in 2021 to pursue further education. He then spent two years working with Fiontar agus Scoil na Gaeilge at Dublin City University, between research and teaching. He’s been working as the Oifigeach Pleanála Teanga on Inis Oírr since 2024.     Originally published at irishstudies.nd.edu.

Rebecca HansonAssistant Professor of Crime, Law, and Governance, University of FloridaKellogg Institute Visiting Fellow Discussants:Abby CórdovaAssociate Professor of Global AffairsKellogg Faculty FellowRachel SweetAssistant Professor of Politics and Global AffairsKellogg Faculty FellowErnesto VerdejaAssociate Professor of Political Science and Peace StudiesKellogg Faculty FellowSince the mid-2000s Venezuela has been ranked one of the most violent countries in the world as homicides and police violence skyrocketed. Much has been written about the country’s turn to Chavismo but scholarship has ignored what will perhaps be the revolution’s most important legacy: how Chavista policies transformed coercive power and the security landscape. This panel will discuss the Rebecca Hanson's book of the same name, which provides the first in-depth analysis of policing and security policies during the left turn in Latin America by focusing on the experiences of three groups: police officers, police reformers, and residents of neighborhoods most affected by violence. Drawing on ethnographic, interview, and survey research collected over ten years, she analyzes how security policies within the context of the pink tide and later turn to authoritarianism contributed to the expansion of lateral violence and the pluralization of non-state violent actors. Far from the always-already authoritarian project proposed by many scholars and pundits, Hanson shows that the Bolivarian Revolution was defined by highly contested and contrasting visions of security that resulted in a fragmented and inconsistent ordering of state and society. Moreover, by pairing the vantage point of street-level police officers with that of ordinary barrio residents, she provides a unique analysis of how insecurity during revolution was experienced “from below.”Click here for more information   

A story of resilience and creativity, "Creative Force" captures the inspiring stories of everyday Ukrainians who transform their daily professions into acts of defiance against an invading force. This documentary explores the intersection of creativity and resistance in times of conflict. Film director Alex LeMay and film producer Maris Lidaka will join for a Q&A following the film screening. This event is cosponsored by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies. Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.

Jonathan Blitzer, a staff writer at The New Yorker and author of “Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here,” will speak at the University in an event hosted by the Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights. Drawing on his work as a journalist, Blitzer will discuss how immigration became a political crisis. “Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis” is an epic, heartbreaking, and deeply reported book about the disastrous humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico border. Blitzer tells this history through the lives of the migrants forced to risk everything and the policymakers who determine their fate. The book has received widespread praise and was named one of the best books of 2024 by the New York Times and several other publications. The event is free and open to the public. A reception with book sales and a book signing will follow the lecture. Blitzer’s lecture ties in with the Klau Institute’s Migration Initiative, which launched last year through collaboration with other experts from across the Keough School of Global Affairs and the University as a whole. This event is co-sponsored by the Institute for Latino Studies, the Institute for Social Concerns, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and the Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy. Originally published at klau.nd.edu.