Educating for Global Citizenship
Fall 2009
Tuesday, September 29 – In Over Our Heads?: The Hidden Curriculum of Adult Life
Robert Kegan, professor of adult learning and professional development at Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Do we continue to grow and develop in adulthood? According to Robert Kegan, we do and we must, if we are to master the “hidden curriculum” of adult life. In his talk, Kegan will share what he has learned from his three decades of research into the potential for mental development in adulthood and demonstrate how understanding the hidden curriculum of adult development is essential to a person’s health and well-being.
Kegan is a licensed clinical psychologist and practicing therapist who teaches, researches, writes, and consults about adult development, adult learning, and professional development. His work explores the possibility and necessity of ongoing psychological transformation in adulthood; the fit between adult capacities and the hidden demands of modern life; and the evolution of consciousness in adulthood and its implications for supporting adult
learning, professional development, and adult education. His seminal books, The Evolving Self and In Over Our Heads, have been published in several languages throughout the world.
Tuesday, October 27 – U.S. Foreign Policy and Israel: Which Way to Go?
Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and chair of Middle Eastern studies at the University of San Francisco
In his talk, Stephen Zunes will discuss his belief that U.S. military and economic aid to Israel should be conditional upon Israel’s adherence to universally recognized human rights and international legal principles. He maintains that U.S. aid can and should be used to compel Israel to end its illegal colonization by withdrawing its occupation forces from Arab territories, and allow for the establishment of a viable Palestinian state in these territories in return for security guarantees.
Zunes is one of the leading academic critics of U.S. Middle East policy. He is the author of scores of articles on U.S. foreign policy, international terrorism, human rights, and related issues, and is a frequent guest on NPR, BBC, MSNBC, and other media outlets for analysis on breaking world events. His books include the highly acclaimed Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism.
Tuesday, November 17 – The United Nations and Human Rights
Julie Mertus, associate professor and co-director of the MA program in ethics, peace, and global affairs at American University
Globalization and changes in the United Nations human rights system provide new opportunities and an expanded range of tools to use to address human wrongs and to advance human rights. Julie Mertus will discuss these changes and how the UN and non-governmental organizations are promoting a more just and peaceful future through greater participation in problem solving and conflict prevention.
Mertus, author of The United Nations and Human Rights, is one of the leading experts on civic education and the United Nations. Her work focuses on human rights education, U.S. foreign policy, refugee and humanitarian law and policy, gender and conflict, and post-war transitions. While her geographic expertise is in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Yugoslavia, she has participated in human rights projects in such diverse places as Vietnam, Brazil, China, Jordan, and South Africa.
Spring 2010
Tuesday, February 16 – How Green Economics Can Revive the Economy
Robert Pollin, professor of economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
President Obama has offered the nation a “green recovery”—a transition to a clean-energy economy that will act as a powerful engine to revitalize our economy. But how does such a recovery, and a long-term green economic agenda, work in practice? Robert Pollin’s talk, drawn from his extensive research on green economic policy, discusses not only job creation, but the financial stabilization benefits of this agenda, and how best to finance this economic and environmental transformation.
Pollin’s research focuses on macroeconomics, low-wage work, and financial markets. His most recent books include A Measure of Fairness: The Economics of Living Wages and Minimum Wages and An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for Kenya. He is also co-author of the reports “Job Opportunities for the Green Economy” and “Green Recovery,” which explore the economic benefits of large-scale investments in a clean-energy economy.
Tuesday, March 2 – The Global Water Crisis and the Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water
Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians; founder of the Blue Planet Project, an international movement to protect the world’s fresh water.
Is water a market commodity to be put on the open market for sale, like running shoes, or is it a public trust and a human right? On one side of the debate are the World Bank, many First World governments, and large water transnationals, from private utilities Suez and Veolia to Coca-Cola and Nestlé. On the other side, a global water justice movement of people and communities determined to take back control of life-giving local water sources. Renowned water activist Maude Barlow will share her experiences at the heart of this debate.
Barlow chairs the board of the Washington, D.C.-based Food and Water Watch and is a councilor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council. In 2008, she was named senior advisor on water to the president of the United Nations General Assembly. A long-term activist on trade and justice issues, Barlow has received numerous awards, including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the Alternative Nobel), and the 2008 Canadian Environment Award. She has authored or co-authored16 books, including the recently published Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water.
Tuesday, April 13 – The Future of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity
Adam Jones, associate professor of political science at the University of British Columbia Okanagan.
The laws regarding genocide and crimes against humanity are intimately interlinked, arising from the same impulse to establish international humanitarian norms and laws that have developed over the past century. In his talk, Adam Jones outlines the laws pertaining to genocide and crimes against humanity, explores their areas of crossover and mutual influence, and gauges what the future holds in both the legal and social-political spheres for these attempts to grasp and confront some of humanity’s most enduring evils.
An internationally recognized expert in Holocaust and genocide studies, Jones is the author or editor of a dozen books, including Crimes Against Humanity: A Beginner’s Guide, Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction, and Gendercide and Genocide. He is the executive director of Gendercide Watch (gendercide.org), a Web-based educational initiative that confronts gender-selective atrocities against men and women worldwide.