Headliners

Since 1976, the Twin Cities has been home to the largest urban Hmong population in the nation. It is a population for whom the fear of cultural extinction is so strong it is almost tangible. So it is increasingly significant that last month, a U.N. human rights expert visited the U to hear testimony regarding the mass exhumation of graves near a Buddhist temple in Thailand where thousands of Hmong refugees lived for more than 20 years. This testimony was the culmination of three years of effort to recognize the violations, reclaim the bodies, and compensate the victims.

Mai Na Lee, Assistant Professor of History and Asian American Studies at the University of Minnesota, gave a lecture that placed the situation at Wat Thamkrabok, Thailand, within the context of Hmong cultural history.

Continue reading "A Culture in Peril: Hmong Grave Desecration in Thailand" »

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A new executive branch is taking shape in Washington — and with the combination of two wars abroad and an economic crisis at home, this could be one of the most important transition periods in modern history. After nearly two years of campaigning for the White House, President-elect Obama has only weeks to create an administration team that will help him handle these daunting challenges. Who will he select for this group, and how will they set the administration’s top priorities?

J. Brian Atwood, Dean of the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, who led the transition team at the State Department for the Clinton-Gore administration, provided a firsthand perspective to the transition process and shared his thoughts on how the incoming administration should invest its political and financial capital.

Continue reading "Where Do We Go From Here?: Transition in the White House" »

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The campaign to elect the 44th president of the United States has been long, intense, and full of firsts, including a former First Lady winning more delegates than any other female candidate in history, the nomination of the first African-American candidate, and the first-ever battle between two sitting senators. How can we synthesize the results of this historic race and move forward to address the serious crises facing the nation? As the dust settles after the general election, join political science Professor Kathryn Pearson on November 6, as she analyzes one of the most significant presidential campaigns in American history.

Dr. Kathryn Pearson is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota where she specializes in congressional elections, political parties, women and politics, and public opinion.

Continue reading "Election 2008: History in the Making" »

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In the wake of its week long war with Georgia, questions still remain about how the international community should react to Russia's blatant show of force. The events surrounding the conflict have marked a new and serious turn in east-west relations and escalated old tensions between the U.S. and Russia. Is the clash between Russia and Georgia a conflict over "democracy" and "sovereignty" as portrayed by Washington? Or is the U.S. mixing into the volatile politics of the Caucasus to preserve access to Caspian oil and to establish strategic staging areas for a possible attack on Iran?
Dr William Beeman, U of M anthropology chair and president of the Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association, explored the geopolitical implications of this invasion.

Continue reading "Petropolitics and the Middle East" »

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