Trending Globally: Politics and Policy

This will be the first in an ongoing series of conversations with Brown students about life during the coronavirus pandemic. On this episode Dan and Sarah talk with Alina Kulman, a junior, and Babette Thomas, a senior; two friends who are experiencing this crisis in very different ways. They discuss what it’s like quarantining with classmates, studying abroad while the government wants to ban travel, and the weird feeling of worrying that your parents aren’t properly washing their hands.You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.

On this episode, something you might not be getting a lot of these days: a story to raise your spirits. The second in a special series co-produced with Watson’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), guest host Dr. Pablo Rodriguez talks with Mohamed Malim, founder of Epimonia. Epimonia is a Minnesota-based apparel company that’s fighting to help refugees around the world: 50% of their proceeds go to charities supporting refugees, they employ recent refugees in their factory, and their products are designed to raise awareness of refugees’ stories. It’s social entrepreneurship in every sense of the word. On this episode they discuss Mohamed's story, his vision for Epimonia, and why everybody wins when refugees are allowed to thrive.(Record in March 2020.)You can learn more about CLACS here. You can learn more about Epimonia here. You can watch Mohamed’s talk at Watson here. You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I3a8-AlWNGsaAeZwbxJg5XEvytmGfyJ9/view?usp=sharing]

On this episode, Watson's Director Ed Steinfeld talks with film music supervisor Randall Poster '83. Randall has worked with many of Hollywood’s most distinguished filmmakers on a wide variety of projects, including on the hit Netflix series Tiger King. On this live-streamed podcast taping, Ed and Randall talked about the craft of documentary filmmaking, and the role of music in telling stories on film. They also discuss the inspiration for the JFK Jr. Film Initiative, and what to expect from the Initiative going forward. And, of course, they talk Tiger King. This event is part of the John F. Kennedy Jr. Initiative for Documentary Film and Social Progress. You can learn more about the Initiative here. You can watch a video of Ed and Randall's Trending Globally conversation here. You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.

What role do photo ops play in diplomatic negotiations? How much do changing US Presidential administrations affect US-China relations? What’s it like to have dinner with Yao Ming? On this episode, Watson’s Director Ed Steinfeld talks about all this and more with James Green, former official at the US Embassy in China and senior research fellow with the Initiative for US-China Dialogue on Global Issues at Georgetown University. James and Ed go from the big picture to the nuts and bolts of China-US diplomacy, and explore what lifelong diplomats learn that political leaders too often miss. There’s never been a more important time to understand the relationship between these two governments, and this discussion will help you do just that. (Note: this interview was recorded in February of 2020.)You can subscribe to James’s podcast ‘US-China Dialogue Podcast’ on your favorite listening app. You can also find all the episodes here. You can read a transcript of this episode here.

Adam Levine is the director of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies at Watson and associate professor of emergency medicine at Brown. Much of his work has grown out of an essential fact about epidemics that many of us are just now learning: as Adam explains on this episode, “our global public health system for detecting outbreaks is only as good as the remote nurse working in a rural village in Africa or Indonesia or anywhere else in the world.” To address this interconnectedness, Adam and health care professionals at Brown have partnered with the healthcare NGO Project HOPE to remotely train health care workers on how to safely identify and combat COVID-19 and the coronavirus. On this episode Adam talks with Sarah about this partnership and the role high-quality training plays at all levels in stopping the spread of a pandemic. They also discuss what Adam’s learned from treating Ebola in active war zones, and why this likely won’t be the last pandemic we see. You can learn more about Watson's Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies here. You can learn more about Project HOPE here. You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.

Peter Maurer is the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. In early March he came to Watson, and Sarah talked with him about the challenges of humanitarian aid in the 21st century. Shortly after they spoke, Coronavirus travelled the globe, and everything seemed to change. But surprisingly, for all that's different now, so much of what Peter had to say still resonates -- maybe now more than ever. It's not a light conversation, but but Peter's wisdom, kindness, and clarity of purpose might actually leave you feeling a little more hopeful about this scary, uncertain time.You can learn more about Maurer's recent talk at Watson here. You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.

Mark Lurie is an epidemiologist and expert in infectious disease at Brown University's School of Public Health. On this episode he talks with Sarah about the underlying issues of the coronavirus pandemic: how the virus spreads, what can be done to slow it down, and the different ways it's being treated by countries around the world. They also discuss lessons we can learn from previous public health crises in fighting this one, and how the pandemic is interacting with other social and economic issues.You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.

The spread of the coronavirus, and global effort to contain it, have quickly upended every aspect of our lives. We at Trending Globally are going to bring your more conversations and insights about this pandemic in the coming weeks from our community of experts at Watson and Brown. On this episode: how the coronavirus is affecting US politics, and how US politics are affecting the development of this public health crisis. Guest host Dan Richards talks with Wendy Schiller, Watson Faculty Fellow and Chair of the Political Science Department at Brown University. They discuss the wide-ranging affects of this crisis on American politics, from the Democratic Primaries to voting reform to how might it affect the concerns and considerations of voters going into the general election.You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.

This is the first episode in a special series that Trending Globally will be producing this semester with Watson’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (also known as CLACS). Each episode will focus on a different aspect of society in Latin America and the Caribbean. To start: the politics of natural disasters and emergency management. Storms like Maria and Dorian have done more than cripple islands in the Caribbean; they've brought up important questions of politics, power, and social justice in the region. We're excited to welcome as a special guest host for this series Dr. Pablo Rodriguez. Dr. Rodriguez is Chair of the Women & Infants Health Care Alliance, Associate Professor at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown, and the former Medical Director of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island. He’s also a radio host here in Rhode Island, and one of the most trusted voices covering politics and Latin-x issues in the state. He spoke with two experts on the Caribbean who are based here at Brown: Patsy Lewis, Professor of International and Public Affairs and Director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies; and Paget Henry, a sociologist and Professor at Brown. You can learn more about Watson’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies here. You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.

Historians have explored warfare through just about every lens imaginable. But leave it to political scientist and Watson Faculty Peter Andreas to use the lens you haven’t considered: drugs. On this episode Sarah talks with Peter about his newest book ‘Killer High: A History of War in Six Drugs.’ In it, he writes how these drugs - from coffee to opium -- have affected how, and why, we fight. You can see the Watson Institute’s recent panel discussion about the book here. You can learn more about and purchase 'Killer High' here. You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.