Trending Globally: Politics and Policy

On this episode Sarah talks with Watson Senior fellow Deborah Gordon. Deborah’s newest paper looks at one of the ‘stealthiest’ and most destructive greenhouse gasses: methane. Specifically, the paper uncovers how methane is leaked throughout our infrastructure, from oil rigs to your kitchen stove. It’s a gas leak on a global scale, and it’s warming our planet more than anyone knew. On the bright side, plugging these leaks could make a measurable, immediate impact towards fighting climate change. You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://watson.brown.edu/files/watson/imce/news/podcast/trending-globally/transcripts/E99_Debbie%20Gordon_Final.pdf]

On this episode, guest host Rich Snyder talks with Maria Cabrera Arus, a visiting professor at the Center for Latin American and Carribean Studies at Watson. Maria studies the sociology, politics, and history of something we all interact with every day: clothes. Specifically, at how clothes communicate power, and project values in a culture. She and Rich explore a place and time that exemplifies this relationship between politics, power, and fashion especially well: Revolutionary Cuba. You can learn more about Maria’s upcoming public lecture at Watson here: [https://watson.brown.edu/clacs/events/2019/maria-cabrera-arus-la-moda-la-revoluci-n-cubana-y-el-hombre-nuevo-fashion-cuban] For more examples and images of Revolutionary Cuba’s material culture, visit Maria’s blog ‘Cube Material’: [https://cubamaterial.com/] You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://watson.brown.edu/files/watson/imce/news/podcast/trending-globally/transcripts/E98_Cabrera%20Arus_Final.pdf] NOTE: The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Watson is currently accepting applications for the Cogut Visiting Professorship, which brings scholars from Latin America and the Caribbean to teach and conduct research here at Brown. The application deadline is November 15. You can learn more about it and apply here: [https://watson.brown.edu/clacs/opportunities/fellowships]

From the industrial revolution to the rise of globalization, human society has changed profoundly since our early days as hunter-gathers. But our brains? Not so much. On this episode, Sarah talks with Watson professor Rose McDermott about this evolutionary mismatch, and the vexing problems it creates in our politics and culture. Perhaps nowhere is this more urgently felt than in the rise of anti-immigrant, far-right populism around the world, where leaders and the media have learned to play into our most primal instincts. You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://watson.brown.edu/files/watson/imce/news/podcast/trending-globally/transcripts/E97_Rose%20McDermott_Final.pdf]

NOTE FOR LISTENERS: Mark and Carrie will be moving to their own podcast channel after this episode. To hear new episodes of Mark and Carrie from now on, subscribe to their new feed, 'Mark and Carrie,' wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks! Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown's Watson Institute, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and associate director of Brown's Master of Public Affairs program, share their take on the news. Topics include: Greta Thunberg and the grown-ups failing our planet, fires and blackouts in California, Brexit: Endgame, Bernie Sanders' health and its effects on the Democratic primary, Mark's super chill visit to Hong Kong, and the US's impending constitutional crisis. You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dop41fa1X2-go_mRM13GL4S_ztcapMU-/view]

Cristian Farias is a journalist who's written about law and the Supreme Court for New York Magazine, HuffPost, and The New York Times (among many others). For much of the last two years he’s closely followed the Trump administration’s efforts to put a citizenship question on the 2020 census. On this episode of Trending Globally, he and Sarah talk about the politics and policy of the 2020 US census, and why it's fundamentally important to our democracy to get the census right. You can watch Cristian talk from his visit to the Watson Institute here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-wAy2jfb-4&feature=youtu.be] You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://watson.brown.edu/files/watson/imce/news/podcast/trending-globally/transcripts/E96_Cristian%20Farias_Final.pdf]

On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah talks with Watson sociologist Jayanti Owens about her research on racial discrimination in one of America’s most important institutions: our schools. They look at how racial discrimination affects students as young as 5 years old, how these effects ripple out into the rest of society, and how thoughtful public policy can help make an education system that works for every child. You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://watson.brown.edu/files/watson/imce/news/podcast/trending-globally/transcripts/E95_Jayanti%20Owens_Final.pdf]

Even by our current standards for presidential news, President Trump’s inquiries into purchasing Greenland this summer were surprising. And while few people took it seriously, Watson political scientist Jeff Colgan still wants to make clear: the US’s relationship with Greenland is no joke. On this episode of Trending Globally, Sarah and Jeff talk about Greenland's role in the Cold War, the politics of nuclear waste clean-up, and the challenges of building a train line...inside of a glacier. They also look at how, with climate change, the US’s relationship to Greenland will matter more and more in the coming decades. This might have been the first time you heard about Greenland on the nightly news, but it probably won’t be the last. You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://watson.brown.edu/files/watson/imce/news/podcast/trending-globally/transcripts/E94_Jeff%20Colgan%20Greenland.pdf]

NOTE FOR LISTENERS: Mark and Carrie will be moving to their own podcast channel in the coming weeks. To subscribe to their new feed, search for 'Mark and Carrie' wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks! Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown's Watson Institute, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and associate director of Brown's Master of Public Affairs program, share their take on the news. Topics include: Explaining the Brexit Extended Universe, Hurricane Dorian, protests and political Turmoil in Hong Kong, the parallels between Germany and the US's politics, the Democrat's lukewarm affair with Joe Biden, and what Mark and Carrie learned this summer. You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QyMwWCTPl1U-OcVTRaPBSGkQtXGH7Zkl/view]

Immigration is an inherently interdisciplinary subject. On this episode, Sarah talks with three postdoctoral fellows at Watson doing work on immigration: Aileen Teague, Rawan Arar, and Almita Miranda. A historian, a sociologist, and an anthropologist, they’re the perfect guests to help connect the dots on such a pressing, multifaceted topic. You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://watson.brown.edu/files/watson/imce/news/podcast/trending-globally/transcripts/E93_Immigartion%20PostDocs_mixdown.pdf]

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown's Watson Institute, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and associate director of Brown's Master of Public Affairs program, share their take on the week's news. This week's topics: Boris Johnson's prospects as PM, Trump's newest racist tweets, Facebook's $5b privacy fine, the underpaid Women's US soccer team, and what to expect in the next ~120 Democratic debates. Mark and Carrie also invent 'Uber for Dogs'? You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ijljqsdfRO0V0c2n5zy8L8yTNEO7EJEH/view]