CERIS - Online Event

Epstein Files: A Roadmap of Post-Cold War Corruption and Geopolitical Chaos

pittadmin — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 14:18:35 +0000

Announced by the University of Pittsburgh

A webinar sponsored by the Quincy Institute featuring Murtaza Hussain, Harrison Berger, & Ana Kasparian & Responsible Statecraft Editor-in-Chief Kelley Beaucar Vlahos.

Murtaza Hussain is an investigative journalist and reporter at Drop Site News, specializing in national security, foreign policy, and human rights. Formerly with The Intercept, he focuses on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and South Asia, including coverage of surveillance, state violence. He has reported from Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan, Pakistan, and other countries and covered top secret national security leaks from Pakistan, Iran, India, as well as the FBI and NSA.

Harrison Berger is a correspondent at The American Conservative. He has contributed to Drop Site News, The Nation, and Responsible Statecraft. Previously, he was a researcher and producer for System Update with Glenn Greenwald. His work focuses on civil liberties and U.S. foreign policy. He studied Political Science and Russian Studies at Union College (NY).

Ana Kasparian is an American independent political commentator, media host, and journalist. She is a host and producer of the online news show The Young Turks, having begun working as a fill-in producer for the show in 2007. She also appeared on the television version of the show that aired on Current TV. She formerly hosted The Point on the TYT Network and co-hosted a Jacobin YouTube show, Weekends with Ana Kasparian and Nando Vila.

Kelley Beaucar Vlahos is editor-in-chief at Responsible Statecraft and a senior advisor at the Quincy Institute. Previously she was executive editor of The American Conservative magazine. Before joining TAC in 2017, Vlahos served as a contributing editor to the magazine, reporting and publishing regular articles on U.S. war policy, civil liberties, foreign policy, veterans, and Washington politics since 2007. She spent 15 years as an online political reporter for FOX News at the channel’s Washington D.C. bureau, as well as Washington correspondent for Homeland Security Today magazine

Online Event

Event Date:

Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm

Institution(s):

University of Pittsburgh

Sponsored By:

Quincy Institute For Responsible Statecraft

Location:

Online

Event Link:

Event Website

Featured Item?:

CERIS Book Discussion: Muslim Families in Global Senegal

pittadmin — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 18:37:20 +0000

The book discussion is open to all educators.

Dr. Astou Fall Gueye, Assistant Professor of French, University of Pittsburgh, will lead the discussion. .Dr. Astou Gueye’s research and teaching focus on contemporary African literatures, cinema, and popular culture. She builds from interdisciplinary approaches to investigate the role of cultural productions and practices in the construction and performance of various social identities in Africa and its diaspora. Her current book project examines the intersections of agency, power, and pleasure in daily performances of Senegalese femininities through the cultural practice called jongé. Her other areas of interest include feminist discourse and aesthetics in Africa and the Black diaspora.

About the Book: Senegalese Murid migrants have circulated cargo and currency through official and unofficial networks in Africa and the world. Buggenhagen reveals the deep connections between economic profits and ritual and social authority and discovers that these strategies are not responses to a dispersed community in crisis, but rather produce new roles, wealth, and worth for Senegalese women in all parts of the globe.

About the Author: Beth Buggenhagen is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington. She is editor (with Anne-Maria Makhulu and Stephen Jackson) of Hard Work, Hard Times: Global Volatility and African Subjectivities.

Online Event

Event Date:

Wednesday, March 25, 2026 - 6:00pm to 7:30pm

Institution(s):

University of Pittsburgh

Sponsored By:

CERIS and the Center for African Studies

Contact:

Elaine Linn eel58@pitt.edu

Location:

online

Event Link:

Event Website

Featured Item?:

Yes

Target Audience:

Elementary and Secondary Education

Higher Education

Presenter Type:

Faculty of Institution

Silencing Dissent: The Islamophobia Industry's Assault on Academic Freedom

pittadmin — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 14:24:40 +0000

Announced by CERIS

"The few academic centers in the United States focused on combating Islamophobia are under attack by special interest groups and politicians opposed to equality of speech, knowledge production, and rights for Muslims. Experts will discuss the origins and harms arising from the Islamophobia industry's assault on academic freedom." Rutgers University

Speakers include:
Nader Hashemi, Director, The Atwaheed Center for Muslim Christian Understanding, Georgetown University
Mobashra Tazamal, Executive Director The Bridge Institute
Sahar Aziz, Distinguished Professor of Law, Rutgers University

Online Event

Event Date:

Wednesday, April 16, 2025 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm

Institution(s):

University of Pittsburgh

Sponsored By:

Rutgers University

Contact:

Rutgers University

Location:

Online

Event Link:

Event Website

Featured Item?:

Yes

Islam's Black Footprint in America

pittadmin — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 14:56:41 +0000

Announced by CERIS

6:00PM EST

ICNA will commemorate Black History Month by exploring the rich history, contributions and impact of Black Muslim leaders and communities
Imama Khalid Griggs, Executive Director, ICNA Council for Social Justice
Amir Muhammad, President, America's Islamic Heritage Museum

Online Event

Event Date:

Thursday, February 13, 2025 - 6:00pm to 7:00pm

Institution(s):

University of Pittsburgh

Sponsored By:

Islamic Council of North America

Location:

online

Event Link:

Event Website

Featured Item?:

Yes

Reimagining Electoral Democracy in Africa: Case Study of Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe, Part 2: The Election Process

pittadmin — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 15:34:00 +0000

Announced by: University of Pittsburgh

Speakers: Joseph Siegle, Bodunrin Adebo, Cynthia Mbamalu, Dave Peterson

Africa is witnessing a period of reversals in democracy. The global COVID-19 pandemic compounded complexities faced by African countries in resolving the competition for political power through credible, peaceful elections. While elections have become a regular feature on the continent, crisis of confidence arising from controversial or contested election outcomes, as witnessed recently in Nigeria, continues to undermine citizens’ trust and confidence in the integrity of elections and the democratic process. In countries such as Uganda and Zimbabwe, incumbents have imposed restrictive laws against the media and civil society to strengthen their grip on power. There has been an unconstitutional change of government by the military in Mali and Guinea, while the military continues to stifle the transition to civilian rule in Sudan. And recently, Senegal is faced with violent protests following the conviction of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, with the prospect of President Macky Sall’s bid for a third term in the election next year. All these underscore the importance for the academic community and development community to engage in a critical review of elections in Africa to enhance democratic resilience on the continent.

To address these issues, the ASC Fall Democracy Talk series will provide a platform for critical discussions and analysis of democracy in Africa. The series will specifically examine recent national elections in Nigeria (March 2023), Sierra Leone (June 2023), and future elections in Zimbabwe (October 2023) and Senegal (February 2024) and their outcomes. Registration is required.

Zoom Registration Link:

Online Event

Event Date:

Thursday, September 14, 2023 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm

Institution(s):

University of Pittsburgh

Sponsored By:

The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s African Studies Center

Location:

Virtual

Event Link:

Event Website

Featured Item?:

Yes

One Year of Protests in Iran

pittadmin — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 19:24:14 +0000

Announced by: The University of Pittsburgh

A panel discussion with Sholeh Asgary, an interdisciplinary artist and lecturer and Minoo Moallem, Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies. Held in Person at the Social Science Matrix at UC Berkeley or virtual. Visit the link below for more information and to register via Zoom.

Online Event

Event Date:

Thursday, September 14, 2023 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm

Institution(s):

University of Pittsburgh

Sponsored By:

Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) and the Berkeley Initiative for Iranian Studies (BIIS)

Location:

Virtual

Event Link:

Event Website

Featured Item?:

Yes

Presenter Type:

Visiting Scholar/Faculty

The Findings of the 2022 Arab Opinion Index

pittadmin — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 16:44:15 +0000

Announced by the University of Pittsburgh:

The 2022 Arab Opinion Index is the eighth in a series of public opinion surveys conducted across the Arab world by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha, Qatar. The 2022 Arab Opinion Index is based on findings from face-to-face interviews conducted between June and December 2022 with 33,300 individual respondents in 14 Arab countries: Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Tunisia. Sampling followed a randomized, stratified, multi-stage, self-weighted clustered approach, giving an overall margin of error between +/- 2% and 3% for individual country samples. The overall samples guarantee probability proportional to size (PPS), ensuring fairness in the representation of various population segments. With an aggregate sample size of 33,300 respondents, the Arab Opinion Index remains the largest public opinion survey in the Arab world. The fieldwork was carried out by an overall team of 920 individuals, equally balanced by gender, who conducted 72,000 hours of face-to-face interviews. The team covered a total of 890,000 kilometers (approximately 553,000 miles) across the population clusters sampled.

The webinar will focus on the following questions, as well as on other findings:

1. How do Arab citizens assess the economic and political conditions in their respective countries?
2. Do Arab citizens yearn for democracy in the Arab world?
3. Are Arab citizens really turning their backs on religion, and on religiosity in general?
4. Are Arabs tired, as many have claimed, of supporting the Palestinian cause?
5. How do Arabs perceive ongoing efforts aimed at normalization with Israel?
6. How do Arab citizens assess threats to their respective countries?
7. Do assessments of US policy in the region differ among Arab countries?
8. To what extent do Arabs rely on the internet and social media as a source of information?

Online Event

Event Date:

Thursday, January 19, 2023 - 12:15pm to 1:15pm

Institution(s):

University of Pittsburgh

Sponsored By:

Arab Center Washington DC

Location:

Virtual

Event Link:

Event Website

Featured Item?:

#WomenLifeFreedom: The Iranian Protest Movement

pittadmin — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 20:55:46 +0000

Announced by the University of Pittsburgh:

Some refer to it as Iran's fourth revolution, others question whether it is motivated by Islamophobia, and Western leaders and media remain largely silent. Though the current wave of nationwide demonstrations in Iran is complex and difficult to comprehend, one thing is clear: the people want regime change and are risking their lives to battle a brutal and ruthless armed conglomerate of state and local police— and have been doing so for a month (and counting)! How did Iranians reach their current state? What distinguishes this round of protests from previous movements? What are people demanding and how are they organizing despite a government shutdown of the internet? Why haven’t US leaders and media been more vocal about the heinous violations of human rights occurring on the ground? How and why are young women and girls at the forefront of the fight for freedom and liberty? Our panel of experts will investigate these questions and will provide the opportunity for our audience to ask their own.

PANELIST — Haleh Esfandiari is Director Emerita and Distinguished Scholar of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center in Washington DC. She is currently a Middle East Program and Public Policy Scholar at the Wilson Center. She is the author of “My Prison, My Home,” based on her arrest and imprisonment by the Iranian security authorities in 2007. In March 2017, the Wilson Center announced the launch of the Haleh Esfandiari Forum, an annual lecture on women’s empowerment in the MENA region. The inaugural lecture was given by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Among her awards are the Special American Red Cross Award and the Women’s Equality Award from the National Council of Women’s Organizations. She received an honorary degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

PANELIST — Dr. Sara Bazoobandi is a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Institute for Middle East Studies of the German Institute of Global and Area Studies. She is also a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, and a non-resident fellow at ISPI in Milan. Prior to this, she was a senior lecturer in international political economy at Regent’s University London from 2013 to 2018, and a research fellow at the National University of Singapore from 2011 to 2012. She has also worked outside of academia, in the infrastructure construction sector in Iran. Her education background includes a civil engineering degree that she obtained in Iran, and and MSc and PhD that she completed in the UK. She grew up in Iran and has been living in Europe since 2005.

PANELIST — Dr. Mahya Ostovar, who left Iran 10 years ago, is a lecturer at University of Galway, Ireland. Active in “1 million signatures for equality,” Dr. Ostovar describes herself as a feminist. During PhD studies in France, her research focused on campaigns against mandatory hijab in Iran—such as “My Stealthy Freedom” and “White Wednesdays.” She was also active in the “#LetUsTalk” movement, which appeals to the West to silence the criticism of Islamophobia, especially by Middle Eastern women, and the “#No2Hijab campaign,” which calls on Iranian women not to wear the headscarf in Iranian public. Dr. Ostovar was also one of the co-founders of “Let Women In,” a campaign to lobby FIFA to take concrete actions against Iran’s state-wide segregation, after an Iranian female football fan was arrested for attempting to enter the stadium and later tragically died by self-immolation. Dr. Ostovar’s primary focus in all these activities has been the equality of women and their rights over their bodies. Her publications include, “A Performative Identity Perspective of Cyberactivism: The Case of My Stealthy Freedom” and “Producing Solidarity in Social Media Activism: The Case of My Stealthy Freedom,” among others.

MODERATOR— Salomé Mohajer is an Iranian-American who left Iran before the 1979 Revolution, and who speaks Farsi/Persian fluently. She is a UC Santa Cruz Alumni where she majored in Women Studies, focusing on third world feminisms. She later obtained a Masters in Teaching through a Teach for America/Pace University partnership, served as a public school educator in New York City for a decade, and was a founding teacher at a KIPP charter school in Gary, Indiana. She brings her lifelong passion for social justice and political change to CMED, where she manages major projects, produces virtual events, and oversees the CMED internship program.

Online Event

Event Date:

Thursday, October 27, 2022 - 1:00pm to 2:00pm

Institution(s):

University of Pittsburgh

Sponsored By:

UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies

Location:

Virtual

Event Link:

Event Website

Featured Item?:

CLIMATE, CONFLICT, AND FOOD SECURITY IN AFRICA

pittadmin — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 20:53:11 +0000

Announced by the University of Pittsburgh:

Join the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs in a workshop series in Fall 2022, Africa in Focus: African Agency in International Climate Policy and Energy Geopolitics. This series centers African voices in discussing the causes, consequences, and policy solutions for global climate change.

This event will examine the consequences of climate change on food security on the continent and how water and food scarcity impacts and is impacted by local and global conflict.

Registration:

This event is virtual and open to the public. RSVP is required.

Speakers:

Simeon Ehui, Regional Director for Sustainable Development for Africa, World Bank

Wanjira Mathai, Managing Director - Africa and Global Partnerships, World Resources Institute

Dhesigen Naidoo, Climate Adaptation Lead, South Africa Presidential Climate Commission & Senior Research Associate - Climate Risk and Human Security Programme, Institute for Security Studies Africa

Moderator:

Robert Paarlberg, Associate, Sustainability Science Program, Harvard Kennedy School & Betty F. Johnson ‘44 Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Wellesley College

Online Event

Event Date:

Wednesday, October 26, 2022 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Institution(s):

University of Pittsburgh

Sponsored By:

Harvard University’s Center for African Studies

Location:

Virtual

Event Link:

Event Website

Featured Item?:

Gaza: The Longest Siege in Modern History - 2007 to the Present

pittadmin — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 15:36:21 +0000

Announced by the University of Pittsburgh:

With generous support from Brown University's Mahmoud Darwish Chair in Palestinian Studies.
Cosponsors: The Arab-American Educational Foundation Center for Arab Studies at the University of Houston and The Jerusalem Fund.

In 1948, the tiny Gaza Strip was cut off from the rest of historic Palestine, absorbing a huge number of Palestinian refugees who were ethnically cleansed from their ancestral lands. In 1967, it was militarily occupied by Israeli forces, its inhabitants suffering from a plethora of colonial domination techniques and movement restrictions over the subsequent decades. An unprecedented land, air, and sea blockade was imposed on Gaza since June 2007, constituting the longest siege in modern history. As the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 has noted in her latest report: “Israel’s apparent strategy is the indefinite warehousing of an unwanted population of two million Palestinians, whom it has confined to a narrow strip of land through its comprehensive 15-year-old air, land and sea blockade.” The outcome has been a harrowing process of de-development resulting, as the UN Special Rapporteur notes, “in a 45 percent unemployment rate, a 60 percent poverty rate and with 80 percent of the population dependent on some form of international assistance, in significant part because of the hermetic sealing of Gaza’s access to the outside world”.
Besides this siege imposed by the Israeli state with Egyptian state collusion, the Palestinian people living in Gaza have been assaulted and bombarded by Israeli forces from land, sea, and air on a regular basis. Their cities, villages, and refugee camps have suffered from several Israeli military invasions, which have led to the killing of thousands and the maiming of tens of thousands of Palestinians. Centering the voices of Palestinian scholars and intellectuals from Gaza, this panel examines the political and historic context of this process, accounting for its enormous human toll but also highlighting the ongoing will to resist this oppressive colonial present.

Panelists:
Jehad Abusalim, PhD candidate, History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies Joint Program, New York University
Aya Al-Ghazzawi , Writer, English language teacher, Palestinian Ministry of Education
Swee Chai Ang , Orthopedic surgeon, Author
Hadeel Assali, Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Lecturer, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University
Fady Joudah, Physician, Poet, Translator

Online Event

Event Date:

Monday, October 3, 2022 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm

Institution(s):

University of Pittsburgh

Sponsored By:

Brown University's Mahmoud Darwish Chair in Palestinian Studies

Location:

Virtual

Event Link:

Event Website

Featured Item?: