Each year, the undergraduates behind the Foreign
Affairs Symposium bring influential, distinguished and
high-powered individuals from the world of politics,
academia and the media to the Homewood campus.
The theme for the 2007 symposium, which opens this
week, is Ideologies in Flux: Examining Divergent
Political Strains in Geopolitics. The students say each
event will be a study of the various movements and power
shifts, both political and economic, that are changing the
face of the world. Their goal is to examine the
continuously changing world in an attempt to educate their
peers at Johns Hopkins and the community at large.
The series will begin with a panel discussion at 8
p.m. on Wednesday, March 7, when panelists will discuss
global human trafficking, focusing on the sex trade and
child soldiers. It will take place in 26 Mudd Hall.
Other events on the schedule are as follows:
Tuesday, March 20, 8 p.m.,
Shriver Hall. Lecture followed by a book signing:
Jeffrey Sachs, professor of economics at Columbia
University, will be talking about solutions to poverty in
underdeveloped nations. Sachs is leader of the United
Nations Millennium Project and wrote the book The End of
Poverty. He is well-known for his groundbreaking work
and his association with other activists like Bono, Bob
Geldof and Angelina Jolie. His book will be sold a week in
advance of the event at Barnes & Noble Johns Hopkins.
Tuesday, March 27, 8 p.m.,
Glass Pavilion. Lecture followed by a book signing:
Rajiv Chandrasekaran, assistant managing editor at The
Washington Post and former chief of its Baghdad bureau,
will discuss the current situation in Iraq. His New York
Times best-selling book Imperial Life in the Emerald
City will be sold a week in advance of the event at
Barnes & Noble Johns Hopkins.
Thursday, April 5, 8 p.m.,
Glass Pavilion. A panel discussion on Asian security:
Experts on China, South Korea and Japan will address the
political situation in the region, with a focus on North
Korea.
Tuesday, April 10, 8 p.m. 26
Mudd Hall. A panel discussion on the rise of socialism
in Latin America, with a focus on Hugo Chavez and
Bolivarian movements: The panel will include an ambassador
from Venezuela to the U.S. and a representative from the
State Department.
Tuesday, April 17, 8 p.m.,
Glass Pavilion. Lecture followed by a book signing:
Azar Nafisi, professor at the School of Advanced
International Studies, will discuss international relations
and human rights with a focus on Iran and the Muslim world.
Nafisi is the author of the best seller Reading Lolita
in Tehran, which will be sold a week in advance of the
event at Barnes & Noble Johns Hopkins.
Wednesday, April 25, 8 p.m.,
Glass Pavilion. A discussion on Wal-Mart as a case
study of American corporate globalization: The panelists
will focus on the entrance of Wal-Mart into foreign markets
such as India and China and its effects on those markets.
Participants will include a representative from Wal-Mart's
International Affairs Office and Charles Fishman, author of
the best-selling book The Wal-Mart Effect. After the
event, Fishman will be signing his book, which will be
available a week in advance of the event at Barnes & Noble
Johns Hopkins.
Monday, April 30, 6 p.m.
Mukhtar Mai, founder of the Mukhtar Mai Women Welfare
Organization in Pakistan, will be discussing women's rights
in Pakistan and her personal journey from victim to
activist.
For more on the Foreign Affairs Symposium, go to www.jhu.edu/fas.