Kent State University’s School of Communication Studies will host its Global Issues Forum on Radicalization and Nationalism in the Current Political Climate on Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Student Center, Room 306ABC. The free forum will feature a panel discussion with journalists from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting who have reported on radicalization and nationalism throughout Europe.
The panelists for the evening include:
• Christopher de Bellaigue. Between 1995 and 2007, de Bellaigue lived in New Delhi, Ankara and Tehran, writing for The Economist, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s and many other publications, before taking up a visiting fellowship at St. Antony’s College, Oxford. He is an award-winning author, a frequent broadcaster for the BBC and a contributor to The Guardian. His award-winning books include “In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: a Memoir of Iran,” “Rebel Land: Among Turkey's Forgotten Peoples,” and “Patriot of Persia: Muhammad Mossadegh and a Tragic-Anglo-American Coup.”
• Tom Hundley. Before joining the Pulitzer Center as the senior editor, Hundley was a newspaper journalist for 36 years, including nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. In the mid-1990s, he spent several years in the Balkans reporting on the violent break-up of Yugoslavia. He covered Eastern Europe’s transition from communism to democracy, Northern Ireland’s transition from war to peace and the Vatican’s transition from John Paul II to Benedict XVI.
The concepts of radicalization and nationalism have long been tied to political rhetoric and conflict.
“We have, in recent months, witnessed several incidents of violence across the globe often perpetrated by people who apparently were radicalized while residing in the nations in which they committed acts of terrorism, including the U.S.,” Paul Haridakis, Ph.D., communication studies professor and moderator of the Global Issues Forum said. “We also have seen the emergence of nationalistic groups and parties in several nations, the vote in Great Britain to exit the European Union and political campaigns that focus heavily on the need to control immigration and/or the number of refugees entering various countries.”
Haridakis said that based on these instances, the need for discussion of radicalization and nationalism is particularly relevant today.
“We are very fortunate to have two journalists who have dealt with these issues and can help us put the dialogue in some historical perspective, while offering current examples,” Haridakis said.
Elizabeth Graham, Ph.D., director of the School of Communication Studies, said the school's Global Issues Forum brings Pulitzer Center reporters to campus who offer personal and professional perspectives on how a topic is covered in the media.
“The ongoing forum is an integral part of the school’s curriculum which includes a global communication major that prepares students to think critically and communicate globally,” Graham said. “Previous forums have focused on the topics of fracking, women and children’s issues and the refugee crisis.”
Kent State is part of the Pulitzer Center’s Campus Consortium network that includes more than 20 colleges and universities. The Campus Consortium initiative is a core component of the Center’s effort to create awareness campaigns around global systemic issues that affect us all. The Pulitzer Center promotes in-depth engagement with global affairs through its sponsorship of quality international journalism across all media platforms and an innovative program of outreach and education.
The Center for International & Intercultural Education at Kent State is a co-sponsor for this event. The forum is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Kent Student Center visitor's lot which is located in front of the Student Center on Summit Street.
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Media Contact:
Lindsay Kuntzman, lkuntzm1@kent.edu, 330-672-0283