On this episode James talks with Erica Lorraine Williams, Assistant Professor at Spelman College and author of 'Sex Tourism in Bahia: Ambiguous Entanglements.' They discuss Erica’s book, which explores how Brazil’s sex tourism industry affects Afro-Brazilian women’s lives in the Brazilian state of Bahia. They also look more broadly at how Afro-Brazilian women have been impacted by the election of president Jair Balsanaro, and the ways they have organized to resist this current regime.

You can learn more about Erica's book here: [https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/67nsg8gz9780252037931.html]

How Black Feminists Activists Are Resisting Brazil’s Conservative Turn

In 1979 a group of young rebels, calling themselves the Sandinista National Liberation Front, overthrew a brutal dictatorship in Nicaragua. 40 years later, Nicaraguans are again living under an oppressive authoritarian regime. The current leader? Sandinista Daniel Ortega.

In the Spring of 2019, the Watson Institute held an unprecedented conference exploring the history and legacy of this unfinished revolution. Out of that conference came this four-part special series from Trending Globally, telling the story of the Sandinista Revolution from the people who lived it.

Part IV: How a country that went through a revolution, a civil war, and a miraculous transition to democracy...found itself under the control of a dictator again today. But like in 1979, young people are taking to the streets, and the world is watching.

For more information about the conference this podcast was based on, including recorded lectures and a short film featuring many of the voices from this podcast, visit [watson.brown.edu/nicaragua].

Revolution Revisited, Part IV

On Trending Globally's 100th episode, Sarah talks with author and Watson Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer about secret agents, the Cold War, and mind-altering drugs. 

Stephen's newest book, 'Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control', pulls back the curtain on MK-Ultra, a top-secret CIA project  that tried to learn how to control the human mind. Gottlieb ran sinister experiments on human subjects across the globe, and in the process helped spread the use of psychedelic drugs like LSD. 

It’s one of those stories that if it wasn’t true, you’d never believe it. But it is. 

You can learn more about and purchase 'Poisoner in Chief' here: [https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250140432]

You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZcfdnJce5Zb6A9cM4HRmoFFFlTYjbha3/view?usp=sharing]

The CIA's 'Poisoner in Chief' with Stephen Kinzer

On this episode, public health scientist and Brown Associate Dean Caroline Kuo talks with Watson Fellow Matthew Gutmann about his newest book ‘Are Men Animals? How Modern Masculinity Sells Men Short.’ They explore how what we think of as ‘male behavior’ -- from displays of aggression to mansplaining -- can only be explained by understanding the complex relationship between our culture and our biology.

You can learn more about and purchase Matthew's book here: [https://www.amazon.com/Are-Men-Animals-Modern-Masculinity/dp/1541699580]

You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q-KtxqQuWWoJ4dHTIir6VuW1ofvlNiu7/view?usp=sharing]

Are Men Animals? An Anthropologist's Take

This episode is a co-production between Watson's China Initiative and the Center for Middle East Studies at Brown University. This fall, the Center brought to Watson Adeeb Khalid, Director of Middle East Studies at Carleton College, to discuss the history and future of the Uyghurs in Northwest China.

Adeeb and Sarah discuss how this minority group ended up as part of China in the first place, and how China’s economic development plan -- known as the ‘Belt and Road initiative’ -- might be connected to renewed tensions we're seeing today. 

You can watch the presentation Adeeb Khalid gave at Watson here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGWOoaePJZg&feature=youtu.be]
You can learn more about the China Initiative here: [https://watson.brown.edu/china/]
You can learn more about the Center for Middle East Studies here: [https://watson.brown.edu/cmes/]

You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bc6dHNv_ZgRyBDZNPb1wQJns5KBxRrSW/view?usp=sharing]

Repression and Surveillance for China's Uyghur Minority

Observers in the West too often have a one-dimensional view of women in Muslim-majority countries; as subjugated, and in need of help in their liberation. On this episode, Sarah sits down with three leading experts on gender politics in the Middle East and South Asia to break down that myth. Anthropologist and Professor at Watson's Center for Middle East Studies Nadje Al-Ali, along with her colleagues Deniz Kandiyoti and Kathryn Poots, coedited the anthology 'Gender, Governance, and Islam,' which explores the complex politics of gender in the Middle East and South Asia. Their conversation with Sarah -- and even more so, their book -- will change how you view the lives of women in this part of the world.

You can learn more about and purchase 'Gender, Governance, and Islam' here: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-gender-governance-and-islam.html

You can read more about their visit to the Watson Institute, and find links to their lectures, here: https://watson.brown.edu/events/2019/gender-governance-and-islam

You can learn more about Watson's Center for Middle East Studies here: [https://watson.brown.edu/cmes/]

You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ThHrqJZGFqVgp8kG12AT9sy_JGP1YNEL/view?usp=sharing]

Islam and Gender in the 21st Century

On this episode: why protests have erupted across India in the last few months, and why these protests have been, in many ways, a long time coming. 

Guest host and producer Dan Richards talks with Sara Shneiderman, associate professor in anthropology and the School of Public Policy & Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia, and Sahana Ghosh, postdoctoral fellow at the Watson Institute, about what they call the “weaponizing of citizenship" in India. You can read more of their analysis in their recent op-ed for The Conversation here: [https://theconversation.com/new-laws-weaponize-citizenship-in-india-129027]

You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U9D7Ep9fJqDvAVSoNxY2m5oKB5OxqEOH/view?usp=sharing]

India at a Crossroads

Tensions between China and the US are at a level not seen in decades. But as Chas Freeman, former Assistant US Secretary of Defense and Watson Senior Fellow believes, the tension between these countries is larger than a tit-for-tat trade dispute. Everything about this relationship is being called to question, and it has implications around the world. On this episode Edward Steinfeld, Director of the Watson Institute and Director of Watson’s China Initiative, sits down with Chas to discuss what may be the biggest story of decades to come: the fast-changing relationship between the US and China. 

You can read Chas’s paper ‘A World Dividing: The International Implications of the Sino-American Rift’ here: [https://quincyinst.org/2019/12/04/quincybrief-01-a-world-dividing/]

You can learn more about Watson’s China Initiative here: [https://watson.brown.edu/china/]

You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g7sXhor2IUO-yl-41yUs2WjpGDcP-QnE/view?usp=sharing]

China, the US, and Statecraft in the 21st Century

This past January marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. On this episode, Sarah talks with Watson Faculty Fellow and historian Omer Bartov about the intimate tragedies that occurred within the massive, industrialized murder of the Holocaust. In his book 'Anatomy of a Genocide: The Life and Death of a Town Called Buczacz,' he vividly illustrates how the residents of one small town went from co-existing to committing mass murder in a matter of years. It’s both an important piece of history and a cautionary tale about how quickly neighbors can turn against each other. 

You can learn more about and purchase Omer's book here: [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Anatomy-of-a-Genocide/Omer-Bartov/9781451684544]

You can watch Omer discuss the book at the Watson Institute here: [https://watson.brown.edu/events/2018/omer-bartov-anatomy-genocide-life-and-death-town-called-buczacz]

You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/10IuqC4ndMrNSZIcv9_1lTJfxmeMzvn08/view?usp=sharing]

The 'Anatomy of a Genocide'

On January 31, the UK formally left the European Union. But ‘Brexit’ is far from over. On this episode guest host Dan Richards talks with political economist and Watson Professor Mark Blyth about the next steps in this process, and what they’ll mean for Europe and the UK. Mark’s never been Brexit’s biggest fan, but on this episode he explains to Dan why he has some reasons for hope, and what it might look like to ‘get Brexit done right.’

You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p1q1R0398ccGwACgHHt78UrmygxU4IwY/view?usp=sharing]

Getting Brexit Right with Mark Blyth

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 read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yrH3NU4-lxy_L5aDoIbkNQVkw81pxzHL/view?usp=sharing]

The Coronavirus Pandemic and US Politics

Brazil is going through turbulent times. There’s never been a more important moment to understand Brazil’s politics, society, and culture. To go beyond the headlines, and to ask questions that aren’t easy to answer. 'Brazil Unfiltered,' a new podcast from Brown University and the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, will do just that. This bi-weekly podcast is hosted by James Green, Professor of Brazilian History and Culture at Brown University and the Director of Brown’s Brazil Initiative [https://watson.brown.edu/brazil/]. Each episode he’ll have on a new guest for a clear, clean, straightforward conversation about contemporary Brazil.

How Black Feminists Activists Are Resisting Brazil’s Conservative Turn

Brazil Unfiltered

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