What We're Reading This Week
Collin Bernard, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Mark Mazower, "Russia, Ukraine and Europe's 200-year quest for peace", Financial Times, March 25, 2022.
A contextualization of Russia's invasion of Ukraine within a longer history of peacemaking and the key peace settlements in Europe that have shaped the continent.
Molly Fischer, "The Cult of Adam Tooze", New York Magazine, March 29, 2022.
This article on the career and now fame of the historian and political-economic analysis Adam Tooze explores his popularity and his intellectual trajectory.
Kevin Okoth, "Resistance from Elsewhere", London Review of Books, April 7, 2022.
This piece explores the historical context and ideas of Cedric Robinson and his ideas about Marxism, race, and capitalism.
Henry Jacob, University of Cambridge
Paige Williams, “Killing Wolves to Own the Libs?”, The New Yorker.
Last spring, Idaho passed legislation that enables hunters to kill wolves without retribution or restrictions. Paige Williams reports on this law has not only endangered wolves, but also magnified their role as polarizing political symbols. As these debates have intensified and extended beyond the state “[n]either side of the wolf divide [has] appeared capable of compromise.” Without agreements across political parties, prospects for interspecies coexistence look grim. As Williams concludes, “instead of expecting wolves to change, humans need[] to change.”
Ian Garner, “Russia and Ukraine Are Fighting for the Legacy of World War II”, Foreign Policy.
Historian and translator of Russian war propaganda Ian Garner reflects on how Russia and Ukraine have drawn upon conflicting interpretations of World War II in 2022. Whereas Russians derive “a justification for its aggression” from the past, Ukrainians are finding “ways to resist the invader and to create new, unifying national myths.”
Orlando Acosta Patiño, “El arte y la memoria, tras 32 años de la invasión a Panamá”, La Estrella de Panamá.
This Thursday, the President of Panama Laurentino Cortizo Cohen signed a law that declared 20 December a “Día de Duelo Nacional.” This action commemorates the victims of the 1989-1990 U.S. invasion of Panama. This article reflects on how a mural by Aristides Ureña Ramos helps locals remember past troubles and construct a shared future.
Rustam Khan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Niyoshi Shah, “Brown Hunters”, Fifty Two.
Shah tells a story about the history oof hunting diplomacy in India, wildlife and state-led conservation, and the violent impact on indigenous communities.
Rafia Zakaria, “What Makes Foreign Policy ‘Feminist?’”, The Baffler.
Zakaria wrote another great piece for the Baffler that investigates how “In Germany, women’s rights provide a cover for a new militarism.”