Theodora Dragostinova (History) and Eric Schoon (Sociology)
This thematic area prioritizes perspectives from allegedly peripheral state and non-state actors to foreground marginalized voices on the global security order. The initial focus of the cluster engages two topics: 1) populism, polarization, and democratic challenges; and 2) legacies of empire. Exploring political crises, violence against states and individuals, environmental challenges, migration dynamics, and polarized responses to current social issues and historical legacies, we center peripheral perspectives and their cutting-edge research interpretations.
Activities include working group meetings, a speaker series, graduate student opportunities, and a culminating symposium during 2023–2024. We will host a kickoff event for Ohio State faculty and students from 4:00-5:00pm on Thursday, September 8, 2022. Our first speaker on Thursday, October 20, 2022, is Professor Zophia Edwards from Johns Hopkins University whose work examines the impacts of colonialism and multiracial labor movements on state institutions and ideas of development in resource-rich countries in the Global South, focusing on Trinidad and Tobago.