5/18
Kristen de Groot
News Officer
Kristen de Groot covers several subject areas in the School of Arts & Sciences including Political Science, History, Economics, East Asian Languages, Germanic Languages and Literature, Russian & East European Studies, and International Studies, the Penn in Washington Program, the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, Think Tanks & Civil Societies, Penn Opinion Research & Election Studies (PORES), the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, Penn Institute for Economic Research, the Center for Study of Contemporary China and Center for East Asian Studies, the Christopher H. Browne Center for International Politics, Fels Institute for Government, and the Center for Ethnicity Race and Immigration. She also covers Penn Global’s Research and Engagement Fund, the SNF Paideia Program, and Perry World House.
Kimberly St. Julian Varnon on the short-lived insurrection in Russia
The history Ph.D. candidate discusses the shocking weekend revolt and march on Moscow by Wagner Group militia members.
Who, What, Why: History Ph.D. candidate Arielle Alterwaite looks at Haitian debt
Her work on Haiti’s sovereign debt in the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution holds lessons for what is currently happening there and more broadly for conversations around reparations.
Mary Frances Berry and Kermit Roosevelt on Juneteenth’s history
A new documentary produced by the Annenberg Public Policy Center explores the history of the holiday and illustrates how and why freedom and citizenship were intertwined. The film features Berry and Roosevelt, among others.
PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger
In the wake of the controversial golf deal, Benjamin L. Schmitt of the School of Arts & Sciences and the Kleinman Center discusses “sportswashing,” malign influence campaigns, and steps global democracies can take to prevent it all.
‘Undoing Slavery: Bodies, Race and Rights in the Age of Abolition’
Historian Kathleen M. Brown’s new book reexamines the antislavery struggle and is the focus of the first episode of a new podcast series from the McNeil Center for Early American Studies.
Harun Küçük on the Turkish elections
Harun Küçük, faculty director of the Middle East Center and associate professor in the Department of History and Sociology of Science, shares some takeaways from the runoff elections and what five more years of Erdogan means for Turkey and the world.
Three things to know about the debt ceiling fight
Economist Harold L. Cole of the School of Arts & Sciences offers an overview of what could happen should the U.S. default on debt payments because no spending deal is reached.
‘Everyday Utopia’—a radically hopeful vision for contented and connected societies
In her new book, Kristen R. Ghodsee of the School of Arts & Sciences takes readers on a tour through history and around the world to explore places that have dared to reimagine how we might live our daily lives.
Crisis in Sudan: A Q&A with Ali Ali-Dinar
The Sudanese scholar and senior lecturer in the Department of Africana Studies offers some background that led to the recent violence and potential paths to peace.
A time to celebrate for inaugural SNF Paideia Fellows
The first cohort of fellows is set to graduate, taking with them the pillars of the SNF Paideia Program—dialogue, citizenship, service, and wellness—on their next life adventures.