printable versionInternational scholars to be in residence for pilot program
Four scholars from Asia, Africa and Europe have been chosen to come to Stanford as part of a new program sponsored by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and the Stanford Humanities Center.
Nominated by Stanford departments and research centers, the visitors will be on campus for four-week residencies during the next academic year. They will have offices at the Humanities Center and will be affiliated with their nominating unit, the Humanities Center and FSI.
The residencies are meant to attract high-profile international scholars whose research and writing coincide with the missions of both the Humanities Center and FSI.
The following scholars have been selected for the upcoming academic year:
Diego Gambetta is an Italian sociologist and a fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. He works primarily in theories of signs and signals and is known especially for his book The Sicilian Mafia and his edited volume, Making Sense of Suicide Missions. While at Stanford, he will discuss his recent manuscript, "Engineers of Jihad," as well as his forthcoming book, Crimes and Signs: The Codes of the Underworld Deciphered. He will be affiliated with the Department of Political Science and FSI's Center for International Security and Cooperation.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak is a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand and the director of the Institute of Security and International Studies, Thailand's leading think tank on foreign affairs. His latest research focuses on the prospects for Thai democracy since the 2006 coup, as well as on Thailand's trade policy, which was the topic of his latest co-authored book, Thailand's Trade Policy Strategy and Capacity. While on campus, Pongsudhirak will be affiliated with the Center for East Asian Studies and FSI's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law.
Steven Robins is an anthropologist from Stellenbosch University in South Africa. His research ranges over issues of governance, citizenship and social mobilization in post-conflict societies. Robins will give lectures and seminars based on his forthcoming book, From Revolution to Rights in South Africa: Social Movement, NGOs and Popular Politics. His affiliation will be with the Center for African Studies and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law.
Anne Simonin is a French historian at the University of La Sorbonne (Paris I and IV). She is the author of two major monographs, the first one dedicated to the history of the iconic French publishing house Les Éditions de Minuit (1942-1955), and the second one, published in late 2008, Le Déshonneur dans la République, devoted to the concept of "indignity" in a cultural and legal context from the French Revolution to the emergence of the Fifth Republic (1789-1958). She will be affiliated with the Department of French and Italian and FSI's Forum on Contemporary Europe.
In addition to the jointly sponsored pilot program, the Humanities Center also will bring Julian Stallabrass as part of its new international programs. Stallabrass is one of the most influential art critics in the United Kingdom and is a lecturer in postwar British art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. His most recent book, Locus Solus (2008), is an investigative work on the confluence of identity and technology in contemporary art in an era of art driven by market forces. He will be affiliated with the Department of Art and Art History.
The visitors will offer informal seminars and public lectures and will be available for consultations with interested faculty and students.