CHIASMOS: The University of Chicago International and Area Studies Multimedia Outreach Source [audio]

Greg Beckett, Anthropology PhD and Collegiate Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences, and Ann Clark, Principal at Nicholas Clark Architects, Ltd, contextualize US-Haitian relations and Port-au-Prince itself, and discuss the nature of Haitian political and social life before the earthquake.

A talk by author and Earth Policy Institute founder Lester Brown. As fossil fuel prices rise, oil insecurity deepens, and concerns about climate change cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new energy economy is emerging. Wind, solar, and geothermal energy are replacing oil, coal, and natural gas, at a pace and on a scale we could not have imagined even a year ago. For the first time since the Industrial Revolution, we have begun investing in energy sources that can last forever. Plan B 4.0 explores both the nature of this transition to a new energy economy and how it will affect our daily lives. Cosponsored by the Program on the Global Environment. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series.

Rodolfo Pastor is Minister of Culture, Arts and Sports of Honduras, and, since the coup of June 28 that overthrew the government of President Manuel Zelaya, he has also been Visiting Professor of History at Harvard University. Pastor discusses the current political situation of Honduras, the Honduran political system, as well as the upcoming election.

Panel 3: Science and Technology as a Basis for a New Development Model for the Amazon Tatiana Sá, Engenheira Agônoma, Diretora-Executiva da Embrapa, Brasília Adalberto Luis Val, Diretor do INPA, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, AM Mauro Barbosa de Almeida, Professor of Anthropology, UNICAMP Bertha Becker, Geógrafa, Professora Emérita da UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, RJ Respondent: Manuela Carneiro da Cunha, Antropóloga, Professora da Universidade de Chicago

Special Address: Sônia Guajajara, Vice-Coordinator of COIAB: Coordenação das Organizações Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira. Cosponsored by the University of Chicago Center for Latin American Studies and the Project on the Global Environment.

A talk by Indira Viswanathan Peterson, David B. Truman Professor of Asian Studies, Mount Holyoke College. From the South Asia Seminar.

Dain Borges, Director, Center for Latin American Studies Mark Hansen, Dean, Social Science Division Ambassador João Almino, Consul General of Brazil in Chicago Marina Silva, Senator, Green Party (from Brazil via video)

Panel 1 - Models of Development: An Assessment of the Last 20 Years of Public Policy for the Amazon Region: Roberto Smeraldi, Journalist, Director of Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira, São Paulo, SP Foster Brown, Pesquisador do Woods Hole Research Center e do Parque Zoobotânico, Universidade do Acre, Rio Branco, AC Phillip M. Fearnside, Ecólogo, Pesquisador do Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, AM Jorge Viana. Engenheiro Florestal, ex Governador do Acre, Rio Branco, AC Respondent: Mary Allegretti, Antropóloga, Consultora Independente, Curitiba, PR

Panel 2 - Social Movements and Chico Mendes' Legacy for the Sustainable Development of the Amazon: Mary Allegretti, Antropóloga, Consultora Independente, Curitiba, PR Ane Alencar, Geógrafa, Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia, Brasilia, DF Marianne Schmink, Professor, Director of the Tropical Conservation and Development Program, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL Ricardo Paes de Barros, Economista, Pesquisador do IPEA - Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada, Brasilia, DF Respondent: Mauro Barbosa de Almeida, Antropólogo, Professor da Universidade de Campinas, São Paulo, SP

20th Anniversary Roundtable with the Consuls General of Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Poland. A discussion concerning the historic events of two decades ago in Central and Eastern Europe, and the paths taken since then - through personal reflections and recollections of how the process developed, the spirit of the movements, the leaders, the political atmosphere, and the ways in which the transition has resonated through the past twenty years. Cosponsored by the Center for East European and Russian/Eurasian Studies and the International House Global Voices Program. Part of "With Immediate Effect": The Events of 1989 Revisited

A talk by New York Times journalist Neil MacFarquhar. His book, "The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday" reveals a cross-section of unsung, dynamic men and women pioneering political and social change. There is the Kuwaiti sex therapist in a leather suit with matching red headscarf, and the Syrian engineer advocating a less political interpretation of the Koran. MacFarquhar interacts with Arabs and Iranians in their every day lives, removed from the violence we see constantly, yet wrestling with the region's future. Cosponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series.

A talk by Bhavani Raman, Associate Professor of History, Princeton University. From the South Asia Seminar.

Susanna Hecht, Professor of Urban Planning at the UCLA School of Public Affairs, delivers a lecture entitled, "Tropicality, Tropicalism: Forest Resurgence and the Politics of Latin American Conservation"

Carlos Fernando Chamorro is the son of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, editor of the independent daily La Prensa who was assassinated during the Somoza dictatorship. Chamorro is among the nation's most respected TV journalists, and a leading voice for press freedom and the protection of independent journalism in Nicaragua.

A talk by professor and author David Bosco. From the Berlin Airlift to the Iraq War, the UN Security Council has stood at the heart of global politics. Part public theater, part smoke-filled backroom, the Council has enjoyed notable successes and suffered ignominious failures, but it has always provided a space for the five great powers to sit down together. Five to Rule Them All tells the inside story of this remarkable diplomatic creation. Drawing on extensive research, including dozens of interviews with serving and former ambassadors on the Council, the book chronicles political battles and personality clashes as it opens the closed doors of its meeting room. What emerges here is a revealing portrait of the most powerful diplomatic body in the world. From the World Beyond the Headlines lecture series.