The Forests Dialogue and the Yale Forest Forum this week hosted a discussion by Minnie Degawan, an indigenous Kanakanaey/Igorot from the Philippines, who discussed her work with indigenous and local communities.

During the event, Degawan stressed the importance of bringing in local perspectives related to rights and resource management. She was involved with the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) which was established to defend the ancestral domain of the Cordillera peoples from extractive and destructive development projects. As Secretary General to the CPA she conducted community education activities to inform indigenous peoples of their rights and led mobilizations against dams and mining activities.

The Yale Forest Forum hosts weekly lunch talks during the academic year. The theme during the fall semester is Dismantling Marginalization: Experiences and Lessons from Forest Peoples and Forest Professionals.

On September 17th, Rory Stewart delivered a lecture at the MacMillan Center titled, Doing Good and Being Well: Business, War, Climate and Politics. In this talk, Stewart discussed Brexit, the current state of the UN, and global economics. To view the lecture, click the link below.

The MacMillan Center Council on Southeast Asia Studies will feature Kheang Un,
Associate Professor of Political Science at Northern Illinois University, who will present Democratic Reversal in Cambodia: Counter-movement and Shifting Dependency on October 3rd as a part of their Southeast Asia Studies Brown Bag Seminar Series. The Center stated about the talk:

 In 2017, the Cambodian government dismantled the Cambodian National Rescue Party, clamped down on civil liberties and organized elections in 2018 without the presence of a credible opposition party. The presentation examines the reasons underlying the government’s decision to close down democratic space by focusing on the following arguments.     First, the presence of some semblance of democracy in Cambodia was the outcome of the Western community’s pressure through its granting financial assistance and preferential trade access to Cambodia. So long as this order permitted the Cambodian People’s Party to maintain its domination, it conceded to Western demands.

Second, by the 2013 elections, key socio-economic and political changes culminated in a counter-movement to the CPP’s patronage-based politics. When the CPP felt that its grip on power was threatened, it instituted hegemonic electoral authoritarianism.

Third, since Cambodia’s democracy is a product of Western intervention and continued engagement, Cambodia’s recent return to authoritarianism can to great extent be attributed to China’s role as a counter-leverage to Western pressure.

 

Wednesday, October 2, 12:00 Noon
Room 203, Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Avenue

Yale’s OCS (Office of Career Strategy) offers a weekly newsletter which informs students and alumni about career opportunities and resources for career development through Yale. For more information, to sign up for the newsletter, and to find an archive of letters, visit the OCS Newsletter website here.

On September 4th, The Franke Program in Science and the Humanities featured Brian Scassellati, professor of Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering, in a public lecture about the connections between man and machine. The lecture can be watched at the link below!

Mapping the Frontier Between Man and Machine.