Hopkins DISRUPT

2019 Foreign Affairs Symposium: DISRUPT.

I am SO excited to share the INCREDIBLE line up for the 2019 Foreign Affairs Symposium:

~D I S R U P T~

This year’s theme is particularly relevant, as changes in law, politics, crises, and movements are seeping into our daily conversations and considerations. Typically I find myself cocooned in these discussions via my International Studies and Sociology classes, but over the past year I’ve noticed that these issues are demanding to be heard and discussed in all contexts.

Dinner tables, STEM panels, overheard chatter, memes. Whatever the context, it is simultaneously exciting and sobering to witness their power. They shape our social consciousness and invite fervent debate, but at the heart of this reality is their immediacy and grave implications for our futures.

What do changes in international diplomacy and our current administration signify for international stockpiles of nuclear weapons - how far off are those mushroom clouds? What are the intersections between race relations, spectrums of gender and sexuality, security rhetoric, and labor rights? What are the ethics of immigration and detention/deportation in this age of “refugee crises” and what is your ideal solution to these balancing facets of morality and statehood?

This is just a snippet of the questions swirling around us everyday, percolating into our national and personal conversations and reminding us of the momentous consequences they have on our planet (CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL AND CONNECTED TO EVERY QUESTION), our countries, and, of course, our personal lives.

I’m excited to see how our invited “disrupters” approach these issues, and I invite you to join our conversations. Being at Hopkins is a weighty privilege itself. Personally, I’ve been most fulfilled and inspired on those days that shape/challenge my conceptions of these forces.

Lastly, these speakers are also just really cool. They are activists, grassroots organizers, visionaries, and leaders for change. Their work lies at the heart of personal and collective identity. So come for the food, stay for the conversation, and carry what you’ve learned onwards as you change the world!