Walker Institute
Every semester, the Walker Institute hosts events to further engage students with their degree programs and introduce them to real-world applications while connecting them with the community
Palmetto Forum
The Palmetto Forum is a world affairs luncheon seminar designed to stimulate discussion of international issues within Columbia's professional community.
Area Studies Events
Each semester, our institute hosts events to further explore each of our six world regions with the USC community.
Conferences and Symposiums
The Institute sponsors occasional conferences to bring attention to international events and global issues.
Upcoming Events
Dr. Elana Resnick Book Talk- "Refusing Sustainability: Race and Environmentalism in a Changing Europe"
Sponsored by European Studies (Walker Institute) and the Department of Anthropology
Sustainability has become a touchstone for development worldwide, promising an antidote to environmental degradation and capitalism’s excess: waste. Refusing Sustainability offers a different account of both sustainability and waste by uncovering the intersections of international environmental reforms and racialized labor. In Bulgaria, Romani women comprise the bulk of the country’s waste workers, while anti-Roma racism casts them as socially disposable. Yet without their labor, the country cannot meet the sustainability targets required by the European Union. Drawing on twenty years of fieldwork—including eleven months working alongside Romani women street sweepers, and years embedded in waste organizations, political campaigns, Roma NGOs, and activist groups—this talk approaches Romani life-worlds as sites of creative production. In doing so, it illuminates broader dynamics of post-socialist racial capitalism, progressive environmentalism, democratic failures, mutual aid, and the power of women’s friendships.
Speaker: Dr. Elana Resnick
Date: Wednesday, October 21st
Time: 4:00pm-5:15pm
Location: Close-Hipp 464
Walker Institute of International and Area Studies Coffee Demonstration and Breakfast
Sponsored by the Global Fellows and African, Asian, European, Islamic, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and Slavic Area Studies Programs
The Walker Institute's Area Study programs are hosting an event on the history of coffee, its origins, and its growth into a $250 billion/year global business. This event will showcase demonstrations on coffee roasting and brewing methods from around the world, including espresso, pour-over, Ethopian bunna, Turkish & Saudi coffee, and more. Continental breakfast will be included.
Date: Friday, October 23rd
Time: 10:00am-11:30am
Location: Baraza Global Fellows lounge (Room 172) South Quad
China Shock 3.0: The New Geopolitics of Trade, Investment and Technology
Sponsored by the Walker Institute and the Folks Center for International Business
The Folks Center's Trade and Diplomacy series, featuring David Firestein, Nic Rogers and Victor Shih (panel discussion with audience Q&A)
China's rapid economic growth continues to produce “shocks” in manufacturing and trade that now include semiconductors, AI, and advanced technologies. This contest between Beijing and the West is reshaping trade policy, foreign investment, and security considerations, forcing governments and companies to rethink long-held strategies. This forum brings together leading scholars and policy practitioners to examine how China's strategic objectives are evolving, and how the U.S. and other countries are adapting and competing in response. Join us for a clear-eyed look at one of the defining issues shaping our world.
Speakers: David Firestein, Victor Shih, Nic Rogers
Date: Thursday, October 29th
Time: 4:30pm-6:00pm
Location: W.W. Hootie Johnson Performance Hall (Room 101) Darla Moore School of Business