The Julien J. Studley Fund and the India China Institute present:

International Relations Theory: Views Beyond the West

Monday 14 October
Theresa Lang Community and Student Center (55 W 13th St.)

This conference reflects a textbook project for International Relations (IR).  It seeks to amend two main problems in contemporary IR theorizing:

(1) The widespread division of labor in IR whereby “the West”/“the Center” produces theories deemed universal and “non-Western”/“out-of-Center” scholars serve only as native informants when localities deviate from the status quo.

(2) The lack of concepts, debates, and authors from the Global South that address their issues and challenges, obligations, and aspirations.

The conference/project does not seek particularism, but allows for and gives legitimacy to different claims of universalism. We propose, in short, to voice other kinds of IR: that is, how the Global South and the Global North co-make world politics into what it is today.

Students of IR from the Global North and Global South will benefit from this conference/project. Global North students will learn why the Global South experiences “the international” differently but also where some important commonalities may lie. Global South students will finally have a text that speaks to them for them, with concepts and examples that are familiar, and with their needs taken into consideration. Ultimately, this conference/project will help all students develop lives and careers in a globalizing context.

Speakers and panelists include:

Julien J. Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs Professor L.H.M. Ling; Payal Banerjee, Smith College; Navnita Behera, University of Delhi; Cristina Inoue, University of Brasília; Nizar Messari, Al Akhawayn University; Joao Noguira, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro; Karen Smith, University of Cape Town; and Arlene Tickner, Universidad de los Andes.

For the full program click here.