It is the largest migration crisis in the recorded history of the Americas—Venezuelans’ mass flight from degraded economic and social conditions in their home country. Millions have departed in recent years and have “no prospect for return in the short to medium term,” according to the U.N. In this episode,…
More than a million members of the Uighur community in China have been detained in secret internment camps in by the Chinese government. Reports from the region indicate mass political repression and a widespread crackdown on the ethnic Uighur minority. The Chinese government tightly controls any access to the Chinese…
Keton Kakkar, a current senior at Swarthmore, interviews his parents who emigrated from Afghanistan almost 40 years ago. Part of the Hindu minority in Afghanistan, they fled persecution and a new upheaval: the Soviet invasion of 1979. In this episode, Keton explores themes of changing landscapes, religious identity, emigration, and relocation.
Climate change poses an existential threat to coral reefs, which undergird the survival of many marine animals and the livelihood of coastal communities. In this podcast, we turn our attention to two reef scientists: how do they approach research when the world they study is degrading before their eyes? Our…
The now four year long civil war in Yemen has devastated the Yemeni people killing almost 100,000 people and leading to widespread famine. We take an in-depth look at the politics and history surrounding the conflict and how that has produced one of the most extreme humanitarian crises in the…
Small farmers in the northeast of Madagascar produce 80% of the world’s vanilla. Due to a series of factors, including climate change and market liberalization, these farmers are experiencing extreme fluctuations in the value of their crop. This podcast explores the causes of those fluctuations and the strange and surprising…
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees have flooded out of Myanmar, escaping from military violence. Escaping from Myanmar in itself is a harrowing journey, but many refugees continue to find adversity in the camps and cities where they end up. In continuation from the first part of this series, we…
As part of a project connecting to Professor of Political Science Emily Paddon-Rhoads’ class on the Politics of Sub-Saharan Africa, several Swatties examine the role of music in Ugandan politics. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has been in power for three decades and has pushed the presidential age limit. In this…
On September 25th, the semi-autonomous Kurds of Northern Iraq called a referendum for independence. Since ISIS was pushed from the country, the Iraqi Kurds’ President Masoud Barzani thought the timing was right. In response, on October 16th, Iraqi federal security forces seized disputed territory occupied by the Iraqi Kurds, quashing…
In August, clashes between the Burmese government and the ethnic minority Rohingya intensified, leaving casualties and many Rohingya people vulnerable to violence. Since then, over 500,000 Rohingya have fled their home in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. The media and foreign workers have been barred from entering Rakhine, but stories of ethnic…
