my first album had no famous guest appearances

But I'm going to be making a number of guest appearances over the next couple of weeks, and for a change they are mostly public events which I can announce.  Those in the DC area who might be interested, mark your calenders now:

Friday, April 4:  Civilian Casualties of War, with Paul Huth (University of Maryland) and Colin Kahl (Georgetown University).  I will be moderating a panel discussion about the political, human rights, military, and academic issues raised by civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan and beyond.  Part of the Security Policy Forum series organized by Jim Lebovic.   3:30-5:00, room B17, Elliott School of International Affairs.

Tuesday, April 8:  Cultural Diplomacy and Dave Brubeck.  Yes, that Dave Brubeck.  I can't tell you how excited I am about this one - it's not every day I get to share a platform with a jazz legend, at least one who isn't providing a backing track for my rhymes.  Brubeck did some famous State Department-sponsored tours in the late 1950s, part of a glorious period of "jazz diplomacy" that public diplomacy folks have been trying to replicate ever since.  I'm planning to compare today's hip hop with the jazz of the 1950s, looking at the political and marketplace differences and how they affect the prospects for replicating the great cultural diplomacy jazz tours of the early Cold War .  6:00-8:00, Sixth Floor, Lindner Family Commons, Elliott School of International Affairs.

Friday, April 11:  The Conflict in Iraq: Views from Political Science.   The public portion of a major workshop I've been putting together for months, bringing together academics and policy practitioners to share ideas about developments in Iraq.  The featured speakers at the public session are James Fearon of Stanford University, one of the leading academic students of civil wars and insurgencies;  Peter Moore of Case Western Reserve University, who is neck deep in research on the political economy of insurgencies;  and Christopher Gelpi of Duke University, a leading scholar of American public opinion and the war.  I will moderate.  Not on the Elliott School calender yet, but it will be 12:30-2:00 at the Elliott School. 

Comments

[oli]

do you think the outcome of this will see you being crowned the best lyricist?

[aardvark]

many years on this professional level, why would you question who's better?

(... that's a quote for those who can't follow the flow)

[john brown]

Re Cold War US cultural diplomacy programs, readers might be interested in reading
http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/pdfs/061220_brown.pdf , an effort to understand these programs from a non-triumphalist historical perspective.

[pt]

Nahrain.com is not a Sadrist website.