Initiatives
Making strides to connect with students, scholars, and peer institutions in the US and across the globe, the 2022-23 year saw growth in initiatives that forged meaningful collaborations around our core themes.
Workshop on Race and International Relations
The intersection of race and international relations was the focus of an intensive workshop sponsored by the Klau Institute on March 31, 2023. The workshop was an initiative of Zoltán Búzás, associate professor of global affairs at the Keough School.
While race and racism long have impacted international relations, they have received insufficient attention among scholars. Búzás saw an opportunity to draw the various strands of the field into conversation, marking out a unique space for the Klau Institute to have an impact. “The community of international relations scholars researching race and racism has been thinner than I would have liked,” Búzás noted. “The recent uptick in relevant work and the support of the Klau Institute provided an opportunity to come together to not only give each other useful feedback, but also try to strengthen that community.”
Fourteen scholars of international relations and related fields gathered at Notre Dame to discuss recent works in progress. Topics covered a wide range including racial tropes in foreign policy, international intervention, immigration, political economy, and more. During discussion, differing research methodologies and disciplinary biases became rich material for critique and learning.
Central to Búzás’s vision for the workshop was to allow potentially isolated scholars to share, learn, and discover possibilities. Participant Andrew Rosenberg, University of Florida, remarked on this opportunity. “One of the exciting things about this workshop is that I can see a way forward, where people who have different perspectives can make positive contributions towards our understanding of international politics that go beyond familial disputes within the field.”
Building an Anti-Racist Vocabulary
The third year of our popular weekly lecture series drew upon topics as far-ranging as racial biases in the media, stigma around traditional hairstyles, and inequities in maternal healthcare. In addition, the series entered new territory by exploring the Canadian system of native schools and the historic sources of Haiti’s crushing poverty. This year’s speakers included:
Kathleen Belew, Associate Professor of History at Northwestern University
The White Power Movement
Esau McCaulley, Associate Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College
Systemic Injustice
Kirt von Daacke, Assistant Dean and Professor of History at the University of Virginia
University Research on Racism
Eric Deggans, TV Critic for National Public Radio
Race and the Media
Alvin Tillery, Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University
Leading Change Around DEI
Ambrose Carroll, Founder of Green the Church
Greening the Church
Wendy Greene, Director of the Center for Law, Policy, and Social Action and Professor of Law at Drexel University
The CROWN Act
Rick Hasen, Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California Irvine School of Law
Voting Rights
Inas Mahdi, Vice president of the Equity-Centered Capacity Building team at the National Birth Equity Collaborative
Birth Equity
Kaila Johnston, Supervisor of Education, Outreach, and Public Programming
at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
Canadian Truth and Reconciliation
Catherine Porter, Canada Bureau Chief for The New York Times
Haiti’s Double Debt
International Working Group on Human Rights Education
Founded in 2023 to promote institutional collaboration and learning, the International Working Group on Human Rights Education brings together Catholic universities across the globe who share a commitment to human rights education at all levels.
Embedded in our work on the Vatican’s Global Compact on Education, the initiative encourages dialogue around pedagogical approaches to human rights education. In addition, the working group provides a platform to develop opportunities for international learning experiences for students. Founding members of the Working Group include:
University of Notre Dame
Jennifer Mason McAward
Associate Professor of Law
Director, Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Marco Velasquez Ruiz
Professor, Faculty of Legal Sciences
Universidad Catolica del Uruguay
Paula Grant
Professor of Law
Universidad Catolica Silva Henriquez
Nathalia da Costa
Researcher, Dignity and Human Rights
Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná
Rodrigo de Andrade
Planning and Extension Manager
ND Votes
In the 2022-23 academic year the Klau Institute was pleased to welcome ND Votes as a student project. Dedicated to non-partisan voter registration and education, this longstanding Notre Dame initiative found strong institutional support on projects including a midterm debate and monthly “Pizza, Pop, and Politics” events.
With Voices True
In its fourth year, our project to collect stories of race and belonging continued to engage the Notre Dame community. Of note in 2022 were themes of mixed or fluid racial identity, as individuals found themselves struggling to resist or break stereotypes. In stories ranging from “Not American Enough” to “Measuring Blackness,” our community continued to share their sometimes-difficult experience of race.