The New Politics of Globalizing Geopolitical Knowledge: Rearticulating Strongmen & Sovereignty

Speaker: Prof Michael Kennedy (Sociology and International and Public Affairs Studies, Brown University)

Panlist: Dr. Yung-Djong Shaw (Assistant Research Fellow, Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica)

Moderator: Dr. Chih-hsing Ho (Associate Research Fellow, Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica)

Time: 10:30 A.M. ~ 12:00 P.M. Tuesday, April 14, 2026.

Venue: 1st Floor Conference Room, Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica

Abstract: How has the last decade amplified and challenged the themes of Kennedy’s 2015 book, Globalizing Knowledge? First discussed publicly at Singapore Management University in that year, we can see that concerns over intellectual responsibility and university accountability abide. However, changes in American and global power relations, anticipated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but finding new fulfillment in the proliferation of strongmen politics elsewhere, challenge how academic freedom is to be conceived and the politics of diversity and inclusion articulated. Kennedy draws on his own Brown University’s experience to characterize the recent past & anticipate alternative futures.