MIT CIS STARR Forum: Governing the Unpredictable: Disasters, the State, and Futures

Please register for this Zoom event at https://bit.ly/StarrForumMalkaOlder

The main emphasis is the State’s (mostly US, but some international angles) role in disaster management and the discrepancies between perception, legal frameworks, expectations and aspirations, as well as what that means moving into an anthropocenic era of more frequent, perhaps constant, crisis.

Speaker:

Malka Older is a writer, aid worker, and sociologist. Her science-fiction political thriller Infomocracy was named one of the best books of 2016 by Kirkus, Book Riot, and the Washington Post. She has been the lead writer for two seasons of the licensed Orphan Black audio sequel on Realm, and her acclaimed short story collection And Other Disasters came out in November 2019. Her novella The Mimicking of Known Successes, a murder mystery set on a gas giant planet, comes out in early 2023. She is a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University, where she teaches on humanitarian aid and predictive fictions, and hosts the Science Fiction Sparkle Salon. Her opinions can be found in The New York Times, The Nation, Foreign Policy, and NBC THINK, among other places.

Moderator:

Chappell Lawson is an Associate Professor of Political Science at MIT. Professor Lawson’s recent work has focused on homeland security policy, Mexican politics, the effect of candidates’ physical appearance on their electoral success, and political leadership.

Co-sponsors:  MIT Center for International Studies (CIS), MIT Literature Section

View Poster | Watch Video | Read Transcript

Free & open to the public
Also live-streaming on YouTube

MIT is committed to providing an environment that is accessible to individuals with disabilities. If you need a disability related accommodation to attend or have other questions, please contact us at starrforum@mit.edu.

Sign up for Starr Forum emails to get notified about upcoming events.

A full listing of Starr Forums is available here