We’re pleased to share the schedule of our fall semester book talks! All our Chats in the Stacks book talks will be held in-person in Mann Library Room 160 and livestreamed, and will start at 4:30pm. You can find all recordings of our past Chats in the Stacks on our YouTube channel.
Thursday, September 26, 4:30pm
Mann Library, Room 160 and livestreamed
The Future of India’s Social Safety Nets: Focus, Form, and Scope
An array of social welfare programs have emerged in independent India, but how and for whom have these programs been constructed, what have their impact been, and what are the key challenges for the future? Unpacking India’s social welfare programs in terms of their three essential aspects—focus (intended beneficiaries), form (transfer modalities), and scope (developmental objectives) Prabhu L. Pingali (SC Johnson College of Business) and Andaleeb Rahman (Global Development) provide a comprehensive analysis of India’s safety net, combining insights from interdisciplinary scholarship on economic development, social protection, and the social policy process. The work assesses the achievements and shortcomings of these programs, while also proposing a transferrable framework that can help foster human resilience through social protection.
Thursday, October 17, 4:30pm
Mann Library, Room 160 and livestreamed
Understanding how people are living on, with, and from their land reveals the often-hidden dynamics of contemporary social and political change, according to Wendy Wolford, Robert A. and Ruth E. Polson Professor of Global Development and vice provost for International Affairs. This topic is explored in the new publication The Social Lives of Land (Cornell University Press, 2024) which she co-edited with Michael Goldman and Nancy Lee Peluso. Wolford will discuss how The Social Lives of Land weaves together novel theoretical and empirical insights and contributions from multiple disciplines and geographic locations to uncover histories and re-tell stories that focus on the lived experiences of rural and urban land dispossession and repossession.
Thursday, November 7, 4:30pm
Mann Library, Room 160 and livestreamed
Wildlife Disease and Health in Conservation
Most existing and emerging infectious diseases have their origin in animal populations. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic the need to understand the cause and impacts of wildlife diseases, as well as how to manage them, has only become increasingly salient. Join us for a live, hybrid book talk with Robin Radcliffe, associate professor of practice in Wildlife and Conservation Medicine in the Veterinary School, and David Jessup, former senior wildlife veterinarian of the California Department of Fish and Game and former executive manager of the Wildlife Disease Association, for a discussion of their new coedited volume Wildlife Disease and Health in Conservation (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023).
Thursday, November 21, 4:30pm
Mann Library, Room 160 and livestreamed
Piping Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz-Runners
Thomas D. Seeley, Horace White Professor Emeritus in Biology in the Dept. of Neurobiology and Behavior, has devoted nearly six decades to the study of honey bees and their colonies. In this book talk, Seeley takes us inside a world seldom seen even by beekeepers, to illuminate mysteries of honey bee behavior including how they choose a home for their colony, keep the colony inhabitants warm, and defended the colony from intruders. Weaving personal stories with the latest science, Piping Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz-Runners shows both the excitement of scientific discovery and how it continues to shape our understanding of these vitally important insects.