Event

The Global Discovery Lecture Series lets you explore the world virtually, both far and near, with Penn faculty members and your fellow alumni community. Each live, interactive lecture features Penn professors sharing new and innovative research on a variety of topics. Participants will have the opportunity to ask in-depth questions and are sure to learn something new in each one hour session.

The Remnants of Race Science

Thursday, October 10
12:00 p.m. ET
Virtual Event

The Remnants of Race Science: UNESCO and Economic Development in the Global South traces the influence of ideas from the Global South on UNESCO’s race campaign, illuminating its relationship to notions of modernization and economic development. Sebastián Gil-Riaño examines the campaign participants’ involvement in some of the most ambitious development projects of the postwar period. In challenging race prejudice, these experts drew on ideas about race that emphasized plasticity and mutability, in contrast to the fixed categories of scientific racism. Gil-Riaño argues that these same ideas legitimated projects of economic development and social integration aimed at bringing ostensibly “backward” indigenous and non-European peoples into the modern world.

This event is co-sponsored by Penn Spectrum Programs. 

Drastic Measures: Planning for Sea Level Rise in the Netherlands 

Monday, October 14
12:00 PM ET
Virtual Event 

In March 2024, the Dutch government announced that it was technically feasible for the country to withstand sea level rise of up to 5 meters. For residents already living up to 7 meters below, this was a relief. In this webinar you will learn more about the three adaptation strategies under consideration and how two faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania contributed to the process.

This event is co-sponsored by Climate Week at Penn. 

The Rising Generation and the Long History of Emancipation

Wednesday, October 30
12:00 PM ET
Virtual Event 

Sarah Gronningsater’s latest book, The Rising Generation: Gradual Abolition, Black Legal Culture, and the Making of National Freedom tells a new story about the long history of emancipation in the United States as it follows the cradle-to-grave experiences of a remarkable generation of black New Yorkers who were born into quasi-freedom after the American Revolution and reached adulthood on the eve of the Civil War. Sarah Gronningsater examines the role this generation played in advocating for equality before the law, excellent public education, and the end of slavery nationwide. In a broad sense, this generation helped shape important changes to the U.S. Constitution as well as groundbreaking federal civil rights legislation. The book is filled with inspiring stories about historical actors who strengthened American democracy during the formative early decades of our nation and its rebirth after the Civil War.

This event is co-sponsored by Penn Press and Penn Spectrum Programs.