The Daily Bulletin

Please join the Geography and Planning Department, the Political Science and Public Administration Department, and the Equity and Campus Diversity Office in celebrating the 11th annual Southeast Asia Week with a panel discussion on governance, politics of COVID-19, and race on Tuesday, March 22, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center 425 and virtually. Registration is required by 2:00 p.m. Monday, March 21.

Peter Yacobucci, associate professor of political science and public law, who also serves as the coordinator of the American Democracy Project and Conflict Analysis and Resolution Program; Patrick McGovern, associate professor and pre-law coordinator; and Vida Vanchan, professor of geography and planning and political science and public administration, make up the panel. They will discuss how authoritarian leaders, aggressively undermining democratic ideals and institutions, have weaponized their response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in a consolidation of power and enhancing their ability to control their constituents.

They will also discuss the manipulation of language as it relates to threats and COVID-19, the hyper-individuality that comes with Western-style democracy, and how Southeast Asian cultures are wary of the forces that postmodern society may release. And finally, they will explore the impact the pandemic has had on race.