The EPIIC Symposium
Sanjoy hazarika speaks at a Colloquim on Global Poverty at Tufts University Feb 22, 2008
The 2008 Norris and Margery Bendetson EPIIC International Symposium on “Global Poverty and Inequality” was held at Tufts University on February 21-24, 2008.
The EPIIC international symposium involves four days of intense and far-reaching discussions on critical issues from the urbanization of poverty and the rise of global slums to governance, wealth, and power; from the role of microfinance in development to illicit trade and the informal economy; from corporate social responsibility to the consequences of climate change for the world’s poor; from poverty in the US to the privatization of aid. EPIIC has been organizing these Symposiums since the mid-1980s and Sanjoy Hazarika has been a regular participant, speaking on issues as diverse as the Bhopal gas disaster (on which he has written a book and made a documentary film) as well as governance, bridging gaps, ethnic conflict etc. He was an INSPIRE fellow at the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts in October-November 2006.
EPIIC has had distinguished symposium panelists including José Maria Argueta, former National Security Adviser, Guatemala; J. Brian Atwood, Dean of the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and former Administrator of USAID; William Drayton, CEO, Chair and Founder of Ashoka; José Vicente Tavares dos Santos, Professor of Sociology at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; Sunita Narain, Director of the Centre for Science and Environment in India; Maria Otero, Chief Executive Officer of ACCION International.
Sanjoy Hazarika with Sherman Teichman (in red sweater), director of the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts and Indian students at the Symposium, February 24 2008
The symposium structure features a consecutive panel format and brief (10-15 minute) initial presentations followed by a vigorous interaction with the other panelists and the audience. The panels are moderated by the EPIIC students, who have been rigorously studying and researching these issues since September. In addition, this there were delegations of students from Brazil, China, India, Israel, Nigeria, Peru, Singapore, and South Korea, as well as from the US military academies, which will participate in the discussions.
EPIIC is an integrated, multidisciplinary program that was founded at Tufts University in 1985. Through its innovative and intensive curricula and projects, EPIIC prepares young people to play active roles in their communities, whether at the local, national or global level. It is student-centered education that promotes the linkage of theory to practice and encourages normative thinking, lifelong learning, and engaged citizenship. Each year, EPIIC explores a complex global issue that tests and transcends national sovereignty. Past topics have included: “International Terrorism”, “Ethnicity, Religion, and Nationalism”, “Oil and Water”, and “The Politics of Fear”.
EPIIC’s main components are a yearlong academic colloquium for both undergraduate and graduate students; a global research and internship program; an international symposium; professional workshops; public service initiatives; and Inquiry, a national high school global issues simulation program.
Students are also encouraged to conduct on-site research projects on the annual topic. Over the winter intersession, students pursued their research in Bolivia, China, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Israel, Jordan, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Peru, Syria, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, and the US. For more information on EPIIC, please visit its web site at http://www.epiic.org.