Independence Movements: From Catalans to Kurds

The recent independence referendums in Spain and Iraq have sparked violent clashes between protesters and central governments. What has led to these referendums, and how is the world likely to react? Join us as we discuss the potential impacts and futures of these two very different, and yet, very similar, movements. Speakers: Reşat Kasaba is the Director of the Jackson School of International Studies and Stanley D. Golub Chair in International Studies. Dr. Kasaba is an expert in the history and politics of the Middle East, has taught undergraduate and graduate students at the School for over 30 years and is the recipient of a UW Distinguished teaching award. Nicole F. Watts is a Professor and Department Chair in the Dept. of Political Science at San Francisco State University, where she teaches on comparative politics, the politics of the Middle East and North Africa, and social movements. Her research interests include enthopolitical and national movements, state-society relations, protest and dissent, and Kurdish politics and mobilization, particularly in Iraq and Turkey. Anthony Geist is Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at the University of Washington. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1978, and taught at Princeton University, the University of Texas, San Antonio, and Dartmouth College before coming to the University of Washington in 1987. One of his main areas of research concerns the art and literature of the Spanish Civil War. Leigh K. Mercer is an Associate Professor of Spanish at UW, and is currently at work on a new book project, titled An Incoherent Voyage: Spanish Cinema Pioneers, Between Technophilia and Technophobia. In addition, she has several other ongoing areas of research: urban studies and conduct in the Spanish novel of contemporary customs; the Gothic tradition; the serialized novel's impact on highbrow literary production; travel writing and early tourist guidebooks to Spain; culinary culture in 19th-Century Spain; and humor in contemporary Spanish film.

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