Zócalo Public Square

Twenty-first century visions of the future now seem drawn from Hollywood horror films. Runaway climate change portends the wholesale destruction of economies and species. Scientists fear new mass epidemics. Old technologies are breaking down and new technologies are used for oppression and social control. The deluge of digital information makes it hard to separate truth from fiction. What are the risks of human society of entering a darker, less civilized age? Do the rise of authoritarians and political extremists portend greater barbarity in how our societies are governed? Even if we all agreed that we’re close to the apocalypse, do humans have the capacity to save themselves? University of New South Wales global biosecurity scholar Raina MacIntyre, SCI-Arc speculative architect and futurist Liam Young, and RAND Corporation defense policy researcher and former U.S. Marine Jonathan P. Wong visited Zócalo to examine whether the future will take us backwards. Moderated by Edan Lepucki, novelist and author of Ca

Is Propaganda Keeping Americans From Thinking for Themselves?

We tend to think of women’s liberation as starting in the 19th century and of feminism as originating in the 20th century. But women throughout the ages have found ways to advance themselves and protect their rights even under the most oppressive circumstances. How did women in ancient societies, from Greece to China to the Yucatán Peninsula, carve out roles for themselves, resist misogyny, and defend themselves against discrimination? Which societies, if any, were open to the participation or even the leadership of women in matters of ritual and law, and which societies were the most exclusionary? And what thinkers and leaders from the ancient world proved to be ahead of their time when it came to women’s rights? UC Santa Barbara classicist and scholar of ancient Greek literature Helen Morales, University of Miami archaeologist and editor of Ancient Maya Women Traci Ardren, and Cal State LA historian of premodern China Ping Yao visited Zócalo to consider how ancient women empowered themselves long before con

Eh braddah, howzit? Did you hear that a pidgin word—hammajang—made the Oxford English Dictionary? Wait, you missed it? No worry, beef curry. Pidgin remains one of the strongest and most distinctive elements of culture in Hawai‘i, used in everyday conversation and local advertising. What does the popularity of pidgin say about the history, culture, and class structure of Hawai‘i? How has contemporary immigration changed the ways in which it’s used? And what explains its persistence in a nation and a world where so many other local dialects have died? Former Hawai‘i Governor John D. Waiheʻe III, co-director of the University of Hawai'i Sato Center for Pidgin, Creole, and Dialect Studies Katie Drager, comedian Andy Bumatai, and California-based sociolinguist and scholar of American pidgins Sarah Roberts visited Zócalo to examine pidgin’s past and present—and how long it will survive. Moderated by Noe Tanigawa, arts & culture reporter for Hawai‘i Public Radio, this Zócalo/Daniel K. Inouye Institute "Talk Story" E

When it comes to picking the country’s presidents, the richest and most populous state hasn’t much mattered. Because their primaries are held earlier and they are swing states in the general election, smaller and colder places—like New Hampshire, Iowa, and Ohio—have an outsized influence on who occupies the White House. But could 2020 be different? California has moved its presidential primary to an earlier spot on the calendar, and American politics is changing in ways that make California’s technology, celebrity, and money even more important. Could that help California candidates or even fuel a Republican challenger to Trump? And if California does have a central role in the 2020 presidential drama, how might the Golden State shape the agenda of the next president? Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Gary Segura, vice president of the American Association of Political Consultants Rose Kapolczynski, and Latino Decisions co-founder and UCLA political scientist Matt Barreto visited Zócalo to disc

How Did the American Conquest of the Southwest Shape New Mexico’s Future? by Zócalo Public Square

History often blames genocide solely on murderous demagogues and military campaigns. But more often than not, the forces that unleash ethnic cleansing arise slowly and during peacetime, and stem from seemingly everyday interactions in places that are home to diverse peoples. What sorts of exchanges and social conditions unleash genocidal behavior? How do people who long lived together as neighbors come to turn on—and kill—each other? And can we teach ourselves to spot the early steps towards genocide so that we might prevent it in other countries or even our own? Brown University Distinguished Professor of European History Omer Bartov, winner of the ninth annual Zócalo Book Prize for Anatomy of a Genocide: The Life and Death of a Town Called Buczacz, visited Zócalo to share lessons from his mother’s hometown about how easily communities can slide into mass killing. The event took place at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles

Stanley Crouch, “Blues for Black America”

“Economists have predicted nine out of the last five recessions,” Nobel-winning economist Paul Samuelson famously joked. But recessions do eventually arrive, and when the next one hits, the United States may not be well-positioned to fight back. Instead of building up surpluses that could stimulate the economy in a downturn, the federal government has cut taxes and run up trillion-dollar annual deficits and a $21 trillion national debt. The Federal Reserve is still unwinding the actions it took to battle the Great Recession. And most Americans are unprepared for bad times, with only half saying they could come up with $400 in an emergency. How would Americans, their companies, and their many levels of government respond to a new economic downturn? Are U.S. social safety net programs up to the challenges of another recession? Could Americans overcome widening inequality and bitter political stalemates to take decisive action if the economy goes south again? UCLA Anderson Forecast director Jerry Nickelsburg, UC

Today, Americans wring their hands about the systematic lying in politics, and media claim to be fighting to uphold the principles of truth and the existence of verifiable facts against unprecedented challenges. But the very idea that 'fake news' is a new problem is itself 'fake news.' Way back in 1710, Gulliver’s Travels author Jonathan Swift wrote, “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.” And lies, slander, and libel were central features of politics, public discourse, and other human enterprises long before Swift. How did previous generations deal with the prevalence and power of falsehoods? How has art, by embodying a different kind of truth, served as both a party to and a shield against lies? And does misinformation pose a bigger problem now because of the speed at which it can spread digitally? New York Times film critic A.O. Scott, Boston University philosopher and author of Post-Truth Lee McIntyre, and Jennifer Kavanagh, RAND Corporation political scientist and co-author of Truth Deca

The Mueller Report promises to clarify what happened in the 2016 election and its aftermath. But that document may only add to the confusion over a broader question: What does it take to fire an American president? In recent months, critics of Donald Trump have discussed removing the president by impeachment, indictment, and the 25th Amendment. But no president has ever been impeached and convicted by the Senate, and the Department of Justice may preclude a president from being indicted. If impeachment is impossible, what methods exist, legally, for removing a president? Why do we have special prosecutors if they can’t prosecute? Is the American president, for all practical purposes, above the law? UCLA constitutional law scholar Jon D. Michaels, Wake Forest political scientist and author of The Special Prosecutor in American Politics, Katy Harriger, and Joel D. Aberbach, political scientist and former director of the UCLA Center for American Politics and Public Policy, visited Zócalo to examine the historica

Before the digital age, museums were places where people went to acquire knowledge. But now most of the information and images contained in museums are available on your smartphone. So how can museums stave off obsolescence? Can populist shows and attention-getting architecture keep museums relevant and pull today’s audiences away from their devices? Are some museums succeeding in redefining their purpose as providing “experiences” and at least the semblance of authenticity, like touching mastodon bones or reading directly from the pages of Lincoln’s diary or Gutenberg’s Bible? And what happens when museums try to use social media and other technology to connect visitors to exhibits—and to each other? Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County president and director Lori Bettison-Varga, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center director Lisa Sasaki, and Nicole Ivy, George Washington University public historian and former director of inclusion for the American Alliance of Museums, visited Zócalo to discuss t

2018 was the seventh straight year of record tourist arrivals to Hawai‘i. Visitor spending has grown rapidly too, generating historically high tax receipts and new jobs. But as more tourists crowd the islands and slow traffic, it’s time to ask: How much tourism can Hawai‘i really handle? Should more priority be placed on diversifying the local economy? What effect has catering to tourists had on Hawai‘i’s culture and environment? And what can Hawai‘i learn from other popular destinations about how to preserve infrastructure, culture, and identity in the face of mass tourism? Executive director of the Center for Responsible Travel Martha Honey, public policy researcher and former president of the Hawai‘i Economic Association John Knox, cultural tourism specialist and former Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee Peter Apo, and Frank Haas, marketing consultant and former vice president of tourism marketing at the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, visited Zócalo to consider the perils of overtourism for the Aloha State and

Health involves both measures, like taking our blood pressure, and perceptions—the ideas we hold in our heads about what it means to be healthy. As California attracted a more diverse cross section of people from around the world, those ideas began to change, and once-risky enterprises—from acupuncture to eating very spicy foods or drinking a glass of wine every day—are now recognized as paths to wellness. How have immigrants and their families influenced the way we understand health? What lessons are we learning—about everything from birthing to diet to meditation—from global Californians? And what is the connection between immigration and today’s greater emphasis on a holistic sense of health, which includes the quality of our relationships with neighbors and family? Director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA School of Medicine David Hayes-Bautista, journalist and author of The Immigrant Advantage Claudia Kolker, and UCLA medical anthropologist Marjorie Kagawa-Singer visited Z

A Saudi journalist living in the United States is murdered by agents of a government to which America provides arms. President Trump openly favors autocratic rulers from Russia to Hungary to the Philippines, and even expresses “love” for North Korea’s dictator. What does it mean when the president of the United States, a country long cast as a defender of freedom, sides with repressive regimes and even withdraws from democratic alliances? Is American financial and rhetorical support for autocrats really responsible for the decline of liberal democracy, or are other factors driving the rise of authoritarianism globally? And what specific U.S. actions strengthen authoritarians around the world—and which policies and institutions might frustrate or weaken them? Director of the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations Kal Raustiala, Washington Post Global Opinions editor Karen Attiah, and UCLA political scientist Richard D. Anderson visited Zócalo to examine how America’s turn away from promoting democracy

The United States is envied around the world for its unparalleled wealth. But its riches would not have been possible without what Alan Greenspan has called America’s “unique tolerance” for the messy effects of capitalism’s creative destruction. What is so special about our brand of capitalism that generations of Americans have been willing to endure so much wrenching change in its service? What moments in history have shaped America’s complicated relationship with capitalism? And how have Americans tried to balance our tolerance of economic inequality with our nation’s long-stated principles of fairness and justice? On January 24, 2019, The Economist’s political editor Adrian Wooldridge, co-author of “Capitalism in America: A History,” visited Zócalo to examine America’s enduring affection for an economic system that produces so much pain alongside its gains. The event, a conversation with Warren Olney, host of KCRW’s “To the Point,” took place at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Litt

It’s age-old wisdom: Every single new justice creates a brand-new U.S. Supreme Court. But some legal scholars suggest that the court taking shape now, with a conservative majority established by President Trump’s second appointee, could make especially broad changes in the law. Long-established precedents on matters of race, sex, religion, and privacy could be overturned. And the basic structure of our government—the power of the presidency, the limits of regulation, access to the court system itself—could be transformed. If the highest court in the land is about to make major legal history, in what ways will Americans feel the effects? What aspects of our economy, our culture, our work, and our lives are most likely to be disrupted? And if this Supreme Court defers to the most powerful people and institutions in society, will their decisions threaten American democracy—or inspire its revival? UCLA specialist in constitutional law Adam Winkler, University of Chicago legal scholar Justin Driver, and UCLA Law S

The pursuit of happiness is foundational to the United States, and happiness has become an international obsession as nations seek to measure happiness and enact policies to increase it. But this is also an era of disruption, dislocation, and great unhappiness; in the U.S., half of all adults suffer from anxiety, according to some estimates. Are the meanings and measures of happiness changing as the world is transformed by the digital revolution, climate change, and populist politics? Which factors—from job satisfaction and free time, to wealth, personality, and the quality of our relationships—have the biggest impact on our happiness? And what strategies allow us to find happiness even in the midst of uncertainty, conflict, and unwanted change? UCLA Anderson marketing scholar Cassie Mogilner Holmes, UC Riverside social psychologist and author of The How of Happiness Sonja Lyubomirsky, and UCLA Anderson behavioral psychologist Hal Hershfield visited Zócalo to discuss how people can find happiness in difficult

What Does the Life of Frederick Douglass Tell Us About America?

Americans treat crime as a public scourge. And we attack it via public systems—our prisons, probation departments, and school and youth programs—to intervene before people go wrong. But what if crime isn’t a public problem, but rather an intensely private issue tied to families? Just five percent of American families account for half of all crimes, and 10 percent of families account for two-thirds. And new research suggests crime is a family tradition passed on through multiple generations, even to great-grandchildren. Why does crime run in families? How can we help, treat, or punish families to break their cycles of crime? And what should this reality of crime mean for efforts to reform incarceration and law enforcement in the United States, home to one-quarter of the world’s prison population? Former New York Times national and foreign correspondent Fox Butterfield, author of In My Father's House: A New View of How Crime Runs in the Family, visited Zócalo to explain how crime really works and to explore the