Division of Social Studies Events

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A World Safe for White Democracy: Colonial Southeast Asia and the Making of the US Led Liberal International Order 

Amoz JY Hor, Assistant Professor of Politics and Asian Studies, Centre College 

Friday, May 1, 2026
11:30 am – 1 pm

Olin Humanities, Room 205
This talk offers a revisionist account of the formation of the U.S.-led international order by centering the colonial political economy of Southeast Asia in three key moments: US entry into the Pacific War, the formation of NATO, and the perceived absence of a NATO equivalent in Asia. Despite its significance, Southeast Asia is rarely foregrounded in International Relations accounts of global order. Yet both historiography and primary sources reveal that the region’s colonial political economy was central to U.S. foreign policy in Europe, Northeast Asia, and the South Pacific. By recentering Southeast Asia, the talk argues that the self-characterized “liberal international order” was not simply illiberal or hypocritical; rather, it is more accurately understood through what Charles Mills terms “racialized liberalism”—the belief that only white people are fully capable of democratic self-governance, making white freedoms especially sacred. More broadly, the talk suggests that globalizing International Relations requires more than incorporating non-Western cases or theories; it demands a shift in analytical vantage point—reconsidering where we look from, not just what we look at. 

This talk is part of the Politics Assembly, a new weekly workshop in the Politics program for students and faculty to gather to discuss.Sponsored by: Politics Program.

For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].

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Film Screening: Unravel by Mona Benyamin

Part of the Thesis Exhibition of the MA in Human Rights & the Arts 2026

Saturday, May 2, 2026
2–3 pm

Preston Theater
Unravel is the artistic component of Mona Benyamin's hybrid thesis project for the MA in Human Rights and the Arts. The film explores repetition and return as intertwined material and psychological forces shaping the Palestinian experience. It features two synchronized videos bound by a shared soundtrack—a choral adaptation of Maurice Ravel’s Boléro. In the first video, horror cinema tropes structure a narrative featuring the artist’s parents, a senior Palestinian couple living under occupation, who are chased by an unidentified voyeur up the stairwell of their home. The second video documents a choir performing a reworked Boléro that modulates and grows in intensity. Voices replace the traditional instrumental original of the notoriously repetitive piece, singing variations of “ah”, which alludes to the tradition of Ahaat, an Arabic vocal technique that conveys affirmation, sorrow, longing and exhaustion. Across both videos, repetition shifts from a stabilizing force into a source of anxiety, transforming familiarity into disorientation and revealing its oppressive potential. This work forms part of a broader research project examining the relationship between musical repetition and subjection, and music’s capacity to produce both constructive and destructive affects.Sponsored by: Center for Human Rights and the Arts.

For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].

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Rome's Jewish Queen: the Story of Berenice

Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion; Director, Institute of Advanced Theology

Monday, May 4, 2026
12:30–1:30 pm

Bard Hall
Berenice (born circa 28) was the most notorious Jewish woman in the Roman Empire of her time. Multiple marriages, rumors of incestuous relations with her brother (Agrippa II of the Herodian dynasty), and her scandalous liaison with Titus, the Roman general and emperor‑to‑be, guaranteed Berenice’s celebrity. This reputation does not, however, paint a complete portrait of Berenice, nor does it capture her significance. Her political acumen was as effective as it would become legendary. The great‑granddaughter of Herod the Great and the daughter of King Agrippa I, she promoted the family’s unusual version of Judaism as well as its outsized ambitions. Berenice was a pivotal figure in Agrippa II’s advance in imperial preferment; played a crucial role during the Jewish‑Roman war; and, as consort to Titus, supported his father, Vespasian, in his accession to the role of emperor.

Join us every other Monday starting Feb. 23rd. 
For more information, call 845-758-7667, or e-mail [email protected].

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A Screening of Joseph Cedar's Footnote (Hebrew with English subtitles)

Tuesday, May 5, 2026
7–9 pm

Preston Theater
FOOTNOTE is the tale of a great rivalry between a father and son, two professors, who have both dedicated their lives to work in Talmudic Studies. The father, Eliezer, is a stubborn purist who fears the establishment and has never been recognized for his work. His son, Uriel, is an up-and-coming star in the field, who appears to feed on accolades, endlessly seeking recognition.

Then one day, the tables turn. When Eliezer learns that he is to be awarded the Israel Prize, the most valuable honor for scholarship in the country, his vanity and desperate need for validation are exposed. His son, Uriel, is thrilled to see his father's achievements finally recognized but, in a darkly funny twist, is forced to choose between the advancement of his own career and his father's. Will he sabotage his father's glory?Sponsored by: Interdisciplinary Study of Religions, Hebrew Studies, Jewish Studies Programs.

For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].