University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies

This podcast features Gönül Tol, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI), where she focuses on Turkish politics, US-Turkey relations and regional dynamics in the Middle East in conversation with University of Washington Jackson School International Studies Professor Reşat Kasaba, an expert in the history and politics of the Middle East. The discussion focuses on how Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has used international diplomacy to strengthen his political power in Turkey and enhance Turkey’s place in the Middle East and North Africa. It also covers how Trump’s second term is affecting the domestic politics and foreign policy in Turkey. Photo: Gönül Tol. Recorded on Feb. 9, 2026

This podcast features Milan Vaishnav in conversation with University of Washington Jackson School faculty Radhika Govindrajan and Sunila Kale. Our guest talked about a range of topics including his route to graduate school, how he chose his dissertation topic, mixed-methods research, and public scholarship. Vaishnav is a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program and the host of the Grand Tamasha podcast at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His primary research focus is the political economy of India, and he examines issues such as corruption and governance, state capacity, distributive politics, and electoral behavior. He also conducts research on the Indian diaspora. He is the author of When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics (Yale University Press and HarperCollins India, 2017), which was awarded the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay New India Foundation book prize for the best non-fiction book on contemporary India published in 2017. Recorded on Feb. 2, 2026

Dr. Christopher Tounsel: What is Religious Studies at UW? Dr. Christopher Tounsel is an historian of Sudan and a scholar of Global Blackness who puts “race and religion as political technologies” at the center of his research and teaching. Join us as we unpack what that work means today, on campus and off, from the Mahdist wars of 19th century Sudan to the 2016 election of Donald Trump. Recorded on Jan. 29, 2026 Our series introductory and closing music are generously provided by Dr. John-Carlos Perea, chair of the UW Department of Ethnomusicology, from the title track of his 2014 CD Creation Story. For more, see johncarlosperea.bandcamp.com/album/creation-story.

From Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security to founding Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security (WCAPS), Amb. Bonnie Jenkins has led a life and career of service.  In this conversation with Jackson School Director Danny Hoffman and Gates Foundation senior program officer, and former foreign service officer, Heather Hwalek, Amb. Jenkins explores the values and the structures that are required to support a diverse and effective diplomatic corps. Photo L to R: Amb. Bonnie Jenkins and Heather Hwalek

Dr. John-Carlos Perea (Mescalero Apache, Irish, Chicano, German) brings it all to his religious studies scholarship - his role as associate professor and chair of the ethnomusicology department at the UW; his talents as a multi instrumentalist jazz musician and composer; his research into intertribal Native American musical forms, jazz traditions and the work of Creek and Kaw saxophonist Jim Pepper. Join us for a musical first installation of our exploration of what UW religious studies can be. Recorded on Jan. 14, 2026 This episode’s introductory and closing music comes from the title track of John-Carlos Perea’s 2014 CD Creation Story. For more, see https://johncarlosperea.bandcamp.com/album/creation-story.

U.S. Foreign Service Career Minister (retired) Mark Ward has seen all sides of the U.S. foreign aid, humanitarian assistance, and foreign policy landscape.  In this conversation with Jackson School Director Danny Hoffman, Mark reflects on his career in some of the most difficult environments of the past 30 years; the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); and the emerging picture of what foreign aid and the foreign service may look like in the years to come.

Evangelicalism is not new in American political life. But the second Trump administration coincides with a surprising development in the role of Christian faith in the nation’s politics. The once fringe notion of Christian Nationalism now sits squarely at the point of intersection of American culture, politics and the economy. Danny Hoffman, Director of the Jackson School of International Studies, interviews Jim Wellman, Professor and former Chair of the UW's Comparative Religion Program, which is housed in the Jackson School, on what Christian Nationalism means and the tensions it creates in faith communities and secular politics. Wellman's latest book is "High on God: How Megachurches Won a Nation," published by Oxford University Press in February 2020. Recorded Nov. 7, 2025

Dr. Tracie Canada is the author of Tackling the Everyday: Race and Nation in Big-Time College Football (2025) and the Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University. She is a Black feminist anthropologist and ethnographer whose research uses sport to theorize race, kinship and care, gender, and the performing body. Tracie joined Dr. Alvin Logan, Jr., the Director of Unite.Ed at the University of Washington and a former Huskie football player, and Dr. Ron Krabill, Director of the Global Sport Lab, to discuss her research and what it tells us about how black players experience college football, masculinity and care, and the changing dynamics of college sports today. Recorded on November 6, 2025. The Global Sport Lab, based in the UW's Henry M. Jackson School, is supported by over a dozen UW departments and schools and was founded in 2024. The Lab uses the lens of sport to explore the big challenges of our global world, such as inequity, politics, injustice, human rights, popular culture, democracy and the economy. Music credit: “Merci Kylian” by Laurent Dubois. Full song "Merci Kylian": music.apple.com/us/album/merci-ky…0482?i=1734841106; Music label: www.wotiproduction.com/music-1

Nikita Gicanda is the newly elected Commissioner of Women’s Football for the Rwanda Football Federation (FERWAFA) and the founder of Local Champions Africa, an organization dedicated to the empowerment of women and girls through sport. Nikita sat down in Kigali with Ron Krabill, Director of the Global Sport Lab, and Layan Arrabi, a mathematics major at the University of Washington Bothell who participated in a study abroad program with Ron which focused, in part, on sport as a tool for development. They discussed the work of Local Champions, the ways in which sport can help empower women and girls, and the challenges and opportunities for women’s football in Rwanda today. Recorded on Sept. 19, 2025. The Global Sport Lab, based in the UW's Henry M. Jackson School, is supported by over a dozen UW departments and schools and was founded in 2024. The Lab uses the lens of sport to explore the big challenges of our global world, such as inequity, politics, injustice, human rights, popular culture, democracy and the economy. Music credit: “Merci Kylian” by Laurent Dubois. Full song "Merci Kylian": music.apple.com/us/album/merci-ky…0482?i=1734841106 Music label: www.wotiproduction.com/music-1

Zaria Court is a newly-opened sports, entertainment, and cultural district located next to Amahoro Stadium and BK Arena (home of the Basketball Africa League) in the heart of Kigali, Rwanda. Zaria Court seeks to become a model for African urban development centered around sports and related activities. Join the Director of the Global Sport Lab, Ron Krabill, as he sits down with Che Rupari, Brand and Campus Manager for Zaria Court Kigali, and UW professor Ben Gardner to discuss the challenges and opportunities of using sports and sports infrastructure for economic development, tourism, and nation building in post-genocide Rwanda. The Global Sport Lab, based in the UW's Henry M. Jackson School, is supported by over a dozen UW departments and schools and was founded in 2024. The Lab uses the lens of sport to explore the big challenges of our global world, such as inequity, politics, injustice, human rights, popular culture, democracy and the economy. Music credit: “Merci Kylian” by Laurent Dubois. Full song "Merci Kylian": music.apple.com/us/album/merci-ky…0482?i=1734841106; Music label: www.wotiproduction.com/music-1

On July 24, 2025, three members of the U.S. Sepak Takraw National Team gave a demonstration and talk at the University of Washington, thanks to support from the UW's Center for Southeast Asia & Its Diasporas. That same day Ron Krabill, Director of the UW Global Sport Lab, sat down with them as well as a software engineer based in Washington, D.C. who played Takraw in Tamil Nadu, India, and the Executive Director of the Cambodian-American Community Council of Washington, who also received a Master's in Southeast Asian Studies at the UW's Jackson School, to discuss how Takraw is a Southeast Asian indigenous game that in recent years has been spreading to other parts of Asia, Africa, and the U.S. In the U.S. it is an important activity that builds community and connects Southeast Asian migrants and refugees to their heritage in the region. The Global Sport Lab, based in the UW's Henry M. Jackson School, is supported by over a dozen UW departments and schools and was founded in 2024. The Lab uses the lens of sport to explore the big challenges of our global world, such as inequity, politics, injustice, human rights, popular culture, democracy and the economy. Music credit: “Merci Kylian” by Laurent Dubois. Full song "Merci Kylian": music.apple.com/us/album/merci-ky…0482?i=1734841106; Music label: www.wotiproduction.com/music-1

On the eve of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) Football Club’s arrival in Seattle to face the Sounders in their final group match of the Club World Cup, the Director of the UW Global Sport Lab, Ron Krabill, sat down with two French scholars to discuss the European champions and their cultural and political significance within France and worldwide. Stéphane Mourlane (Professor of contemporary history and sport at the University of Aix-Marseilles) and David Do Paço (French Attaché for Academic Cooperation) explore PSG’s history as a fan-owned club, their purchase by the Qatari Sports Investments (QSI) Fund, and the evolution of their supporters from the glamor of the French elite to an increasingly global fan base. Special thanks to the Villa Albertine for making this conversation possible. Recorded June 19, 2025. The Global Sport Lab, based in the UW's Henry M. Jackson School, is supported by over a dozen UW departments and schools and was founded in 2024. The Lab uses the lens of sport to explore the big challenges of our global world, such as inequity, politics, injustice, human rights, popular culture, democracy and the economy. Music credit: “Merci Kylian” by Laurent Dubois. Full song "Merci Kylian": music.apple.com/us/album/merci-ky…0482?i=1734841106; Music label: www.wotiproduction.com/music-1 Photo credit: Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/by Leandro Neumann Ciuffo

Ron Krabill, University of Washington Global Sport Lab Podcast Host, Director of the Global Sport Lab, and Professor in Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at UW Bothell, along with Cayley Cook, faculty and Director of Journalism, UW Department of Communication, discuss gender and development and sport in Africa, especially women and girls in soccer, with guest visitor Martha Saavedra. Saavedra is Associate Director of the Center for African Studies, University of California, Berkeley, where she manages the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program and other African-focused research, fellowship, and public programs. Trained in international studies and political science, Saavedra has taught in California, Ohio, and Madrid. Her research has been on agrarian politics in Sudan, gender and development and sport in Africa. She is a board member of Sports Africa and Soccer Without Borders. Recorded on May 15, 2025. The Global Sport Lab, based in the UW's Henry M. Jackson School, is supported by over a dozen UW departments and schools and was founded in 2024. The Lab uses the lens of sport to explore the big challenges of our global world, such as inequity, politics, injustice, human rights, popular culture, democracy and the economy. Music credit: “Merci Kylian” by Laurent Dubois. Full song "Merci Kylian": music.apple.com/us/album/merci-ky…0482?i=1734841106 Music label: www.wotiproduction.com/music-1 Photo credit: Miles Saavedra Tann

Ron Krabill, Global Sport Lab Podcast Host, Director of the Global Sport Lab, and Professor in Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell, and Danny Hoffmann, Director of the Jackson School of International Studies and co-founder of the Global Sport Lab, interview Markku Jokisipilä, a distinguished professor of history at the University of Turku in Finland and rowing champion, about the Soviet Union's mobilization of hockey as a tool of diplomacy during the Cold War and through to Putin's regime. Recorded on January 24, 2025. The Global Sport Lab, based in the UW's Henry M. Jackson School, is supported by over a dozen UW departments and schools and was founded in 2024. The Lab uses the lens of sport to explore the big challenges of our global world, such as inequity, politics, injustice, human rights, popular culture, democracy and the economy. Music credit: “Merci Kylian” by Laurent Dubois. Full song "Merci Kylian": music.apple.com/us/album/merci-ky…0482?i=1734841106; Music label: www.wotiproduction.com/music-1

In the run-up to the 2026 FIFA Men's Soccer World Cup, Ron Krabill, Global Sport Lab Podcast Host, Director of the Global Sport Lab, and Professor in Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell, along with Jesús Hidalgo, a graduate adviser for the UW's Jackson School of International Studies who teaches a class about soccer and international studies, interview Laurent DuBois, John L. Nau III Bicentennial Professor of the History & Principles of Democracy and the Academic Director of the Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia. DuBois is the author of seven books, including "Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France" and "The Language of the Game: How to Understand Soccer," among others. His writings on soccer have appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic, The New York Times and Sports Illustrated. Recorded on January 10, 2025. The Global Sport Lab, based in the UW's Henry M. Jackson School, is supported by over a dozen UW departments and schools and was founded in 2024. The Lab uses the lens of sport to explore the big challenges of our global world, such as inequity, politics, injustice, human rights, popular culture, democracy and the economy. Music credit: “Merci Kylian” by Laurent Dubois. Full song "Merci Kylian": https://music.apple.com/us/album/merci-kylian/1734840482?i=1734841106 Music label: https://www.wotiproduction.com/music-1

A Jackson School interview with Latin American and Caribbean Studies Alum ‘01 Natalie “Tasha” Kimball, Associate Professor of History at the College of Staten Island, and affiliated faculty at the Graduate Center, both within the City University of New York, on their career and research trajectory in reproductive health care with a particular focus on Latin America. Kimball is the author of “An Open Secret: The History of Unwanted Pregnancy and Abortion in Modern Bolivia” (Rutgers University Press, 2020). This interview was held and recorded in-person on April 25, 2024 by University of Washington students Cora Bern-Klug, a master’s degree student in International Studies, and Kati Sosa, a bachelor degree student in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Hosted by Vanessa Freije, Chair and Associate Professor, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.

Regional Repercussions of the War is a public talk and discussion featuring Marc Lynch, faculty and director of the Project on Middle East Political Science at George Washington University. The event was held and recorded on Feb. 13, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. in Architecture Hall at the University of Washington in Seattle. This event is part of our Winter 2024 War in the Middle East Lecture Series on the aftermath of Oct. 7, the war in Gaza and responses worldwide. Moderator: Resat Kasaba, Jackson School Professor and Middle East expert Sponsored by Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Social Sciences Division at the College of Arts & Sciences, University of Washington, in partnership with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.

The 'New Elites' of X: Identifying the Most Influential Accounts Engaged in Hamas/Israel Discourse is a public talk and discussion featuring UW Center for an Informed Public faculty Kate Starbird, Mert Bayar and Mike Caulfield. The event was held and recorded on Feb. 6, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. in the HUB South Ballroom at the University of Washington in Seattle. This event is part of our Winter 2024 War in the Middle East Lecture Series on the aftermath of Oct. 7, the war in Gaza and responses worldwide. Moderator: Resat Kasaba, Jackson School Professor and Middle East expert Sponsored by Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Social Sciences Division at the College of Arts & Sciences, University of Washington, in partnership with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.

The Question of Palestine and the Evolution of Solidarity and Resistance in the U.S. is a public talk featuring Karam Dana, Alyson McGregor Distinguished Professor; Associate Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell. The event was held and recorded on Jan. 30, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. in the HUB South Ballroom at the University of Washington in Seattle. This public event is part of our Winter 2024 War in the Middle East Lecture Series on the aftermath of Oct. 7, the war in Gaza and responses worldwide. The lecture series, which runs from Jan. 16-Feb. 27, 2024, is free and open to the public. Sponsored by Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Social Sciences Division at the College of Arts & Sciences, University of Washington, in partnership with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.

Hope and Despair in Israel/Palestine is a public talk featuring Mira Sucharov (Carleton University) and Omar M. Dajani (University of the Pacific) in a conversation moderated by Liora Halperin (Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington). The event was held and recorded on Monday, Jan. 22 at 7:00 p.m. in Kane Hall at the University of Washington in Seattle. This public event is part of our Winter 2024 War in the Middle East Lecture Series on the aftermath of Oct. 7, the war in Gaza and responses worldwide. The lecture series, which runs from Jan. 16-Feb. 27, 2024, is free and open to the public. Sponsored by Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Social Sciences Division at the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Washington in partnership with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.