HWS News
26 March 2024 Anderton Forum for Global Engagement: Séverine Autesserre By Andrew Wickenden '09
HWS hosts author, peacebuilder and researcher Séverine Autesserre for the annual Anderton Forum for Global Engagement.
The Anderton Forum for Global Engagement will welcome Séverine Autesserre, award-winning author, peacebuilder, researcher and Professor and Chair of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University on Wednesday, March 27. Autesserre is the author of The Trouble with the Congo, Peaceland and The Frontlines of Peace, and has written for publications such as Foreign Affairs, International Organization and The New York Times.
The event will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Vandervort Room in Scandling Campus Center.
Autesserre has been involved intimately in the world of international aid for more than 20 years. She has conducted research in 12 different conflict zones, from Colombia to Somalia to Israel and the Palestinian territories. She has worked for Doctors Without Borders in places like Afghanistan and Congo, and at the United Nations headquarters in the United States.
Professor and Chair of International Relations Stacey Philbrick Yadav, who taught Autesserre’s most recent book, The Frontlines of Peace, last spring, says, “its accessibility and the way students connected with the book encouraged me to propose her for this year’s speaker.”
As a scholar-practitioner, Autesserre’s research has helped shape the intervention strategies of several United Nations departments, foreign affairs ministries and non-governmental organizations, as well as those of numerous philanthropists and activists. She has also been a featured speaker at the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, the U.S. House of Representatives and the United Nations Security Council. She has contributed to Foreign Affairs, International Organization and The New York Times.
Autesserre's talk will be livestreamed.
Established in 2022 by former Trustee James F. Anderton IV ’65, the Anderton Forum brings experts to campus to share their insights and experience while engaging with the HWS community on vital current affairs in international relations. In 2023, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch joined the forum as the inaugural guest speaker.
As part of Autesserre’s visit to campus, the HWS Institute for Global Studies has sponsored a faculty reading group around The Frontlines of Peace and the several departments have collaborated on a series of events on peacebuilding in anticipation of Autesserre’s Anderton Forum lecture.
On Friday, March 8, Professor Philbrick Yadav facilitated a discussion, “All Hands on Deck: Women and Peacebuilding Outside Government,” highlighting the role of women in peacebuilding. The event was held in the Adams Intercultural Center and cosponsored by the William Smith Dean’s office, the Adams Center for Intercultural Affairs, the Department of International Relations, the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Intersectional Justice, and the Office of International Student Success.
On Tuesday, March 12, “Peacebuilding and the Expressive Arts” — a presentation of poetry, music, and visual arts that advance peace and justice — was held in the Fish Screening Room from 5 to 6 p.m. The event was organized by faculty from the HWS English, Music, and International Relations departments.
