The next event in the spring 2023 International Seminar Series, The FIFA World Cups of Soccer-Joy and Context, is now open for registration. It will be presented simultaneously in person in the Old Main Room of the Bone Student Center and online through Zoom. The event will be held Wednesday, March 29, from noon-1 p.m. All events in this series are free and open to the public. RSVP is required for in-person attendance.
With the men’s World Cup taking place late last year and the women’s World Cup coming this summer, the spring semester presents a perfect opportunity to take an in-depth look at how these events are shaping the world stage. International sporting events unite fans from around the globe through shared passion and excitement for the players, teams, and competitions. However, there is a dark undertone of corruption, gender inequality, and human rights and labor violations that surround these events. This series aims to take a comprehensive look at some of these topics and provide a broader context for how these events impact issues beyond the world of sports.
The topic for this event will be “Labor and Human Rights and the 2022 Soccer World Cup,” which will be led by Dr. Noha Shawki of Illinois State University’s Department of Politics and Government, Dr. Yusuf Sarfati of Politics and Government, Dr. Irv Epstein of Illinois Wesleyan University’s peace and social justice and educational studies, and Dr. James Simeone of Illinois Wesleyan’s peace and social justice and political science. The speakers will provide an overview of human rights issues surrounding the 2022 Soccer World Cup. There will be a focus on Qatar’s domestic and regional politics for context. Some of the discussion will broadly include academic freedom violations, scholar intimidation, incarceration, and targeted killings in Qatar and the Persian Gulf Region. This will connect with larger aspects of academic freedom involving human rights and democratic governance. There will also be an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the United Nations’ International Labor Organization monitoring in the Qatar case.
Upcoming series event
- April 19: “Corruption in the World of Soccer”
Those wishing to attend the event in person must register in advance. A free lunch buffet will be provided for in-person participants before the event at 11:45 a.m.
If you cannot attend in person and still want to join, you can do so via this Zoom link. (Advance registration is not necessary for online attendance.)
Anyone with questions, concerns, or regarding any accommodation to participate fully, should contact Emmy Buonomo or call the Office of International Engagement at (309) 438-1651. Allow sufficient time to arrange the accommodation.
Speaker bios
Dr. Yusuf Sarfati is an associate professor of Politics and Government, where he teaches comparative politics of the Middle East. He serves as the director of the Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies minor program. Sarfati’s research interests revolve around politics and religion, social movements, politics of identity, and comparative democratization.
Dr. Noha Shawki is a professor in the Department of Politics and Government at Illinois State University, where she also serves as the director of the Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies minor and as a co-director of the Center for a Sustainable Water Future. Her research focuses on transnational activism, transnational social movements in human rights, and sustainable development. She teaches classes focused on global issues, has directed the Model United Nations program for many years, and has designed and conducted many immersive and experiential learning opportunities. Many of which involve week-long study-abroad trips.
Dr. Irv Epstein is the Rhodes Professor of Peace and Social Justice Emeritus at Illinois Wesleyan University. He has published widely in the field of comparative and international education in areas that include Chinese education, children’s rights, student social movements, and social theory. His most recent book is Affect Theory and Comparative Education Discourse (Bloomsbury, 2019), and he is currently completing Education, Affect and Film: Visual Imaginings, Global Explorations, which will also be published by Bloomsbury. He is especially proud of his longstanding service on the board of directors of the Scholars at Risk Network, an international organization with over 600 universities and institutional members, dedicated to the protection of endangered scholars and the global promotion of academic freedom advocacy.
Dr. James Simeone is the Ben and Susan Rhodes Endowed Chair of Peace and Social Justice and a professor of political science at Illinois Wesleyan University. His research examines how liberal democratic values and institutions develop amid the countervailing pressures of free market capitalism and group identity politics. His most recent publication is The Saints and the State: The Mormon Troubles in Illinois (2021). He enjoys bicycling and playing soccer and is the faculty adviser to the IWU Peace Garden.
