Esports & Education: How HBCUs are Leveling the Field

Friday, June 4 // 12–4pm (ET)

Millions of people worldwide participate in the growing phenomenon of esports, the activity where video games are played competitively, much like traditional sports. Thousands of students nationwide are participating in esports, both in K-12 and the collegiate scene. Yet how esports is fitted into educational environments varies. Esports in education can range from treating it as part of the athletics program, an extracurricular activity, a community-based effort, or aligning it to core curriculums.

What remains consistent is the lack of diversity for both those who play esports and the spaces in which esports occur. This programming will focus on how Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are engaging with esports: What does it mean to “do” esports today for HBCUs? What is informing the shape of esports programming on HBCU campuses, and what does the future hold for esports? How can we make esports more diverse? In doing so, we hope to highlight ways to build capacity by showing what is needed to launch an esports program.

Still to Come This Week

Osirak 40 Years Later: Historical Reflections on the Raid

Tuesday, June 1 // 9am–12:30 pm (ET)

Forty years ago this June, one of the monumental moments in the nuclear history of the Middle East, and the world, took place when Israeli bombers flew in and destroyed the Osirak nuclear facility in Iraq. Featuring newly uncovered archival materials from all over the world, this half-day conference will explore the nature of the event as it unfolded, the Reagan administration’s reaction from Washington, the forces at play that led to the Israeli decision, and, in a roundtable discussion, the consequences and implications that linger to this day.

June Fourth: The Tiananmen Protests and Beijing Massacre of 1989

Tuesday, June 1 // 4–5:30pm (ET)

Jeremy Brown’s June Fourth takes a historical approach to the events of 1989 in China, arguing that the Beijing massacre was neither necessary nor inevitable, and tracing alternative paths that could have led to different outcomes. Brown decenters the student movement by looking at the choices of non-students and people outside of Beijing, and by tracing the stories of victims of the crackdown, pushing back against explanations that blame student protesters for provoking a massacre.

Ten Years of the Federal Games Guild (FGG) and the Emergence of Learning Games in Education

Wednesday, June 2 // 12–1pm (ET)

Originally launched by the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House in 2011 and now managed by the Wilson Center, the FGG is an informal community practice that brings federal entities together to share, learn, and grow together around the potential and impact of games. As part of the 2021 ED Games Expo event will celebrate 10 Years of the FGG, and will include a conversation with the founding members of the FGG and leaders in field of learning games.

Forging a New Path in Russian Politics: A Conversation with Lyubov Sobol

Wednesday, June 2 // 2:30–3:30pm (ET)

One of the key figures in the Russian opposition, Lyubov Sobol has encountered many of the well-known experiences of Russia’s political life: from electoral campaigns and street protests to hunger strikes and criminal trials. In her talk, Sobol will share her experience as an independent politician and will discuss what developments one can expect in Russian domestic politics in the run-up to the September 2021 elections and beyond.

Challenging the Norms of Warfare: Historical Perspectives from Yemen and Iraq

Thursday, May 27 // 11am–12pm (ET)

Renowned historian, Joseph Sassoon, and Wilson Center Fellow, Asher Orkaby, sit down with Michael Brill, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University, to discuss the nature of warfare in the Middle East using two notable examples, Yemen and Iraq.

Book Talk: The Heartbeat of Iran

Friday, June 4 // 10–11am (ET)

The Heartbeat of Iran takes us on an unprecedented journey into everyday life in Iran, where we meet the diverse people who make up the country’s delicate socio-cultural, political, and religious mosaic. Through textured portraits of regular Iranians—from a blind Sunni environmental activist to the gay son of a general—The Heartbeat of Iran reveals intimate stories of people whose dreams and fears mirror that of millions of others worldwide, and who yearn to join an international community that often views them through the blur of a hostile political fog.