Border politics at our doorstep with Ieva Jusionyte

Border politics at our doorstep with Ieva Jusionyte

Author: The Watson School May 14, 2026 Duration: 34:30

How do borders — both the physical barriers and the political realities — shape our society?

These questions have long driven the work of Ieva Jusionyte, an anthropologist at the Watson School and director of Watson’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies.

In the last nine months, Ieva won both a MacArthur Genius grant and a Guggenheim fellowship for her path-breaking work exploring how political borders shape individuals and communities. On this episode, Dan Richards talks with Ieva about her research, how it feels to have her work receive so much recognition, and what we can all learn from border communities as immigration enforcement comes to our collective doorstep.

Watch the conversation on our YouTube channel


From the Watson School at Brown University, Trending Globally: Politics and Policy brings the insights of leading scholars and practitioners directly into your ears. This award-winning podcast digs into the complex forces shaping our world, moving beyond headlines to understand the deeper political and policy decisions behind them. Each conversation is designed to unpack a pressing issue-whether it's international trade tensions, public health crises, or social movements-with clarity and depth. You'll hear experts from the Watson Institute and beyond explain not just what's happening, but why it matters and how different policies might change the course of events. The discussions are grounded in rigorous research yet remain accessible, turning daunting global topics into understandable and engaging dialogue. For anyone curious about the mechanics of power, governance, and societal change, this series offers a vital resource. It’s a direct line to some of the sharpest minds in international and public affairs, all within a format that fits into your daily routine. Find Trending Globally: Politics and Policy and add it to your listening rotation for a consistently informative perspective on the stories that define our time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Trending Globally: Politics and Policy
Podcast Episodes
What does the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ mean for America? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:30
On July 4th, President Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” into law. The bill cuts trillions of dollars in taxes, and allocates hundreds of billions in new spending. To offset all of this, it calls for over a t…
USAID is gone. What's the future of international aid? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:24
On July 1st, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) officially closed its operations. It was the culmination of a months-long effort by the Trump administration to dismantle the agency, which had…
Inflation’s winners and losers, with Mark Blyth [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:14
On this episode, Dan Richards talks with Mark Blyth about his new book, co-written with Nicoló Fraccaroli, called “Inflation: A Guide for Users and Losers.” Mark and Dan discuss the competing theories for what causes inf…
How American firearms fuel violence in Mexico (rebroadcast) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:09
Mexico, like the United States, has a gun violence problem. It has one of the highest murder rates in the world, and most of those murders come from firearms. In 2019, for example, almost 70% of the country's 35,000 murd…
Press freedom and democracy in Africa and around the world [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:12
The World Press Freedom Index, which is issued by Reporters without Borders, measures the health of press freedom around the world. They do so along a number of axes, including the economic health of independent media, l…
Trump’s (second) “first 100 days” [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:50
Tuesday, April 29, marked the first 100 days of Trump’s second term. To help make sense of all that’s happened (and a lot has happened), Dan Richards spoke with political scientist and Interim Director of the Watson Inst…
Why America can’t build things like it used to [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:05
On this episode, Dan Richards talks with Marc Dunkelman, Watson Institute fellow in International and Public Affairs and author of the new book “Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress―and How to Bring It Back.” In the bo…
AI and the future of human rights [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:33
In 2022, OpenAI, Inc. launched a free version of its software ChatGPT, ushering in a new phase in the widespread use of artificial intelligence. Since then, a constant stream of breakthroughs in AI tech by a handful of c…
Is America’s “housing crisis” really a “mobility crisis”? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:54
In the 19th century, about one in three Americans moved every year. In the 1960s, that figure had shrunk to one in five In 2023, it was one in 13. In other words, a smaller percentage of Americans are moving today than t…