The Camden Public Library hosts Seth Singleton on January 17 at 7:00 p.m. His lecture Strangers at the Gates: The New Tribalism and Resistance to Migration, will address migration in today’s political climate. Ethnic nationalism and authoritarian leaders are rising in Europe, the United States, and Asia, propelled by fear of strangers. Is this the end of the international world we have known since 1945, or just a stumble on the march toward globalization?  What will be the effects of increasing migrant and refugee pressure on destination countries, and on those regions where war, violence, lack of jobs, stagnation, and population growth fuel the pressure to leave?

At the University of Maine, Seth teaches courses on international security, US foreign policy, Russia, and Africa.  He received his B.A. at Harvard, in Russian History and Literature, and his Ph.D. at Yale, in Political Science.  He has lived in Tanzania, Russia, Ecuador, and Vietnam, and consulted in China, Mongolia, and Bolivia.  Along with teaching, he has been faculty research associate at Harvard and academic dean in universities in the US and overseas.

He has studied nationalism, ethnic difference, and assimilation in the former Soviet Union, Africa, and Asia, and believes that tribalism versus tolerance is now the fundamental question of world affairs.

This presentation is hosted by the Camden Public Library and offered as a free community event in in anticipation of the 30th Annual Camden Conference -Refugees and Global Migration: Humanity’s Crisis, February 17-19, 2017. The 30th Anniversary Camden Conference Community Events Series is supported in part by the Maine Humanities Council.