Lila Abu-Lughod '74 is a distinguished Palestinian-American anthropologist and one of the most respected scholars of Middle East Studies. Her work gives evidence to the value of critical intellectual engagement, grounded in a basic trust in our common humanity—a humanity without borders. But what happens when the village in Egypt in which she has been studying gender, media, and modernity is swept up in a national revolution?

Media coverage of the uprising in Egypt in 2011 focused almost exclusively on Tahrir Square in Cairo, yet the revolution was also lived in other parts of Egypt, including the countryside. Abu-Lughod offers a glimpse of what happened in one village in Upper Egypt where, as elsewhere, daily lives were deeply shaped by devastating national economic and social policies, the arbitrary power of police and security forces, and a sense of profound marginalization and disadvantage. Youth were galvanized to solve local problems in their own community, feeling themselves to be in a national space despite a history of marginalization. They also used a particular language for their activism: a strong language of social morality, not the media-friendly political language of “rights” and “democracy.”  The title of her presentation was "Taking Back the Village: Egyptian Youth in Revolution."

Rinku Sen is an Indian-American author and community organizer who has been a leading figure in the movement for social, racial and gender equality for the last twenty years. She currently serves as president and executive director of the Applied Research Center, a public policy institute advancing racial justice through research, advocacy and journalism. Built on rigorous research and creative use of new technology, the goal of the ARC is to popularize the need for racial justice and prepare people to fight for it.

Sen is the author of The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization and Stir It Up: Lessons in Community Organizing. Named by Ms. Magazine as one of 21 feminists to watch in the 21st century, and by Utne Reader as one of 50 visionaries who are changing our world, Sen’s work promotes a positive shift from conversation to action by offering tactics and strategies for working toward justice. The title of her presentation was “Building Bridges in a Divided World.”

David Welna '80 has been the congressional correspondent for National Public Radio since the final days of the Clinton administration. He has covered a wide range of historic events and national issues, including the 2000 presidential election and the post-election vote count battle in Florida, the September 11, 2001 attacks, the wars that followed, and the economic downturn and recession. Prior to his current assignment, Welna spent 15 years reporting for NPR from overseas. The recipient of several prestigious awards, Welna has also reported for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The Financial Times, and The Times of London. In addition, his photography has appeared in Esquire, The New York Times, Paris Review, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. The title of his presentation was "From Carleton to Covering Congress… An Odyssey on Deadline."

Kwame Anthony Appiah is one of America's leading public intellectuals. Called a post-modern Socrates, Appiah asks profound questions about identity and ethics in a world where the sands of race, ethnicity, religion and nationalism continue to realign and reform before our eyes. His seminal book Cosmopolitanism is a moral manifesto for a world where identity has become a weapon and where difference has become a cause of pain and suffering. In intellectually stimulating language, Appiah challenges to look beyond the boundaries—real and imagined— that divide us, and to see our common humanity.

Appiah is the Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. He is also the President of the PEN American Center, the internationally acclaimed literary and human rights association. He was born in London, to a Ghanaian father and a white mother; raised in Ghana; and educated in England, at Cambridge University, where he received a Ph.D. in philosophy. As a scholar of African and African-American studies, he established himself as an intellectual with a broad reach. His classic book In My Father's House and his collaborations with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.—including The Dictionary of Global Culture and Africana—are major works of African struggles for self-determination. In 2007, Cosmopolitanism won the Arthur Ross Book Award, the most significant prize given to a book on international affairs. In 2009, he was featured in the documentary "Examined Life" and was named one of Foreign Policy's "Top 100 Global Thinkers." Apiah has spent the last decade thinking about what it takes to turn moral understanding into moral behavior, recognizing that one of the keys to real moral revolution is mobilizing the social power of honor and shame. The title of his presentation was "The Honor Code: Making Moral Revolutions."

Most scientists who study emotions focus on negative states: depression, anxiety, and fear. Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson '86 has spent more than twenty years investigating the relatively uncharted terrain of positive emotions, which she says can make us healthier and happier if we take time to cultivate them. Fredrickson’s findings are the subject of her book, Positivity. Though its title might make it sound like a self-help bestseller, the book doesn’t belong in the pop-psychology section, and Fredrickson is no Pollyanna telling us to put on a smile before leaving the house each morning. Negative emotions, she says, are necessary for us to flourish, and positive emotions are by nature subtle and fleeting; the secret is not to deny their transience but to find ways to increase their quantity. Rather than trying to eliminate negativity, she recommends we balance negative feelings with positive ones. Below a certain ratio of positive to negative, Fredrickson says, people get pulled into downward spirals, their behavior becomes rigid and predictable, and they begin to feel burdened and lifeless.

Fredrickson is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the director of the university's Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab. A leading scholar within social psychology, affective science, and positive psychology, she and has received more than 10 consecutive years of research funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, and her research and teaching have been recognized with numerous honors. Her scientific contributions have influenced scholars and practitioners worldwide, in disciplines ranging from education to business and beyond. The title of her presentation was "What Good Is It to Feel Good?"

In 1984, Jennifer Thompson was a 22-year-old college student with a 4.0 GPA and lofty goals for her future. Her path was dramatically altered however, when a man broke into her apartment, put a knife to her throat, and raped her. In that moment, her determination took an entirely different direction, as she focused all attention on memorizing the man's features. Searching for scars, tattoos, and any unique features that could help her identify him, she was certain that she could put him in prison for life. After a composite sketch, line-up identification, and trial, Jennifer Thompson's testimony and memory led to a life sentence for Ronald Cotton. Years later, Thompson was asked to provide a DNA sample for further analysis of the case. She agreed to the request, positive that her identification of Cotton would be held up by science. In an instant, her life changed yet again, when it was revealed that Ronald Cotton was not her rapist, and after spending 11 years in prison as an innocent man, he was released.

In Picking Cotton, their New York Times best-selling and Soros Justice Media Fellowship award-winning book, which is being made into a movie, Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton reveal their unlikely story of friendship and forgiveness. Devastated by her mistake, Thompson became an activist, speaking out about her mistake, and working to protect the wrongfully convicted. Now a member of the Actual Innocence Commission, the advisory committee for Active Voices, the Constitution Project, and Mothers for Justice, she shares her powerful story of truth, justice, and redemption. The title of her presentation was "Picking Cotton."

Emily Hunter is an environmental advocacy journalist who reports from the frontlines of environmental issues and activist movements. Hunter’s 2011 book, The Next Eco-Warriors: 22 Young Women and Men Who Are Saving the Planet, is an insider’s look at the new wave of environmental activism, focusing on the stories of today's youth eco-activists. She makes absolutely clear that youth are out there in force, trying every creative tactic they can think of to safeguard the planet on which they will live out their lives.

Hunter is no stranger to the activist world. She was literally born into the environmental movement, as her parents Robert and Bobbi Hunter were the co-founders of Greenpeace. She has sailed around the world on activist ships with Sea Shepherd helping to save animals and fighting against climate change with 350.org. Today, her change making is with eco-journalism, informing and offering critical debate on the battle to save the planet. Hunter has hosted and co-produced three TV-documentaries, ranging from the Canadian Tar Sands to the Toronto G20 protests; she was one of the characters on the hit Animal Planet show Whale Wars; and she has done eco-reporting from protest frontlines at climate summits. Hunter reflects on the history and evolution of the environmental movement as a backdrop for examining where it is today and the emergence of a new generation of change-makers. The title of her presentation was "Revolutionizing the Revolution."