2012 April Issue

April 2012 Vol. 12 No. 3 The Student Newspaper of the Johns Hopkins University Paul H.Nitze School of Advanced International Studies

CarnevaleDavid Frazer

Last month several of us were lucky enough to experience Carnevale di Venezia, in allof its weird glory. As an architecture nerd and first-time visitor to the city, I was imme-diately taken by its beauty. Even the houses of Venice are remarkable, framing itswaterways with a rich palette of pastels.

After a short water-bus ride from the train station we stepped off in the innercity. Entering downtown, placid canal scenery was replaced by a warren of baroquealleyways, populated by marauding bands of party-goers. The crowd thickened as weneared Piazza San Marco, moving at glacial speed as policeman patiently directed thepedestrian traffic. For a festival that traditionally scraps social norms, Carnevale hasevolved into a very well-oiled machine.

Much regarding its origins, however, is still subject to guesswork. The mostcommon narrative traces it back to Venice’s historic victory over Aquileia in 1162. Thetriumph was followed by a weeks-long rager, so enthusiastically debauched that onlyLent could bring it to a halt. The tradition gained popularity over the years and waseventually institutionalized during the Renaissance. Since its revival in the late 1970sit has exploded into a phenomenon of global proportions, drawing in more than threemillion tourists annually.

That reality was apparent from the start. Over the course of the day, I wasstruck by the number of languages emerging from under passing masks. It took usmaybe five minutes to find the inevitable man in red-white-and-blue face paint andan American flag top hat. The international nature of the event was reemphasizedupon our arrival at Piazza San Marco, where we were greeted by a hundred-footadvertisement, strategically draped across the opposite end of the Piazza, inviting usto “Experience Peru.”

It takes us a while to get our faces on in the morning.

Carnevale being a celebration of the bizarre, we all took it in stride.The square itself was a seething mass of colorful humanity; the epicenter of the carni-val. San Marco’s fountain spewed wine, as thousands of elaborately clad revelers rev-eled through various stages of inebriation. Men dressed as 13th century ladies mean-dered about on three-foot platform shoes. A Cruella de Vil swept through the crowd,followed by six men in Dalmatian costumes. It was a magnificent overload of the sens-es.

Costume-wearing in general is an integral part of Carnevale’s history. Venice’sstrict social hierarchy during the Renaissance made open class interaction impossible,so members of the nobility wore masks during festivals to hide their identities as theymixed with the lower strata. Over time, these masks evolved into the works of art aswe witnessed them. The color and details of some were inspired; it was hard to keepup with a camera.

As the day faded, a drizzle dampened the city. The feathery headdresses andpuffy tunics retreated into the night, gradually replaced by a multi-national array ofscruffy college students. By the time night fell it was pouring and the streets had emp-tied themselves into the bars. In there, keeping with tradition, the party raged on.

From first-year David Frazer of the Bahamas, Assistant Editor in Bologna.

Arbitrating Energy Development:Energy and International Law in

Bangladesh

Michael Carbone

Fill ‘er up!

Office workers had a half-day, schoolchildren were let out early—crowds formedbelow a large screen looking over a traffic roundabout. It was March 22nd, andBangladesh was competing in cricket against Pakistan for the Asian Cup. After a tensegame, Bangladesh ended only three runs behind Pakistan—yet the country still hadgood reason to celebrate. The week previous, the International Tribunal on the Law ofthe Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg, Germany delivered its judgment to resolve the maritimeboundary dispute in the Bay of Bengal between Bangladesh and Myanmar. The rulingended a dispute that had lasted more than three decades between the two countries,impeding the development of the two countries' respective ocean resources.

As part of the SAIS International Law and Organizations program academictrip to Bangladesh in March, I had the opportunity to explore firsthand the energy andinternational law contexts in which Bangladesh found itself, and the potential futureeffects of the ruling.

Energy Capacity and DeliveryBangladesh faces a number of energy capacity and electricity delivery challenges inthe near-term. In 2011, only around thirty-eight percent of the Bangladesh populationhad access to electricity, an increase in ten percent from ten years prior but still wellbelow desired levels. As more and more rural areas come onto the electrical grid, theneed for more energy capacity and better electricity delivery will only become moreimportant.

Around ninety percent of total electricity production in Bangladesh is met bynatural gas. The dependence of the country on natural gas was made clear a weekafter the ITLOS ruling, when the power and energy ministry cut in half gas supplies forthe transportation and industrial sectors in order to divert it to agricultural use to feedirrigation pumps. In addition, the government decided to close all compressed naturalgas (CNG) filling stations from 3pm to 8pm every day to ensure an adequate supply ofgas for irrigation.

For the transportation sector, the move pushes against developments madeover the past ten years to shift vehicle consumption from petroleum-based products(gasoline, diesel) to cleaner-burning CNG. The prevalence of CNG auto-rickshaws in

In This Issue:• SAIS Students Experience Ethnic Tourism in Laos• Reflections On a Year In Bologna• Brewing Beer In Nanjing: Part III• Nicole Epps Reflects On SAIS. Bon Voyage to Our Ladies’

Columnist!• Bethany Allen and Lauren Gouldeman Travel China• Kartavya Sharma’s “What Is Sacrifice?”

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April 2012 Edition:October 2011 4/29/2012 8:51 PM Page 1

THE SAIS OBSERVEREditors-in-Chief

Adrian Stover is a first-year M.A. candidate concentrating in SoutheastAsian Studies; Washington, D.C.

Nic Wondra is a first-year M.A. candidate concentrating in Russian &Eurasian Studies; Washington, D.C.

Associate Editor for Electronic Media

Michael Carbone is a second-year M.A. candidate concentrating in ChinaStudies; Washington, D.C.

Asisstant Editors

Marta Casey is a first-year M.A. candidate concentrating in InternationalLaw; Nanjing, China

Sophie Xiong is a first-year M.A. candidate at SAIS Nanjing Center, China

David Frazer is a first-year M.A. candidate concentrating in LatinAmerican Studies; Bologna, Italy

Sarah Gardiner is a first-year M.A. candidate concentrating in ConflictManagement; Bologna, Italy

Contributors (This Issue)

Sean Ages, Bethany Allen, Michael Carbone, AkshatvishalChaturvediNicole Epps, David Frazer, Michelle Fechtor, Cristina Garafola,Shalinee Gusain, Sumeet Monk, Gabriel Nelson, Lauren Gloudeman, CliveParkinson, Plato, Staci Raab, Kartavya Sharma, Chai Suyuan, AdrianStover, and Nic Wondra,

The SAIS Observer is a newspaper written, edited, and produced bythe students of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced InternationalStudies (SAIS) of The Johns Hopkins University.

SAIS Students, Faculty and members of the Administration at theWashington, D.C., Bologna and Nanjing campuses are encouraged tosubmit articles, Op-Eds, photographs, andother items for consideration.

Materials for publication, comments, and inquiries may be sent to usat: [email protected]. The online edition of The SAIS Observerand its full archives are avaiable at: www.saisobserver.org.

The SAIS Observer is an approved SAIS Student Organization.Opinions expressed in The SAIS Observer are not necessarily theviews of the Editors, SAIS, or The Johns Hopkins University.

2 The SAIS Observer April 2012

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

CARNEVALE.......................................................................................................PAGE 1ARBITRATING ENERGY DEVELOPMENT......................................................PAGE 1从SAIS的中文学习谈起....................................................................................PAGE 3WHY LANGUAGE TEACHERS ARE SAINTS....................................................PAGE 3REFLECTIONS ON A YEAR IN BOLOGNA .....................................................PAGE 4BREWING IN NANJING..................................................................................PAGE 4INCRA.................................................................................................................PAGE 5FEMALE FETICIDE IN INDIA...........................................................................PAGE 5GUIDE TO NANJING........................................................................................PAGE 6BOLOGNA CENTER SEDER.............................................................................PAGE 6RELOCATION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING WILLING.....................PAGE 7CULTURAL AND ETHNIC TOURISM IN LAOS...............................................PAGE 7SAIS HAS TAUGHT ME A LOT.......................................................................PAGE 10THINGS SAIS HAS NOT TAUGHT ME..........................................................PAGE 10THE FAMOUS SEAN.......................................................................................PAGE 11WHAT IS SACRIFICE?.....................................................................................PAGE 11ECOLOGICAL MIGRANT PROJECT..............................................................PAGE 12CHINA IN BED WITH THE CARIBBEAN.......................................................PAGE 13LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.............................................................................PAGE 14SAIS WELCOMES ITS EIGHTH DEAN...........................................................PAGE 15S.A.I.S. IN HUMAN FORM..............................................................................PAGE 16

Dhaka was a conscious effort by the government of Bangladesh and international organi-zations including the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank, and the AsianDevelopment Bank starting in 2000 to take advantage of the country's relatively inexpen-sive natural gas resources and drastically reduce the dangerous levels of air pollution in thecity.

For the industrial sector, the shut-off of gas only contiues endemic electricity deliv-ery issues. In our meetings at NGOs and in garment factories, electricity cuts out once everycouple of hours, and although the amount of time the electricity is down has improved sub-stantially, the twelve-hours per day shut-off only excerbates an issue that local companiespoint to as one of the largest hurdles of doing business in Bangladesh. In addition,Bangladesh's energy issues are not simply a lack of capacity, but include more systematicproblems such as efficiency and heavy system loss during distribution that continue toplague the country's energy infrastructure.

Because of these issues, a potential domestic supply of stable energy resourcesfrom the maritime areas awarded to Bangladesh in the ITLOS ruling is seen as crucial to thecountry's further development. For this reason, the March ruling was heralded in celebra-tory front-page advertisements in Bangladeshi newspapers as "a historical achievement."The ruling allows the American company ConocoPhillips to begin drilling in the maritimeareas it is leasing from Bangladesh, areas that previously conflicted with Burmese claimsleased to the Korean companies Daewoo and the Korean Gas Corporation (KOGAS). Thecountry seems posed for an energy resource and revenue boon. But whether the ruling willreorient the country's courts and political forces toward an embrace of the internationalarbitration system remains to be seen.

International Arbitration and EnergyIndeed, Bangladesh has a checkered history in international law disputes with energyimplications. In the Saipem v. Bangladesh case, an Italian oil and gas company Saipementered into a contract with the state-owned Petrobangla to contruct a gas pipeline in1990. In the contract, it was stipulated that disputes would be settled through arbitrationunder the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Rules of Arbitration in Dhaka. An ICCarbitration tribunal began when a dispute arose in 1993, however Petrobangla arguedbefore a Bangladesh court that the court revoke the authority of the ICC tribunal, which thecourt did. Despite the revocation, the ICC arbitration continued and ruled that Petrobanglahad breached the contract, awarding Saipem compensation. To recover some of the dam-ages, International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitration wasbegun in 2004 under the Italy-Bangladesh bilateral investment treaty, which ruled that "therevocation of the authority of the ICC Arbitral Tribunal by the Bangladeshi courts was con-trary to the general principles governing international arbitration."

And since Bangladesh has a dualist system regarding the incorporation of interna-tional law—requiring international law be implemented through the passing of domesticlaws before it can be enforced—the need for such domestic respect of international laws isall the greater, as highlighted in a meeting we had with the local NGO Bangladesh Legal Aid& Services Trust (BLAST).

The influx and sustainability of international investment in Bangladesh's now-uncontested eastern waters will depend on the companies believing Bangladesh will playby the international rules—whether they rule in Bangladesh's immediate favor or not. Assuch, the ITLOS ruling is the perfect opportunity for Bangladesh's courts to reconsider itsprior stances on international arbitration, and in turn help solidify a balanced investmentenvironment for domestic and international companies that will development the countryand meet its growing energy needs for the years to come—surely something the nationcan celebrate.

Michael Carbone is a 2nd year student in International Law and Organizations; ChinaStudies; and Energy, Resources and the Environment. He is an alumnus of HNC. He currentlyserves as the SAIS Observer’s Associate Editor for Electronic Media.

Top: a Fuel Station in BangladeshSee “Arbitrating Energy Development: Energy and InternationalLaw in Bangladesh” by Michael Carbone pp. 1-2Below: Press coverage bodes poorly

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April 2012 The SAIS Observer 3

从SAIS的中文学习谈起“言为心声”——《法言•问神》“文以载道”——《通书•文辞》

如果说乔姆斯基的“普遍语法（universal grammar）”为中国太多父母决心从小培养子女英文能力提供了实在的可行性基础，那么孔夫子两千多年前所说的“不知言，无以知人”（《论语•尧曰》）则在今天还“指引”着SAISer们前赴后继地去挑战中文这门繁杂的语言。所以当Nic兄问我在SAIS将近一年时光中“什么事情最让我惊讶”的时候，我的第一个反应就是——我晕，这儿怎么这么多人会中文？！

当然，美国学生会中文显然不是问题，但正是这个第一印象导致我在过去的8个月里始终在两种极端情绪间游走：首先是喜悦，因为我终于发现会中文居然成为了一门“技能”；其次则是失落，因为我同时发现，从一个中国学者的角度来看，你们会的东西比我多太多了。

事实上，在我还在HNC念证书班的时候就已经有了这种危机感，当我无意中发现一位美国同学居然可以完整地背出《长恨歌》、一位美国老师可以纠正我们论文中关于《孙子兵法》的引用错误，我就知道孔夫子又说对了，他说：“行有余力，则以学文”（《学而》）。在中国学者尚缺乏对美国的基础研究的时候，我的美国同行们在对中国的了解上似乎已经“行有余力”。

到了DC之后，我对SAIS的这种基于实用的语言要求更加羡慕不已：中文仅仅是诸多语言项目中的一支。当然，中国会英文的年轻学者比美国会中文的学生要多太多了，这一方面是中国的美国研究的优势；在另一方面却又不是一个合适的比较，因为中国的其他国别研究做不到SAIS这样几乎所有俄罗斯研究学生都会俄语、所有日本研究学生都会日文，更兼实地经历——我并非妄自菲薄，但做到了这一点后，SAIS拥有了多么大的一个优势！

习近平副主席在访美期间介绍中国正在大力推动“三个一万”项目，即4年内为万名美国大学生来华留学提供奖学金、“汉语桥”万人来华研修、公派万人赴美攻读博士学位——这种建立在语言交流基础上的互信的建立无疑契合哈贝马斯关于交往有效性的四条要求，亦为中美加强合作的题中应有之意，但我更希望在另一方面中国学术建设能够看到以SAIS为代表的不少美国国别研究的“实用主义”。最近风闻中国要增设100所国别研究机构，涵盖非洲、中东、中亚等以前多有忽视的地区，我期待以这样的百花齐放为契机，中国大学的外语教学与国际问题研究之间能够架起桥梁。

过以牢骚结尾终究不是上策，那就回到文章开头关于亲爱的SAISer们在中文海洋中艰难跋涉的讨论，其实孔夫子还曾说过：“辞达而已矣”（《论语•季氏》），而且 “君子欲讷于言而敏于行”（《论语•里仁》），中文的确难学，所以辛苦之余，站在Nitze楼下小院中看看那几乎被染蓝了的空气，想想曾经有过一个中国学者在这边满心嫉妒，平上去入也就不是那么拗口啦。

Shen “Teddy” Xiaochen is a visiting fellow from Lanzhou University, China workingon his PhD. He is studying Russian and Eurasian politics and ethnic issues. He willbe at SAIS for one year.

Why LanguageTeachers are

Saints

Nic WondraThose of us lucky enough to have completed our language proficiency require-ments have the added fortune of access to yet another language. Whether we do itto push ourselves or to sell ourselves as the perfect candidate in Lahore or whereveris not the issue—our reasons are sound. We take more language because that'swhat you do. The bottom line is that our language teachers have cut us slack, dealtwith our lack of seriousness, and pulled our recalcitrant minds through classes whichroutinely have been on the bottom of our priorities lists. If you are reading thisthinking “that's not me, I'm the model of seriousness,” I envy you. And I don't believeyou. While I count all SAISers as serious, I will not vie for the top slot. I argue thatlanguage is our last priority.

So before we leave SAIS and go do the great things our parents and mentorsalways told us we would, let us take the time to thank our language teachers. Theyare patient. They are qualified to the hilt. They put up with our primary school jokesin class. And they feign content when they know that language classes are often thevery last priority on everyone's list. Where do they get the energy? Why do they putup with us? We make the same mistakes over and over again and are diligently cor-rected. We probably will get that internship in Vienna or São Paulo – not onlybecause we're qualified but also because we can buy bread and answer a phone inour respective languages thanks to our dedicated instructors. Those great thingsthat come—they come because we can meet minister such-and-such without fallingflat on our faces when the time comes.

To be dedicated while knowing one's segment in the curriculum is a low pri-ority for students is daunting. It is a mark of our curriculum that makes a SAISer thatmuch hotter than a competitor. It hasbeen a central tenet for many years, andrightfully so. In my mind, the languagerequirement is what makes SAIS so seri-ous. At the same time, it is what falls bythe wayside. When we stretch our mindswithin our academic concentrations, wehave little energy for much else. When weadd work on top of school, language isabout as attractive as two-day old ramen. They are dedicated despite the competi-tion for student energies. This competition is already a full schedule with manyresponsibilities, and serious consequences for fouling up on them.

To change this, the administration and language faculty can think of creativeways to make language a serious part of the curriculum. Language retreats, presen-tations, and conferences in other working languages are a few ways of doing this;but the economic trade-off is always there. I do not envy the job. For our part, wecan learn how to manage ourselves at the buffet. Many of my peers have impeccabletime management. I commend you. If you are like me, you resemble a duck on apond, paddling furiously beneath the water. While I was put in contact with currentstudents before I arrived at SAIS, more contact would have been better. The “SAISfamily” support program is a novel way to communicate the information that is

hard-learned after just putting intime at SAIS. Some organizeddecompression with peers oradvising sessions in my depart-ment would also be helpful. Iadmit I have not taken advantageof all resources. Then again, wherewould I get the time to do that?

To the SAIS language teach-ers, you are fantastic. You aresaints. When we don't come toclass, we still love you. When weare late on homework or evasiveon answers, thank you for the kindharassment. We know that youknow how things are. And werespect that you still give us theenergy as if we were minister such-and-such. The reason we are sogood is you.

Nic Wondra is a first-year MA stu-dent concentrating in Russian &Eurasian Studies. He regrets hiscurrent lack of ambition in study-ing the German language. Hegraduated from Cornell Collegeand comes from the great rectan-gle of Colorado. He can be con-tacted at [email protected]

“When we stretch our mindswithin our academic con-centrations, we have littleenergy for much else. Whenwe add work on top ofschool, language is about asattractive as two-day oldramen.”

Jusqu'là, tout va bien sans encombre.



Reflections On a Year In BolognaSarah Gardiner

We have roughly one month left of the academic year here at the Bologna Center.This means a lot of last-minute travel to all the cities we didn’t quite get around toseeing earlier, time in the library doing all the work that was neglected duringspring break, finalizing plans for the summer, and starting to prep for the transitionto D.C. next year.

As someone who spent the last four years as a student in D.C., I am excitedto return to a city that feels like home. Since I am familiar with it, I know to expect adifferent tempo when the fall semester starts up. I know that schedules will sudden-ly become much fuller, as my Bologna Center classmates and I will find ourselvessplit between talks at think tanks, internships, job searches, and classes. Next yearwill be challenging, exciting, and the start of the rest of our lives. It will go by evenquicker than this year.

This is not to say that this year has not been challenging. Classes at SAIS BC,just like classes in Nanjing or DC, are rigorous. We all battle our way through thesame econ requirements. We take the same core exams. But there are fewer distrac-tions in Bologna than in D.C. One of the things I have valued most about this yearhas been the opportunity to have nine months where my primary responsibility isjust to learn. Beyond lectures in the classroom, the students at the Bologna Centerare its greatest resource. SAIS BC is a weird, wonderful little bubble. We all took dif-ferent paths to get here, we all have different motivations and visions, and we havenine months to create some type of community. The importance of community atthe Bologna Center is emphasized from the very beginning by alumni, professors,and administrators. We are encouraged to take the time to learn from each other. Unsurprisingly, food has been a big part of this year. From delving into Italy’s oste-rias, trattorias, and ristorantes to hosting dinners at our apartments to sampling dif-ferent aperativo buffets, meals have been one of the primary modes of comingtogether. Through conversations over primi, secondi, and dolce, I’ve gotten to knowclassmates from all over the world. I’ve found my own perspectives challenged andshifted. More than anything else from this year, I think I am taking away an appre-ciation for creating time to stop and enjoy a good meal with good people. Toooften, that can be the first thing to go when life gets hectic. Taking a moment toslow down and just enjoy can help refocus. A year at the Bologna Center has hadthat effect on me.

Although we still have two weeks of classes and finals to go, I know that Iwill leave my time at the Bologna Center seeing the world differently than when Ibegan pre-term back in August. A year in D.C. will be an experience with its ownchallenges and merits. But no matter how fast-paced life becomes, a year inBologna has taught me the importance for prioritizing community, in its manyforms.

Sarah Gardiner is a M.A. candidate at the Bologna Center specializing in conflictmanagement. She is a graduate of Georgetown University.

Below: and artist’s rendering of the mythical “Bologna”

The dream grows closer to reality

When last we left Clive, he had just turned to Tong, who had left the brew bobbingperilously in the middle of the half-frozen pond. His shirt was off, skin taut in thefrozen January night. “This is my fault. I shall pay the price.”

And pay the price he did, for the one second it took him to realize he didn’t wantto pay the price anymore, and with a shriek that would have embarrassed a fouryear-old, his body and willpower were at once retracted from the mission, splashingpond water “nowhere near the beer.” Over his promises to try again, I offered to goinstead (I think I had a better idea of where the lid was) and managed to recover itquickly. Tong washed and dried it, and fortunately by this time the beer had floated

back to accessibility, was well cooled, and ready to be pouredinto the carboy for fermentation.

After adding the yeast and partially sealing the carboy withan airlock (Marty never did remember to throw in that extrastopper), Tong and I took turns shaking the carboy to aerate thewort. Weighing more than fifty pounds as the whole ensembledid, lifting it up to shake it was quite beyond either of our capa-bilities, and we were left kneeling down, tilting the bottom ofthe container on the ground, and vigorously jerking the otherend back and forth. I believe it was after a minute or two of this,that Tong, knees bent and back crooked, sweat pouring from hisforehead, jerking and thrusting his whole weight over this tinybucket, paused to point out:

“This activity is not nearly as masculine as I had imagined.”But this deficiency he sought to remedy a week later, when inthe process of siphoning the fermented beer from the first fer-menter into the second, Tong discovered, to my shock and hor-ror, that a ¼ inch siphoning tube can also serve the function of areally efficient straw.“Tasty!”

…and what more could you really hope for?

Clive Parkinson is a first-year M.A. candidate at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. This is the last of a three-part series chroniclinghis adventures in concocting tasty beverages. Happy brewing,Clive.

Brewing 5 Gallons of Hopkins-Nanjing Pale Ale

Part Three: Masculinity Clive Parkinson

[email protected] is alwaysaccepting submissions.First-years: write us toget involved.



Female Feticide in India: AnIntrospection on Preventing the

Disturbing Sex RatioShalinee Gusain

There is a saying in India, that after every pregnancy and the childbirth, a womandies and comes alive again. The whole phenomenon of prenatal and postnataltransformation creates a new self. Regardless of whether the child is a male or afemale, the pain and the suffering a mother endures through childbirth is the same.

Now it appears that girls are not allowed to be born into this world because of hos-tility. What conditions are unsafe those prevent any child’s survival? What choiceswas the mother denied before she made such a drastic, physically and emotionallypainful decision?

India is the second largest country in the world by population, but the pro-male trend in the male-female sex ratio is shifting at an alarming level. This is muchto the surprise of demographers, and more common in urban India than in ruralIndia. The change is due to the availability of ultrasound scanning devices to deter-mine the sex of the unborn fetus to allow for selective abortion.

Such a demographic shift certainly calls for introspection and evaluation ofprograms and policies. In India, society has normative restrictions over sexuallyactive life before marriage, therefore children are born after marriage. For a woman,marriage means relocation from her natal home to her husband’s home where herdecision-making is limited. This is due to her dependency to maintain her maritalstatus and survive.

In an average Indian household, there are few options for a mother regard-ing control of her own space, body, pregnancy, childbirth, or postnatal care and thishas not been exhausively researched or investigated. Remedying these reproduc-tive health issues would require education, family literacy programs, adult literacyprograms, and a massive campaign against gender disparity. The media could beparticularly effective in reaching the nation.

Unequal democracy is visible at various levels. Usually, in practical situationseverything is determined by the in-laws and the husband. The mother’s role is toaccept their decision. No mother deliberately makes the decision to terminate thepregnancy because the baby inside her womb is female. She is compelled to give into social and family pressure because her survival or her marriage is at stake, and themain purpose of the marriage is to belong to someone or to be the part of a biggerhousehold. This truth is universal regardless of religion, caste or class.

Due to rapid technological innovation, social trends in India are haphazardlycatching up with either the medieval or modern times, simultaneously. This is a chal-lenge for professionals supporting the welfare of families, women, children andyouth. The large, diverse population handles individual cases like mere statistics.There is little support available for someone taking a stand against girl discrimina-tion, especially in rural India.

The Department of Health and Family Welfare is ineffective at enforcing thestatute which bans sex-selective abortions. To better monitor individual womenwho conceive, programs at the village-level might be more effective. However, in alocal Primary Health Care center, the nurses and paramedics are not trained beyondgeneral hygiene and immunizations. It is difficult to document incidents of femalefeticide, making policy difficult to develop.

The ministry of Women and Children's Development, in the middle of its fiveyear strategic plan (2011-2016), has very low priority to enforce the law. There areno incentives for crime reporting. The meager incentives available to the mother, tosupport her prenatal expenses, are of little help. The resources for post-natal careand first five years of the child’s needs are distributed through various, non-manda-tory programs. There is support for couples who only have two girls.

There is no legal binding for parents, like compulsory education for childrenunder 18. There are very few programs supporting the welfare of girls through freeeducation and or vocational education, which could help the child grow into andself-supporting, healthy adult. The assumption that female feticide is happening inthe cases of third or fourth children leads to a justification of population control. Inthe 1970s after the legalization of Medical Termination of Pregnancies, it was alsoconsidered as a method of population control.

The theme chosen for the fifth statistics day, which is celebrated annually onthe birthday of famous Economist and Statistician, P.C. Mahalanobis on June 29th2011, was ‘gender statistics’. The report conveyed that son preference lead to fol-lowing figures: The most dominant factor influencing the sex ratio aberration ispreference for a son which is prevalent across India. Studying the preference trendfrom 1998-99 to 2005-06, it was observed that rural India shows a pronounced pref-erence for boys over girls as 37% of rural Indian women preferred sons to daughtersin 1998-99 vs. 26.6% in 2005-06. In the case of urban Indian women, 22.6% preferredsons to daughters in 1998-99, down to 14% in 2005-06. It is evident that there is adecline in the proportion of women preferring sons to daughters in both areas, adrop in 8.6 percentage points in urban India and 11.6 points in rural India.

Non-profit organizations like CARE are trying to include the ‘girl effect’ inpolicies; to invest in girls' education is to invest in healthy economies.

In her recent Publication, Unnatural Selection: Choosing boys over girls, andthe consequences of a world full of men, Mara Hvistendahl, after extensive researchin many countries, has concluded that this trend has its roots in the programs andpolicies held by governments globally. Eugenics, technology and scientific researchcollaborated, focused on population explosion and somehow were able to sell theidea that if parents were to have the most coveted offspring that this might reduceoverpopulation. The long term results left the demographers in a critical situation.

There is a lot hat needs to be done to undo this gender disparity. Pregnantwomen must be given choices and options, to be able to raise a girl in a secure envi-ronment and know that termination is not the only option. When a woman dares toquestion she has already taken her first step. As a part of a global society Indian pol-icy-makers can provide the answer to save girls from abortion.

Shalinee Gusain completed her M.Phil in Sociology at the Center for Study of SocialSystems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She researches issues of educa-tion, adult literacy, and issues related to women’s rights in India. She worked as aResearch Associate at Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. Currentlyshe volunteers as a tutor of GED students at the Adult Literacy Resource Center atMartin Luther King library. She can be reached at [email protected].

INCRA: How to Credibly RateSovereign RiskMichael Carbone

Surrounded by real world examples of conflicts of interest by “Big Three” for-prof-it credit rating agencies--Standard & Poor, Moody’s, and Fitch, the BertelsmannFoundation unveiled the blueprint for a hypothetical international nonprofit creditrating agency (INCRA) on April 19th at the climax of the Bertelsmann Foundation -Financial Times Conference held at the Newseum in Washington.

This has not been the first time alternative credit rating agencies havebeen proposed. Both India and China created own credit rating agencies, and theEuropean Commission proposed a European credit rating agency in the wake ofthe financial crisis. Dissatisfaction has spread to the extent that even an opensource credit rating platform called Wikirating has been created.

The “Big Three” agencies control 95% of the market and have taken signifi-cant flak for mispricing debt for their own gain. The three credit rating agenciesfollow business models that introduce a large potential for conflicts of interest. Intheir "issuer-pays" business model, the issuer of a bond to be rated pays the creditrating agency to be rated, providing an incentive for the issuer to seek out theagency most likely to provide the highest rating. Because there are at most threemain credit rating players (S&P and Moody’s together represent 80% of the mar-ket), this provides an incentive for the agencies to compete to provide a higherrating.

In addition, for complicated structured financial transactions such as col-lateralized debt obligations (CDO) with different layers or “tranches” of risk, theselarge credit rating agencies provide advisory services on how issuers can packagethe tranches to achieve a desired rating, obscuring the risk of default in high-return CDOs compared to similarly rated corporate bonds with lower returns. Thisled many investors to view CDOs as better buys, unaware that unlike other bonds,CDOs were strongly intertwined with the risky subprime mortgages that ultimatelywent under.

The Bertelsmann Foundation’s proposal is unique in positioning itself as anonprofit sovereign credit rating agency, an attempt to eschew the perceived con-flicts of interest in for-profit credit rating agencies. With an initial endowment ofUS$400 million, the international nonprofit credit rating agency (INCRA) would notbe self-sustaining, instead needing to find additional sources of income. In theblueprint laid out on 19th, these sources include corporations (who would findquality ratings important to their investments), civil society groups such as NGOsor private foundations, international organizations or supranationals such the IMFand the European Central Bank, and governments.

It is that last source of funding that seems so out-of-place. The nonprofitstatus of INCRA was meant to be a protection against the type of conflicts of inter-est or perceptions of conflicts of interest that made so many countries andinvestors lose confidence in the Big Three. Why then would the BertelsmannFoundation and its team of advisors introduce such a potential issue? The organi-zational firewalls installed to prevent any conflicts of interest seem severe, with aStakeholder Council providing a buffer between the funders and the organiza-tion’s operations, but through the Council funders supervise the ManagementBody, which does conduct the organization’s operations.

Additional measures were offered to prevent any undue influence by gov-ernments, but there seems to be little reason to keep the funding option openwhen the primary goal of INCRA in the first years of its existence is to build a solidreputation of institutional independence and quality. Furthermore, the potentialincome from government is not needed for the agency. Vincent Truglia, one of theexpert contributors to the blueprint and a former sovereign risk analyst atMoody’s, noted that the $400 million initial endowment could easily come fromtwo or more private foundations, without the need for government funding andthe tremendous complications to reputation and governance it entails.

By seeking or generating no income from the subject of its ratings, theBertelsmann Foundation can ensue that INCRA is known from the start to be atruly different type of credit rating agency.

Michael Carbone is a 2nd year student in International Law and Organizations;China Studies; and Energy, Resources and the Environment. He is an alumnus ofHNC. He currently serves as the SAIS Observer’s Associate Editor for ElectronicMedia.



Bologna Center SederStaci Raab

Successfully communicating to my butcher in broken Italian why I needed a shankbone (yes, just the bone) was one of the more unique components of planningPassover in Bologna. Still, after procuring unleavened bread, convincing my mother tomake matzah ball soup for sixty people on her vacation, and securing enough wine fora ceremony that calls for no less than four glasses per person, locating a lamb shankbone was just another detail.

Passover is one of the most important holidays in the Jewish calendar and it isone that takes quite a bit of forethought. In most Jewish households readying forPassover means cleaning out the house of any chametz (leavened food that is forbid-den during Passover) and preparing for the Seder, a traditional dinner on the first andsecond night of the holiday. With my family visiting from the United States and thespring-break schedules of my peers, organizing was a bit complicated to say the least.Bologna has a quaint, but miniscule Jewish population and unsurprisingly lacks theconvenience of Kroger with a kosher section. Thankfully, the administration offeredexperience and advice, the student government provided financial support, and myclassmates contributed enthusiasm and food to pull together a memorable celebra-tion.

One classmate in particular, Geoff Levin, dedicated his expertise and acted asthe emcee of the evening - leading the Seder and making sure all the commandmentsof Passover were observed. Following tradition is an imperative for the Passover holi-day, as evidenced by the word Seder, which, in Hebrew, means “order.” The ceremonyfollows an explicit order outlined in a special book called a haggadah. Although mostof the Seder’s participants knew the story of the Hebrew slaves exodus from Egypt, rel-atively few had had the chance to experience a traditional Seder. For those partici-pants it was a learning experience replete with symbols, stories, and yes, even singing.For the Jews in attendance it was bittersweet, at once exciting to share a tradition anda bit sad, doing so far from home.

For me, this Passover was one of the most rewarding not only because of howmany people came, but also because of when it happened. Since Jewish holidays fol-low the lunar calendar, the date of Passover changes from year to year. This year,Passover fell on the first night of spring break, directly after a class debate where I wasassigned the position that the US should recognize Palestine as an independentnation. Celebrating the story of the Jewish slaves’ arrival in the land of Israel took on awhole new light after defending the merits of an independent Palestine in the presentday.

But geo-politics and Italian butchers notwithstanding, sharing Passover withmy family, my classmates, and even a few professors in the end was just another oneof those amazing cross-cultural occurrences that feel so natural as SAIS.

Staci Raab is a graduate of the University of Virginia. She is a MA Candidate currentlystudying at the Bologna Center. She is concentrating in Middle East studies.

The Thriving Marriage Market ofXuanwu Lake

Gabriel NelsonOn a breezy Sunday afternoon in Xuanwu Lake Park, the sunlight of early springpeeks through the urban haze and over the top of the 600-year-old city wall of theMing Dynasty. It shines down on hundreds of people in a small plaza north of themain gate, all taking part in one of the biggest dating scenes in Nanjing, China.

At the 相亲会xiāngqīnhuì ("matchmaking fair") of Xuanwu Lake, nothingovertly suggests that there is even any "dating" occurring. No young men ask youngwomen to dinner; no one rotates through speed-dating tables; no clusters of younggirls giggle to each other; no groups of young men try to talk up each other'scourage; no flowers exchange hands. In fact, there are very few young people at all.Nearly everyone at the xiangqinhui is closer to 70 than 17, and they carry not bou-quets and chocolates, but printed packages of personal information.

The "dating" that goes on in this plaza is almost purely between fathers,mothers, and grandparents, trying their best to market their offspring to the par-ents of potential mates. This vicarious arrangement is similar to the traditionalChinese institution of 媒婆méipó (older female matchmakers): The young peoplegenerally do not meet their counterparts until they have been vetted by both setsof parents.

There is no hurry here. Many attendees are retired, and come mainly tocatch up on gossip with their friends. Many spend most of the afternoon playingChinese chess or poker in one of the many tiled gazebos that line the waterfront.

Since the young people on offer are not physically present, the most com-mon practice at the Xuanwu Lake xiangqinhui is that of posting and handing outCVs. Although attendees prefer to use phrases like "personal data" or "contact infor-mation," they are essentially distributing résumés. Clotheslines dangle from treetrunks throughout the plaza, chock-full of phone numbers, email addresses, andshort biographies of would-be husbands and wives. (Continued Page 8)

An Incomplete Guide to Nanjing:Paris Baguette

Michelle Fechtor Getting to Know YouThere is no “right” way to get to know a city.

A tourist will often spend time visiting popular attractions, eating at themost well-known restaurants, and walking the most commercial streets. Althoughthis method will give you a glimpse into the area’s history and highlights of a cul-ture’s “特产” (tèchǎn), or special local products, it provides little more than a super-ficial knowledge of the city.

To truly blend in to a new place, become part of its ebb and flow, and adaptits rhythm as your own takes time and flexibility. It is difficult to measure this kindof integration. Have you achieved it when you can get from one place to anotherwithout a map? When a stranger on the street turns to you as a local for directions?When you know the best local restaurant to frequent? Or do you only know a citywhen you know its social issues, management problems, or upcoming plans fordevelopment? It’s difficult to say. I have met people who have lived in New York foryears who have never been to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building,and I have met travelers abroad who can navigate a city like a local.

My NanjingNo longer a tourist and not yet a local, I find myself somewhere in the middle inNanjing. The owners of my favorite restaurant know what my favorite dish isbefore I order it, I have taken the bus from an unknown location without difficulty,and I have developed my own rhythm here, even if it does not match the beat ofthe rest of Nanjing.

However, I have lived my life here within a bubble, seldom venturing out-side of 鼓楼 (gǔlóu), which is the “Drum Tower” district in which I live. My sphere islimited, but I am getting to know it well. I do not pretend to know the city intimate-ly, nor do I pretend to know it as well as I “should” (although it is difficult to meas-ure this, too), but I can share with you the little I have discovered in the process.And what better topic is there than food?

The New Place In TownMy sweet tooth started ruling my mouth long ago, but, like much else in China, thedessert scene here is in its developing stage. However, at the beginning of March, as ifto welcome HNCers back to school, a link in the Paris Baguette (巴黎贝甜) chain set upshop on Ninghai Road by McDonald’s. The excitement of something new, along withthe special opening promotional prices—8 kuai for a coffee and an astonishingly low 3kuai for milk tea—had the place packed three days straight. I was there all three days.

Day one included a delicious milk tea and a so-called waffle. Though pressedwith the customary grid that so many of us have used as mini-syrup pools or buttertroves, this “waffle” was just decent freshbread masquerading as something else.Nevertheless, I went back, and day two hadme reaching for the small, understatedchocolate cake that sat on the top shelf,above two rows of lavishly decorated cakebeauty queens that stole the spotlight. However, this simple, little chocolate wondershocked us all with its creamy frosting covering three moist layers that, surprisingly, didnot crumble at the touch of a knife. To top it all, the 20 kuai price tag (in comparison to100+ kuai cakes that were only marginally bigger) made it the silent winner.

On day three I returned to the still packed Paris Baguette for a bagel. Unhappywith the sad, microwaved version at Skyways (another local bakery), I was eager to seewhat the new bakery could provide. It turns out that Paris Baguette sells real bagels. Iskipped over the plain, reached for the cinnamon raison, and knew by its soft give thatI was in luck. The one utter disappointment was when I asked for cream cheese and theworker behind the counter not only looked at me as though I was asking for the moon,but also had the nerve to tell me, “No, you’re just supposed to eat it plain”. If onlySkyways and Paris Baguette could do a bagel-cream cheese swap—we’d finally have itall.

Michelle Fechtor graduated from Middlebury College in 2011, where she double-majored in Chinese and studio art. Currently a certificate student at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, Michelle is continuing her Chinese studies, taking classes in internation-al relations, foreign policy, and law. (originally published on HNCwang.net)

“My sweet tooth started ruling mymouth long ago, but, like muchelse in China, the dessert scenehere is in its developing stage.”

Let us [email protected]



The SAIS Observer Travel CornerRelocation and the Importance of

Being WillingBethany Allen, Photos by Lauren Gloudeman

We, the HNC Hui minority research team, were piled in the bus, driving ona wide, smooth new highway through the dusty barrens of southern Ningxia.Suddenly on the left side, we saw an army of brown brick sheds lined up row afterrow. There were hundreds of them, and as we sped down the highway, many moresheds appeared. I use the word ‘shed’ because it was not at all clear to us that thesewere, in fact, tiny houses. Professor Hua Tao explained that this was the abandonedsite of the relocation of an entire "natural village." The mountainous southern regionof Ningxia is extremely dry and unable to support the 350,000 people who live inscattered villages. The area suffers from severe poverty. Since trucking in water tothe area is uneconomical, the government has recently resorted to relocating entirevillages to regions with better access to water resources. However, as starkly mani-fested by the eerie ghost village we had come across, these measures have some-times failed.

Further down the road, we stopped at Hui'an Village, another relocation siteof an entire "natural village." This village was populated, though the residentsseemed to have only a tenuous relationship with their new surroundings, and thevillage itself seemed sterile, stiff, and uncomfortable, like new shoes that haven'tbeen broken in yet. Here, the burnt orange brick houses with their dusty bricked-inyards were also lined up in row after neat row—five hundred of them. A new ele-mentary school with a large sports field out front softened the geometric harshnessof the village and showed its human side, while slogans painted onto brick wallsurged residents to abide by the Planned Birth Policy.

We were shown the house of one local family. Compared to many of China'srural areas, the homes here are safer, cleaner, and more modern. Professor Maencouraged us to speak with the members of the family. I was standing near him ashe approached a young woman and asker her age. She said she was 27. Upon learn-ing that I was also 27, he seemed very pleased with the coincidence, and energeti-cally encouraged the two of us to talk. The young woman had married 9 years ago,had one daughter, and had moved to the village with her husband's family; her ownfamily remained in a different village that also faced imminent relocation.

Professor Ma then interjected our small talk with a question that I have sub-sequently spent hours reflecting upon. He said to the young woman, "Westernersare very concerned with whether or not your village was willing to leave your homeand relocate here. Was everyone willing?"

I found Professor Ma's phrasing of this question to be perhaps the mostinteresting sentence I heard the entire week we spent in Ningxia. A classmate ofmine, who overheard our conversation, later told me that she felt Professor Ma waspatronizing us foreigners, referring almost sarcastically to our "Western" obsessionwith human rights. However, Professor Ma was not directing the question at us; hewas speaking to the woman. I believe that he was phrasing the question in a wayboth she and I could understand, that spoke both of his expertise in mediatingbetween two very different cultures, and also of the vast chasm in political discoursethat separates the average American citizen and the average Chinese villagedweller, especially as to their awareness of political rights. Professor Ma had toannotate his question with an explanation of why he was asking it. Clearly thewoman was not aware (or at least, he did not believe she was aware) that in manycountries around the world, forced relocation is a hot-button issue among humanrights watchers.

The young woman started to say people were not willing to move, but thenher father-in-law piped up loudly and said that yes, yes, everyone was willing. Thewoman became quiet, and after a few moments disappeared into the house.

A few days later, during a roundtable discussion at Professor Ma’s NingxiaUniversity Institute of Social Sciences, I asked why some village relocations hadfailed. One of the professors replied that although residents agree to move, theiroriginal villages remain intact. After the officialrelocation, there is little to stop the residents fromsimply returning to their home village for weeks ormonths at a time, or even permanently movingback.

As it turns out, heated discussions of the‘shoulds’ of political rights aside, the willingness ofthe residents to relocate determines whether ornot the village relocation is a success. And that isthe importance of being willing.

Right: A local man at a Sufi mosque in Tongxin,Ningxia

Bethany Allen is a Graduate Certificate student atthe Hopkins-Nanjing Center in Nanjing, China.Lauren Gloudeman is currently a Certificate stu-dent at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and will focuson China Studies as an M.A. candidate at SAIS thisfall. She graduated from the University of Virginiawith majors in Philosophy and Chinese.

Cultural and Ethnic Tourism inLaos

Cristina Garafola

Street View In Luang Prabang

Of all the places I visited over winter break, the river town Luang Prabangin Laos might have been my favorite. A UNESCO World Heritage site, it’s a sleepytown bordered by rivers on two sides; palm trees line the sidewalks as you stroll bythe restored old buildings and wats, or temples. In the town itself, there’s not muchto do besides explore the temples and shops and eat delicious Laotian and Westernfood, which my fellow travelers and I did happily for most of our time in the city.

However, advertisements for day trips and side trips to sites outside ofLuang Prabang are everywhere. Brochures, travel agencies, and tuk-tuk drivers allpromise unforgettable experiences by learning about Laotian “traditional culture”such as cooking, dance, weaving, alcohol fermentation and elephant riding.Similarly, other packages offer ethnic tourism “adventures,” chances for tourists tointeract with ethnic minoritiesthrough trekking or visiting ruralvillages. These kinds of tour pack-ages are not unique to LuangPrabang or Laos, either; otherplaces we visited, such as Thailandand northern Vietnam, alsooffered similar trips.

As visitors to Laos and with little understanding of Laotian history and cul-ture, it is only natural that people want to take advantage of these kinds of trips—we were no exception and eventually settled on a cooking class (I’m hoping to usemy newfound skills and recipes back in Nanjing and D.C.) and a half-day riding ele-phants. The challenge was to pick activities that we were really compelled to do thatalso promoted responsible tourism and development (as much as we could) of thiswonderful area.

For example, Luang Prabang has a tradition in which every morning, thetown’s thousands of monks walk the main streets to receive alms—generally rice—from locals and tourists. Unfortunately, some profit-hungry vendors have taken toselling low quality food to tourists at the standard higher prices, and when given asalms to the monks, the food has made some of the monks quite sick. Also, sometourists focus more on the photo-op than on the significance of the religious customby pushing and shoving to take photos and allowing their camera flashes to go offright into the monks’ eyes. The monastic community has tried to push back againstthe increasingly touristy alms-giving ceremony, but according to some guidebooks,the ceremony is such a tourist draw that government authorities have threatened toreplace the monks with laypeople dressed in monks’ robes if the monks refuse to

take alms. The result is that alms-giving in Luang Prabang is not onlya religious event, but also a politicaland economic one that creates ten-sions in the local community. Thiswas one activity we decided to skipin Laos.

Another activity we’d been dream-ing of doing for months was ele-phant riding, but it was reallyimportant to choose a safe and well-run elephant camp before wehopped aboard behind our mahout(elephant keeper/driver). Similar tothe situation in Thailand, someLaotian elephant camps are well-run rehabilitation centers for formerlogging elephants or animals forcedto perform tricks to earn their keep

(Continued Page 8)

“…the ceremony is such a touristdraw that government authori-ties have threatened to replacethe monks with laypeopledressed in monks’ robes if themonks refuse to take alms.”



I’m your ride, literally.

(Continued From Page 7)but others treat the animals poorly and underfeed them to cut costs. The elephantcamp we went with was a little more expensive than the others, but the facilitieswere first rate and the elephants looked content in their new jobs as short-distancemounts for tourists and high-volume consumers of bananas fed by their gratefulpassengers. In this case, we knew our tourist dollars would feed back into a programthat would continue to rescue more elephants and hire more local workers to takecare of them.

Finally, I’ve griped above about tours that focus on “ethnic exploration,” butout of the countries we’ve visited on this trip and especially compared to China,Laos scores pretty highly on attitudes toward ethnic minorities in a mod-ern context. We spent a few hours one morning in the Traditional Artsand Ethnicity Centre, a small museum that places Laotian ethnicminorities in a historical context but also explores how modernizationand globalization have affected the peoples of Laos. The exhibits werebrief but fascinating, and it was refreshing to see this nuanced per-spective towards ethnicity as compared to China, where ethnictourism is thriving but often traps minorities into wearing costumesand performing rituals, regardless of their stance on those traditions.

One of the placards in the museum, entitled “Ethnicity,Identity and Change,” really hit home for me. Here is an excerpt:

Ethnic communities in developing countries are not frozen intime as historical or ‘traditional’ icons. In fact, they are developing andchanging as much as cultures in Europe, the Americas, or evenVientiane…. Economic development and modernization does not [sic]require abandoning one’s traditions or ethnic identity. However, withchanging livelihoods and lifestyles, upholding elements of ethnicidentity such as language, clothing, religion and rituals is a challenge.Through learning and exchange, we can foster appreciation andpreservation of Laos’ multi-ethnic heritage while still looking towardsthe future. (TAEC, Luang Prabang)

Although tourism “adventure” packages are likely to remainpopular in Laos and throughout Southeast Asia, museums like TAECremind us that ethnic minorities and traditional ways of life are not justanother thing to check off of our list of sights to see. Rather, tourists’new cultural and ethnic experiences have a broader context of howthey affect that community economically, socially, environmentally,and politically as well as how they affect us personally. As participantsin this process, we play a role too, and our responsible tourism anddevelopment practices can go a long way toward helping places likeLuang Prabang keep what’s wonderful about them for generations tocome.

Cristina Garafola, HNC ’12, SAIS ’13, studies the ramifications of China’srise for its global status and its relationship with the United States. Sheis also interested in ethnic tourism in China and abroad. She has previ-ously worked at the Department of State. This piece was previouslypublished on Cristina’s blog http://clgatsais.tumblr.com/

(Continued From Page 6)Parents of prospective suitors peruse the listings, searching for the right combina-tion of age, educational background, and career experience. Some people walkaround and show their son or daughter's résumé to other parents, relying on word-of-mouth advertising to generate interest.

Not everyone approves of such a ruthlessly utilitarian system of matchmak-ing. A local office worker, who is trying to find a husband for her younger sister, saysbluntly, "There is no love here." She explains her perspective: In her eyes, no one canbe truly happy if they are pushed into a romantic relationship by family and socialpressures. In spite of this, she is pushing her sister to find a husband, before she getstoo old for marriage and becomes a 剩女 shèngnǚ ("leftover woman").

Some people suggest that in addition to undermining the role of love andromance, the xiangqinhui exacerbates class stratification and elitist attitudes in asociety that is already burdened with severe income-equality and social-statusissues. In the relatively informal atmosphere at Xuanwu Lake, the overwhelmingmajority of "daters" and theirparents generally seem tocome from lower-middle-classbackgrounds. One student atNanjing University explainsthat wealthier people inNanjing also use xiangqinhuievents to match-make, but have their own, far more exclusive versions. She likenswealthier xiangqinhui to yacht clubs in the West: Social circles with a high member-ship cost, where the rich find friends, lovers, and spouses who have similar back-grounds and experiences to theirs. She uses a common Chinese idiom to describethis: 门当户对 Mén dāng hù duì (figuratively, "Marry someone from your own socialclass").

However, many modern young people still respect and even actively seekout marriages through xiangqinhui. For a variety of reasons, some people trust theirparents and other relatives better than themselves, at least in matters of the heart.Another Nanjing University student tells of a close personal friend who met a manvia a xiangqinhui, fell in love, and married him only five months later. By allaccounts, they are still happily married.

Without the cultural glue of traditional, tight-knit, village communities, per-sonal relationships are more and more challenging to build and maintain. In spite ofsoaring populations and cramped residential quarters, large cities like Nanjing canbe very lonely for those cut off from the customs and conventions of their ancestralhomes. Xiangqinhui offer a way to retain some of these conventions, while at thesame time warding off the perceived social isolation of modern city life. With risingdivorce rates, the cold impersonality of urban culture, and uncertainty about thefuture of their society, many Chinese will continue to find comfort in the methods ofthe past.

Gabe Nelson is a frequent contributor to the SAIS Observer. He will be graduatingfrom the certificate program at the HNC this June and joining SAIS-DC in theautumn.

Not everyone approves of such aruthlessly utilitarian system ofmatchmaking. A local office worker,who is trying to find a husband forher younger sister, says bluntly,"There is no love here."

Speed dating in full swing at Xuanwu Lake



From page 7, “The Importance of Being Willing”Clockwise from top: A deserted mosque in Tongxin,Ningxia; Camels perched at Ningxia West Movie City;Children from a mountain village in Tongxin, Ningxia; Aman living in a relocation village watches as his solar kettleboils water; A local man at a Sufi mosque in Tongxin,Ningxia. Center: Reflections of a deserted mosque.



Things SAIS Has Not Taught Me

An Op-Ed by Plato,Your Resident SAIS Phi losopher-At-LargeThe year is ending and unemploy-ment is keeping many relation-ships together. This is true, butrest assured, I love you all, too. It'sbeen a great year, a year of loveand a year of broken hearts, but Idon't hold it against you, lovelies.A year of massages and massag-ing of egos; OK you got massages,too. Though my education at SAIShas been rich and my personalconnections fiercely close, thereare still room for more growth.

1. Love can happen anywhere--especially online. See my last Observer piece, for real.

2. My Johns Hopkins hoodie conceals my broken heart half the time, but yeahit's finals.

3. The booze makes coffee go down smoother4. Dancing is much easier at the SAIS ball. And my simple slow jam looks bet

ter if I'm in a tux. 5. I stopped using the library for studying years ago—I get my books and go. 6. We can say "I love you" in many languages but still can't pass proficiency

(amen, sister)7. Apple should totally sponsor SAIS—what is tuition up to now? 40K??8. SAIS has talent—I saw SAIS-a-Polooza? 9. SAIS also has copious drinkers, I sort of remember seeing SAIS-a-Polooza.10. Halloween...I remember the ones when I was a kid.11. Free food: Pizza is the only kind of “free lunch”12. When is the calculator-burning?13. It takes so long to get a sandwich at the Koreans' because they make it with

love. That chop' chicken salad is fine with crack for all I care.14. Yeah my rule now is that everything I toss goes into recycling. Life makes

me feel guilty enough already. 15. If DC is the healthiest city, we sure drink a lot, too...but I have no recollection

of that, congressman. 16. Yeah they do stuff there, but DC's got all the class. Did you see the SAIS cher

ry Blossom Ball?17. 3 Santas would have been better18. BNM has become an institution—but it will never compete with SAIS19. SAIS Style Tumblr means we're already classy enough. 20. Are we really future leaders? Answer: fo sho'

P.S. The Cherry Blosom Ball photos I took will not be sent to your parents after all.

Our crazy year has been unfor-gettable, and we can surf couch-es with the best. While the LoveBoat keeps sailing, we must allresist the urge to jump ship. Seeyou in the fall, SAIS. And first-years, Welcome!

Plato does a lot of hard thinkingfor SAIS. He is a professor emeri-tus and a SAISer, class of 393 BCE.Plato is Professor emeritus atJohns Hopkins university andAthens state university. He is theauthor of thirty-six dialogues andthirteen letters, including euthy-phro, (the) apology (of socrates),Crito, Phaedo, Cratylus,Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman,Parmenides, Philebus, (the) sym-posium, Phaedrus, Charmides,Laches, Lysis, Euthydemus,Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno ,Hippias (minor), Ion, Menexenus,(the) Republic, Timaeus, andCritias. Plato could sadly notattend the Bologna center due tohis role in provoking the GreekDebt Crisis and subsequenthouse arrest.

SAIS Has Taught Me a Lot (and Other Random Musings)

Nicole G. EppsThe year is ending and unemployment is keeping many relationships together. It'sbeen a great year, a year of love and a year of broken hearts. A year of massages andmassaging of egos. Many have found love, many have found crushes and othershope for a better future. So, dear SAIS, here are the things that I have learned aboutlove, life, fashion, diversity(?) and econ at Nitze.

1. Love can happen anywhere and that includes the cafeteria, Nitze, or at thePilot's Association Building. (Well I haven't personally experienced this but I'veheard rumors—I experienced awkward run-ins while buying my daily egg-and-cheese sandwiches) 2. Just because you are wearing a Johns Hopkins sweatshirt doesn't signal youare above fashion, it just illustrates that you are lazy and/or it's finals3. Alcohol makes everything better...also over-priced coffee 4. Dancing to the beat that only you can hear is fun—dancing off-rhythm at animpromptu dance party at happy hour—that is what memories are made of5. The library is the place for studying, sleeping, gchat, gossiping, fake work-ing and NOT hooking up 6. We can say "I love you" in many languages but still can't pass proficiency7. Apparently Apple sponsors our school because everyone has a Mac8. SAIS has talent—did you see SAIS-a-Polooza? 9. SAIS also has copious drinkers, did you see SAIS-a-Polooza?10. Halloween, do you remember? Yeah, neither do we11. Free food: are you sick of pizza yet?12. Can I burn my calculator yet? Shall I make a Facebook event for it? 13. Why does it take so long to get a sandwich at the Koreans'? What's in thatchop' chicken salad? Is it crack?14. We have new recycling bins but overflowing trash15. If DC is the healthiest city, we sure smoke a lot—cigarettes that is 16. There's thriving a meat market and they brew beer at Xuanwu Lake, lots ofpasta throwing in Bologna. And DC? ... crickets17. Our 2 Santas are kinda creepy18. BNM has become an institution—what happens next year? Rosemary notthyme? 19. SAIS Style Tumblr, see number 220. Are we really future leaders?

P.S. The Cherry Blossom Ball brought the Klassy and the trashy together and thereare pictures to prove it.

It's been a crazy year at SAIS and I wouldn't change a thing except for the ProblemSets. While we may not have jobs yet, we have friends all over the world—couchsurfing goes international! Thanks for the best year a Cruise Director could ever askfor and may the Love Boat keep sailing. So, we won't say “goodbye” but “see yousoon.”

Nicole G. Epps is a 2nd year student studying international Law and organizationsand works to combat domestic teen trafficking. She graduates in May 2012, afterwhich she leaves large shoes to fill at the Observer ladies’ coumnist desk.



The Famous SeanSean Ages

“So… you…”“Sean”“Right. Sean. Do Americans listen to their parents when it comes to matters

of love? If the parents oppose a relationship will their children listen?”Under the glare and heat of the studio lights, I gripped the microphone for

support and tried to act natural. The host cocked his head in anticipation of myanswer. The studio audience watched me with interest. The cameras swung towardsme and zoomed in. The world was watching.

“Love is a personal matter,” I said in a torrent of accented Chinese. “Childrenlisten to their parents but for love it is your choice.”

There I was, a guest on a Chinese dating show. Not a bachelor vying for theattention of a nubile young woman, but rather one of the four “good foreignfriends” of TT (or Titty, as she kept pronouncing it), the unfortunately-namedChinese contestant who was trying to find the most suitable boyfriend. Somehow Ihad ended up on the popular Jiangsu province TV show “The Conveyor Belt ofLove.”

An e-mail had circulated around the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, promising afew hundred RMB for appearing on a dating show. Two students at the center hadrecently won on a different dating show and had ended up winning free trips toHawaii. Why not me? With nothing better to do on a steamy Friday, I volunteered,along with three other HNC students, Molly, Claire, and Brian. The casting callsought four foreigners “who will pretend to be her friends welcoming her toAustralia, which includes cheering and smiling, and apparently a scripted one-linerby each.” Sounded easy.

At the Jiangsu Province Television Studios, we met in a conference roomwith the director and TT, a young Chinese girl wearing gallons of makeup and tex-ting away on an iPhone adorned with rabbit-ear extensions.

“You will be my friends… on the show of course!” she said, with a dismissivewave.

The director issued a piece of paper with four lines in Chinese about howhighly we thought of our good friend TT. Molly and Claire pouncedon the shorter lines; I was saddled with the longest sentence aboutTT’s “outstanding moral character” and “overwhelmingly friendlypersonality.”

Someone asked, “Should we speak in Chinese or English?”The director leaned forward and spoke with a soft voice,

“My viewers think that it’s way more interesting when foreignersspeak Chinese. So you should speak Chinese.”

“Oh, and when you come in on stage,” he added, “Youshould sing ‘The Ketchup Song.’”

We explained that we had never heard of any “KetchupSong.”

“But it was very famous in the West!” he exclaimed.We proposed singing “Waltzing Matilda” instead, seeing as

we were Australians (supposedly).The next day we arrived at the studio, went to the Green

Room, and met with the director again, who issued us some lastminute additional lines. Mine was “If your family opposes your rela-tionship, what will you do?”

And to our immense relief, he noted “Oh, and don’t worry ifyou mess up, its not live.”

Phew.We sat around for a while, waiting for filming to commence,

when the makeup artist burst into the room. He was the type of guywho held one hand up in a delicate gesture near his shoulder at alltimes and hid his eyes behind thick-framed glasses with no lenses.

He scanned over us, appraising whether or not we needed makeup.“No, no, no, YOU!” he said, pointing Claire. “You need to come with me. You needmakeup.”

When he was finished, we proceeded to the stage studio where, to ourimmense surprise, a studio audience sat waiting. The director plopped us backstageand told us to come on and sing “Waltzing Matilda” when we heard the host say,“Now welcome TT’s friends!”

We waited backstage and missed our cue. The sound effects and musiccame to a stumbling halt, and the director ran back to admonish us.

The second time around we nailed it a little better, bursting onto the stagein a conga line singing the chorus of Waltzing Matilda (they ended leaving the songand dance on the cutting room floor). We settled down on our uncomfortable stoolsand let the hosts, two hyperactive buddies, get the proceedings underway.

Chinese shows including the strangest array of sound effects. Every state-ment from anyone is followed by a BOING! Or a HONK! Or those other cartoony nois-es you couldn’t source if you tried but forever associate with certain actions in WileE. Coyote cartoons. The music, too, was a bewildering array of dance-pop versionsof mid-90s songs that you were grateful to have forgotten.

The director ran a tight ship – by which I mean he sat cross-legged in frontof all six cameras, furiously scribbling directions for the hosts on four differentwhiteboards. While the hosts were talking, the director would hastily hold up awhiteboard that said “ASK THE FOREIGNER WHAT HE THINKS ABOUT CHINA!” Seeingyour name on whiteboard instilled a deep sense of dread. Poor Brian was forced totry to identify different Tai Chi poses after he made the mistake of saying he enjoyedMartial Arts.

The show began with each bachelor (four Chinese men) performing an act.Bachelor #1 did a bit from Hamlet in Chinese for TT, so naturally the director told thehost to ask me to do the same line in English.

The second round involved appraising gifts from the remaining three con-testants.

“Sean, would you buy a bikini for a girl for your first date?” the host askedme.

I thought I was safe answering, “No, I’d buy chocolates or flowers.”Not enough. The host wanted more. “Why?”Now I was in over my head. “I… uhh... I mean…” I sputtered. “You don’t

know how big a girl is before you meet her… so you can’t buy a bikini that’s too big,or she’ll get mad, and you can’t buy a bikini that’s too small, or she’ll get mad.”

Either my answer was logical or my Chinese was so bad that the host lostinterest, but at any rate he turned his attention away from me and continued on tothe next victim… err… contestant.

Molly was asked which bachelor was the handsomest. She picked one andthe host asked who was more attractive, him or the bachelor. Molly picked the bach-elor. The host told her to be a little friendlier. Then he asked me (and forgot my namefor the umpteenth time). I told him my name and admonished him for forgetting…again. He told me to be a little friendlier.

Continuing on his sudden mean streak, he started imitating Claire’s centralChinese accent (she first learned further inland where they talk a little funny). Brian’shair was a target, but the biggest insults were reserved for contestant #4, who hadthe misfortune of screwing up his lines several times. The host asked TT if she reallywanted to date a man with no brain, and then accused him of that worst of Chinesecrimes, losing face.

Five hours later I was slightly richer and slightly more famous. As for TT andher beau, last I heard, she doesn’t actually date contestants from rigged datingshows.

Sean Ages graduated from Northwestern University in 2009 where he studiedEconomic and International Studies. He is a current M.A. student at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. When he is not busy writing his thesis, he likes to go bowling.

What is Sacrifice?Kartavya Sharma

What is Sacrifice?Once I asked someone wise

Is it the student, who goes for graduate studyLeaving his family and salary, while his future is still muddy

Is it the sportsman, who puts himself in a cageBefore he reaches the big stage

Is it the soldier, who is ready to die for his countryIn turn making the supreme sacrifice, adorning the cemetery

Is it an emotion, which can be definedOr an act, which can't be theorized

Elton John sang its not a simple word, understand you mustOtherwise how can you understand your parents, who always put

you first?

A visit to the Arlington National Cemetery inspired Kartavya Sharma,a 1st year Strategic Studies student, to write this poem.



The Ecological Migrant Project inNingxia: Population Distribution

and Living ConditionsChai Suyuan

The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is the most important Hui area in China.Today, the total population of Ningxia is approximately 6 million, of which about35% are of the Hui ethnic group. The Hui people live mainly in the southern part ofthe region, whereas the Han (the most populous ethnic group in China, comprisingabout 90% of its citizens) reside in the north. The southern part of Ningxia has a hos-tile climate, dry and extreme. The Gobi desert conquers the land, and lack of waterlimits its life and development. As a result, those who live in the predominantly-Huisouth struggle to support themselves.

Some Hui who live in cities among the Han in cities tend to have closer rela-tionships with Han Chinese, and their population is less concentrated in Hui com-munities. This development stands in contrast to the 1980s, when the Han livedclearly within the urbanized area, while the Hui resided outside. Now, due to grow-ing economic opportunities, there appears to be less of a cultural and communica-tion gap between the two ethnic groups. This achievement is a first step towards alarge-scale Hui migration from the poor southern region to the wealthier north, par-ticularly Yinchuan and other big cities.

According to the migrant project of the central government, moving peoplefrom mountain or arid areas in the south to better areas in the north has continuedsince 1980s. Seven towns and cities are regarded as some of the most severe andtoughest regions on earth for humans to live. The HNC Hui research team stoppedat the home of a rural family near Tongxin. The householder told us, due to inacces-sible water, they have to buy transported water from remote areas. The price of thewater is roughly ten times the normal price, which takes up about 10-20 percent oftheir income. During the past 3 decades, the government has encouraged and senttens of thousands of impoverished people to build new homes in other regionsthrough several programs.

Starting in 2011, the autonomous government began a new program called“Ecological Migrant.” The government invested billions of RMB to build new housesfor the new migrants. The government also gave them new lands and livestock toearn more money. The project aimed to move 350,000 from poorer regions in thesouth to the north within five years. We also visited a new ecological migrant villagenamed “Hui An Village.” The villagers, mostly Hui people, came from different

places in the south. From what the researchteam gathered, their living standard hasincreased since living there. A little less thanhalf of their house is built by the govern-ment, and the other is built on their own. Inaddition, they had been granted farmland

sufficient for planting grain, vegetables or fruit trees. The village was complete withmodern infrastructure, including schools and hospitals. Many younger migrantschoose to continue on to larger cities to find work.

Unavoidably, this extensive movement could cause some problems. Oneaspect is the potential risk of religious conflict. Different regions have formed diver-sified Islamic sects, and they have built their own mosques, khanaqahs, and tombsin different regions. Once those groups of people migrate to new regions and formnew communities, religious conflicts may happen. Dealing with this religious issuecan be challenging, as it may not be wise to promote the establishment of exclusiveand competing sects within a single community.

The other potential problem is the villagers’ limited working capacity insuburban areas. The education in those mountain areas lags behind major cities.Their living background consists of farming or labor work. When exposed to compe-tition with urban citizens, they may end up with jobs of the lowest income. Thisproblem can only besolved with time, persist-ent education invest-ment, and assistancepolicies for industriesand commerce depart-ments. It could be toughstarting out, but themore frequent these dif-ferent groups of peoplelive with each other, theless miscommunicationand prejudice will exist.

Chai Suyuan is a first-year M.A. candidate atSAIS Nanjing. She is con-centrating inInternational Economicsand minoring inAmerican Studies.

Right: Ningxia Provincein central China

“The price of the water isroughly ten times thenormal price, which takesup about 10-20 percentof their income.”

Why Is China ‘In Bed’ with TheCaribbean? A Question of Motives

David Geraldo FrazerThe Chinese government in recent years has developed economic and politicalrelations with Caribbean countries so much that China has become a powerfulleader in the region. This has raised some tension among Caribbean nationals andforeign governments such as the United States who are concerned about the moti-vation behind its new relationships.

China has promised to invest US$6.3 billion into the Caribbean in 2012. Over$3.3 billion of that is being invested in a country with the closest proximity to theUnited States, The Bahamas, which at its closest point is 50 miles away from Florida. China has also lent money to other countries, and provided gifts such as new ports,athletic stadiums, and even residences for some government officials. Before I get into that politics of it, I want to offer this sentiment: Why shouldn’t the Chinese be interested in The Caribbean?

Things have changed since the 1960’s when the regional economy wasdominated by small scale farming and fishing enterprises, poverty was widespread,and tourism was much less robust. Today, the islands of The Caribbean as a grouphave a very educated population compared to other middle income countries.These countries have relatively developed banking systems, trained human capital,expertise in finance, and especially expertise in tourism and marketing. Their gov-ernments are relatively stable, which makes for good business, and they have aglobal reputation for exoticism and natural beauty.

All of these characteristics make the Caribbean ideal for investment. Theargument has been made that China’s activities are solely economically driven andthe optimist inside of me tends to side with this view. China has the lucky positionof holding trillions of US dollar reserves and is eager to use that money to invest inhigh yielding projects around the world. If it sees an opportunity for its investmentsto generate profit in the future, even though it would be perceived as suspicious - ithas every right to pursue such opportunities. But should the US be sceptical aboutChina’s motives?

Some Bahamians believe that China intends to develop relations to achievea specific end which is largely unknown. Some have suggested that the result of thisera of Chinese investments in the Caribbean could lead to ‘Cuban Missile Crisis 2’with the target being the United States. Thus, the future of the Caribbean region isone that is viewed with the motives of China in mind.

I don’t think this idea is absurd. I think it is rationality mixed with paranoia.I also think that this idea leaves little room for individual state perceptions of theChinese power. These governments are not completely idle. They recognize theirstrategic position in geo-politics and act accordingly in the absence of US andEuropean investments.

Another idea put forward in the media has focused on the growing debtthat countries will have with the Chinese government as it continues to lend andinvest. In 2011, the Chinese government officially expressed concern over theUnited State’s ability to repay its debt because of political troubles. There is nodoubt that as a holder of a country’s debt, you gain power and influence over thatstate and its policies.

China built the $35 million stadium in the honor of One China – that is, offi-cial recognition of Taiwan as China’s territory. It did the same in St. Lucia. Althoughsome of the islands have only a fraction of a million people, they have one vote ininternational organizations such as the UN. China has been said to engage in eco-nomic activity in the Caribbean to garner votes for issues in its interest in interna-tional forums. So, what do we do about it?

1) There is no doubt that regardless of China’s true motives, the US is con-cerned about this in some way. This gives countries of the Caribbean great opportu-nities. The attention by China has given these countries power. They are able to use

this attention to refocus the United States on theregion in economic terms. 2) The countries of the Caribbean should worktogether to negotiate deals with China, and toshare resources with know-how to ensure thatthe region is smart about its relations with theemerging power. 3) While tourism has sustained the economiesof these islands for decades, the future willrequire a more technologically and industriallyadvanced society. The Caribbean countriesshould use this opportunity to diversity theireconomies – create national plans to direct thesenew investments into new, sustainable areas ofeconomic activity. 4) The countries of the Caribbean should takea neutral stance on issues that divide it with theUnited States.

From first-year David Frazer of the Bahamas,Assistant Editor in Bologna.





Congratulations to all of our graduating SAISers: You’ve reached the next level!!!

Dear SAIS Observer,

First, I know your task is a thankless one. It's easy to criticize and hard to execute. Iappreciate your efforts, especially since you have plenty of other things to occupy yourtime.

Essentially I would like to request that you redouble your editing efforts for The SAISObserver. I am not a regular reader of the publication. I had my first exposure to itwhen, on a recent visit to DC, I was given several copies to bring back with me to theHNC. I saw that one of the front-page articles was written by an HNC student. I beganreading. Soon I encountered a faulty edit. Then another. Then another.

Here are the errors I found:"…most Chinese do not have this aforementioned financial concern as a motivating torebel." ; "...there is one critical question which is not discussed nearly enough: Who canrealistically any type of change to the current Communist-controlled system?" ; "Forthe time being, they face no challenge, however, we must consider..." [punctuation]

At that point I had to stop reading.

On top of the basic editorial issues are questions of style. These are much more subjec-tive, of course, and difficult to resolve. I'll just register my opinion that the piece is sty-listically unwieldy and difficult to read. Overall I think — based solely on one article inone issue, which may not be representative — that the publication is a poor advertise-ment for SAIS. As it is I would be hesitant to give the publication to anyone outside ofSAIS, because I think it reflects poorly on the institution.

I read on to find more errors, indicating that even the most basic editing processesmay not be happening at the SAIS Observer.These words may be difficult to hear. Ihope you will appreciate that I intend them as constructive. I would appreciate a replyas you are able.

Best wishes, Concerned

Letter to the EditorsDear Concerned,

While we appreciate your comments on the SAIS Observer’s content, we cannot limitour content to authors whose native language is English. It is our mission to be a pub-lication for all three SAIS campuses, and as such we often have to make trade-offsbetween English language quality and content that is representative of the entire SAIScommunity.

While exhaustive editing could refine problematic pieces into fantastic ones, we findit difficult to compromise the authors’ voices. Our first mission is to serve the SAIScommunity—students above all others—and this means preserving the integrity ofauthors’ submissions to the best of our ability. Doing so means compromising onissues of style, such as those you highlighted.

It is not our job to simply re-write all of our submissions, nor do we wish to act as cen-sors for our peers who are non-native English writers. We accept submissions in alllanguages, subject to availability and language skills of our editorial staff.

As The Observer has expanded its staff to Nanjing and Bologna for the first year in itshistory, we expect our submissions to be more representative of the SAIS global com-munity in the future.

As always, the SAIS Foreign Observer will be a work-in-progress, but an honest one.We appologize for the errors.

Best Regards, The SAIS Observer Editorial Staff



Jessica P. Einhorn '70 has been deanof SAIS since 2001.

Vali R. Nasr will become SAIS’ eighthdean on 1 July 2012.

Vali R. Nasr, 51, will join SAIS on July first. He will be its eighth dean, succeeding Jessica P. Einhorn, who is retiringafter a decade in the post.

Nasr has been a professor of international politics at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy since2007. He is a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution and a member of the U.S. State Department’s Foreign PolicyAdvisory Board. From 2009-2011, he also served as special adviser to the late Richard Holbrooke, who was then thepresident’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“Vali Nasr is a distinguished scholar and teacher, an adept policy analyst and adviser, a highly regarded public intel-lectual, and an accomplished administrator,” said Ronald J. Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins, who recommendedthe appointment to the executive committee of the university’s board of trustees. “I have been as impressed withVali’s warmth and humility as with his intellect, vision and accomplishments,” Daniels said. “He has an excellentunderstanding of the challenges facing graduate schools of international studies, including SAIS, and an apprecia-tion for the opportunities ahead. He is superbly qualified to meet those challenges and seize those opportunities.”

Among SAIS’s unique assets, Nasr said, are its global reputation and worldwide locations; its distinguished faculty;and its tradition of providing students with both the theoretical insight and practical tools they need to be leadersin the study and practice of international relations.

“This is an important and turbulent time in global affairs,” Nasr said. “The nature and focus of education in interna-tional affairs are changing as global challenges require innovative approaches, greater attention to technology andaddressing new demands in the job market. SAIS has a very important leadership role to play in shaping the futureof education in international affairs.”

Nasr is a leading scholar on the politics of the MiddleEast and the Muslim world and on foreign policy. Histwo most recent books, The Shia Revival and Forces ofFortune, foresaw, respectively, postwar sectarian vio-lence in Iraq and the uprisings that have becomeknown as the Arab Spring. The books contributed toU.S. policy formulated in response to those events.

He is a columnist for Bloomberg View and has con-tributed at many publications. He has been widelyinterviewed on Middle East issues and has appearedon CNN, NBC, NPR and PBS. He has been a guest onThe Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

Nasr has served as a fellow at Harvard’s KennedySchool of Government, and on the faculties of theNaval Postgraduate School; Stanford University; theUniversity of California, San Diego; and the Universityof San Diego. The Tehran-born immigrant is a 2011recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. He has alsobeen at Carnegie Scholar and is a life member of theCouncil on Foreign Relations. He is a 1983 summa cumlaude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Tufts andreceived a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy fromthe Fletcher School the following year. He earned aPh.D. in political science from the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology in 1991.

SAIS Welcomes Its Eighth Dean, Vali Nasr

Jessica P. Einhorn, the first SAIS graduate to serve as itsdean, will step down after a decade in the position, havinghad an impact on the school that will last long beyond herdeparture.Focusing squarely on SAIS students, she has helped ensurethat their education is the best offered at any graduateprofessional school of international affairs. She has sup-ported faculty research and overseen the creation orexpansion of a number of research centers. She hasreached out to alumni around the world, enlisting theirhelp in building a talented, diverse student body and insupporting student and faculty accomplishments.

Jessica has modernized SAIS administratively while pre-serving the close faculty-student relationship that is at theheart of a SAIS education. She has built practical opportu-nities for learning outside the traditional classroom set-ting, through experiential and research trips, internships,leadership seminars and professional development cours-es.

In collaboration with colleagues at Nanjing University, theHopkins-Nanjing Center now offers a Master of Arts inInternational Studies, the first degree of its kind awardedin China. Jessica has also worked to position the school’sBologna Center to continue to thrive in an evolving andincreasingly competitive higher education system inEurope.

Jessica is the first to say that the school’s accomplishments are not hers alone, that they are the result of collaborationacross the entire SAIS community over the past 10 years. But I have no doubt that Jessica’s purposeful, open and respect-ful leadership is in large measure why SAIS is so strong today and so well-prepared for tomorrow.

Jessica Einhorn became dean of SAIS on June 1, 2002. Before joining SAIS, she served as a consultant in the Washingtonoffice of Clark & Weinstock. In August 1999, Einhorn concluded her career of nearly 20 years of service with the WorldBank. In the wake of the Asian financial crisis, from 1998 to 1999, she spent a year as a visiting fellow at the InternationalMonetary Fund. From 1996 to 1998, she was managing director of the World Bank, where she was in charge of the finan-cial management of the World Bank and its activities in resource mobilization from the public and private sectors. Sheassumed this position after serving as the vice president and treasurer of the bank, a position she assumed in 1992.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Einhorn held positions at the U.S. Treasury, the U.S. State Department and theInternational Development Cooperation Agency of the United States. She is a former trustee of the German MarshallFund and former director of Pitney Bowes. In the private sector, she was a director of Time Warner and chair of the globaladvisory board of J.E. Robert Cos.

Author of Expropriation Politics, Einhorn received her B.A. in 1967 from Barnard College, Columbia University, her M.A.in international affairs in 1970 from SAIS and a Ph.D. in politics in 1974 from Princeton University. She also has studied atthe London School of Economics and as a Fulbright Scholar in Caracas, Venezuela. From 1977 to 1978, she was at theBrookings Institution on a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship to study international bank lending. During 1991, she spentfour months as a visiting fellow at the Institute for International Economics. In 1996, she completed the AdvancedManagement Program at Harvard University's Graduate School of BusinessAdministration.

Dean Einhorn, SAIS bids you a very fond farewell!Attribution: These are excerpts from pressreleases by The Johns Hopkins UniversityOffice of Communications and Public affairs,and by the SAIS Office of Communications.

A very warm welcome to Vali Nasr, ournew dean

With utmost humility we have fewrequests, but it is business we mean

We have late classes and umpteen mid-night oil burning

A 24*7 library can easily accompany us inthis spiritual churning

We could also have a room on campuswhere we can nap

Or free coffee round-the-clock so that wedon’t snap

Nitze-Bob-Rome-Bob-Nitze criss-crosscommute takes a heavy toll

How about an underground tunnel to linkour buildings ala the Capitol

Jokes apart, this poem by 2 buddingeconomists is to make you smile

We are really fortunate to have you; SAIS under your leadership will surely go

miles.

Miriam Kochman & Kartavya Sharma



SAIS takes on human form. From left to right: Ranga Mlambo, Miriam Kochman, Abhishank Jajur,Liyang Qin, Kristin Pamier, Haitham Jendoubi, Ingrid Larson, Sumeet Kaur, Lauren Goodwin,Akshatvishal Chaturvedi, Elliot Waldman, Nadir Shams, Christine Jonason. Photo Credit: SumeetMonk & Akshatvishal Chaturvedi. Many thanks for all our submissions this issue!


2012 April Issue

Documents

weneared piazza san

passing masks

time night

international nature

social norms

venicesstrict social

usto experience peru

glacial speed