Student Interview Highlights | Whom Do We Trust 2019

Students offer insights and highlights from their participation in the second conference of the Whom Do We Trust conference series.

Cinematography - J Mitchell Johnson, Kim Spencer

Editing - Evelyn Messinger

About the Conference

September 19 - 22, 2019

Track Two hosted the 2019 Whom Do We Trust Conference at Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia following the inaugural gathering in this conference series in 2018.

At the first gathering, student participants questioned why we cannot make enemies of global issues rather than of nations. When the world is in such peril from issues that transcend national concern, they felt it was foolish to perpetuate enemy-making of one another. Instead they wanted to make threats to all humanity – from climate change and environmental degradation, nuclear proliferation, cyber systems, mass migrations, global pandemics, education, among others - the enemies that nations might unite against.

In 2019 the conference delved into these topics through the lens of trust. 24 Russian and 20 American students discussed global threats and collaborated to devise citizen-oriented solutions.

The conference was held in collaboration with Esalen Institute’s Center for Theory and Research, The Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, the Center for International Education and Exchange (CIEE), and MIIS Graduate Initiative in Russian Studies.