Voices: The EISA Podcast is the official broadcast of EISA, the European International Studies Association. This space for cutting-edge research in the discipline of International Relations is the audible companion to EISA. Apart from our flagship conference, the EISA organises a range of innovative events and activities for scholars and students working in the field of International Studies. This podcast sets the stage for deeper insights into award-winning papers, books and theses, as much as it provides a room for the critical engagement with key concepts in political and sociological thought. Voices: The EISA Podcast traces how these concepts have been taken up in the discipline of IR. It interrogates their emergence, their gendered and racialized omissions, and their relevance to current debates and analyses. Through our erudite interview guests, a wide range of critical reading, and reflections on our everyday experiences, Voices: The EISA Podcast helps to think through core IR concepts.
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Voices: The EISA Podcast is the official broadcast of EISA, the European International Studies Association. This space for cutting-edge research in the discipline of International Relations is the audible companion to EISA. Apart from our flagship conference, the EISA organises a range of innovative events and activities for scholars and students working in the field of International Studies. This podcast sets the stage for deeper insights into award-winning papers, books and theses, as much as it provides a room for the critical engagement with key concepts in political and sociological thought. Voices: The EISA Podcast traces how these concepts have been taken up in the discipline of IR. It interrogates their emergence, their gendered and racialized omissions, and their relevance to current debates and analyses. Through our erudite interview guests, a wide range of critical reading, and reflections on our everyday experiences, Voices: The EISA Podcast helps to think through core IR concepts.
In this episode, we welcome Alvina Hoffmann (SOAS), winner of EISA’s 2025 Best Article Award from the European Journal of International Relations (EJIR). In her award-winning article “What Makes a Spokesperson? Delegation and Symbolic Power in Crimea” (2024, vol. 30, Issue 1, pp. 27-51), Alvina unpacks questions about who gets to speak for others, exploring themes of symbolic power, authenticity, and the universalism of human rights. In conversation with host Polly Pallister-Wilkins, Alvina draws on her research to explore the struggles and stakes involved in speaking on behalf of others through the lens of human rights politics in Crimea. She also talks us through the dynamics of delegation and representation that shape global diplomacy and shares insights from her ongoing work on elites and human rights in the UN.
Apart from EJIR, Alvina’s work has appeared in International Political Sociology, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, and Global Studies Quarterly. She is currently writing her first monograph, Speaking for the Universal: Human Rights Elites in World Politics, which offers a historical and sociological analysis of independent human rights experts at the UN. Join us for this timely conversation on who truly speaks for "the universal" and at what cost.
Voices: The EISA Podcast
Voices: The EISA Podcast is the official broadcast of EISA, the European International Studies Association. This space for cutting-edge research in the discipline of International Relations is the audible companion to EISA. Apart from our flagship conference, the EISA organises a range of innovative events and activities for scholars and students working in the field of International Studies. This podcast sets the stage for deeper insights into award-winning papers, books and theses, as much as it provides a room for the critical engagement with key concepts in political and sociological thought. Voices: The EISA Podcast traces how these concepts have been taken up in the discipline of IR. It interrogates their emergence, their gendered and racialized omissions, and their relevance to current debates and analyses. Through our erudite interview guests, a wide range of critical reading, and reflections on our everyday experiences, Voices: The EISA Podcast helps to think through core IR concepts.
