On Monday, November 13th, Dr. Ed Mihalkanin, a member of the department’s international relations faculty, was featured at an Inklings gathering. Dr. Mihalkanin’s presentation, titled “Abkhazians: A National Minority In Their Own Homeland,” explored the history of Abkhazia, located near Russia, and the conflicts regarding their international boundaries. After the presentation, Dr. Mihalkanin opened the floor for participants to voice their perspectives on the subject. The conversations about his research also involved several questions from students and faculty members.
Francisco Valdovinos, a student who attended the event, said that “Dr. Mihalkanin’s talk on the history of Abkhazians was insightful, and having a guest from a neighboring country, Azerbaijan, really contributed to the conversation.” Kyle Turner, another student who participated in the conversations following the presentation, said that “learning about Abkhazia and its relationship to Georgia was very interesting, especially coming from someone with an international relations background.”
The original Inklings consisted of a small group of intellectuals (whose ranks included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis) who met weekly at Oxford University to read aloud and discuss their works in a spirit of fellowship and civil conversation. In the spirit of these Inklings, the Department of Political Science at Texas State University has held similar gatherings for more than two decades.
For more information on the series, please contact Dr. Arnold Leder at al04@txstate.edu.
