Ruth Mostern is Associate Professor of History and Director of the World History Center at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author, most recently, of The Yellow River: A Natural and Unnatural History (Yale University Press 2021) and she is the project director of the World Historical Gazetteer (whgazetteer.org).

Michael Goodhart is Professor of Political Science and Gender Studies at the University of Pittsburgh and Director of the Global Studies Center. This year, he is a fellow-in-residence at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala.