WILLIAMSBURG — The Reves Center for International Studies at William & Mary announced that Abby Rapoport will deliver the 2025 McSwain-Walker Lecture Monday.
Her talk, “Place-Based Journalism: Perspectives from Independent Media,” will be held March 17 at 5 p.m. in the Reves Room and is free and open to the public.
According to the Reves Center, Rapoport’s work focuses on the relationship between communities, media and storytelling. She is the cofounder and publisher of Stranger’s Guide, an award-winning publication that explores how politics, power and culture shape daily life across the globe, and the center notes the publication’s work has been featured in America’s Best Travel Writing and America’s Best Magazine Writing.
“Stranger’s Guide is a remarkable, award-winning publication. The storytellers and photographers speak not from any central place, but from the places where they live and work, from Mexico City to Lagos and cities in between,” said Teresa Longo, Associate Provost for International Affairs and Executive Director of the Reves Center. “Since 2022 Abby has enriched the Reves Center’s International Micro-Story Workshop and helped us see the value in the stories people tell across the world, making us far less strange to each other.”
Rapoport also sits on the board of numerous nonprofits and philanthropies including the Society for the Preservation of Texas Music, Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and TYPE Media.
Rapoport began her career as a political reporter at the Texas Tribune and subsequently worked as a staff writer on politics and policy for the Texas Observer and The American Prospect before serving as Acting Publisher for the Texas Observer. Her writing has also appeared in Glamour, The National Journal and The New Republic.
Rapoport is the daughter of William & Mary Government Professor Emeritus Ronald Rapoport and artist Patricia Rapoport and is a graduate of Lafayette High School.
According to the center, the annual McSwain-Walker lecture brings renowned scholars, artists, analysts and other notable public figures to William & Mary to speak on topics related to how other countries and cultures interact with the United States, and how the United States interacts with them.
The Reves Center for International Studies is the home of the Global Education Office, and the Office of International Students, Scholars, and Programs at William & Mary.
