Last Wednesday, I took part in a panel discussion at Wake Forest University titled “The ‘F’-Word: Famine in the 21st Century,” on the current famine in the Horn of Africa.
The other two participants were Charles Kennedy and Sarah Lischer, both professors in the political science department at Wake Forest. Sarah talked about the humanitarian consequences of the current famine, most notably the refugees coming into Kenya. Charles talked about US foreign policy in the area. I learned a lot from both their presentations, given that they covered topics that I was not familiar with.
Here are the slides I used for my talk, which was titled “The Causes and Consequences of Famine.” The link opens a .pdf document. Note that this was not a research seminar, but a talk aimed at a general public.
Kim Kardashian and Famine in the Horn of Africa
Did you really think Kim Kardashian actually thought, said, or did anything significant about the current famine in the Horn of Africa?
If so, let me dispel that notion for you, and draw your attention to this quip by A View from the Cave‘s Tom Murphy, who initially posted it on Facebook:
Fact: The declared famine in the Horn of Africa has lasted 1.57 Kardashian marriages. It will also cost 250 Kardashian weddings to fund the $2.5 billion relief effort.
Tom is also one of the brains behind DAWNS Digest — the acronym stands for “development and aid workers news service” — which is a great resource for anyone working in development. For less than $3 a month, you get the news relevant to your work delivered to your inbox.