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The seminar series for fall 2023 explores the future of African land, agriculture and food, digging into the contestations, conflicting and converging visions from a wide range of perspectives. How might land be used, valued and lived in, across cities, rural communities, forests, deserts and grasslands on the continent in the future? Who is proposing different visions of land futures in Africa, what are the histories, politics, socio-cultural, environmental and economic implications of these potential visions? In one of the regions with the most youthful populations, how are young people considering possible futures? What are ways that land, agriculture and food systems could be resilient, healthy, ecological, thriving and just? Can there be a decolonial agriculture and food future in Africa that celebrates Indigenous and local foodways?

The seminar series for fall 2023 explores the future of African land, agriculture and food, digging into the contestations, conflicting and converging visions from a wide range of perspectives. How might land be used, valued and lived in, across cities, rural communities, forests, deserts and grasslands on the continent in the future? Who is proposing different visions of land futures in Africa, what are the histories, politics, socio-cultural, environmental and economic implications of these potential visions? In one of the regions with the most youthful populations, how are young people considering possible futures? What are ways that land, agriculture and food systems could be resilient, healthy, ecological, thriving and just? Can there be a decolonial agriculture and food future in Africa that celebrates Indigenous and local foodways?

Seminar in Critical Development Studies co-hosted by the Graduate Field of Development Studies, Department of Global Development, the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, the South Asia Program, and the Department of Anthropology

Abstract:

Even in north India cities, with their centuries-old practices of living in a hot, dry climate, global warming poses a new challenge. My talk focuses on the shifts brought about by climate change and how they interact with patterns of accelerated urban growth since the 1990s. In particular, I will examine how living conditions are shaped by inequalities in access to decent work and housing, exacerbated by economic liberalization policies. In this context, how does climate change affect the social experience of urban life? From individual households to neighborhoods to wider public spaces, how do people understand and deal with heat? I hope to suggest some avenues for future research by reflecting on my work in Delhi, India.

About the speaker:

Amita Baviskar is a Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology and Anthropology at Ashoka University (India). Her research and teaching address the cultural politics of environment and development in rural and urban India. She focuses on the role of social inequality and identities in natural resource conflicts. Currently, she is working on the politics of food and changing agrarian environments in Madhya Pradesh and studying the social experience of air pollution in Delhi.

After studying Economics and Sociology at the University of Delhi, she received a PhD in Development Sociology from Cornell University. Besides working at the Department of Sociology, University of Delhi, and at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, she has been a visiting scholar at several universities including Stanford, Cornell, Yale, SciencesPo, University of California at Berkeley and the University of Cape Town.

Her first book In the Belly of the River: Tribal Conflicts over Development in the Narmada Valley and other writings explore the themes of resource rights, popular resistance and discourses of environmentalism. Her recent publications include the edited books Elite and Everyman: The Cultural Politics of the Indian Middle Classes (with Raka Ray) and First Garden of the Republic: Nature on the President’s Estate. In January 2020, she published Uncivil City: Ecology, Equity and the Commons in Delhi.

Her contributions to developing the field of environmental sociology in India and to the study of social movements have been recognised by her peers. She was awarded the 2005 Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contributions to Development Studies, the 2008 VKRV Rao Prize for Social Science Research, and the 2010 Infosys Prize for Social Sciences.

Are you interested in the intersection of mental health and culture, global health, and community engagement? Do you want to gain field research skills and learn about indigenous communities in South India’s beautiful and fragile Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve? If so, the Cornell-Keystone Nilgiris Field Learning Program might be for you!

The dramatic escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine should prompt not only horror, grief, and dismay, but also reflection and action toward lasting peace and justice.

This virtual panel will provide expert perspectives on past and future prospects for peace and justice in Israel and Palestine. The event will include a moderated discussion with members of the audience.

The goal of this conversation is to deepen understanding by creating a space for dialogue between scholarly experts and individuals with a variety of perspectives and experiences. Our conversation will center humanity and the possibility of future repair, and encourage good faith participation, while also recognizing the trauma and grief that so many in our community are experiencing. Our ability to speak and learn is accompanied by a responsibility to listen and respect human life. We will stand firmly against any attempt to intimidate, threaten, or harass any member of our community, as we continue to seek possibilities for peace and restorative justice.

Panelists

Uriel Abulof, Associate Professor, Politics, Tel Aviv University Leena Dallashesh, Independent ScholarIan Lustick, Professor Emeritus, Bess W. Heyman Chair in Political Science, University of PennsylvaniaModerator
Rebecca Slayton, Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies Director and Associate Professor, Department of Science & Technology, Cornell University

Register to join this virtual event

Event Host
Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, part of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies

Cosponsors
Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies
Department of Near Eastern Studies

Laidlaw Scholars at Cornell will share their summer research and leadership-in-action experiences at this annual symposium.

Beginning in the Klarman Hall Auditorium, a panel of scholars will share their work and experiences. The presentation will be followed by poster presentations throughout the Groos Family Atrium.

The Laidlaw Undergraduate Leadership and Research Scholarship Program provides generous funding to first- and second-year undergraduates over two years as they pursue internationally focused research, engage in leadership training and a leadership-in-action experience, and join a global network of like-minded peers.

Learn more about the program, which is administered by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies with leadership training support from the David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement.

Are you interested in the intersection of mental health and culture, global health, and community engagement? Do you want to gain field research skills and learn about indigenous communities in South India’s beautiful and fragile Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve? If so, the Cornell-Keystone Nilgiris Field Learning Program might be for you!