The literary event, hosted by the Institute for African Development's Humphrey Fellowship Program at Cornell and Okere City, is set to unite people from across the globe to contemplate the enduring legacy and influence of Okot p'Bitek, a towering figure in 20th-century African literature. Renowned for his seminal works "Song of Ocol" and "Song of Lawino," which have been translated into over 30 languages and sold millions of copies worldwide, p'Bitek's writings encapsulate a poignant, poetic exchange between Lawino, a rural champion of African traditions, and her husband Ocol, who grapples with cultural estrangement and Western influence. Juliane Okot Bitek, daughter of the late author and a distinguished professor of creative writing at Queen's University, Canada, will deliver the keynote address. Okot p'Bitek's critical exploration of African culture, politics, and colonialism through his teaching, research, and prolific writing remains an enduring testament to his scholarly contributions.

This event is sponsored by Cornell University’s Institute for African Development with funds from the US Department of Education UISFL Program.

Register to watch the web version of the event here:

https://cornell.zoom.us/j/96624897395?pwd=QSszOVU3V0E3bWcxVWNaeTRyTlZtZ…

Lund Critical Debate

Climate change has a disproportionate impact on the world’s most vulnerable populations, yet climate crises also impact people across the full spectrum of wealth and power. How do we understand these varied impacts and design climate policy to maximize human well-being and justice on a global level?

As climate change accelerates, we see the rise of violent conflict and humanitarian emergencies in some places but not others. In some places but not others, we see disruptions in food security and forced migration. And around the world, debates rage about access to energy, the need to profit from valuable natural resources, and pressures to reduce extraction and consumption.

This year’s Lund debate from the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies explores how citizens and policymakers worldwide can act to increase justice in our shared climate crisis. The panel will discuss key issues surrounding societies, governments, business, and labor and ways to share responsibilities globally to reduce emissions and mitigate climate change.

How can we imagine new strategies for reshaping global trade and finance, national and transnational security policies, and environmental protections that go beyond political borders? Join climate journalist Kate Aronoff and climate security expert Joshua Busby (LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas) for a conversation on our climate’s state of emergency and how governments can help.

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Livestream for National and International Viewers

Can't join in person? Register to attend virtually at eCornell.

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Panelists

Kate Aronoff is a Brooklyn-based staff writer at The New Republic, covering climate and energy politics, and a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. She is the author of Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet and How We Fight Back (2021) and the coauthor of A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (2019). Aronoff serves on Dissent magazine's editorial board and the advisory board of Jewish Currents.

Joshua Busby is professor of public affairs in the University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. His research focuses on climate change, global health, transnational advocacy movements, and U.S. foreign policy. Busby was principal investigator on two multimillion-dollar climate and security grants from the U.S. Department of Defense. He served as senior advisor for climate at the U.S. Department of Defense from 2021 to 2023. His newest book is States and Nature: The Effects of Climate Change on Security (2022).

Moderator

Rachel Bezner Kerr is director of Einaudi’s Institute for African Development and professor of global development in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She served as coordinating lead author for the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sixth assessment report chapter on climate change impacts and adaptation of food systems.

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About the Debate

The Lund Critical Debate is a signature event of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. Established in 2008, Einaudi's Lund debate series is made possible by the generosity of Judith Lund Biggs '57.

Anita Chitaya has a gift; she can help bring abundant food from dead soil, she can make men fight for gender equality, and she can end child hunger in her village. Now, to save her home from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real.

Traveling from Malawi to California to the White House, Anita meets climate skeptics and despairing farmers. Her journey takes her across all the divisions shaping the US, from the rural-urban divide, to schisms of race, class and gender, to the thinking that allows Americans to believe we live on a different planet from everyone else. It will take all her skill and experience to persuade us that we’re all in this together.

This documentary, ten years in the making, weaves together the most urgent themes of our times: climate change, gender and racial inequality, the gaps between the rich and the poor, and the ideas that groups around the world have generated in order to save the planet.

Free admission. Sponsored by the Institute for African Development at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.

Film website: https://www.antsandgrasshopper.org/

"I am blown away. You have found a hero of such grace and intelligence and power, and you had the good sense to get out of the way, center the narrative on her. The film is obviously not about agriculture in the way I expected to be-- it’s much bigger than that. We get to observe history. That’s what ten years on a movie gets you. I feel invested in the project... so wonderful to see it completed. I will be happy to spread the word." - Michael Pollan, Author & Director Of The Knight Program In Science And Environmental Journalism

Recent assessments of climate change impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa indicate that the continent is already experiencing impacts from rising temperatures, including water shortages, reduced food production, loss of lives and biodiversity loss. There are an increased number of extreme events, from drought, floods and tropical storms, and these events will worsen if global greenhouse gases are not significantly reduced. At the same time, Africa is one of the lowest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and many countries struggle to manage with the cost of climate change adaptation, while also paying high levels of debt. Alongside these climate challenges are ongoing extractive industries looking to Africa as a new or ongoing source of resources – including mining precious minerals to support renewable alternatives to fossil fuels. Despite this bleak picture, alternative models that are transformative and reparative are emerging as ways to imagine just climate futures in Africa. These alternatives include attention to multiple types of social inequities and building development strategies through dialogue and careful attention to power dynamics. Adaptation approaches that support decent livelihoods alongside biodiversity, ecosystems and indigenous knowledge are being tested and expanded. Recognition of power inequities at multiple scales and reparation of these inequities is part of such approaches.

Recent assessments of climate change impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa indicate that the continent is already experiencing impacts from rising temperatures, including water shortages, reduced food production, loss of lives and biodiversity loss. There are an increased number of extreme events, from drought, floods and tropical storms, and these events will worsen if global greenhouse gases are not significantly reduced. At the same time, Africa is one of the lowest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and many countries struggle to manage with the cost of climate change adaptation, while also paying high levels of debt. Alongside these climate challenges are ongoing extractive industries looking to Africa as a new or ongoing source of resources – including mining precious minerals to support renewable alternatives to fossil fuels. Despite this bleak picture, alternative models that are transformative and reparative are emerging as ways to imagine just climate futures in Africa. These alternatives include attention to multiple types of social inequities and building development strategies through dialogue and careful attention to power dynamics. Adaptation approaches that support decent livelihoods alongside biodiversity, ecosystems and indigenous knowledge are being tested and expanded. Recognition of power inequities at multiple scales and reparation of these inequities is part of such approaches.

Dr. Primitiva Andrea Mboyerwa is a senior lecturer in the College of Agriculture’s Department of Soil and Geological Sciences at the Sokoine University of Agriculture. PhD in Climate-Smart Agriculture & Biodiversity Management from Haramaya University in Ethiopia as well as a M.Sc. in Soil Science and Land Management from Sokoine University of Agriculture. Over the past 14 years, she has studied and researched a wide range of farming systems in Tanzania as well as elsewhere in Africa, Australia and USA, addressing the System of Rice Intensification, crop productivity, soil health, mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, soil conservation, fertilizer use efficiency, nutrient and water management, tillage practices, soil carbon sequestration, climate- smart agriculture, and biodiversity management. Her research interests have been framed by an understanding of the soil-water-plant-nutrients-environment interface emphasizing integrated approaches for devising crop production systems that have minimal to zero risks to the environment and human health.

Ms. Betty Maina is a Kenyan politician who is currently Cabinet Secretary for Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development in the cabinet of Kenya. Ms. Betty Maina was the former P.S. for Environment and Cabinet Minister for Trade and Industrialization. She also was the CEO of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) where her role/portfolio entailed working with the private sector on many environmental/energy/climate change related issues. Prior to taking up her position in the cabinet in 2020 she held roles at the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), where her role/portfolio entailed working with the private sector on many environmental/energy/climate change related issues, and the United Nations and as the Principal Secretary of the department for Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development.