Institute for African Development
How To End a War? Conflicts and Transitions to Peace in Africa

January 22, 2025
11:00 am
Uris Hall, G08
Roland Marchal, CNRS, SciencesPo
For a longtime observer of armed conflicts in Central and Eastern Africa, it is striking that we are witnessing a higher number of conflicts than in 1991. This presentation will address several recurrent aspects. First, Marchal will address the intricacies of violence and local politics. Second, the organization of armed groups frequently does not correspond to the kind of violence they are exercising on the population. And third, paradoxically, the international community has often been unable and unwilling to frame its understanding of conflict, with the consequence that transitions to peace are becoming more problematic, while international support for conflict grows.
Hosted by Brooks Center on Global Democracy with support from the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and the Institute for African Development.
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
Institute for African Development
Nuclear Colonialism and Its Discontents

February 6, 2025
12:00 pm
Nuclear weapons and associated technologies have been primarily developed by and for Global North nations, often using the labor and natural resources of indigenous populations around the world, and often doing violence to those populations and their environments. As a result, many scholars analyze the development of nuclear technologies–including uranium mining, the processing and production of fissile materials, nuclear weapons testing, and use–as a form of colonialism. But as a state-centric framework, colonialism does not always capture practices that transcend national boundaries; radioactivity does not respect borders. This panel will elucidate the uses and limitations of the colonial framework for understanding the social and political implications of nuclear technologies. The panel will discuss how nuclear technologies have been developed in ways that are both locally specific and globally-interconnected, and the implications of this history for social and environmental justice.
Virtual panel discussion with-
Vincent Intondi, PACS Domestic Affiliate Scholar
Myrriah Gomez, Associate Professor at University of New Mexico
Mary Mitchell, Assistant Professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers Newark
Magdalena Stawkowski, Assistant Professor at University of South Carolina
Hirokazu Miyazaki, Former Director of the Einaudi Center, Professor at Northwestern University
Register here.
Host
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
Institute for African Development
Institute for European Studies
East Asia Program
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Information Session: IES & PACS Undergrad and Grad Opportunities

February 18, 2025
3:00 pm
Uris Hall, G08
This session will describe opportunties for undergraduate and graduate students in the Institute for European Studies and the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies.
IES offers a minor in European Studies, Global Summer Internships, a Graduate Fellows Program, and research funding for both undergraduate and graduate students. PACS offers fellowships, funding, and research travel grants for undergraduate and graduate students.
Register for virtual attendance here. Can't attend? Contact ies@cornell.edu or pacs@cornell.edu.
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
East Asia Program
Southeast Asia Program
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Institute for African Development
Institute for European Studies
South Asia Program
Migrations Program
Information Session: Fulbright U.S. Student Program for Undergraduates

March 19, 2025
4:45 pm
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program supports U.S. citizens to study, conduct research in any field, or teach English in more than 150 countries. Students who wish to begin the program immediately after graduation are encouraged to start the process in their junior year. Recent graduates are welcome to apply through Cornell.
The Fulbright program at Cornell is administered by the Einaudi Center for International studies. Applicants are supported through all stages of the application and are encouraged to start early by contacting fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu.
Register here. Can't attend? Contact fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu.
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
East Asia Program
Southeast Asia Program
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Institute for African Development
Institute for European Studies
South Asia Program
Migrations Program
Information Session: Fulbright Opportunities for Graduate Students

March 5, 2025
4:45 pm
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides full funding for graduate and professional students conducting research in any field or teaching in more than 150 countries. Open to U.S. citizens only. The Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad program supports doctoral students conducting research in modern languages or area studies for six to 12 months.
Open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents of the United States. Travel to Western European countries is not eligible.
Register here. Can’t attend? Contact fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu.
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
East Asia Program
Southeast Asia Program
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Institute for African Development
Institute for European Studies
South Asia Program
Migrations Program
IAD Spring 2025 Seminar: Futures of Lushness: Innovative Efforts to Reimagine Healing as Land Relations in Tanzania

February 20, 2025
11:15 am
115 Sibley Hall
This talk is part of a forthcoming book entitled, Medicines that Feed Us, in which Langwick examines the shifting, multiple relationships between toxicity and remedy in the face of the environmental and health crises shaping the 21stcentury. Broadly, she is interested in how that which counts as “therapeutic” is shifting with the growing acknowledgment that the extractive relations, which fuel contemporary economies and animate modern life, undermine possibilities for ongoing survival. In this seminar, Langwick thinks together with TRMEGA, a small vibrant NGO in northern Tanzania. TRMEGA’s plant(ing) remedies apprehend illness as an effect of long histories of dispossession, slow violence, and social-ecological abandonment. Herbal formulas intervene not only in depleted, suffering bodies but also in the affective and material relations that concretize people’s alienation from the forces of life. TRMEGA draws on traditional medicine, global herbalism, functional foods, agroecology, organic agriculture, and food sovereignty to cultivate forms of care that draw people closer to the soil and to each other. This work suggests a redefinition of the terms of health and healing. Lifestyle diseases are reimagined through what Langwick calls landstyles. Sharing seeds and cuttings, tending to compost, and building communities of multispecies support, are activities that together address the chronic injury and persistent vulnerability that shape the distribution of disease. Through the extension of their gardens, TRMEGA unsettles the boundaries between medicine and agriculture, redefines healing (as) land relations, and conceptualizes health as a quality of lushness in everyday life.
Public Registration
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Institute for African Development
IAD Spring 2025 Seminar: Place Attachment, Regional Identity and Perceptions of Urbanization in Moshi, Tanzania

February 6, 2025
11:15 am
115 Sibley Hall
In rural areas on the peri-urban fringe of rapidly expanding African cities, urbanization can be interpreted and conceived as an unwelcome change threatening traditional ways of life and personal and community cultural identity of rural areas with customary land tenure arrangements and generally ethnically homogenous populations. We examine the relationship between place attachment and residents’ perceptions of various aspects of urban life, using Moshi, Tanzania, located in a region long identified with the Chagga people, as a case study. We utilize a survey of approximately 700 respondents, stratified by location, and use principal component analysis to construct variables for place attachment, perceptions of cities, and perceived risks associated with urbanization. Utilizing stepwise regression techniques, we find that there was a significant decrease in levels of place attachment between rural, per-urban, and urban locations. We also find that residents who associate the city with more negative characteristics report higher levels of place attachment. This suggests that urbanization is perceived as a threat to people’s sense of place. Finally, we find that place attachment is positively associated with age, while being Chagga, owning land, and being native to the area are associated with greater levels of place attachment.
Public Registration
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Institute for African Development
Did Democracy Survive the 2024 Global Election Marathon?

Rachel Beatty Riedl, Former Einaudi Director
Article highlights Cornell’s 2024 report on global democracy, and Rachel Beatty Riedl, director of the Center on Global Democracy, says “We’ve seen some real possibilities for hope.”
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Is Francafrique Ending? Why Senegal is Cutting Military Ties with France

Oumar Ba, IAD
Oumar Ba, assistant professor of government, says “They have quietly let the CFA question die down, and there is no renegotiations of the extractive contracts with foreign companies that they had promised.”
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Reppy Institute Peace Puzzle Hackathon Winner: "Hunger in Sudan"

Proseminar in Peace Studies completed its fall 2024 semester with the Peace Puzzle Hackathon. The class is offered again in the spring.
Student groups were tasked with finding a solution to reduce food insecurity for civilians in regions that are or have historically been vulnerable to armed conflict. Students Kathryn McGinnis, Basim Ali, Yangzom Tenzin, and Esam Boraey were voted the winning group for their presentation on Sudan.
“We chose Sudan as our case study for mitigating hunger in conflict zones because it is a country that has been severely affected by both conflict and famine.”
According to the group, since receiving its independence in the 1950s, Sudan has been gripped by civil war. The group’s presentation examined the severe food insecurity crisis affecting millions, rooted in decades of conflict, political instability, and disrupted aid distribution. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, almost 800,000 people in Sudan experience high rates of malnutrition or are unable to meet minimal food needs.
According to the group, mitigating hunger in Sudan will ultimately begin with ending the decades of armed conflict and destruction. However, focusing on short-term strategies, the UN can implement programs to increase civilians’ access to food and medical supplies on the long road to peace. The group proposed a multiphase strategy to mitigate hunger while laying the foundation for peace.
Neutral Food Distribution
International organizations claim the most significant obstacles to consistent humanitarian assistance in Sudan are the raids on food supplies and destroyed infrastructure for food transportation. The group proposed establishing UN-led food distribution routes through neighboring neutral countries like Chad, Egypt, and South Sudan to rectify this issue. In addition, they argued that deploying foreign nationals with direct stakes in the conflict, such as Russia, China, and the U.S., to secure supply lines would deter Russian or Chinese-backed regional actors from disrupting relief operations.
“The contingent of peacekeepers for these operations should be primarily assigned from Russian, Chinese, UAE, and Saudi Arabian soldiers because their countries are funding this conflict.”
However, this drew significant debate, with some students questioning the risks of involving such stakeholders in food distribution. The group maintained that such an approach deters disruptions to relief operations and compels these actors to take responsibility for resolving the crisis. UN peacekeepers and humanitarian workers would secure these routes and oversee aid distribution, maintaining strict neutrality.
Rapid Infrastructure Rebuilding and Local Incentives
The group proposed collaboration with trusted entities like the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) during the rapid infrastructure rebuilding phase. According to the group, an engineering contingent should be integrated to rapidly rebuild temporary infrastructure like bridges to enable aid delivery to hard-to-reach areas to ensure successful transportation.
“To incentivize local cooperation and stability, the initiative would collaborate with existing programs like PIDA to invest in permanent infrastructure in regions where food distribution succeeds.”
Similarly, students raised concerns about whether infrastructure investments might unintentionally favor one side of the civil war. In response, the group explained that their incentives measure ensures aid is distributed equitably and promotes accountability and cooperation across all regions. This bold and complex strategy they elaborated, seeks to align global interests with Sudan's immediate needs, providing short-term food security and a pathway toward lasting stability.
Diplomatic Solutions
The group concluded their presentation by asserting the importance of diplomatic efforts in overcoming the challenges and bureaucratic obstacles that hinder aid efforts. They proposed continuous adaptation to the dynamic situations on the ground and enhanced coordination between UN agencies, NGOs, and local partners to maximize efficiency and avoid effort duplication.
Learn more about the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies Program.