Famine and food insecurity threaten the lives of nearly a billion people worldwide. And the number of people living in food insecurity is increasing. Why is there food insecurity and what can be done? How much is food insecurity caused by environmental factors and how much is it caused by conflict? We will explore the conflict shock
that creates food insecurity particularly in East Africa , the Horn of Africa, and effective, efficient ways to address concerns of famine and food insecurity. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Daniel Maxwell is the Henry J. Leir Professor in Food Security at the Friedman School of Nutrition and Research Director at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. He is the author of Understanding the Humanitarian World with Kirsten Gelsdorf, Famine in Somalia: Competing Imperatives, Collective Failures with Nisar Majid and Humanitarian Challenges and Implications for Famine Early Warning Systems in Accountability for Mass Starvation.
Bill Moseley is DeWitt Wallace Professor of Geography at Macalester College. He is the author of “Climate crisis in Africa exposes real cause of hunger – colonial food systems that leave people more vulnerable” and “The trouble with drought as an explanation for famine in the Horn and Sahel of Africa“.
Bilal Butt is Associate Professor of Sustainability and Development at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Neoliberalism, Conservation and Dispossession in Kenya’s Arid Lands,” “Commoditizing the Safari and Making Space for Conflict: Place, Identity and Parks in East Africa” and Pastoral herd management, drought coping strategies, and cattle mobility in Southern Kenya”.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Capital Punishment in US is explored as it faces ethical, political and legal concerns – May 21, 2023

May 22, 2023 host

The death penalty in the United States has faced increased opposition based on ethical, political, and legal concerns. Several states have outlawed it, but the federal government has returned to its use with a feverish wave of state executions last year. We discuss the implications of the use of the death penalty in the US and examine additional forms of extreme sentencing, such as life without parole. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Frank R. Baumgartner is the Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He is the co-author of The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence and Deadly Justice: A Statistical Portrait of the Death Penalty.
Lee Kovarsky is Bryant Smith Chair in Law and Co-Director of the Capital Punishment Center at The University of Texas in Austin School of Law. He is the author of The Trump Executions and the co-author of The Death Penalty: Concept and Insight.
Jenny-Brooke Condon is a Professor of Law in the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School. She directs the Equal Justice Clinic. She is the author of When Cruelty is the Point: Constitutional Restraints and Remedies for Family Separation and Denialism and the Death Penalty.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Cancel Wars: How Universities Can Foster Free Speech, Promote Inclusion, and Renew Democracy – May 14, 2023

May 15, 2023 host

From the entertainment realm to higher education, political activists have complained that we live in cancel culture. But what is cancel culture? And what is its impact in the classroom and for democracy. How much is cancel culture a reaction to dis-empowerment and a means of resistance? And what has been the backlash to its successes? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Sigal Ben-Porath is Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds secondary appointments in the Departments of Political Science and Philosophy. She is the author of Making Up Our Mind: What School Choice is Really About, Free Speech on Campus and the book we are discussing Cancel Wars: How Universities Can Foster Free Speech, Promote Inclusion, and Renew Democracy.
Eve Ng is Associate Professor at Ohio University, in the School of Media Arts and Studies and the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. She is the author of Cancel Culture: A Critical Analysis and the forthcoming Mainstreaming Gays: Critical Convergences of Queer Media, Fan Cultures, and Commercial Television.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Sudan’s war between it’s Generals ; Wars in perspective – May 7, 2023

May 7, 2023 host

In April, war broke out in Sudan. How much is the war driven by a power battle between two generals and how much is it embedded in the relationship between Khartoum and marginalized areas of the nation? We explore the recent events, the political and military context of the war, and the prospects for a resolution.[ dur: 31mins. ]

Kon K. Madut is Part-time Professor of Political Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ottawa. He is the author of Why did governance and institutional establishments fail in Sudan and South Sudan? and Ethnic Mobilization, Armaments, and South Sudan’s Quest for Sustainable Peace.

Then, scholars note that the world is waging fewer wars, but that the wars that are waged are more brutal and intractable.[ dur: 27mins. ]

This segment was recorded 2013, hosted by Maria Armoudian.

George A. Lopez is the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He is the editor of The Sanctions Enterprise: Assessing a Quarter-Century of UN Action for Peace, Security and Human Rights.
Ervin Staub is Professor of Psychology at the University of Massettuces, Amherst. He is the author of The Psychology of Good and Evil: Why Children, Adults, and Groups Help and Harm Others.
Norrin M. Ripsman is Monroe J. Rathbone Professor in the International Relations Department at Lehigh University. He is the author of Peacemaking from Above, Peace from Below: States, Societies, and Peace Between Regional Rivals and the co-editor of The Political Economy of Regional Peacemaking.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Monthly Archives: May 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Food Insecurity and Famine , why they persist? – May 28, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Capital Punishment in US is explored as it faces ethical, political and legal concerns – May 21, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Cancel Wars: How Universities Can Foster Free Speech, Promote Inclusion, and Renew Democracy – May 14, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Sudan’s war between it’s Generals ; Wars in perspective – May 7, 2023

By Maria Armoudian