Raj Patel will speak about “The World That Food Made” at the Berea College convocation on Thursday, March 1 at 3 p.m. in Phelps Stokes Chapel. During the convocation, Patel will discuss the 15th century origins of how we feed the world and suggest a hopeful vision for re-imagining the way food is grown. The convocation is co-sponsored by the Women’s and Gender Studies and Sociology departments.
An activist, academic and award-winning writer with degrees from Oxford University, the London School of Economics and Cornell University, Patel is a research professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin and a senior research associate at the Unit for the Humanities at Rhodes University (UHURU), South Africa.
Patel has numerous scholarly publications in economics, philosophy, politics and public health journals. He was an advisor to Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Right to Food.. Patel taught alongside Michael Pollan at UC Berkeley in the 2014 Edible Education class. Patel regularly writes for The Guardian, and has contributed to highly-ranked magazines such as the Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Times of India and more.
The convocation events, which are provided free to both the campus and public communities, are a significant part of a student’s educational experience at Berea College. Visit the Convocations website for the schedule of all convocations this academic year. All convocations are free and open to the public.