Virtual Conference on Africa: The Climate Crisis, Engagement and Activism
FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 2023 – 8:30 A. M. – 4:00 P. M. EASTERN TIME
This online conference is open to the International Studies Consortium of Georgia universities as well as community college and Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) instructors nation-wide.
Register by emailing International Studies Consortium of Georgia conference director Rajgopal Sashti : rsashti@yahoo.com
Conference Program
8:45 AM WELCOME, GREETINGS AND PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Mr. Rajgopal Sashti, Consortium Founding/Executive Director, Reinhardt University.
8:50 ABOUT THE CO-SPONSORING NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTERS (NRCs)
Dr. Agnes Ngoma Leslie, Outreach Director, University of Florida; Dr. Elsa Wiehe, Program Manager, Boston University; Ms. Brenda Randolph, Outreach Director, Howard University.
9:00 SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND CLIMATE CRISIS
Mr. Dawit Benti Erana, Chair of Architecture and Building Sciences/Lecturer, Ethiopian Institute of
Architecture, Building Construction, and City Development (EiABC)
10:00 QUESTION AND ANSWER – PARTICIPANTS
10:30 Break
10:45 ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE and THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN AFRICA
Dr. James Boyce, emeritus professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and senior fellow at the
Political Economy Research Institute.
11:45 QUESTION AND ANSWER – PARTICIPANTS
12:15 LUNCH BREAK
1:00 EDUCATING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE
Ms. Vanessa Nakate, 2022 UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and Climate Activist.
2:00 QUESTION AND ANSWER – PARTICIPANTS
2:30 Break
2:45 AFRICA GLOBAL CLIMATE CRISIS AND REPARATIONS
Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Georgetown University, Washington, D. C.
3:45 QUESTION AND ANSWER – PARTICIPANTS
4:00 CLOSING REMARKS AND ADJOURNMENT
Consortium Universities and Colleges: Reinhardt University, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Albany State University, Alcorn State University (MS), Andrew College, Clayton State University, Columbus State University, Dalton State College, Edward Waters College (FL), Fort Valley State University, Georgia Highlands College, Gordon State College, Houston Community College System (TX) Jacksonville State University (AL), Middle Georgia State University, South Georgia State College, Tennessee State University, University of North Georgia.
Bios of Presenters and Hosts
Mr. Dawit Benti Erana, Chair of Architecture and Building Sciences is a faculty member at the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction, and City Development (EiABC). He is a professional architect with more than two decades of experience in architectural design, interior design, and project implementation with a focus on sustainable and localized solutions. His work includes single and multifamily residences and their interiors as well as hotels and health care centers. Dawit is also involved in the architectural design and supervision of a multi-channel multistory media complex building in Addis Ababa. He has taught architectural design in various universities for both undergraduate and graduate students – and he is now focusing on teaching contemporary architecture and theory of architecture. His research interests range from informal settlements to design issues in maternal health care facilities in Ethiopia.
Dr. James K. Boyce is an author, economist, and emeritus professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he is also a senior fellow at the Political Economy Research Institute. Jim grew up in Michigan. He received his B.A. at Yale University and doctorate from Oxford University. He has written for Harper’s, Scientific American, Politico, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and numerous scholarly journals, including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Ecological Economics, Environmental Research Letters, and Climatic Change. He is the recipient of the 2017 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought and the 2011 Fair Sharing of the Common Heritage Award from Project Censored and the Media Freedom Foundation. https://www.jameskboyce.com/
Ms. Vanessa Nakate was appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2022 and appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 2021 and has addressed world leaders at multiple climate summits. A Climate activist, she began advocating for climate justice in 2019 with a protest on the streets of Kampala, Uganda, inspired by Greta Thunberg and continued to protest every week, becoming a well-known face in a global movement of young people “striking” for the climate. In 2020, Vanessa rose to further prominence when she was cropped out of a news photo in which she appeared alongside Thunberg and other white climate activists. Her response that the news outlet “didn’t just erase a photo, you erased a continent” made international headlines.
Vanessa has since used her platform to advocate for climate justice for every community, especially those most affected by the impacts of climate change. She founded Rise Up Movement to elevate the voices of African climate activists, as well as a project to install solar panels in rural Ugandan schools. Vanessa is also the author of A Bigger Picture, a manifesto on inclusive climate action. In her first trip with UNICEF, Vanessa travelled to Kenya to see firsthand the impacts of water and food insecurity caused by the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in 40 years. There, she met with communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis, including mothers and babies receiving life-saving treatment for severe acute malnutrition and families benefiting from solar-powered water supply systems.
Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of California Los Angeles. He has published in academic journals ranging from Public Affairs Quarterly, One Earth, Philosophical Papers, and the American Philosophical Association newsletter Philosophy and the Black Experience. Táíwò’s theoretical work draws liberally from the Black radical tradition, anti-colonial thought, German transcendental philosophy, contemporary philosophy of language, contemporary social science, and histories of activism and activist thinkers. His public philosophy, including articles exploring intersections of climate justice and colonialism, has been featured in The New Yorker, The Nation, Boston Review, Dissent, The Appeal, Slate, Al Jazeera, The New Republic, Aeon, and Foreign Policy.
He is the author of Elite Capture and Reconsidering Reparations.
Director Raj Sashti. Before joining Reinhardt University, Raj was an Associate Professor and in academic administration at half-dozen public universities and colleges in Georgia including the Georgia Institute of Technology – Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. During his 50+ years of service to higher education, he has been awarded more than $5,000,000 grants by the U.S. Department of Education, Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, and other organizations. Over the years, Raj has also received two Fulbright Specialist grants and three Fulbright Fellowships to study and travel in Germany, Japan, and Brazil. He has traveled around the globe directing Fulbright funded faculty development programs in more than two dozen countries of Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Raj has two M. A. degrees in Geography, one from the University of Akron, Ohio, and the other from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.
Organized by
The International Studies Consortium of Georgia (ISCOG)* -Celebrating 29 Years of Service
Conference/Consortium Executive Director: Rajgopal Sashti
Jointly Sponsored by
The University of Florida (Center for African Studies), Boston University (African Studies Center), Howard University (Center for African Studies), Reinhardt University & the International Studies Consortium of Georgia
Register by emailing International Studies Consortium of Georgia conference director Rajgopal Sashti: rsashti@yahoo.com