The Ethics of Now with Raj Patel

Join the Kenan Institute for Ethics and host Adriane Lentz-Smith for a conversation with Raj Patel on solving hunger, climate change, racism, and poverty.

A prolific journalist, bold activist, and respected scholar, Raj Patel is committed to helping us understand what’s wrong with the global food system and find alternatives to it. He has testified about the causes of the global food crisis to the US, UK and EU governments, and is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems. He has worked for the World Bank and World Trade Organization — and protested against them around the world. In 2016, he was recognized with a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award.

Patel is a Research Professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin. In addition to scholarly publications in economics, philosophy, politics and public health journals, he writes for a range of newspapers and is a regular contributor to The Guardian.

His first book was “Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System.” His second, “The Value of Nothing,” was a New York Times and international best-seller. He is the co-author with Jason W. Moore of “A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things.” His acclaimed latest book, co-authored with Rupa Marya, is “Inflamed: Deep Medicine and The Anatomy of Injustice.” He also recently co-directed his first film with Zak Piper, the award-winning documentary “The Ants & The Grasshopper,” filmed over the course of a decade in Malawi and the United States.

With clarity and insight, Raj Patel links questions of sustainability to those of justice, politics, and economy. He guides us in meeting crisis with joy and purpose, and he compels us to work to save each other and ourselves.

This event is part of the The Ethics of Now, a series of conversations between Duke historian Adriane Lentz-Smith and a range of artists, advocates, and authors whose works explore the moral challenges of our time.

This event takes place in the auditorium of the Durham County Main Library. Free parking is available in the lot behind the library.

Copies of “A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things” will be available for purchase, courtesy of the Regulator Bookshop. A book signing and reception will follow the event.

Please be advised that seating for this event is first come, first served.