reading up on the author

I decided to do a little bit of Google work to find out about Alex de Waal, the author of Famine Crimes (as well as Aids and Power). I was intrigued by Aids and Power, his passionate book about the lack of political support for HIV/AIDS, and it was recommended that I read Famine Crimes to gain a better understanding of the political process. In addition, I am taking a Food Security and Humanitarian Aid course through the Payson Center this summer, which also makes the book directly relevant to my future work.

de Waal is a co-director of Justice Africa, an advocacy and research organization that campaigns for social justice in Africa. The primary slogan for Justice Africa is "Nothing for me without me," which depicts the participatory approach that guides the organization. It has been largely sustainable because it is run, organized and works directly in contact with communities in Africa and African people.
www.justiceafrica.org

He is also a fellow in the Global Equity Initiative at Harvard University, and a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. I think this is VERY interesting because I took a class at Tulane last semester from a visiting professor, Dr. Sheri Fink, who is also a Senior Fellow at HHI. I am going to send her an email to ask her if she does any work with him.

I EVEN found a copy of his CV, which shows all of the articles, chapters and books he has written as well as his past jobs and awards. Most intriguing for me was that de Waal was a co-recipent of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize as one of the co-founders of the Mines Advisory Group, an international campaign to ban landmines.

Fascinating.