On this Derby Week edition of Sustainability Now!, your host Justin Mog, puts his money on the 2018 Grawemeyer Award winner for Ideas Improving World Order, Scott Straus. FORward Radio was in the front row when Dr. Straus came to town on April 10th and spoke at the University of Louisville about this research into The Origins of Genocide - Why does genocide happen in some cases (like Rwanda & Darfur), but not in others (like Cote d'Ivore & Mali)?
Political science professor and author Scott Straus won the 2018 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order for his 2015 book, “Making and Unmaking Nations: War, Leadership, and Genocide in Modern Africa.”
In the book, Straus, who teaches at University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains how ideas and political messages can become tipping points for genocide. His original research examines patterns and circumstances that have resulted in genocide and contrasts those with similar situations where genocide seemed likely to happen but did not. Straus contends that the “founding narratives” of national leaders can determine whether an ethnic minority is tolerated or deemed a threat to the state.
Straus specializes in the study of genocide, political violence, human rights and African politics. He has written extensively about violence in Rwanda. His Grawemeyer Award-winning book and others have garnered high acclaim. His honors include an appointment to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council by President Barack Obama. Before starting in academia, Straus was a freelance journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya.
More information is at http://grawemeyer.org/
Sustainability Now! airs on FORward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at http://forwardradio.org
The music in this podcast is used by permission from the fantastic Louisville band, Appalatin. Explore their inspiring music at https://www.appalatin.com