International author Amitav Ghosh to deliver 2022 Peace Lecture
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Acclaimed author Amitav Ghosh will deliver the Western Michigan University Center for the Study of Ethics in Society’s 2022 Winnie Veenstra Peace Lecture on Tuesday, April 12.
The Ethics Center will host the online event at 7 p.m. on Webex as part of an evening of events presented in partnership with the Climate Change Working Group. The talk is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
Ghosh will talk about the link between climate change and conflict in a conversation moderated by Dr. Ronald Kramer, professor of sociology and a founding member of both the Ethics Center and the Climate Change Working Group. The talk will be eligible for WMU Signature credit.
Ghosh will also meet fans of his latest book, "The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis," at a special edition of the Climate Change Book Club starting at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12, on Zoom. This event will be co-hosted by the Climate Change Working Group and this is a bookstore/Bookbug, an independent bookstore in Kalamazoo.
"The Nutmeg’s Curse" argues that today’s climate change challenges were set in motion centuries ago as part of Western colonialism’s geopolitical order. Copies of the book will be available at this is a bookstore. Those interested in Ghosh’s works can use the coupon code CLIMATE to receive a 15% discount on all Ghosh titles.
Denise Keele, chair of the Working Group, will moderate the book club discussion. Space is limited. Reserve a spot.
Major funding for these events was provided by the Ethics Center’s Winnie Veenstra Endowment for Peace Lectures established in 1986 in memory of alumna Winnie Veenstra. Additional support was provided by co-sponsors this is a bookstore/Bookbug, the Kalamazoo Nature Center, as well as Western's College of Arts and Sciences, Office for Sustainability, Department of English, Climate Change Working Group, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability Gwen Frostic Committee, Office of Diversity and Inclusion and University Center for the Humanities.
ABOUT AMITAV GHOSH
Ghosh’s works include "The Circle of Reason," "The Shadow Lines, "In An Antique Land," "Dancing in Cambodia," "The Calcutta Chromosome," "The Glass Palace," "The Hungry Tide, The Ibis Trilogy" and "The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable." His essays in The New Yorker, The New Republic and The New York Times appear in the anthologies "The Imam and the Indian and Incendiary Circumstances." He and Canadian environmental activist Margaret Atwood were joint winners of a Dan David Prize, a major international award that recognizes and supports outstanding contributions to the study of history, in 2010. India also bestowed its highest literary prize, the Jnanpith Award, to Ghosh in 2018. According to a 2019 article in the magazine Foreign Policy, Ghosh was “one of the most important global thinkers of the preceding decade.”
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF ETHICS IN SOCIETY
In August 1985, the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society was created after WMU faculty across the curriculum met to discuss their common interests in studying and teaching ethics. Each academic year, the center sponsors a number of public presentations addressing a wide range of ethical issues.
Learn more about the Ethics Center’s events and podcasts.
For more WMU news, arts and events, visit WMU News online.