Keynote Speaker

Raj Patel, controversial author, journalist and food policy expert, continuously challenges our presumptions about the global food economy with his work both as a policy analyst and activist. He has worked for some of the most prestigious international organizations and protested against them, and constantly works to find ways to improve the global food system. In his newest work, Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, Patel discusses the growing worldwide food crisis and what needs to be done to solve it. He has recently returned from a two-year stay working in the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

Patel is currently a visiting scholar in the Center for African Studies at the University of California at Berkeley and a Fellow at the Institute of Food and Development Policy. He is also a Research Associate at the School of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and previously was a policy analyst for Food First.

The London native graduated from Balliol College at Oxford and went on to pursue his PhD from Cornell University, which led him to research land reform politics. After working for the World Bank, interning at the World Trade Organization and consulting for the United Nations, Patel has become a harsh critic of their methods, and has been tear gassed on four continents protesting against them. Patel’s thoughts on food, hunger, and globalization have appeared in a number of US and International news sources, including The Los Angeles Times and The Guardian. He has been featured in Newsweek has been appeared on The Today Show, the BBC, and NPR.

Patel is involved in several international organizations including; the Land Research Action Network (LRAN), a network of researchers and social movements committed to the promotion and advancement of the fundamental rights of individuals and communities to land, and the Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATANI), an African initiative to strengthen Africa's capacity to take a more effective part in the emerging global trading system.

His commitment to these organizations and others has led to the publication of his novel Stuffed and Starving as well as co-authoring another work, Promised Land: Competing Visions of Agrarian Reform. Patel has also published several articles on the politics of food, in such publications as the Journal of Asian and African Studies, the International Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health, and the Review of African Political Economy.

This biography was provided by the American Program Bureau. For more information, please go to: www.apbspeakers.com.