When It Comes to Stopping Genocide, There’s a Will But Not a Way

We Are More Committed to Ending Mass Atrocities Than Ever Before—We Just Don’t Know How

What does genocide mean? What are its causes? And what kind of actions can be taken—in the U.S. and elsewhere—to stem this horrifying, ongoing global problem? Kal Raustiala, director of the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, opened a discussion about genocide, and how the world reacts to it, by posing these questions in front of a full house at the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, at a “Thinking L.A.” event co-presented by UCLA.

UCLA historian Richard G. Hovannisian, whose parents survived the genocide of Armenians that started almost exactly 100 years …

A Stranger in Africa

Surrounded By Faces Like Mine, I Connected Not with My Long-Ago Ancestors But with My American Home

As I stood in the humid, dank cell, I found myself hesitating a bit, peering down into the cavernous doorways of the male slave dungeon of Ghana’s Cape Coast Castle. …

Ebola Is Bad, But Measles Was Worse

This Year’s Terrifying Outbreak Won’t Spread as Far or as Fast as Historic Epidemics

As an epidemiologist who works with mathematical models to analyze outbreaks, I can tell you–despite the disclosure of a U.S. case in Dallas last week–there is some good news in …

Can a Hashtag Bring My Brother Home?

Americans Take Social Media Campaigns for Granted. But After My Brother Was Kidnapped in the Gambia, Our Family Got on Twitter.

Here’s something I could never type in my home country: #FreeAlhagieAndEbou.

This hashtag is part of my family’s effort—which includes calls to the State Department, the FBI, and the White House …

Could Shoes Help Contain the Ebola Epidemic?

Growing Up in Sierra Leone, I Walked Barefoot. It Was Painful, and Now It’s a Public Health Hazard.

Growing up in the village of Konjo in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone, I remember the walks. After waking up to the crowing of hens, I’d take long, cold …

Africa’s Entrepreneurs Are Young and Restless

With Fast-Growing Economies, Middle-Class Ambitions, and a Boom in Technology, There’s No Waiting Around in Africa

Nigerian-American journalist Dayo Olopade spent two years traveling through 17 African countries. But it’s still difficult for her to talk about the continent, she told a crowd at The Actors’ …