UNE Tangier Forum for Global Studies to host Colby College professor for lecture on “Health and Sanitation in Africa”

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In many parts of the world, contamination from human waste is a major cause of death and principal determinant of childhood mortality. This is particularly true in underdeveloped parts of Africa where clean sources of food and water are scarce.

A lecture at the University of New England’s campus in Tangier, Morocco will examine this global health issue and consider how it compares to other major challenges facing the world today. The lecture, titled “Health and Sanitation in Africa,” will be delivered by Colby College Professor of History James L.A. Webb Jr.

Presented by the University of New England Tangier Forum for Global Studies, the lecture will take place in the auditorium at UNE’s campus in Tangier, on Thursday, April 28 at 7 PM local time (2 PM EST). The event will include a public reception in the academic lounge immediately following the lecture.

Webb teaches courses in world history, ecological history and global health history at Colby College. In the fall of 2015, he was a member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and is now holding the Sanofi Chair in Public Health at the Centre Virchow-Villermé at the Université de Paris (Descartes).

In addition, Webb is the founding editor of the Ohio University Press series “Perspectives on Global Health.” He has published several books on global health, including Humanity’s Burden: A Global History of Malaria (Cambridge, 2009) and The Long Struggle against Malaria in Tropical Africa (Cambridge, 2014). He is currently working on a book titled The Guts of the Matter: Intestinal Diseases, Biomedicine and Global Public Health. 

In addition to engaging a multicultural audience of thinkers at UNE’s campus in Tangier, this lecture will be livestreamed to students and faculty at UNE’s two Maine campuses and to viewers around the world.

About the Tangier Forum for Global Studies

Capitalizing on the millennial legacy of Tangier as a border city open to new ideas, the University of New England Tangier Forum for Global Studies is designed to encourage discussion and critical examination of the burning issues facing the global community in the 21st century. American, Moroccan, and scholars from around the world give lectures and conduct seminars to shed light on histories and cultures that are critical to our knowledge. All events are open to the public and streamed live around the globe. The forum’s motto is “New Ideas for a Better Planet.”

Event flyer for James Webb lecture