This panel will explore the politics of food and famine in Soviet Ukraine, Soviet Kazakhstan, and Maoist China. Famine often has concrete causes: inadequate food distribution systems, economic disturbances due to war or other conflicts, and climate-related events such as droughts, violent storms, and more. In the 20th century, we can also trace famine events to specific political decisions, particularly in the authoritarian regimes of the Soviet Union and Communist China. Our panelists bring a comparative perspective to the social, cultural, economic, and human ramifications of specific state policies between the 1930s and the early 1960s.
Panel Chair
- Prof. Christopher Otter (Ohio State) author of Diet for a Large Planet: Industrial Britain, Food Systems, and World Ecology (Chicago 2020)
Speakers
- Daria Mattingly (Cambridge University) on the Holodomor in Ukraine
- Sarah Cameron (U of Maryland) on the famine in Kazakhstan
- Frank Dikötter (University of Hong Kong) on Mao's Great Famine
If you have any questions about accessibility or wish to request accommodations, please contact us at csees@osu.edu. Typically, a two weeks' notice will allow us to provide access.
