George Kent
Background :
I was born and grew up in New York City. I spent my undergraduate days studying electrical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, where I got my bachelor's degree in 1960. An interest in communication led me to shift fields, and the following year I received a Master of Science in Communications degree from Boston University's School of Public Relations and Communications. From there I went to the University of Illinois, where I was awarded a PhD in Communications in 1965. After that I spent a year doing post-doctoral work at Ohio State University.
My books include
- The Political Economy of Hunger: The Silent Holocaust;
- Fish, Food, and Hunger: The Potential of Fisheries for Alleviating Malnutrition ;
- The Politics of Children’s Survival ,
- Children in the International Political Economy , and
- Freedom from Want:The Human Right to Adequate Food
I have worked as a consultant with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and several civil society organizations, and I am part of the Working Group on Nutrition, Ethics, and Human Rights of the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition. I am Co-Convener of the Commission on International Human Rights of the International Peace Research Association.
Interests: My professional work is addressed to finding remedies for social problems, especially finding ways to strengthen the weak in the face of the strong. I work on human rights, international relations, peace, development, and environmental issues, with a special focus on nutrition and children.
Selected publications:
The Politics of Pacific Islands Fisheries, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1980.
The Political Economy of Hunger: The Silent Holocaust, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1984.
Editor (with Mark J. Valencia), Marine Policy in South-east Asia, Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1985.
Fish, Food, and Hunger: The Potential of Fisheries for Alleviating Malnutrition, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1987.
The Politics of Children's Survival, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1991.
Children in the International Political Economy, London/New York: Macmillan/St. Martin’s, 1995.
"Should HIV-Positive Mothers Use Infant Formula?" The Health Exchange (April 2001), pp. 8-9. download pdf file "Breastfeeding: A Human Rights Issue?" Development, Vol. 44, No. 2 (June 2001), pp. 93-98. PDF file. download pdf file
"Africa's Food Security Under Globalization", African Journal of Food & Nutritional Sciences, Vol. 2, No. 1 (2002).
"Food Trade and Food Rights,"United Nations Chronicle, Issue 1 (2002).
Courses taught: At the University of Hawai'i, in Fall 2002, I will offer POLS 315 International Relations and Human Rights, an undergraduate on-line course, and POLS 730 Globalization and uman Rights, a graduate seminar in international relations. To obtain syllabi click here.