Nation & World

All Nation & World

  • Shock amid the service

    A winter break trip to the Navajo Nation in New Mexico shows the realities of poverty to a group of Harvard undergraduates.

  • Turning on the lights

    Like much of Africa, Liberia relies on ineffective, dirty sources of energy. Coming off a fellowship at Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative, Richard Fahey has one big goal: to transform the country’s electrical grid from the bottom up.

  • Changing how teachers improve

    A new initiative headed by a Harvard scholar aims to transform the way teachers improve their performance, and to overhaul the nation’s public schools in the process.

  • Haiti: 3 Years, 6 Months

    Living in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, most of Haiti’s nine million people are subsistence farmers. Poverty and malnutrition are exacerbated by poor health care and a low vaccination rate.

  • South Africa: Valley of 1,000 Hills

    One of the continent’s richest nations, South Africa also has one of the world’s highest HIV infection rates and is home to the world’s biggest population of HIV-infected people, an estimated 5.5 million.

  • Lesotho: The Pilots

    The tiny African nation of Lesotho is among those hardest hit by the raging twin epidemics of ADIS and tuberculosis. Harvard faculty members are advising the government and helping to revamp clinics and treat patients in the far-flung mountain regions of this poor country.

  • Mexico: Illuminating the Past

    Harvard archaeologists from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology have been working in the Maya city of Copán Ruinas, Honduras, for years, unearthing the secrets of the civilization that once built pyramids there. In recent years, these archaeologists began digging at a new site, Rastrojón, perched on a mountainside where it would be visible to visitors as they enter the valley.

  • Mexico: Ancient Wisdom Examined

    Harvard archaeologists from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology have been working in the Maya city of Copán Ruinas, Honduras, for years, unearthing the secrets of the civilization that once built pyramids there. In recent years, these archaeologists began digging at a new site, Rastrojón, perched on a mountainside where it would be visible to visitors as they enter the valley.

  • After the uprising

    A pair of Harvard experts addressed unrest in Tunisia — and whether it will lead to a truly democratic government — in a panel discussion at the Harvard Kennedy School.

  • Raising the bar on disaster relief

    One year after the deadly earthquake in Haiti, Harvard undergraduates and faculty from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are trying to develop a way to quickly provide shelter to victims of disasters. The Rapid Deployment Disaster Relief Shelter is one of a dozen initiatives funded by the new President’s January Innovation Fund for winter break.

  • Let the Word Go Forth

    “Let the Word Go Forth” is a film of many faces and voices recreating President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address.

  • JFK’s legacy at 50

    To honor the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, the Harvard Kennedy School and the Institute of Politics are planning a year of events designed to update the former president’s call to public service for the modern age.

  • Haiti: New Hospital

    Harvard faculty work through nonprofit to bring health to world’s poor.

  • Progress in Haiti ‘painfully slow’

    A year after a devastating earthquake in Haiti, Harvard faculty members reflect on work done there and the difficult job that remains.

  • Congo: Rape as Strategy

    Researchers from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative have been working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for several years examining the roots of the violence against women that has plagued this war-torn region.

  • Haiti: Home Visit

    Living in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, most of Haiti’s nine million people are subsistence farmers. Poverty and malnutrition are exacerbated by poor health care and a low vaccination rate.

  • Haiti: Mother to Child

    Living in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, most of Haiti’s nine million people are subsistence farmers. Poverty and malnutrition are exacerbated by poor health care and a low vaccination rate.

  • Working with WikiLeaks

    In the age of WikiLeaks and other web whistleblowers, traditional journalists still have an important role to play in publishing government secrets in an effective and responsible way, said Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times. He was joined at the Nieman Foundation on Dec. 16 by a group of concerned journalists and editors discussing secrecy and journalism.

  • Quashing a voice, attacking a Nobel

    A Nobel Peace Prize for jailed Chinese activist Liu Xiaobo brought a flood of criticism from China’s ruling Communist Party. The reaction shows China’s dedication to maintaining its “moral authority” at home, said Bao Pu, publisher of a new book of Liu’s essays.

  • Six years a hostage

    Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt offered a gripping discussion of her six years held hostage by the FARC rebel group during a discussion at Harvard’s Center for Government and International Studies.

  • The politics of ballparks

    From Camden Yards to Fenway Park, Red Sox President and CEO Larry Lucchino has helped to push the idea of the American ballpark as a civic focal point since the 1980s. On Tuesday (Dec. 7), he shared his thoughts on “Ballparks, Politics, and Public Policy” at the Harvard Kennedy School.

  • Inside a kidnapping

    New York Times reporter and author David Rohde discussed his seven months in captivity at the hands of the Taliban, which is the subject of his book, “A Rope and a Prayer: A Kidnapping from Two Sides,” co-authored by his wife, Kristen Mulvihill.

  • The ripples of Brown v. Board

    Panelists say Brown v. Board of Education is still a banner for racial equality, but its inspiration may not be matched by its actual legal impact.

  • Heading for Congress

    Twenty-four incoming members of Congress visited the Harvard Kennedy School this week for a four-day conference to help prepare them for their new jobs.

  • The hard way

    Four people who risked their careers and even their lives to stand on principle shared their stories in an event sponsored by the Carr Center for Human Rights.

  • Nuclear weapons, primal fears

    With 23,000 nuclear weapons in the world, analysts gathered at Harvard with a message: Just say none — but prepare for the worst.

  • Echoes of Tiananmen Square

    In her freshman seminar, lecturer Rowena He sheds light on the Chinese government’s 1989 crackdown on dissent by melding the personal with the academic.

  • Italy and Africa, entwined

    Students in Giuliana Minghelli’s new course on cultural migrations between Italy and Africa get an up-close view of the colonial era, witnessing a performance by one of the assigned authors and developing their own creative responses.

  • Giant steps

    Scholars and editors debate and celebrate the legacy of their late mentor, Samuel P. Huntington.

  • Innovative education

    In a speech, Arizona State president presents new ideas that could fuel higher educational innovation over the next 40 years.