Yan Slobodkin

Yan Slobodkin is a J.D. Candidate and Human Rights Center Law Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a historian of modern Europe with a focus on French colonialism, humanitarianism, and global health. Based on archival research on four continents, his book, The Starving Empire: A History of Famine in France’s Colonies (Cornell UP, 2023), integrates food crises in North Africa, West Africa, and Southeast Asia into a broader story of imperialism and humanitarianism. He previously taught at Fordham University, Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and Sarah Lawrence College.