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James Courtright is based in Senegal and learning and writing about how Fulani societies across West Africa are coping with intersecting crises. He will explore how Fulani communities are responding to climate change, discriminatory governments, increasing jihadist activity, and evolving dynamics within Fulani societies. After growing up between East Africa and the United States, James graduated from Denison University in 2012. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kolda, Senegal for three years during which he lived with a Fulani family and worked in community agriculture. He then moved to Dakar and wrote about human rights, the environment and migration for NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, and Roads & Kingdoms, among other publications. He graduated from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs in May 2020 with a concentration in Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy, after which he returned to West Africa to work with Gambian civil society alongside the country’s truth commission.