The Nobel Prizes Need to Solve Their Bias Problem

Nelson Mandela aside, the global south has been largely ignored by the committee, and that’s bad for the entire world.

Exception to the rule.

Photographer: Trevor Samson/AFP/Getty Images

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Each Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, the Nobel Prize award ceremony takes place in Stockholm. In 1993, my grandfather, Nelson Mandela, was awarded the Peace Prize for his battle to end Apartheid in South Africa.

For my grandfather, a man long labelled as a terrorist by Western nations, this day signified that his decades-long battle for freedom and equality was recognized on the world stage.