Aidnography

As it often happens in academic journal publishing my latest article From Social Movement to Ritualized Conference Spaces: The Evolution of Peace Research Professionalism in Germany has been work in progress for quite some time. This is the final product based on my doctoral research project . The article takes a qualitative-historical approach to investigate how discussions, gatherings and discourses of peace research in Germany have been transformed over time into ritualized events. Over time, traditional ideas of open and inclusive debates within a social movement have been replaced with the rituals of the academic conference industry. In proper academic language The article employs anthropological ritual theory and the concepts of symbolism and liminality to provide a theoretical framework for analyzing ethnographic insights into the academic peace research community in Germany. Using secondary sources for a broader historical outline, I analyze the evolution of peace resear...

Hi all, It's Friday and you deserve a break from #Brexit news! So enjoy some critical development reading and explore what shapes our digital lives! Development news: NGO ranking behind paywall; UN’s ethical failure; Bolivia rejects Gates’ chickens; Connecting the unconnected in Bangladesh? Pakistan’s low tech Uber; how can ODI communicate better? Virtual Reality is kind of hot right now; Public-Private partnerships in foster care & the transformation of the poverty industry; small stories and ownership of big data in Liberia; reviewing MacAskills’ book on transforming giving. Out digital lives: A cynical app is rewarded; what true crime addicts and development amateurs have in common; the first-ever Snapchat movie Publication: New IDS Bulletin on ruptures in the Middle East. Enjoy! New from aidnography Disrupted (book review) Even though my review tries to link core themes of Disrupted to my own professional world and broader questions of the aid industry, I can recomm...

I picked up Dan Lyons’ book Disrupted-My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble because of my general interest in insights from other sectors and industries that may help us to understand the future of ‘our’ aid industry better. My first book reviews dealt with the ‘outside world’ and historical developments elsewhere and Disrupted is a good book to take up my reflections again on the future of work, corporate culture and the changing nature of what professions and careers might look like in the near future. After being laid off from Newsweek , 52-year old tech journalist Dan Lyons joins HubSpot , a tech start-up on the brink of becoming a big software and digital service company. Lyons turns his version of media industry ‘quit lit’ into entertaining insights from inside the start-up bubble, contemporary office culture and a marketing discourse that seems to have become a parody of itself. Everyone works in vast, open spaces, crammed next to one another like seamstresses in Banglade...

Hi all, Time flies…it’s Friday again and you expecting your fix of interesting links and readings for the weekend… Development news: Save The Children’s Saudi connection; the dark side of development communication; USAID shows a sense of humor; more futures of humanitarianism; child labor; UK spends aid money to support private schools; can RCTs become political?; poverty is not a lack of character; new aid work(er) movie. Our Digital Lives: Spoof TED talk on thought leadership; are fast food restaurants the new community centers? Newsletters for community building; a lot of media people to avoid #allmalepanels. Academia: Sounds like an experiment: How husband and wife started in academia and how their careers were impacted by gendered assumptions of the industry; PhD students and critical thinking; despair fatigue. Enjoy! New from aidnography Angus Deaton does not like aid-but he likes the World Bank of 1996 "I think the World Bank should become a huge consultancy firm that...

In a long interview with the Swiss Neue Zuercher Zeitung (NZZ) (in German) Noble laureate Angus Deaton confirms that he does not like aid. But one paragraph struck me as so remarkably anachronistic that it seems worth discussing it a bit further: Some of the better World Bank staff say "We know how to build accountable institutions. If a country wants to have them, they can ask us for advice". Maybe that is a way to really help. Q: That would be a new role for the World Bank. Yes. I think the World Bank should become a huge consultancy firm that should collect the immense knowledge about development that has been accumulated over decades. They have many great professionals who know how to build damns or privatize water suppliers. If a government wants o undertake such a project, they could ask the World Bank what works in other countries and what does not. This would avoid errors. And rich countries could pay for such consultancy services. But today's World Bank can...

Hi all, Greetings from Berlin! While catching up with friends I am finalizing this week's link review. Development news: Global aid spending is a mess; an overview over adaptive learning networks; Ethiopia's climate crisis; Nepal-as always on the edge of failure; top UN whistleblower resigns; the power of status quo UN bureaucracy; changing aidwork in rural Kenya; Gates foundation fails U.S. public school policy-making. Our digital lives: Start-ups are addicted to jargon; an artistic research podcast on lifelogging. New publications on refugees and mobile communication; social media ethnography from the Chilean periphery. Academia: The complexities of conferencing in and on 'Africa'; the stupidity of the knowledge economy. Enjoy! Development news Misplaced charity By almost all of these measures, foreign aid is failing. It is as co-ordinated as a demolition derby. Much goes neither to poor people nor to well-run countries, and on some measures the targeting is ...

Hi all, Angelina has kept me busy as you can see below, but obviously I have come across a few more interesting readings for your weekend pleasure and critical reflection. So what questions do you want to engage with this week? Development news: Is the fishermen-use-mobile-phone ICTD success story a myth? What kind of new NGOs do we need post-WHS? Why do we need ICT in evaluation? Why doesn’t UNDP like critical staff members? Why do super-highways contribute to inequality? Does anybody care about Clintons’ flawed engagement in Haiti? Is OK to have orphan hero shots in your NGO communication? Digital lives: How should you blog development? Academia: Should academics be expected to change policy? Should you provide expert input for free? Should professors decide about textbooks? Enjoy! New from aidnography Call Me Professor Jolie Pitt: The Buzz About Her New Job Since the announcement, quite a few academics, from human rights lawyers to professors of international politics, have sha...