Aidnography

I had no idea that I would find self awareness in a combat zone, a kind of peace in chaos. My life [in Afghanistan and Pakistan] wouldn’t be about a man or God or some cause. I would fall in love deeply, but with a story, with a way of life. (p.13) Kim Barker's book ‘ The Taliban Shuffle: Strange days in Afghanistan and Pakistan ’ is a highly recommended, accessible and thought-provoking read for everybody who works in the transnational, transient sphere of expatriate employment in developing countries or conflict zones. The book is less interesting if you are looking for factual information on post-9/11 ‘AfPak’, because most of Kim’s stories about the challenges of the international intervention (diplomatically phrased) have been written down before. Life in ‘Kabulistan’, the odd ‘embed’ with American troops and the messiness of Pakistani politics are hardly news, even if Kim has come close to some key, powerful, flamboyant and/or ruthless politicians of those two countries

I like Oprah. She is an amazing woman, entrepreneur and her advice and insights have probably changed the lives of many people for the better. I also like international development. So when I was reading the May 2011 edition of her magazine (‘Live, love & thrive – All the way to 95!’), some of the contradictions, challenges, paradoxes and things that are good and bad about development were represented by the complexity of meaning and the ‘discourse’ of the magazine. Although this is hardly a new insight, it is fascinating how engaging with and selling an aspiration meets all sorts of challenges in the ‘real world’. As much as development has a mantra of ‘eradicating poverty’, Oprah’s empire, mainly her new OWN TV channel, has a mantra of ‘try to live the good life’. Live better, more reflective, healthier, or, to quote from the cover of the May edition, discover ‘6 superfoods’, learn how to ‘forgive anyone’ and get the ‘prettiest skin of your life’. I know, many similar publica

I know, I know…I actually blame it on my new ebook reader. I have really increased my readload in the past couple of weeks and hugely enjoy reading books electronically and writing about ebooks and academic publishing . So that’s why there is another of those ‘development reviews’. But, on a more serious note, I do enjoy reading books that are not directly related to development, but still help me to think and reflect about some interlinked and intertwined issues between development and other parts of society, different times in history or simply different ideas. The buzz around Kaplan’s and Duflo’s recently published books is interesting to observe and maybe that’s another reason why my reading is going into a different direction. So Michael Codella and Bruce Bennett's Alphaville. The title and subtitle basically say is all: Alphaville: 1988, Crime, Punishment, and the Battle for New York City's Lower East Side . The book reminded me of ‘The Wire’ minus the broader politic

This is the shorter and more practical second part of my take on the Thank You Economy (TYE) and its value for discussing some of the current and future developments of aid, especially around the ‘social’ aspects and ‘development 2.0’. The first part focussed on the actual book review and some general observations. Just a brief reminder of what Gary Vaynerchuk means by TYE: In short, [companies] are going to have to relearn and employ the ethics and skills our great-grandparents' generation took for granted, and that many of them put into building their own businesses. We're living in what I like to call the Thank You Economy, because only the companies that can figure out how to mind their manners in a very old-fashioned way and do it authentically are going to have a prayer of competing. Note that I said you have to do it authentically. I am wired like a CEO and care a great deal about the bottom line, but I care about my customers even more than that. That&#

Sometimes there are these rare moments when the anthropologist in me gets really excited. A friend of mine who works for the UN in Kenya allowed me to share this fantastic artefact, a picture taken at the end of the visit of three senior UN officials, WFP's Josette Sheeran, UN Women's Michelle Bachelet and UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres to the ‘ world’s largest refugee camp ’ in Dadaab. It’s global multiculturalism in a nutshell; if somebody asks me ‘what does it look like to work for the UN?’ I will say ‘just like this’:

I wish Jonathan Starr good luck with his project and hope that his boarding school in Somaliland will have a positive impact on its graduates, their lives and livelihoods. However, as much as I will try to avoid to write a rant in response to his comment in the Wall Street Journal on 'The "Business" of International Aid' I found his article interesting and note- and critique-worthy as part of the broader 'DIY aid' debate. Yes, other former executives from the business world have had the idea before to go to a development country and 'fix' some of the things that international aid obviously has not been able to fix yet. 'Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children ' is another example and also involves schools, children, textbooks and in this case Nepal. And of course Jonathan is pointing out a few key problems that many in the 'industry' are struggling with everyday-a fact he