Aidnography

When I started reviewing books for my blog, the first titles were not directly related to ‘development’, but I approached the reviews from a development perspective. By reviewing C.W. Anderson’s Rebuilding the News: Metropolitan Journalism in the Digital Age , a media ethnography about news reporting in Philadelphia, I am reviving this tradition. This has partly to do with my professional shift towards media and communication studies and partly with the fact that the book raises some interesting questions not just about news in the digital age, but also about organizations, adaptation and how to engage with different audiences. Rebuilding the News argues that, in the face of the chaos pressing in on them from all sides, local news organizations made particular choices about how best to adapt to emerging economic, social, and technological realities. The book analyzes the economic, organizational, and cultural factors that helped shape and direct these choices. I...

Hello all, I just finished my Warrior Princess review so this week's link review is a tad bit late, but it was worth the extra time! New resources and literature (the end of PLA notes?!); conflict & Canadian mining; how much EU money disappeared in DRC? How to avoid poverty p@rn? Can Ladakhis save the world? TOMS shoes and spiritual neoliberalism; and more on being a good development blogger, planning your career, be a respectful male academic & the limitations of MOOCs. Enjoy! New on aidnography Warrior Princess: My Quest to Become the First Female Maasai Warrior (book review) Despite all this criticism it would be too easy to simply dismiss Mindy and her adventure as a selfish self-marketing ploy; whether ‘we’ like it or not, Warrior Princess is somewhat of a mirror of popular representations of development and the complexities of empowerment between changing tribal cultures and ‘Oprahfying’ the experiences in the fast food culture of books, speaking engagements and ...

One of the great features of being in charge of your own blog is that you can amend your unwritten rules: Writing primarily negative book reviews and/or giving a platform, no matter how small, to material I largely disagree with are two of them. It may have been the hype surrounding the release of Mindy Budgor’s book Warrior Princess: My Quest to Become the First Female Maasai Warrior ( Tom Murphy's American seeks to become warrior and help Maasai stop being sexist provides a good overview over the debates) and partly it may have been the absence of ‘regular’ book reviews that encouraged me to read her book and write a more traditional book review. When modernization theory meets Blackberries More or less right from the beginning the book surprised disappointed me with its lack of development-related reflections, self-criticism and a strange Out of Africa exoticism that was transferred into the age of Blackberries and business school applications. At its best worst, moderniz...

Hello all, Welcome to another tour de force through digital writings on, in and about development! From research on how global reports have contributed to a 'pathologisation' of DRC to links between public finance reform and marathon in Nepal and Colombia's pressure to survive in the global trade system there is a good range of country case studies. At 'home' Bono talks like a politician, American evangelical churches fuel the orphan industry and the unionisation in the aid industry enters the agenda. The final questions are whether you live your CV or your eulogy and why paternalism has such a bad image; plus, two great pieces on the 'college admissions industry' in the U.S. and scholarship in the digital age-from Tweet to peer-reviewed article. Enjoy! Not quite new, but relevant (again) from aidnography Social Media and Global Development Rituals: a content analysis of blogs and tweets on the 2010 MDG Summit Investigating the United Nations High-level Ple...

Dear all, I have recovered from a long & interesting conference and even managed to compile some interesting links on new publications, popular representations and misrepresentations of development, development's good wives, poverty barons and visiting impact consultants...last not least an essay on fashion blogging raises interesting questions for 'our' blogosphere and a great post on teaching design and ethnography round off this week's review! Enjoy! New on aidnography 7 things I learned at the Örecomm festival 2013 After four days in three cities and two countries at the Örecomm festival I needed a few days to rest and reflect on the experience; as with the theme of the conference, Memory on Trial, the memories that I am sharing are eclectic, possibly even a bit random, but a few interesting clusters emerged nonetheless. Development The media of Pakistan: Fostering inclusion in a fragile democracy? This briefing shows how a changing media landscape in ...

After four days in three cities and two countries at the Örecomm festival I needed a few days to rest and reflect on the experience; as with the theme of the conference, Memory on Trial , the memories that I am sharing are eclectic, possibly even a bit random, but a few interesting clusters emerged nonetheless. My focus will be on the virtual classroom of the ComDev MA program that was an integral part of the conference, emerging and continuous research themes and a few other topics that caught my attention. As you can imagine, my musings are shaped by only being able to attend a small sample of panels, missing out on some film screenings and sitting behind my MacBook for most of the time… Zac's reflections may be a good additional read about the conference from another perspective. So what caught my attention? 1. Take broadcasting your conference online seriously Making a conference available in the virtual sphere is gaining momentum and I remembered my own humble beginnin...

Dear all, Before my social media and facilitation efforts will be tested at the forthcoming Örecomm conference I want to make sure that more good readings are shared. Starting with my own comment on the use of LinkedIn for development professionals, this week's review features new critical material on 'philanthropy 2.0', the different consequences of the militarization of development as an aidworker suicide and an embedded anthropologist's death are discussed. The World Bank goes Hollywood and in a great mock-interview a celebrity goes to Africa. On a more serious note, the new Norwegian study fund for persecuted students and the limitations of online courses from a recruiter's perspective are included-which bring this week's review full circle to questions about networking in real and virtual worlds... Enjoy! New on aidnography Is there any use of LinkedIn for development professionals? Between annoying motivational advice, a great address book & develop...