Aidnography

Hi all,  We made it through another week & a great photo essay on outdoor women in Canada & a speculative humanitarian fiction story could help to take off your mind for a little bit, but we also must not forget Madagascar or Haiti & how language matters when we talk about #globaldev! My quotes of the week Nearly all respondents said they had attended large humanitarian gatherings attended by staff from international and local agencies. Did these encounters produce feelings of solidarity? No. (Power & solidarity in humanitarian governance – what aid workers really think) My biggest tip is to think about who has power and agency and ask yourself: are you using language that amplifies the power and worth of the people your work is supposedly done in service to, or is it taking away that power? (Devspeak: are the words we use doing more harm than good?) Maintaining the drug war thus reinforces the idea that Indigenous peoples are secondary; that the pain and sufferi...

Hi all, It feels like a lifetime since I posted my last weekly update with all the terrible news that is coming in from Afghanistan, Haiti & so many other places around the globe. The semester hasn't even started I feel more tired & inadequate engaging with our wonderful students over #globaldev questions than I can remember... My quotes of the week The honest answer to the question ‘Is research being used’? is probably “some of it, sometimes…we think.” Is that really good enough? (Is the humanitarian sector really using research evidence?) Recognizing the existence of working people on great estates helped to shore up the idea of the country houses as places of shared memory. “Yes, we acknowledge that there are tensions . . . but, ultimately, everyone was on board, because class could be assimilated into the project of Englishness, right?” Priyamvada Gopal (...) said. “Race doesn’t allow that.” The spoils of enslavement and colonial power, and how they were fashioned into...

Hi all, The Swedish summer break is coming to its end & we will be preparing for the new semester on Monday; I thought I would kick off my weekly link review with a bit of an eclectic mix of stuff that I noticed during the 'break' & a few more recent items, perhaps a good mix for those who are still on a break/'break' & are looking for some #globaldev readings. This edition features the 'neutrality trap' in Myanmar, a graphic novel from South Sudan, a review of drones & humanitarianism, the League of Nations archive, aid worker memoirs, plus plenty of open access books & academic articles with a focus on global health & the ethics of decolonization! A short technical note: Google has turned off some FeedBurner features which 'also means that we will be turning down most non-core feed management features, including email subscriptions'. h I migrated the email addresses to my Mailchimp Newsletter account and you will receive a f...

Hi all, Welcome to the last weekly review before my annual summer break! I don't need to tell anybody what a long and tiring first half of the year it has been, but I'm also grateful for the digital companionship that the blog provides to engage with your work, writings, books, reflections & more! I will be back in mid-August, probably sharing a book review or two in the meantime, and I wish you a healthy, reinvigorating time, perhaps dismantling the patriarchy, working on decolonization & rethinking #globaldev or reconnecting with family, friends & good books, movies or podcasts. Thanks for feeding my curiosity, learning, thinking & doing! P.S.: And don't forget to apply for our permanent full-time Senior Lecturer in Communication for Development position ! P.P.S.: This is a picture I took at Kåseberga harbour during a short spring break & I look forward to returning next week for Swedish Midsomar celebrations (which is not far from Dag Hammarskjöld...

Hi all, 22 of our ComDev students presented great theses last week, the semester is slowly winding down & your favorite weekly #globaldev review is back with news, reflections, readings & think pieces :) !   Enjoy! My quotes of the week The top ten practices mentioned by interviewed leaders were modelling self-care, openly discussing mental health with staff, recognising the contributions of others, challenging inappropriate behaviour, using their position responsibly and fairly, actively listening to different perspectives, communicating consistently and with authenticity, prioritising the workload, giving people space to do their jobs, and cultivate caring, compassionate organisational cultures. (Leading Well: Aid leader perspectives on staff well-being and organisational culture) On the guidelines enshrined in Nobel rules is that once a prize is awarded, it cannot be withdrawn. So how could the committee express its condemnation of the war and the politics of...