Aidnography

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

When the French philosopher Marc  Augé coined the term ‘non-place’ he was not exactly talking about international development. The places ‘which cannot be defined as relational, historical, or concerned with identity’ (pp.77-78) are ‘prevalent in [the] supermodern and Jamesonian “late-capitalist” society as spaces created for specific ends, such as commerce or transportation’ (Mark Matienzo: The ethnology of nowhere, everywhere. Marc Augé's Non-places as an analytical tool for supermodern ahistory and transience). In today’s aid world these may be predominantly places where expat aid workers pass through such as airports, capital city restaurants, hotels, places for R&R, global meetings or, arguably, the ‘blogosphere’ . Travelling, movement, acceleration and speed are fundamental traits of non-places as Augé exemplifies the non-place as the fundamental experience of the traveller through space, ‘a simultaneous distancing from the spectator and the spectacle’ (p.92). Th

I came across Gary Vaynerchuk through the South By Southwest ( SXSW ) conference and decided to have a look at what an expert on social media and marketing has to say and whether and how it may actually be relevant for international development (synopsis of book; Amazon link). It is a quick and interesting read to catch up with some key developments of social media, get some practical insights from a range of case studies and a more comprehensive picture of the future Thank You Economy .  The Thank You Economy is about something big, something greater than any single revolutionary platform. It isn't some abstract concept or wacky business strategy—it's real, and every one of us is doing business in it every day, whether we choose to recognize it or not. It's the way we communicate, the way we buy and sell, the way businesses and consumers interact online and offline. The Internet, where the Thank You Economy was born, has given consumers back their voice, and the tremendou

I just finished reading Greg Grandin’s excellent book ‘ Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City’ . The synopsis from Amazon gives you a good overview over the contents of the book: Proving that truth can indeed be stranger than fiction, Fordlandia is the story of Henry Ford's ill-advised attempt to transform raw Brazilian rainforest into homespun slices of Americana. With sales of his Model-T booming, the automotive tycoon saw an opportunity to expand his reach further by exploiting a downtrodden Brazilian rubber industry. His vision, the laughably-named Amazonian outpost of Fordlandia, would become an enviable symbol of efficiency and mark the Ford Motor Company as a player on the global stage. Or so he thought. With thoughtful and meticulous research, author Greg Grandin explores the astounding oversights (no botanists were consulted to confirm the colony's agricultural viability) and painful arrogance (little thought was paid to how nativ

A few months ago I shared some musings, based on my initial experiences with blogging, about writing and publishing in an academic context .  The main point was that the current academic system supports a publication model that ensures high profits for (academic) publishers, but that does not do much in terms of sharing knowledge, starting debates or helping academic writing to get feedback from the ‘real world’ - vital for research on international development, anthropology or any other social science. In the end, there is often an expensive hardcover book that is difficult to order and while many complain that such books are basically ending up on library shelves, they are ending up on library shelves without much notice other than by the library accountant who oversees an ever-dwindling budget for acquisitions. A few days ago I read a long and insightful interview with Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath on Ebooks and self-publishing . They are outlining some of the key challenges

A few days ago a colleague of a development studies institute sent out a message to the postgraduate student community about responding to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. He is an academic expert on disaster preparedness issues and he wrote a short message, cautioning people not to make rushed decisions regarding donations and also to think about long-term responses to such crises. Sending money immediately may not be the best choice. What I found a bit ambiguous was that he had a small advertisement for his latest book in his email signature and with bad intentions you may have been reading this as an indirect book promotion. But the tone of the email was appropriate, reflective and cautionary – the sort of writing I would have done and I felt perfectly appropriate for a message that goes out to a 200+ audience. It also reflected the ton of discussions in my online network. Since then, his message has sparked quite a debate and in a follow-up message he explains that he has r

As with most short, catchy headlines the answer is probably ‘Well, I am not so sure...’ Me neither. And I do not really mean a fulltime MA programme dedicated to social media in the context of international development and social change. But I do think that social media should play a more prominent role in the development studies curriculum. The example of Northwestern University’s cooperation with businesses ( Here, Tweeting is a class requirement ) to tap into the creative potential of marketing students is very interesting and made me think about the potential and limitations of a similar cooperation between development organisations and the departments that teach an increasing number of students who want to work ‘in development’. I will start from a more conservative point of view – meaning from a point of view that the strengths of development studies courses lie elsewhere and social media may only be a trending add-on. But I also want to share a few more forward-lookin