Aidnography

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

Duncan Green is probably one of the politest ‘ranters’ I have come across on the Internet, so his Conference rage: 'How did awful panel discussions become the default format?' is actually quite a measured critique. He also suggests some constructive and practical ways of organizing events, panels and discussions better, thereby overlooking what I would consider one of the root causes for ‘awful panel discussions’: the sheer inflation of conferences, policy events and various other formats of so-called public engagement. My main point of how to improve panel discussions is to organize fewer and make the personal choice to attend fewer yourself-both as speaker or participant in the audience. There simply isn’t enough good content available This year’s conference of the Development Studies Association features 73 panels and the Development Research Conference at Stockholm University hosts another 39 panels . That’s more than 110 panels on a relatively niche topic like developmen

Hi all, Since I shared my post on the topic, lots of other interesting posts, comments and hints at previous academic contributions have been shared and in the spirit of curatorship as academic practice , I am highlighting a few in this post. What happened? Angelina Jolie gets new role as visiting professor at LSE The Hollywood actor and director has been appointed a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, teaching a course on the impact of war on women. From 2017, Jolie will join the former foreign secretary William Hague as a “professor in practice”, the university announced on Monday, as part of a new MSc course on women, peace and security, which LSE says is the first of its kind in the world. Esther Addley from the GUARDIAN kind of broke the news last Monday (23 May). Outrage at the LSE's appointment of Angelina Jolie is nothing more than academic snobbery The objection to Jolie Pitt’s arrival at the LSE is nothing more than snootiness from those who cherish

Hi all, Welcome to a jam-packed end-of-the-week link review! Development news on Professor Angelina; #allmalepanel; finding a new WHO Director; the holy grail of ‘less paperwork’; UN bureaucracy; unpacking digital privacy; teens in Nepal and the stigma of periods; development journalism; the ‘tomorrow’ after WHS; better voluntourism; Vogue and aid romance; the ‘non-place’ of Angola’s uninhabited modern city; Digital lives on how Air B’nB is destroying Iceland’s rental market New publications on educational development and how mainstream news report global issues. Academia on peer-review and academic citizenship Enjoy! New from aidnography Why you should be critical of Professor Angelina Jolie Pitt’s LSE gig There is nothing wrong with an entertaining lecture, but in the age of TED talks, Hans Rosling visualizations and a higher education sector that is now less ‘ivory tower’ than it ever was, we have to critically assess how ‘fun’ university studies can and should be. That is pa

The message of Angelina Jolie’s appointment as Professor of Practice in LSE’s new MSc course on women, peace and security has probably been shared and commented on more widely than detailed news from the World Humanitarian Summit . Aid workers and academics alike shared critical comments and it is worth to engage a bit more comprehensively with the underlying issues of academic corporatization and the celebritization of aid work and development research/teaching. Hannah Fearn’s comment that over-sensitive inhabitants of the ivory tower should drop their ‘ academic snobbery ’ is a rather short-sighted critique of some of the broader issues that culminate in ironic facebook comments or snarky Tweets: Timing and context It is important to look beyond general comments such as ‘universities always had practitioners joining their classes’ or ‘Angelina Jolie knows a lot about the subject’ and at the specific context of this announcement: The UK now has the highest tuition fees in the OE