Aidnography

I had just started reading Mark Schuller’s Humanitarian Aftershocks in Haiti when hurricane Matthew hit the island. It was a sad and timely reminder to critically analyze and engage with humanitarian efforts on the Caribbean island. I reviewed Jonathan Katz’ book The Big Truck That Went By as well as J’s Disastrous Passion installment of aid worker fiction on Aidnography before which both provide different views of the billion dollar aid effort that had reached Haiti after the earthquake of 2010. And as the American election campaign noise about a particular foundation’s work on the island grew louder, I was looking for more substantial and nuanced insights into the impact of a lot of aid money in a small place. Mark Schuller’s ethnography certainly delivers a lot of these nuanced, critical and academically grounded insights; his book is also a reminder of the value of ‘aidnography’ and how important long-term, on the ground anthropological field work is to elucidate the things w

Hi all, Don’t leave the office or desk without clicking through your favorite development content summary :) Development news: Chemonics discriminated against 124 African-American applicants; Bono-man, woman, person of the year; Christians urge for better mission trips; 10 big picture communication challenges; 10 new frontier technologies; 10…wait…only 1 foundation president joined PepsiCo board; responsible data policies; media and drones; better health communication; studying development MAs; doctors are a bit like aid workers and like their stress. Our digital lives: How not to be racist (also applies to developm ent...) ; an overview over the misinformation economy; how work works in the digital age. Academia: Ebola anthropology and long-term investment in science.   Enjoy! New from aidnography Just a quick reminder to sign up for the forthcoming newsletter . Development news International development company Chemonics International Inc. agrees to pay $482K to African-Am

Hi all, Lots of things going on: There will be a monthly newsletter-probably ready from December onwards ! But there is also plenty of development and digital culture content this week as you would expect: An angry UN USG on our neglect to protect; we need British aid; an overview over #WonderWomenGate; impact evaluations are still the talk in town; evaluating a health care project in India; From real-time data to real-time programming; privatizing education in Africa with help of philanthrocapitalists; what next for the ICC? Your regular #allmalepanel fix & Romeo Dallaire ' s new memoir. 'Cars entering and Leaving Mosul ' is my reading recommendation for this week! And finally: Data responsibility as the new CSR & how not to take ownership of other people’s stories. Enjoy! New from aidnography Subscribe to Aidnography's monthly newsletter! * indicates required Email Address * First Name Last Name Email Format html t

One of the many advantages of being in charge of your own blog is that formats can be adapted. As much as this is my review of Thomas Arcaro ’s Aid Worker Voices: Survey Results and Commentary , it is also a snapshot of my ongoing discussion I have had with the author prior to reading his book and discussing the current state and future potential behind the project. In many ways, Aid Worker Voices is a hybrid: It is a work-in-progress report, a data handbook and an example of reflective writing at the intersection of academia and the aid industry. It is also an invitation to listen to an incredible variety of aid workers and their voices expressed through a unique, comprehensive, long-term survey project. Based on a census-style 60 question survey that just over 1000 aid workers completed between January 2014 and March 2015 and that is documented on the companion website , the project gathered an incredible range of responses on the state of play of aid work and the aid workers in

Hi all, As my post on the Dancing Missionaries disaster approaches 6.000 hits, another Friday arrived all too quickly and fresh links are due!  Development news: More on the Uganda mission zeal; MSF refuses vaccine donations; humanitarians help, they don’t solve problems; the price of attacking poverty in Bangladesh; Haiti…sigh; participation and regeneration; aid worker voices project; the impact of instagramming Everyday Africa; moving expats; the difficult lives of Sherpas in Darjeeling. Our digital lives: Failing sucks; do we need more uncomfortable conversations? Is philanthropy bad for journalism? New publications on media development and digital politics.  Academia: Psychology’s ‘methodological terrorism’ debate and future of statistically significant results.   Enjoy! Don't miss great content on Aidnography ! Subscribe to the new monthly newsletter! Development news This video from Uganda highlights everything wrong with global development I don’t think these