Aidnography

Susan Williams book Who Killed Hammarskjöld? The UN, The Cold War and White Supremacy in Africa can be best summarized with ‘come for the title-but definitely stay for the subtitle!’ I am not sure that my review needs a ‘spoiler alert’, but after Susan Williams’ research was published in 2011 a new UN inquiry challenged the official verdict of pilot error that led to the crash of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane in 1961, killing him and all fifteen passengers on board. Essentially, the careful and meticulous review of old and new archival material, expert and witness interviews and further analysis strongly suggest that a second aircraft was involved in the incident. Even if we are unlikely to get a full and final answer to the question, the evidence strongly suggests that there was a conspiracy to kill the UN Secretary General as his and the UN’s involvement in (post-)colonial politics in Congo stepped on a lot of interests’ toes: But whatever the details, his death

Hi all, A long week is finally winding down-and there is great content curated for you! Development news: What do we need a World Development Report for? More inconvenient truth for development; how to create prosperity, not just resource-recipients? Does the UN have a culture of (male) impunity? Cheap garments are now made in Myanmar; Beckham denies using UNICEF to boost his image; what is ‘localization’ of aid? The impact of edutainment in India; unusable Nigerians; Who owns Appalachia? Will robots disrupt public sector and aid industry? Our digital lives: Literary festivals in an age of gentrified self-marketing capitalism; Teen Vogue & the emergence of feminist journalists; sexual violence in Canada challenges of big data. Publications: IDS Bulletin on Engaged Exellence; report on data and activism Academia: Ethical frameworks for volunteering abroad; tenure and diversity Enjoy! New from aidnography We had a great time yesterday at a seminar with visiting American s

Hi all, So mething strange has happen ed throughout th is week . For the first time since I started my link review I struggled a bit to c omp ile a meaningful digest since all my social media fe eds were clogged with non-development con tent (well, that's probably not entirely true in some ways...). Partly because of my fi lter bubble , but mostly because the situation in the United States trumps (e xcuse the terrible pun) most other glo bal issues. Nonet he less this sl ightly shorter digest still features some good, critical, sometim es uplifting readi ngs that remind us that the struggles for global justice and inequality know no boundaries. Development news: The Silicon Valley ethos does not work for ICT4D; EU & the shift of #globaldev funds towards refugee issues; women, war & Yemen; the female orchestra from Afghanistan; should we be excited about the latest World Development report? A neat overview of digital campaigning. Our digital lives: The

Under the impression of recent political developments in the US, major academic associations have started to respond to the challenge of how to hold their annual mega-conferences in an age of travel insecurities. The International Communication Association (IC A) already sent out a clear statement that they are looking at ‘alternative platforms’ to engage with scholar who cannot or do not want to travel to the United States or more generally under current visa insecurities. ICA shares concern re impact of exec orders on ability of ALL colleagues to attend #ica17 . We are working on alt platforms for participation — IntCommunicationAssn (@icahdq) January 29, 2017 The A merican Anthropological Association (AAA) issued a strong statement against travel bans , but with no reference to alternative forms and approaches to hold meetings. And all I nternational Studies Association (ISA) could come up with so far was to urge participants to join them in Baltimore later in Februar

Hi all, Another Friday! New student are settling in, calendar filling up with appointments and so much interesting stuff to read! Development news : World Vision tests humanitarian boundaries in Syria; China’s development debt-traps; time for a new anti-politics machine? Child refugee exploitation in Turkey; where are the women in Pakistan? Illegal logging; UN World Data Forum; have statistics lost their power? Colour and the UK civil service; the gentrification of back-packing; Amartya Sen is smart. Publications : New book on the politics of inclusive development; WHO outsourcing dilemmas. Academia: New #globaldev podcast series; meaningful work and management science; the MOOC emperor is naked! Enjoy! New from aidnography The BBC-Myth of a Public Service (book review) Tom Mills’ interesting historical review of one of the world’s most renowned news media enterprises deserves attention, especially because his detailed analysis bridges the gap between ideologies and political l