Aidnography

Hi all, An ethnography of bread in Jordan, co-designing algorithms, why UN staff accept precarious work conditions, Samir Amin, notes on a UNOPS scandal & expensive pre-Weddings in Zimbabwe-as always, an interesting mix of what 'development' means today awaits you this week! My quotes of the week Bread has undoubtedly been at the center of a wide array of contentious episodes in the Middle East. Yet in no instance was bread a passive symbol or facile evidence of anger, indignation, and rage. Insomuch as the hold that states have on us is shaped by our experience of particular governmental programs, the milieus within which citizens are formed will play a key role in determining how and when unrest forms. But to assume that hunger and deprivation, or the price of bread, are the straightforward drivers of dissent, obscures the complicated ways people encounter and respond to their historical emplacement. ( José Ciro Martínez, States of Subsistence: The Politics of Bread in C

Business Week cover from 2005 on "Blogs will change your business" Mark Carrigan recently asked this question about personal academic blogs on the LSE Impact of Science blog and it inspired me to think a little bit more about the state of personal blogging in the international/global development arena. I share Mark's positive sentiments about blogging and it has guided my own writing experiences for more than a decade now: Blogging has been the central means through which I’ve developed a distinctive outlook as a researcher, providing me with an open-ended invitation to reflect on what I’ve been reading, analysing, organising and teaching. I’ve been doing it for so long that I find it hard to imagine what it would like to be an academic without a blog. As early as 2012 I started to reflect on the practice of blogging in the #globaldev arena: Development blogging-How to have fun, avoid disappointment & be a strategic writer , culminating in a post from 2018 about

Hi all, A nice potpourri of #globaldev-related readings is served once again (before a short Easter break next week) & it takes from the Mount Kenya Safari Club in the 1960s to today's five-star hotels in Qatar, from Canada all across the globe to the courtrooms of the Pacific-and in-between we deconstruct discourses around 'adaptive management' + 'trust-based philanthropy'! My quote of the week One respondent in Les Cayes told us, “We don’t want to be made into victims for a sack of rice,” alluding to the fact that often the effort of knowing about, registering for, and accessing aid in Haiti’s south can be dangerous, degrading, and barely worth the goods provided – a bottle of oil here, a bag of rice there. (There’s a wide gap between aid’s promise and reality, Haitians say) Development news Haunting image of Kamloops residential school memorial named World Press Photo of the Year "I could almost hear the quietness in this photograph, a quiet moment of g

Hi all, This week's review returns with classic topics-from charity funding in the US, to humanitarian crises in Myanmar & Syria, women's empowerment in Malawi, uneven development in PNG + challenges doing (anti-racist) trainings & mentoring well; the hype around tech conferences, new open access research articles & reflections on the state of development studies wrap up this newsletter! Please note that I will take a short break from the weekly round-up next week as I should be boarding my first flight since February 2020 & travel to Berlin for a board meeting of a great German global internship alumni program ! My quote of the week The programs require time and commitment, and cohorts find themselves brainstorming a more equitable future among themselves versus what’s actually needed: for marginalized groups to pervade and redefine the upper echelons of power and funding. In some cases, the training programs coming my way are led by people with a fraction of t

Hi all, We (me & imaginary editorial team ;) are back with #globaldev news from Yemen, Ethiopia & DRC, more insights into the UK's decline in #globaldev leadership & much more-including an archeological gem on participatory photography from 2009 & more recent finds from the archive on aid worker salary gap, not sending stuff to Africa & the Pepsi-fication of dissent! Enjoy! My quote of the week Being uprooted during my childhood, my identity is a complex weave with strands of multiple origins. The easiest identity to take on would have been that of being human or a global citizen, but society always finds a way to compartmentalize your identity and attach meaning to it . (I Was 13 When I Fled War in Tigray. This Is What Conflict Has Done to My Home.) Development news U.N. raises less than a third of $4.27 bln sought for Yemen to avoid starvation The United Nations on Wednesday received only $1.3 billion in pledges towards a $4.27 billion aid plan for war-torn Ye