Author: Matt Whiteman

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Considering…Volun-tourism? Check out HESO449B-001 Topics in International Service-Learning!

Check out this awesome course – spaces still available!

Course Number: HESO449B-001
Coordinators:Yan Xu and Sabine Lague
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Shafik Dharamsi
Time & Location: Wednesday 9am-12pm in IKBLC 157

So I’m sure you’ve thought about going abroad to do development work at some point.  Walking across the campus every day, we see posters that encourage us to do good, international good, while having some fun and learning something new.  But are there unintended consequences to some of these projects in developing communities, many of them in parts of the world that have different cultures from ours?

This is a 3-credit, student-directed seminar course offered in January 2010 which will explore issues and considerations related to students going abroad for development or service work.  If you have an interest in international development or are considering going abroad for service-learning, please consider taking it!  To register, or for inquiries, please email isltopics@gmail.com.

International service-learning (ISL) programs that connect students with global service opportunities are gaining in popularity across campuses in North America.  The aim of this seminar is to develop your capacity to engage in ISL initiatives in socially responsible ways. The course will introduce ISL issues surrounding ethics, sustainability and intercultural sensitivity via case studies as well as communication with volunteers abroad.

For complete course description, visit UBC Student Directed Seminar: Topics in International-Service Learning

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Debatables Personal Experience

Africa and Africans

by Matt Whiteman

I found this book on a friend’s shelf yesterday. It was from when her dad did his undergraduate degree, which was probably at least 40 years ago.

In case you’re wondering why I’m posting this picture, let me remind you that

“Only with the greatest simplification, for the sake of convenience, can we say ‘Africa’. In reality, except as a geographical appellation, Africa does not exist.”

~ Ryszard Kapuściński

Africa and Africans book

All I can say is, I’m glad (most of) academia has since become more conscious of the way they title their material.

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Contributions Debatables Videos

The Ethics of Development: Think About It

by Matt Whiteman

A brilliant 4-minute video that was produced by students at the University of British Columbia. It was made for a student-directed seminar supervised by Dr. Shafik Dharamsi on the Ethics of International Development by: Angela Paley, Alice Huang, Stephanie Ngo, and Lucinda Yeung.

https://il.youtube.com/watch?v=zqjPPNObBh4&feature=related

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Poetry

Refugee Blues

by W.H. Auden (1907-1973)

Say this city has ten million souls,
Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:
Yet there’s no place for us, my dear, yet there’s no place for us.

Once we had a country and we thought it fair,
Look in the atlas and you’ll find it there:
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.

In the village churchyard there grows an old yew,
Every spring it blossoms anew:
Old passports can’t do that, my dear, old passports can’t do that.

The consul banged the table and said,
“If you’ve got no passport you’re officially dead”:
But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.

Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;
Asked me politely to return next year:
But where shall we go to-day, my dear, but where shall we go to-day?

Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up and said;
“If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread”:
He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking of you and me.

Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky;
It was Hitler over Europe, saying, “They must die”:
O we were in his mind, my dear, O we were in his mind.

Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin,
Saw a door opened and a cat let in:
But they weren’t German Jews, my dear, but they weren’t German Jews.

Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay,
Saw the fish swimming as if they were free:
Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away.

Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees;
They had no politicians and sang at their ease:
They weren’t the human race, my dear, they weren’t the human race.

Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors,
A thousand windows and a thousand doors:
Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours.

Stood on a great plain in the falling snow;
Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro:
Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me.

–

While you certainly can’t just remove the bits about the Holocaust and be left with the experiences of contemporary refugees, it’s a poignant lament on the push and pull factors associated with involuntary migration. I especially appreciate that Auden points out the fallacy of equating passport possession with genuine “identity”. Also, the fish metaphor reminds me a bit of Kibera slum – in that stands in stark contrast to the area surrounding it, only ten feet away:

Kibera slum Google Earth

When you think slum, you don’t usually think “golf-related injuries”, do you? I wouldn’t be surprised in this case.

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New class in Faculty of Arts on access to essential medicines

Dear EIESL members,

Anyone interested in increasing access to lifesaving drugs worldwide is invited to check out a student-directed seminar course coordinated by Sonja Babovic next semester. HESO 449B 003 is a 3-credit course in Arts that will take a multidisciplinary approach to the study of ensuring fair access to essential medicines in developing countries.

This seminar will critically examine the role of universities, governments, non-governmental organizations and pharmaceutical companies in the effort to ensure worldwide access to needed medicines. Upon completion of the course, students will have knowledge of patent laws and relevant trade agreements, the effects of these on affordability of medicines in impoverished countries, aid measures already taken to improve access to drugs and other medical technologies, and challenges that remain at this time.
You can read more on the course website:
http://accesstomedicineseminar.wordpress.com/.

If you’re interested and would like a spot in the course, please check out how to apply: http://accesstomedicineseminar.wordpress.com/apply/. Also feel free to contact the course co-ordinator, Sonja at sonja.babovic@gmail.com.

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How can we help the World’s Poor – Nicholas Kristof

An essay by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, author, with Sheryl WuDunn, of “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.”

This will only be up for a few days before you have to pay for it, so read it now or live forever in wonder!

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New Directed Studies Course: Canada’s Impact on Human Security in Africa

Hey everyone, check out this sweet course! If I were still a student, I’d take it..

Coordinators: Tanja Bergen, Sarina Rehal and Annabel Wong (contact@acacdrcongo.org)
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Erin Baines
Time & Location: January – April 2010, Tuesdays 6pm-9pm Liu Institute room 121

This seminar examines the impacts of various of Canadian actors on human security throughout Africa, focusing on, but not limited to, the Great Lakes and Sub-Saharan regions and compares it with Canadian perceptions of their international role. By examining Canadian policy options, the seminar analyzes Canada’s ability to act in the international arena and notions of Canadian self-identity. Students will apply their knowledge and work in small groups to plan a strategy to address Canadian involvement in Africa or an African region.

If interested in this course, please email contact@acacdrcongo.org with a one page paper describing why you are interested / your experiences with advocacy initiatives concerning the African continent, if applicable. Prerequisite: 65% standing in POLI 260 or AFST 350 or equivalent course.

Note: this SDS will count as three credits toward the International Relations major (List A, but not under the seminar requirement), Political Science major, and/or the African Studies minor.

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Uncategorized Videos

How not to write about Africa

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-jSQD5FVxE&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

AND!!! Watch  Binyavanga Wainaina  (the author of the piece above) articulate a brilliant response: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d9qlHW8_3s&NR=1[/youtube]

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2009-2010 Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition

Do you love writing?
Are you an aspiring playwright?
Are you passionate about the environment?
Do you want a challenge?
Do you have a solution?
The spotlight is on. This is your chance to shine!

Enter with a one-act play on sustainability to win cash prizes and a chance to have your work performed across Canada to more than 10,000 people and aired on Sustainability Television! Partners for this initiative include the UBC Sustainability Office, Terry, and the Playwrights Guild of Canada.

Submission deadline: March 31, 2010
Winners announced on Earth Day (April 22, 2010)

About NOW!
The NOW! Organization bridges people from diverse backgrounds to sculpt innovative, holistic solutions toward social, environmental, and economic
sustainability. Founded in 2006, NOW! is a non-profit organization run by dedicated youth volunteers.

Please visit www.now-org.com for more information.

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Events

Philosophy of Health pub nights

WHAT:

AN INTERPROFESSIONAL GROUP OF STUDENTS
AND NON-STUDENTS GATHERING TO DISCUSS
HEALTH-RELATED ETHICAL CASES AND ISSUES

WHERE: MAHONEY’S PUB
WHEN: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10
TIME: 5 PM – 7 PM
WHO: ANYONE INTERESTED

See the POSTER for the EXACT SAME INFORMATION but with COOL GRAPHICS!

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