Category: Events

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Debatables Events

The pen is indeed mightier than the sword, but a voice is mightier still

By Matt Whiteman, cross-posted at the Global Lounge blog

We’re right in the thick of International Development Week and I wanted to begin my reflections with a quick recap of the main events (please forgive some cynicism):

Monday: The Development of International Development – Dr. Jennifer Chun and Dr. Michael Seear take us on a dizzying gallop through a centuries-long history of, well, development.

Tuesday: A Day in the Life of the International Humanitarian – A panel of speakers from different backgrounds gave us an idea about what (some) development is (unfortunately…) really like.

Thursday (upcoming): The Impact of International Journalism on International Development – STAND, the Fiji Awareness Network and EIESL will duke it out around issues of representation.

I won’t name names, but I honestly wish a few of the panelists on Tuesday could have been in the room during the tag team history lesson on Monday. I was put off although not particularly surprised at the paternalism and lack of critical thought from one or two of the presenters (please tell me what rural Ethiopia needs with a yoga teacher and a mountain guide…). I was intrigued (and also not particularly surprised) by the lucidity and humility of others. It was reassuring to see fresh as well as familiar faces walking the talk, with real, useful skills and commitment.

Focusing back on Monday’s event, “The Development of International Development”, we got two very different approaches to a complex subject. It was a history not only of important figures and events, but also of important ideas, something which I have often found lacking sufficient representation in the way we write and talk about our past (well, outside academia anyway). It was easy to see that what we call development has been characterized, rather soberingly, mostly by abject failure and lack of foresight.

Nevertheless, tangled in the feelings of great anger, cynicism and fatigue, there was a message coated in cautious optimism: Despite all the waste, arrogance and petty politics of the lords of poverty, a better world is indeed possible. That world comes not from self-interest, but from genuine relationship. If you must go, if you’ve made the choice to “do development”, don’t go as a tourist, and whatever you do, don’t pretend as though you can help. Go to really learn what it means to be in poverty. Go to witness. Go to learn someone’s name, their language, their story, and about their particular struggle for social justice.

One of the presenters on Tuesday described coming home to Vancouver from a slum as coming “back to reality”. Having witnessed this place with my own eyes, I wondered what on Earth that could possibly mean. Life in slums is far more representative of “reality” than most of Vancouver ever could be; it is what over half the population of this planet calls reality. We would do well to remember that.

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Events

Reflections On the Global Praxis Workshop Series

By Matt Whiteman

Having had minimal involvement with the creation of these workshops, but the incredible opportunity to participate, I wanted to share a few thoughts as an EIESL insider about the Global Praxis workshop, hosted twice so far at the Simon K.Y. Lee Global Lounge.

In this workshop, participants have the chance to critically reflect on their own international projects, learn strategies for developing interactive workshops that engage others about international issues, and gain practical skills in workshop facilitation.

There are lots of things to praise, but I feel it’s most appropriate to talk about the people involved:

My first positive reaction was toward the energy and the safe space Sara and Ricardo brought to the workshop: the level of genuineness and conviction with which my colleagues work is something rare indeed. And presenting the EIESL community norms gave participants a space to ask really important questions of themselves and of each other.

Second, Laura, our own alma mater, our nourishing mother, worked incredibly hard to make sure participants were well fed, and boy were we ever. Recipes, Laura, I want recipes…

Third, the workshops could not have succeeded without the brilliant contributions of people from outside the immediate EIESL team. Sophia in the first instance and Jola in the second, reacted to unplanned circumstances and made things go so much more smoothly than was originally planned. It was neat to watch.

Lastly, beyond just the great people, this workshop is a great way to renew your passion for what you do. It gave me (and hopefully the rest of the participants) a new set of tools to help me continue to examine, unpack and practice conscious global citizenship. And this applies regardless of the affiliation(s) of individual participants, which were diverse.

If you’re interested, the one coming up is full, but we have added two more dates in the winter term, January 29th and February 26th, and the workshop is open to anybody at UBC involved in international projects who wants some skills to help them become more effective and skilful.

Come on down to the Global Lounge and see what it’s all about. Email sara.radoff@ubc.ca to register.

Oh, and it’s free. Try finding a free full day skill-building workshop anywhere else. I dare you.

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Events

UBC Help Hear Haiti Showcase: A coordinated UBC event for Haiti Relief

Please do come out and show your support and solidarity for the terrible situation in Haiti.

This is a coordinated event put on by students, staff and faculty of the University of British Columbia.

UBC Help Hear Haiti Showcase: A Fundraiser to Support Haiti Relief Efforts

Join us to support UBC’s Haitian relief effort!

Date: Friday, January 22nd – 2 to 4pm

Location: Freddy Wood Theatre, 6354 Crescent Blvd., UBC

Triple H, a coalition of student groups from across campus, together with staff and faculty from the University of British Columbia invite you to a discussion about the history, the current situation and the future of the country of Haiti and its people.

Speakers Include:

Allen Sens – Senior Instructor in the Department of Political Science and Chair of the International Relations Program

Jon Beasley-Murray – Assistant Professor in the Department of French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies and teacher of Latin American Studies.

Alejandra Bronfman – Associate Professor, Department of History

Representatives from Haiti Solidarity for BC
Senior Staff from Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders)

Professor Stephen J. Toope will close the event and offer his remarks on the effort in Haiti.

Minimum Donation – $5 with 100% of all proceeds going to MSF (Doctors without Borders) and their efforts in Haiti.

Please contact Jola Lekich at the Global Lounge and Resource Centre for more information –Jolanta.lekich@ubc.ca

604-822-4904

604-827-4771

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Events

Upcoming Events- Dialogue Series #3 and Movie Night

Third Dialogue Series Event

The Ethics of International Engagement and Service-Learning (EIESL) Project cordially invites you to attend the third dialogue event in our “What?”, “So What?”, “Now What?” dialogue series triad this fall! (see poster)

Where: Woodward IRC 2,
When: Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 from 4:00-6:00 pm

We know there are ethical issues with volunteering abroad, we have explored the ideas of personal ethical and social responsibility and now, with your help, we hope to identify practical, durable solutions on how to address these issues in the future.

It’s time for us to put our ideas into action.

Come and tell us how you would “ethicize” UBC’s international presence and your future work and learning internationally.

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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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Events

Health Care Involves Everybody

The Division of Health Care Communications and the Community Liaison for Integrating Study and Service are pleased to invite you to the “Health Care Involves Everybody” Fair as a part of the Celebrate Learning Week events.


Thursday October 29, 2009

11:00 – 4:00pm

West Atrium, Life Sciences Centre, 2350 Health Sciences Mall


We believe it is important that everybody is engaged in promoting the health of Canadians and the creation of an ethical and socially responsive culture within the health professions. This event will provide a unique opportunity to interact and learn from individuals with chronic health conditions and from marginalized populations, with a particular focus on real-life cases and their first-hand experiences in today’s health care system. This inter-professional event will give you a chance to connect and hear from approximately twenty community health organizations.

Visit here or here for more information about the fair, check out the Facebook Group and the Facebook Event Listing , or download the poster.

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Events

NO MORE RAPE in the DRC – Canada, where are you?

The Africa Canada Accountability Coalition, housed in the Liu Insitute for Global Issues, announces the launch of a new campaign NO MORE RAPE

The eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the worst place in the world to be a woman or a girl. Over the last decade, a complex and ongoing series of conflicts, described as the world’s “deadliest crisis since World War II,” has unleashed unprecedented violence on the bodies of women and girls in this region. The brutality is extreme: three-month-old babies to eighty-year-old women have been raped. Women and girls are raped with such frequency that the Congolese invented a new word to describe the phenomenon: révioler, to re-rape.

This campaign is an urgent call out to Canadians: ABSOLUTLETLY NO MORE RAPE in the DRC. It features a new report on Canada-specific links to the DRC, how Canada must respond, a video call for action and a website with all the tools you need to stop the on-going crisis. Our corporations, our government and we ourselves have a specific, long-standing and often exploitative relationship with the DRC. We can do better – it is time we started.

What is Canada’s role as a ‘global citizen’ in this conflict? What is Canada’s role as Canada?
Please join us at our launch at 7pm on October 14 at the Liu Institute for Global Issues at UBC, where we will tell you more on how to get involved, show a film about a Congolese rape survivor, “Lumo”, and share an initiative to pass Bill C-300, aimed at promoting CSR policies among Canadian mining, oil and gas companies in the DRC and other countries.

Admission will be by donation; proceeds will go to HEAL Africa, a holistic, community-based hospital in Goma, DRC.

Visit our website at www.acacdrcongo.org or reach us at contact@acacdrcongo.org. Please forward this to friends and colleagues who might be interested.

Thank you and we look forward to having you at our event,

Africa Canada Accountability Coalition (ACAC)

Liu Institute for Global Issues at The University of British Columbia
6476 NW Marine Drive
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2

Categories
Events

Ethicize! The 2009 Awareness Campaign

The awareness campaign has arrived! Stay tuned for information about upcoming events this fall and winter, as well as a new look for the blog. As always, there a lots of ways to get involved with the EIESL campaign, just send us an email or leave a comment.

ethicize banner

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Contributions Events

Student Directed Seminar: Ethics in International Development

UBC students interested in ethics & international development, check out this course:

Ethics in International Development

HESO 449A-001 (3)

Time: Tues 2PM-5PM

Location: BUCH D 315

Coordinator: Andra Dediu

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Shafik Dharamsi

This seminar will take a practical approach to the ethical issues in international development, with students reflecting on the ethical implications of the implementation methods and the end results of development programs.  The first component of the seminar will ask of students to critically analyze the role of government bodies (those of the ‘North’ states and also of the ‘South’ states), organizations and individuals in development – both currently and historically.  Secondly, students will work in teams to design their own realistic, yet hypothetical, development projects.  They will then be asked to critique the projects of their peers, with feedback from the faculty sponsor and other field experts.  Upon completion of this seminar, students will be more familiar regarding the logistics and ethical implications of international development projects.

For more information, please e-mail the coordinator at andra.dediu@gmail.com. Applications are due Monday, August 31st at 12:00PM

Categories
Events Meeting Minutes

Kaholtik Summary

Kaholtik

On July 20th, 2009 we held our second student event: Kaholtik. There was much discussion and debate, which generated an extensive collection of ideas, questions and concerns about ethical behaviour during ISL experiences, as well as broader ideas about ethics and student engagement. All of this information will contribute to forming a picture of the current perspectives and culture of ISL at UBC. It will also be used to inform the upcoming awareness campaign and dialogue series.

The night began with a reading and discussion of an article: the Body Ritual of the Nacirema, by Horace Milner. The article was used as a warm up activity, to begin thinking about perceptions of self vs. other and normal vs. exotic.

We then moved into breakout groups to discuss four case studies. The previous four posts are the case studies used during Kaholtik, accompanied by a summary of the breakout group discussions.

Finally, we came together as a whole group to enjoy pizza, recap the case studies and discuss the broad issues affecting ISL at UBC. Below, you will find a summary of the final discussion.

General discussion notes:

Is it possible to build a consensus? Is it true consensus or community pressure being applied on the minority opinion?  There is a difference between the verbalization of consensus and reality.

Is consensus seen as sharing good things equally?  In Cuba there is a saying, “we share our poverty equally”. Perhaps consensus is best approach knowing that burdens and benefits must be taken into consideration.

When making decisions at a community level, is the majority always right? Is it possible to be the only one with a certain opinion, and to be ‘right’?

Within the field of ethics there is often a fear of subjectivity.  However, ethics change based on context.  For example, in some cultures, consensus is highly valued, in others, it is not.  This changes how decision-making should be approached. Ethics need to be fluid, elastic, and situated in the local context.

Self-awareness is critical in going abroad. It is essential to have a sense of personal needs so that when confronted with issues they can be resolved

Highly important/useful to reflect during and after your ISL experience.

What is the motivation for participating in ISL? Is there altruism? Is it for resume enhancement? It important to be aware of, and reflect on, personal motivation.

Can ethics successfully be taught as a mandatory undergraduate class?

  • In a traditional classroom fashion? Experientially through community initiatives? Through case studies?
  • Will ethics classes be enough to actually modify behaviour, or will they just become another hoop that students need to jump through before graduation?

Utilize diversity at UBC:

  • Vast resource in the people that live, work, and study at UBC who have useful insights into ISL.
  • Need to be careful when recruiting and selecting people to help advise ISL students – another whole set of ethical issues surrounding that idea.
  • Isolating members of the UBC community because of different language or look is problematic.

Pre-departure preparation vs. Experiential learning

  • Impossible to do everything in pre-departure training.
  • Need to give students the tools to act ethically, a foundation. It would be impossible to teach a one-size-fits-all formula.

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