The EIESL team is building a list of must-reads and sees on the topic of ethical approaches to international engagement and service learning. These materials are intended to clarify some of terminology we use, spark dialogue and to help build critical consciousness. Also, visit the ‘About’ section of our website.
The EIESL team is proud to announce the release of the Web Based Guidebook. After a successful first year of the project, this resource was created from dialogue sessions within the UBC community.
http://www.ethicsofisl.ubc.ca
Books:
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York; Continuum, 1970.
Gasper, Des. The Ethics of Development. Edinburgh; Edinburgh University Press, 2004.
Hoggett, Paul, Marjorie Mayo and Chris Miller. The Dilemmas of Development Work: Ethical Challenges in Regeneration. Bristol; Policy Press, 2009.
Unger, Peter K. Living High and Letting Die: Our Illusion of Innocence. New York: Oxford University Pres, 1996.
Academic Articles:
Crabtree, R. D. (2008). Theoretical Foundations for International Service Learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 15(1), 18-36.
Does what it says on the tin.
Dickson, M. & Dickson, G. (2005). Volunteering: Beyond and act of charity. Journal of the Canadian Dental Association, 71 (11), 865 – 869. Retrieved from: http://www.cda-adc.ca/jcda/vol-71/issue-11/865.html
A discussion about whether our charity efforts are enabling or disabling.
Epprecht, Marc. Work–Study Abroad Courses in International Development Studies: Some Ethical and Pedagogical Issues. Canadian Journal of Development Studies. 2004: 25(4), 709-728.
Ermine, Willie. The Ethical Space of Engagement. Indigenous Law Journal. Fall 2007, Vol. 6, No. 1.
Furco, A. Service-learning: a balanced approach to experiential education. Expanding Boundaries: Serving and Learning. Washington, DC: Corporation for National Service, 2-6, 1996.
Offers a typology of different types of service programs.
Gasper, Des. Development Ethics and Human Development. Human Development Report Office, no. 24; United Nations Development Programme. January 2009. Online. Available here.
Grusky, S. (2000). International Service Learning: A Critical Guide from an Impassioned Advocate. American Behavioural Scientist, 43(5), 858 – 867.
A guide to both the opportunities and contradictions in ISL.
Hyder, Wali, Khan, Teoh, Kass and Dawson. (2004). Ethical review of health research: a perspective from developing country researchers; Journal of Medical Ethics, 30:68-72.
Kiely, Richard. (2004). A Chameleon With a Complex: Searching for Transformation in International Service-Learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 10(2), 5-20.
Discusses the common experience of students returning from ISL placements and how they begin to redefine their lives.
Kumagai, Arno K., Monica Lypson Beyond Cultural Competence: Critical Consciousness, Social Justice, and Multicultural Education. Academic Medicine 2009; 84(6):782-787.
Freire’s critical consciousness and a discussion of means vs. ends in education.
Louie, Dianna, Shafik Dharamsi. Creating Global Doctors. The Lancet Student. 2009. Online. Available: http://www.thelancetstudent.com/2008/04/14/creating-global-doctors/
Miner, Horace. Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. The American Anthropologist, vol. 58 (1956), pp. 503-507. Available here.
An anthropologist describes the lives of a bizarre tribe.
Seifer SD. (1998). Service-learning: Community-campus partnerships for health professions education. Academic Medicine, 73(3):273-277.
This is the definition of Service-Learning used by EIESL.
Shah, S. & Wu, T. (2008). The medical student global health experience: Professionalism and ethical implications. Journal of Medical Ethics, 34, 375 – 378.
Exactly what the title says.
Singer, Peter. Famine, Affluence and Morality. Philosophy and Public Affairs. Vol. 1, No. 3 (Spring, 1972), pp. 229-243.
2007 Grand Challenges in Global Health: Community Engagement in Research in Developing Countries. PLoS Med 4(9). Read it here.
Sherraden, Margaret S., Benjamin Lough and Amanda Moore McBride. 2008. Effects of International Volunteering and Service: Individual and Institutional Predictors. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. 19(4) pp. 395-421.
This paper is a very useful and clearly-written review of the research on the impacts, – whether positive, negative or neutral – of volunteer presence on sending communities, volunteers, and host communities. It also provides suggestions for the direction(s) of future research on the topic.
Non-Academic Articles and Resources:
Algoso, David. October 26, 2010. Don’t Try This Abroad. Nick Kristof is wrong. Amateurs are not the future of foreign aid. Foreign Policy Magazine. Accessed November 16, 2010. Available here.
This article is a response to Nicholas Kristof’s article, below. You should probably read that one first.
Baraldi, Jim. A harm in ‘medical tourism’: The poor need lasting efforts to improve global health, not feel-good field trips. The Philadelphia Inquirer. Sept 25, 2009. Read it here.
Bhagwati, Jagdish. Banned Aid: Why International Assistance Does Not Alleviate Poverty. January 2010. Foreign Affairs (Tufts University). Online. Available: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/65905/jagdish-bhagwati/banned-aid
Birrell, Ian. November 14, 2010. Before you pay to volunteer abroad, think of the harm you might do. The Observer. Accessed November 16, 2010. Available here. Report here.
Brooks, David. October 9, 2007. The Odyssey Years. (Op-Ed). The New York Times. Online. Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/opinion/09brooks.html
Howard, Ross. Conflict Sensitive Journalism Handbook. Denmark: International Media Support, 2003. Available here.
Kristof, Nicholas D. October 20, 2010. The D.I.Y. Foreign-Aid Revolution. The New York Times Magazine. Accessed November 16, 2010. Available here.
See Algoso reading above for a response to this article.
Mendelson, R. (2008, September 29). Helping the World. And Me. Macleans. 50-52. Read it here.
One of our cornerstone reference pieces highlighting one of the most common ethical issues associated with international engagement.
Nelson, Jacqueline. “The CEO Poll: Should companies give to charity?” Canadian Business Magazine, // March 1, 2010. Online. Available here.
Remen, Rachel Naomi. May 29, 2000. Helping, Fixing, Serving. iJourney.org. Accessed February 3rd, 2010. Online. Available: http://www.ijourney.org/?tid=127
Sichel, Benjamin. “I’ve come to help”: Can tourism and altruism mix? Briarpartch Magazine. November 2, 2006. Online. Read it here.
Toumani, Meline. The Truth About Our Good Intentions. AlterNet. October 13, 2003. Online. Read it here.
Valencia, Nick, Benjamin Fernandez and Jennifer Deaton. February 3, 2010. Photos of drinking, grinning aid mission doctors cause uproar. CNN News. Accessed February 3, 2010. Online. Available here.
White, Margaret. November 6, 2010. Do you belong to the Elites? Take this test and see! Globe and Mail. Accessed November 6, 2010. Available here.
UBC Courses:
PHIL 235 (Term 1) • Berryman, Sylvia • CONTEMP MORAL ISSUES: GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
Taught in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala as part of UBC’s Global Citizenship Term Abroad
This course is for students wanting to reflect philosophically on the idea that they are global citizens and to consider how philosophical ideals can be brought to bear in the practical arena. Many people believe that our ethical obligations extend to others in need, and that the current global situation places obligations on the more privileged to help distant others; more recently, the question of the most appropriate forms of assistance have seemed equally urgent for ethicists to consider. New interest in the concept of civil society challenges a narrow view of citizenship as confined to participation in political institutions, exactly at a time when our interaction with global neighbours has become increasingly rich and complex with changing technology and increasing economic, social and cultural interdependence at a global level. Our reading of the philosophical literature is aimed to situate some of these problems and consider the strengths and limits of different philosophical responses to it.
***
What are the ethics and what is the impact of volunteering abroad?
Sociology 435 provides students an opportunity to deepen their formal preparation for citizenship through a field placement in a ‘developing’ country. A key goal of this course is to integrate classroom-based instruction and experiential learning, by connecting theoretical knowledge to everyday practices through which ‘citizenship’ operates as an ‘embodied’ concept. Students will be encouraged to think critically about the impact that their presence will have on project partners, and the ethics of working with communities of ‘others’.
*** Application for this class is now closed ***
This course will be offered again Summer 2011 and will be posted on the Go Global website again in September 2010. Acceptance into the course is limited to those accepted into the ISL program – students are registered through Go Global, and therefore this course is not something that students can register for through the normal process at UBC.
What: SOCI 435
When: Summer 2010
Where: Vancouver and an international placement
Led by: Professor Dawn Currie
Prerequisite: SOCI 430 or equivalent.
For more information: Contact Go Global at 604.822.6110 or go.volunteer@ubc.ca
See source and more UBC Philosophy Courses
Web:
Framing Poverty as a Complex Issue and Why That Matters (this is a recording of a telelearning seminar with great resources – check out the Stacey Matrix for a clear explanation.
They Come in the Name of Helping (15 min doc)
Something’s fishy about IDS internships
100 Open Lectures All About Africa
Ghana: the World’s Digital Dumping Ground (20 min documentary)
Edwidge Danticat: Stories of Haiti
A few posts, from our favourite blog, Wronging Rights
http://wrongingrights.blogspot.com/2008/12/oooh-your-charityits-so-big.html – ok no students will do it.. but c’mon
Did we miss something? Help us build our resources by contributing below
Serving and Learning. Washington, DC: Corporation for National Service, 2-6, 1996.
3 replies on “Resources”
[…] of the readings come from the Reading List of The Ethics of International Engagement and Service-Learning […]
Medical “Voluntourism”
Bennett, Catherine. 2008. “Trips to war-torn countries are smug, not ethical.” The Observer, Sunday 24,
February. Accessed 03/05/10. Available:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/24/sierraleone.sierraleone
Bezruchka, Stephen. 2000. “Medical Tourism as Medical Harm to the Third World: Why? For Whom?”
Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, Vol. 11: 77-78.
Crump, J. A. and J. Sugarman (2008). “Ethical Considerations for Short-term Experiences by Trainees in
Global Health.” JAMA 300(12): 1456-1458.
DeCamp, Matthew. 2007. “Scrutinizing Global Short-term Medical Outreach.” Hastings Center Report,
6: 21-23.
Federico SG, Zachar PA, Oravec CM, et al. 2006. “A successful international child health elective: the
University of Colorado Department of Pediatrics’ experience.” In Archives of Pediatric&
Adolescent Medicine. Vol. 160: 191-196.
Gray BH. “World blindness and the medical profession: conflicting medical cultures and the ethical dilemmas of helping.” Milbamk Quarterly. 1992;70(3):535-56
Green, Tyler et al. 2009. “Perceptions of short-term medical volunteer work: a qualitative study in
Guatemala.” Globalization and Health, Vol. 5(4): 1-13.
Hall, Michael. 1990. “Orthaepedics Overseas: First World MDs can make a difference in the Third
World.” Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol. 143(4): 304-5.
Holtz, Timothy. 2009. A Doctor in Little Lhasa: One Year in Dharamasala with the Tibetans in Exile.
Indianapolis, IN: Dog Ear Publishing. Pp: 11-113.
Niemczura, Joe. 2009. The Hospital at the End of the World. Austin, TX: Plain View Press.
Panosian, Claire and Thomas J. Coates. “The New Medical ‘Missionaries’ – Grooming the Next
Generation of Global Health Workers.” In New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 345 (17):
1771-1773.
Roberts, Maya. 2006. “Duffle Bag Medicine.” In Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 295
(13): 1491-1492.
Roberts, Richard. 2007. “Remote Anesthesia in Western Nepal.” In Anaesthesia News, No. 239, June.
Suchdev, Parminder et al. 2007. “A Model for Sustainable Short-Term International Medical Trips.” In
Ambulatory Pediatrics, Vol. 7 (4): 317-320.
Van Tilburg, CS. 1995. “Attitudes toward medical aid to developing countries.” Wilderness
Environmental Medicine, 6: 264-268.
Wall LL, Arrowsmith SD, Lassey AT, Danso K. “Humanitarian ventures or ‘fistula tourism?’: the ethical
perils of pelvic surgery in the developing world.” International Urogynecological Journal, Vol.
17:559-562.
Wolfberg, Adam J. “Volunteering Overseas – Lessons from Surgical Brigades.” New England Journal
of Medicine, Vol. 345 (5): 443-445.
Wow, thank you Dr. Roesel for this contribution. There is some fantastic stuff in here! How did you hear about the EIESL project?