Category: my research

Urban Agriculture In Lusaka, Zambia

Post author By tiffanyt
Post date March 6, 2011
3 Comments on Urban Agriculture In Lusaka, Zambia

My first published paper in a peer-reviewed undergraduate journal: the Canadian Undergraduate Journal of Development Studies, also known as Undercurrent (Fall/Winter 2010, Volume 7, issue 3, p. 36-43)

From Colonialism To Modernism To Postcolonialism: The Case of Urban Agriculture In Lusaka, Zambia

By Tiffany Tong

ABSTRACT – While urban agriculture is garnering much attention as an essential and beneﬁcial practice, there is still strong, sometimes seemingly illogical, resistance to its promotion in cities. Through studying the case of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, this paper seeks to unravel some of the reasons behind the resistance to enhancing food security through urban agriculture, speciﬁcally the Eurocentric notion of a “modern” city. This pervasive modernist belief, which seeks to completely segregate rural and urban, labels urban agriculture as an illegitimate activity. Without directly dispelling the myth of the modern city, promotion of urban agriculture will continue to encounter entrenched ideological barriers that prevent it from fully ﬂourishing.

RÉSUMÉ – Bien que l’agriculture urbaine soit perçue comme une pratique essentielle et bénéﬁque, il

existe toujours une résistance forte, qui semble parfois illogique. À travers une étude de cas de Lusaka, la capitale de la Zambie, j’explique que la notion euro-centrique de la ville ‘moderne’ est à la base du conﬂit. Cette croyance moderne, qui vise à ségréger le rural et l’urbain, porte les planiﬁcateurs urbains à ignorer l’agriculture urbaine, malgré les indications contraires. Les approches conventionnelles élitistes et technocratiques du planning urbain n’accommodent pas les besoins de la majorité, ce qui oblige les habitants à résister et reformer les villes à leur manière. Sans directement défaire le mythe de la ville moderne, la promotion de l’agriculture urbaine va continuer de faire face à des barrières idéologiques ancrées qui vont retenir son épanouissement.

Tags urban planning

my research

Ideas for Graduate Studies Research #1

Post author By tiffanyt
Post date December 21, 2010

I’m mainly interested in the impacts of economic systems on marginalized communities. Most can agree that the capitalist system has failed to deliver its promises to the poorest of the poor in the drive for globalization. In my perspective, the capitalist model is fundamentally incompatible in servicing the poor and must be systematically changed for more equitable and sustainable development. My question is thus divided into threefold:

How is the current economic system (capitalist in paradigm, hybrid in theory, and a mish-mash of economic schools in practice) is impacting marginalized communities in the developing world?
How best can marginalized communities prepare for the impact of the increasing introduction of the current economic system into their economic and social spheres? (short term strategy)
How can the current economic system be changed so that it can work more in favour of marginalized communities? (long term strategy)

My intention is to use food security as an indicator to focus my research. Food security is chosen for a number of reasons:

Most marginalized communities are in rural areas or urban areas where agriculture is practiced (urban agriculture). Almost all economies in these marginalized areas are based on agricultural activities, on the production of food. Hence, the closest link between rural and global economies is food, specifically the import/export of food and food production related products (such as fertilizers or seeds).
Food security is a large indicator encompassing wider perspectives such as public health, market accessibility, and environmental sustainability. Adequate food, with sufficient amount and nutrition, is the basis for healthy human development. Properly grown food should not deplete the soil, which is one of the most challenging problems in conventional agriculture methods, but rather build up the organic layers.
Food security is my own academic and working interest. The focus of my undergraduate studies was in development studies, economics, and food systems. Also, my working experiences can all be liked back to different aspects and manifestations of the concept of food security.

Hence, I propose to investigate the linkage between the current global economic system and marginalized communities by looking at food security as a case study.

Tags graduate studies, ideas, research

my research

Science One measurement project

Post author By tiffanyt
Post date December 22, 2009

Here is my first ever measurement project I wrote a short paper for at UBC.

As for the quality….just keep in mind it was my first such paper.

Title: Mapping the Echoes of the Echo Circle at Wyman Plaza

Author: Tiffany Tong

Abstract

The echo properties of the Echo Circle at Wyman Plaza of the University of British Columbia were measured with two wooden sticks as a sound source and Audacity as the recording program. The results provided support to the hypotheses of the middle platform being the focal point of the circle and of the sound waves reflecting off the right angle of the circle to form echoes.

Introduction

The Echo Circle at Wyman Plaza of the University of British Columbia has very interesting echoing properties. If one stands on top of the platform in the middle and makes a sufficiently loud sound, one can hear its echo on the platform, but nowhere else. My hypothesis is that the sounds waves made inside the circle bounce off of the right angles made by the circular seats around the platform and reflect back to the original place where the sound was made. Also, the middle of the circle, where the platform is, should be the focal point of the circle-the echoes should have the largest intensity at the focal point. In this experiment I used the program Audacity to measure the time intervals between the spikes in the graphs, which indicate echoes, to determine where in the circle the sound sources reflect.

Tags echo circle, measurement project, science one, ubc

my research

wow…still dreaming

Hello blog,

I think I’m still dreaming. I just woke up from a dream where I went to live in a village in rural Tanzania for two months. I remember lots of goats, people, and orphans. And wait, when I woke up, I found this on my computer…

thesis

Abstract

Conducted for the Programme for Agricultural and Natural Resources Transformation for Improved Livelihoods (PANTIL), this research endeavour was aimed at improving upon a dairy goat project for orphans in the villages of Nyandira and Ndugutu in Mgeta, Tanzania. Over a period of six weeks, I collected qualitative data using an action-based research approach in hopes of catalyzing a successful implementation process. The results indicate that the orphan-goat project can provide both immediate and enduring assistance to the orphans; however, the project needs much more community support. At the end of my fieldwork, many stakeholders have agreed upon establishing institutions to ensure a fair, accountable, and efficient process of distributing benefits from the project to the orphans. Concrete short- and long-term goals and a timeline for implementation are set. Financial sustainability is found to be possible without additional funding. Finally, risks and corresponding mitigating strategies have been discussed with the project steering board so that future problems can be anticipated and avoided.