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Travel, conversations and learning – How being part of conversations can shape your educational/ professional future
We often think of travel as movement. Physical movement to see people, places or attend events. But have you ever considered travel as a conversation? A conversation to enter a new space, a new way of thinking and new way of experiencing life? This is what I realized during my recent trips with my students.…
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To be a good teacher, be a student.
Here’s a paradox in learning that I have come to understand, at a deeper level: to be an effective teacher, one must be a student. What does it mean? It means that learning never stops and to effectively embody what it means to teach, one must continuously humble oneself, keep an open mind and challenge…
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What is the case for the Direct Trade model? – Part 2
Fairtrade is not the panacea it was meant to be. As more and more consumers and researchers realize this truth, we are left grasping for straws. “What do we do then, to ensure that our trade is ethical, benefits the manufacturers/ growers, more than the suppliers,” is a legitimate question to ask. @tlalipani
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Five reasons you should join a professional association
Students and colleagues who know me know that I am an advocate for joining professional associations. I am a member of several of them, ARNOVA, ASPA, SAJA, among others. As a grad student, I initially was reluctant and during my master’s program didn’t really see the value of joining one. But once I started my…
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Why bother with Direct Trade?
Is Direct trade – a model for fairer trade? What does direct trade mean? In simple terms, it means buying directly from the producer. In the world of small batch production – crafts, arts or even food commodities, produced by small producers, often there are many middle-men/ women, who are part of the supply chain.…
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Why we need to reframe development
Experts in the space of international development agree that defining “development” and the processes that help us do it are difficult. For starters, one of the definitions of development is “the reduction of poverty and achievement of Millennium Development Goals.” Other scholars and practitioners have used other definitions, but the spirit remains similar. Amartya Sen,…
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What is Development – And why does it matter?
I am teaching a course during the summer term, which I have titled “Understanding development,” a class I developed over the past year or so. This is my second time teaching it and during each class, I try to challenge students about a conception of “development” they have, whether it is local or global. …
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Amidst the Chaos and social strife lets ask “What would Gandhi do?”
For those scholars and activists who are following India, there is not much good news coming out of the subcontinent. Day after day, there are reports of riots, planned attacks on minorities and institutional corruption that has forced many democracy watchers to downgrade India’s standing as a democracy. Amidst the silence of the leaders of…
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How real is the Social change in Saudi Arabia?
I visited the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after nearly four years. My first visit was in 2017, when I was invited to speak at a national conference at the King Fahd University, Dammam. It was my first visit to the country, despite having traveled to neighboring countries a few times. The visit this time, in…
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Does tourism help with human development?A closer look.
As someone who is new to understanding tourism and its impact on human development, I came across an academic article that asks the question which is quite literally the chicken and egg situation: which comes first, tourism or development and does one lead to the other, even though they may be correlated, at times? …
