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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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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 will the new administration and its policies impact the Nonprofit sector?
I recently attended the ARNOVA Conference, the annual conference of ARNOVA, a leading organization that is dedicated to research of the Voluntary and Nonprofit sector. As one of the most important convenings of its kind; this conference brings together both scholars and practitioners from around the world. This year, there were close to 1000 attendees, […]
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If not for profit, for what?
I sat next to an older gentleman on my flight from D.C. to Atlanta, GA. While he was quite in the beginning and was absorbed in his newspapers, a quick smile and conversation started him talking. And despite his strong southern accent – he was from Alabama – we managed to discuss a lot of […]
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How to fix the world – Use your head or heart?
Climate change. Refugee crisis. Unemployment. Poverty. Think of these issues or any other countless ‘wicked’ problems and if you are reasonable, like most people; one question sounds in your head: “Do we know all the facts?”. Do we know the ‘right’ approach to fix these issues? While the ‘facts’ are available to address and solve […]
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What is wrong with the ‘Islam and the West’ discourse
First things first : I am happy that Sadiq Khan is the Mayor of London. Nothing could be cooler than having someone who shares your last name become the Mayor of a global city. This incident has been commented upon, quite a lot. Well meaning people point out that this is an indication that the […]
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More Charity and less Philanthropy?
Do we need more ‘Charity’ (unorganized, personal giving) and less of ‘philanthropy’ (organized, scientific philanthropy)? While scholarship in the last 25 years of so indicates that there is a growing trend towards philanthropy, we are witnessing new arguments that what we need is really more ‘charity’. Bureaucratized and ‘scientific’ ways of giving don’t really work. […]
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Top ten books I read this year
I read a lot of books this year. Like a LOT. Part of the reason is that I am preparing for my prelim exams (part of the PhD process) where you prove to your committee that you know your stuff. Additionally, I presented a few papers at a few conferences, many of them outside my […]
