Thanks to the wonderful work of our webmaster, Monica Huang, we now have a brand spanking new website, and it’s now hosted on the UW servers too!

So move on over there, and see what we’re up to.

Those of you who subscribed to this blog – we’re sorry, but that was one feature that doesn’t port over well. However, you can still subscribe to the new blog as an RSS feed, and add yourself to the mailing list and like the facebook page!

TUESDAY:

Promoting African Alternatives to a “Green Revolution”: Kenyan Farmer Samuel Nderitu Shares his Experience Promoting Agroecological Agriculture in Africa

Tuesday November 15, 2011
3:30 – 5:20PM
UW Smith Hall, Room 304

Mr. Samuel Nderitu

Community Alliance for Global Justice, UW African Studies, Geography, Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, Anthropology

WEDNESDAY

They Go to Die Film Screening and Discussion by GlobeMed

Join GlobeMed and the Global Health Resource Center’s World Health
Cinema film series by attending a multimedia presentation on human
rights and access to medicines with Jonathan Smith, Director of the
Visual Ethnography Project, Yale University.

The event will include an exclusive preview of the in-progress
documentary, “They Go to Die,” which highlights families caught up in
the southern African HIV/TB epidemic, and an open discussion on
global health innovation.

6:00 pm Wednesday, November 16th at the University of Washington, Sieg
Hall 134–Free Admission

Attend the event on Facebook here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=184633938287459

Meet Jonathan Smith and learn more about “They Go to Die” here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A-chpwhVmU
Website: http://theygotodie.com/
Documentary trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-A-chpwhVmU
“Welcome to the Mines” spoken word performance by Clint Smith:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DarcSNeh71g
“They Go to Die” information packet:
http://theygotodie.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/They-Go-to-Die-Documentary-Film-Information1.pdf

THURSDAY

from Working Washington:

1) National Day of Action – Stand up for Higher Education & Jobs

Time: Thursday, November 17 · 4:00pm - 5:30pm

Location: Montlake Blvd NE and NE Pacific St at the end of Ranier Vista

Everyone should have access to affordable schooling that provides a good education and a path to good jobs.

But the State continues to cut funding to universities. This year the UW Board of Regents approved a 20% tuition increase – the largest in the university’s history. Student loan debt in the US now adds up to more than $1-trillion. There is now more outstanding student loan debt than credit card debt. 

Goods jobs are hard to come by. Only 56% of students who graduated in 2010 had jobs by spring of 2011. 

Join us at the Montlake Bridge on November 17 for a national day of action. Together, let’s take a stand against further cuts to education and demand the government take action to create jobs.

We need to send the message to Olympia that cutting funding to higher education is not the way to balance the budget. 

3:30 – Meet for food and refreshments
4:00 – Rally at the Montlake Bridge
4:30 – March for affordable education and good jobs

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=302851319724939

2) The Weakness of One: Devolution, Responsibilisation, and Citizenship in Neoliberal Rationality

6:00 PM, Kane 120

Neoliberalism is often understood as a brief for the free market, or as an extension of market metrics to

every domain and sphere of activity. But neoliberalism also transforms the nature and meaning of political life, the state, the nation and citizenship. In this talk, Wendy Brown will explore a particular and rather chilling feature of this transformation: the production of citizen sacrifice in the nation modeled on the firm.

Wendy Brown (Political Science, University of California, Berkeley) author of Walled States, Waning Sovereignty (2010) and Regulating Aversion: Tolerance in the Age of Identity and Empire (2006) among many other books, offers a theoretical analysis tracing how neoliberalism shapes agency and how that impacts political possibilities for leftist projects.

FRIDAY

1) Global 99 Planning Meeting

5PM, Harris Hydraulics building conference room (in back of building)

Join a new student/staff/faculty collaboration as they plan events to help educate on the connections between global inequality, health and the the Occupy movement. http://facebook.com/global99

2) Sixth Annual Cascadia Critical Geographies Mini-Conference

The Department of Geography at the University of Washington is proud to sponsor and host the Sixth Annual Cascadia Critical Geographies Mini-Conference.

As with previous critical geography mini-conferences, the emphasis here is to create a friendly, engaging, and fun space for critical geographers to share their work. We welcome critical papers and panel proposals from across the field of geography, and from spatially oriented scholars in other disciplines.  Graduate students are especially encouraged to participate. There is no fee for attending or participating.

SATURDAY

Cascadia Conference continues!

1) Occupy Town Hall: A Conversation

WHEN: Saturday, November 12, 2011, 7:30 – 9:00pm

WHERE: Town Hall!

The Occupy movement could be the most important political movement in a generation, or it could be a dud—it all depends on what happens next. Tonight, participants from the movement and community leaders talk about their vision, their plans, and hear audience questions, too. Town Hall’s Public Room will stay open late for continued conversation.  Presented by Town Hall and The Stranger. THIS EVENT WAS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FOR  NOVEMBER 2.

Free, general admission, though seating is limited. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

2) Community Alliance for Global Justice’s AGRA Watch hosting Samuel Nderitu to Seattle,  Kenyan Farmer & Director, Grow Biointensive Agricultural Center of Kenya  - G-BIAC

WHEN: SAT Nov 12th, 6 – 8PM

WHERE: Public Event at Southside Commons, 3518 S. Edmunds St., Columbia City (map here)

“The technologies that are promoted by the Gates Foundation in Africa are not farmer-friendly or environmentally friendly. Some of them have not been tested fully to determine their effects on the environment and consumers.  African farmers are seeking food sovereignty, not imposed unhealthy foods and GMOs!” – Samuel Nderitu

AGRA Watch welcomes Samuel as part of our effort to support African-initiated programs rooted in agroecological and indigenous farming practices, social equity, and food sovereignty. Samuel is visiting Seattle after receiving the Food Sovereignty Prize - Honorable Mention, awarded at the Community Food Security Coalition’s annual conference in Oakland, CA. AGRA Watch, a campaign of Community Alliance for Global Justice, nominated G-BIACK after visiting them in 2010 to learn more about the Gates Foundation-funded Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and indigenous alternatives.

About G-BIACK: Samuel and his wife Peris are the founders of G-BIACK, Grow BioIntensive Agricultural Centre of Kenya.  G-BIACK has trained thousands of small-scale farmers in agroecological methods in a region suffering from ongoing drought, high rates of HIV/AIDS, hunger and the effects of chemical-intensive agriculture. G-BIACK hosts a demonstration farm, community library, seed bank and classroom. They work with marginalized communities, including widows, people living with HIV/AIDS, orphans, women and poor farmers. G-BIACK’s programs empower communities to build food systems free from corporate control and rooted in self-determination, local knowledge and ecological sustainability. Learn more about G-BIACK on the web HERE, and watch this 12 minute video, “GROW“.

I want to highly encourage graduate students and advanced undergraduates interested in climate change from a social justice and development perspective to apply to the Three Degrees project’s Climate Justice Seminar, a 3-credit multidisciplinary graduate course offered next quarter.

I took this course last year and it was an incredible experience – we were learning from amazing instructors on campus (like David Battisti) and people from around the world via skype. The class is team-taught by two extraordinarily passionate recent law graduates, Jen Marlow and Jeni Barcelos.  Best of all, we were learning from each other’s diverse experiences and disciplinary backgrounds. Students in the class came from disciplines ranging from Scandinavian studies to civil engineering (like me), with the usual atmospheric scientists and soon-to-be J.D.s of course thrown in the mix.

The focus on interdisciplinary approaches to climate justice was refreshing, and the explicit emphasis on climate justice was even more so. Climate justice is a lens through which we can understand the social justice dimensions of climate change. We ask what the differential impacts of climate change on the poor and marginalized will be. We look at examples like Bolivia’s melting glaciers or Tuvalu’s slow inundation by rising sea levels. And best of all, in the class we try to learn ways to change the situation! (No magic bullets sadly, but lots of ideas.)

(This course is partly what inspired me to facilitate the interdisciplinary GEOG 499 course next quarter.)

Contact Dean via email: dchahim (at) uw.edu

Magie Ramirez is a PhD student in the Department of Geography studying the connection between race, class, and food accessibility. Her research looks at the socioeconomic inequalities between activists and community members and how these inequalities influence the ability to improve food accessibility in inner-city neighborhoods. Magie also looks at how white privilege and histories of oppression can hinder residents’ willingness to participate in community food projects, and how these differences may be overcome by engaging in a care-ethical approach to social justice

Her research is part of a larger research initiative by the UW Department of Geography, Poverty Research Cluster. Learn more about this initiative here: http://faculty.washington.edu/lawson/prcluster.htm

Come drink coffee, meet other like-minded students and participate in an informal but critical discussion with Magie Ramirez. Please bring your thoughts, opinions and questions!

We hope to see you there! If you have any questions or are unable to attend, feel free to contact us at criticaldevelopmentforum@gmail.com.

The course will be a way to complement and give greater context to the amazing discussions around global development and global justice we have had in the Critical Development Forum (CDF) – from Critical Coffee Chats to the panel last May, but prior involvement with CDF is not required to register. The class is purposefully interdisciplinary and open to all students, both new and highly experienced. We hope to learn from each other while learning about the context of our work and advocacy.

I hope you can fit it into your schedule and join us! The discussion-based class will be capped at about 10 students. If it fills up, please email Dean (dchahim@uw.edu) and we’ll see if we can add more space.

GEOG 499 B*/600: Beyond Good Intentions: Evaluating Global Development Work Critically

Facilitator: Dean Chahim,(Global Development & Social Change, Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Faculty Adviser: Professor Matt Sparke (Geography, Global Health, International Studies)
Student Directed Seminar, Winter 2012, Thursdays, 2:30-4:20PM in SMI 409
2 credits, No prerequisites. Email Dean at dchahim@uw.edu for registration code.

When are good intentions not enough? When are they harmful? How can we best use our good intentions to make a difference in issues of poverty, injustice, and inequality?  This is a forum for students with good intentions – those of us who serve and advocate for the poor and marginalized locally and globally – to take a pause from the ongoing momentum of our work for self-reflection. The seminar provides an academic space to complement the student-driven Critical Development Forum (www.criticaldevelopmentforum.wordpress.com).

Throughout the course, we will challenge ourselves to reflect critically and honestly on our motivations and explore the contradictions of our past, current, or future work and advocacy. Readings will unpack the historical, social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental context of our engagement in development and global (in)justice.

We do not intend to provide answers or dissuade taking action. Instead, we hope to inspire students to overcome the fear of questioning good intentions in order to deepen the impact of their work and provoke structural social change. As a culmination of the course, we will partner with the Critical Development Forum student group to design critical workshops to engage the University and local community in the themes of the course.

Students from ALL disciplines and levels of experience (undergraduate and graduate) are encouraged to join the conversation. We especially encourage engineering, health science, natural science, and arts students who might never have taken a social science/humanities course to enroll. Students with extensive experience working in local or global development and justice work as well as students still exploring their options are both encouraged equally to be part of the forum.

Contact Dean via email at dchahim@uw.edu or on the web, http://tiny.cc/dchahim

*Please note, as of posting, the B section hasn’t been added to the time schedule yet, but you can register for the A section. Please email Dean at dchahim@uw.edu if you do this and we will let you know once it’s ready to switch over.

Global 99 Community Open Mic: Testify, Demystify, Electrify, Occupy!

What is the potential for Occupy Wall Street to improve the health and lives of people not just here, but also GLOBALLY? What does our economic system and inequality have to do with health? Whether you’re an activist, not sure, or a critic of the protests, join the Critical Development Forum, Health Equity Circle, and the new Global 99 group for a COMMUNITY OPEN MIC & discussion TOMORROW (11/4)!

This is not your typical panel discussion – from stories of international students, to YOUR thoughts and stories via open mics, to rapper Jess McCall, this will be a learning, sharing, and electrifying experience. Join us! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=297675993594479

Whether you are from the 99%, the 1% or the 53%, we encourage everyone with a curiosity, story, or opinion to share on the Occupy movement to come join us at the event!

WHEN: FRIDAY November 4^th, 430pm-630pm

WHERE: University of Washington Foege Building Room S-060 (15th Ave NE and NE Pacific Street). Map: http://washington.edu/maps/?GNOM

This open mic event is co-hosted by a new group of faculty, graduate students and undergraduates on the UW campus called the Global 99 along with the Critical Development Forum (CDF) and Health Equity Circle student groups.

What will this event be? A chance to learn about the Occupy Wall Street movement and voices and purpose behind it.
WITNESS! Local and international students and community members share personal stories of economic inequalities affecting their lives, communities, and health. Speakers from NORTH and SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA, and more! Including Maria Guillen – amazing UW alum and organizer down at Occupy Seattle!
SPEAK OUT! Step up to the mic and share your story, opinion, or ideas
EDUCATE! UW faculty show how inequality and health connect to the Occupy Wall Street movement
CREATE! Performance by rapper Jesse McCall
GET INVOLVED! Join working groups to organize future actions and events

Check it out on Facebook: Global 99 Open Mic to learn more. CDF will be there and we hope you will be too! Email CriticalDevelopmentForum@gmail.com with any questions!

WHAT IS THE GLOBAL 99?

Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street global movement, a group of faculty, staff and students from the University of Washington have created a new collective called “Global 99” to look beyond the United States borders to the 99% around the world struggling for a more just global financial order. As global health advocates, members of Global 99 seek to highlight and act upon the growing health inequalities around the world created by a global financial system that delivers high profits to the richest 1% at the expense of the majority of the world’s population.  As difficult as the current crisis has been for many Americans, the impact has been harshest in our most impoverished communities and in countries where even the most basic services to the poor majority have been undermined. Global 99 seeks to educate about the link between experiences and policies of economic inequality in the United States and those of people around the world, to expose and challenge the institutions that perpetuate the structural violence of the current global order, and to build bridges of solidarity across borders to create healthy communities. Activities may include organizing education sessions and resources related to the global effects of the current economic crisis, especially on health, participation in actions related to campus and city Occupy Seattle and beyond events, art activism, letter writing campaigns, and a range of other actions.

Global 99 invites you to join us in organizing events here at UW and in Seattle, and connecting to other organizations on campus and in the region. Our first event is scheduled for Friday November 4 from 4:30-6:30 pm in Foege Auditorium in the Health Sciences Building. We have invited international students as speakers to describe the experience of economic turmoil and inequality in their own countries and to help us envision new strategies of struggle for social justice that start here, but seek to make the connections beyond our city, state and national borders. Other speakers will describe the effect of deepening inequality on health in the US and beyond.

By: Natasha Ling Lee

I don’t pretend to be an expert on development in Zambia by any means. Instead I would like to share some lessons I learned in the month I spent there through an exploration seminar led by UW Bothell’s, Professor Leslie Ashbaugh. This experience gave me a more comprehensive look at different aspects of development and how aid workers’ mindsets and even the mindsets of NGOs really shape the reception of development projects by the local people.

One story specifically comes to mind when we were visiting a small town, Chipata, and were lucky enough to meet some Peace Corps volunteers who were working in the surrounding rural villages. The volunteer I talked to had been in Zambia for one year and one month. Her project focused on community health development in her village and she was a first generation volunteer meaning she was the first Peace Corps volunteer the village has ever had. Therefore, her work focused a lot more on laying the foundation for future volunteers to build on and create the hopefully sustainable enterprise of various community health projects. Having been there for a little over a year, she was very familiar with the culture and social norms. However, much to our surprise, she told us that she had not learned the local language other than basic greetings which wasn’t too much of a problem generally speaking since Zambia was colonized by Britain so almost everyone spoke some English. Her belief was that she did not need to learn the local language in order to educate people on health practices; it was something that transcended language. And yet her biggest challenge was getting villagers to go to the meetings she would set up to educate people on these health practices. Often times people would show up late or not show up at all. She viewed it as a sign of disrespect since she spent the time preparing materials and it was part of her mission as a Peace Corps volunteer to set up a type of community health program. On the other hand, she knew the villagers viewed her disinterest in their local language as a sign of disrespect as well. Even if the knowledge she was trying to share could transcend language, the villagers believed that she should try and learn the language if she was going to be educating them on health and be living in their community for two years.

This story is not to bash on Peace Corps volunteers and show that they are closed-minded in their work. I also talked to other volunteers who have done very well in their communities and planned on extending their two years into three. Instead, this is just one of many examples where aid workers or NGOs come in with a preconceived notion of how things should be run and where, without taking the time to consult the very people they are trying to help. It made me realize that your attitude and mentality can really make it or break it in terms of the success of the programs you are trying to establish. Aid work is hard and one faces challenge after challenge. While it is important to be critical of what goes on, I think it is also important to remember that these people are still trying to help in their own ways.

I would like to end with one more anecdote from Zambia. One of the speakers who we talked to was the daughter of the owner of the lodge we were staying at in Lusaka. She came from a more middle-upper class family and was lucky enough to go to college in the U.S. and play soccer. She graduated with a degree in civil engineering and environmental studies. While she could have stayed in the U.S. and made a lot of money, she chose to go back to Zambia and work in a copper mine. She is one of two women in the company and hopes that her environmental background can somehow help with the pollution that is caused by copper mines. One of her beliefs was that as the young generation of Zambians, change can be created by them and she wants to be a part of that and help shape their country into being the country they know it can be. I found her to be so inspirational in her desire to try and make some progress in her country, and she is not alone. We spoke to some college students who had the same mentality. There may be a new wave of development approaching because more Zambians particularly the younger generation are receiving college education and hope to make a change in their country’s development. Perhaps we should start turning over development projects to the locals and should start focusing on developing our own nation?

 Contact Natasha at leeling (at) uw.edu

Dr. Joseph Hannah is geography professor at UW who teaches political geography in addition to classes that concentrate on critical development studies. With a focus on Vietnam, Hannah studies local non-government organizations in relation to development, civil society and state-society relations. Having worked in the field of international development prior to receiving his Ph.D., Hannah brings a critical perspective to the discussion of global development that is driven by his tangible experience as well as his academic background.

Come drink coffee, meet other like-minded students and participate in an informal but critical discussion with Dr. Hannah. Please bring your thoughts, opinions and questions!

As an anthropology professor at UW, Dr. Rachel Chapman served as a contributor to CDF’s “Can You Save the World” panel last spring. With a focus on communities in urban US, Mozambique and South East Africa, Chapman studies the racial and ethnic disparities that exist in health. Her research concentrates on the intersection of race, gender and reproductive health. Furthermore, she has conducted research on domestic violence and prenatal care within the US as well as mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Find out more about Dr. Rachel Chapman and her research.

Come drink coffee, meet other like-minded students and participate in an informal but critical discussion with Dr. Rachel Chapman. Please bring your thoughts, opinions and questions!

We hope to see you there! If you have any questions or are unable to attend, feel free to contact us at criticaldevelopmentforum@gmail.com.