Cautious Hope

Maybe I’ve been spending too much time reading and writing about development theory lately but while I enjoyed and appreciated Obama’s speech today I couldn’t help but be reminded of another inauguration speech 60 years ago, that of Harry S. Truman.

This from Truman:

Our aim should be to help the free peoples of the world, through their own efforts, to produce more food, more clothing, more materials for housing, and more mechanical power to lighten their burdens.

And this from Obama:

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.

These are ostensibly noble promises, acknowledging the needs of others and offering to help.  I certainly applaud the sentiment, particularly as am I often one of the first to complain that those who have the resources are not doing enough.

However things are never as simple as they seem.  Truman’s speech has been identified as the beginning of the ‘development era’, the decades following that speech giving rise to an unprecedented level of intervention by the West, particularly the United States, into the affairs of the so-called third world.  This intervention, while purportedly to help the third world to develop, to ‘catch up’ with the West, was never given out of a pure motivation to help, rather was given strategically as part of the cold war, and more recently the war on terror.  

Not only was the motivation for giving aid questionable, but the results have not been all that was promised.  That Obama should be promising more help to people in poor nations is testament to the fact that 50 years of ‘development’ around the globe has not lead to any significant lessening of poverty and suffering.  Aid has been appropriated by the powerful in many places, it has propped up dictators, stirred up civil wars and forced open domestic markets to the wolves of international trade.  It has come with all manner of strings attached, strings manipulated by the powerful to their own advantage.  

My fervent hope is that whatever ‘help’ Obama is promising is different.  I hope that when he says the US will “work alongside you” that he truly means that.  I am encouraged that he acknowledges that the rich can no longer ”consume the world’s resources without regard to effect”. But I am cautious.  As with Truman’s speech, Obama’s offer comes wrapped in American rhetoric, that certainty that the United States has the answer and that it is thier job to lead the rest of us.  Although I am grateful that there was somewhat less of this than there was with Bush, there is still the faint air of US imperialism hanging about. While it would certainly be wonderful to have the resources of the United States to address the problems of poverty in this world, it will not be true help if it comes with strings attached to US interests.

Despite this caution, I stand with my friends, both in the USA and globally, in hope.  Obama may not be the saviour of the world but his election is historic and of immense importance within the US, and is a beacon of possibility for the rest of the world after years of watching US imperialism at work.  I hope there will be change, I hope there will be good change.

(cross-posted on developing? - my new research blog)

Filed under: development, news, politics , aid, inauguration, Obama, United States

GAZA: STOP THE BLOODSHED

Sign the petition.. please!

GAZA: STOP THE BLOODSHED.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Another year, more plans

It seems unbelievable but I am almost at the end of my first year of PhD study.  It’s been a crazy, busy incredibly interesting first year and I am excited to see what this year will bring, particularly in regards to this research. 

As I’ve probably posted before, in New Zealand a full-time PhD is done over 3-4 years.  Coursework is completed in the Masters degree so is not usually required at this level, the PhD is therefore purely a research-based degree.  At my university the first year is provisional, with progress to full enrolment in the second year dependent on the completion of work set out in a “Statement of Expectations” drawn up at the beginning of the year by the student and supervisors.  Work completed in the first year is also presented at a research seminar to a selected panel who decide if the student will move on to full candidate status (or need to do more work!).

My first year is up on 31 January, however department schedules mean I have been given a reprieve and won’t be doing the presentation until the end of February.  In the meantime I need to finish the work set out in my statement of expectations: a 3000 word proposal and the second of two 5000 word literature reviews.  

Once this is all done and my full enrolment is confirmed, I will be able to finally start of the bulk of the data collection.  Initially I had intended to travel directly to Honduras but a combination of family and financial issues (my scholarship doesn’t get paid out until April each year!) meant that I won’t be able to travel until at least May or June.  So I will be starting the process online,  particularly looking at the website and forums, and making contact with people over the Internet.  

So, so this is how 2009 looks for me:

Jan-Feb: Writing and preparing for confirmation at end of Feb.

Mar-May: Start online data collection, prepare for ‘fieldwork’

June-Dec: Honduras.  Visits, interviews and the conference in September.

This seems pretty clear at the moment, although if there is one thing I’ve learned about research is that it can be unpredictable.  Hopefully all will go according to plan and I’ll have the data collection completed by the end of the year.  It’s going to be another busy one, but should, once again, be very interesting.

Filed under: phd

Blood, monuments and the kiwi response to Gaza

I just watched a news report about a the defacement of an Israeli memorial plaque by a Catholic Priest in Wellington, in protest at the events in Gaza.  A member of the local Jewish community was interviewed, clearly upset by the ‘vandalism’ of the monument.  It made me mad.  How could someone be so upset about the defacement of a monument when the people it represents, his people, are not just defacing but seem set on destroying people.  

The Catholic church has distanced itself from the action.  

The New Zealand government remains ‘nuetral’.

I’m not going to say more because the whole Gaza situation just makes me angry.

 

Later:

Anita at Kiwipolitico has a more thoughtful post on the blood on the memorial protest.

The Hand Mirror has a good round-up of reactions to Gaza from the progressive blogosphere in  Gaza on our minds.   I particularly like the following quote which kind of sums up how I feel-

Like many others I feel utter despair and a complete lack of ability to do anything that would make even a smidgen of difference. I hate feeling powerless. And if I hate it, here on the other side of the world where the sun is shining and no bombs are falling and my son is not in danger of being killed because of an argument between powerful people with guns, then I can’t imagine how bad it must feel to be there.

Filed under: New Zealand, Wellington, news, politics, social justice

‘The Poverty Diet’

‘The Poverty Diet’: a Comparison of the American Diet and Weight Loss Plans in Consideration of Global Food Shortages | EcoSalon – The Green Gathering.

The ‘diet’ described here is pretty typical for rural Central America. Vanessa Barrington’s discussion of her experience in Guatemala helps put the ‘economic crisis’ of developed nations into perspective.

Filed under: Central America, Latin America, development, health, travel

MSF’s Top Ten Humanitarian Crises of 2008

In the fun and laughter of the festive season it is all too easy to forget that for many in the world there is no celebration. 

MSF’s Top Ten Humanitarian Crises of 2008.

Filed under: Africa, children, development, news , 2008, humanitarian crises, MSF

2009!

Happy New Year!

I am doing the new year’s thing, taking a quiet few minutes to look back over my blog from the past year (sparse as it is), reflect on the year that was and think ahead to the year to come.  

From my 2008 New Year post:

So what about 2008?  I’ve not made any resolutions or non-resolutions this time. To be honest between being a mum, working and planning a PhD  I haven’t had the time or head space to think about it.  Any goals I have for them moment revolve around the PhD.  I have set myself the somewhat ambitious task of getting through the first year’s work (full proposal and literature review) before September so that we can go to Honduras to do a Spanish school and attend a conference.

This means I will be working very hard for a while.  But not at the expense of my family.  I guess my real goal for the year is to get this PhD underway while continuing to be the best mum and wife I can be.  Lets hope I can be at least as sucessful this year as I was in 2007- I can’t afford not to be.

So how did 2008 measure up?  Well I certainly didn’t complete the full years work before September (that was overly ambitious!) but I have done a fair chunk of it and was able to get to the conference, do a couple of weeks of spanish classes and even start some early interviews and data collection.  The study is very much on track.

Although I don’t think I blogged about it I was quite worried going into 2008 about how my daughter would handle the changes- moving towns, Mummy doing full time study, starting childcare and travel.  But she was amazing.  We had a few hiccups settling her into childcare (“I want Mummy to stay with me…”) but she’s now going happily 3 days per week (4 days from next week…).  I do find I need to work on the balance and make sure we have plenty of Mummy time, or she gets very clingy, but overall we seem to have found a good balance.

I’m not sure if I have found much balance with my long-suffering husband, and feel like I failed him a little this year.  Once again health problems have limited his ability to complete his studies or find regular work.  He is a wonderful Dad and I honestly don’t know if I would have made much progress on the PhD if he hadn’t been available to pick up most of the childcare and home responsibilities but thinking about that too much only makes me feel more guilty. I really hope this year is the one in which he finally is able to make some progress on his own dreams.

So what are my goals for 2009?

Obviously I want to make significant progress on the PhD- complete the confirmation procedures in February which means finishing the proposal and literature reviews, and then get into the data collection.  This will require about 6 months in Honduras, as well as significant amounts of online research.  By the end of the year I’d like to have the data collection completed, analysis underway and be thinking about some serious writing.

This means another year of hard work and travel.  It also means another year of changes and instability for my daughter and makes things tricky for my husband.  While there is not much I can do about his health except hope and pray, I approach this year more cautiously as I am much more aware now of just how messed up things can get.  I really don’t have any answers and can only keep trying to support him in the best way I can. I suspect this year may become one of investigation and planning as we think about where we want to settle and what we want to do as a family long term.

2008 was also year of spiritual exploration and contemplation as I strayed far futher from the faith I grew up in than I would ever have expected.  I am long past searching for definative answers but will be continuing the journey in 2009.  While much of my life seems set to follow I predictable plan this year this is one area which remains quite blank. Which is very exciting and a bit scary.  

Finally, this post also marks the 2-year anniversary of this blog!  While I haven’t always posted regularly (being a Mum and a PhD student doesn’t leave much spare time for writing blog posts), I like having the outlet to share the things that are on my mind. So, if there are any readers left out there, thanks for reading.  I wish you all the best for the new year, and may this year be one where you too make progress towards reaching your own castles in the sky.

Filed under: Honduras, Thoughts, blogging, phd, study , 2009, New Year, phd