the drop » Ethnicity & Culture

Outsourcing Migrant Processing

New proposed rules for those seeking refuge in Australia

Last month, when Australian opposition leader Kim Beazley proposed that migrants and visitors sign an agreement to respect Australian values, a volley of debate ensued. Today, the Australian government released a discussion paper on refugee admission policy changes, which include an English-language course for refugees before they reach Australia’s shores. The discussion paper is currently up for community feedback.
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The Shock Effect and Public Awareness

Parody of an AIDS campaign

Finding new ways to keep media attention on pressing yet unchanging topics is not an easy task. As more public awareness campaigns seek to be controversial, more critique is dished out. In recent news, critics have decried the tastelessness in the blackface cover of The Independent and the I am an African ads.

The controversy used to elbow for the public’s attention can obscure the original intent. One LA Times journalist confused a Doctors Without Borders campaign in Paris, which distributed tents to homeless people, with tourists camping out.

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Rewriting Africa: Journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Hunter-Gault pushes for diverse reporting on Africa, supports local journalism

AllAfrica recently interviewed journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who talks about her experiences as a correspondent for an entire continent. The 5-page article digs into her opinions on media coverage, biased journalism, the changes in local journalism, and her personal experience fighting to get certain stories covered.

“Reporting is dominated by the four ‘d’s… - death, disease, disaster and despair.”

Hunter-Gault has a lot to say regarding the state of reporting from the African continent.

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Upgrading International Development, Part II

A Talk with Ethan Zuckerman, Global Voices Online Co-founder, Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law

In part two of the interview, Ethan shares his views on conquering digital divides, activism and technology, and how improvements in technology might affect us in the future. You can read the first part of the interview here.
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How can we use technology to turn apathy into action?

I think the only force that combats apathy is empathy. Until you care about a situation in another part of the world, it’s very hard to decide to pay attention to that situation and even harder to decide to act.

To get people to care across cultural, language and geographic barriers requires some sort of exposure. I knew very little about Africa and cared very little until I lived in Ghana as a student in 1993. Coming back to the US, I was suddenly interested in African politics because there were a lot of people in Ghana I cared deeply for. This discovery is what led me to form Geekcorps - I wanted to give other geeks the chance to get exposed to different parts of the world, build interpersonal ties and work on solutions to tough technical problems.

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Susu Collectors: Microfinance in Ghanaian Culture

Connecting informal and formal financial services

While microfinancing is being touted as the new wave of aiding developing countries, informal financial structures on a micro-scale aren’t that new at all. At Timbuktu Chronicles, there’s an example of institutional microfinance combining with traditional Ghanaian financial services, the Susu collectors.

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The Politics of ‘Water’

Director Deepa Mehta

In February 2000 Deepa Mehta was to direct the film Water in India. It was the third of a trilogy of films for this Indian-born woman who now resides in Canada. The first was Fire, a story of two women drawn together in search of the warmth that their loveless marriages lacked. The onscreen lesbian relationship between the women angered many in India. Extreme protesters went as far as burning the cinema that first screened Fire to the ground, and Deepa Mehta was shunned by her country of birth for showing the world what was considered bad images of India.
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Environmental Justice and Katrina

In the Wake of the Storm is a case-study based analysis of Katrina in the context of the greater movement for environmental justice, published by the Russell Sage Foundation. After the “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY) trends of the 70’s, U.S. environmental justice campaigns became more prevalent in the decades following, in an attempt to protect minorities and the disenfranchised from disproportionate effects of environmental hazards within their communities.
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Post-Katrina: New Orleans’ Culinary Heritage

As the rest of the world relives Katrina through the media’s one year after specials, New Orleans residents have been working through the aftermath, day by day. In last week’s New York Times, there’s an interesting glimpse into the attempts to preserve New Orleans’ culinary heritage, despite the everyday struggle.

Rebuilding recipe boxes, replacing cookbooks
The New Orleans Times Picayune Dining section has turned into a recipe exchange, where people looking for damaged and lost recipes can replace a part of their family history.
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Single-Sex Ed: Policy, Research and Charity

The debate on single-sex schooling continues (Photo:Photocase)

The recent PR blitz around Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls is characteristically uncritical, after the announcement of the first 75 South African girls selected for enrollment. Despite general praise, single-sex schooling remains hotly debated in the educational field, a discussion touching on elitism, faltering public education, segregation and discrimination.
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Preserving History with Public Art

Volunteers at the University of Mississippi Museum restored gravestones in rural communities. (Photo: Photocase)

Huge art projects like wrappings or anonymous snarky graffiti, posters and stickers are an integral part of the urban landscape. Limited financing or a new coat of paint gives this kind of public art an ephemeral “here today, gone tomorrow” quality. Lacking the grand scale, some public art integrates into its environment, engaging community members in dialogue and creating a lasting change of perspective.
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112 Free Voices: Sydney Possuelo & the Quixotic Life of a Sertanista

“I have been called Don Quixote due to my absolute conviction that one man alone can change the world. A chain of men who partake similar conviction can do it faster and permanently. I believe this unprecedented event can be the first step towards a future we’ve dreamed about.”
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112 Free Voices: “social storyteller” Jonathan Stack

“It takes one person intent on causing pain to explode misery throughout the planet. Can we explode love as effectively? Where will the answers to today’s problems come from? How can we empower hope? Maybe 112 people coming together in one place can generate sufficient energy to move us forward on a positive path. The truth is, there was nowhere I’d rather be this September 9 and so I chose to go.”
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A Total Clash of Civilizations

Shah Muhammad Rais in his Kabul bookshop

Suraya Rais, the wife of Afghan bookseller Shah Mohammed Rais depicted in the international bestseller ‘The Bookseller of Kabul’ by Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad, is applying for asylum in Europe because she claims the book has endangered her life. ‘The Bookseller of Kabul’ was recently published in Afghanistan, making life in Kabul impossible for the Rais family. But Mrs. Rais’ asylum application is only the latest development in the bitter aftermath of the book’s 2002 publication.
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112 Free Voices: Andries Botha, sculptor of wisdom

“I decided to participate at the Table of Free Voices for two small reasons: (1) I consider it a rare opportunity to be with individuals who have committed their lives to contemplation and social justice. (2) To have the global community generate questions around issues that are deeply significant to them affords for us an opportunity not only to hear these but also to struggle to offer real and sincere answers to our struggling humanity.”

Internationally renowned sculptor and human rights activist Andries Botha has worked with both governmental and non-profit organizations to promote and preserve South African culture. In the early ’90s, he served as the National Visual Arts Chairperson for the newly elected democratic government.
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112 Free Voices: Eliane Potiguara, community-builder & cultural conservationist

Eliane Potiguara is an activist committed to fighting for women’s rights in Brazil’s indigenous population. Also known as Lima de Santos, Potiguara was born after her family emigrated from the state of Paraiba, home of the Potiguara tribe, to Rio de Janeiro. Her devotion to education started at a young age, when she began teaching neighborhood children to read and write. As a professor of Indigenous Linguistics, Potiguara supports and promotes indigenous literature. One of her most successful projects is the Group of Indigenous Women Educators (GRUMIN - Grupo Mulher - Educaçao).

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Safi Mafundikwa: Trailblazer in the Digital Arts

Amid the political turmoil of the Mugabe government, a beacon for arts is slowly growing in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare at ZIVA, the Zimbabwe Institute for Vigital Arts. Director Safi Mafundikwa opened the school in 1999 with only 4 students. Since then, enrollment at Zimbabwe’s first graphic design school has grown tenfold.
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features

Upgrading International Development, Part II

Upgrading International Development

Fighting Corruption: Bribe Payers Index 2006

Recycle Your Cell-Phone, Save a Gorilla

A Look Behind the Prison Walls

The Homeless World Cup 2006

Reach Out and Finance Someone

Arundhati Roy asks herself: What form of resistance is effective and acceptable?

Iranian Bloggers Joined by President Ahmadinejad

Creating A New Universe

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Ethnicity & Culture

Outsourcing Migrant Processing

The Shock Effect and Public Awareness

Rewriting Africa: Journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Upgrading International Development, Part II

Susu Collectors: Microfinance in Ghanaian Culture

The Politics of ‘Water’

Environmental Justice and Katrina

Post-Katrina: New Orleans’ Culinary Heritage

Single-Sex Ed: Policy, Research and Charity

Preserving History with Public Art

112 Free Voices: Sydney Possuelo & the Quixotic Life of a Sertanista

112 Free Voices: “social storyteller” Jonathan Stack

A Total Clash of Civilizations

112 Free Voices: Andries Botha, sculptor of wisdom

112 Free Voices: Eliane Potiguara, community-builder & cultural conservationist

Safi Mafundikwa: Trailblazer in the Digital Arts