tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75612648286044149102024-03-14T01:10:37.680-07:00Kumarian Press BlogKumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.comBlogger109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-79880685338507559402013-03-18T09:03:00.002-07:002013-03-18T09:03:16.013-07:00SFAA is a Few Days Away!<a href="http://sfaa.net/sfaa2013.html">The 2013 SFAA Annual Meeting</a> opens this week at the Marriott Hotel in Downtown Denver, Colorado. The exhibit begins on Thursday, March 21st and ends Saturday. <br />
<br />
Stop by our booth to get the latest <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/books/features.aspx">Kumarian Press publications</a> at <strong>30% off</strong> their full retail value. <br />
<br />
Titles you can expect to see include:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=305682">Development Challenges Confronting Pakistan</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=294998">Tectonic Shifts</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=293392">Poverty and Development in Latin America</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=283761">NGO Leadership and Human Rights</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=165328">Humane Migration</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=293388">Conflict-Related Sexual Violence</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=293230">The Golden Fleece</a></li>
<li>And, much more!</li>
</ul>
Looking forward to meeting our readers!<br />
<br />
For more information on our titles, contact Marketing Associate Jennifer Kern at <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. <br />
<ul>
</ul>
Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-57718296258528425872013-03-11T05:50:00.001-07:002013-03-11T05:50:14.410-07:00New Review Posted For Context-Sensitive Development<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Dr.
Mustaghis-ur-Rahman<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Professor <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Faculty of
Management and Social Sciences<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9pt;">SZABIST, Karachi.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9pt;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">"International
NGOs (INGOs) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">have experienced tremendous growth in recent
decades with a rise from 16,000 to more than 63,000 organizations around the
world till 2005</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">They are</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> channelizing fairly big amount of money ($120
billion as per 2009/10’s statistics) from north to south for achieving the goal
of sustainable development with no matching results. Many development projects,
especially in the developing countries, could not bear fruit as they were largely
designed on the generalized assumptions about the people, their needs and level
of acceptability of those projects. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Researches
reveal that the projects too frequently fail to achieve their goals due to a
number of challenges that could be termed “cultural”, “managerial” and
“organizational” resulting in project delays, cost overruns, coordination
failure, etc. The World Bank's private arm, the International Finance
Corporation (IFC) has discovered that only half of its African projects
succeed. An independent rating, confirmed that 39% of World Bank projects were
unsuccessful in 2010. The failure of the World Bank’s Social Action Program
(SAP) from 1992 to 2002 in Pakistan is also a glaring example of the poor
contextualization of projects in the Pakistani socio-economic and cultural realties.
For INGOs, contextualization of the development philosophy and practice in a
particular society has always been a challenging task in the pursuit of their
agenda as complexities and uniqueness are the two common features of the
development issues. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Government-INGO relations
in the region revolve on several factors including the fitness of the
government, the political system, and the type and location of particular NGO
projects. The best relation between the two occurs where a confident and
capable government with popular policies greets an INGO that wishes to pursue
mainstream development programs in the country. Contrarily, the worst relations
occur where authoritarian government meets an INGO that seeks to promote
community mobilization in the societies’ heart land. Such governments in
developing countries find non-controversial projects desirable, such as; child
immunization or clean water programs, but may not warmly welcome INGOs working
in such areas as basic human rights. The book <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=295378"><em>Context-Sensitive Development</em></a> deals
with such issues in the context of Myanmar which is plagued by authoritarian
rule, international isolation and internal conflict. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
book presents an analysis of sociopolitical milieu for “Burmese days” and “Myanmar
times” from historical perspectives and it highlights the topics of context
sensitivity; while working with communities and dealing with stakeholders. But
the real thrust of this book is the working style of INGOs in Myanmar which has
a complex though not a unique operating environment for aid agencies. Such
socio-political environment is found in many African and Asian countries.
However, working in Myanmar is dancing with the devil without holding hands as
the skeptical eyes of authoritarian regime cannot be ignored while designing the
development projects there. Though, the book covers the case of Myanmar, due to
its grounding in theoretical base of context’s sensitivity, it serves as a
resource for understanding impacts of contextualization on the effectiveness of
development projects in <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Myanmar and beyond.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">In my opinion, rareness of the subject,
coherency of topics, going deep into the real time issue and research based
deliberations make <em>Context-Sensitive Development</em> worth reading. The book has
beneficial mass and contents for the volunteers, development professionals,
state functionaries and indigenous philanthropists. Last but not the least;
Anthony Ware has very aptly supplemented his ethnographical research by strong
literature review from the development."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><em>Context-Sensitive Development</em> is available for purchase through <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/books/features.aspx">Kumarian Press</a>. To request review and/or exam copies, please contact Marketing Associate Jennifer Kern at <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-36877215803398893282013-02-25T05:52:00.003-08:002013-02-25T05:52:49.833-08:00Something Bigger Than Ourselves Receives Stellar Remarks<em>Something Bigger Than Ourselves</em> is set to release in a few short weeks. Read what Nick MacDonald of Mercy Corps had to say about the publication:<br />
<br />
"<i><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=308380">Something Bigger than Ourselves</a></i> is at once an introduction to the organizations of the humanitarian aid business, an anthropology of the personalities, and a diagnostic of it's ills and complaints. It's also a manual for how to navigate and survive them, and a prescription for how to address them. It's more than that though - because if you read carefully, and between the lines, you'll find hints of a very personal story, if not exactly an autobiography, then at least a frank and honest guide through the subject matter.<br />
<br />
In a field of literature dominated either by grand geopolitical theories or disgruntled and critical rants about the aid business, this is a rare book. It focusses on the human story, but in a disciplined and thoughtful way - practical without being callous, compassionate but never sentimental. I come away from it feeling more that I have had a chat with an old friend in a bar in Nairobi than read a treatise on development. It is rigorously sourced and thoughtfully arranged (and I mean that in a good way). <br />
<br />
It's conclusions are modest, at the scale of the human being, and most of its recommendations pragmatic rather than sweeping. Not for her radical restructuring of the UN, rather a call to us all to be more thoughtful and ethical practitioners. If I have a criticism it is that it tends to dwell on the downsides of the work, and does not show some of the more exciting movements at the edge of mainstream humanitarianism. Her slight tendency towards pessimism lends a feeling of melancholy to some of the book, although I am not certain she isn't right in some of her analysis...<br />
<br />
As a teacher and a development practitioner I often get questions through my website and class about what aid work is like, and how to 'get into it'. This book starts with a thorough overview of the sector, the work, and the life that answers many of those, but goes far beyond that, grappling with issues of how to thrive as a human being within the system.<br />
<br />
I intend to recommend <em>Something Bigger than Ourselves</em> to all my students. It's a great introduction to the world and issues of humanitarian aid. I also recommend it to every aid worker - her thoughtful call to self-knowledge and introspection about our practice is a useful reminder of the need to hold the course, stay true to our principles, and strive to do the best work that we're able to do. Perhaps we shouldn't need that reminder, but I think in the frantic melee of the day-to-day chaos and urgency that we do. We really do."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=308380">The book</a> is available to pre-order online through <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/books/features.aspx">Kumarian Press</a>. To receive a review and/or exam copy, contact the Marketing Associate at <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-18385487026141564782013-02-19T06:11:00.003-08:002013-02-19T06:11:43.665-08:00Join Us at SFAA Next Month<span class="userContent">Hi KP Readers,</span><br />
<span class="userContent"></span><br />
<span class="userContent">Join us in Denver for <a href="http://sfaa.net/sfaa2013/SfAA2013Theme.pdf">SFAA</a> from March 20-23rd. Stop by our tables to receive 30% off our new titles including: <em>Practicing Military Anthropology, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence</em> and <em>NGO Leadership and Human Rights</em>.</span><br />
<br />
In <em><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=305678">Practicing Military Anthropology</a></em>, a number of anthropologists who have either worked with the US armed forces or who teach at military service academies reflect on what they do and teach in their military anthropologist personae. Through their personal accounts they show that the practice of military anthropology is much more than HTS and that they are more than mere “technicians of the state” as critics allege. <br />
<br />
The result of a collaboration between a feminist legal scholar and an anthropologist, <i><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=293388">Conflict-Related Sexual Violence</a></i> presents completely original work by anthropologists, international human rights lawyers, legal theorists, political scientists, mental health professionals, and activists who report upon their respective research regarding responses to conflict-related sexual violence in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Colombia, Haiti, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and South Africa. <br />
<br />
<em><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=283761">NGO Leadership and Human Rights</a></em> covers various topics of importance to those who work in development and/or advocacy organizations with human rights orientations and for undergraduate and graduate students aspiring to such careers. This book provides context, definition and guidance for the perplexed seeking entrance into a challenging but rewarding endeavor. <br />
<br />
Contact the Marketing Associate for more information on our attendance at SFAA: <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-28096386073337105592013-02-14T10:27:00.003-08:002013-02-14T10:27:31.410-08:00Women's History Month is Just Around the CornerHello, Bookworms:<br />
<br />
International Women's Day, on March 3rd, is a globally recognized day during the month of March (Women's History Month). <span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;">Since 1908, women's opression and inequality spurred women from all over the world to become more vocal in campaigning for change and human rights. On the eve of WWI in Russia, women celebrated the first International Women's Day the last Sunday in February 1913. This day was then transfered to March 8th where it remained globally recognized. Since the new marking of this day, women campaign for peace, justice and independence.<br /><br />"The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation." Great improvements have been made for women including the opportunity for an education, the freedom to work and even the chance to travel into space. However, "the unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men."</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;"><br /><br />Make March 8th about women worldwide and give a voice to those who are seeking peace, independence and justice this <a data-cke-saved-href="http://internationalwomensday.com/about.asp" href="http://internationalwomensday.com/about.asp">International Women's Day</a> with these Kumarian Press publications: <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=214095">Women and War</a></span></span>, <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=293388">Conflict-Related Sexual Violence</a>, and <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=305690">Challenging Gender Norms</a>. <br />
<br />
Contact the Marketing Associate to obtain review and/or exam copies: <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. <br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<br />Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-54914596803620690272013-02-04T05:41:00.003-08:002013-02-04T05:41:33.356-08:00New Pakistan Studies Title Released <div class="bookTitleLG">
<span class="publisherDarkColor"><em>Development Challenges Confronting Pakistan</em> is February's new release. </span></div>
<div class="bookTitleLG">
<span class="publisherDarkColor"></span> </div>
<div class="bookTitleLG">
<a href="http://www.styluspub.com/files/covers/9781565495531_cf200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="bookImage" src="http://www.styluspub.com/files/covers/9781565495531_cf200.jpg" /></a><span class="publisherDarkColor">The global scholarly community concerned with development and social transformation has identified explicit "structural impediments" that constrain countries’ efforts to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable social development. The UNDP, in launching its Millennium Development Goals, contends that there are “practical, proven solutions” to breaking out of the poverty traps that entangle poor countries. <br /><br />In Pakistan, there has been limited substantive research conducted to identify the unique blend of structural impediments to development that prevail in the country today. Indeed, Pakistan’s prospects to promote viable, sustainable social development appear bleaker today than a decade ago. <i><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=305682">Development Challenges Confronting Pakistan</a></i> seeks to rectify this void by bringing together scholars and practitioners—many of them from Pakistan—to provide a scholarly understanding of the structural impediments, or barriers, that have negative effects on Pakistan’s ability to eliminate poverty, promote social justice and implement policies to promote equity. This book will be an essential tool for analysis, study and practice. Its publication is indeed a major event in South Asian scholarship.</span><br />
<br />
This book is available to purchase in the United States through <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/books/features.aspx">Kumarian Press</a> for $27.50. To receive review and/or exam copies, contact <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. </div>
Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-70050017225834350322013-01-28T06:42:00.002-08:002013-01-28T06:42:40.990-08:00Poverty and Development in Latin America Book Just ReleasedDear KP Readers,<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.styluspub.com/files/covers/9781565495081_cf200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="bookImage" src="http://www.styluspub.com/files/covers/9781565495081_cf200.jpg" /></a>Henry Veltmeyer and Darcy Tetreault have just released a new Kumarian Press publication entitled <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=293392">Poverty and Development in Latin America</a>.
<br />
<br />
Poverty is still widespread in Latin America, in spite of over five decades of international development efforts to eradicate it. While some progress was made during the first decade of the new Millennium, at least until the onset of the global food and economic crises, there are still over one hundred and eighty million people in the region who unable to meet their basic needs. This is the ‘poverty problematic’ that is at the center of this book. It addresses what are perhaps the most important questions of our time: What are the root causes of poverty? And how can it be overcome? Also, with regards to the recent progress in the so-called war against poverty, the editors ask: How real is this progress? What or whose actions are responsible for this achievement? <br />
<br />
Through a critical analysis of public policies and development pathways, <i>Poverty and Development in Latin America</i> provides nuanced responses to these questions. The major conclusion reached and shared by the editors is that poverty reduction cannot be sustained with an anti-poverty strategy based only on social inclusion and economic assistance, or humanitarian relief. It requires a substantive change in the structure of inequality, and a confrontation of the relations of production and power that sustain this structure. <br />
<!-- <div id="moreDescription1" style="DISPLAY:none">
Poverty is still widespread in Latin America, in spite of over five decades of international development efforts to eradicate it. While some progress was made during the first decade of the new Millennium, at least until the onset of the global food and economic crises, there are still over one hundred and eighty million people in the region who unable to meet their basic needs. This is the ‘poverty problematic’ that is at the center of this book. It addresses what are perhaps the most important questions of our time: What are the root causes of poverty? And how can it be overcome? Also, with regards to the recent progress in the so-called war against poverty, the editors ask: How real is this progress? What or whose actions are responsible for this achievement? Through a critical analysis of public policies and development pathways, <i>Poverty and Development in Latin America</i> provides nuanced responses to these questions. The major conclusion reached and shared by the editors is that poverty reduction cannot be sustained with an anti-poverty strategy based only on social inclusion and economic assistance, or humanitarian relief. It requires a substantive change in the structure of inequality, and a confrontation of the relations of production and power that sustain this structure.</div>
<span class="publisherDarkColor">
<a href="javascript:ReverseDisplay('moreDescription1')">More ></a></span> --><br />
The book retails for $29.95 and is available for purchase through <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/books/features.aspx">Kumarian Press</a>. For interview, exam and/or review requests within North America, send a note to <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-60065545523667466692013-01-22T06:53:00.000-08:002013-01-22T06:53:04.474-08:00New Pakistan Studies Title To Be Released This February<div class="bookTitleLG">
<span class="publisherDarkColor">Dear KP Bookworms,</span></div>
<div class="bookTitleLG">
<span class="publisherDarkColor"></span> </div>
<div class="bookTitleLG">
<a href="http://www.styluspub.com/files/covers/9781565495531_cf200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="bookImage" src="http://www.styluspub.com/files/covers/9781565495531_cf200.jpg" /></a><span class="publisherDarkColor">The global scholarly community concerned with development and social transformation has identified explicit "structural impediments" that constrain countries’ efforts to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable social development. The UNDP, in launching its Millennium Development Goals, contends that there are “practical, proven solutions” to breaking out of the poverty traps that entangle poor countries. <br /><br />In Pakistan, there has been limited substantive research conducted to identify the unique blend of structural impediments to development that prevail in the country today. Indeed, Pakistan’s prospects to promote viable, sustainable social development appear bleaker today than a decade ago. <i><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=305682">Development Challenges Confronting Pakistan</a></i> seeks to rectify this void by bringing together scholars and practitioners to provide a scholarly understanding of the structural impediments, or barriers, that have negative effects on Pakistan’s ability to eliminate poverty, promote social justice and implement policies to promote equity. </span></div>
<div class="bookTitleLG">
<span class="publisherDarkColor"></span> </div>
<div class="bookTitleLG">
<span class="publisherDarkColor">This book will be an essential tool for analysis, study and practice. Its publication is indeed a major event in South Asian scholarship. <!-- <div id="moreDescription1" style="DISPLAY:none">
The global scholarly community concerned with development and social transformation has identified explicit "structural impediments" that constrain countries’ efforts to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable social development. The UNDP, in launching its Millennium Development Goals, contends that there are “practical, proven solutions” to breaking out of the poverty traps that entangle poor countries. <br /><br />In Pakistan, there has been limited substantive research conducted to identify the unique blend of structural impediments to development that prevail in the country today. Indeed, Pakistan’s prospects to promote viable, sustainable social development appear bleaker today than a decade ago. <i>Development Challenges Confronting Pakistan</i> seeks to rectify this void by bringing together scholars and practitioners—many of them from Pakistan—to provide a scholarly understanding of the structural impediments, or barriers, that have negative effects on Pakistan’s ability to eliminate poverty, promote social justice and implement policies to promote equity. This book will be an essential tool for analysis, study and practice. Its publication is indeed a major event in South Asian scholarship. </div>
<span class="publisherDarkColor">
<a href="javascript:ReverseDisplay('moreDescription1')">More ></a></span> --></span></div>
<br />
Contact the Marketing Associate to request review and/or exam copies or to purchase the book: <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-9423696621373465682013-01-14T06:47:00.002-08:002013-01-14T06:47:42.025-08:00Author Events To Attend in January and February Hi KP Readers,<br />
<br />
Our wonderful authors are venturing off to local and international areas to showcase their most recent achievements. Here's a list of places and people to look out for in the coming weeks ahead:<br />
<br />
<strong>Joseph Hanlon - Chatham House, London, January 31st at 17:00 to 18:00 GMT</strong>: In 2000 Zimbabwe captured headlines around the world when 170,000 black farmers occupied 4,000 white farms. A new book, <em><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=295374">Zimbabwe Takes Back its Land</a></em> claims that despite political violence and hyperinflation, the new farmers are doing relatively well, improving their lives and becoming increasingly productive, especially since the US dollar became the local currency. While not minimizing the depredations of the Mugabe government, and accepting that many of President Mugabe's supporters benefited from the ruler's largesse, the book counters the dominant media narratives of oppression and economic stagnation in Zimbabwe. <br />
<br />
The speakers, the authors of the book, will argue that the outcome raises important questions for the upcoming elections, and also presents new issues for the international community to consider. <br />
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For more information about the event, visit <a href="http://www.chathamhouse.org/events/view/187431">here</a>. <br />
<br />
<strong>Jeff Unsicker - Bluestockings Bookstore, NY, February 2nd from 7 to 9pm: </strong>New KP author, Jeff Unsicker of <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=300046"><em>Confronting Power</em></a>, will be at <a href="http://bluestockings.com/">Bluestockings Bookstore in NY</a> on February 2nd for a book reading and signing. His event will run from 7-9pm. This event is open to the public and free of charge. <br />
<br />
Here's your chance to meet the author! <br />
<br />
<strong>Darcy Tetreault - Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, February 12th at 5pm:</strong> Located in Halifax, NS, Dalhousie University will host a book reading and signing for Darcy Tetreault of <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=293392"><em>Poverty and Development in Latin America</em></a>. The event is open to the public and will begin promptly on February 12th at 5pm <div id="moreInfo2" style="display: inline;">
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in the Department of International Studies. <br />
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To obtain review and/or exam copies, or to receive more information on these events, contact <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. <br /></div>
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Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-43614033725143642912012-12-17T05:50:00.000-08:002012-12-17T05:50:15.701-08:00KP Author Milford Bateman Reviews Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB">"Perhaps nowhere
more than in the case of post-independence <st1:country-region w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:country-region>
has the land reform issue in <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place> created
controversy. Initially, and justifiably, this controversy arose because of the brutality,
double-dealing, broken promises, lies and corruption associated with both sides
to the land reform process - the Mugabe regime and the international donor
community, particularly the UK government. The new book by Joseph Hanlon,
Jeanette Manjengwa and Teresa Smart – <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=295374"><em>Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land</em></a> - takes as its starting point this land reform process, before venturing boldly into dismissing
the often ideologically-driven, and sometimes simply racist, myths that quickly
arose concerning the ability of the black community to efficiently farm and
manage restituted land. Crucially, this book also provides an assessment of the
economic and social policy implications of the new raft of smaller farms now owned
by the black community. And although it follows fast on the heels of a couple
of other excellent books looking into the same land reform topic,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7561264828604414910#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a>
in my opinion this book surpasses these earlier contributions, brilliantly
extending, confirming, illustrating and nuancing many of the most important
arguments and issues that needed to be raised. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Above all the
book provides an important reality check to those who swallowed whole the
narrative provided by the international development community, key western
governments and a good many international media outlets, which was that the
land reform process (in reality, a land <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">restitution
</i>process) in Zimbabwe was horribly corrupted by the Mugabe regime, and that
the sour reality emerging from the whole state-driven process was, predictably,
a grossly inefficient agricultural system to boot. Dealing with these myths is
the rationale for the book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">First, there is
the crucial role of politics and ideology to deal with. To help illustrate the
many absurdities here, we might just note the different attitudes to land
reform/restitution shown in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:country-region>
and in another region undergoing a major process of change that I know quite
well - the former communist states of <st1:place w:st="on">Eastern Europe</st1:place>.
The land reform/restitution process still taking place in the former communist
states in Eastern Europe, where land was appropriated from private individuals by
the state as far back as 1918 in the former <st1:place w:st="on">Soviet Union</st1:place>,
has actually been driven forward by the international community. At least
partly, we know that this was done in order to build a completely new private
sector elite, one that could forge important links to western business
interests and would reflect the importance of certain western ideological
preferences. Now contrast this scenario with the process of land
reform/restitution in Zimbabwe as described in this book, a process that was
all too often presented as an abomination that had no basis in legality or
fairness or (as we will discuss below) efficiency, and so it was largely <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">resisted</i> by the very same international
development community agencies and western governments that supported extensive
land reform/restitution in the former communist countries. Indeed, many
international aid agencies even refused to work with the so-called ‘land reform
farmers’ in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
But the authors show that the land reform/restitution process in Zimbabwe was largely
resisted by the international development community not so much because of its basic
unfairness, but because it would <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">undermine</i>
the white Zimbabwean business elite that was very well disposed towards western
business interests and supported western country ideological preferences.
Sadly, as the authors allude to, a healthy does of racism was also involved in
the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:place></st1:country-region>
case. Revealing the real rationale, as opposed to the stated rationale, behind
policy-making and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
engagement with the international development community is one of the most
important aspects of this book for serious scholars. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">However, this
book is about something else that has much more importance in terms of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">future</i> of Zimbabwe, Africa and other developing
countries too: it is about the economic and social efficiency of the particular
agricultural structure thereby created by land reform/restitution over a
generation, and the crucial policy implications this holds for other nations
and communities also seeking the best possible agricultural system. To date,
and not always for the most honourable of reasons, as we have noted, a large
number of analysts have used the example of post-independence <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:place></st1:country-region> as
evidence that large plantation-style farming, previously under white control,
was far superior to the much smaller farms under black ownership and control that
emerged out of the messy land reform/restitution process. This book very
thoroughly and engagingly dispels this long-standing and ultimately hugely
destructive myth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The book
fittingly starts with the plight of war-veterans - the white war veterans, that
is, who, returning to then <st1:country-region w:st="on">Rhodesia</st1:country-region>
from the battlefields of Europe and the <st1:place w:st="on">Far East</st1:place>
in 1945-7, were helped by state intervention to become the backbone of
commercial farming in the country. This goal was largely achieved thanks to the
rapid construction of a very comprehensive institutional support structure,
notably comprising important public infrastructure, the establishment of
well-capitalised and integrated (farm to retail) cooperatives, a large volume
of subsidised credit and outright grants, and extensive training and extension
services programs. These important measures were then ‘assisted’ by further
dispossessing the black community of any remaining high quality agricultural
land that was still in their individual or communal ownership. <st1:country-region w:st="on">Rhodesia</st1:country-region>’s agricultural sector thus became one
of <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place>’s strongest. Importantly, it was by
no means the supreme bulwark it is commonly assumed to be. On this, the book
dispels many myths about the economic efficiency of the agricultural system
prior to independence, notably showing that about a third of the farms remained
unprofitable and that much good land was later abandoned and remained unused
right up till independence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Notwithstanding,
the agricultural system was a major prop to the white Rhodesian economy and
society, especially in terms of consolidating white control and in generating valuable
foreign exchange. As noted, the authors highlight the importance to the white
farming community of extensive state support. This description offers a
striking contrast to the shortfall of support offered to the black farmers
after independence. Crucially, the authors point out that <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
white-owned plantation farms needed a major state export promotion program,
including grants and subsidies, in order to make serious inroads into expanding
global markets for niche agricultural products (e.g., mangetout peas, passion
fruit and cut flowers). There should be no surprise here. As a growing number
of development economists have begun to recount, notably Ha-Joon Chang<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7561264828604414910#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></a>,
and as a growing number of practical experiences elsewhere in <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place>
also appear to confirm,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7561264828604414910#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[iii]</span></span></span></span></a>
there are in fact almost no examples of a successful agricultural sector that
did <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> count on comprehensive state
support and financial investment/subsidies. Not all such individual programs
‘worked’, of course, but there are no successful agricultural systems that did <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> use such programs and policies. So <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
extensive set of agricultural interventions in the pre-Independence period were
actually based on very sound economic principles. And they worked. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Understandably,
then, the authors are right to repeatedly point out that when the black
community began to move into farming in the post-Independence period thanks to
the land reform/restitution process, it was therefore a major barrier to the
new farmers to find that similar forms of state support were simply unavailable.
This makes the ultimate success of the black owned and controlled farms even
more astounding. This deleterious lack of support was not so much
policy-driven, as the authors are quick to point out, but simply because of a lack
of domestic resources in the country after a vicious liberation war and in the
face of continuing military and economic attacks by the apartheid regime of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">South Africa</st1:place></st1:country-region>. For
example, although the existing agricultural marketing and extension services
were immediately opened up to all Zimbabweans following <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Independence</st1:place></st1:city>, the funding made available was
not anywhere near in proportion to the enormity of the task at hand. Partly
also, however, the problem facing Zimbabwe’s new black farming community was
that the international community, then in thrall to the ideology of
neoliberalism and structural adjustment, did not actually believe in, and so
nor would they sanction, such forms of state support being funded with
international loans and grants – instead, ‘the market’ was expected to take
care of such important matters. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The authors
paint a vivid picture of the new class of black farmers returning from the war
of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Independence</st1:city></st1:place>
only to encounter very much <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">worse</i>
conditions compared to the previous white generation returning from duty in
World War II. They also point to the serious drought in 2001-2 that followed
upon a series of catastrophic droughts, notably in 1991-1992 (the worst of the
century), which hardly made things any easier for the new black farming class. Nonetheless,
it is the defining feature of the book to show how, seemingly in spite of all
the odds, economically successful farms were eventually created by the black
community upon their newly restituted land. Making use of peer-to-peer learning
(often involving white farmers that remained in Zimbabwe), by the patient
reinvestment of any initial surplus made on the farm, by experimentation with
different crops and techniques, and through much collective effort, the new
black farmers eventually began to reach, and then sometimes to exceed, the
productivity levels reached by the former white farmers on much larger
plantation-style farms using better quality land. The book thus makes a hugely important
contribution to the ongoing debate over the economically ‘optimum’ farm size. The
evidence presented here from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:place></st1:country-region>
supports those analysts, especially those associated with the agro-ecological
lobby,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7561264828604414910#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[iv]</span></span></span></span></a>
who claim that the key to a productive agricultural system is more likely to be
found not in plantation-style farms, but in much smaller but still
commercially-oriented farms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Going even further,
the authors show that the old white-owned and controlled plantation farms in
Rhodesia were not just much less economically efficient than was hitherto very
widely assumed, but that such plantations clearly exacerbated the depth of
general poverty and existing social divisions in the community along colour
lines: that is, very much as is the norm across Africa, the few employees used
on the plantation farms in white-controlled Rhodesia were very seriously
exploited, while the local community rarely benefitted from even the most
successful plantation farms that were in the vicinity. This unsatisfactory situation
is then very usefully contrasted with the emerging situation in the
post-Independence period, where the growing numbers of black-owned farms have
begun to impel a very positive economic and social development trajectory at
the local level. This new trajectory is marked out by rising individual farm
incomes, growing levels of solidarity and intra- and inter-community trust,
more local food self-sufficiency, and a lessening of previous high levels of
inequality. So, smaller farms in Zimbabwe are not just doing very well in terms
of productivity, as was noted above, but are also increasingly seen as a much
better strategic option for local communities seeking <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">generalised</i> economic and social progress. Pointedly, even the
international community is now starting to pick up on the radically different
and significant reality that is <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:place></st1:country-region>
today, and is so carefully and intelligently described by the authors of this
book.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7561264828604414910#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[v]</span></span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB">All told, this
book is, first, a fantastic history lesson. At a time when another on-going
land grab is dominating the world news as I write this review – the relentless
and brutal dispossession of the Palestinians by the early Israeli settlers coming
mainly from Europe, and the continuation of this program by their equally
intransigent descendents – the appalling unfairness, brutality and stupidity of
the white settler land grab from the late 1800s onwards in what is now Zimbabwe
is pointedly and rightfully noted throughout the entire book. But, even more
than this, this important book provides a much-needed antidote to so many of the
myths surrounding the economic and social efficiency of the post-land reform/restitution
agricultural sector in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
On this issue, it is informative, passionate and well-argued, and written in such
a brilliantly engaging style that it was hard to put down. For this reason, it
is an indispensible addition to the library of those working in land restitution
and reform issues, and perhaps an even more important purchase for the probably
much larger group of economists looking at the role of the agricultural sector
in facilitating sustainable rural development everywhere around the world. This
book cannot be rated too highly."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB">By<span lang="EN-GB"> Milford</span><span lang="EN-GB"> Bateman, author of the Kumarian Press publication <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=236319"><em>Confronting Microfinance</em></a>. </span></span></div>
<br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<br />
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7561264828604414910#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[i]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Notably, for example, Ian Scoones, Nelson Marongwe, Blasio
Mavedzenge, Jacob Mahenehene, Felix Murimbarimba and Chrispen Sukume, 2010, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Zimbabwe’s land reform: Myths and realities,
</i>Harare: Weaver Press<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7561264828604414910#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"> Chang, H-J. 2009. ‘Rethinking Public
Policy in Agriculture – Lessons from History, Distant and Recent’, <em>Journal
of Peasant Studies</em>, 36 (3), 477-515.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7561264828604414910#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[iii]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Pointedly, the major improvements registered in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Malawi</st1:country-region> thanks to targeted subsidies that were
used to allow smallholder farmers to purchase fertiliser and quality seeds, and
which within a few years transformed <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Malawi</st1:place></st1:country-region> from a net food importer
into a major food exporter. See <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bello</st1:place></st1:city>,
W. 2009. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Food Wars</i>. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city>: Verso.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7561264828604414910#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[iv]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"> For example, see <span class="copy">Norberg-Hodge,
H., and T Merrifield T, <st1:place w:st="on">S Gorelick</st1:place>. 2002. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bringing the Food Economy Home: Local
Alternatives to Global Agribusiness</i>, Zed Press: <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city>.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7561264828604414910#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[v]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> For example, ‘In Zimbabwe Land takeover, a golden lining’, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times</i>, July 20<sup>th</sup></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">,
2012. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-52392756936947571212012-12-10T07:25:00.002-08:002012-12-10T07:25:27.749-08:00What to Expect from KP in January 2013Kumarian Press has a wide range of activities and books being released at the start of the new year. <br />
<br />
New titles to look out for by Kumarian Press include:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><em>Poverty and Development in Latin America</em></li>
<li><em>Development Challenges Confronting Pakistan</em></li>
<li><em>Managing Drug Supply</em></li>
</ul>
<br />
Poverty is still widespread in Latin America, in spite of over five decades of international development efforts to eradicate it. While some progress was made during the first decade of the new Millennium, at least until the onset of the global food and economic crises, there are still over one hundred and eighty million people in the region who unable to meet their basic needs. This is the ‘poverty problematic’ that is at the center of this book. It addresses what are perhaps the most important questions of our time: What are the root causes of poverty? And how can it overcome? Also, with regards to the recent progress in the so-called war against poverty, the editors ask: How real is this progress? What or whose actions are responsible for this achievement? Through a critical analysis of public policies and development pathways, <i><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=293392">Poverty and Development in Latin America</a></i> provides nuanced responses to these questions. The major conclusion reached and shared by the editors is that poverty reduction cannot be sustained with an anti-poverty strategy based only on social inclusion and economic assistance, or humanitarian relief. <br />
<br />
In Pakistan, there has been limited substantive research conducted to identify the unique blend of structural impediments to development that prevail in the country today. Indeed, Pakistan’s prospects to promote viable, sustainable social development appear bleaker today than a decade ago. <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=305682"><em>Development Challenges Confronting Pakistan</em></a> seeks to rectify this void by bringing together scholars and practitioners—many of them from Pakistan—to provide a scholarly understanding of the structural impediments, or barriers, that have negative effects on Pakistan’s ability to eliminate poverty, promote social justice and implement policies to promote equity.<br />
<br />
<em><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=323916">Managing Drug Supply</a></em> (MDS) is the leading reference on how to manage essential medicines in developing countries. <i>MDS</i> was originally published in 1982; it was revised in 1997 with over 10,000 copies distributed in over 60 countries worldwide. The third edition, <i>MDS-3: Managing Access to Medicines and Health Technologies</i> reflects the dramatic changes in politics and public health priorities, advances in science and medicine, greater focus on health care systems, increased donor funding, and the advent of information technology that have profoundly affected access to essential medicines over the past 14 years. <br />
<br />
<strong>Events</strong><br />
<ol>
<li><strong>January 9th</strong>: The Society for International Development, DC Chapter, will host a presentation of Susan Ross's work, including an introduction to her Kumarian Press release <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=288662"><em>Expanding the Pie</em></a>. The event will range from 12:30pm - 2:00pm. </li>
<li><strong>January 15th</strong>: Radio Peacebuilding will interview Max Stephenson and Laura Zanotti about their new KP release <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=285277"><em>Peacebuilding Through Community-Based NGOs</em></a>. </li>
<li><strong>January 28th:</strong> Author Joseph Hanlon will speak on Voice of Africa radio about his new release Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land.</li>
</ol>
To receive review and/or exam copies of the titles listed, please contact the Marketing Associate: <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-92043080455473833312012-12-03T05:50:00.001-08:002012-12-03T05:50:33.437-08:00Guest Blog Posting by Kerry Fosher of Practicing Military Anthropology<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kBeb_dUMr94/ULytzersw0I/AAAAAAAAACw/7TICO5n9du4/s1600/9781565495494.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kBeb_dUMr94/ULytzersw0I/AAAAAAAAACw/7TICO5n9du4/s320/9781565495494.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=305678"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Practicing Military Anthropology</span></em></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Edited by Robert Rubinstein, Kerry Fosher, and Clementine Fujimura</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Sometime in
2008, I realized I was spending a third of every conference presentation
talking about things I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">don’t</i> do in
the course of my work with the U.S. military. I do not spy. I do not do
classified research. I do not work for the Human Terrain System. I do not
collect information about the people who live in places where U.S. forces are
deployed. Many anthropologists who worked with military and intelligence
organizations were experiencing similar problems. We joked about wearing
t-shirts or displaying posters listing all the things we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">don’t</i> do so that we could spend our presentation time on what other
anthropologists were able to, our work and research. The idea for the book,
Practicing Military Anthropology, began in those discussions of how to provide
better information about what it means to be a military anthropologist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<o:p><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Between 2006
and 2008, the </span><a href="http://www.aaanet.org/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">American Anthropological Association</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> (AAA) began to take note of
an increasing interest in anthropologists and anthropology on the part of
military and intelligence organizations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As the discipline became aware of the Army’s Human Terrain System (HTS)
concept, much of the discussion came to center around that program. Many in the
discipline felt that HTS epitomized the problems that arise when
anthropologists get involved with government organizations, especially those
involved with spying and the use of force.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Many conference panels on militarization, military anthropology, ethics,
and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were organized. Anthropologists spoke to
the press and began to publish their concerns about the connection of
anthropologists to the military. The first report from the AAA’s Commission on
the Engagement with U.S. Security and Intelligence Communities (CEUSSIC), which
tried to introduce some of the scope of work anthropologists were doing in the
security sector, was nearly eclipsed by the discipline’s new awareness of HTS
and the questions it raised. The work of CEUSSIC was extended to allow a more
thorough investigation of HTS. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<o:p><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As I and other
anthropologists involved with the military participated in these discussions,
it became clear that we were swimming upstream against strong assumptions. Almost
every discussion was sent spinning off in strange directions by the assumption
that military organizations only wanted was anthropologists to do fieldwork or
act as spies. The discipline had little frame of reference for thinking through
the significant ethical, professional, theoretical, and methodological
questions our work raised. Much of the critique was based on macro-level
assessments of the problematic nature of working within flawed institutions.
Relatively little incorporated the sorts of empirically grounded knowledge that
the discipline normally prioritizes. It became clear that if we wanted to have
a more robust discussion, we would need to do more than react to assumptions
and assertions. We also needed to provide information on what we actually do
and how we think about it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<o:p><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When Syracuse
University’s Anthropology Department approached me and Brian Selmeski with a
generous offer to support a symposium about military anthropology, the timing
was perfect. It was not only a chance to produce the accounts of practice we
felt were so urgently needed. It also allowed us to bring together old and new
colleagues to think about what it might mean to work with military and
intelligence organizations in the future and the broader issues the topic
raised. In particular, it was a chance to engage with anthropologists who had
examined some of this realm before, people like my co-authors Robert and
Clementine, Anna Simons, and Jessica Turnley. As discussions and work on the
book progressed, it became apparent that there was no one set of conditions or
decisions that led people to work with the military. People had varying degrees
of interest in the things that were preoccupying people at AAA meetings and
located themselves differently within those debates. In fact, despite the
book’s title, some of the authors, including myself, do not think of ourselves
as military anthropologists. Rather than trying to standardize what the authors
addressed, we chose to let the differences be part of the message of the book.
Although other demands on his time caused Brian to have to leave the project
toward the end, in that choice and in other ways his influence is still felt in
the volume. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<o:p><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Although it was not a focus in most of
the chapters, one of the interesting side effects of the interaction among the
authors was the discussion about how the focus on military anthropology raised
(sometimes resurrected) issues for other aspects of anthropology. In the
concluding chapter of the volume, Robert raises some significant issues for how
the debates reflect on work in the academy. Unsurprisingly, we also found that
the same issues of the potential for bias, enabling flawed institutions,
requirements for ongoing decision-making, and compromises necessary to
influence policy apply in anthropological advocacy and applied or practicing
projects across domains. Some of these domains, such medicine, public health,
work with NGOs, human rights actions, etc., are seen as topically and
contextually less problematic in the discipline and, therefore, receive less
scrutiny. The work of fully articulating these commonalities remains to be
done. </span></div>
<o:p><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">For several
authors it was a period of intense personal and professional decision-making.
Almost all of us changed jobs or focus during the development of the book. So,
while there is diversity within the book, the chapters also represent snapshots
of lives that were simultaneously shaped by and shaping the practitioner
context. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of us were in the midst of
intensive work to create or significantly reshape the programs and institutions
in which we worked. Some of us had been brought into the organizations to instigate
such changes. Others were taking advantage of what we knew to be a momentary
wobble in powerful institutional processes in order to insert changes. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Far from being
constrained by the dictates of the state, some of us had fundamental
disagreements about what kinds of engagement were appropriate, about the
legitimacy of critiques being made of military anthropology, even about what
anthropological theories to teach to military personnel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those disagreements took place among people
who were almost constantly on travel, away from home for long periods of time,
tired and cranky. Yet the discussions remained civil and constructive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<o:p><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The civility of
this process and the similar atmosphere in CEUSSIC matter greatly. At a time
when the debates were at their most polemic among military anthropologists and
the broader discipline, it has been possible to create places where difficult
questions can be asked and possible answers discussed in ways that do not a
priori categorize and exclude certain participants. It also has been possible
to expand discussion outside of the frames proposed by the loudest voices,
frames that do not always take the complexity of practice into account.
Practicing Military Anthropology represents one such effort, moving beyond assertions
that rely on one reductionist view of anthropologists in military contexts and
delving into the complexity of practice that must be understood for informed debate
to take place. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=305678"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Practicing Military Anthropology</span></em></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> is available to purchase through </span><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/books/features.aspx"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kumarian Press</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> and retails for $24.95. To request review and/or exam copies, email Jennifer at </span><a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Jennifer@styluspub.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">.</span> </div>
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Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-56171026415075797972012-11-12T05:45:00.000-08:002012-11-13T05:18:47.745-08:00Guest Author Posting by Teresa Smart<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=295374">Zimbabwe Takes Back
iIs Land</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">By Joseph Hanlon, Jeannette Manjengwa, and Teresa Smart</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Esther and Teresa are both land reform farmers in Mazowe, Zimbabwe. We
first met Esther and her friend Teresa at a field day at Kia Ora Farm. They
each have 15 acre plots of top quality land. The former white farms had been
subdivided into 50 or 60 fifteen acre plots. These two women had impressed us
with their tales of how much and what they produced on their farms. Esther
talked about harvests of 100 tonnes of maize from 35 acres (her own 15 plus a
borrowed 20 acres). Esther says that during 10 years of farming, she had
invested her money in farming equipment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">My namesake, Teresa, has invested her profits in buying cattle and sending
her two children to university in South Africa. She borrows a tractor and
irrigation pipes from her friend Esther. When we asked how they had managed to
produce so much, Teresa leant down and picked up some earth and showed me the
earth and her work roughened hands; good soil and hard work was her answer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">We were researching our book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Zimbabwe
Takes Back its Land</i>, looking at what has happened to the 170,000 black
farmers who controversially occupied 4,000 white farms in 2000 and 2001. Although
the local agriculture extension officer independently verified their stories of
production and equipment, we wanted to see it with our own eyes. On our visit
we saw the tractors, irrigation equipment, planter, and pumps. All are in good
working order and Esther already knows how she will spend the profit from the
coming harvest – this tractor needs new tires and she wants to buy a harvester.
Every penny from her production is invested in the farm. But her pride and joy
is her maize – strong, clean, well-weeded fields of maize. She is expecting three
tonnes per acre, which the extension officer confirms. She has hedged her bets
by planting three different seed types: one high yielding, one lower yield but
drought resistant, and one for late planting in case of late rains. So whatever
the weather her yield will always give an average of three tonnes per acre. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">While we are admiring her maize, she tells us her story. She was a
teacher, but she had grown up on a farm and always wanted to be a farmer; so when
the land reform started she applied for land. When she was granted her 15
acres, she gave up her job, but her husband stayed in his job in the police
and paid the household bills while she ploughed all of her savings into the
land. The first year she produced 100 tonnes and spent the money on buying a
second hand tractor. The second year she bought irrigation pipes and pumps so
that she could grow winter wheat giving her two crops a year. The third year
she bought another tractor and so on. Her husband has since died so she has full
financial responsibility for the family. The problem with farming is that you
have to pay bills for fuel, workers, electricity, school fees and food every
week but you only receive money once or twice a year when you sell your crops.
Esther resolves this in two ways: When she sells her crops she immediately buys
fertilizer, seeds and new equipment for the next year; and, then she has
diversified running a small shop for local farmers and making peanut butter to
sell so she has a small fund coming in every day. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Esther and Teresa are some of the best of the new farmers, but overall
the new farmers are using more of the land than their white predecessors and
now producing nearly as much. Research shows that it takes two decades to reach
the maximum potential of a farm, so the new farmers are only halfway through
that process, and seem set to produce more than the former white farmers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">At independence in 1980, only one-third of what farmers were doing well,
and one-third were bankrupt. Our surveys and other studies show a similar
spread for the new farmers, with a third becoming serious commercial farmers
like Ester and Teresa. But what is equally impressive is standing with Joe,
whose father was thrown off his land by white settlers 55 years ago, or Agnes who
lost her leg as a guerrilla in the liberation war, in the middle of their resettlement
farms, and of their pride not just in regaining their land, but in what they
have built on their own farms in the past decade.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Many problems remain in Zimbabwe. But United States sanctions are not
just against an evil elite, but against Esther, Teresa, Joe, Agnes and the
other 170,000 land reform farmers. As President Barak Obama goes into his
second term and looks again at foreign policy, perhaps it is time to rethink
how the U.S. approaches Zimbabwe.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=295374"><em>Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land</em></a> releases later this month. The book is available to pre-order through <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/books/features.aspx">Kumarian Press</a> and retails for $26.95. To request review and/or exam copies, contact Marketing Associate Jennifer Kern: <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. </span></div>
Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-86795542903732820992012-11-05T06:05:00.001-08:002012-11-13T05:28:17.463-08:00Guest Author Posting By Anthony Ware<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=295378">Context-Sensitive Development</a></em></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Anthony Ware</strong></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">How do you
write an up-to-date book about a context that is changing as fast as Myanmar? <span style="color: #221e1f;">I commenced research for this book several years ago, and
began writing my findings in earnest during 2010 and 2011. However, as </span>anyone
at all familiar with Myanmar will know, political and social change has been
unexpectedly rapid in this country over the last 18 months or so, making it
difficult but most important to keep checking and updating the research and
findings right up until the final hour before printing. Accordingly, the last
revisions were made to the text in late July 2012, for an early October book
launch date! <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the back
of numerous visits to the country between 1992 and 2007, and a lot of
reading about the history and context over the years, I commenced formal
research specifically for this project during an extended visit in 2009. I have
had several visits since, but that initial research period was about a year
after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country at a loss of some 140,000 lives, an
event which greatly change the involvement of international actors in Myanmar.
Actually, the cyclone itself was not a significant factor motivating my
research; to me the challenge was more about understanding how we foreigners
could most effectively assist in poverty alleviation within such an enigmatic
context. Poverty in Myanmar has been amongst the worst in Asia, and the state
in Myanmar has long been highly bureaucratic, authoritarian, incompetent and
often brutal. Complicating the issue, however, Myanmar has also long been
greatly suspicious of Western motives, while itself being sanctioned by Western
governments over human rights violations and a failure to respect the
democratic voice of the people. How do we help alleviate poverty in such a
context? That was what I set out to document.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Unexpectedly,
just as I was in the midst of writing up my research, military strongman Senior
General Than Shwe resigned as president. This event, of course, paved the way
for the now-familiar reforms under new president Thein Sein, something we are
all very pleasantly surprised to see coming to partial fruition. I had been
aware that the November 2010 elections were to be held, but I did not give them
must consideration. Along with most of the international community, I was taken
completely by surprise when Than Shwe resigned to allow a more civilian
government to form, and even more surprised by the content of Thein Sein's
March 2011 inaugural speech, which outlined an ambitious reform agenda. Without
taking anything away from my discussion of this in the book, let me just say
that from his first speech, Thein Sein has set a very different path to that of
his predecessor. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">While the
reforms which began to take shape over the months following Thein Sein taking
power were extremely welcome, they had major ramifications for me as an author
in the middle of a book about the country. Naturally, I was immediately nervous
that my research and findings might become irrelevant. Thus I planned several
follow-up visits during 2011 and 2012 to remain up with the changes, and
consider their impact on the work of international NGOs in the country.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So I found
myself back in Yangon in July 2011. I remember feeling quite frustrated at the
difficulty I was having securing appointments with the Australian ambassador,
the AusAID team, and others, when then news came out that Kevin Rudd, then
Australian foreign minister, had arrived to assess the reform; the first
Western ministerial-level visit to Myanmar in decades. I hardly minded not
getting an appointment that week! (Although I was delighted to receive an
invitation for an appointment with the ambassador the week after he left.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I returned
again in December 2011, just in time for Hillary Clinton's visit. It was quite
interesting to find myself in a house in Insein district, chatting about her
major speech to the press with local informants just the morning after the
speech. As it turns out, I then flew back into the country during the second
week of April 2012, just after the by-elections that saw Aung San Suu Kyi and
42 members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) elected to parliament. It
was a privilege to be sitting with local residents in one of the electorates
won by the NLD just a week after the election, and able to talk about their
reactions to the by-election. But I did start getting a little paranoid foreign
political leaders were stalking me when UK Prime Minister David Cameron
appeared in the country that same week. Not that I got to see him personally,
of course! What capped it all off, though, was travelling back to Myanmar yet
again in June 2012, to make the final edits to the manuscript, and find that
yet again I was there within days of the visit by <span style="color: #221e1f;">the
new Australian, Senator Carr, as he announced ground-breaking policy changes
and new aid commitments by Australia. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="color: #221e1f; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Watching these events unfold, largely from a position inside the
country, gave me the opportunity to</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"> monitor the changes closely, and incorporate these into the manuscript
right up to the last moment it was sent to the printer. I have to say, Kumarian
were wonderful with this – so flexible in trying to deliver the most relevant
and up-to-date book to readers. The final edits sent through were dated 24 July
2012, and included several updates and an Afterword. Thank you so much to
Jennifer, McKinley, Jim and everyone at Kumarian for your flexibility and
encouragement in this endeavor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></o:p><br />
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=295378">Context-Sensitive Development</a> is available for purchase through <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/books/features.aspx">Kumarian Press</a>. To receive review and/or exam copies, please contact Marketing Associate Jennifer Kern: <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. </span></o:p>Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-13992494683138650232012-10-29T06:04:00.000-07:002012-10-29T06:04:11.247-07:00Interested in Publishing with Kumarian Press?Hello, KP Readers:<br />
<br />
Do you have a great book idea? We would like to invite you to send your editorial proposals to us for review. <br />
<br />
Below are a few helpful tips to help you get started:<br />
<br />
The length of the manuscript is an important part of the contract: it is a key factor in determining the list price as well as the cost of producing and printing the book. Manuscript length is expressed as thousands of words. Book length is expressed in multiples of 16-page or 32-page "signatures," which are the number of pages created by folding and gathering paper mill reels or large sheets of paper into a bound book. Accordingly, a typical Stylus contract may stipulate a manuscript not exceeding 84,000 words, which, allowing for front ("prelims") and back matter (usually bibliography and index), will yield a 224-page book of a given trim size and using a page design with a particular typeface<br />
<br />
The word count allows for the fact that a number of pages are set aside for such elements as the title page, the copyright page, dedication, acknowledgments and table of contents (the "prelims"). A typical double-spaced word-processed page of 12-point type comes to about 380 words.<br />
<br />
If a book is to be illustrated or will present a great deal of tabular material, or needs a design with lots of indents and bullet points, this needs to be discussed at contract stage so that these factors are taken into account in determining length.<br />
<br />
Our Stylus contract calls for you to submit your final manuscript in both hard copy and disk forms. In this digital age, hard copy is still important for transmitting detailed instructions to those involved in converting your manuscript into a book, and as a safeguard in case of corrupt files.<br />
<br />
It is also very important to adhere to the following instructions in preparing your manuscript. In addition to the quality of the content, the physical form of submission is a key element of what constitutes an acceptable manuscript.<br />
<br />
These instructions are designed to streamline the work of the many people who will be involved in editing, designing and printing your book, and enable them work effectively with you in the process.<br />
<br />
Be sure to check out <a href="http://styluspub.com/info/manuscripts.aspx">our manuscript submission guidelines</a> for more information. <br />
<br />
Are you ready to begin working with us? Contact Editor Jim Lance: <a href="mailto:JLance@kpbooks.com">JLance@kpbooks.com</a>. We look forward to working with you. Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-45131646372478438352012-10-23T06:56:00.002-07:002012-10-23T06:56:43.956-07:00New Titles Releasing Next MonthKumarian Press has a slew of new titles in the fields of foreign affairs, anthropology, advocacy and more. Pre-order these titles now:<br />
<br />
<strong><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=305678">Practicing Military Anthropology</a></strong>: “Professor Rubinstein’s shocking revelations of brutal and cruel professional malfeasance committed by leading scholars against other contributors to this volume lays bare a shameful and deeply rooted pathology within the disciplinary culture that poses a grave threat to the collective integrity and, indeed, to the very future of anthropology itself."<em>- George R. Lucas, Jr. (Ph.D.), Professor of Ethics & Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School, Distinguished Chair of Ethics at the U.S. Naval Academy</em><br />
<br />
In this book, a number of anthropologists who have either worked with the US armed forces or who teach at military service academies reflect on what they do and teach in their military anthropologist personae. Through their personal accounts they show that the practice of military anthropology is much more than HTS and that they are more than mere “technicians of the state” as critics allege. <br />
<br />
<strong><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=300046">Confronting Power</a></strong>: "Jeff Unsicker's <i>Confronting Power</i> provides new knowledge for policy advocacy practitioners so that they understand the contributions they make as advocates. I found myself cheering Unsicker's writing and the stories he, his students and colleagues uncovered. Students of policy advocacy can learn from the case studies which demystify advocacy as they respect the advocates' serious work. Academic discipline does not stand in the way of making the advocates work come alive. We come away valuing the public work of policy advocacy and wanting to engage in it."<em>- David Cohen,Co-Founder <span id="tmplt_main_reviewlist__ctl1_Span6">, </span>Advocacy Institute</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em>Confronting Power</em> provides an academically rigorous, yet practical and comprehensive framework and concepts for planning, implementing and evaluating policy advocacy. Based on the author's experiences both as teacher and activist, the framework is general enough to be relevant for advocacy in a variety of sectors such as poverty alleviation, human rights and the environment, in different national and cultural contexts, and at levels ranging from influencing a town council to transnational institutions such as the World Bank. <br />
<br />
<strong><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=295374">Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land</a></strong>: "Land and farming rights have been the most powerful issue in Zimbabwe for over 100 years, as I discovered when I wrote my MSc thesis on this subject in the 1960s. While white farmers were evicted in a brutal fashion and many of Mugabe's cronies were the beneficiaries, this is not the whole story. This excellent book describes how agricultural production is now returning to the level of the 1990s. If tens of thousands of poor Zimbabwean farmers are now able to make a livelihood from the land, some significant good will have emerged from a terrible period of Zimbabwe’s history." <em>- Sir Malcolm Rifkind, MP, Former UK Defence Secretary and Foreign Secretary</em><br />
<br />
The news from Zimbabwe is usually unremittingly bleak. Perhaps no issue has aroused such ire as the land reforms in 2000, when 170,000 black farmers occupied 4,000 white farms. A decade later, with production returning to former levels, the land reform story is a contrast to the dominant media narratives of oppression and economic stagnation. <i>Zimbabwe Takes Back it Land</i> offers a positive and nuanced assessment of land reform in Zimbabwe. The book stresses that the land reform was organized by liberation war veterans acting against President Mugabe and his cronies and their corruption. <br />
<br />
<strong><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=283761">NGO Leadership and Human Rights</a></strong>: “Addresses a critical issue that has received scant scholarly attention in the mainstream human rights/humanitarian affairs literature.”<em>- Prof. George Andreopoulos, Center for International Human Rights <span id="tmplt_main_reviewlist__ctl0_Span6">, </span> John Jay College of Criminal Justice-CUNY</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em>NGO Leadership and Human Rights</em> covers various topics of importance to those who work in development and/or advocacy organizations with human rights orientations and for undergraduate and graduate students aspiring to such careers. This book provides context, definition and guidance for the perplexed seeking entrance into a challenging but rewarding endeavor. <br />
<br />
Find these books and more on <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/books/features.aspx">our website</a> and contact Marketing Associate Jennifer Kern if interested in obtaining a review and/or exam copy: <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-27280852948251796882012-10-17T05:43:00.001-07:002012-10-17T05:43:26.410-07:00Conflict Resolution Day is Thursday, October 18th
<br />
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Since 2005, the <a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?StylusPublishing/960305c38f/e53ec484b9/9b41d91ad6"><span style="color: blue;">ACR</span></a>
has joined human rights activists and conflict resolution practitioners to
celebrate Conflict Resolution Day on the third Thursday of every October.<br />
<br />
The goals of Conflict Resolution Day are to:</span><span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">• Promote awareness of mediation, arbitration, conciliation and
other creative, peaceful means of resolving conflict;<br />
• Promote the use of conflict resolution in schools, families, businesses,
communities, governments and the legal system;<br />
• Recognize the significant contributions of (peaceful) conflict resolvers; and<br />
• Obtain national synergy by having celebrations happen across the country and
around the world on the same day.</span><span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"><br />
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"><a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?StylusPublishing/960305c38f/e53ec484b9/6b103c22af/type=pubKUM&id=372"><strong><span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: blue;">View
our Conflict Resolution Titles</span></span></strong></a><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt;">Click on the cover image for more information on each title*</span><span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> <a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?StylusPublishing/960305c38f/e53ec484b9/86f0b2afd8/productID=285277"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><img alt="9781565494268" border="0" height="228" id="_x0000_i1025" src="http://img-ak.verticalresponse.com/media/1/5/6/156d36ab6f/960305c38f/4bf1604957/library/9781565494268.jpg" width="152" /></span></a></span><strong><span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> <a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?StylusPublishing/960305c38f/e53ec484b9/7ce744182e/productID=208798"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><img alt="9781565492868_cf200 3" border="0" height="225" id="_x0000_i1026" src="http://img-ak.verticalresponse.com/media/1/5/6/156d36ab6f/960305c38f/4bf1604957/library/9781565492868_cf200%203.jpg" width="150" /></span></a></span></strong><span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> NEW</span></strong><strong><u><span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></u></strong><b><u><span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">Coming
Spring 2013</span></strong></span></u></b><span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<strong><span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Conflict
Assessment and Peacebuilding Handbook</span></strong><span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
Lisa Schirch<br />
<br />
The handbook contains 1) conflict assessment exercises; 2) self-assessment
exercises; and 3) peacebuilding planning frameworks. Conflict assessment
exercises help to map the factors increasing conflict and the factors
supporting peace. Self-assessment exercises help narrow priorities and assess
abilities of those planning peacebuilding. Peacebuilding frameworks offer
a range of program options.</span><br />
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">To receive a review and/or exam copy of our conflict resolution publications, contact Marketing Associate Jennifer Kern at <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. </span><br />
<br /><span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span>Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-13786301746187688822012-10-08T06:40:00.000-07:002012-10-08T06:40:25.153-07:00Third New October Release UpdateHello, KP Bookreaders:<br />
<br />
In addition to <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=295378"><em>Context-Sensitive Development</em></a> and <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=293239"><em>Foreign Aid Competition in Northeast Asia</em></a>, <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=293230"><em>The Golden Fleece</em></a> is out.<br />
<br />
Edited by Antonio Donini, The <i>Golden Fleece</i> delves into questions that are rarely asked and seldom answered. It examines the impact of manipulation on the effectiveness of humanitarian action. This book takes a long view, starting with the origins of organized humanitarianism in the mid-19th century and zeroes in on the twenty-plus years since the end of the Cold War. It examines whether instrumentalization has achieved its desired objectives, whether political manipulation is greater today than before, and whether the recent dramatic growth of relief work has opened up humanitarian action to greater manipulation.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=293230">The book</a> has already received national and international attention by organizations such as: The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Global Insecurities Centre, University of Bristol.<br />
<br />
The book is available to purchase through Kumarian Press and retails for $29.95. <br />
<br />
Contact Marketing Associate Jennifer Kern if you express an interest in review and/or exam copies: <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-78011743559400795552012-10-02T08:26:00.005-07:002012-10-02T08:27:21.800-07:00Guest Author Posting: Alcinda Honwana<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><em><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=289011">The Time of Youth</a></em></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Alcinda
Honwana </span></b><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The research for this book began in 2008 in
Mozambique and was later expanded to South Africa, Senegal, and Tunisia. In
these four countries I met young people from a range of social and economic
backgrounds. I conducted individual interviews and focus-group discussions with
students, young professionals, musicians and other artists, activists from
various fields, and unemployed young men and women carrying out the most diverse
activities to try to make ends meet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Young
people were eager to tell their stories. In long individual interviews I
listened to their life stories and their views about their peers, their elders,
the economy, and politics. Focus-group discussions were undertaken with diverse
groups of young people. Some were all female, some all male, and some mixed.
Others involved people with common interests, such as musicians and performers.
I also spoke with groups belonging to particular organizations, such as party
youth leagues and civil society associations. Most focus groups considered
specific topics, and participants debated and exchanged views among themselves.
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I also
took time to interact with young people in places where they normally hung out,
such as youth clubs, restaurants, and bars. Occasionally I was invited for
meals at their homes and had the opportunity to meet their parents, siblings,
and other relatives. The fact that my research assistants were themselves quite
young facilitated my access to their social networks; I met their friends and
then the friends of those friends, creating a snowball effect. My research
assistants mediated between my young informants and me, as they advised me
about the “dos and don’ts” and explained what was considered “cool” and
“uncool.” They provided useful insights regarding ways of broaching difficult
subjects. Although I speak the major languages of all four countries, they also
translated and helped interpret some of the discussions conducted with young
people in their mother tongues, especially Wolof in Senegal and Arabic in
Tunisia.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In
addition, I interviewed government officials, religious leaders, scholars,
journalists, and public intellectuals who are concerned about youth. These
interviews provided information about the ways these societies look at young
people, specific policies and programs designed for them, and youths’ place in
the economy, society, and culture. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Most
of the research was conducted in urban settings, although I occasionally
visited rural areas. Many young people who grow up in the economically
undeveloped countryside seek a solution to their pressing problems in the
cities. African cities are teeming with young men and women trying to survive
on the margins of formal socioeconomic structures. For many, the city becomes a
place to forge new ways of living free from the constraints of rural society.
In the countryside, youth have no platform for action not only because
resources are limited but also because older people tend to monopolize power;
indeed, some call rural communities gerontocracies. The city promises
anonymity, a degree of chaos that allows for personal freedom. Here they find
possibilities for improvisation, experimentation, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">desenrascar</i>—literally, to disentangle themselves from a situation,
and metaphorically, to improvise a solution from almost nothing at the very
last moment.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The young people I interviewed d</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">escribed their daily life
struggles as well as their aspirations. They shared amazing stories of
resilience and survival under dire circumstances.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I tell the stories of the young men in Maputo who survive by
scavenging in the city’s garbage dump; of the Mozambican <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mukheristas</i>, young women<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>who
engage in small-scale, cross-border trading without paying import taxes; of the
young South Africans whose only form of livelihood is sporadic overnight
shelf-packing in supermarkets; of the Senegalese street vendors and those
desperate enough to try to make the dangerous crossing to Europe in small <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pirogues</i> (boats); of the Tunisian university
graduates working in European-owned call centers; and of the many young women
and men who hook up with “sugar daddies” and “sugar mamas” to be able to pay
high school fees and buy fashionable goods. I also introduce readers to rappers
who criticize the status quo, protesters who force governments to reverse
unsound policies, and revolutionaries who topple dictatorships. Indeed, young
men and women do not merely wait for their lives to change. They are proactive
and wake up each day with the goal of making their own lives better despite
their depressing circumstances.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">I was amazed by their
agency as they actively set out to live as fully as possible despite their
circumstances. I was equally struck by their capacity to understand the broader
structural forces that shape their everyday lives. I was most impressed by
their creativity and the commitment to citizenship that they sustained amid
such a chaotic and often improvised existence. Young people are involved in a
myriad of associations and activist groups and deeply engaged with the issues
that matter to them, often on the margins of formal political structures and
ideologies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Young
people were very clear about the ways they wanted me to portray them and the
messages they hoped I would deliver on their behalf. They are keenly aware of
the disapproving ways parents and elders, governments, and the media generally
depict them. In this book I bring their own voices to the fore by using as many
direct quotations as possible and providing information about who they are in
order to allow the reader greater insight into their lives. </span><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
Time of Youth</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">
focuses on the lives of many of these youths </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">struggling
with unemployment and sustainable livelihoods in the context of widespread
social and economic crisis.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Failed neo-liberal socio-economic policies, bad
governance and political instability have caused stable jobs to
disappear—without jobs young people cannot support themselves and their
families. Most young Africans are living in a period of suspension between
childhood and adulthood because they are unable to make the transition into
adult independence -to build, buy, or rent a house for themselves, support
their relatives, get married, establish families, and gain social recognition
as adults. They live in a state of limbo that I call<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“waithood” (</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">a portmanteau term of
“wait” and “-hood”, meaning ‘waiting for adulthood’).</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> Unfortunately, in many of these social contexts
waithood is becoming pervasive and is gradually replacing conventional
adulthood. While the book focuses on four African case studies, it also argues
that youth in Europe, North America and other parts of the world are facing the
same crisis of joblessness and restricted futures. Thus the youth crisis, or
waithood, is becoming global.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
Order your copy of <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=289011"><em>The Time of Youth</em></a> today. To request review and/or exam copies, contact Marketing Associate Jennifer Kern at: <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. <br />
<br />Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-21983645757526383742012-09-24T06:24:00.001-07:002012-09-24T06:25:44.721-07:00Two KP Titles Release Next Week!Kumarian Press is excited to welcome two titles into the family this October entitled <em>Context-Sensitive Development</em> and <em>Foreign Aid Competition in Northeast Asia</em>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=295378"><em>Context-Sensitive Development</em></a>, By Anthony Ware, examines how to effect successful development interventions in Myanmar. Anthony Ware points out that while practitioners have questioned universal economic prescriptions for development, they have not been as consistent in questioning the normative foundations behind their work. Ware does not argue for a facile moral relativism; he sees Myanmar as an egregious violator of human rights, but he does call for “context sensitivity” to help organizations adapt their values to better meet the needs of client populations.<br />
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The book retails for $27.50 and is available for purchase, review and exam inspection.<br />
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High levels of economic growth have transformed the countries of Northeast Asia from aid recipients to aid donors. <i><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=293239">Foreign Aid Competition in Northeast Asia</a></i> explores this transformation and its implications for economic development paradigms, policies, and practices. By being the first authors to look holistically at the countries in this region, Kim, Potter, and contributors address the dynamics, potential, and tensions of the aid programs of China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. <br />
<br />
The book retails for $27.50, as well, and is available for purchase, review and exam inspection.<br />
<br />
Topurchase and/or request these copies, please contact Marketing Associate Jennifer Kern: <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>.Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-55941930568205414562012-09-17T08:17:00.001-07:002012-09-17T08:17:07.204-07:00Guest Authors Blog Post for New Peace Studies/NGO TitleBy Max Stephenson and Laura Zanotti:<br />
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Our field research for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=285277">Peacebuilding through Community-based NGOs:
Paradoxes and Possibilities</a></i> took us to three sites of long-lived conflict:
Northern Ireland, Serbia and Haiti. Each left lasting impressions on us in
different ways. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In Belfast, we undertook a series
of interviews with representatives of the Community Foundation for Northern
Ireland as well as delegates of Foundations for Peace, a global network of
philanthropies actively engaged in peacebuilding work in multiple nations. We
learned much during our visit and interestingly, one central lesson of our
interviews was strongly underpinned by our forays around the city. Our visit
coincided with the 10<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the Good Friday Accord that
formally ended the decades of the “Troubles” whose violence had literally torn the
province apart. We imagined that the city would evidence some healing due to
persistent peacebuilding efforts at all scales in the decade that had elapsed
since a formal peace had been negotiated. And this was so in some ways, but to
our surprise, no one among our interviewees believed the city’s population was
yet ready to see the so-called “peace walls” separating neighborhoods and parts
of the city and originally aimed at controlling violence and protecting
innocents, removed. And now nearly 15 years after the Accord, the city is more
segregated than ever and its many walls remain a continuing and ubiquitous
hulking presence whose borders and boundaries define the warp and woof of
resident’s daily life and activities. If we needed an object lesson in how long
it may take societies once rent asunder to begin to build trust across their previous
divisions, despite the good efforts of many, we witnessed it first-hand in
Belfast. Peacebuilding requires steadfastness, a vision that must be ready to encompass
decades and courage to have any hope of success. We explored the work of an NGO
in the province that has demonstrated the pluck to continue questioning discourses
of conflict deeply ingrained in Northern Ireland society, while challenging
standardized and “short cut” approaches to peacebuilding by fostering ongoing intra-communal
engagement opportunities concerning peace and its distributive effects. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our fieldwork
in Serbia took us not only to Belgrade, but also to Srebrenica. We visited the
latter site on the day of commemoration of the tragic genocide that made that isolated
beautiful valley with its now abandoned and dilapidated United Nations compound
and row upon row of neatly tended gravesites, infamous. As we write, the international
community continues to fund forensic efforts to identify the victims of the
massacre near the site. One central feature on the commemoration day of our
visit was the honoring and interment of the remains of several hundred newly
identified individuals. It was at once an unforgettable and deeply moving
spectacle underpinned by the knowledge that all sides in that conflict continue
to construct warring narratives that implicate the “other” in genocidal
actions. This tit-for-tat mentality and its accompanying partisan social constructions
of the past conflict have marred efforts to secure progress to address still
fresh enmities. We also could not fail to note that one avowed aim of this mass
killing was to “ethnically cleanse” what was for decades a mixed religious and
ethnic community. Srebrenica is today a single ethnic enclave. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This situation teaches that violent human fear
and hatred of “the other” are likely to have enduring and deeply lamentable consequences,
and those may not be safely predicted in advance. Most international
organizations and NGOs, by focusing on the memorialization of war victims, end
up reinforcing political dynamics rooted into war identities, rather than
opening the way for new possibilities for intra-communal relations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our work in
Haiti found us visiting not only that nation’s capital city, but also traveling
to its mountainous and still relatively inaccessible plateau region. The
long-lived conflict and associated regime changes that have beset the nation in
recent decades, some born of native political conditions and movements and
others imposed by the international community, have essentially eviscerated
government capacity and left a population to fend largely for itself. This, it
continues to do and with amazingly good grace and sheer determination, but the
immiseration of the island’s people has left a nation in tatters and an
international community, deeply complicit in that condition, seeking ways and
means to address the population’s multivalent suffering. International
strategies of peace building in Haiti have focused on “building institutions”
while de facto diverting funds from that nation’s government to NGOs, thereby further
eroding local economic capacity and social capital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were heartened therefore to study a
nongovernmental organization that has taken as its aims not only the provision
of necessary services, but also the development of accompanying government
capacities in its areas of interest and a commitment to try to foster virtuous
circles in the local economy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Taken
together, our work for this book left us humbled by the complexities that
social conflict occasions as well as by the need for sustained engagement among
all relevant parties and for rethinking current international approaches to
peacemaking, if an alternate social vision (or visions) that result in
peaceable coexistence is to be constructed and broadly accepted in communities previously
riven by conflict. Peace is not born of “an intervention,” but instead of the
sustained efforts and commitment to learning of all involved (especially those in
position to control resources and devise intervention strategies) to create
fresh conditions for trust, economic sustainability and possibility amidst
enduring fear and, often, acculturated hatred. These are not challenges either
for the cocksure or the faint of heart. We came away with enormous respect for
those engaged in peacebuilding efforts, even when we disagreed with their
adopted strategies. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=285277"><em>Peacebuilding Through Community-Based NGOs</em></a> is available for purchase through Kumarian Press. To request review and/or exam copies, please contact Marketing Associate Jennifer Kern at: <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a>. Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-43915106316096735882012-09-10T05:31:00.003-07:002012-09-10T05:31:24.996-07:00New September Release: Peace Studies <em><a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=285277">Peacebuilding Through Community-Based NGOs</a></em> explores the contested but increasingly relevant role nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) play in processes aimed at bringing about international peace and security and in the invention of alternatives for resolving conflict. <br />
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Through case studies of Partners In Health (Haiti), Women in Black (Serbia), and the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland highlight the range of ways these organizations are involved in post-conflict social reconstruction efforts and with whom and for what purposes they interact as they do so. The authors argue for analyses that take into account the rich mosaic that is the civil society sector rather than treating all of these entities with one broad brush. At once a celebration and a critique, this book provides guidance for those seeking to understand the complexities and potential of the civil society sector for facilitating social justice and transformation. <!-- <div id="moreDescription1" style="DISPLAY:none">
<i>Peacebuilding Through Community-Based NGOs</i> explores the contested but increasingly relevant role nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) play in processes aimed at bringing about international peace and security and in the invention of alternatives for resolving conflict. <br /><br />Through case studies of Partners In Health (Haiti), Women in Black (Serbia), and the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland highlight the range of ways these organizations are involved in post-conflict social reconstruction efforts and with whom and for what purposes they interact as they do so. The authors argue for analyses that take into account the rich mosaic that is the civil society sector rather than treating all of these entities with one broad brush. At once a celebration and a critique, this book provides guidance for those seeking to understand the complexities and potential of the civil society sector for facilitating social justice and transformation. </div>
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<span class="publisherDarkColor"><strong>Table of Contents:</strong></span></div>
<div class="mediumItalic">
Acknowledgments<br />
1) NGOs, International Governance, and the Neoliberal Peacebuilding Consensus<br />
2) Providing Services and Building the State Amid a Cacophony of International Aid: Partners in Health, Haiti<br />
3) Implementing the Liberal Peace, Hardening Conflict Identities: Women in Black, Serbia<br />
4) Revealing Conflict Narratives in Pursuit of Peace: Exploring the Peacebuilding Efforts of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland <br />
5) Conclusions<br />
References<br />
Index</div>
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This brief handbook is essential reading for NGO professionals and human rights activists. <br />
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For more information on purchasing, visit <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=285277">the book's web page</a>.<br />
<br />
Contact Marketing Associate Jennifer Kern at <a href="mailto:Jennifer@styluspub.com">Jennifer@styluspub.com</a> to receive review and/or exam copies.Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-17338308475269992982012-09-04T09:06:00.002-07:002012-09-04T09:06:43.269-07:002013: The Year of Crisis, Panic We have already witnessed the violent surge of next year's crisis from political instabilities in the Middle East to economic blunders throughout the world. <br />
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Syria is in turmoil and the violence continues in Afghanistan, as Bin Laden's death has proved to be both an unsettling victory and a defeat. New leaders are being chosen in Afghanistan as they look for a new Intelligence Leader, as well as in the States - the presidential election is just around the corner. <br />
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Politics will not only dictate how 2013 will go down in the history, but also environmental changes, social and economic. <br />
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For starters, the U.S, as well as Australia and Russia, have experience droughts that have affected the crops. These droughts are ruining crops essentials for <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=295298">economic sustainability</a>. Corn, alone, is expected to drop to an all-time low since 1995, and will inevitably raise grain and other food prices.<br />
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For us in the developed world, these higher prices are a burden, but are manageable; for others, in Africa, for example, these prices determine life and death, as most poorer countries spend at least half of their income on food - or, shall we say bread - which tops the list of essentials.<br />
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If food prices rise, China is vulnerable to food cost inflation. <br />
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"In just one month, July 2011, the cost of living jumped 6.5%. Inflation happily subsided over the course of 2012. Springtime hopes for a bumper U.S. grain crop in 2012 enabled the Chinese central bank to ease credit in the earlier part of the summer. Now the Chinese authorities will face some tough choices over what to do next." (<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/03/opinion/frum-food-price-crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7">CNN: Why 2013 Will Be a Year of Crisis</a>)<br />
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Social changes will affect China and the rest of the world if we continue to follow the path of destruction that 2012 is causing. As 2013 is fast approaching, we must ask ourselves, what can be done? Can <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=289011">the youth generation</a> help change the future by acting in the present?Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-91733282499675871292012-08-27T05:38:00.003-07:002012-08-27T05:39:33.413-07:00Hurricane Isaac Kills 10 In-and-Around Haiti As It Continues to Move Into the U.S.Since the storm reached the Caribbean on Saturday, at least eight Haitians have been killed and another two in the Dominican Republic. <br />
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Although the scale of impact from the storm was less than anticipated, many Haitians still dug themselves out of the mud with buckets - rising to the waist of an adult male. The island itself sufferred flooding, fallen poles and collapsed tents - where more than 400,000 residents still live in since the 2010 7.0 magnitude earthquake (See Kumarian Press's <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=294998"><em>Tectonic Shifts</em></a> to learn more about the conditions of Haiti since the earthquake). Dozens of homes were destroyed and over 269 homes damaged.<br />
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Those that died included a 51-year-old and a 10-year old. Most left dead due to flooding.<br />
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In Haiti, more than 14,000 people evacuated their homes and temporary tents over the weekend. The World Food Program had issued out two days worth of food to over 8300 individuals.<br />
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More information about this story can be found through <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/26/hurricane-isaac-2012-haiti-death-toll-7_n_1831449.html">CNN</a>. Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7561264828604414910.post-85677554890071467332012-08-20T08:07:00.002-07:002012-08-20T08:07:48.798-07:00Pakistani Girl, 11, Held in Prison on Blasphemy ChargesAn 11-year-old girl in Pakistan, named Ramsha, has been arrested on charges of blasphemy, as witnesses noted that she had burned pages of the Mulslim holy text. She used the pages as fuel for cooking. The girl has medical complications including down-syndrome. She stated that she had no idea pages of the Quran were used in the fire.<br />
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"Niazi said that 150 people had gathered on Friday where the neighborhood's Christian population lived and threatened to burn down their houses." (CNN Story: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/20/world/asia/pakistan-girl-blasphemy/index.html?hpt=wo_c2">Girl held on Pakistan blasphemy charge</a>)<br />
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The mob of angry protested wanted to burn the girl to teach her a lesson. Christians in the area fled their homes to aviod backlash. (See KP's <a href="http://www.kpbooks.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=187826"><em>Living Our Religions</em></a> to get a sense of what minority religious followers deal with in other countries)<br />
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In Pakistan, it is a crime to insult the Quran, Islam or the Prophet Mohammed and is punishable by death. <br />
<br />Kumarian Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05794078426952441510noreply@blogger.com1