IDSG Background

Formation of the Group, Dec. 12, 2006

-----Original Message----- From: Alfino, Mark Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 8:48 AM To: FACSL Subject: Invitation to join an "International Development Study Group"

Gonzaga has a number of new summer study abroad programs this year, including three in Africa which involve small groups of faculty and students engaging in a variety of academic pursuits, including the study of issues related to international development.  We will be engaged in water sanitation and public health issues in Benin, and service and community development projects are under discussion at the two locations in Zambia.  Together, these three programs will serve small but diverse groups of students from Engineering, the Comprehensive Leadership Program, the Psychology Program, the Nursing Program, and the TESL program, among others.   

As part of our support for international program development, the International Program Advisory Committee (IPAC) is forming a Spring semester study group comprised of faculty, staff, and students interested in exploring the topic of international development.  We hope to have a diverse range of perspectives represented in the group, including interdisciplinary discussion from fields such as economics, ethnic studies, history, language and literature, and politics.  During the Spring semester we will probably focus on African culture and development dynamics, not only because of our new programs but also because of new scholarship in this area. In addition to seeking a better understanding of the problems of development, we will look at model programs which have international service, volunteerism, or development assistance as goals.  An ongoing study group may be able to advise current and future international development program activity, in Africa and other parts of the world. 

If you are interested in finding out more about IPAC’s International Development Study Group, please reply to Mark Alfino at alfino@gonzaga.edu.  The group will probably meet 3-4 times during the semester.   We welcome nominations of interested students. 

This invitation is extended on behalf of the subcommittee of IPAC working on this project which includes the following faculty and staff:  James Beebe, Sima Thorpe, Bob Bartlett, Mary Jeannot, Raymond Reyes, and Mark Alfino.  The study group is open to interested faculty, staff, and students.  The International Program Advisory Committee supports international programs across campus and advises the AVP’s office on international programs at Gonzaga.

Mark Alfino

Dr. Mark Alfino

Professor, Department of Philosophy

International Program Development, Academic Vice-President's Office

First Meeting Summary, Feb 23, 2007

The first meeting of the International Development Study Group took place Friday, February 23rd. While we had only an hour and this was an introductory meeting, we discovered a rich diversity of experience and interest among the participants. After a reiteration of the goals of the group and introductions, we shared some of our common impressions of the readings. People said, for example, that the “successes and failures” of various development initiatives often seem to involve failures to appreciate complexity. System relationships are clearly important. Our discussion also emphasized the importance of listening, learning in preparation for listening. The theme of “success and failure” kept coming up, probably because it is a common theme in the recent books we sampled for this meeting. At some point we were discussing the need to be prepared to make some kinds of mistakes, given the complexity of intercultural engagement. As the discussion progressed, it became apparent that we have a rich range of personal and disciplinary perspectives in this group and, like everyone I talked to afterwards, I found the meeting insightful and motivating. I am looking forward to the next one.

I think we generally agreed that we would pursue readings that reflect our interests (or items from the bibliography or new searching) around the topic of development and look for “5 successes, 5 failures, and 5 programs”. By “programs”, I think we meant something like development work that includes or could include university engagement with communities or organizations which promote the goals of international development through service, faith, and justice. I think for the other 10 items, we’re looking for examples (Sachs, Caldersi, and Easterly are packed with them) of successes and failures in development work broadly.

As you identify a case study or program that you think we should look at, you might want to write a short paragraph about it, possibly to identify what you think is important about it, or just mention the citation and page reference if its in a book or article from your reading. How ever you decide to share your items with the group, I’m available to collect them for the next meeting. You could also send your cases directly to the list.

Also, please feel free to directly update the wiki with your suggestions for readings. (Follow the link at alfino.org) It turns out the password is actually “bulldogs”. You could also just email your bibliographic citations or web links to me for posting.

Thanks again to everyone in “IDSG-interested”!

Mark

Second Meeting, March 23, 2007

IDSG-interested,

At our second meeting, we agreed to find some common readings for the April 20th meeting. A number of folks in our group would like readings that bring out more of the complexity (philosophical, cultural, linguistic, political) of a development relationship in Africa. I think we’ve done a good job so far in looking at recent views of economists with Africa expertise and experience. We’ve also looking at some interesting programs. We’ve affirmed the value of an approach to community development that is authentic. But authentic from whose perspective and to what end? Various group members have described this authenticity in different ways, all of which I find valuable in filling in a picture of our aims in this kind of program.

Readings with a linguistic and cultural focus might help us develop our account of authentic and valuable development programs further. We should think together about the kinds of outcomes or effects we might achieve from relationships in Zambia, Benin, or wherever we go with development goals. If we are going to approach a program with the intention of development, we ought to continue to look at what cultural interpreters and others have to say about the interaction between people with that intention (of development) and the local cultures with which they interact.

Several group members have made suggestions for readings and, hopefully, Mary Jeannot will be available to lead our discussion. If you have suggestions for readings, send them to Mary or to me. We’ll try to settle on the readings by next Monday.

I should add a note of gratitude to the program directors of the Zambia and Benin groups. As we get closer to their departure dates, I realize that our study group has already benefited from their experience in preparing for their programs. We probably wouldn’t even be doing this study group if the Africa program directors and staffs hadn’t devoted their energy to these unique and promising programs. In the Fall, we will have their rich experience to draw on and to mix with additional reading. It’s great to get such a combination of research and practice around an initiative with so much potential value for our university.

Thanks for your continued interest in IDSG. I hope to see you on the 20th.

Mark

Third Meeting, April 20, 2007

IDSG-interested,

Last Friday, the IDSG met to discuss the following articles:

Chinua Achebe, " The African writer and the English Language," from Morning Yet on Creation Day, 1976. Ngogi Thiong'o, The Language of African Literature, from Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature, 1986. Kwasi Wiredu, " How Not to Compare African Thought with Western Thought," from Albert Mosley, African Philosophy, Prentice Hall, 1995. Jay Ciaffa, " Postcolonial African Philosophy: Reflections on Tradition and Modernization," Gonzaga Peace Conference, March 30-31, Spokane, Washington. Retrieved from "http://wiki.gonzaga.edu/alfino/index.php/IDSG"

Mary Jeannot led the discussion, giving an overview of some of the ways people discuss “world English” and some of the issues raised by the forms of English developing around the world. This provided an entrée to the first two articles. We talked about both Achebe’s resolution of the issues surrounding English as a national language for an African country and Ngogi’s account of the imposition of English in Kenya. The second two articles raised interesting questions about the apparent “cultural neutrality” of critical reason. We agreed that Wiredu’s identity as a contemporary African philosopher was an important feature of this expression of the old idea of the universality of critical reason. The Ciaffa article seemed to both extend this discussion and provide more background on the various ways that recent intellectuals have rethought the relationship between traditional African culture and philosophical identity.

Thanks to Mary for lead an engaging discussion. We were frequently able to connect our theoretical discussion to the actual situation of American college students interacting with a local non-US, non-European culture.

At the end of our discussion we agreed that the Fall meeting should start with presentations from the returning Africa programs. There is also some interest in reading Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. If someone would take charge of organizing that, I would really appreciate it.

Mark

Fall 2007 Email for semester schedule

International Development Study Group “interested”

The International Development Study Group convened in the Spring semester of last year to discuss development issues and development programs, particularly in light of the growth of international programs with a service or development focus. For background on the IDSG, you could check out the wiki page for it: http://wiki.gonzaga.edu/alfino/index.php/IDSG

It’s time to schedule meetings for the Fall and update the distribution list. In the Spring, our group had narrowed nicely to about a dozen people, including faculty, staff, and students. We should invite some new students and make sure interested staff hear about the group. Our first order of business will probably be to hear about the experiences of the new Africa programs and join in the program directors reflections about those programs. We also said that we wanted to read Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”. I’ve requested a little funding for food and books. We may develop some reading interests from the program debriefing and from new program activity.

Could you each check out the following dates and times for meeting and let me know your availability? You’re welcome to stay on the distribution list even if you can’t make the meetings.

Meeting Day Options: Can you meet on the last Wednesday or Thursday of Sept/Oct/Nov? Which is possible/preferred? Meeting Time Options: Can you meet from 3-4, 3:30-4:30, or 4-5? Which time works best for the sets of dates above?

Please let me know your preferences as soon as possible. I look forward to hearing about the new program experiences and thinking together with all of you about the meaning and values of development (especially for Gonzaga’s global mission).

Mark

IDSG interested:

The dates and time that work best with everyone’s schedule are: 9/27, 10/25, and 11/29 from 3-4pm. Meeting location to be announced. Please mark you calendars.

The AVP’s office has generously offered to sponsor us with funds for books and food. Also, we have a new student member and many returning faculty and staff. I am really looking forward to our discussions.

I suggest we focus the first meeting on a few specific issues that the returning programs from Africa are deliberating about. Getting the leading development program directors in deliberation together and with their colleagues is, after all, a major goal of this group. We’ll probably need to get a quick debriefing from each program, but it would be great to get to a few key issues that the program developers (Brad, Susan, Mary, Josh, Sima, Molly, Mark) came back with and find themselves thinking about. Since there’s six people, three programs – all of which had intense and successful experiences! – and 60 minutes to our meeting, we might need to hone the agenda a bit, but that’s my initial suggestion. (Let’s let pictures run in the background! Bring your thumbdrives.)

We should also decide on whether to read Chinua Achebe. Could some of you with copies of that book bring it for others to browse?

Thanks.

Mark