IDSG Background

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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

9/12/07

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

Fall 2007 1st Meeting Notes

IDSG-interested,

A bit over a dozen of us met yesterday to listen to issues raised by program directors of the recent Africa programs. We started with the issue of how students prepare for various kinds of ambiguities and differences in the working environments of Chimfunshi or Zambezi. There was some evidence that leadership qualities are challenged in different ways than in U.S. service sites like Mission Possible. Students need patience and need to understand the idea of accompaniment, as discussed in previous meetings and referenced by the Staying for Tea article from the Spring. While many people in the group agreed that the primary beneficiaries of this summer’s programs may have been the Gonzaga students, we also discussed possibilities for long term commitments to at least the two Zambia sites that would stimulate self-sustaining and authentic development. It was noted that Hogan students will be learning about and considering ways of assuring that the new capacity for making water filters on the site is realized through marketing of the filters. There was a sense that this was an exciting synergy of program activity, as well as a significant challenge. There was discussion of helping Zambians at both sites market honey, which is apparently pretty delicious, according to the persuasive testimony of several people in the room. Also, at Chimfunshi, we have an opportunity to be part of an effort to sustain educational services for approximately 20 families working at the refuge whose children have no schooling.

There was an interesting discussion of the donation vs. market methods in development, a theme that was present in the case studies from the Spring. Program participants from this summer witnessed negative effects from “Christmas-style” donations by NGOs. We also acknowledge situations in which donation may be the appropriate method.

Interest in reading Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart remains strong. Some of yesterday’s participants had the book already and we have some money from the AVP for books, so please email me if you would like a copy of the book and you can make it to one of the upcoming meetings: 10/25, and 11/29 from 3-4pm, Road to Zanzibar. I’ll put in one order on Monday afternoon, so please reply by then if you want to be included.

We welcomed a new student member, Angela Makowski. Dr. Mark Bodamer is new to Gonzaga and the group and brings his years of experience at Chimfunshi with him.

Please note that Fr. Connolly will be teaching a Political Science course related to development the Spring and the African Philosophy course by Dr. Ciaffa will run again this Spring.

Thanks to everyone for creating such a rich conversation.

Mark

Fall 2007 2nd Meeting Notes

Our goal for this meeting was to discuss the first part of the Achebe book and hear more reflections from program diretors of the recent Africa programs. We started with the second task, which led to discussion program news, and further reflection on questions and values related to our endeavors in our programs in Africa.

Brad started the discussion by comparing some of the ways that the schedule in Benin was determined by the very specific tasks to be accomplished during the two weeks. He pointed out how age and discipline differences among students and faculty proved a strength, in part due to the way the course was organized and the fact that each 1/3 of the class was equally unfamiliar with the other two disciplines. As with the other programs, though perhaps in a different way, the work of the WATER Project does involve a powerful personal connection with our African partners in the program.

There are a couple of followup projects envisioned for the WATER projects and these were briefly discussed. Some qusetions about pre-departure courses invited Brad and Josh to discuss their approaches last year and what they thought, in hindsight, about that. One interesting suggestion was that all of the Africa service/development programs might benefit from a joint retreat in the fall to compare their experiences and reflect on them.

We had a number of announcements, including a new student group working on poverty issues, another student group interested in publishing a journal on global development issues that would include reflections from recent programs. The International Visiting Scholars and Faculty Reception will be on November 6th from 3:30 to 5:00pm in the PCR.

Towards the end of our time we discussed the two new program related products that are out or in the works: The photo book from the WATER Project and the Zambezi honey fundraising project. These projects involved exciting ways for programs to develop their profile and agency, but everyone agreed, particularly the Program Directors, that there are broader administrative and ethical questions which we should address to the extent that we add this kind creative and engaging activity to our program work.