Thought Provokers
The Data Detective
Harford has written a pile of books on economics and ran a show decoding the world of statistics. I picked up The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics (2021) to see if it might be useful for undergraduates in the social sciences. Harford is a good storyteller, hence the pile of […]
Epistemic Freedom in Africa
For students looking for an introduction to decolonization, or faculty looking to catch up on conversations they have been missing (or conversations they have avoided or actively sought not take part in), Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni has brought it together for you in Epistemic Freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and Decolonization (2018). As the title implies, this book […]
Tags: #Africa #decolonization #Deprovincialization #Epistemic Freedom #Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni
Native Colonialism
The people of Ethiopia defeated European attempts to colonize it. However, Dr Yirga argues that in embracing western education and erasing local history and tradition, the institutions and laws put in place colonizing processes, what he calls ‘native colonialism’. This is one of the most interesting books I have read of recent, highly recommended to anyone interested […]
Tags: #Colonialism #Education #Ethiopia #Native Colonialism #Tradition
Ethiopian Discourse
Teodros Kiros is a public philosopher, demonstrated by his commitment to making philosophy accessible and bringing philosophy into the public spaces. Ethiopian Discourse (2011) is a kind of companion book to Teodros Kiros’ Philosophical Essays (2011). Both are published by Red Sea and both are collections of articles written in the Ethiopian Reporter newspaper, amongst […]
Tags: #Ethiopia #Ethiopian Discourse #Philosophy #Public Philosophy #Teodros Kiros
Policy-Making in a Transformative State
Edited collections are challenging to write about and review, with the chapters covering diverse areas / topics and each offering unique data and perspectives. One unique edited collection on Qatar is Policy-Making in a Transformative State: The Case of Qatar, edited by M. E. Tok, L. R. M. Alkhater and L. Pal (2016). The book is over 400 […]
Tags: #Doha #Policy #Policy Making #Qatar #Tranformative State
On the Genealogy of Morality
In looking for ideas about how to present the history and connectivity of ideas, I returned to Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morality, published in 1887. Sharing a few notes with that interest in reading (and only a periphery interest in the arguments of the book). In the Introduction of the version I read (by […]
Tags: #Genealogy #Genealogy as method #History #Nietzsche #On the Genealogy of Morality
Qatar: A Modern History
Other than a short publication from 1979, there are few academic books on the history of Qatar. After spending a year in Qatar, at Qatar University, Allen Fromherz wrote ‘Qatar: A Modern History’. The book was originally published in 2012, (Kamrava’s book is 2013) however, the updated version (published in 2017) provides updates throughout the […]
Home and Exile (Achebe)
Notes from Chinua Achebe, who needs no introduction, from Home and Exile (2000): “One morning all the animals were going to a meeting to which the town crier had summoned them the night before. Surprisingly the chicken was headed not to the public square like the rest, but away from it. When his neighbours and […]
Tags: #Absolute power #Achebe #Chinua Achebe #Home and Exile #Storyteller
The Doha Experiment
There is a reason why some books are published by academic publishers, and others not. Academic books are peer reviewed and are held to a standard of quality (usually). Retired professor Gary Wasserman’s book, “Doha Experiment: Arab Kingdom, Catholic College, Jewish Teacher” (2017), was not published by an academic press, he opted for Skyhorse (known for […]
Tags: #Education City #Gary Wasserman #Qatar #The Doha Experiment
Changing Qatar
Geoff Harkness attempts to offer a sort of primer on Qatar in “Changing Qatar: Culture, Citizenship, and Rapid Modernization” (2020), published by NYU Press. The book reads like a mixture between Wikipedia pages and a Lonely Planet travel guide. One review of the book, by Daniel Martin Varisco, felt it more reflective of journalism than academic […]
Tags: #Changing Qatar #Eurocentrism #Geoff Harkness #NYU Press #Qatar
About me
Logan Cochrane
Associate Professor at HBKU in the College of Public Policy. He is an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences and an Adjunct Professor at Hawassa University (Institute for Policy and Development Research). Over the last fifteen years, he has worked in Afghanistan, Benin, Burundi, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Logan acts as a consultant for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, seeking to create bridges between research and practice.
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