Thought Provokers

Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969), a pseudonym meaning ‘he who enlightens’, was the leader of the independence struggle in Vietnam and served as the President of North Vietnam (1945-1969). He was a leader of the anti-colonial struggle in Asia, advocating for revolutionary action long before the establishment of the Community Party in 1930. A short book, […]

Tags: #Anti-colonial struggle #Colonialism #Equality #Ho Chi Minh #Imperialism #Revolution #Struggle #Vietnam

Thought Provokers Apr 13

Teach for Arabia

After some politically-oriented books on Qatar, I was pleased to find Neha Vora’s “Teach for Arabia: American Universities, Liberalism, and Transnational Qatar” (2019). The book takes a quasi ethnographic approach to Education City (individual interviews and personal experience) and the author is reflexive about a wide range of topics and experiences. “Field” research was conducted […]

Tags: #Education City #Liberal Piety #Neha Vora #Qatar #Teach for Arabia

Thought Provokers Apr 10

Confronting Empire

Eqbal Ahmad (1933-1999) is a fascinating activist academic; not the least because he came into his own in the 1960s in North Africa, largely in Algeria, where he worked with Frantz Fanon in the struggle for liberation. He was also quite close with Edward Said. He was born in India, studied in Pakistan, then the […]

Tags: #Colonialism #Confronting Empire #Eqbal Ahmad #Fanon #Post-colonial

Thought Provokers Apr 3

Warriors in a Time of Sacrifice

Ambassador of Panama to the State of Qatar, Oreste Del Rio Sandoval, prepared a paper for a presentation made at Camilo Jose Cela University, Spain, on his experience in Qatar. The work turned into a book, titled ‘Warriors in a Time of Sacrifice’ (2019), published by Lusail. The title draws from a line in the national […]

Tags: #Oreste Del Rio Sandoval #Qatar #Warriors in a Time of Sacrifice

Thought Provokers Mar 30

Small State, Big Politics

Professor of Government at Georgetown University in Qatar, Mehran Kamrava, penned one of the most read / taught books on Qatar in 2013 (with a 2015 adding an updated Preface): Qatar: Small State, Big Politics. Having read a few books on Qatar, this is one of the best, although increasingly dated (the content essentially up […]

Tags: #Hedging #Politics #Qatar #Small State #Smart Power

Thought Provokers Mar 29

Culture and Imperialism

Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978) is a foundational text in critical studies, as of this writing was cited nearly 70,000 times. In 1993 Said wrote Culture and Imperialism, which broadens the view, broadens the literature, and engages more literature from the liberation activists and writers, but is cited less (at of this writing nearly 30,000; which […]

Tags: #Colonization #Culture #Edward Said #Imperialism #Revolution

Thought Provokers Mar 24

The Global Majlis

Career diplomat and current State Minister Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari wrote “The Global Majlis” (arabic 2015, translation 2016) as an “intellectual autobiography”. The book draws on reflections from his work in Syria, Lebanon, France and the US, as well as in Qatar (published by HBKU press). Culture emerges as a key thread throughout the book, as […]

Tags: #Culture #Education #Global Majlis #Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari #Qatar

Thought Provokers Mar 19

Democracy Project

Starting in 2001 Teodros Kiros began writing articles in Ethiopian newspapers, as a way to engage with the public about democracy and democratization. The articles continued until 2004, and are gathered in his book “Philosophical Essays” (2011). The series of articles are short interventions, and are largely an introduction to Euro-Western thinkers, or a sort […]

Tags: #Democracy #Democracy Project #Ethiopia #Philosophical Essays #Teodros Kiros

Thought Provokers Mar 9

Good Muslim, Bad Muslim

In this book Mahmood Mamdani look at the US role in embracing, promoting, funding and engaging in terrorism around the world. Written in 2004 Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror seems to reflect conversations that the author was having in the years after 9/11. In the first chapter […]

Tags: #Bad Muslim #Good Muslim #Mamdani #Propaganda #Terrorism

Thought Provokers Mar 4

Decolonising the University

Following demands – Rhodes Must Fall, Why is My Curriculum White?, #LiberateMyDegree – three editors brought together a diverse group of authors to think about what decolonising the university means (historically and pedagogically) and its experience (in universities and curricula) and reflections of those leading such efforts. Decolonising the University is edited by G. K. […]

Tags: #decolonization #decolonize #Decolonizing the university #Higher education #university

Thought Provokers Feb 27

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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.

Logan Cochrane