Thought Provokers

Price War$

Rupert Russell’s “Price War$: How the Commodities Markets Made Our Chaotic World” (2022) is a mass market book, however as a PhD holder from Harvard I picked this up to see if there are any interesting insights. With the exception of parts relating to Ukraine and Trump, the majority of the content of the book […]

Tags: #Algorithm trading #Commodity Markets #Markets #Price War$ #Rupert Russell

Thought Provokers Sep 17

Formations of the Secular

Talal Asad has produced some interesting books, his 2003 book “Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity” is somewhat less powerful as a collective narrative since it draws on previously published materials (as opposed to a narrative that is linked throughout), nonetheless some interesting ideas from two decades past: “What is the connection between “the […]

Tags: #Anthropology #Formations of the Secular #Secular myths #Secularism #Talal Asad

Thought Provokers Sep 12

Colonial Effects

Emerging out of a PhD study, Joseph A. Massad published “Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan” (2001). This is a fascinating book, which should be more widely read. Although it focuses on Jordan, there are insights for research on nationality, nationalism, colonialism, decolonization, and identity, in additional to Middle Eastern studies. Some […]

Tags: #Colonialism #Identity #Jordan #Nationalism #Nationality

Thought Provokers Sep 7

Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa

Rudolph T. Ware III published “The Walking Qur’an: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa” in 2014, with the University of North Carolina Press. Am arriving at the text late, after having it in my “too read” pile for too long. A few notes: “We must see beyond race and put Africans back […]

Tags: #Embodied knowledge #Epistemology #Islam #Islamic education #West Africa

Thought Provokers Sep 2

The New Age of Empire

Kehinde Andrews’ 2021 book “The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World” was celebrated by many (Kimberle Crenshaw, Russel Brand, Ibram X Kendi, and a host of book reviewers) and critiqued by a few (book reviewers). The author is the first professor of Black Studies in the UK. I assume […]

Tags: #Colonialism #Kehinde Andrew #Racism #The New Age of Empire #White Supremacy

Thought Provokers Aug 28

Debtfare States and the Poverty Industry

In 2014, Susanne Soederberg published “Debtfare States and the Poverty Industry: Money, Discipline and the Surplus Population” presenting a unique counter-narrative to many of the global development buzzwords (such as financial inclusion). The book focuses on examples in two countries, each with unique examples. In the US, the author examines credit cards, student loans and […]

Tags: #Debrtfare #Debt #Poverty Industry #Soederberg #Surplus Population

Thought Provokers Aug 23

The Postcolonial African State in Transition

I have had Amy Niang’s 2018 “The Postcolonial African State in Transition: Stateness and Modes of Sovereignty” in my to-read pile for too long, and I am glad I finally got to it. This is a heavy book, but one that makes really interesting contributions and raises thought provoking questions. In the opening, the author […]

Tags: #Amy Niang #postcolonial #sovereignty #State #Stateness

Thought Provokers Aug 18

Poisoner in Chief

The use of a wide range of mind destroying drugs in secret sites around the world and doing so on non-consenting people by the CIA is detailed in the book “Poisoner in Chief Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control” (2019) by Stephen Kinzer. It took a long time for what was done to […]

Tags: #CIA #Mind Control #MK-ULTRA #Psychochemical warfare #Torture

Thought Provokers Aug 8

Only the Paranoid Survive

Tech gurus have cited “Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company” (1996) by Andrew Grove as one of the most influential books they have read. Grove was the CEO of Intel. The book was written in 1996, several tech generations ago. In reading this, I was less interested […]

Tags: #Andrew Grove #change management #Only the paranoid survive #strategic inflection points #Tech

Thought Provokers Aug 3

Poverty and Charity in Medieval Islam

Adam Sabra’s historical work “Poverty and Charity in Medieval Islam: Mamluk Egypt, 1250-1517” (2000) is a unique contribution of historical studies (shifting the gaze to everyday life). The book covers ideas regarding poverty (in contrast with forms of asceticism), an assessment of poverty of the era, forms of charitable giving (and the jurisprudence thereof), and […]

Tags: #Adam Sabra #Charity #Islam #Poverty #Waqf

Thought Provokers Jul 29

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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