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Xala
From Sembene Ousmane’s 1974 novel Xala, translated in 1976 to English: “The colonialist is stronger, more powerful than ever before, hidden inside us, here in this very place.” (p. 84) “All your past wealth – for you have nothing left – was acquired by cheating. You and your colleagues build on the misfortunes of honest, […]
Tags: #Colonialism #Decolonizing #Oppression #Sembene Ousmane #Xala
Rethinking Identity
Kwame Anthony Appiah is probably most well known for his book Cosmopolitanism (2006). His most recent book, “The Lies that Bind: Rethinking Identity” (2018) explores forms of identities (gender, religion, race, nationality, class, culture), on a chapter-by-chapter basis. The arguments deconstruct these identities, ultimately leading toward a cosmopolitanist case in the conclusion. Essentially, each chapter seeks […]
Tags: #Cosmopolitan #Cosmopolitanism #Identity #Kwame Anthony Appiah #Postmodern
FDI in Large-Scale Agriculture in Africa
In 2019 Atkeyelsh Persson published “Foreign Direct Investment in Large-Scale Agriculture in Africa: Economic, Social and Environmental Sustainability in Ethiopia”. The book (presumably) draws on doctoral work done at UCT (finished in 2016) and most of the data / findings presented come from 2014 or before. The book offers unique insight into environmental and sustainability impacts. […]
Tags: #Agriculture #Ethiopia #Foreign Direct Investment #Land Grab #Large-scale land acquisition
Global Social Policy in the Making
Deacon’s (2013) “Global Social Policy in the Making: The Foundations of the Social Protection Floor” outlines how the ILO was able to obtain agreement on the social protection floor, when previous efforts to have global social policy encountered barriers. In a sense, this is a history of the initiative. The author focuses on four key […]
Tags: #Bob Deacon #Global Social Policy #Social Policy #Social Protection #Social Protection Floor
Reading that should be more common…
Ibn Khaldun (2015 translation, 1377 original) Al Muqaddimah Cesaire, A. (1950) Discourse on Colonialism Fanon, F. (1952) Black Skin, White Masks Fanon, F. (1959) A Dying Colonialism Baldwin, J. (1962) The Fire Next Time Fanon, F. (1963) The Wretched of the Earth Fanon, F. (1964) Toward the African Revolution Memmi, A. (1965) The Colonizer and the […]
Tags: #Alternative Curricula #Books #decolonization #decolonize #Radical Ideas
On the Commodity Trail
Alison Hulme’s “On the Commodity Trail: The Journey of a Bargain Store Product from East to West” (2015) tracks the geographies that products move within. Starting with an inquiry in Bargain Stores, Hulme begins in the dump in Shanghai, then to factories, over seas in containers and via global ports, back to the bargain store, […]
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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