Good news: the main purpose of my time here in Western Province seems to be coming together. I am now working with each of the two communities that participated in the research to develop a plan. We are now seeing small steps forward and promising windows of success. With the commonalities of the two groups, … Continue reading Participation, yes! But of whom and in what?
For most of the last five years, I have been doing my work with the oversight of a committee of four advisors with significant experience and wisdom. This guidance was useful in the many instances where I faced complex situations for the first time. PhD programs are designed with advisory committees for this exact reason: … Continue reading Beyond Supervision
Thank you to those of you who have been writing me! The most common question that I have received so far is “so what aspect of disability was the research about?” I will answer that question here, and add some new information of interest. I think that for most people, the challenge in understanding the … Continue reading ‘So what aspect of disability is this project about?’
“You won’t believe how nice the road to Kalabo is these days! Getting there is so easy,” they said. And it was at least half true. In 2014, I conducted my research with groups of persons with disabilities in two places: Mongu and Kalabo. The rationale was that these two places would offer different perspectives … Continue reading Cruising over the Zambezi…eventually
I am certainly not the first to move between the global North and global South and notice the discrepancy in the amount of stuff that is generally around. By stuff I am referring to items, goods, things, materials, etc. The difference applies to my own situation – three weeks ago I lived in my own … Continue reading “Stuff”
Research tradition pushes academics to know a lot about a little. It encourages us to have mastery of “the literature” of a given field and remain up-to-date in our discipline. The concepts of field and discipline can be useful to us: they motivate us to read and write – to engage and communicate – within … Continue reading Standing at the fork of the road, do I take it?
Prior this week, I was last in Bulozi in early 2015. Most of the intervening two years were spent working on drafts of my PhD dissertation in a windowless office in Toronto; a task that was lonely and abstract until it was finally submitted and defended. Returning to Zambia has re-energized my interest in my … Continue reading The Return
