After a long time, I finally have some “bloggable” things to say. I started this blog as an experiment. In running the experiment, I was trying to answer a series of questions: Do I have things to say that lend themselves to a blog format? Is anyone going to read this thing? In what ways … Continue reading A Series!
This post was written by Patra Likonge Kapolesa. She is profiled here. Lessons learned in my experience of working as a research assistant (RA) in the community I have worked as an RA in two research projects with persons with disabilities living in villages in Western Province, Zambia. I would like to share with you … Continue reading Lessons learned in my experience of working as a research assistant (RA) in the community
A master administrator and organizer Patra is the second member of our team to be profiled on this blog (see here for the profile of Akufuna). These profiles provide at least a brief glimpse behind the scenes to show readers at least a little bit about the people who guide my understanding of Western Province, maintain … Continue reading Meet Patra!
This blog post contains research results. The results are not final; these still need to be further developed. Nonetheless, they give an idea about what some of our research participants have been telling us. If you would prefer to see a pdf version of this report, click here. The rest of this blog post is … Continue reading A Provisional Report: Perspectives on Disability Policymaking in Zambia
I was recently interviewed by the dynamic Krysta Wark of the Global Physio Podcast. Krysta and I had been messaging about this interview since March, but it was only in August that we got around to doing the 30-minute podcast interview. At the time of the initial request, Krysta offered me a free-range: as long … Continue reading Sometimes it might be useful to be long-winded. Maybe.
It has now been two months since I arrived back in Montreal. I will not lie; I was tired by the end of my fieldwork period in Zambia. The climax of the last week was a workshop with disability advocates and policymakers in Lusaka. The event was great, but a lot of work to prepare. … Continue reading Back to Canadian routine
I returned to Zambia in 2018 with the intention to blog…fairly regularly. Instead of my lengthy emails to individuals, or posting material on Facebook, the blog was to be the authoritative account of my work. Using this strategy, I could be more efficient. I could devote my energy to writing that mattered, writing that is … Continue reading An Update!
I have been more irritable than usual of late. As the irritability slowly ramped up, I mostly knew “the cause,” having previously experienced this before when living outside of Canada. I can best describe the cause as follows: Problematic situations that seem like they can be addressed, but somehow, are never resolved. Interestingly, my irritability … Continue reading The mysterious art of choosing one’s battles
My work these days is focused on policy. A few years back, I would not have imagined myself going into policy research. At that time, I was a reticent researcher; concerned that I would leave behind the world of folks who do things in order and enter the world of folks who sit around by themselves … Continue reading “I work on policy, which means…?”
This is a time of “new things” for me. It’s a new year, I’m at a new university, and I’m starting a new project. A week ago Saturday, I arrived back in Zambia to work on the postdoctoral research that I am doing through McGill University. The research builds upon my PhD project. During the … Continue reading A new start
