Soooo apparently Max Weber (kinda important fellow I guess) suggests that if you want to change the world, do it through culture. Culture lasts much longer than institutions. Some argue that culture and ethics create institutions.

How do we establish social norms without imposing ideals? In other words, how do we change the way people think and feel in a way that is intentional without being forceful?

Health care needs to become a norm, because right now it’s just not.

Maybe we need a revolution. Something Mao said that was funny: “a revolution is not a dinner party.” Just kidding, Mao-style revolution might not be the best tactic right now… what about evolution? But the evolution of culture is a much slower process.

I wish someone could teach me how to shift paradigms. Sounds simple enough.

Click here to turn good intentions into useful solutions.

"A vacant lot on East 110th Street in New York in 1952: the study of urban blight has long been influenced by political fashions."

…I stumbled upon this article.  ”‘Culture and Poverty’ Makes a Comeback” — it’s kind of confusing and weird.  Many familiar tensions arise…blaming the victim; lack of consideration of the “culture of wealth”; using culture as scapegoat; nature vs. nurture; the poverty trap; perceptions of reality vs. reality; structural violence vs. cultural norms; dehumanization and oversimplification of ‘the poor’; …etc. Thoughts?

Rep. Woolsey at last spring’s Congressional briefing: “What a concept. Values, norms, beliefs play very important roles in the way people meet the challenges of poverty.”  Values, norms, and beliefs play also play important roles in how others structurally inflict suffering unto others. Womp.

Compliments of Maya:

Common indeed are the ethnographies in which poverty and inequality, the end result of a long process of impoverishment, are reduced to a form of cultural difference. We were sent to the field to look for different cultures. We saw oppression; it looked, well, different from our comfortable lives in the university; and so we called it ‘culture.’ We came, we saw, we misdiagnosed. – Infections and Inequalities, pg. 7

I got to attend TEDxChange, a collaboration between TED and the Gates Foundation.  The event was in honor of the UN MDG Summit happening in NYC that weekend.  Many inspiring speakers : The Condom Man was particularly hilarious; Melinda Gates talked about Coke; I expected better from Hans Rosling, but he is still one of my favorites. If I probably wasn’t spending so much time enjoying the free fancy foods at the reception, I may have paid more attention and met more people in the room, such as Jacqueline Novogratz (I quoted her here earlier).  Well…I did make a point to meet every speaker, including Melinda Gates. What a nice lady.

Mechai stood out, because of sense of humor and pictures of condom blowing competitions and hair accessories, but also because of his message.  Social change and better health come from grassroots social movements.

They did a photo campaign.

Now, I’m back at school and doing lots of GlobeMed stuff.  I love the new group and am so excited for everything we are going to do!!! Keep your eyes out for a new GlobeMed at Columbia blog!

baby and g-nuts

thinking about food

note: for once does not refer to my love of gourmet dining experiences

Today, I finally presented the results of my project on nutrition and food security that I conducted in Uganda this summer.  I didn’t faint, like this other girl semi-did, so I felt pretty good about it!  During the talk, I went into this weird not-thinking-just-doing mode.  So who knows what happened. (Just kidding it was fine.) Ha, but actually, it was quite rewarding, and I’m glad that I did it. I’m also glad it’s over…

Malnutrition is a huge global health issue and should be more heavily prioritized.  There are over 1 billion OVERnourished AND 1 billion UNDERnourished people worldwide (WHO). I realized that by doing this research study I learned a lot about the connections between malnutrition, disease, water, education, income, maternal/child health, food security, agriculture, child development, and family planning.  (If I’ve learned one thing about health and development, it’s that everything is related to everything.)

solutions: women and agriculture

I’m not just saying this because I go to Barnard, I swear

Based on our findings, one intervention the we came up with was the implementation of programs involving women and agriculture to address food insecurity, mlanutrtion, and poverty.  ONE wrote an interesting summary about this “hot topic” in global health:

Women are the key to food security. Women produce an estimated 60% and 80% of the food in developing countries and 50% of food globally. In Africa, upwards of 2/3 of all women are employed in the agriculture sector and produce nearly 90% of food on the continent. Women farmers are also the smallest smallholders, but are responsible for growing, selling, buying and preparing food for their families. Statistically, women are more likely than men to spend income on the well-being of their families, including more nutritious food, heath and school costs…Globally, less than 2% of land is owned by women, women receive just an estimated 1% of all agricultural credit.

Women for Women International published another short article called “The Next Green Frontier.”

We cannot build sustainable democracies, economies, or solutions for climate change and food shortages if we do not fully incorporate women in policy responses. There isn’t a better story to illustrate the disconnect between the reality of women and the theory of policy than this food crisis and the agricultural strategies that aim to address it.

Women are the developing world’s farmers.  Giving women the tools on the ground and enforcing effective policy on top will empower them, alleviate the global food crisis, reduce poverty and encourage economic development, improve nutrition, and ultimately save lives.

how this saves the planet

or at least, could help?

My fellow Bay Area Slow Food Movement supporters advocate for local, small-scale farming as an environmentally friendly, sustainable type of agriculture.  Promoting small-scale farming in developing nations is no different.  Small farms reduce emissions from transportation, preserve local ecosystems and biodiversity, have less chemicals, reduce land degradation, etc.  If women become the face of agriculture, they could also become the face of the environmental movement.

Global Health Mag just reported on how reproductive health, family planning, and child survival also play a role in combating climate change.  How is that? Women who live in societies where child mortality is high often have more children — in societies where children survive more, mothers have fewer kids.  When women have access to reproductive health and family planning services, and public health is good, they won’t have as many kids. This slows population growth, and thus improves our chances of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Hans Rosling, best TED talker ever, says, “CHILD SURVIVAL IS THE NEW GREEN.”

from The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz

a classic reminder.

Why I think this is nonsense:

• Perhaps I’m biased and live in a bubble, but this seems quite outdated to me.  Kristof assumes that most of his readers are too narrow-minded to care about non-white people and their triumphs. I don’t think that’s the case.  Our world is more interconnected than ever — this continues to shape our relationships and understanding of different people across the globe.  Many, especially of my generation, feel a genuine bond to others that fosters altruism and fuels a desire for cross-cultural collaboration.
• By reporting stories with a white protagonist, he continues to perpetuate paternalistic ways of thinking and damaging stereotypes.  By glorifying the white “emissary of light” (as Joseph Conrad wrote) and victimizing the black, he only enforces the ideologies that drove colonialism.  How can the West change its mentality if Westerners refuse to expose the truth, reveal its complexities, and glorify the real heroes?
• Misguided, under-informed, widespread awareness is no better than ignorance.
• We are not all WHITE! (btw this is interesting)

I’m not really feeling your approach, Kristof.

oh, wait, the White Messiah sells, doesn't it.