Texas in Africa
Longtime readers of this blog may note that I have showed uncharacteristic restraint in responding to Kony 2012 by, well, actually not posting on it at all. One reason for this is that the third year of the tenure track oh my word it is hectic and I have several actual scholarly articles coming out to prove it. Another, better reason though is that thanks to the forward-thinking optimism of Wronging Rights' Amanda Taub, I wrote a chapter for a new ebook. Beyond Kony 2012, edited by Taub, is an attempt to educate journalists, educators, and anyone else wanting to learn more about the LRA crisis and how to effectively respond. There are several contributors from all over the world including many TIA favorites like TMS Ruge, Rebecca Hamilton, Adam Branch, Alanna Shaikh, and Daniel Kalinaki. All the contributors wrote with a critical eye (hint: none of us are big fans of the Invisible Children approach), but also with an eye to responding more effectively and understanding why previous efforts to stop Joseph Kony have failed.
My chapter in the book is entitled, "Avoiding Badvocacy: how to do no harm while doing good." I focus on the importance of listening to local voices, empowering communities to solve their own problem, and avoiding the temptation of making ourselves the saviors of African communities. I'd love to hear your feedbook on the chapter.
The suggested price to download Beyond Kony 2012 is $2.99, but if that's too much for your budget, you can download it for free with absolutely no guilt. It's available formatted as a PDF, MOBI (for Kindle), and as an ePub. I hope you'll take a look.
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