Blog

Dr. Mohammed Moniruzzaman is a PhD student in a joint Geography and Environmental Studies Program at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. His talk about ‘Migration and Development’ during our INDEV 101 lecture was primarily focused on migration and food security linkages, more specifically the impact of migrants’ remittances on household food security in Bangladesh.

We were privileged to have two guest speakers in the INDEV 101 class on Governance and Development. The two speakers, Pranab Choudhury and Evan Andrews, both talked about their experiences with water and watersheds in their respective areas of research. The many issues linked to the topic of governance and development that were spoken about by both speakers are also relevant to other topics on international development that were tackled throughout the term.

Prof. Simron Singh, the INDEV 101 guest speaker this week, delivered a talk entitled “Yasunizar and Environmental Justice in the Ecuadorian Amazon”. Prof. Singh is a social/human ecologist and currently teaches sustainability concepts and methods for the MDP program at the University of Waterloo. Following are our reflections on the topic of environmental justice and development.

Following are my reflections on the final lecture of Prof. Prateep Nayak for INDEV 101. He revisited the case of Chilika Lagoon, which was his point of departure in his first lecture for the Winter Term last January 2018. Prof. Nayak wrapped up the term by asking the class to discuss our chosen development issue and how we propose to address it, given the new insights and knowledge we have gained through the course.

Guest Lecture: Food Security as an Outcome of Urban Vulnerability: The Case of Southern Africa

Prof. Bruce Frayne, our guest lecturer, is Director and Associate Professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development. He is a geographer and urban planner, teaching in the International Development program at the University of Waterloo. His expertise is within the realm of sustainable cities and related areas of human migration, urbanization and food security. Prof. Frayne’s regional focus is Sub-Saharan Africa and China.

On February 26th, 2018, the International Development 101 class was presented with a documentary as part of the Technology, Information, and Development lecture to connect the concepts learned in class to a development issue. The documentary entitled “Freedom from Famine: The Norman Borlaug Story” focused on Norman Borlaug, an American farmer who is credited with saving over a billion people from starvation. Borlaug studied a B.Sc in forestry and Ph.D. in plant pathology from where he later accepted an agricultural research position in Mexico.

INDEV 101 had the opportunity to hear from Michaela Hynie, a professor at York University. We had the pleasure of hearing her lecture on Culture and Development, and how it relates to her studies on mental health. Michaela Hynie is an accomplished professor at York University’s Faculty of Health, having received her Ph.D. at Mcgill University. She applies her studies of Psychology not only in her teaching, but in an upward of 30 publications and influential research.

When asked if we can ever truly achieve peace, peace was compared to health by Nathan Funk, an associate Professor at Conrad Grebel University College in Peace and Conflict Studies. He illustrated peace as health, in that we need to always be striving towards it, always seeking to be better and to not give up on it. Nathan, during his presentation to the INDEV 101 class, presented the traditional African practices to illustrate his view of peace and conflict. Traditionally, many cultures have peace rituals to resolve conflict and to promote peace.

Rural Development in an Increasingly Urbanized World

Here in southern Ontario, people have the luxury of having access every day, year round, to affordable food. People have the luxury of choosing where to buy food, at the prices they want to pay. There are tens of grocery stores in town, over three local farmers markets and almost every small corner convenience store sells milk, eggs and nonperishable food. With so many options available, it is easy to find food that meets the budget. Unfortunately, this is not the case all over Canada and in many northern indigenous communities, where limited access to food is a serious problem.