African Book Talk Series - 'Tread Brightly: Notes on Ethical Travel' by Sarika Bansal
Columbia Global Centers | Nairobi is pleased to introduce our ongoing virtual book series featuring African authors! With this series, we hope to offer a platform where African writers can engage a global audience, offering not just their work but exciting perspectives on how personal, political, and cultural experiences drive their storytelling.
“Tread Brightly” discusses the ethics of orphanage tourism, cruise ships, and study abroad programs. It asks how one’s identity as a traveler-like country of origin, gender, and race impacts a travel experience. It considers the climate consequences of non-essential travel. “Tread Brightly” is for anyone who’s thinking about traveling the world, whether you are a college student who wants to make the most of a summer, a young professional who wants to explore life outside the cubicle, or a retiree who wants to go to India finally. (source: https://www.treadbrightlybook.com/).
Join us on 11th August at 4 pm as we engage in this conversation with Sarika Bansal and Hassan Ghedi Santur. As you interact with the original featured essays in the book, you will learn how you can turn travel from passive consumption to an active exchange and how to impact the lives of others through your excursions.
Co- Editor
Hassan Ghedi Santur is a journalist, editor, and novelist. His journalism work has appeared in The New York Times, Yahoo News, and CBC Radio. He is the author of the novels Something Remains and The Youth of God and the non-fiction book Maps of Exile. The Youth of God was a finalist for the Pius Adesanmi Memorial Award for Excellence in African Writing held in 2019 and nominated for Canada Reads in 2020. He is currently working on his third novel, Imagined Lives.
Editor in Chief
Sarika Bansal is the editor-in-chief of "Tread Brightly." She is an editor, storytelling consultant, and mentor with the Aspen Institute's New Voices Program. She was the founder and editor-in-chief of BRIGHT Magazine, an award-winning digital magazine that told new, solutions-oriented stories about social change. Before that, she incubated two social impact publications at Medium, developed a curriculum for journalists at the Solutions Journalism Network, and served as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. Her byline has appeared in the New York Times, Guardian, VICE, and other publications.
She holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard College and a Master's in Public Administration from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Sarika has lived on five continents, speaks four languages, and is currently based in a cottage in a forest in Nairobi, Kenya. She lives with her husband, daughter, and elderly German shepherd.