News
This conference aims to present three interrelated themes through which the right to the city can be understood, articulated or negotiated. These themes include Urban Policies and Governance; Social Fabric and Urban Practices; and Living in Amman: Housing, Access, and Speculative Growth.
Columbia Global Centers | Mumbai organized a public lecture in May by Tejaswini Ganti, Associate Professor, New York University. Based on over two decades of expansive study of media industries and commercial Hindi film production in Mumbai, her talk demonstrated the value of embracing the element of uncertainty and critically examining claims on market data to arrive at a more holistic understanding of the industry. The lecture was organized as part of the Center’s Mumbai as a City of Knowledge initiative.
On May 8th 2018, Prof. Anya Schiffrin – The Director of Technology, Media and Communication Specialization at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, launched her book “African Muckraking – 75 Years of Investigative Journalism from Africa” at the Aga Khan Graduate School of Media in Nairobi, Kenya. The event was well attended by notable Kenyan journalists like; Linus Kaikai, John-Allan Namu, Catherine Kasavuli and Catherine Gicheru among others. The event featured a panel of speakers who spoke on investigative journalism in Kenya and also addressed questions from the audience.
The book features a collection of stories about stories that highlight investigative journalism in Africa. Works that have been highlighted are those by Fatooma Noor (Kenya), Catherine Gicheru (Kenya), Mae Azango (Liberia), Peter Kimani (Kenya), Rafael Marques (Angola), Tom Maliti (Kenya) and Carlos Cardoso (Mozambique) – among other legendary African journalists.
The book is categorized into subjects that matter to the African audience. These are; Struggle for Independence, Conflict, Corruption, Health, Women, Rural Affairs, Human Rights, Oil and Mining and the Environment.
To sustain investigative journalism, Prof Schiffrin highlighted some important measures;
- Overcoming dependence on donor funding as key to long-term sustainability
- Considering social media as a viable platform to solicit and report stories
- Recognizing that African muckraking is changing societies, it can no longer be ignored as it has fostered new powerful partnerships across countries.
The book is available locally at Prestige bookstore and on the web at amazon.com
Ali Betil, producer, director, and cinematographer, is one of Turkey’s most talented filmmakers. He received an MFA from the Film Program in Columbia University’s School of the Arts in 2014, and has produced multiple award-winning films such as Keep the Lights On (2012) and Love Is Strange (2014).
UNHCR MENA, in collaboration with Columbia Global Centers | Amman, have published a research paper, Impact of Separation on Refugee Families, as the first step of an initiative to conduct a regional study of the effects of family separation on displaced people.
Columbia’s Institute for Ideas and Imagination has announced its first cohort of fellows, a group of 16 preeminent scholars, writers, and artists from around the world who are being brought together for year-long residencies at Reid Hall in Paris. The fellows will begin their residencies in September 2018.
This workshop brought together experts to critically examine the question of international mobility and theoretically and practically explore the MIMC. The meeting served as a platform for Professor Doyle to present and promote the MIMC, which proposes a framework for mobility with the goals of reaffirming the existing rights afforded to mobile people (and the corresponding rights and responsibilities of states), as well as expanding those basic rights where warranted.
With a view to providing senior government stakeholders new perspectives on managing river basins in India, Columbia Global Centers | Mumbai organized a series of lectures and trainings from April–May, 2018. The sessions were led by Dr. Anthony Acciavatti, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University, who spent over a decade mapping the Ganga River Basin.