An oral history of public service in the hardest times.
In each episode we talk with a practitioner doing impactful work in the midst of serious violence and political turmoil.
#040 We need new stories (wrap-up episode) | Ian D. Quick
For this wrap-up episode we've switched sides of the microphone to interview our host for the last 39 episodes, Ian Quick. (With thanks to Sam Meikle for taking over interviewing duties.)
He talks about his formative experiences in the development & conflict management sectors, and why oral history felt like a meaningful contribution at this point in time.
We go on to reflect more generally on *why* these stories matter. What do they tell us about who “we” are in public service, and how does this differ from the picture we usually get?
And beyond this, what does this all have to do with big-picture challenges in international cooperation? What does lived experience contribute to change on issues like anti-racism, and structural gaps and blind spots?
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Episode notes:
[03:40] Dealing with some rather strange ideas about what he does for a living.
[07:05] Early days in western Sydney, Australia. A conviction that mass atrocities and injustices were somehow "un-ignorable".
[14:00] Finding entry points into public service when there were few obvious channels. Highs & lows of an early experience at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
[20:20] Working amidst a downward spiral of mistrust and violence in Sri Lanka. Some harsh early lessons on the limits of international engagement.
[23:05] Getting “off the dance floor” to think hard about your share of the work, and not getting stuck in the same mistakes and dysfunctional patterns.
[27:40] The paradox of public service. Struggles in the sector around self-identity and self-worth, and whether people can thrive in a structurally dysfunctional setting.
[35:30] Moving beyond individual “impact” (and the savior complex). Other ways of thinking about contribution & worth in international public service.
[43:10] The dark side of tight-knit professional communities. The perils of an insider-outsider culture.
[48:30] Why an oral history series, and why now. Stories that are inherently worth capturing. Finding collective answers to structural problems.
[1:00:00] Finding the right stories. Developing a platform gives people space to speak for themselves, and otherwise stays out of the way.
[1:07:50] The mechanics of making the thing. Avoiding the usual suspects. A brief diatribe on the professional “talking heads” of the development / human rights sectors.
[1:16:50] Searching for a “third space” for conversations about public service. Finding stories that are a truer picture of who “we” are, rather than the usual suspects.
[1:21:15] A closing thought, and an invitation to listeners.
25 May 2021
#039 Doing conflict research the right way | Judith Verweijen
"The only ethical way of doing this research is to stay involved in a profound manner, & to maintain these friendships and relationships."
Judith Verweijen is a researcher who has spent a decade-plus interviewing soldiers and militias in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
We talk through what her process looks like, what men under arms actually do all day, and the complex social ecosystem that arises in protracted conflicts.
We also talk a lot about the ethics of this work. Not just because many of these groups are implicated in serious human rights violations, but also because there's a long history of "extractive" research originating in the global North.
As always there are no easy answers here -- but this a fascinating conversation with someone who's produced a lot of fascinating, granular research.
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Episode notes:
[03:45] Pursuing an early interest in Central Africa. Early fascination with what armed groups do, and what lies behind human rights violations.
[11:10] How to dig beneath superficial narratives. Working in remote parts of eastern Congo.
[13:00] The complex ethical questions raised by research with belligerents in an active conflict. Understanding what people actually do, and why they do it, in long-running conflicts.
[17:15] The interactions between armed groups and everyday social fabric. How militants think about their role, and the ethics of what they do.
[26:00] Interactions with policy people, and occasionally intelligence services. Publishing about sensitive topics, and sensitive people.
[31:50] Thinking about success and failure as a professional academic. Highlights and lowlights.
[34:25] Integrating her research into the regular academic world. Staying constantly connected with eastern DRC.
[39:00] Forging human relationships, versus “field work” with “research subjects”.
[44:30] Advice to her younger self. Finding the narrative in complex and contested places. Inspiration from the current generation of (largely female) researchers.
11 May 2021
#038 Portrait of a humanitarian country director | Salma Ben Aissa Braham
Salma Ben Aissa Braham is a Tunisian humanitarian professional, and currently Country Director for the IRC in the Central African Republic.
She spent half of her career (so far!) in her home country, and was entering her prime working years around the time of the 2011 revolution.
We talk about that, naturally. We go on to discuss how she's approached her work in large-scale, seemingly intractable crises in C.A.R. and Yemen.
Another major theme is the complicated relationship between the global South and the global North within the humanitarian profession. We talk at length about peoples' expectations and biases, and what Salma expects of herself as an Arab, woman professional.
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Show notes:
[02:20] Explaining the humanitarian profession to friends and family (despite the stereotypes). Early experiences with international organisations in Tunis.
[07:45] Her experience of the 2011 revolution. A change in perspective in the first few months after the flight of Ben Ali.
[13:45] Working on democracy promotion in the region. A close-up encounter with extremism that pointed her in a new direction.
[17:50] Experiences Yemen in 2013, versus those in 2019. Working as an Arab woman in the region.
[22:35] Challenges, successes and lessons from working in the Central African Republic. Believing in local partners and local people.
[29:35] Diversity in management roles in international humanitarian organisations. Encountering some pretty ridiculous stereotypes.
[34:10] How to take “localisation” of humanitarian responses seriously.
[40:10] Plans after international humanitarian work. Her ambitions for Tunisia.
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