Category Archives: Uncategorized

a reading list for (avoiding) postcolonial theory

Postcolonial theory is dense, its difficult to read. There is more to ‘theory from the south’ than its lugubrious absurdities. Theory must start from empirics, and postcolonial theory is not meant for that. I offer a reading list to get you started (avoiding) reading postcolonial theory, and spending more time in the archives or the field instead. Click here for the list and discussion questions.

Confessions of a Luddite, or AI in Education

The news about AI is thrillingly difficult to keep track of – we have learnt that its hard to distinguish real videos from AI generated ones, AI can hallucinate and will do so more as it trains itself on its own regurgitations, it makes up academic citations, it gently gaslights people into falling in love with it, and its causing teachers and professors to prep for obsolescence. What is a teacher to do? Click here to read my thoughts on AI in education.

Linking Theory and Evidence

Writing a thesis or term paper? Linking theory and evidence is key to writing both the literature review and the empirical parts of your research. Click here to read an example of what we call ‘iteration of theory and evidence’.

You can also check out my earlier blog on ‘writing a literature review’. Remember, its not a literature review, its a literature analysis!

Bipartisan Disdain of the American University

American higher education is in political upheaval. The events of the last few weeks and months, at Harvard, Penn, MIT, New College, and elsewhere, have put the internal politics of universities on the front page. In this short blog, I argue that there is a bipartisan disdain for the university in North America; both the left and right scoff at the university, though for different reasons. Click here to read more.

Comparative urbanism in the GLM master’s program

How do we compare cities? What can we learn through comparative urbanism?

It is a truism that cities are unique – Amman is not Tokyo, and New Delhi is not Brasilia.
It is also a truism that cities have much in common – all cities face social inequality, all cities manage infrastructure (buses, water, electricity, waste management), all cities are adapting to the ecological transition, all cities have political and policy legacies that can constrain change, all cities have changing relationships with other levels of government, and all cities share learnings with each other (through regional governance, institutional networks of cities, fact- finding missions and more).

If you are interested in urban professional training, GLM (Governing the Large Metropolis master’s program) or the Urban School at Sciences Po, read my blog on our faculty that teach in our regional specialization!