Poverty

[close] Literature that depicts the harsher side of life, but in a realistic manner.

[close] “If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. If you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” - Lilla Watson Peace Corps and International Development is problematic, and as a returned volunteer, I have been wanting for some time to critically re-examine my overseas experience, to think through its explicit and implicit power dynamics. How do issues of race, class, gender, colonialism, and geopolitics inform the "do-gooder" mentality of volunteer and paid international development work, and what does that mean for its impact on volunteers, host communities, and others? Change begins with learning, and that is why I wanted to start this group where we could read, discuss, and share centered on thought-provoking books that bring a more critical perspective to Peace Corps and ID organizations. One goal is to create a syllabus to be shared with future or returned Peace Corps Volunteers as well as others, something akin to Ibram X. Kendi's anti-racist syllabus for Ralph Northam. What would we imagine for Peace Corps and ID organizations if we incorporated a true grappling with our place in the world, this work, its dynamics, and discourses of improvement?

[close] Join author Patricia Miller Mauro in a discussion group to celebrate the release of her book, "Safe From The Past: A Story of Hope, Faith and Determination". This group will be active November 11-December 3, 2010.

[close] For those asking “Why would they say that?” or “How can they think that?”, this is a group where these are not rhetorical questions. We really want to know - whatever your perspective. In this era of social media, I see less of a propensity for critical thinking and learning and more of a drive to shout and turn a deaf ear. We weather socio-economic, racial, religious, political, and other storms with routine frustration and too-often rigorous animosity and slanderous debate. 2020 appears to be one of these storms in our history and developing identity. In this group, we seek to understand. We listen. We think critically and question. Regardless of your position or thoughts on a particular issue, we can all discuss these things through an avenue of books.