Pambazuka - The downside of the Kony 2012 video

If you live in the United States, you've probably heard about Kony 2012. I am curious to know more about how readers of this blog outside the US respond to the Kony video. I watched a powerful Youtube response from Ugandan journalist Rose Kagumire that raised many important points. I invite readers to watch "Kony 2012" and Rose's response, and then make your own decision.

The video itself is powerfully shot and edited, but its message is incredibly problematic. Kony 2012's message is: If only we (US citizens) could mobilize enough pressure to convince certain powerbrokers, they could take steps to eliminate Kony, and then things in northern Uganda would return to normal. You can google the many critical responses to this "white savior" mentality. Mahmood Mamdani makes an essential point in the following piece: that further militarizing an already over-militarized conflict will not solve the problem.

Pambazuka - The downside of the Kony 2012 video

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Martin Walsh: East African Notes and Records

Martin Walsh's blog on East African history, culture, and ethnography is an unusual combination of travelogue, self-reflection, and quirky topics from frogs to circumcision cycles. What I really like about Martin's blog is how he is using the web to talk about and publicize his academic work. You can read his papers on Scribd, you can see his publications, and he has apparently even scanned and posted his research notebooks. I like this commitment to "open source academia", if you will. Check him out at East African Notes and Records

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