Archive for 2006
Catalytic Projects: Be the Future Now
As I write this, I’m sitting in the Business School library at Columbia, where I teach. I look up from my laptop at a Chinese student; pinned to her backpack is a sticker with Gandhi’s face and his famous dictum, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” The truth is out there…
But it’s easier said than done. Yes, if you want to be president, you have to think and act presidential now, even while you’re a candidate. But if you want a systemic change in your organization or society, how can you embody that change in the present, before it happens? How can you be the future now?
To answer, we have to go backward first.
Columbia Hires Director for Reopening Institute of African Studies
Last Thursday, Columbia announced the hire of Mamadou Diouf, a history scholar currently at the University of Michigan, as the director of the reopening Institute of African Studies, where I’ve worked since last year. Diouf will officially start at Columbia when the institute reopens on July 1, 2007. But I got an opportunity to sit down with Diouf when he was in town last week.
“I don’t want to be part of the old discussion and crisis,” Diouf said. He wants to understand the historical problems with the IAS – particularly those that created the perfect storm that resulted in the institute’s closure last summer – but then move on.
Kazakh movie triumph at Columbia
After the release of “Borat,” an enormous interest in Kazakhstan showed how it is important to have genuine publicity. My friends and I are continually asked how we feel about the movie and what Kazakhstan is really like. Of course, it will take time until Kazakhstan can be known for how it truly is, but now I want to make a first step by writing about a real Kazakh movie that showcases real Kazakh heroes and traditions.
On November 30, 2006 the Eurasia Initiative group along with the Harriman Institute showed the Kazakh movie “Kyz Zhibek” (“The Silk-Lady”). The event brought together a diverse audience among whom were academic professors, students and the curious public interested in Central Asia. The reception was accompanied by a tasting of delicious Central Asian cuisine and a multimedia presentation about spectacular places in Kazakhstan.
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