Power & Positionality – Page 7

9th International Conference on Human Resource Development across Europe

So, here goes another conference proposal.

I am working on a research paper on post-modernism and HRD (Human Resource Development) for this conference in Lille, France, in May, 2008. The last paper I presented in the world of HRD was an overview of the literature which I presented in Halifax, Nova Scotia, last year. The theme of the conference this year is Developing Leaders and Managers, where an exploration into HRD and how it has been influenced by post-modern concerns and views cannot be underestimated. I just hope that the reviewers will agree with me!

I usually do not mention papers I am working on until (and if!) they get accepted, but December 14 is closer than it seems, and I can use all the encouragement I can get!

Botero’s Abu Ghraib Paintings

I missed seeing Fernando Botero’s Abu Ghraib paintings when they were in New York last year, and just learned about them in the current issue of GQ Magazine (sorry, there is not an article on their own site about this; how odd). Wow, they are strong. Amazing how the pain in the normally playful figures central to his work is depicted, and after reading about the struggles he had early in life in the violent Colombia of his youth, I can see how the depiction of the prisoners in the Iraqi prision moved him to represent this through his art. The juxtaposition of his style and this subject matter is disturbing, just as are the photos of the soldiers humiliating the prisoners themselves. I find it interesting that the painter has chosen not to sell any of the fifty or so works in this set; quite telling of how he views torture and those who profit through it.

Technorati Tags: Botero, Abu Ghraib

Episcopals, Anglicans, and free speech

I seem to be on a free speech kick here (how better than to be true to one’s own beliefs?) when I see that the American Episcopalians have somehow met the demands of their Anglican counterparts to not ordain any more gay bishops and not to bless same-sex unions. At least from this article, it seems the Anglicans in England and Africa have succeeded in controling those Anglicans (Episcopals) in the US. Amazing the role religion still plays in the world outside of radical Islam. This demand by a group of conservative religious across the world to tell how the American church how to believe and act seems more and more like the same criticisms against Catholicism.

I thought that was why the Anglican Church was formed in the first place–to confront being told what to do by a corrupt group of wealthy men from far away? Perhaps history does repeat itself?

Free speech from the other side

I feel I just lamented how Columbia handled the free speech issue when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke there last week, when I read about Ayaan Hirisi Ali in today’s NY Times. She was a former member of the Dutch Parliament who left there and fled the Netherlands due to the credible death threats she received from Islamic extremists when she became critical of Islam. Hmm, this seems so unfortunate given the credibility the president of Iraq has been trying to gain by speaking at Ivy League USA about how the West has his country and people all wrong.

Granted, I do not know if their is a connection between Ayaan’s threats and Iran, but it seems to me that free speech should be done from and on both perspectives as a promotion of credibility. Then again, credibility seems somewhat subjective, doesn’t it?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at my Alma Mater

I wish I could have seen Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinajad at one of my Alma Maters last week, Columbia. President Bollinger introduced him, but in a way harsher than I thought fair for A. A world leader, B. An invited guest, and C. A controversial speaker who may have alienated himself from the audience but after such a straw-man set-up, looked pretty decent in comparison. Free speech is the very reason I blog here, and I think that the president’s confrontational introduction of the other president helped to reinforce the very self-righteousness that the Iranians commonly accuse Americans. Forget about some of the strange (and incorrect) claims that the Iranian president offered (can there really have not been a Jewish Holocaust in the 20th Century, or can there really not be a single homosexual in Iran right now?), I am just thinking here about the freedom of speech and the politeness that should be shown to an invited guest and (like him or not) a world leader who may have nuclear weapons.You be the judge:

For the videos of President Ahmadinejad himself, they can be found here.