I am working on a research project with Ashley Currier and Tara McKay on political homophobia in Africa, so the statement Kato makes in the film, “Politicians now, they are fueling homophobia in people,” was particularly poignant. For more background on political homophobia, I recommend Ashley’s recently published piece in Gender and Society.

Women responded by holding a sit-in/rally in Blantyre on Friday. Vice President Joyce Banda was there as was potential UDF presidential candidate Atupele Muluzi, both dressed in white to express solidarity with the movement. Below are a few pictures from the Blantyre rally. The T-shirts in the photograph translate to: “Vendor: Today I buy from you, tomorrow you undress me?”

Demonstrating for Women's Rights in Blantyre, photo by Basileke Gift Mwalima

Vice President Joyce Banda, photo by Basileke Gift Mwamlima

Rally in Blantyre, photo by Basileke Gift Mwamlima

As to the source of these attacks on women, women cite the poor economic situation in Malawi and how it has particularly affected street vendors, the ruling party points the finger at a regime-change plot, and some men in the country blame the mini-skirts themselves. See especially the comments in the linked article. In this article about how a vendor representative was chased away from the Blantyre rally, I noticed one commenter posted the phrase “akazi ndi zidole,” which translates to “women are toys.”

I certainly didn’t think there was gender equality in Malawi before the undressing assaults on women, but as others have commented on the situation, it is eerie how the former dictator Kamuzu’s dress code for women seems to be lurking at least in the minds of some.

****
This post was written with the assistance of Basileke Gift Mwamlima. I thank Gift for sharing her photos and insights with me. She is an excellent research assistant, by the way, in case anyone is looking.

I owe thanks also to my enemies, for the stimulating discouragement which has kept up my spirits to persist in the task. Long life and health to them to go on with the good work!

That is from the preface of Jomo Kenyatta’s Facing Mount Kenya, an anthropological account of the Gikuyu printed in the United States in 1962. Interesting trivia: Kenyatta was a student of Bronislav Malinowski, an anthropologist at the London School of Economics who is “often referred to as the first researcher to bring anthropology ‘off the verandah’.”

There is plenty of research that shows what we might all expect: verbatim notetaking is an ineffective learning strategy. But let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Evidence also shows that the probability a student will recall textual information if that student wrote the information down in notes is 34% compared to a 5% chance when students fail to record the information.

I see notes as requiring two functions: notation and review. I think the best way to take notes is to listen and when the speaker pauses to try and condense what they’ve said in your own words, using as many abbreviations as possible. Then, review your notes afterwards and identify what you have learned and what you are uncertain about. Try to probe the reading or the instructor about those things you aren’t clear on. Then, remind yourself what you’ve learned. Do all of this by actively writing each step of the way.

Perhaps because of this perspective, in my own class I’ll be telling students about the Cornell note-taking system. For those who are unfamiliar, the Cornell method was designed by a Professor of Education at Cornell University, Walter Pauk, who wrote How to Study in College. Essentially, as seen in the diagram to the right, students write notes on only a fraction of the page during lecture, and leave a lot of white space between notes. Then, after lecture, the students will write in the left-hand column main ideas or questions that connect the notes together. Finally, (and again, this is after the lecture) at the bottom of each page, the student will write in his/her own words a summary of the notes.

I’ve tried finding evidence on whether using the Cornell note-taking system actually impacts students’ grades or other learning outcomes. I’ve come across a few anecodtes (i.e., a physics teacher whose students’ that made most use of it scoring twice as high on a national physics test as those who didn’t; and a comparison of science teachers who used it vs. those that didn’t, with the formers’ students having higher average grades). I also found a study that compared students who used their own notetaking method, to Cornell method users, to students who didn’t take any notes. These were students taking English as a foreign language. The evidence in the study indicates the Cornell method is the best, but we should be wary to extrapolate to all course subjects. Still, I’ve seen no complaints or shortcomings written about Cornell note-taking and think providing some structure to students could be helpful. Ask me again at the end of the semester if I think it worked.

In case you’re sold on the idea, here is a link to print your own Cornell notes PDF.

Here are a few resources I consulted that may be of use if you care to look further into note-taking:

• Effective Listening and Note-Taking by Johnie Scott, CSUN Pan-African Studies Department.
• James Madison University’s step-by-step guide on how to use the Cornell method.
• Here is the handout I give students about the Cornell method that uses language similar to SQ3R.

***************************
This post is part of a series on studying in college.

my grandmother holding my then-baby girl (taken January 9, 2008 in Merced, CA by Josh Wood)

Last Thursday my grandmother died and what I’m most sad about is that the world knows so little about her. Maybe her story isn’t all that unique, and maybe I’m biased in thinking she and other immigrant women like her deserve more recognition. Here is what I know of her life, peppered with bits about why she mattered so much to me.

My mother estimated her birthdate at March 6, 1929 (she calculated a conversion from a Chinese lunar calendar). So when she died, she was just two months shy of her 83rd birthday. She had been living in hospice for over a year now in Merced, CA and before that was being cared for by my uncle’s family, who lived in Winton. Her life in America had come full circle — as California’s Central Valley was the first place in America she had called home.

Kim Chu Cha was her married name. She and her husband had eight children, all but two of whom immigrated to the United States (the other two died in their early twenties). My mother, her third child, was born during the Korean War. My grandmother was pregnant with two small children trying to navigate through a war that killed an estimated 2.5 million Korean civilians.

The family of 10 was poor, even by Korean standards, living in a one-room house on a rice farm shared with her husband’s family in Nonsan. Her husband died when their youngest child was not even 2 years old, though a few of her children were then old enough to take care of themselves and help her as well.

Fast forward four years later and her daughter (my mother) meets my father, an American in Korea with the United States Air Force. They have a child (my brother) and get married. At the same time, my mother’s sister was pregnant with my cousin. So my grandmother had two daughters married to Americans, and my aunt was even moving to America–land of opportunity–to have her baby. My mother would do the same when she was pregnant with me. (I believe there was something about delivering girls in America, where there was “better luck” for girls.)

I was still a toddler when my grandmother immigrated to America to stay with us in Atwater, CA. She cared for me when both of my parents worked (which was literally around the clock). She grew a huge vegetable garden in our backyard that included some of her favorite foods from Korea. What I loved most were the homemade pickles she would jar and keep in the cool garage. Even though she was only 4 feet 10 inches tall, she would carry her huge, Korean-American 4-year-old granddaughter on her back — all over town, because she couldn’t drive.

Eventually, she wanted her own place and settled into a double-wide not far from the Air Force Base. Like most immigrant women in the area, she would get occasional work in one of the canneries in town or pick fruits and vegetables — depending on the season. When she wasn’t working, I would go to her home after school and she would let me help her in the kitchen to make all of my favorite Korean foods. It was especially nice on hot days, when I remember there were always milk jugs emptied and refilled with poricha, cold and inviting in her refrigerator.

My favorite memory was when the entire family would gather at her home twice a year to commemorate the life and death of her husband. There was always mountains of food and cousins to play with.

She never remarried. She spent most of her life in America taking care of her children’s children, until finally, a few years ago, she couldn’t care for others anymore and sometimes needed care herself. She spent some time living in Hawai’i near my mother. She spent some time living in Las Vegas, near my aunt. But eventually she moved back to the Central Valley, where she lived with my uncle and his family until having to be moved to hospice.

The photo I have posted here was when she was still living with my uncle. She was a little blind then, and had some trouble walking, but that didn’t stop her from getting dressed up to see her granddaughter’s little girl. Though others worried about putting a wriggly baby in her arms, I knew my daughter would be fine. After all, this woman had spent nearly her whole life taking care of her babies and her babies’ babies.

Job descriptions are now online for the 45 available positions for the Global Health Corps 2012-2013 fellowship class.

The fellowship opportunities next year include placements at:
USAID in Uganda
CDC in Zambia
Clinton Health Access Initiative in Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda
Partners in Health in Malawi, Rwanda and the US
Village Health Works in Burundi
Inter-American Development Bank in the US

Other organizations with available positions include the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, mothers2mothers, Millennium Development Villages (yikes! haba na haba is actually not a fan of this one!), Infectious Disease Institute, The Action Group of Health, Human Rights and HIV, the Newark Mayor’s Office, Public Health Solutions and the Zambia Center for Applied Health Research and Development – just to name a few.

To find the complete list, go to: http://ghcorps.org/apply/placements.

Background on Global Health Corps

Global Health Corps is a one-year fellowship program where selected fellows work at organizations, both large and small, and government agencies, focused on global health. It allows fellows an opportunity to get a year of work and field experience with an established non-profit or government agency.

Fellows are provided housing, medical insurance, a livable wage, transportation to and from the country they are working in, transportation to and from orientation and retreats and a completion award of $1,500 upon successfully finishing the fellowship.

Fellowships are offered in Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia and the USA.

The mission of Global Health Corps is to mobilize a global community of emerging leaders to build the movement for health equity. Therefore, their focus is not only on helping bolster fellows’ careers in global health, it is also to create a strong network of people who will continue to work with each other and support one another for the rest of their careers and lives.

Application Requirements

-Applicant must be under 30 years old at time of application
-Applicant must hold a university degree by July 2012
-Applicant must be proficient in English

No prior health experience is necessary. GHC is looking for people from a wide variety of sectors in order to have a diverse fellow class with many different backgrounds and skill sets.

Job descriptions range from health programming, policy analysis, monitoring and evaluation, communications, IT, architecture, procurement and logistics, program management and more.

Applicants can apply for up to 3 fellowship positions.

Applications are available at http://ghcorps.org/apply.

Important Dates

February 17, 2012: Applications Due
April: First-round interviews
May: Second round interviews
Mid-May: Acceptance letters distributed
Mid-July: Orientation/training in the US
August: Fellowship begins

To find out more information about Global Health Corps, visit their website.

If you have any further questions, you can contact Jennifer Gottesfeld, who kindly forwarded me this announcment.

"study time" by calebcherry shared with CC license via Flickr

First, I recommend getting a book. The good, old-fashioned kind made of paper. Sure, you can read a lot of books on fancy gadgets like Kindles, Nooks, and even iPads, but you probably won’t read as quickly as you would read a book, and apparently, reading a book feels more relaxing.

I’m of the opinion that you don’t need utter silence to read, but studies show that college students who don’t normally listen to music when they read will comprehend less in a setting where music is playing (print out the study for your music-blasting roommate, if needed). Essentially, read somewhere that is comfortable for you.

Get a notebook and pen (perhaps even one with varying ink colors). I’m sure some of you will want to pull out your laptops, but writing things down can be faster and allow you to perform equally well down the road. Also, students in my class will not take any of the course exams on a laptop — they’ll be writing using pen and paper — so, it’s best to be consistent while also boosting your handwriting skills.

Then, I recommend using the SQ4R method (similar to the SQ3R method). SQ4R stands for: Survey, Question, Read, Respond, Record, Review:

S = Survey
Before you crack open your book to page one and dive in, take a few minutes to read the preface and introduction to the text, and browse through the table of contents and the index. This will tell you the main topics that the book will cover, the author’s particular approach to the subject (i.e., why he/she wrote another text on the subject when there are probably twenty on the market), and what the basic organizational structure will be.

Q = Question
Before beginning to read, take the subtitle of the section (or the first sentence of a paragraph) and turn it into a question. For example, if you’re reading part of a chapter called “Functions of the Spinal Cord,” ask yourself, “What are the functions of the spinal cord?”

R#1 = Read
You then read, not passively sliding your eyes over the words, but actively engaging the text, trying to find the answer to your question. Be cautious, however, that you don’t end up skimming for the answer to your question and missing other important information.

R#2 = Respond
Once you’ve read the section, close the textbook and answer your question, either orally or on paper, in your own words. If you can’t answer the question, you should reread that section until you can. If, after several tries, you still can’t answer your question, go on to the next few sections and see if things become clearer. You may find that you need to change your question. For example, you may have first posed the question, “What is the Treaty of Versailles?” for the subtitle “The Treaty of Versailles,” but, after reading the section, you may find that a better question is, “;Why was the Treaty of Versailles created?” If changing your question doesn’t help clarify the reading, it’s time to get some help. Your instructor or TA are good places to start, or Learning Services in the Learning Commons can also help with effective reading strategies.

R#3 = Record
Once you’ve understood the material and can summarize it in your own words, the next step is to record the information in some way. Some common methods are to highlight and/or mark the text, or take notes, or some combination of both. Whichever method or combination of methods you choose (some pros and cons are summarized next), it’s critical to remember to read and understand the material first, and then go back and record.

R#4 = Review
In courses where there is a lot of factual material to remember, a regular review period (usually once a week) can be a very effective strategy for retaining information. Integrating a weekly review period into your study routine will help you remember more of the information longer, thereby changing the nature of the studying done at exam time. Rather than relearning material that has been forgotten because you haven’t looked at it since reading it or writing it down, preparing for an exam can include a review of familiar material and rehearsal strategies like trying old exams.

Essentially, I recommend you read with a purpose (something beyond “because my professor told me to”). If you can think of no other purpose, try reading as devil’s advocate — find ways to disagree with the author’s argument(s). Write things down that assist you in this goal, and think about those things you’ve written. Could you tell a roommate what you learned from the reading, in your own words, in a minute or two?

In case you are interested in more reading tips, I recommend:

• “Active Reading” from Dartmouth’s Academic Skills Center; and
• “Reading Strategies” by Dr. Kathleen King.

If any haba na haba readers have other suggestions, please share them in the comments.
***************************
This post is part of a series on studying in college.

Video taken by Malawi Nation reporter, Bobby Kabango

The video is of staff at Blantyre’s High Court having a dance party on strike, demanding the higher wages they were promised in 2006.

They don’t call Malawi the “warm heart of Africa” for nothing.

HT @duffellduffell.

"Spring Studying" by billerickson shared with CC license via Flickr

This semester I will use my African Politics course as a vehicle for sharing study tips with my students. This is the first in a series of posts about studying in college. I am not an expert (though I did graduate from college with more than one degree), but instead I hope to draw from whatever evidence-based research is out there on effective study/learning strategies for college students. I thought it would also be of interest to some of haba na haba’s followers. As per usual, feedback from readers is welcomed.

The lineup I have includes: how to read, how to take notes, how to study for an exam, how to do research, and how to be a better all-around student. If haba na haba readers have any links to useful resources (ideally evidence-based), please share them in the comments or send me an email.

The “spring semester study tips” series was inspired by Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld’s blog post on How to Study Like a Tiger Cub. I’ve also decided that instead of whining about things undergrads don’t know that I should contribute to the public good and try to teach them some useful strategies.