#Erasmus Mundus Journalism

[9jacompass]

Apply Now: Erasmus Mundus Master’s Scholarship in Journalism, Media and Globalisation 2023

Apply Now: Erasmus Mundus Master’s Scholarship in Journalism, Media and Globalisation 2023

Are you currently an undergraduate student in the field of Journalism, Media and Globalisation? Are you passionate about taking your studies to a new level by enrolling for a master’s studies abroad? Then take advantage of and apply for the Erasmus Mundus Master’s Scholarship in Journalism 2023. Applicants can apply for admission to the Mundus Journalism programme and for a Mundus scholarship…

[l-edelweis]

Sebelum ke Belgia

Ada satu lagi temanku yang mau melanjutkan sekolahnya S2. Yang kali ini ke Belgia, dengan support beasiswa super prestisius menurutku, erasmus mundus:" Masyaallah keren banget aku terharu dan bangga dan campur aduk lah pokoknya.

Seneng juga kemarin Risti nyempetin ke Jogja tentu saja untuk berjumpa dengan kawan-kawan yang bisa ditemui. Aku tentu saja akan menyempatkan waktu untuk bertemu. Ada banyak hal yang bikin aku terenyuh, dan ingin kutulis di sini untuk dibaca kembali nanti-nanti.

Kutulis dengan model wawancara ala-ala mba Najwa Shihab yang lagi wawancara mata najwa itu yekan wkwk (tapi ini jawabannya kutulis versi aku dengan pov aku juga based ngobrol dengan Risti)

Proses apa yang paling sulit dilakukan selama mendaftar beasiswa ini?

Bukan persiapan berkas, bukan wawancara. Tapi proses yang paling menguras energi adalah mengenali diri sendiri.

Aku jadi mengevaluasi diriku. Aku jadi melihat diriku. Apakah aku sudah kenal dengan baik? Apakah aku sudah tau apa yang aku mau dan aku butuhkan?

Karena S2 menurutku nggak semudah S1 tentu saja. Apa yang ditempuh nanti akan sangat berpengaruh pada hidupmu setelah selesai sekolah. Lalu setelah selesai tingkat master, kamu mau apa? Apa yang akan dilakukan?

Kebingungan-kebingungan pasti ada. Ngobrol sama diri sendiri ternyata menjadi hal penting yang harus dilakukan berulang-ulang. Ini juga sih yang dibilang sama psikolog aku, kalau proses mengenal diri sendiri itu nggak cuma dilakukan sekali. Dan nggak ada kata terlambat buat mengenal diri. Take a not, journaling, write, and have a reflection.

Aku jadi terinspirasi buat kembali ngobrol dan menjumpai diriku di masa lalu. Saat masa-masa SD aku punya cita-cita jadi ini-itu. Saat masa-masa itu aku merasakan berbagai rasa, menjumpai berbagai peristiwa, dan membayangkan masa depan akan menjadi apa. Sebenarnya apa yang aku inginkan? Apa benang merah setiap step-step yang aku lalui? Apa hubungan mereka dengan value yang aku punya saat ini? Apa yang sebenarnya jadi keinginanku saat ini? Apa yang bisa aku kasih dan lakukan dalam hidupku?

Dan tujuan hidup itu rupanya sederhana saja. Tidak perlu muluk-muluk, ingin jadi ini itu. Ingin membuat ini itu. Bukan berarti aku menyangsikan keduanya. Tapi kebanyakan dari kita terlanjur dipengaruhi framing masyarakat atau role model kita sekalipun, bahwa menjadi ini itu dulu baru bisa memberikan arti. Atau mungkin, ini cuma berlaku buat diriku sendiri.

Hal spiritual apa yang kamu dapatkan selama proses ini?

Allah itu baik banget. Sebaik itu ke hambaNya. Allah ngasih ke kita sesuatu yang kita butuhkan, di saat aku udah nggak berharap apapun. Kata Risti gitu.

Sebelumnya Risti memang sudah mendaftar ke beberapa beasiswa ke luar negeri. Ada banyak, pokoknya. Tapi belum lolos semua. Waktu masa-masa itu, dia udah membayangkan banyak hal. Kayak rasanya udah keterima gitu, terus membayangkan kuliah di Korea misalnya. Membayangkan hidup di sana, suasana di sana. Pokoknya rasanya kayak udah pasti keterima.

Tapi masyaallah ternyata belum rezeki. Dan buat erasmus ini, sama sekali dia ngga mengharap apapun, ngga membayangkan apapun, ngga ada pikiran apapun di kepala. Ngga ada bayangan suasana kuliah di eropa, ngga ada bayangan hidup di sana. Justru Allah kasih di saat-saat itu. Di saat-saat kepala sedang 'kosong' akan bayangan apapun tentang kuliah di luar negeri dengan beasiswa prestisius ini.

Aku terenyuh sendiri waktu ngobrol soal spiritualitas ini. Aku betul-betul terharu waktu part ngobrol soal rezeki dan takdir Allah dan ketetapan Allah dan kebaikan Allah. Dan part tentang ketidakpastian (lagi-lagi).

Tapi dari semua yang kita obrolkan, kusimpulkan kalau Allah akan memberikan sesuatu kepada kita, ketika kita udah bener-bener siap dan memang pantas menerimanya. Risti juga cerita gimana selama setelah lulus S1 dia masih belum mantep buat lanjut sekolah lagi. Sampai dia memutuskan buat mendaftar beasiswa keluar, dan memutuskan buat mendaftar ITB. Iya, Risti udah sempet kuliah di ITB satu semester kemarin.

Meskipun begitu sebenarnya dia juga sudah merencanakan dan sudah ada cita-cita buat daftar erasmus sejak lama. Rasanya menurutku kayak, udah tertanam di alam bawah sadar kalau suatu hari pasti akan dapet erasmus dan kayaknya itu jadi doa harian, yah. Secara nggak sadar diaminkan dalam hati dan setiap saat malaikat selalu ikut mengamini.

Kata Risti juga, di tengah-tengah suasana dia tidak berharap tidak membayangkan tidak memikirkan apapun soal erasmus, dia bilang, mungkin yang saat ini didapatkan adalah juga doa-doa masa lalu yang sudah lupa bahkan.

Nggak kerasa mataku berkaca-kaca karena super terharu dengan ceritanya. Masyaallah. Masyaallah.

Mungkin ini nasehat lama, tapi memang Allah akan memberikan sesuatu kepada kita saat kita dirasa oleh Allah sudah siap menerimanya. Cuma Allah yang tau kapan kita siap, kapan kita pantas. Kadang kita merasa diri kita sudah siap, tapi yah itu cuma sangkaan kita aja. Menurut Allah belum.

Ini bikin aku jadi mikir, kalau segala hal cuma Allah yang tau.

Mungkin kita juga perlu berdoa sama Allah, untuk dikasih kesiapan dan kepantasan. Supaya pada muaranya nanti akan dikasih apa yang kita impikan dan cita-citakan.

Nggak ada tempat bergantung dan meminta yang paling baik, kecuali Allah.

Terus kemudian tidak lupa juga perihal sabar dan syukur. Dua hal yang semoga selalu kita ingat setiap saat setiap waktu. Selalu dilakukan setiap saat setiap waktu. Mungkin kita selalu ingat untuk bersabar saat kondisi kita sedang di titik rendah. Tapi lupa untuk bersyukur saat mendapat apapun, saat mengalami apapun. Tapi yang terutama saat kita diberi kenikmatan dan kebahagiaan.

Karena yang senang-senang kadang juga jadi cobaan, kan. Dan yang sedih-sedih kadang membawa kebaikan jadi tetap harus disyukuri juga.

_____

Sesi ngobrol kemarin tu rasanya terharu banget. Nggak tau ya, terharu karena Risti mau pergi jauh, atau karena refleksi dia dari prosesnya selama ini, atau karena hal lain yang nggak aku sadari.

Meskipun aku sama Risti nggak begitu dekat pas di Muallimaat. Tapi ada satu moment yang gara-gara dia bikin aku mikir, kalau pertemanan di Muallimaat kadang nggak melihat jarak kedekatan. Waktu Isna mau nikah, dia ngirim undangan ke grup angkatan. Itu berarti Isna mempersilahkan siapapun anak angkatan yang mau datang, kan. Tapi waktu aku buka undangannya waktu itu aku udah mikir nggak akan dateng. Alasannya simpel, aku jarang berinteraksi sama Isna. Tapi pengen dateng. Tapi kayak takut Isna mikir, 'hah siapa nih' wkwk lebay sih.

Sampai Risti yang jauh-jauh dateng dari Bandung waktu itu, tiba-tiba ngechat aku. Nanyain apakah aku akan datang ke nikahan Isna. Singkat kujawab, "Kayaknya enggak Ris. Aku jarang berinteraksi sama Isna apakah nggakpapa dateng wkwkw. Tapi pengen dateng sih."

Terus dia bilang, "Ih dateng aja. Kan temen kita."

Apa yah rasanya. Aku nggak bisa mendeskripsikan selain terharu. (mohon maaff emang kedengeran lebay kayanya yah tapi emang anaknya cengeng wkwk)

Dua kali ke Bandung kemarin juga ngerepotin Risti. Senang dan bersyukur dan terharu. Terima kasih sudah membawa berkeliling Bandung, dan yang terakhir kemarin menemani sarapan sebelum aku ke Jakarta:"

[cyberbenb]

Russia has ramped up its propaganda in Africa. Here’s how to counter it and how Europe can help

Article by Priyal Shah Author Article by Priyal Shah Priyal Shah is a journalism scholar pursuing the Erasmus Mundus Journalism Master’s degree. She has previously worked as a reporter in India. Her r Source : thefix.media/2023/8/29…

[jonlasagaldos]

¡Ya está disponible el número de abril de Unibertsitateko Aldizkaria! 📢📢📢 Este mes destacamos la Universidad 👩‍🎓 del Blockchain, una iniciativa de la UNED y @UPV ehu_gara para dar a conocer el Blockchain, la nueva moneda 💴digital. También hablamos del acuerdo de @petronor con la Escuela de Ingeniería de Bilbao para crear la Beca Enrique Sendagorta, de los próximos XXXVIII Cursos de Verano de la @upvehu_gara @udaikastaroakehu, del nuevo modelo de educación de @munibertsitatea hasta el año 2025 denominado Mendeberri, del nuevo Plan Estratégico 2022 de @udeusto, de los nuevos másteres de @upna.nup, de la VI Olimpiada de Historia de @universidaddenavarra, de la entrega de diferentes premios 🥇 en UNED Navarra, de Erasmus Mundus y @UPV ehu_gara, de Mondragon Team Academy, del nuevo Sistema Universitario 👨‍🎓Vasco, del PBL Day, de la falta de trabajadores y trabajadoras en algunos sectores laborales, del 25 aniversario 🎈 de FANT Bilbao, de noticias falsas... e incluimos dos entrevistas: una a Alfonso Sánchez-Tabernero, rector de la @universidaddenavarra, y otra a Alberto Apodaca, autor de la obra “Yo, Elcano”, donde aborda la vuelta al mundo 🗺 en barco 🚢 realizada hace ahora 500 años por el navegante 👨‍✈️ de Getaria Juan Sebastián Elcano. El enlace para ver la publicación entera es el siguiente: https://issuu.com/periodicouniversitario/docs/pu_379_apirila_2019 Los ejemplares estarán disponibles desde hoy en universidades y en el @kmkulturunea. ¡Gracias! @jonlasagaldos #blockchain #universidad #unibertsitatea #educación #cultura #arte #cine #erasmus #erasmusplus #actualidad #entrevista #noticias #juventud #navarra #trabajo #nafarroa #euskadi #paisvasco #campus #formacion #master #estudio #mondragonteamacademy #pbl #periodismo #periodico #euskara #journalism #publicacion #lovejournalism (en San Sebastián, Pais Vasco, Spain) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwtcSmalHNt/?igshid=sfqaw522974n

[mackenzieamyx]

Ulrich Baer and Smaran Dayal on American Literature

Ulrich Baer is University Professor at New York University where he teaches literature and photography. He has published books on poetry, photography, and culture, and written for the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, and the Los Angeles Book Review. His translations of poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s letters are available as audiobooks read by Ethan Hawke and Rosanne Cash. He hosts the ideas podcasts, Think About It and The Proust Questionnaire, and has published editions of numerous classic books with Warbler Press, including Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, Beyond Good and Evil, Heart of Darkness, and others. Smaran Dayal is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Literature at New York University, where he is writing a dissertation on literary Afrofuturism. He was the recipient of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s Masters Scholarship and the European Council’s Erasmus Mundus Fellowship. He is one of the co-organizers of the NYU Postcolonial, Race and Diaspora Studies Colloquium, co-translator of the book The Queer Intersectional in Contemporary Germany (2018) and co-editor of the anthology of American literature, Fictions of America: The Book of Firsts (2020). His writing has previously appeared or will soon appear in The Los Angeles Review of Books, the Harvard Review, Social Text, Citizenship Studies, Interventions, and the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.

About Mackenzie Amyx

Gen Z authority.

Website: http://mackenzieamyx.com/ Instagram: @mackenzieamyx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3lo5qcDh5MRhzjqieg7szg?view_as=public

Check out this episode!

[nuadox]

Remembering Tania Douglas: A brilliant biomedical engineer and academic

- By Ernesta M. Meintjes , University of Cape Town , The Conversation -

Tributes from friends, colleagues, collaborators and students have poured in for South African academic Professor Tania Samantha Douglas, an internationally recognised scholar, biomedical engineer and innovator. She passed away on 20 March 2021.

She was admired by many and consulted broadly for her unique insights, in-depth understanding of South Africa’s higher education environment, and open-mindedness. Always vibrant, she was able to fully engage with issues in an unbiased manner – sharing her well-considered thoughts in a friendly and practical way.

Image: Professor Tania Douglas. Credit: Je'nine May/UCT Health Sciences.

Tania obtained the second highest grade in the country in her final school exams in 1987. She went on to read for a BScEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Cape Town (UCT). This was followed by an MS in Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Then came a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, and a postdoctoral fellowship in image processing with the Japan Broadcasting Corporation in Tokyo.

In 2000, Tania returned to her alma mater. She took up a lecturer position in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

In her recent work, she strove to combine biomedical engineering with social context. Her aim was to find novel solutions towards improved health. To this end, she developed a new postgraduate programme in Health Innovation teaching human-centred innovation with an emphasis on end-user engagement.

She believed and advocated that Africa needs to find solutions to its own problems and worked tirelessly to build biomedical engineering capacity across the continent.

Academic legacy

During her 21 years at the University of Cape Town, Tania held numerous leadership positions within the department and faculty. These included serving as Divisional Head for a period and serving as Deputy Dean of Research in the Faculty of Health Sciences. She also, for the past decade, led the Medical Research Council/UCT Medical Imaging Research Unit.

In 2016, Tania was awarded the prestigious South African Research Chair in Biomedical Engineering and Innovation. Two years later she was Founding Director of UCT’s Biomedical Engineering Research Centre.

Tania excelled in all spheres of academia. She headed a large research group, and trained and graduated more than 50 master’s and doctoral students. Postdoctoral fellows and junior staff were among those she mentored. She also published extensively in leading international journals, and taught and developed courses. Her scholarly contributions were recognised through numerous awards. These included research fellowships from the International Institute for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy; the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany; and the European Union’s Erasmus Mundus programme.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Women in Engineering’s South Africa Section named her as its female academic/researcher of the year in 2009.

In 2018 she was recognised as a Quartz Africa Innovator. A year later, the South African Women in Science Awards named her as Distinguished Woman Researcher in Research and Innovation. In the past decade, she was elected a Fellow by the South African Academy of Engineering, the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, and the University of Cape Town. She was also a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

Tania’s research focused on major public health problems in South Africa. She developed novel instruments and computer-assisted techniques. Some of her early work involved developing image-processing techniques to characterise the facial phenotype associated with foetal alcohol syndrome – a condition of which the incidence in certain communities in South Africa is among the highest in the world.

Tania also made seminal contributions in tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis. One was the development of a ‘smart microscope’ that automated detection of TB bacilli in stained sputum smears. Another was the computer-aided detection of pulmonary pathology in paediatric chest X-rays.

She played a leading role in establishing the African Biomedical Consortium. She also launched and was founding Editor-in-Chief of the open-access electronic journal Global Health Innovation. In addition she edited the open-access eBook Biomedical Engineering for Africa (University of Cape Town Libraries; 2019).

Since 2014, Tania had served as Associate Editor of both the South African Journal of Science and Medical Engineering and Physics. In January 2021 she was appointed as Editor-in-Chief of the latter.

A great void

Tania was warm and empathetic, and an inspiring mentor to many. As her friend and head of the Department of Human Biology at UCT, Professor Sharon Price, wrote:

We will remember Tania for being an amazing woman – brave, humble and brilliant. She lived her life, and carried her illness, with extraordinary grace and dignity. We will remember her for her astute intellect and her quiet humanity to build others in the process. She was talented and gracious, and we will remember her positive attitude and ever-present beautiful smile.

Tania is survived by her parents, Rita and Aubrey Douglas.

This tribute originally appeared in the South African Journal of Science.

Ernesta M. Meintjes, Professor in Biomedical Engineering, University of Cape Town

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Read Also

Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe: Nigerian academic mentor and researcher who made an impact

[poptrashh]

Haven't been online for a while but hey I got into the Erasmus Mundus Journalism masters programme in Denmark and Germany with scholarship!

[nerduniversitaria]

Querida comunidad de lectores, tal y como se lee en el título de este post, me despido de Nerd Universitaria de manera indefinida.

Es algo que ha estado dando vueltas en mi cabeza por mucho tiempo.

Una decisión que pensé nunca tomaría, pero encontré el valor para hacerlo.

La razón por la que decidí dejar de este proyecto atrás se debe a los cambios que he estado experimentando en mi proceso creativo. En otras palabras, porque quiero hacer contenido diferente y a un ritmo diferente.

Creo que no exagero cuando digo que ya ustedes presentían mi falta de motivación en los últimos meses y los desajustes en mi línea editorial cuando cree la sección Global Village.

Por ocho años, Nerd Universitaria me motivó a desarrollar nuevas habilidades y a aprender de las herramientas comunicacionales durante la etapa reformadora de la era digital. Me abrió muchas puertas en los medios porque fue mi carta de presentación; la prueba de lo que era capaz de hacer como Comunicadora Social y Periodista.

También estoy agradecidísima por su apoyo, correos, comentarios y suscripción. Son una comunidad de personas maravillosas y con un espíritu muy noble. Y por eso, dejaré disponible este sitio web para futuras referencias a modo de archivo.

Los invito a que sigan leyendo para despedir este capítulo de mi vida como se debe: haciendo un recuento lo todo cuanto pasó en los últimos ocho años.

El alcance de Nerd Universitaria

Creo que es la ocasión perfecta para mostrarles las estadísticas de Nerd Universitaria, de manera que tengan una idea del alcance que tuvo y de porqué estoy tan agradecida.

En este mapa se muestran las visitas por país, siendo los de habla hispana quienes tienen mayor exposición al contenido. ¡Gracias SEO!

Y hay ciertos países que me sorprendieron con su presencia y me demostraron que el español y los hispanos hemos dominado al mundo. ¿Novelas, maybe?

Cuando abrí mi blog, lo hice con la intención de documentar mi paso por la Universidad Arturo Michelena. A medida que aprendía sobre comunicación y las nuevas tendencias, también crecía mi deseo por profesionalizarlo. Por eso lo rediseñé:

Pasó de esto:

A esto:

Mientras que mi vida pasaba de esto:

A esto:

Los cambios trajeron muchos aciertos. Aprendí de SEO, de protección de derechos de autor, email marketing y redes sociales. Esto fue evidente en el tiempo:

En 2012 tenía apenas 41 visitantes, quienes hicieron 191 visitas. En 2019, llegué a tener 239.541 lectores, quienes realizaron 311.324 visitas. ¡Una gran diferencia!

Por supuesto, ciertos artículos tienen más éxito que otros; y algunos se vuelven tendencias por temporadas como el que escribí sobre el proceso de inscripción de la UAM que siempre terminaba en trending topic.

Aunque ya había profesionalizado el sitio, dejé ciertos posts personales como cuando terminé mi carrera universitaria y gané la beca Erasmus Mundus.

Históricamente, estos fueron sus artículos favoritos:

Lista completa de conectores para la tesis

Cómo escribir un increíble ensayo de admisión universitaria

Organiza tu vida con un Bullet Journal

10 cosas de las que deshacerse para tener una vida más minimalista

20 cosas productivas que hacer estas vacaciones

Lista de indispensables de cartuchera

Cómo hacer un índice perfecto para la tesis

Lista completa de lo que debes empacar que todo estudiante residenciado necesita

¿De qué se trata el Hygge?, el estilo de vida de las personas más felices del mundo

Sin embargo, quiero mostrarles cuáles son algunos de mis favoritos:

Razones por las que las mujeres siguen siendo víctimas del sistema

Aprende a trabajar desde casa con profesionalismo

Tesis de grado: Las etapas de elaboración de un trabajo de investigación

Características de una feminista

Entendiendo la filosofía del minimalismo como tendencia mundial y sinónimo de desarrollo

Estrategias que puedes aplicar para graduarte de la universidad antes de tiempo

Ármate de valor y aplica a las mejores universidades del mundo

Errores que se comenten con el uso de una agenda y cómo solucionarlos

Cómo superar el Síndrome del Impostor y confiar en el camino que elegiste para tu vida

Pero hay cosas que no he compartido con ustedes. Ya saben que me mudé a Dinamarca para estudiar en la Universidad de Aarhus y que ahora estoy cursando mi segundo año de maestría en la Universidad de Ámsterdam en Holanda, donde escribo mi tesis y planifico lo que será mi vida después de graduarme.

Foto de Joosep Vark

Promoción 2018-2020 del programa de maestría Erasmus Mundus Journalism tomada en la Escuela Danesa de Medios y Periodismo perteneciente a la Universidad de Aarhus

Lo que no saben es que luego la UAM, hice carrera como periodista de sucesos y política y veía cada día la peor cara de la humanidad… hasta que decidí irme. Ha sido muy duro dejar Venezuela, cuya situación es compleja y dolorosa, junto con todos los retos a los que me he enfrentado como inmigrante, aunque sé que mi partida estuvo llena de privilegios que la mayoría de los venezolanos no tiene.

All-focus

Tampoco saben que me enamoré y en diciembre él y yo nos comprometimos en matrimonio.

De manera que así es la vida de agridulce y en perfecto desorden, como la deliciosa comida caribeña.

Entonces, porque ya no soy la chamita de 18 años que estudiaba en la UAM y era pasante en los medios impresos, digitales y radios de Valencia, debo despedirme de este blog.

A solo meses de graduarme, me he dado cuenta que me siento en deuda con Venezuela y el resto de Latinoamérica. También me siento en deuda conmigo misma y esta versión de mí que ustedes no conocen, pero que valoro y merece su espacio. Sigo amando escribir y el periodismo. Es por ello que quiero dedicarme al periodismo de memoria histórica y a la escritura ficticia en el género de realismo mágico latinoamericano.

Así que seguiré creando y espero que un futuro no muy lejano y en otros escenarios, ustedes me sigan leyendo.

¡Éxitos!

Kim

  Me despido de Nerd Universitaria Querida comunidad de lectores, tal y como se lee en el título de este post, me despido de…

[uc-educations]

Erasmus Mundus Scholarships in Journalism, Media and Globalization 2020

Erasmus Mundus Scholarships in Journalism, Media and Globalization 2020

The Erasmus Mundus Scholarships in Journalism, Media and Globalization is awarded to Individuals who are seeking to pursue a scholarship opportunity to study for a degree program in Europe, North and South America, or Australia.

  Explore:[show_posts filter=”default”]

  The Erasmus Mundus scholarships cover tuition fees, insurance, a contribution to student travel and installation costs, as well…

[yuvilee]

5th November 2019 Student-led seminar 3

Text: Filipović, Katarina (2018) ‘Gender Representation in Children’s Books: Case of an Early Childhood Setting’, Journal of Research in Childhood Education. Routledge, 32(3), pp. 310–325. doi: 10.1080/02568543.2018.1464086.

Table of content:

Introduction Main part: A coherent picture, or is it? From 15 between 1967 - 2013 to today's releases Conclusion: How far have we come? Notes: Books and articles Picture(s)

About the author: International Master in Early Childhood Education and Care (IMEC). Dublin Institute of Technology, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, University of Malta and University of Gothenburg.  Erasmus Mundus joint degree.

BSc. in Pedagogy – Psychology. University of Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Katarina Filipović had previously worked in a range of educational roles such as primary school Pedagogue and Psychologist, Early Childhood Educator and Associate Faculty Lecturer.

Research interests: Children’s and educators’ well-being, work related stress and burnout, impact of educational policies on practice, professionalism in ECEC, and gender in early years.

Teaching Areas: Professional Practice In The Early Years, Child Protection And Safeguarding, Supervised Practice Placement(1)

Introduction: 

The end of 2019 is just around the corner and humanity can look back at many great achievements by men and women alike, such as landing on the moon, curing or even eradicating many diseases or fast communication technologies, to name just a few. With all those accomplishments, one might think we as a species live in an equal society that strives to build a better world from generation to generation. And I do believe this is the case! Some aspects, however, are still ongoing issues, such as gender equality or ethical equality. 

To think equal, to act equal, live equal also means to teach equal, to live as equal role-models for our next generation. It starts with small things like labelling clothes, hair-styles, or colours to be dominantly female or male. 

To teach equality means to offer learning material that depicts this virtue. In this discussion, I am looking at educators who are aware of gender equality and their use of picture books. Going through recently published picture books one might think that things have changed, for example with the bestselling book ‘Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls’ by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo from 2016. This book compiles short-story biographies of 100 real-life women that could be role-models, including Amelia Marie Curie, the Brontë sisters, and Jane Austen. Favilli and Cavallo self-published the book with money raised in a Kickstarter campaign. Their original target was set for $40,000, they ended up receiving $675,614 by 13,454 backers between April 27th and May 26th, 2016 (28 days), which shows an amazing response and acceptance by society(2). 

Above: My screenshot of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, (2019)

A coherent picture, or is it? 

The given research by Filipović uses picture books chosen by skilled educators for younger children between the ages of waddler to early school, the books in that study are a mixture from 1967 to 2013(3). 

In my view this study, however, only scratches the surface of the actual topic: the image of the woman in modern societies. Her research shows a glaring imbalance that fits the narrative perfectly but shies away from really forming a conclusion and making a strong statement. And that even though Filipović underlines her research with a broad variety of similar research outcomes highlighting an ongoing problem between gender representation in early childhood picture books. 

Looking back into recent years, we find many different movements with this as their main topic, not just #metoo. Gender studies are more common than ever as Filipović’s references show, and pay-gap has long entered mainstream discussion(4).

Women still tend to enter nurturing professions more than risk-taking, managerial or scientific ones, even though they have equal or sometimes better qualifications. Germany just released a governmental study that showed young girls out-matching boys in mathematics at school, yet they perceive themselves as clearly inferior to their male classmates(5).

Looking at depictions of women vs. men in media and advertisement would open a whole other can of worms(6).

And it all fits together so coherently: we are coming from a patriarchal past(7). Just a few generations ago, men ruled everything and women were confined to the kitchen or tending to the children. While we are looking with suspicious eyes at other societies such as the conservative Muslims in Saudi-Arabia, where this is still very strongly the case, we believe to have developed far beyond this point(8). 

From 15 between 1967 - 2013 to today's releases

Shifting our focus away from the 15 books in Filipović’s study one might think that - as stated in my introduction - the book publishing market would have adjusted by now. Especially since the Rebel-Girls book became a best-seller(9). Publishers might offer more on this topic, right? On the contrary, as The Observer and The Guardian in an in-depth analysis found out:

‘The most popular picture books published in 2018 collectively present a white and male-dominated world to children, feature very few BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) characters and have become more biased against girls in the past year, (...) Male characters continue to dominate the most popular picture books: a child is 1.6 times more likely to read one with a male rather than a female lead, and seven times more likely to read a story that has a male villain in it than a female baddie. Male characters outnumbered female characters in more than half the books, while females outnumber males less than a fifth of the time.’(9)

And even continuing in 2019, in research by Sarah Mokrzycki, Victoria University with 100 best-selling books, similar results are to be found. In her research, books for girls were also highly stereotypical:

‘In the female-led stories, protagonists only showed ambition for traditional feminine pursuits. There were three ballerinas, three princesses and one fashion designer - Claris, a mouse, who “dreamed about clothes” and “read about handbags in Vanity Fair”. (In this story, a misbehaving girl is also chastised for being “neither proper nor prim!”) In comparison, the male-led stories showed protagonists in roles ranging from farmers and chefs to zookeepers and scientists.’(10).

To be fair, her research was for the Australian book retailer Dymocks, a comparable research would need to be done for the UK market. 

How far have we come? Conclusion

It all forms a very coherent picture that is not difficult to understand and to accept and which explains every single problem in gender inequality we have - when considering our past, the way we have developed over the last generations, and the problems that very obviously and provenly still linger. We are still fighting the same problems, not to the same extent as women in Saudi-Arabia have to, but they are the exact same problems, yet it appears that resistance and denial are still extremely present.

Maybe stemming from conservative thinkers who still want the ‘good old times’ back when things were easy and women didn’t meddle in their affairs, maybe people just want to live their lives without being bothered by topics like tolerance in nuances (‘Am I still allowed to tell this joke?’, or ‘This picture is funny but now someone tells me it’s sexist? 5 years ago it wasn’t, why now?’). Maybe, though, it’s a much more underlying issue, one that is ingrained into our very beings from the moment we start learning about it. From large factors like the role our mothers portrayed to us as kids, to the value of boys in the schoolyard who can be daring and risk-takers vs. girls who need to be protected and sheltered and rather should play with puppets that they need to take care of and role-playing games, down to the smaller things like an obvious miss-portrayal of genders in the children’s books we read to our kids. 

Perhaps this is where the foundation is laid, where we will raise yet another generation that accepts slightly sexist images or objectifying women in advertisement. From there, it’s only a few steps to underpaying and discriminating women and worse. So yes, it does make a difference whether we choose a book about a boy and read it to a girl or if we rather choose to tell the girl a story about an adventurous girl. It does make a difference if the female part in a book is only there to care and the male character is away or depicted as brave and working and fun and successful. Those choices by our parents shaped our future and they will shape the future of our children(11).

It’s not difficult to see or understand this, which is why I wished this study would have put things into context more directly and was more critical. Because there is a lot of reason to be direct, and critical, and loud.

So what can we do as illustrators? Let’s identify and lock away the stereo-typical from our stories. Try to address this matter with our publishers, families, gift our children non-stereo-typical books and toys. Create role-models. But what kind of alternative presentation possibilities could be used for male and female figures? Could custom-made children’s books work as a good alternative? What are other alternatives? 

During my research for our presentation on this topic, I stumbled over the campaign ‘Let Toys be Toys’. Their focus is to create a non stereo-typical environment for children in the toy and book industries in the UK. They not only try to convince publishers of books and the toy industry to shift their focus from gender related products to uni-sex products. They also offer help for parents to address their concerns and provide discussion material and lesson plans for teachers(12). I found this to be very encouraging.

Another part that I did not address here but found during my research for the presentation are tests like the Bechdel-Test which was mainly created for movies but can also help to identify books with female protagonists. It’s not only about male-female ratio alone, as The Guardian article quoted above already indicates. We could add more and more tests, such as the BAME test as well(13). 

Notes:

Books and articles

Biography retrieved from TU Dublin (2019), Staff Articles. Available at: https://www.dit.ie/llss/people/socialsciences/staffarticles/name176641en.html (Accessed on: 04th November 2019).

Kickstarter (2019), Good night stories for rebel girls. Available at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/timbuktu/good-night-stories-for-rebel-girls-100-tales-to-dr (Accessed on: 04th November 2019).

Filipović, Katarina (2018), ‘Gender representation in children’s books: case of an early childhood setting’, Journal of Research in Childhood Education. Routledge, 32(3), pp. 310–325. doi: 10.1080/02568543.2018.1464086.

The gender pay gap among full-time employees was 8.9% in 2019 according to the Office for National Statistics in a recent release from 29 October 2019. Office for National Statistics (2019), Gender pay gap in the UK: 2019. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/genderpaygapintheuk/2019#the-gender-pay-gap (Accessed on: 04th November 2019).

Institut zur Qualitätsentwicklung im Bildungswesen (201), National Assessment Studies and IQB Trends in Student Achievement. Available at: https://www.iqb.hu-berlin.de/bt (Accessed on: 04th November 2019). Cf. Schmoll, H. (2019), ‘Leistungsniveau in Mathe und Naturwissensschaften gesunken’, FAZ Online, 18.10.2019. Available at: https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/iqb-bildungstrend-leistungen-in-mathe-und-naturwissensschaften-gesunken-16439167.html (Accessed on: 04th November 2019). 

Still to this year advertisements like recently from VW and Philadelphia got banned, cf. BBC (2019) ‘Philadelphia and VW ads banned for gender stereotyping’. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49332640 (Accessed on: 04th November 2019). 

Not only due to belief system but also family structures, social surroundings, education, and media.

Cf. Power, G., (2019) ‘Things that women in Saudi Arabia still can’t do’, The Week, 3rd of September. Available at: https://www.theweek.co.uk/60339/things-women-cant-do-in-saudi-arabia (Accessed on: 04th November 2019). 

Cf. Best Sellers in Philosopher Biographies by Amazon.co.uk: Amazon (2019) ‘Best Sellers in Philosopher Biographies’. Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsellers/books/268059/ref=zg_b_bs_268059_1 (Accessed on: 04th November 2019). 

Ferguson, D. (2019) ‘’Highly concerning': picture books bias worsens as female characters stay silent’, The Guardian. 13th June. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/13/highly-concerning-picture-books-bias-worsens-as-female-characters-stay-silent (Accessed on: 04th November 2019). 

Mokrzycki, S. (2019) ‘I looked at 100 best-selling picture books: female protagonists were largely invisible’, The Conversation, 03rd June. Available at: https://theconversation.com/amp/i-looked-at-100-best-selling-picture-books-female-protagonists-were-largely-invisible-115843 (Accessed on: 04th November 2019). 

Cf. McCabe, J., Fairchild, E., Grauerholz, L., Pescosolido, B. A., & Tope, D. (2011). Gender in twentieth-century children’s books: Patterns of disparity in titles and central characters. Gender & Society, 25(2), 197–226. doi:10.1177/0891243211398358. Also cf. Blake, J., & Maiese, N. (2008). No fairytale. The benefits of the bedtime story. The Psychologist, 21(5), 386–388.

Let Toys be Toys (2019). Available at: http://lettoysbetoys.org.uk/ (Accessed on: 04th November 2019). 

Cf. Darby, S. (2016) ‘11 children's books that pass the bechdel’, Romper, 17th May. Available at: https://www.romper.com/p/11-childrens-books-that-pass-the-bechdel-test-10544 (Accessed on: 04th November 2019). 

Picture(s)

Hanser Literaturverlage (2019), [Screenshot]. Available at: https://www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/buch/good-night-stories-for-rebel-girls/978-3-446-25690-3/ (Accessed on: 04th November 2019).

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Open Call: Erasmus Mundus Scholarships in Journalism, Media and Globalization 2018/2020 http://nairascholarship.com/open-call-erasmus-mundus-scholarships-in-journalism-media-and-globalization-2018-2020/

[postolo]

SLS NOIDA conducts Certificate Course on Public Policy

Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA and the Outreach and Training Division of the Centre for Civil Society, New Delhi (CCS Academy) collaborated to conduct a Three day Certification Course on Public Policy, called “ipolicy” on July 20-22, 2018 . The Course focused on liberal approaches to public policy, aspects of individual liberty and institutional accountability.  

Over the past several years, CCS Academy has the privilege of conducting the said programs in leading Indian colleges like IIM Ahemdabad, FMS, IIT-Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Mumbai, ISB-Hyderabad, Delhi School of Economics, National Law School-Bangalore, St Stephens-Delhi and St Xaviers-Mumbai, to name a few.

The resource person for the course were Mr. Parth J. Shah, President, Centre for Civil Society,  Mr. Shubho Roy,Legal Consultant, National Institute of Publica Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and Mr. Yugank Goyal, Founding Faculty Member, O P Jindal Global University

About the resource persons

Mr. Parth J. Shah, President, Centre for Civil Society 

Mr. Parth’s research and advocacy work focus on the themes of economic freedom (law, liberty and livelihood campaign), choice and competition in education (fund students, not schools), property rights approach for the environment (terracotta vision of stewardship), and good governance (new public management and the duty to publish). He has published extensively in international and Indian journals, on various topics from currency regulation to education policy. He holds a PhD in Economics from Auburn University, and taught at the University of Michigan.

Mr. Shubho Roy, Legal Consultant, National Institute of Publica Finance and Policy (NIPFP)

Mr. Shubho is a Legal Consultant at National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. He is a member of the research team for the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission. This involves research support to one of the largest legislative redrafting projects India has undertaken to revamp the regulation of the financial sector. Previously, he has served as a law clerk to a judge at the Supreme Court of India.

Mr. Yugank Goyal, Founding Faculty Member, O P Jindal Global University 

Mr. Yugank Goyal received his Ph.D. in Economics and Law from University of Hamburg, Erasmus University Rotterdam and University of Bologna as Erasmus Mundus Fellow. He has an LL.M. from University of Manchester and Bachelor of Technology from NIT Surat, India.

Mr. Yugank is a founding faculty member of OP Jindal Global University. In addition to helping establish the University, he spearheaded several institution building initiatives, including designing curriculum and academic policies of the University in its formative stage. Between 2009 and 2012, Mr. Yugank was the Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean (Research & International Collaborations) at Jindal Global Law School. In his capacity as Assistant Dean, he cultivated research architecture of the law school and led its collaboration with world’s leading law schools and think tanks around the world.

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[lynnlivestheworld]

To live in Aarhus

To live in Aarhus

It started like a miracle, of a kind that I have got to know more of it day after day, and still am eager to learn what I will encounter next.

The unexpected scholarship for Erasmus Mundus Journalism program made my dream of studying in Europe come true. At that time I held firm that was the most fortunate moment in many years of my life, but since I moved to Aarhus, I have realized that just…

[gabrieldesa-blog]

First of all... About my education

I am currently doing a masters in Journalism and Globalization in Hamburg University, Germany. The course is an Erasmus Mundus Programme, which I started in Aarhus University, in Denmark. The focus is in journalism and media across different cultures.

Previously, between 2007 and 2011, I did my bachelour’s degree in Social Communications - Journalism, in one of the most prestigious institutions of Latin America, Universidade de Brasília (UnB).