Join us for the Sylvia Chant Lecture which this year will be delivered by Jo Sharp, Geographer Royal for Scotland.
Over the 25 years that Professor Sharp has been working on international development projects, the concept of empowerment has become mainstreamed. As participatory approaches have become more commonplace, the focus has moved to people as the source of change. But how – and why – this change happens is not always so clear.
This talk draws on two research collaborations: one with Bedouin women and local academics in Egypt’s south-eastern desert, and another with an interdisciplinary and international One Health project in northern Tanzania. Reflecting on these experiences, Professor Sharp will explore the assumptions we make about people’s abilities and desires to act as agents of change.
Meet our speaker and chair
Jo Sharp () is Professor of Geography at the University of St Andrews. Jo is an internationally-leading human geographer with interests in geopolitical and feminist geography. She studied for her undergraduate degree at the University of Cambridge before moving to the University of Syracuse, USA to obtain her Masters and PhD and remained at the University as a teaching fellow. In 1995 Joanne joined the faculty of the University of Glasgow and became Professor of Geography in 2011, remaining there until 2019 after which she became Professor Geography at the University of St Andrews. In 2022 Jo was named Geographer Royal for Scotland.
Claire Mercer () is a human geographer working at the intersection of human geography and African studies. Her early work developed a critique of the NGO-ization of development, and subsequent work developed postcolonial approaches to civil society and diaspora. She is currently working on new research on peripheral urbanization in African cities. She has conducted research in Tanzania, Cameroon and the UK.
More about this event
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The Department of Gender Studies () pioneers intersectional, interdisciplinary and transnational teaching and research, addressing the tenacity of gendered power relations and gendered inequalities in times of global transformations. Established in 1993, 杏吧论坛 Gender is the largest Department of Gender Studies in Europe.
The Department of Geography and Environment () is a centre of international academic excellence in economic, urban and development geography, environmental social science and climate change.
This event is part of the Sylvia Chant Lecture Series which are organised in memory of Sylvia Chant, Professor of Development Geography.
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A podcast of this event is available to download from Agents of change? The challenges of understanding empowerment through international development.
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