UNESCO Courier articles from November 2001

UNESCO Courier archives from November 2001

Afghan Women: Knowledge and Revolt. (People and Places)
November 1, 2001... ANTOINETTE DE JONG IS A DUTCH PHOTOGRAPHER; CHEKEBA HACHEMI IS PRESIDENT OF THE NGO AFGHANISTAN LIBRE (*) The only university open to Afghan women is located in Faizabad in northern Afghanistan, an area not under Tatiban control. Antoinette...

A Coastal Balancing Act. (Planet)
November 1, 2001... The rich biodiversity of coastal regions can be protected without chasing away tourism and other activities. On one condition: that local people play the lead role in steering conservation projects, says coastal expert Stephen B. Olsen (*) ...

Dilemmas in a Tropical Paradise. (A Coastal Balancing Act)
November 1, 2001... "We want tourists, but not too many," say the 400 inhabitants of Xcalak, a village on Mexico's southeast coast. They've taken steps to protect the area, but that may not be enough to keep developers at bay X calak on the Caribbean coast of...

Getting the Spin Right on History. (World of Learning)
November 1, 2001... Over the past decade, profound historical changes have ted many countries to revise how they teach history in school. Falk Pingel (*) 1001(5 at the pitfalls of the exercise To what extent do authors who revise school textbooks tread the fine...

Germany: Two Histories Reunited. (Getting the Spin Right on History)
November 1, 2001... It's taken several years, but students across the country are now learning a common version of history that takes stock of everyday life and dissident movements in the former East Germany The shock of unification reached classrooms in the...

Politics and Profit Scholars at Risk: Leaving Room for Dissent
November 1, 2001... Since the first universities were born over eight centuries ago, intellectuals have negotiated the right to pursue knowledge without outside pressure, a privilege broadly known as academic freedom. This sacrosanct notion continues to be...

Anatomy of a Corporate Takeover. (1. the Money Game)
November 1, 2001... After scaling the ramparts of academic freedom through secretive funding deals, corporations are gaining a new foothold in the ivory towers by exporting a commercial culture of governance The basic role of the university in democratic is at...

Who Calls the Tune? (1. the Money Game)
November 1, 2001... A landmark "strategic alliance" clinched by the University of California caused an uproar in the academic world, but for a rising generation of scientists, the deal probably contains what the future will be made of In 1998, the University of...

In the Name of a Fair Trial. (1. the Money Game)
November 1, 2001... Medical journals play a pivotal role in establishing a drug's safety. To curb the influence of private firms on reporting results, the most prestigious journals are tightening publication guidelines Clinical trials are a building block of...

Barbed Wire in the Research Field. (1. the Money Game)
November 1, 2001... As patent claims surge and intellectual property rights are tightened, researchers are struggling to safeguard the free movement of information, a key condition for pursuing their work Were said to be living in the knowledge society, but does...

African Scholars: Too Poor to Be Free. (1. the Money Game)
November 1, 2001... The governments of many African countries have eased their pressure on universities but economic interests are now turning up the heat, as market value becomes a yardstick for measuring relevance In many African countries, academics have...

When Your University Closes Down. (2. Power Traps)
November 1, 2001... Since the 1930s, an organization in the UK has assisted refugee scholars in pursuing their academic careers. Abdul Lalzad, a professor from Kabul, is among those who have managed to continue their research Thermal engineering is not usually...

In the Line of Fire. (2. Power Traps)
November 1, 2001... In the name of ethnic purity, religious conviction or even secularism, scholars and their students are targets of oppression in a large swathe of countries. Academics are stepping up efforts to marshal public opinion Academic freedom is a...

No Apologies. (2. Power Traps)
November 1, 2001... Since Last May, a distinguished Egyptian sociologist has been in prison, allegedly for tarnishing the state's reputation. His case stands as a warning to fellow intellectuals When sociologist Saadeddin Ibrahim was sentenced to seven years in...

Bound by Nostalgia. (2. Power Traps)
November 1, 2001... In Russia, a new generation of historians is in the making, but society at large does not seem pressed to question the darker moments of the Soviet era. For now, nostalgia holds the high ground Russian writer Viktor Astafiev is no stranger to...

Being on Alert. (Scholars at Risk)
November 1, 2001... Academics around the world should be engaging much more forcefully in the search for social justice, says Brenda Gourley, vice-chancellor of the University of Natal in South Africa(*) You often lament the gap between the academic world and...

Economic Rights: The Big Comeback. (Ethics)
November 1, 2001... Is the economic divide a root cause of the September 11 attacks? For several years, human rights organizations have made the fight against economic injustice a top priority One after the other, the major NGOs campaigning for civil and...

Tune into the "New Conscience of Islam". (Culture)
November 1, 2001... There is a reformist current in Islam, one that takes a critical approach to its origins. For Moroccan philosopher Abdou Filali-Ansary (*), if Muslims had more room to freely debate issues, religion and politics might no longer be so closely...

One Islam, a Mosaic of Believers. (Tune into the "New Conscience of Islam")
November 1, 2001... Allah is one but Islam is a mosaic. The Muslim world is a linguistic tower of Babel, an ethnic patchwork, a geographical puzzle and a political kaleidoscope offering a picture of extraordinary doctrinal diversity The word Islam derives from...

An Unseen World: How the Media Portrays the Poor. (Media)
November 1, 2001... Following the attacks on the United States, many commentators have pondered the Western public's ignorance of life and issues in the developing world. The author of a major study discusses why this is so, and what can be done For over 130...

Boris Cyrulnik Surviving of Life. (Talking To)
November 1, 2001... Trauma and anxiety are the lot of a growing number of young people, as violence holds sway and traditional notions of the family disintegrate. But there are roads to recovery, says French globetrotting psychologist, Boris Cyrulnik You must...