Skip to content

CIVIC LEARNING

Blog about working with communities and business to promote sustainable development

Tag: India

Student Volunteering in India: Life-changing or just a cliché?

11 May 201917 Jun 2019 Posted in Higher Education, Podcasts, Political participation, Research, Uncategorized

I haven’t been to India for a couple of years, I think it’s fairly well known I don’t like flying and despite my love of De Montfort University’s Square Mile India programme, the food and the politics of the country, I cannot face an 11-hour journey including an internal flight to Ahmedabad, Gujarat. That said, my trips to India have impacted my life, I have seen extreme poverty, people living under questionable religious order (the caste system), beautiful colours, interesting faces and millions of people enjoying another level of spirituality I could not reach no matter how much drink and drugs I consumed on a journey to truly find myself. I can live with the fact I’m not George Harrison but it certainly feels like India does effect people in a way visits to other countries do not. Sure you can see poverty in London, New York, Berlin, and the bottom of your street, but few comeback from a holiday and say ‘that was truly life-changing’. Yet people who come back from India do, so much so it’s becoming something of a cliche. When the brilliant folks in ADH at DMU said they  wanted to a research exhibition about India in The Gallery, I thought this was my chance to lance my boil and actually investigate whether students volunteering in India was truly life-changing or just a cliché. I am in the process of writing a paper on this, but as the exhibition closed last week I wanted to share the story so far and I’m happy for an academic collaboration to get the paper into shape for a future journal submission. I also created a podcast with Chris, Kainaath and Lucy from one of the focus groups that you can hear here:

Continue reading “Student Volunteering in India: Life-changing or just a cliché?”
Academic bloggingCivic ParticipationIndiaPolitical engagementvolunteering

Public Engagement blog: Attempts to break a cycle of poverty in India

10 Mar 201617 Jun 2019 Posted in Public engagement, Uncategorized

I looked out of my hotel window – five, six, seven dogs ran through the street, a gentle warm January breeze tossed dozens of kites caught in a tree and cars continued to peep their horns loudly at 2am. An old man walked by eating ice cream and the lights had finally gone out on a nearby slum. Ahmedabad, India, had given me an insomniac’s welcome that was far from restful. The stiffest drink in the hotel bar, a can of Diet Coke, was not going to help me fall asleep so I sat staring at the road below, reflecting on my day.I was thinking about that cliche of Indian life – where extreme poverty and wealth live side by side.

Continue reading “Public Engagement blog: Attempts to break a cycle of poverty in India”
IndiaPublic engagement
  • Home
  • Blog
    • Participation
    • Public engagement
    • Personal stuff
    • Community
    • Research
    • Podcasts
    • Citizen Science
    • PhD experiences
    • Higher Education
    • Other Projects

This blog:

I’m Mark Charlton, Associate Director of Sustainable Development Impact and Net Zero Research Director at De Montfort University (DMU), Leicester, United Kingdom.  I’m passionate about universities working with businesses and communities on ideas to tackle climate change and achieve the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. I am an advocate of Public Engagement in Research and Citizen Science as well as Service-Learning, community-based learning, civic learning, the scholarship of engagement, learning-linked volunteering and all the other ways we describe students sharing their skills and knowledge beyond the campus.  I currently lead the United Nations Academic Impact Initiative Global Academic Hub for SDG 16 at DMU. I am a PhD Scholar, researching the impacts of civic engagement on students’ political participation (SDG16). Contact me via mcharlton@dmu.ac.uk

Tweets by TheNewStatsman
Website Powered by WordPress.com. CIVIC LEARNING
  • Follow Following
    • CIVIC LEARNING
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • CIVIC LEARNING
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...