recommended resources

I asked a range of current and former students which films, books or articles did most to make them interested in, understand or care about global issues or human rights. Here are their top answers:

Books and articles

• The Shacked Continent Guardian, 17 April 2004
• To Hell with Good Intentions 1968 address by Monsignor Ivan Illich. Has lost none of its impact over the years
• A Small Place Jamaica Kincaid’s searing critique of western tourism
• Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey Fergal Keane’s eyewitness account of the Rwandan genocide
• The Vanity of Volunteerism New York Times, 2 July 2000. A necessary reality check
• Shake Hands with the Devil Lt.-Gen. Roméo Dallaire, head of the UN mission to Rwanda during the genocide
• The Spirit Level Pickett and Wilkinson. Why inequality is our most damaging challenge
• Lords of Poverty Graham Hancock’s shocking catalogue of aid failures in the ’80s – sadly still relevant

Films

• Rendition based on the true story of Khalid El Masri who was mistaken for Khalid al-Masri by the CIA
• City of God Growing up in a suburb of Rio between the 60s and 80s, during the rise of organised crime
• Schooling the World If you wanted to change a culture in a single generation, how would you do it? You would change the way it educates its children.
• The Killing Fields The Cambodian genocide, journalism & why the country on your passport matters
• Tsotsi Six days in the violent life of a young Johannesburg gang leader

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Here are some more of my own favourites:

Books

• Hope in Hell – Inside the World of Doctors Without Borders by Dan Borlotti
• The Bang bang Club by Greg Marinovich (4 young war photographers documenting the transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa)
• Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo (a devastating critique of international aid & the damage it’s done to the African continent)
• Half The Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn (a shocking picture of the lives of women in Africa and Asia)
• The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett (1996. An extraordinary snapshot of the world of emerging diseases)
• 100 under $100 by Betsy Teutsch (effective, low-cost solutions for helping women in the Global South out of poverty)

Films

• The Danger of a Single Story (Chimamanda Adichie’s TED Talk)
• Lord of War (The Arms Trade, based on the true story of Viktor Bout)
• Born into Brothels (Children documenting their own lives in India)
• I Will Never be Cut (Girls against FGM in Kenya)
• McCullin A portrait of the greatest living war photographer, Don McCullin
• Restrepo Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger. Arguably the best war film ever made
• Persepolis Animated, Academy Award-nominated story of a girl growing up in the Iranian revolution
• The Wooden Camera Children growing up in Cape Town – both the township of Kayelitsha & a ‘white’ suburb

Websites

• Asia Society
• The Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting Important untold global stories & excellent educational resources
• Mama Hope
• The Skoll Foundation
• Ashoka The largest network of social entrepreneurs in the world. Take a look at their Fellows for inspiration