Blog

I have had a few learning experiences this summer that might be worth noting in this blog. I am currently studying the ruby programming language and the rails framework at bitmaker labs. Programming, like learning any other language, involves learning a bunch of new vocabulary. While logic and reasoning are important, it's also important to […]

Last year I spent some time at Hacklab Toronto's Tuesday Open Houses and was introduced to an instructor from bitmaker labs, and after considering it for a while, I decided to become a student there in the summer. Bitmaker's immersive web development course focuses on ruby, ruby on rails, javascript, and html and css: a […]

Podur, J. (2014). A Short Course on Development in “Post-conflict” Congo. Radical Teacher, 98, 52-57. doi:10.5195/rt.2014.70 This article, published in the journal Radical Teacher, is about higher education in the eastern DR Congo, based on my experience teaching a course at the Universite Evangelique en Afrique (UEA) in Bukavu in 2011.

My latest article is Jan/Feb 2014 cover story in Briarpatch Magazine. In it I analyze science and politics, talking about three different things that are called science: Science A (authority), Science B (business), and Science C (curiosity). Hope you enjoy. http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/science-and-liberation

My book on Haiti, Haiti's New Dictatorship, came out at the end of 2012. My main 2013 publication was the chapter, Incompatible Objectives in Empire's Ally (University of Toronto Press 2013). On my sabbatical in India from January-April 2013, I studied several other conflicts, and did a few other projects, from which publications will start […]

A few months ago, a colleague called my attention to Bear 71, an amazing interactive documentary project about the relationship of bears and humans in Banff National Park from the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), by Jeremy Mendes and Leanne Allison: Bear 71, it turns out, is the thin edge of the wedge in […]

I was perusing the Teaching Commons website early in the Fall 2013 term when I came across the Instructional Skills Workshop. Even though I have mixed feelings about workshops as a genre (my critique of workshops is analogous to Edward Tufte's critique of powerpoint - there is a "cognitive style of workshops" that, if you […]

York University recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jamia Millia Islamia, so the institutions have an official relationship. There are other similarities I've noticed. The way that York is located at the North of Toronto, Jamia is located in the southeast of Delhi. They're also building a subway here, like at York, so […]

Hello everyone, I will be a Visiting Professor at Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia from January to April 2013. Just got here and am getting acclimatized, so I hope to have a comment and impression or two about teaching here at this blog before too long.