Nov 29, 2021
EVALUATING EQUITY AND FAIRNESS ISSUES IN ADOPTING EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY FOR BANGLADESHI STUDENTS
Amreen Bashir—a Harvard graduate and visionary Bangladeshi educator—will join me on November 29 to engage in a critical conversation about equity and digital education in the Bangladeshi context. The dream of Digital Bangladesh will remain incomplete if we do not engage in serious discussions about democratizing the digital landscape. Digital learning can help reduce inequities between students, but digital learning can also perpetuate and exacerbate existing inequities for marginalized Bangladeshi students. This will make education more inequitable for the poor students who do not have adequate digital skills and access to devices and reliable internet. You are invited to join our conversation.
Nov 28, 2021
CAPITALISM AND EDUCATION IN BANGLADESHI CONTEXT
Professor Azfar Hussain, one of the most prolific Bangladeshi scholars, will join us in a critical conversation about education and capitalism on November 28. The neoliberal assault on education is adversely impacting academia across the world: Bangladesh is no exception. Dr. Hussain is a provocating thinker and a remarkable theorist. I am looking forward to our conversation, and you are cordially invited.
Nov 19, 2021
COMPUTATIONAL PROPAGANDA AND DISINFORMATION AS AN EXISTENTIAL THREATS TO SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
Computational propaganda and disinformation are existential threats to our science and society. Bangladesh is not beyond their reach. We have noticed how social media was used to spread disinformation and lies to stoke communal violence in Bangladesh in the last few years. Upoma Ahmad (Canadian University of Bangladesh) is the recipient of 2021 Diana Award. Her organization Evolution 360 has taken an excellent initiative to combat disinformation in Bangladesh. Professor Wesly Moy (Johns Hopkins University) is a notable disinformation researcher. Upoma and Dr. Moy will join us in our upcoming disinformation discussion on November 19 at 10 PM Bangladesh time. You are invited to join us.
Nov 12, 2021
DIGITAL ECONOMY, DESIGN POLITICS AND SPACES AROUND US
Space, be it digital or physical, is inescapably political. Deploliticizing space(s) is a longstanding neoliberal project that invisibilizes marginalized masses. My upcoming guest Nusrat Ishtiaque Jahan is a brilliant Bangladeshi architect who researches (currently at Harvard University) how different spatial and technical designs can contest or cause social exclusions in the Global South. Henri Lefebvre—French Marxist sociologist— argued that "space is not a scientific object removed from ideology or politics. It has always been political and strategic." I look forward to engaging in a critical conversation with Nusrat Apa to expose the politics of space—virtual and real— in our upcoming conversation.