Sam Staddon, University of Edinburgh
“I cannot wait for next year’s field trip…although I do fear that future trips may never be a great as this first one, given we all shared such a steep learning curve of organisation and of mutual understanding and appreciation. Of course the chance to eat momos every day and to dance together into the night, will make it all alright – as of course will the fact that the trip will change every year with a new cohort of students and perhaps staff. We will never learn all about Nepal and its people – which some students thought was their task when arriving – but I truly hope that we shall continue to share, reflect and learn together in order that we all engage in more transformative ways to change our unequal world (cf. Roy et al. 2016).”
This was how I ended my blog for SIAS on our amazing student fieldtrip to Nepal in 2019 – eager to return with new students the next year…however this year’s fieldtrip for the Masters in Environment & Development students at the University of Edinburgh (UK) coincided with the global lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, so we could not return. Rather than cancel the trip entirely we (the UoE and SIAS) decided to run it as a remote experience – and despite it being another steep learning curve, I am so very glad that we did. There may have been no momos to eat or dancing into the night like last year, but it truly was a unique experience of sharing, reflecting and learning together, focused on ways to transform our unequal world. The experience thus most certainly continued the great work started by SIAS last year, and in fact took it in new and productive directions. It also demonstrated the most important aspect of any collaboration such as this – an ethics of care.
Students this year shared how sad they had been on hearing that the physical trip had been cancelled – on one of the final evenings they were able to gather together in the pubs of Edinburgh, they comforted each other; they were worried about what might replace the trip for which they had such high expectations, and which for some had been the reason they chose this particular Masters. When we were able to share plans for the remote experience however – involving presentations and live discussions with Nepali practitioners, and group projects working closely with SIAS staff using existing project data and offering new interpretations of that – they started to come around. The actual remote experience went better than anyone had hoped for however – students were amazed at how much was covered, saying it “exceeded expectations”. The students learnt so much from the speakers in week 1, getting to appreciate what the theory they had studied in class actually means ‘on the ground’, and becoming interested in the new topics discussed. The project work in week 2, working closely with SIAS staff, gave them a unique opportunity to see the sorts of environment and development work done by SIAS, and to independently manage their own project, including the collaboration.
But what was most important to the students – and what came through most strongly during our Closing Ceremony reflections – was the care and commitment demonstrated by SIAS. Students were inspired by how much SIAS cared for the same things they did – inequalities and injustices, and the really hard to tackle challenges with no easy answers – and also how they cared for them, taking real time and effort to make the remote experience such a success. SIAS – in the closing reflections you thanked us ‘for trusting SIAS’ to deliver such a challenging experience – but the trust came easily, as we knew from last year that you would do an excellent job. You not only challenged the students academically, but also catered for their emotional needs – especially in those very early days of lockdown when many were still scared and frightened – you brought such energy and made the experience fun.
Just like last year’s students (Fleur, Sonya, Peter), our students this year have shared their own experiences of the remote experience, with Allie revealing the huge impact it has had for her; “In the wake of a global health pandemic that forced us to alter how we work and interact, we have developed necessary tools for global communication of pressing issues…For me, the work that we conducted with SIAS was pivotal in the development of my toolkit to tackle issues from afar, and I am grateful that I can now utilize those to engage in topics that I am passionate about”.
Writing of academia in the time of COVID-19, Corbera et al. (2020) call for an Ethics of Care; suggesting that ‘this disruptive time can become an opportunity to foster a culture of care, help us refocus on what is most important, redefine excellence in teaching and research, and in doing so make academic practice more respectful and sustainable’ (p.191). So many people I came across thought it was madness to run a remote experience in Nepal, wondering how on earth we were going to pull it off. To me, the experience was amazing – exhausting and a huge amount of preparation at a time when we were all struggling to come to terms with COVID in our own lives – but such a worthwhile thing to have done. It reinforced to me the utmost importance of a culture of care in academic work – what Askins & Blazek (2015) refer to as a Politics of Care – and how that can be achieved through strong relationships, respect and shared commitment. These things are intangible and fail to appear in metrics assessing academic performance, but to me they remain my inspiration; even more so in these disruptive times which demand we do things differently – that we do things better to tackle ever-increasing inequalities in our societies and environments, through truly meaningful global collaborations (Oldekop et al. 2020).
I really hope our students get to visit Nepal one day and delighted with its many faces and facets, but for now, dherai dherai dhanyebhad SIAS for caring enough to connect during COVID and create such a wonderful remote experience.
References
Askins & Blazek (2017) Feeling our way: academia, emotions and a politics of care. Social & Cultural Geography, 18, 1086-1105.
Corbera et al. (2020) Academia in the Time of COVID-19: Towards an Ethics of Care. Planning, Theory & Practice, 21, 191-199.
Oldekop et al. (2020) COVID-19 and the case for global development. World Development, 134, 105044.
“Views expressed here are personal and not associated with any affiliated organisations”
Published on July 30, 2020
