AN EXERCISE IN WORLDMAKING 2009 Best Student Essays of 2008/09 Evaluated and published by students from the 2008/09 and 2009/10 batches with the support of the PhD students and ISS staff ISS Scholas Representatives Eyob Gebremariam Sanjukta Chaudhuri Rino Paez Daniela Andrade Nadya Perera Heather Huhtanen Helal Hossain Dhali i ii Published by the Institute of Social Studies Kortenaerkade 12 2518 AX The Hague Netherlands First published in 2009 ISBN ????????????????? All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission of the editors, authors or publishers. A catalogue record for this book is available from the Royal Library, The Hague, The Netherlands Printed in the Netherlands by Datawyse bv, Universitaire Pers Masstricht iii A participatory and student-driven academic exchange and reference tool created for the Institute of Social Studies MA students of 2008 & 2009 STUDENT EVALUATORS Maesy Angelina Johsa Marie G. Manzanilla Gloria Lai Teresa Lorena Jopson Regina Estorba Macalandag Naazlin Dadani Fatima Olanike Ojetunde Subhasish Dey Ruth Marie Harbaugh Heather Jo Huhtanen Felix Adiburu Andama Suharto Suharto Lillian Mutesi Sophie Conin Karem DeLiz Coronel Upasana Choudhry Rashmi Thapa Umme Busra Fateha Sultana Rino David Paez Nicolas Josef Rodolf Glockl ENGLISH & COPY EDITORS: Regina Estorba Macalandag Suharto Suharto Andrea Nicole Dykshoorn Gloria Lai Bernice Campos Roldan Umme Busra Fateha Sultana Teresa Lorena Jopson Karem DeLiz Coronel Sophie Conin Nicolas Josef Rodolf Glockl PROJECT COORDINATORS Nicolas Josef Rodolf Glockl Karem DeLiz Coronel COVER ARTWORK/DESIGN Mavis Akinyi Olum DESIGN LAYOUT Joy Misa Acknowledgements This book could not have been produced without the collaboration of all the ISS staff members and students involved in the process. We would par- ticularly like to thank: • the program administrators, Annet Geen van, Sharmini Bisessar, Tanya Kingdon, Vlada Tchirikova, Marja Zubli, Karin Hirdes, Cisca Vorselman, Josée Haanappel, and Katherine Voorvelt. For some, it has been their fourth year assisting Scholas with this initiative and without their time and energy this book would not have been possible. • Louk de la Rive Box, Wim Knoester, Wil Hout and Inge van Verschuer for their support in this student initiative. Their doors were always open for us when urgent matters needed to be discussed, decisions made, and prompt action needed to be taken. • the dedicated team of evaluators formed by the talented MA students, who applied their knowledge, time and energy in judging the essays with valuable qualitative comments, providing us a selection of the best among the best essays of Terms 2 and 3. • the editing team, further formed by MA students who contributed their time on the English language editing of this book. • Joy Misa, for the fourth year in a row, who has graciously taken on the meticulous task of assuring that the layout and format was done in the high- est of professional standards. Thank you for working so hard within such a short span of time. • Mavis Akinyi Olum, a 2009/10 MA student for taking the time and creative talent to design such an aesthetically pleasing cover for this publica- tion. • Paula Bownas, for her help with the ISBN number. • Last, but certainly not least, we would like to thank the members of the 2008/09 Scholas Executive Committee who have been dedicated to in en- suring the publication of this book. iv Foreword This collection of essays represents the fourth edition of An Exercise in Worldmaking. The contents of this anthology reflect a sampling of the in- sights and perspectives of the 2008/09 MA students from the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. These essays are illustrative of how a diverse student body, representing over fifty countries and a host of professional and educational backgrounds, can contest, con- struct and redefine the notion of development; thus maintaining the con- temporary social, political and economic relevance of development theory and practice. Indeed, An Exercise in Worldmaking provides insight on relevant themes of development by professionals who are immersed in the theoretical, his- torical and practical work and literature of development. It is in this way that the enclosed essays serve to further the effort of collective and partici- patory worldmaking. On behalf of the 2008/09 student body, we are pleased to share 17 es- says selected by a committee of peers on the basis of excellent writing, in- novative thinking and critical analysis. The Process The methodology of this anthology is modelled on the approaches chosen in previous years. As in the last three years, the 2008/09 ‘best essay book’ was developed in an open, democratic and collaborative fashion. However, due to time constraints, smaller groups made several decisions in the last stage of the compilation process. The 17 ‘best’ essays included in the book were selected from a total of 59 essays provided by ISS professors and lecturers during terms two and three. The initial 59 essays were those that received the highest marks. The essays were acquired through course administrators in an anonymous fashion, bearing only the course code and student number. This year’s editorial v vi An EXERCISE IN WORLDMAKING committee determined that the challenge of identifying the ‘best’ essays is inherently subjective. Thus, to avoid bias, encourage discussion and foster collaboration, the essays were reviewed and ranked by teams of two student evaluators. A total of 20 students volunteered to review, rank and recommend es- says for the book. Ten teams each reviewed six essays and one team re- viewed five essays. Student evaluators came from a range of backgrounds, disciplines and regions, representing the diversity of the essays and the insti- tute itself. While the workload for each evaluator was greater this year, the overall evaluation experience is seen as more open and collaborative and less biased as a result of the discussion and reflection inherent in the team evaluation process. Evaluation teams were determined by common interest, specialization and previous experience. Thus, the essays that were assigned to each team generally followed a similar theme of specialization or topic so that evalua- tors would be in the best position to appropriately assess the essays. To en- sure that no evaluator assessed their own essay, the course administrators provided a list of the student authors of the 59 essays. This list was separate from the essays themselves and only reviewed by one of the student volun- teers who coordinated the assignment of essays to the teams of two. As in previous years, creating a dialogue and learning process between the former ‘old batch’, current ‘old batch’ and ‘new batch’ of MA students lies at the heart of this anthology. This continuous and intergenerational dia- logue is what propels the process of discovery, innovation and analysis by fostering collaboration and increasing diversity and representation. Thus the reflections of the 2008/09 MA students included in this book represent the influence of previous and current MA student groups; as a whole, it strives to be a relevant contribution to the institute’s evolving exercise in worldmaking. Contents Acknowledgements v Foreword vi 1 Demystifying ‘Youth’: Challenging the Conspicuous Absence of Young Women in the Conceptualization of ‘Youth’ and Understanding Youth as Potential Agents of Change through a Gender Lens SANJUKTA CHAUDHURI 1 2 Refugee Students in Canadian Schools: Their Distinct Needs and the Gaps in Existing Interventions ANDREA NICOLE DYKSHOORN 15 3 Innovation in the Andes: Exploring Participatory Local Governance in Guamote JONATHAN CONNOR 28 4 Labour Rights Governance, Decent Work and Global Value Chains EVA SABATE 39 5 The Role of the Local Government in Enabling the Development of the Private Sector and Other Relevant Actors: The Case of the Herman Costerstraat Market in The Hague SERGIO FERRAGUT 49 vii viii An EXERCISE IN WORLDMAKING 6 The Utility of the Citizen: Relating Citizenship in Social Movement Activity MEGHAN MICHELLE COOPER 62 7 Does the Aid Consensus Shift from Washington to the South? A Case Study of PRSP Ownership in Rwanda SABRINA BRANDT 72 8 Neoliberal Restructuring in the Aftermath of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis: Benevolent Makeover or Insidious Takeover? The Case of South Korea MEKALIA PAULOS AKLILU 85 9 One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Tailoring Credit Programs along the Logic of the Poor BERNICE CAMPOS ROLDAN 95 10 The Relationship between Institutional Formation, Macro Policies and Informal Micro Production: Understanding Informality in a Colombian Context ISABELLE TURCOTTE 111 11 The Interesting Facts of the New Trade and Growth Theories TISKA YUMEIDA 125 12 The Epistemology of My Ongoing Research “Feminist Representations of Rape and Victimization: The Case of Sexto Sentido in Nicaragua” STEFANIA DONZELLI 137 13 Imaging Women and Compassion in the New People’s Army: The Communist Party of the Philippines’ Construction of its Army’s identity TERESA LORENA JOPSON 146 Contents ix 14 Orientalisation of Veil: Unpacking the Politics of Veil in the Context of Bangladesh UMME BUSRA FATEHA SULTANA 160 15 Reimagining Reproductive Health Interventions: Exploring the importance of including Men in Reproductive Health Programs MELANIE NEWELL 171 16 What’s Yours is Mine TARA TABASSI 182 17 Intersectionality and Human Rights: Law, Theory and Praxis CHANTELLE DE NOBREGA 199 Demystifying ‘Youth’: Challenging the Conspicuous Absence of Young Women in the Conceptualization of ‘Youth’ and Understanding Youth as Potential 1 Agents of Change through a Gender Lens SANJUKTA CHAUDHURI INTRODUCTION In the globalised and transnational world of today ‘youth’ remains to be an integral and potential agent of change. ‘History’ in the absence of ‘her story’ has been testimony to the role played by ‘youth’ time and again in raising and addressing pertinent issues, initiating and sustaining processes of social change.