We spent this weekend in London for our last study tour of this semester. It was absolutely amazing, and much different than other study tours we have gone on so far. Disclaimer: Dr. Shah took all these photos, I just stole them from our Facebook page.
The focus of class last week was: contemporary race relations in the UK and the Global South. As a result of this topic, our study tour focused on very similar issues.
Our first stop in London was the New York Times office where we met with Amanda Taub, who writes "The Interpreter" column. We were able to spend about two hours with Amanda. The time was spent with a mix of us asking questions and her explaining her work. It was absolutely fascinating! She spoke about how gender has impacted her work (in both positive and negative ways) and spent quite a bit of time describing how to write about the developing world. I loved being able to speak with her, it was amazing that she was so generous with her time.
The full group in the New York Times offices
The second stop of the day was at the Overseas Development Institute (a think tank that focuses on international development and humanitarian issues). We met with a small group of their research fellows and spoke with them in a similar style to how we talked with Amanda. Each of the fellows described the work they do and their path to working at ODI. They each outlined a few of the projects they had recently worked on and discussed the funding process of working at a think tank. I was fascinated by the politics of working in a think tank as opposed to the politics I have witnessed in my State Department internship.
Group shot at ODI, check out the official background
Before heading back to the hotel we walked along the Thames, the weather was beautiful! We walked through Covent Garden and the West End, it was the first time I had seen it in the daylight. Dr. Shah made us stop for pictures (which you can see below).
This is the second version of this photo, after it was decided we needed the London skyline behind us
Dr. Shah was very excited about this Covent Garden photo. Right after this someone dressed in a rabbit costume gave us free chocolate
Checking in at the hotel took awhile (something about having 13 people at once), so we had 15 minutes before dinner. Dinner was entertaining as always, it doesn't happen often but it is so nice to get the whole group together.
According to the schedule we were supposed to take a walking tour of the West End from 7:00pm-10:00pm (admittedly weird timing). Because we are rule following students we thought nothing of it and went along with Dr. Shah. That is, until she stopped us on a corner and told us a little about the history of the area. Then, we turned around and looked at the theater where The Lion King is playing. We looked at it, thought, "sure, postcolonialism" until Dr. Shah announced to us we were seeing the show. Pandemonium then broke loose. There was screaming, hugging, and general noise until we got into the theater. The show was of course incredible, and I am so impressed by Dr. Shah's secret keeping abilities.
You can see pure joy on the faces of every person in this picture
The excitement continues inside
London Day 2 started at the London School of Economics where we met with Dr. Omar Khan (director of the Runnymede Trust). Runnymede Trust is a race relations think tank working in the UK. This meeting was, like all the others, fantastic. Dr. Khan was really informal with us which allowed for lots of questions and he was incredibly knowledgeable. I think my favorite aspect of this meeting was the focus he put on the social context of race relations. It is much different than in the US, so I was glad for some clarifications.
Our time in London ended with a tour of Brick Lane. Our tour guide showed us the street art in the area (a huge draw for many) and described the socio-political inspirations behind the work. Brick Lane and the surrounding area has a fascinating history of migration; as evidence by a building that is now a mosque but was once: a French Huguenot chapel, a Catholic church, and a synagogue. This area of London was also the most bombed section of the city during the Blitz, and the buildings still show evidence of these events.
You can see evidence of the patterns of migration on these signs (they are in English and Bengali)
As I mentioned earlier, this trip to London was much different than any I had previously experienced. In fact, on the tube home I totally forgot I was even in London (I've thought about this a lot). I am so grateful to Dr. Shah for taking us to these amazing meetings, it has really opened my mind to different career options. Obviously, I knew there were lots of options for Global Studies, but now I have concrete evidence of these possibilities. We'll see what the future brings, but I'm excited about it.
Madeline
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