ULAB Event explores lessons learned from PPLA project
On the 25th August 2022, the Center for Sustainable Development (CSD) at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) organised a major event involving students and faculty to explore the lessons from the PPLA project. The ambitious programme, entitled “Lessons from a CSD project: EU policy, gendered land rights and the potential for co-produced teaching to decolonise academia”, began with guest speakers giving students invaluable context concerning key policy areas addressed by PPLA’s research. Mr Kirti Nishan Chakma, General Secretary of Moanaghar Residential School in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and Ms Sornotola Tudu gave an overview of land rights issues faced by Indigenous Peoples in Bangladesh. Ms Shaila Shahed, Chief Operating Officer of the Climate Change Support Unit of the Department of Public Health Engineering discussed gender, landlessness and equity concerns in the context of a changing climate.
Dr Oliver Scanlan, joining remotely from Dublin, then gave an overview of PPLA’s research concerning the gendered impacts of the EU-funded land digitalisation programme in Jamalpur Sadar upazila, followed by a Q and A and discussion. After the lunch break, he then delivered a presentation on the potential of Virtual Classrooms as a Pedagogical tool for decolonising the academy. This theme was then taken up in an open-format panel discussion led by ULAB faculty members Dr Arifa Rahman, Dr Haseeb Md. Irfanullah and Dr Md. Tareque Rahman.
The scope of the session then broadened to include group discussion among ULAB students concerning the feasibility and desirability of Virtual Classrooms, including the vexed questions of whether such a format could realistically escape heirarchies within and between organisers in institutions spanning the North and the South, and Eurocentric “grand narratives”, the latter point being particularly emphasised by Dr Tareque Rahman. Professor Imran, Vice Chancellor of ULAB, then offered closing remarks that highlighted the need for greater empathy and mutual understanding in addressing complex questions of equity in natural resource governance, and the value of the Liberal Arts model in fostering these values.