Lectures/Presentations

Select from one of Daniel's adaptable presentations, or request a customized lecture.

Rehearsing Change: Finding, Telling and Transforming the Development Story 

 

90 minute to 2-hour presentation/workshop in which participants must rethink development as a story.

 

The presentation suggests that the very problem with the Development Story is our role. We are its receivers and its observers, perhaps even perpetuating the conflicts through a lack of engagement. The presentation transitions into an interactive workshop that explores an arts-based, multi-cultural, educational methodology for finding, re-creating, re-telling and transforming this story through a local to global dialogical process. While directed to a general audience, this presentation/workshop is especially apt for those with interests in: participatory/activist/applied research, the Applied Arts (especially theatre and dance), social justice, Development Studies, Latin American Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, Geography and Peace and Conflict Studies. 

 

The presentation/workshop usually presents the reality of the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest as a case study for the Development Story, introducing local indigenous communities,  transnational companies, the government, and the natural/mythical forest as the characters. 

Fair Trade Study Abroad: international education as a decolonizing force 

 

60 to 90 minute presentation that examines a new philosophy for Study Abroad, in which it is applied to local community development.  

 

Using our Rehearsing Change program as a case study, we ask participants to reconsider study abroad for its potential in providing simultaneous and equal educational opportunities for local community members.  The presentation suggests a Fair-Trade Learning model and Applied Study Abroad as the future of international education.

A Balancing Act: Local Realities and Global Interests in the Ecuadorian Amazon

 

60 to 90 minute presentation focused completely on the Ecuadorian Amazon and related development issues. Themes covered:

 

• General history of Development in the Ecuadorian Amazon

• Biodiversity in the Ecuadorian Amazon

• Cultural Diversity in the Ecuadorian Amazon

• Oil and mining in the Amazon

• Case Studies: Chevron-Texaco lawsuit, Non-contacted indigenous peoples of the Ecuadorian Amazon

• The future prognosis

• A proposal for change – a brief explanation of how the Pachaysana Institute bridges the divide between Local Realities and Global Interests