An Associate Professor of Anthropology at Burman University in Lacombe had the opportunity of a lifetime when he gave a lecture at Oxford University in England.
Adam Kiš discussed his book The Development Trap: How Thinking Big Fails The Poor on Nov. 28.
The book, which focuses on poverty and international development, has been out for about six and half years.
"You never know who is reading it and what impact it's making on the world and then I get this email out of the blue in August from someone at Oxford," remarked Kiš.
He noted it was a quick trip to the prestigious university as he flew out on Nov. 27 and returned home on Nov. 29. About 25 people attended the lecture.
"It's an amazing place, I had never been to Oxford before and just the history and all of the culture and everything. It's quite an amazing place," he said.
In regards to his book, Kiš says that after living in the developing world for about 10 years and working in the humanitarian and development industry, what he was seeing on the ground didn't match up with what a lot of books were saying.
He noted that all of the experts believe ending poverty is possible, they just disagree on how it can be done.
Kiš was told by one of his professors to journal all of his findings and observations. It was from this collection that the book originated.
"Eventually I realized I have enough material here for a manuscript, maybe I should write a book about this. So then I started compiling everything and organizing it into chapters. I wrote most of the book, actually the first draft, while I was still living in the field in developing countries but I finalized the book after I moved here. I had more research time given to me by the university then one usually gets working in development organizations. That enabled me to put the finishing touches on it and get it published."
Kiš says he is planning to write another book that combines a multitude of topics relating to international development and poverty reduction.
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