Bridge Blogs

by Alanna Shaikh · 2009-07-14 00:35:00 UTC
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(photo credit: Glenna Gordon)

One thing I talk about a lot is the importance of cultural understanding in global health. Without knowing context, your work is remarkably useless. But we can't all spend years in a place learning society and culture before we start a program, though I wish we could. Instead, we research as best we can. I like to do a lot of reading on the history and sociology of where I work. I also read local media (in English if that is all I can do) and novels set in that location.

Lastly, I like bridge blogs - blogs which serve to help outsiders understand a culture. Some are written by insiders for an international audience, others by outsiders sharing their own leaning process. Either way, they are an easy, bite-size way to learn a new place.

Some of my favorite bridge blogs:

Window on Eurasia - Russia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus - This blog features commentary and translations of regional news media, bringing ideas and perspectives I haven't found anywhere else.

Marc Lynch at Foreign Policy - The Middle East - Informed insight into the politics of the Middle East. I am especially impressed by his analysis of Muslim Brotherhood internal dynamics.

Aimee Barnes on China - China (obviously) - Written by an American specialist on business and China, the blog has a specific goal of explaining China to outsiders.

Gori Wife Life - Pakistan - This is a change of pace from the others. It's a blog written by an American woman who married a Pakistani, and it focuses on Pakistani culture and domestic life. She's not aiming to look at anything larger, but she's very observant and her insight casts light on a bigger picture.

Scarlett Lion - Liberia - American journalist Glenna Gordon is based in Liberia and writes about politics and daily life.

I notice, listing them out, that all these blogs are written by outsiders. I wonder if being in the middle of a culture you take so much for granted that you have trouble being accessible to outsiders? Or maybe I am lazy?

For more blogs that bridge cultures, I strongly recommend Global Voices. In their own words: "Global Voices is a community of more than 200 bloggers around the world who work together to bring you translations and reports from blogs and citizen media everywhere, with emphasis on voices that are not ordinarily heard in international mainstream media."

Do you have favorite bridge blogs? Suggest them in the comments.

Alanna Shaikh
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