Who are you?
I am a Nigerian doctoral researcher in Development Studies at The University of Western Cape, South Africa.
What did you study on the LSE-UCT July School?
I chose the course – ‘Poverty –what causes it and what it causes’ because it is significant for my research on child poverty. The course explored the foundations/dynamics of poverty as a real-life experience and toured how poverty interacts with other discourses (growth/inequality, famines, health, democracy, micro-credit and violence) both as a cause and consequence while balancing this with the implications for development.
Elliott made the morning sessions interesting by incorporating thought-provoking videos and the afternoon seminars with Anokhi also stimulated discussions/debates among course participants. An essay and a test helped evaluate substantive knowledge gained from the course. Gladly, it was not an all-class affair – we met and freely interacted with Cape Town’s Deputy Mayor and other city officials. This helped bring a different perspective to the poverty problem vis-à-vis challenges experienced by government in poverty alleviation/eradication.
What was your experience of Cape Town?
The time spent on the UCT campus was fun, given the wonderful views of the city and the on-hand assistance from the Summer School staff. Overall, Cape Town is a lovely city with many wonderful places to visit and get enthralled with.