The culture question

It seems that for many of us Africans, we struggle continually with these questions:  Who are we? What is our culture? I wrote a paper for a political thought seminar held last year, based on my observations and experiences. My conclusion is that the sanitized definitions reflected in our dictionaries do not begin to explain the complexity, brutality and nuances of culture. It is about identity and is reflected in what and how we express ourselves. But the beauty of culture is that it belongs to each one of us, and we should be active participants in its expression and creation.

Should I be a PhD student?

In our first class, we'll talk about whether the PhD is really what we need to be doing with our lives, and if so, what we should make it do for us.

We will also talk about what you need to do as a PhD student, and the rite of passage that culminates in being given the powers to read.

One of the points I emphasize is that PhD is not a status or an ego trip - it is a responsibility. There are many pressing problems in this great continent of ours, and holding the title means that we are distinguishing ourselves as people who can clarify issues. How does that relate to our reading for the week, Marian's The Unwritten rules of PhD research (2010)?