PARAKLETOS

Last night at Catalyst (a monthly gathering of Neighbors learning and doing “ACTIVE-NEIGHBORING” to transform the Community), we had Professor Zalanga give a presentation on economics.  Here is a link to his talk click here and below is some info about Professor Zalanga.

I believe that we are at a time in history, where we really need to rethink economics.  I know that for some, they just think that we just need to ”slightly change” things a little, but there are others of us who think that system has excluded us too long and the whole system needs to be overthrown.  I say that because I currently live in a neighborhood that has been excluded (we have an unemployment rate of 3x the rest of the city), I grew up in rural Iowa where the winners are a few corporate farmers and the losers where farmers like my Mother and Father, and I have a Brother and Sister from Guatemala, a county that has been under attack from “Consumer Capitalism” for decades.  So I am speaking from my experience and for the people that I know - the system is messed up, and we are tired of it.

Here are a few things that Professor Zalanga said that we could do:  Look inside yourself; reinvigorate community; consumerism is not sustainable and healthy for human well being; form discussion groups on civic issues and exploration of common values (if are interested, i would share with you about what we are doing with Catalyst), engage in social action; examine the inextricable interconnection between global and local.

Samuel Zalanga’s broad area of specialization is development studies and social change. He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Sociology. The title of his dissertation was: “The Postcolonial State and the Development Agenda: A Comparative Study of the Role of Ruling Elites in Development Policy Formulation and Implementation in Malaysia and Nigeria.”  In doing this research, he lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a period of time. Before moving to the United States in 1993 to pursue graduate studies, he lived and taught in Bauchi State, Northeastern Nigeria. He completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Sociology at Bayero University, Kano, and University of Jos, respectively in Northern Nigeria.

He currently teaches the following courses in the department: Social Inequality, Religion in Society, Urbanization: Growth and Development of the Modern City, Peoples and Cultures of the United States, and Sociology of Development. He also teaches one course each in the following Graduate Programs: Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership and Master of Arts in Gerontology. His scholarly interests, however, extend beyond the courses he currently teaches.

Recent Accomplishments:
a) Received Edgren Scholars funding from Bethel University to conduct the following research: “The Global and the Local in Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala: Using Micro-Case Study to Interrogate the Structure and Consequences of Social Marginality in the Third World” (Summer 2005);

b) “Indigenous Capitalists: The Development of Indigenous Investment Companies in Relation to Class, Ethnicity, and the State in Malaysia and Fiji,” (with Erik Larson) in Political Power and Social Theory Volume 16, 75-101 (2004);

c) “Teaching and Learning Social Theory to Advance Social Transformation: Some Insights, Implications, and Practical Suggestions from Paulo Freire,” in The Discourse of Sociological Practice (DSP), University of Massachusetts, Boston, Department of Sociology (Fall 2004);

d) “Islam and National Development: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Role of Religion in the Process of Economic Development and Cultural Change,” in Geographies of Muslim Identities: Representations of Diaspora, Gender, and Belonging, edited by Cara Aitchison, Peter Hopkins and Mei-Po Kwan (forthcoming).