The trip, which began Jan. 1, continues until Jan. 18.聽A team of senior academic and administrative staff will visit Chennai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai, with stops at notable universities, fine arts training centres and cultural institutions.

鈥淲e already have a well-established program of international participation, but we鈥檙e always looking to expand our outreach and involvement,鈥� said Barbara Sellers-Young (left), dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, who is leading the delegation.

Studio and theory courses with a South Asian focus are a standard part of the curriculum in 91亚色鈥檚 Departments of Dance, Film, Music and Visual Arts. Special projects in recent years include Theatre @ 91亚色鈥檚 premiere of a modern adaptation of Kalidasa鈥檚 Shakuntala written and directed by then graduate student Charles Roy, who took the play on to its first Canadian professional production and to the Cultural Olympics at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. The Faculty of Fine Arts has several times hosted DanceIntense Canada, in partnership with Sampradaya Dance Creations, headed by alumna Lata Pada (MA 鈥�96), a recipient of the Order of Canada and India鈥檚 Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award.

A number of distinguished artist-scholars of Indian heritage hold professorships in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Fine Arts. They include internationally acclaimed master percussionist , who co-founded 91亚色鈥檚 groundbreaking South Indian music studies program 40 years ago; jazz musician, composer, recording and touring artist ; award-winning documentary filmmaker ; and adjunct professor, choreographer and dancer , who is credited with bringing classical Indian dance 聽into the cultural mainstream in Canada.

Underpinning these artistic and academic connections are both longstanding and recent linkages between 91亚色 and educational institutions in India.

91亚色 has agreements in place with the University of Madras and Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, and the team from the Faculty of Fine Arts will be visiting both institutions to explore opportunities to build on these relationships. 91亚色鈥檚 Schulich School of Business maintains a Satellite Centre partnered with the Indian Institute of Management Ahmadabad, IIM Bangalore and the Indian School of Business. It also runs the Schulich MBA in India program in partnership with the Mumbai-based SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, and is opening its own campus in Hyderabad in 2013. The renowned A.J.K. Mass Communications Research Centre at New Delhi鈥檚 Jamia Millia Islamia University was originally set up in collaboration with 91亚色, and Faculty of Fine Arts film professors were among the first generation of teachers there.

This solid foundation of existing connections makes India a natural choice for a concerted exploratory visit by 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Fine Arts.

鈥淥ur main objective is to promote research collaboration and expand student learning opportunities, with a focus on exchange opportunities for international scholars and students to mutually enhance the academic and research culture in each organization,鈥� said Sellers-Young.

She is joined on the trip by Sheila Embleton, distinguished research professor of linguistics, a lead architect of 91亚色鈥檚 India Strategy who has served as 91亚色鈥檚 representative at the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute for the past decade; Design Professor Michael Longford, associate dean of Graduate Studies聽& Research in the Faculty of Fine Arts; Film Professor Ali Kazimi; and Ina Agastra, international relations and development officer in the Faculty of Fine Arts.

Click to view a trip itinerary and biographies of the 91亚色 delegation.聽聽

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A Canadian icon of humanitarianism urged Glendon students to 鈥済et your boots dirty鈥� by working in a developing country and experiencing what life is like for 80 per cent of humanity, as he delivered Glendon's annual John W. Holmes Memorial Lecture.

Right: Dallaire speaks to a standing-room only crowd in Glendon's lecture hall

Lieutenant-General , former commander of the UN mission to Rwanda between 1993 and 1994 and now a Canadian senator, made the remarks in 91亚色 Hall on Nov. 23, in a wide-ranging talk on the revolutionary changes that have taken place in warfare and international relations, including the tragic use of child soldiers in conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa.

In describing how the use of child soldiers came about, Dallaire talked of this being a revolutionary time where the status quo no longer exists. 鈥淔or the last 20 years we鈥檝e been into a whole new set of parameters in regards to security,鈥� he said, 鈥淲here we used to have classic war for which we were prepared with all our technology and uniforms and structures and so on...that all disappeared and we have nothing to handle it.鈥�

Dallaire said the problem of child soldiers began in Mozambique in the late 1980s and continues because leaders in the Western world are 鈥渞isk averse鈥� and reluctant to become involved in the complex and ambiguous situations that give rise to the conflicts in which they are used. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 necessarily applied all the laws to stop it,鈥� he said, citing new legal concepts such as humanitarian space and sovereign nations鈥� responsibility to protect their citizens.

Above: Prof. Stanislav Kirchbaum, Appathurai scholarship winner Dona Dunea, Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire and Glendon Principal Kenneth McRoberts

Eighty per cent of humanity is living in inhuman conditions, he continued, and that poverty is the essence of it. 鈥淭hese massive abuses of human rights are creating the rage that is initiating the extremism that is bringing terrorism, and it鈥檚 going to continue to generate a security problem,鈥� Dallaire said.

Child soldiers are a 鈥渨eapons system鈥�, he explained, putting the problem into military parlance. 鈥淲hat is the system to render them ineffective, to make them a liability to the adults so they won鈥檛 use them and then don鈥檛 recruit them? That is what we are working on now鈥�.聽 What you can do is join an NGO. Join the NGO community. Get involved in the NGOs because they are evolving massively in numbers and they are starting to coalesce more, they are starting to cover all the bases in humanity and they are, for you, an opportunity to get into the field and to see what is happening today with the state of humanity.

鈥淚 believe [they] will be far more the voice of humanity in the future,鈥� Dallaire said. 鈥淭hey will influence public opinion and policy more than the nation states themselves because they鈥檙e without borders.

鈥淭here should be maybe a rite of passage, that what you require is a pair of dirty boots underneath your bed that have been soiled in the earth of a developing country. Where you went to see what happens to the 80 per cent of humanity. You bring that back here, where the 20 per cent are, and you significantly influence the policies and how we actually will be advancing humanity鈥�. So get your boots dirty, get involved.

For more information on what is being done to stop the use of child soldiers, Dallaire recommended the website , the public mobilization campaign of the Child Soldiers Initiative, which he founded in 2010.

As is customary at the annual lecture, the winner of the Edward R. and Caroline Appathurai Scholarship in International Studies was announced. This year's award went to Glendon student Dona Dunea.

More about the John W. Holmes Memorial Lecture at Glendon

The annual John W. Holmes Memorial Lecture at Glendon honours the late John W. Holmes, a Canadian diplomat, writer, administrator and international relations professor at Glendon from 1971 to 1981. Holmes was a tireless promoter of Canada at home and abroad, in political, diplomatic and educational circles. He also participated in the founding of the United Nations and attended its first General Assembly in 1945.

Shortly after his death in 1988, a memorial fund was set up at Glendon under the leadership of Professor Albert Tucker, principal of Glendon from 1970 to 1975 and chair of the Department of History at the time, to create a series of annual lectures honouring Holmes, sponsored by Glendon's International Studies Program. It was launched in 1989 by the late Edward Appathurai, who established international studies at Glendon, Tucker and three Glendon graduates, Jim Dow (BA '75), Marshall Leslie (BA Comb. Hons. '75, MBA '80) and Martin Shadwick (BA '76, MA '78), who had attended Holmes鈥� course on Canadian foreign and defence policy.

By David Fuller, YFile contributing writer

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Hyndman was in Sri Lanka within months of the 2004 tsunami. She saw first-hand not only the devastation wrought by the tsunami, but the complications of delivering humanitarian aid in areas of Sri Lanka and Indonesia that were already conflict-riddled and impoverished. She also witnessed how the natural and man-made disasters intersected to change the political dynamics of both countries 鈥� a peace accord in Indonesia and the end of war in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamils.

Her experiences led to聽the recently released book, and companion videos by Hyndman and geographer and humanitarian aid worker聽Arno Waizenegger,聽 and . To watch the first video, enter the password, "Lhokse". Waizenegger also co-wrote聽one of the book's聽chapters with Hyndman.

The earthquake-triggered tsunami is estimated to have killed or displaced more than one million people 鈥撀爐hree women for every man 鈥撀燼nd billions in donations flowed in for relief efforts. Dual Disasters addresses pre- and post-humanitarian aid concerns and offers suggestions that are still relevant today.

鈥淚 examine two war zones that were then hit by the 2004 tsunami and trace how the conflict and the environmental disaster shaped one another in terms of outcomes,鈥� says Hyndman of 91亚色's Department of Social Sciences in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, who has studied humanitarian emergencies, conflict-related human disaster and displacement for more than a decade. For the book, she focused specifically on Sri Lanka and Aceh, Indonesia.

Left: Jennifer Hyndman

The book examines the inequitable聽delivery of humanitarian aid, but also looks at聽how the聽cultural and political situation in both countries played into that. If more aid聽was given to the coastal areas of Sri Lanka, because of their tourist appeal, than to the people in the hinterland, who are hardest hit by war, that imbalance created a 鈥減otential and real threat to peace.鈥澛燬imilarly in聽Aceh, Indonesia, international tsunami aid聽was earmarked exclusively for tsunami survivors and not for civilians who had lost their homes and livelihoods in the decades old conflict. This became the cause聽of tensions and threats recorded in the book by Hyndman and her research assistants.

The problem was that聽aid agencies had little latitude to spend donated money.聽As it's often designated for specific things,聽some agencies collected more money than they could ethically spend, she says. That led to the hiring of sub-contractors who not only didn鈥檛 necessarily do the best job, but it also made it more difficult to monitor the funds. This could be remedied if donors gave aid agencies more leverage to spend their donations where needed, says Hyndman, associate director of the .

In addition, aid workers can unintentionally become wrapped up in the politics.聽鈥淵ou need to pay very close attention to the political climate, otherwise you can become a political player in what you think is a humanitarian operation.鈥� That can play out in as simple an act as talking to people living on one side of a road. What the aid workers may not聽realize is that the people on one side聽of the road are enemies with those on the opposite side, and the workers are seen as allies to one side only.聽鈥淭he unintended result is that humanitarian aid can actually fuel a conflict or create tensions."

Or, as in the case of the water pumps, what seemed like an easy and fast solution 鈥� provide villages with water pumps so they no longer had to dig wells 鈥� turned out to be not so聽simple in an area of Sri Lanka where tensions were already high between various factions. Bringing in water pumps heightened conflicting interests, instead of聽making聽life easier. 鈥淪o unintentionally, a benign water project can fuel a war.鈥�

It is just as important for aid workers to be aware of a country's cultural practices.聽One aid agency built much-needed, but culturally inappropriate聽housing. The new houses only had one room, when two were required to keep the women separate from the men. Hyndman says many of these issues could be avoided by providing regional cultural and political sensitivity orientation and training to humanitarian aid workers.

Competition between aid agencies for donor dollars was another issue raised by the book, but it has, at least in Canada, been addressed to some extent. Care Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec and Save the Children formed a coalition after the 2004 tsunami to work together.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an excellent step in the right direction,鈥� says Hyndman.

For more information, visit the .

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

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Gill is聽at the University of Helsinki in Finland as the institution鈥檚 inaugural Jane & Aatos Erkko Visiting Professor in Studies on Contemporary Society. As part of his role with the Finnish university, Gill has organized an international conference titled The Helsinki Discussions, which will examine critical perspectives in global governance.

Left: Stephen Gill

"This one-day landmark event brings to Helsinki some of the world鈥檚 leading critical thinkers on global political economy, law and international relations," says Gill. "They will address the challenges of achieving sustainable and democratic governance in the 21st century."

Gill has asked the international contingent of thinkers and theorists to聽develop a dual perspective on the nature and future of global governance.

First, they will consider global governance as the practices associated with enduring forms of international rule beyond the purview of individual nations 鈥� that is, as it has been normally understood in politics and diplomacy since ancient times. In this sense, global governance involves consideration of the main mechanisms that have emerged to stabilize, modify and legitimate the global status quo, such as the G8 or the G20. Consequently, global governance is mainly evaluated from the perspective of the most powerful states and economic interests. Global governance today involves devising durable methods, mechanisms and institutions 鈥� including those of peace and war 鈥� to help sustain an international order that is premised on the primacy of capitalism and the world market as the key governing forces of world politics.

Second, participants will also develop critical perspectives on global governance 鈥� involving not only a demystification of the power relations between leaders and led, but also an assessment of the potential for changes in those relations. Conference participants will analyze global governance not just from the vantage point of dominant power, but from the perspectives of subaltern forces. Participants will question the necessity, desirability and sustainability of existing institutional arrangements in light of global economic, social and ecological crises and challenges.

Joining Gill in The Helsinki Discussions聽are some of the world's most聽distinguished thinkers and theorists. They are:

• 91亚色 political economy Professor聽.聽A聽Trudeau Fellow (2009-2012), Bakker is聽a visiting Fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies and a consultant on gender and human security issues to the United Nations (UN).
• Author and University of Warwick Professor Upendra Baxi, who teaches law in development and was previously a professor of law at the University of Dehli in India and its former聽vice-chancellor.
• University of Cape Town Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Dr. 厂辞濒辞尘辞苍听叠别苍补迟补谤, now a professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and聽 a聽founding member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. He is聽an elected foreign member of the United States National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine and a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts聽& Sciences.
• University of Victoria international relations and international law Professor Claire Cutler, a researcher聽interested in advancing critical theory in international relations and developing a radical political economy critique of both public and private international law.
• Hilal Elver, a聽Distinguished Visiting Professor in global & international studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She was founding legal adviser to the Turkish government鈥檚 ministry of environment and general director of women鈥檚 status in the prime minister's office. In 1994, Elver was聽appointed聽chair in environmental diplomacy by the UN Environment Program聽at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta.
• Richard Falk is the Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law and Practice聽at Princeton University and Visiting Distinguished Professor in global & international studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
• Adam Harmes, a professor of聽political science at the University of Western Ontario whose work deals with聽global political economy, global finance and global governance. His current research examines the competition between neo-liberalism and social democracy over multi-level governance in federal, regional and global contexts.
• Political science Professor Mustapha Kamal Pasha is the chair of the聽Department of Politics & International Relations at the University of Aberdeen, UK. Previously, he taught at the School of International Service, American University in Washington, DC (1993-2005).
• 91亚色 political science Professor , whose聽current research examines the political economy of inequality and difference in world affairs from the perspective of Gramscian political theory.
• University of Helsinki world politics Professor Teivo Teivainen, director of the聽Program on Democracy聽& Global Transformation at the San Marcos University in Lima, Peru. As a representative of Network Institute for Global Democratization, he is a founding member of the International Council of the World Social Forum.

The conference speakers will address a variety of contested political issues including such noteworthy topics as聽the legitimacy of global institutions; social justice, taxation and redistribution; privatized security governance; gender, race and equitable development; environmental issues and climate change; global health; the rights of subordinated peoples in an era of globalization; Islamic conceptions of justice and leadership; corporate social responsibility and public-private partnerships; and various mechanisms of regulation in finance, the workplace and in trade and investment.

The event has been organized under the auspices and sponsorship of the Jane聽& Aatos Erkko Chair on the Study of Contemporary Society at the聽Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki. Other sponsors are the聽Social Science & Humanities Research Council of Canada;聽the Finnish Institute of International Affairs; and the University of Helsinki's Office of the Rector, the Centre of Excellence in Foundations of European Law聽& Polity, the Centre of Excellence in Global Governance Research and the Faculty of Law.

For more on The Helsinki Discussions, visit the Web site.

About Stephen Gill

Gill is the inaugural Erkko Visiting Professor聽in Studies on Contemporary Society at the聽Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies and a Distinguished Research Professor of Communication, Culture and Political Science at 91亚色.聽His publications include The Global Political Economy (with David Law, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988); American Hegemony and the Trilateral Commission (Cambridge University Press,1991); Gramsci, Historical Materialism and International Relations (Cambridge University Press,聽1993); Globalization, Democratization and Multilateralism (UN University Press & Palgrave Macmillan, 1997); Innovation and Transformation in International Studies (co-editor, Cambridge University Press 1997); Power, Production and Social Reproduction: Human In/security in the Global Political Economy (co-editor with Isabella Bakker, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) and Power and Resistance in the New World Order (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003 & 2008).

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