Recommended reads: Suzan Kereere
When I get the chance, I still enjoy the types of books that I read during my time as a student, and, for balance, I do like a good novel.
My first recommendation, Globalization and Its Discontents, was required reading for my MBA at Columbia University Business School. Its author, Joseph Stiglitz, was one of our professors – so there was an even greater expectation of us! As a tutor, Stiglitz’s deep intellect; sense of humour; passion for ideas, for people and for the world at large were a source of inspiration.
Stiglitz has a stellar reputation – he was a senior advisor under Bill Clinton at the White House before moving to the World Bank. Both these roles provided the insights that form the basis of the book. While he believes that globalisation has the potential to be a force for good, in practice he saw first-hand the “devastating effect” it has on developing countries.
Although it was written some 20 years’ ago, it is still very much relevant today and I do like to return to it once in a while.
In a similar vein, is Dambisa Moyo’s Edge of Chaos, a more recent book, that identifies political shortsightedness as the greatest barrier to creating long-term sustainable, inclusive growth in advanced economies.
Moyo warns that leaders can no longer ignore the threats of increasing income inequality and stagnant economies in both the developed and developing world – and that capitalism needs to be re-imagined.
For fun, I go back to Jhumpa Lahiri’s Pulitzer Prize-winning debut Interpreter of Maladies. This is a collection of short and easy-to-read stories about the migrant experience. While written from her vantage point – the stories and symbolisms they evoke are global and relatable.
Each one follows characters who travel between India to America looking for love. Lahiri examines how each character has embodied Indian traditions yet find themselves in new surroundings, which at times can be confusing for them.
Identity is a key theme, be it one’s nationality, personal or family identity – and how the migrant experience can create tensions.
While each story is distinct, they all have a common thread, and the evocative depiction of place, character and plot makes each one memorable.
As a first generation emigrant to the US, I can relate to the importance of finding the right balance between integration and one’s native culture. And, as a mother of second-generation immigrant children who have lived around the world, I embrace their reality to choose or not choose a hybrid or specific cultural identity.
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