Rebecca anne Dixon (’12) A PAssAge to IndIA 00 8 / / Fall Summer 2011 2011 / RECORD / RECORD
student sPOtLiGht “ You can find everything here [India], the best of everything, ” and the worst by Raine Phythian Despite the goodwill of aid organizations and millions in funding, attempts to help people in developing countries frequently fail. Part of the problem lies in the fact that oft en the people they are trying to help are not consulted. International relations student Rebecca Anne Dixon is looking at this problem for her honours project and spent this summer in Delhi, In researching what platforms exist for public consultation in urban development projects. Dixon’s interest in urbanization in developing countries was sparked by a course taken while on exchange at American <strong>University</strong> in Washington, D.C., which she attended on a Killam Fellowship. Back at <strong>Mount</strong> <strong>Allison</strong>, Dixon found the perfect supervisor in Dr. Leslie Kern, whose own research interests — urban geography, urban political economy, and environmental justice — are very similar to her own. India was a natural choice for Dixon. She loves the place, now used to the chaotic traffi c, the noise, and the heat, things that can make Indian cities quite overwhelming on a fi rst visit. She loves especially the sense of humanity, because, as an Indian friend’s father told her, “you can fi nd everything here, the best of everything, and the worst.” Dixon fi rst travelled to India in high school, volunteering in a government public school in Mumbai. Th e project focused on children’s rights, something she has cared deeply about for some time. At the age of 10 she won a UnESCO award for her work to help children in Ukraine aff ected by fl oods. More recently, she won a coveted Canada’s Famous Five Award for a project to educate children about their rights. “India is fascinating from an urban point of view because, although we tend to think of the megacities of Delhi, Mumbai, and Calcutta, most of India is still rural. It is transitioning quickly, so this means that there are lots of opportunities to learn from the problems of the other cities and to plan and anticipate the problems in smaller, tier-two cities,” says Dixon. Dixon found she had to adapt her research plans along the way. “Delhi has a complicated governance structure and it can take years to get approval from all involved. Th e actual planning is done by the central government of India. While preparing for my trip, I read about some really amazing consultation policies that the government created. But once in India, I began to talk to people about these policies, and the general response was ‘yes, well it is not quite happening like that.’” “Th ere are so many problems, it is easy to get discouraged, throw up your hands, and say that it is impossible. What really impressed me were the people who said, ‘no, we are going to chip away at this piece by piece, keeping the whole vision in mind. Th e more people we can get involved and inspired to care about their city and their space and recognize that they have a role in improving it and maintaining it, the better.’ Th e people who had those attitudes were quite inspiring.” / 9
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