Talk:Robtel Neajai Pailey

Edits still required on this Wikipedia page

I am the subject of this Wikipedia page and I have made edits detailed below for accuracy. The occupation box still needs to be edited, as below, because I was unable to revise this myself. Similar edits need to be implemented on the French version of the Wikipedia page, from which the English version was derived:

EDITS REQUIRED:

In the Occupation box, make the following edits:

*Change 'children's writer' to 'author'; I do not only write children's books. I have also published a monograph and various academic articles.

Source 1: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/development-dual-citizenship-and-its-discontents-in-africa/B96CB2D100CFEC03EE476D103F46348B#fndtn-information

Source 2: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01436597.2023.2240729

In the FIRST GENERAL PARAGRAPH, make the following edits:

*Change the phrase 'Liberian scientist' to 'Liberian scholar'. I am not a scientist in the conventional sense; I do not conduct experiments, etc.

*Delete the word 'human rights' before 'activist'; my activism is not exclusively related to human rights issues.

*Insert 'Howard University' as the institution of my first degree; I obtained BA degrees in African Studies and English Literature at Howard University before continuing my studies at Oxford and SOAS.

*Change 'School of Oriental and African Studies' to 'SOAS, University of London', because the School has been rebranded as SOAS, University of London.

Source: https://www.soas.ac.uk/

*Change 'London School of Economics' to 'The London School of Economics and Political Science', the full name of the institution.

Source: https://www.lse.ac.uk/

After the above edits are made, the FIRST PARAGRAPH should read as below:

Robtel Neajai Pailey is a Liberian scholar, author, and activist. After studying at Howard University, the University of Oxford and SOAS, University of London, she teaches at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

In the SECOND GENERAL PARAGRAPH, make the following edits:

*Change 'scientific' to 'scholarly'. I am not a scientist in the conventional sense.

*Change 'productions' to 'publications'; I do not write plays.

*Change 'developing countries' to 'countries in the Global South'; my scholarly work is fiercely critical of the phrase 'developing countries' as I find it to be colonial, racist and offensive.

*Change 'introduces the critique of the white savior phenomenon regarding liberal human rights activism' to 'introduces a critique of the 'white gaze of development', a term she coined to challenge the racist underpinnings of mainstream development'. I never introduced the 'white savior industrial complex', Teju Cole did, so it is incorrect to attribute this to me. Furthermore, the term that I did coin, the 'white gaze of development', refers to a critique of the racist logics underpinning mainstream development NOT human rights activism.

Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/dech.12550

*Change 'decolonize the struggle for human rights, both in developing and developed countries' to 'decolonize development, both in the Global South and Global North'. My work centres on decolonising development, NOT decolonising human rights. I also believe the phrase 'developing and developed countries' is racist and colonial and my scholarly work states this explicitly.

Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/dech.12550

After the above edits are made, the SECOND PARAGRAPH should read as below:

As part of her scholarly and literary publications, she is particularly interested in various phenomena affecting countries in the Global South, including Liberia, and introduces a critique of the 'white gaze of development', a term she coined, to challenge the racist underpinnings of mainstream development. For her, it is necessary to decolonize development, both in the Global South and Global North.

In the FIRST PARAGRAPH under BIOGRAPHY, make the following edits:

*Insert, 'Monrovia,' before 'Liberia' in the first sentence for precision.

*Change the second sentence to say "She began her studies at Howard University in 2000, followed by the University of Oxford in 2006, where she received scholarships to both institutions'. I DID NOT begin my studies at Oxford; this is incorrect.

*Insert '(SOAS)' after 'the School of Oriental and African Studies' in the third sentence.

Source: https://www.soas.ac.uk/

*Insert 'PhD' before the word 'thesis' in the fourth sentence to clarify that this was a PhD thesis, not a master's thesis.

*Insert Al Jazeera English before 'The New York Times' in the sixth sentence, since most of my articles have been published in Al Jazeera English.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/author/robtel_neajai_pailey_201410257441527659

*Change 'or The Guardian' to 'and The Guardian' in the sixth sentence, since this is in addition to AJE and NYT.

After the above edits are made, the FIRST PARAGRAPH under BIOGRAPHY should read as below:

Robtel Neajai Pailey was born in Monrovia, Liberia. She began her studies at Howard University in 2000 followed by the University of Oxford in 2006, where she received scholarships to both institutions. She then studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), a branch of the University of London. There, she defended her PhD thesis titled "The Love of Liberty Divided Us Here? Factors Leading to the Introduction and Postponement in Passage of Liberia’s Dual Citizenship Bill" in 2014. While still preparing her thesis, she was already involved in the fight against poverty and corruption. During this time, she wrote articles for several international newspapers, such as Al Jazeera English, The New York Times, Africa Today and The Guardian. In these articles, she highlighted the persistent colonial ties between Liberia and the United States.

In the SECOND PARAGRAPH under BIOGRAPHY, edit the entire paragraph as below (this is a more precise version):

In 2013 and 2019, respectively, she published children's books called Gbagba and Jaadeh!, which depict the journey of Liberian twin characters and addresses corruption and integrity as opposite phenomena. The researcher later became an assistant professor at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Sources: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Gbagba/1XeNlwEACAAJ?hl=en  AND https://www.google.com/books/edition/Jaadeh/xXOFwAEACAAJ?hl=en

In the FIRST PARAGRAPH under ANALYSIS, edit the entire paragraph as below (this is a more precise version), deleting the last sentence altogether:

Her scholarly contributions focus particularly on colonial and post-colonial issues. She tackles 'white gaze of development' dynamics in struggles against poverty and inequality affecting countries that have experienced colonialism. The researcher also aims to demonstrate that in many development institutions, decision-making often privileges whiteness  and Western forms of modernity .

Sources: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/dech.12550 AND https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/development-dual-citizenship-and-its-discontents-in-africa/B96CB2D100CFEC03EE476D103F46348B#fndtn-information

In the SECOND PARAGRAPH under ANALYSIS, delete 'the' before 'emphasis' and delete 'tied' before 'to', as below:

Furthermore, she critiques emphasis on the evolution of countries based on a productivist approach to economic development.

Sources: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/dech.12550 AND https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/development-dual-citizenship-and-its-discontents-in-africa/B96CB2D100CFEC03EE476D103F46348B#fndtn-information 2A00:23C6:DC45:E601:8118:89EA:6CAC:4817 (talk) 17:01, 23 September 2024 (UTC)