A personal testimony by Prof. em. Werner Cornelis (Ecologist and Third World scholar) at the occasion of the creation of the Ghent Centre for Global Studies

First published in Dutch in: Vlaams-Marxistisch Tijdschrift, 48 (2014) 3.

Following the recent creation of the “Ghent Centre for Global Studies” at Ghent University (UGent), Belgium, this paper aims to contribute to the study of the Third World in its relation to Global Studies, based upon an experience of fifty years with Third World issues. In this contribution we will elaborate the way in which we approached the Third World in the 1950s and 1960s, from the point of view of a Western university education and the then prevailing “classical” development and modernisation theories. Our extensive experiences in the field and new events and findings gradually moved us in another direction – towards a more “global” thinking.   Read more →