This Special Issue honors one of the leading pioneers of Social Development. Professor Shanti Khinduka hardly needs any introduction. We invited and received contributions that reflect the ethos of scholarship in the field.
Social Development redux has morphed into Development reflux, an evolutionary metamorphosis. By nature, it is regressive rather than progressive. This issue begins with James Midgley and ends with Brij Mohan. The new realities of global conflicts on the heels of a catastrophic pandemic have altered the contours and contents in theory and practice, and I can see it. Jean Paul Sartre once said: “It’s not enough to have eyes; you must be able to use them to see.”
Who cares about Ms. Taylor Swift1 when the clouds of war and AI’s threats loom over the fate of humankind? The range of issues analyzed here offers creative insights and many key takeaways. It is upon us to reexamine the contemporary culture within and beyond academia.
I am extremely grateful to all contributors who dedicated their precious time and energy in shaping this Issue. A special debt is owed to Manohar Pawar, President ICSD, Phillip Hong, Associate Editor, and Viswanath Prasanna, Director of ePage Imaging Services. Marisa Mercurio at Michigan Publishing Service graciously guided me through a complex itinerary. One can never adequately repay people whose help is immeasurably stupendous. I sincerely hope that ICSD and MPS will jointly—and simultaneously—release this Issue as a Book, which is a potential bestseller.
After more than four decades of life, work, and service, I leave Baton Rouge, LA to Santa Barbara, CA to experience the tranquil anonymity—an ideal spot to experiment with minimalism.
Brij MohanEditor, SDI
Notes
- Times’s Person of the Year, 2023. ⮭