Global Commons: OSUN Students Speak

The inaugural edition of Global Commons, a digital student publication sponsored by OSUN and featuring 46 multimedia works selected from institutions across the network, is now available online. The Global Commons, featuring essays, articles, creative writing, and artwork by students from eight countries, was developed by an international student editorial board over the course of the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters.

With half of its articles focused on human rights and the arts, the premiere issue includes visual art by a range of students, poems in multiple languages, and thought-provoking essays, such as Pamela Niyongere’s “Surveillance Capitalism: How Similar or Different is it from Traditional Forms of Surveillance” and Anna-Sophie Kloppe’s “How the EU's Migration Agenda and Asylum Policy Outsource Political Responsibility and Enable Human Rights Abuses.”

For some students, Global Commons is the perfect way to get their work published for the first time. “Being published with the Global Commons is an honor and a great experience for me,” said Nusrat Jahan Nishu of BRAC University in Bangladesh. “Through this work, I am able to express myself and empower many more like me. Moreover, I think that [our articles] can help promote the aspect of diversity around the world,” she said.

"The Global Commons is an excellent platform for young and engaged students to share their voices with a larger audience while encouraging different ways of thinking,” said Juan Glassford of Bard Annandale. “The global issues that we face today, as young adults, are complex ones and they require as many perspectives as possible in order to better understand them." 

As the publication’s editors have had the chance to work with students from across the network they have also been able to expand their own perspectives. Maxine Brenya, a content editor from Ashesi University in Ghana, noted that “With every article reviewed, I gain insight into a particular culture, experience, and country. With every artwork admired, I understand how a million words can be expressed with colors and ink. I get to share my knowledge and experience in literature and writing and in exchange, I learn from the authors I review.” 

Global Commons gives voice to student-generated ideas about issues of common interest across OSUN, especially those related to Sustainability and Climate, Inequalities, Human Rights, Global Justice, Global Public Health, Arts and Society, and the Liberal Arts and Sciences. By promoting a free and open exchange of student work in these core thematic areas, the editorial team hopes to encourage new ways of thinking and problem-solving in our global society. 

Global Commons is created and developed by college and university students from OSUN partner institutions. Published twice a year, it encourages students to write and submit works in any genre or language while also developing as writers, leaders, and global citizens. To assist the editorial board and provide oversight, the Global Commons convenes an advisory board that is open to all faculty and staff from across the network. Students interested in submitting their work or joining the editorial team, and faculty/staff interested in joining the advisory board, are encouraged to write to [email protected].  

OSUN congratulates the students who submitted work and acknowledges the impressive efforts and dedication of the editorial board who prepared the issue. Stay tuned for more!

Post Date: 05-10-2022