Bio for Andy Knight
W. Andy Knight is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta. He serves as Advisory Board Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Welfare of Children.
Episode highlight
Andy Knight comes from a family of religious preachers, politicians and musicians. He brings his multi-dimensional personality into his work as a political science researcher and humanitarian. Listen in on how he is unravelling all the world’s problems, one heart at a time.
Links
Email: andy.knight@ualberta.ca
Skype: andyknight54
Twitter: WAndyKnight1
About: https://www.ualberta.ca/arts/about/people-collection/andy-knight
Quotes
“We are all one people, we are all from the same source, we all need to be concerned about each other’s well-being regardless of what culture, what background we’re from.”
“We ought to be able to find ways to build sustainable peace and one way to do that is to be able to accept differences of culture, differences of religion and realizing that we are all really from the same source.”
“There’s still some good in all of us, I think, and we need to be able to find that good.”
Takeaways
Childhood incidents:
Andy grew up in Barbados in a family with religious and political influences. His childhood exposure to music instilled discipline in him while he turned to fine arts as an adult.
Wanting to do good for others, he became a member then President of his university’s student union, the Secretary of the Canadian Federation Of Students and the Vice President of its Ontario wing.
Groups you were born into and belonged to:
Being a part of a large family taught Andy about conflict resolutions, morals, and gender and racial equality. Marrying a Persian reinforced his father’s lessons of acceptance of different people and their cultures, religions and personal choices.
Temperament and personality influences
Andy claims that he has always been pensive and inquisitive, but has learned to be gregarious.
A time I became aware that my way of doing things was cultural and specific to my cultural experience
Andy learned to drop judgement for atrocities committed by child soldiers in Ghana when he learned they were forcibly trained to do so.
Advice to an employer to work with me
Andy says that an employer must accept that he brings many multicultural dimensions to his work.
More great insights from our guest!
Read the articles from African Security Journal co-edited by Andy and look out for his upcoming book on female suicide bombers who did not detonate their bombs.