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November 14, 2005

John Hammock – Alexander N. McFarlane Associate Professor of Public Policy

Is it possible to have a meaningful career while also making a decent living? This is a question that Professor John Hammock has faced, and one that he is regularly asked by his students at the Fletcher School. As a graduate of Fletcher’s MALD and Ph.D. programs, founder of the Feinstein International Famine Center and former executive director of prominent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) ACCION International and Oxfam America, it seems that Hammock has succeeded in doing just that. However, he is interested in exploring how other people have made personal life-changing decisions affecting their careers and life paths, and his current research explores this interest from several angles.

“I’m trying to get at individuals,” he says. “How do people make decisions in their lives, within the system, to make a difference?”

To this end, Hammock is currently working on a book tentatively entitled NGOs and Practical Idealism. Drawing upon his private and professional experiences, the book is personal in tone and is intended to help idealists find a place in today’s working world. Along with sharing his own expertise, Hammock is also conducting a series of interviews with people at crucial junctures in their lives – graduating from college, finishing graduate school, or entering retirement – to analyze how they decided to pursue work with meaning. He hopes to compile this information into another volume.

“There are key times you make decisions in your life about what you’re going to do in the future,” Hammock says. “People need role models to find out how they’re going to have meaning in their lives as well as make a living in a capitalist society.”

That society and its systems, Hammock feels, are poorly designed, and the aim of another project he is spearheading is to change the status quo. He is working on the creation of an ethics and development program at Fletcher, which will explore the “role of ethics and values in designing human development and human security systems” and look to affect positive change in current systems. While his main research interest is at the personal level, he is working with Dr. Sabina Alkire, a noted ethics and economics scholar, who is approaching the topic from an academic research perspective.

“It seems to me that if you want to make an impact in today’s world, you need to understand the economic system,” Hammock says. “Change comes about by influencing individuals, institutions and policymakers – you have to reach all three if you want to make an impact.”

While awaiting Hammock’s finished work on idealism, ethics and NGO careers, those who read Spanish will soon be able to access his most recent work. A product of time spent working in Latin America while at the Famine Center, Hammock’s newest book, Pobreza y Trabajo: Testimonios de Migrantes Salvadoreños, is a collection of interviews with Salvadoran immigrants in the U.S. and their families that remained in El Salvador. It explores the realities of migrant labor, remittances and discrimination patterns, as well as the experiences of the families in both countries.

“It was important to document reality and history as well as the impact of migration,” Hammock says of the book.

Hammock’s current research interest is the often-overlooked investigation into individuals and their motivations that lead to human fulfillment – whether as migrant laborers, corporate retirees, NGO managers or graduate students.

“I hear this asked in every class I teach – ‘How do I live a meaningful life?’” Hammock says. “We in international affairs and humanitarian work also need to be worried about this question: how can we live a balanced life?”

Posted by jessica at November 14, 2005 09:57 AM