Remembering Orlando Fals Borda
Orlando Fals Borda (1925‐2008)
Eulogy
Ortrun Zuber‐Skerritt
And ALARPM/ALARA Associates
(Edited version of the eulogy delivered by Ortrun)
My associates in ALARPM or now ALARA and I mourn the death of Professor Orlando Fals Borda of Bogota, Colombia, South America. Those of you who have never heard of his name might feel a deep association and sympathy with him at the end of this session.
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This is a recent photo of Professor Orlando Fals Borda who died on 12 September 2008 at the age of 83. He was an internationally renowned scholar, activist, humanist and enthusiastic founder and advocate of PAR – Participatory Action Research. |
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The last time I saw him was last year in May when I had the privilege of being invited to the International Symposium in Bogota in his honour. |
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There were over 400 delegates – all colleagues, friends and invited international speakers. The Symposium was funded by the three universities in Bogota and held in the Spanish language with simultaneous translations from and into English. |
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Doris Santos, a colleague and former student of Orlando’s, was responsible for bringing together the Symposium as a scholarly program. Throughout the preparation, Doris sought my advice on the academic content of the event, including keynote speakers and publication of their papers. |
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The result is this Festschrift edited by Doris in Spanish and by my friend, Maureen Todhunter, in English. A Festschrift is a collection of papers written in honour of a distinguished scholar. |
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Keynote speakers
Apart from myself, the English speaking keynote speakers were:
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Doris sent us this e‐mail.
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Tears in Colombia |
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Reactions from keynote speakers
And here are our immediate responses.
Dear Doris and friends
How sad the news! Thank you, dear Doris, for letting us know. It was a great privilege to have known Orlando personally and to have been with him last year in celebrating his life and work. He will live on in our memories.
Warm regards, Ortrun
John Elliott & Christine O'Hanlon
Christine and I are likewise shocked by your news. He was so alive and full of vitality last May. He was an exceptional human being as well as an exceptional intellectual. He will always retain a special place in our hearts.
Shirley Grundy
Tears also for Orlando from Hong Kong.
How privileged we all are to have known him. How timely, Doris, was the conference in his honour. His work will live on as will his memory.
Stephen Kemmis
Orlando has been an inspiration to me for twenty‐five years, and a friend for most of those years. His life was a model of humanity. He had all the intellectual virtues, together with the courage, the grace and the compassion of someone who has seen the best and worst of humankind and who grew in wisdom and understanding through all of those encounters. … He is a national treasure; Colombia will profoundly miss his wise counsel. The whole world is the poorer for his passing.
Please accept my heartfelt condolences, Doris. I wish I could express them to all those who have admired and loved him all these years.
Testimonials
These are the presidents of ALARPM whom I had invited to contribute their testimonials last year for inclusion in my keynote address in Bogota. The following are excerpts from these testimonials by Ron, Ian, Ernie and Eileen who was the President of the New Zealand Action Research Network.
- Ron Passfield, 1st President (ALARPM)
- Iain Govan, 2nd President
- Yoland Wadsworth, 3rd President
- Ernie Stringer, 4th President
- Eileen Piggot‐Irvine, NZARN
- Susan Goff, current President (ALARA)
Ron Passfield
I have many pictures of Orlando in my head – the humble man working with peasants, the United Nations contributor, Professor Emeritus of National University in Bogota, representative of the Government, and the gentleman patiently explaining his passion for action research to eager students. Though of small stature, Orlando stands tall among other ‘tall poppies’ – he is highly respected and admired and his counsel is much sought.
Iain Govan
On the one occasion I met Orlando, I was powerfully impressed with his humility and burning concern for those less fortunate and those without the power to properly represent their needs and expectations, simple though those may seem to us in this country. I was taken with his humanity.
Ernie Stringer
The work of Orlando Fals Borda resonates strongly with my own experiences with indigenous people in Australia. … I work in ways reflecting the imperatives deeply embedded in Orlando’s work - that only by empowering people to acquire the skills and knowledge to deal effectively with the issues that affect their lives can I contribute to their liberation. In the process I find that I myself have become liberated in very significant ways from the dead hand of an over‐bureaucratized world. … Knowledge and liberation are inextricably bound. Research – acquiring knowledge – leads to actions that can transform our lives.
Eileen Piggot‐Irvine
Orlando's depth of concern for people and communities that is reflected in his approach to AR is a hallmark. Every facet of his life and writing has exhibited this profound concern for improvement of life. Generosity, sincerity and
selflessness have been apparent in this work and it is these features that have deeply moved and touched me. Orlando's work has inspired my continuing dedication to AR as an approach that is transformational at a personal, group, organizational, country and world level.
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I, too, am indebted to Orlando, especially for his influence on my work in African countries in the last 12 years, as I explain in my chapter in the Festschrift. |
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Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt
2008