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The book, the translation of Long Time Coming into Ndebele from English, brings together short stories and poems from thirty-three writers that provide snapshots of this turbulent period in Zimbabwe's history. Snapshots of living in a country where basic services have crumbled: where shops have no food, taps no water, banks no money, hospitals no drugs, bars no beer. Snapshots of characters surviving against seemingly insurmountable odds. Horrific snapshots of the abuse of power, of violence and oppression, of the destruction of dreams. But this is Zimbabwe and there are lighter moments and moments of hope: in some of life's simple pleasures, in the coming of the rains, in the wink and the smile of a stranger, in a challenge to patriarchy, in the inner strength of the people, in fighting back.
The short stories and poems in this collection were written by students at King George VI School and centre for physically disabled children in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo. HIV and AIDS have had a devastating effect on all the communities of Zimbabwe, and those with disabilities have not been exempt from the effects of the virus, as is reflected in many of the pieces in this collection. The book clearly demonstrates both the talent of the students and their concern about the issues facing their community and wider society. Some of the stories and poems tell the stories of their lives, some come straight from their imagination, and some simply speak of their dreams for a better future.
Textures
(2014)
African scholarly research is relatively invisible globally because even though research production on the continent is growing in absolute terms, it is falling in comparative terms. In addition, traditional metrics of visibility, such as the Impact Factor, fail to make legible all African scholarly production. Many African universities also do not take a strategic approach to scholarly communication to broaden the reach of their scholars' work. To address this challenge, the Scholarly Communication in Africa Programme (SCAP) was established to help raise the visibility of African scholarship by mapping current research and communication practices in Southern African universities and by recommending and piloting technical and administrative innovations based on open access dissemination principles. To do this, SCAP conducted extensive research in four faculties at the Universities of Botswana, Cape Town, Mauritius and Namibia.
Girl on the Edge: A Memoir
(2014)
Ruth was four years old when her father was arrested for high treason and her world was turned upside-down. She grew up in constant fear of Special Branch policemen knocking on the door to arrest her mother or father, prominent South African communist. Ruth learned how to keep her mouth shut, to look out for microphones in the walls and to beware of friends who could betray her trust. At fourteen, Ruth left South Africa, clutching her teddy bear in one hand and her drawings in the other. A plan to England carried her into exile, a new world where she struggled to reconstruct a life fractured by fear. With an artist's eye for detail and colour, Ruth recalls her life with unflinching honesty: the Treason Trial; her struggle to conform; Friern Barnet Asylum for the 'hopeless insane'; LSD, protests, and free love in London, art school and motherhood; communes and camping- all steps in a journey that finally brought her home to South Africa on the brink of change. Heart- wrenchingly sad one minute, bursting with life and vigour the next, seamed throughout by strength and courage, girl on the edge allows us to look deep into one woman's life and travel with her to the brink and back again.
It Takes Two
(2014)
FunDza celebrates young writers. Between June and December 2013, five of South Africa's best authors teamed up with five talented young writers to bring you this anthology of fast-paced, exciting short stories. From romance and heartache, to mystery and crime, these stories have something thrilling for every reader.
A dazzling collection from across the African continent and diaspora - here SHORT STORY DAY AFRICA has assembled the best nineteen stories from their 2013 competition. Food is at the centre of stories from authors emerging and established, blending the secular, the supernatural, the old and the new in a spectacular celebration of short fiction. Civil wars, evictions, vacations, feasts and romances - the stories we bring to our tables that bring us together and tear us apart.
This volume charts the widening frontiers of black literary aesthetics using the prose and dramatic fictions of writers from Africa and the African diaspora. The chapters come in two interactive phases of current critical discourses involving rejoinders from past-present concerns and issues of cultural and contemporary modernity. These studies stress the argument that African literature is hardly discussed outside contemporary history and that the reason for the apparent disconnection among groups in Africa and the diaspora can be traced to the disparate elements within the continent and diaspora.
Gender Issues in African Literature examines the ways in which some protagonists of African fictions are made to counter and challenge intertwined Western discourses on gender, employment, sexuality, and health. Here the conflict between Tradition and Modernity is argues from the favourite premise of male supremacist ideology showing how women have -unlearned- these false concepts to build a sustained feminist movement and (re)learn the value of sisterhood. There is a bold attempt to reread Achebe as a consistent in urging women to fight the seemingly oppressive structures that have traditionally discriminated against them, and to disregard their diversity and embrace their unity. A chapter of Feminist Re-writing disagrees with the attempt to equate theory with political activism and presents Feminist literature as more than a verbal assertion that points to Feminist aesthetics and politics. The use of the trauma theory and testimonio literature to explore traumatisation of female characters and its impact for Zimbabwean civil society is a useful addition to these gender studies in African literature.
Taking the history of trade and of traders as its subject matter, this book offers the first economic history of northern Namibia during the twentieth century. It traces Namibia's way from a rural, largely self-relying society into a globalised economy of consumption. This transformation built on colonial economic activities, but it was crucially shaped by local traders, a new social elite emerging during the 1950s and 1960s. Becoming a trader was one of the few possibilities for black Namibians to gain monetary income at home. It was a pathway out of migrant labour, to new status in the local society and often to prosperity. Politically, most traders occupied a middle ground: content of their own social position, but intent on political emancipation from colonial rule. Economically, their energy and business acumen transformed northern Namibia into an increasingly urban consumer society. The development path they chose, however, depended too much on the colonial reserve economy to remain sustainable after 1990. Their legacy still shapes spatial and social structures in northern Namibia, but most traders' businesses have today closed down. By telling the history of the rise and decline of traders and trade in northern Namibia, this book is thus also a reflection on the conundrums of economic development under conditions of structural inequality.
Post Colonial Identities
(2014)
Post Colonial Identities revisits issues regarding the newer literature within the expansive African heritage of diverse regional and national groupings. It is poised at substantiating the uniformity of Africa in terms of literary and cultural movements, and lending some inter-disciplinary insights on the whole body of literature through twentieth century history.
With new integrative and indigenous approaches to literary affairs the focus of this volume is on the influence of tradition in African writing. Using the work of Chinua Achebe two scholars from outside Africa offer insight on oratorical devices in modern African fiction, two chapters follow which, by fusing traditional elements in transitional societies, illustrate the cultural awareness that touch on the exalted role of the artist in their communities. The post colonial rhetoric also continues with echoes of political commitment on modern poetry - town issues in the discourse of Africa's literary progress in the last decade. The growing concern for African youth development is at the heart of a dialogue with children's fiction writer Anezi Okoro. Two scholars of Africa orature have written on the birth songs of Cameroonian women performers and the riddle contents of youth artists from Nigerian in a manner which recognises the immediate relevance of this cherished but neglected part of African literary aesthetics.
The goal of Perspectives on Student Affairs in South Africa is to generate interest in student affairs in South Africa. The papers contained herein are based on best practice, local experience and well-researched international and local theories. The papers in this book deal with matters pertaining to international and national trends in student affairs: academic development, access and retention, counselling, and material support for students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. They are linked to national and international developments, as described in the first two papers. This publication will assist both young and experienced practitioners as they grow into their task of developing the students entrusted to them. All contributors are South Africans with a great deal of experience in student affairs, and all are committed to the advancement of student affairs in South Africa. The editors are former heads of student affairs portfolios at two leading South African universities.
Driving change : the story of the South Africa Norway tertiary education development programme
(2014)
Driving Change tells a story that exemplifies a basic law of physics, known to all - the application of a relatively small lever can shift weight, create movement and initiate change far in excess of its own size. It tells a story about a particular instance of development cooperation, relatively modest in scope and aim that has nonetheless achieved remarkable things and has been held up as an exemplar of its kind. It does not tell a story of flawless execution and perfectly achieved outcomes: it is instead a narrative that gives some insight into the structural and organisational arrangements, the institutional and individual commitments, and above all, the work, intelligence and passion of its participants, which made the SANTED Programme a noteworthy success.
Looking at two smaller-scale systemic school improvement projects implemented in selected district circuits in the North West and Eastern Cape by partnerships between government, JET Education Services, and private sector organisations, this book captures and reflects on the experiences of the practitioners involved. The Systemic School Improvement Model developed by JET to address an identified range of interconnected challenges at district, school, classroom and household level, is made up of seven components. In reflecting on what worked and what did not in the implementation of these different components, the different chapters set out some of the practical lessons learnt, which could be used to improve the design and implementation of similar education improvement projects. Many of the lessons in this field that remain under-recorded to date relate to the step-by-step processes followed, the relationship dynamics encountered at different levels of the education system, and the local realities confronting schools and districts in South Africa's rural areas. Drawing on field data that is often not available to researchers, the book endeavours to address this gap and record these lessons. It is not intended to provide an academic review of the systemic school improvement projects. It is presented rather to offer other development practitioners working to improve the quality of education in South African schools, an understanding of some of the real practical and logistical challenges that arise and how these may be resolved to take further school improvement projects forward at a wider district, provincial and national scale.
This publication is the result of a baseline study of the state of the higher education systems in the five Portuguese speaking countries in Africa (PALOP): Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe. The project was undertaken by an African international expert in the field of higher education studies and was fully sponsored and supported by the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). The report offers a historical overview of the development of higher education in PALOP from colonial times to the present. The main objective of this baseline study is to map the landscape and dynamics of change in the higher education systems of PALOP countries. It focuses on describing the latest developments of trends of expansion, financing, governance and policy reforms closely linked to the development of higher education systems in these countries. Furthermore, the study will facilitate an informed debate and the dissemination of knowledge on the role of higher education for development in Africa.
One of the major issues this book examines is what the African experience and identity have contributed to the debate on citizenship in the era of globalisation. This volume presents case studies of different African contexts, illustrating the gendered aspects of citizenship as experienced by African men and women. Citizenship carries manifold gendered aspects and given the distinct gender roles and responsibilities, globalisation affects citizenship in different way. It further examines new forms of citizenship emerging from the current era dominated by a neoliberal focus. This book is not exclusive in terms of theorisation but its focus on African contexts, with an in-depth analysis taking into consideration local culture and practices and their implications for citizenship, provides a good foundation for further scholarly work on gender and citizenship in Africa.
This book revisits the perennial challenge that scholars, economists, and politicians have been grappling with since the 1960s. Development, in this book, has been defined in a context that projects it as a multidimensional and complex process which seeks to enhance the human, social, economic and cultural welfare of the people. This book calls for a rethinking of trade and industry for Africa's development. It uses data drawn from national development plans and strategies, and trade and industry issues have been prioritized at the continental level, in key policy documents. On the whole Africa's industry and trade performance have been poor in spite of national, regional, and continental plans. The contributors to this volume propose some alternative strategies and policies which are necessary for trade and industry to grow and to contribute to the well-being of Africa's people. It calls for a developmental trade and industry policy which, fundamentally, must be people-centred. African states should invest time, energy and resources to develop policies which will take into consideration African realities.The different contributors are aware that Africa has experienced strong economic growth in the recent past but this growth has largely been due to a strong demand for Africa's primary commodity exports. It has also been a result of increases in productivity and domestic investment and remittances from Africans living in the Diaspora. It is important to note that despite this unprecedented growth performance, the impact of trade and industry on development has been limited. The book argues that a structural transformation of Africa's economies is inevitable if Africa is to achieve the shift from the dominant paradigm of production and export of primary goods. The various contributors to this book agree that there is need to rethink policy and strategy in order to achieve industrial development in Africa. There is no unique solution or answer that can fit all situations as African countries are not the same. While Africa can draw lessons from other regions which have successfully industrialized, this book argues that policies and strategies will have to be adapted to country-specific situations and circumstances.
The essays collected together in this book reflect the author's varied experiences in the realms of politics and social struggle; he notes that they cannot be separated from his other experiences in his country, Egypt, over the years. These experiences extend from popular culture or folklore, through the wider political world of African liberation politics, to the Committee for the Defense of National Culture. This book is like a long trip through African culture from the 1950s to the beginning of the 21st century. These essays will most likely provoke a lot of memories, sweet and bitter; with maybe the bitter ones as the more lasting. The author notes that it appears as if the only relationship that seems to have mattered, for a long time, for the Egyptians with the rest of Africa was the river Nile, which joins the country to ten other countries, while a vast desert stands in-between. Such separation ignores the ancient relations between Pharaonic Egypt and the rest of Africa, and the role of Egypt in supporting many liberation movements on the continent. The author has set himself some tough questions in this book: Is it legitimate today to use race to sub-divide the African continent? Can this, moreover, be simply done as if race is ahistorical or an idealistic concept of identities? Or are we going to talk about Arabism in Egypt, Libya or Maghreb as if it were an identity gained with the advent of the Arabs, implying that these were 'lands with no people' - a sort of 'No Man's Land?' Or was this a fragile space that could not confront the invading empire? Or will Arabism equate with Bantuism or negroism sometimes, and Hausa and Swahili cultures at other times? These are the types of issues that Helmi Sharawy examines in this very important book. Experiences that inform this book began with the author's first encounter in March 1956, with some African youths who were in Cairo for higher studies or as representatives of liberation movements with whom he worked as an intermediary with the Egyptian national state, which work left on him an everlasting impression.
The fate of Sudan, by then the largest country in Africa, was clearly decided when results of the referendum vote were announced in February 2011. Policy makers, scholars and the international community began to grapple with critical issues that might arise after the independence of South Sudan and how different stakeholders were likely to react during the period of uncertainty. Political developments in Sudan were long-term outcomes of post-cold war revolutions in the world system after the Soviet Union collapsed. A domino effect of such events swept across Eastern Europe with some manifestations in the Horn of Africa. The fall of Mengistu Haile Mariam, marked the beginning of the redrawing of the map of Africa and posed a challenge to the long held principle of preservation of colonial borders that had been enshrined in the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity. The precedent set by the independence of Eritrea seemed to encourage southern Sudan to press forward for independence through a two pronged approach of armed struggle and diplomacy led by the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement. This book attempts to understand national, regional and continental dimensions of the unresolved issues that could result in the escalation of conflict in the Sudan. It examines internal dynamics of the Sudan after secession of the south and how these dynamics might affect neighbouring countries in the geopolitical regions: the Horn of Africa, the Great Lakes Region and Central Africa. A section of the book is dedicated to dynamics within South Sudan as a new state. Post-conflict South Sudan as country was marked by extreme poverty, lack of infrastructure and prevalence of inter-communal armed violence. This book proposes possible policies to prevent the country from descending into a state of economic and social chaos. The book provides the argument that equitable and rational transformative socio-economic programmes and policies could greatly reduce potentials for conflict. This book calls on policy makers to pursue policies that could lead to concrete projects planned to alleviate poverty and provision of basic social services such as education, health, and safe water. The book comes to the conclusion that political stability will depend on collective actions of stakeholders to ensure that peace prevails both in the north and the south to guarantee human security in the region.
This annotated bibliography provides a summary of scholarly work on children and youth in Africa published between 2001 and 2011. It draws from journal articles, monographs, and book chapters. This rich resource for scholars presents publications with a wide range of approaches to child and youth studies. Some scholars question certain views of children especially when it comes to their own agency and full participation in socioeconomic production at the household level. The idea that children are vulnerable social subjects is the predominant view that shaped much of the research reported on in this volume. Western restrictions, on specific age limits, that govern children's participation in work or labour, whether paid or not, and the subsequent rights that go along with them are often not easily translatable to many African contexts. This creates a kind of separation between African and Western scholars in their study and understanding of children. The overwhelming focus of research published on HIV/AIDS and orphans, violence and child-soldiers, children's rights, and street children, demonstrates the continued interest regarding children as vulnerable and in need of adult protection. Focusing on the vulnerability of children in Africa appears to be a result of the construction of childhood in terms of modern (mostly) Western perceptions which are based on chronological age mainly. This book is very important for all scholars working on children and the youth in Africa.
As one of the foremost scientists of the time, the Zurich-born botanist Hans Schinz travelled throughout the colony of German South-West Africa, now known as Namibia, from 1884 to 1886. During his expeditions, which covered the length and breadth of the country, he was an enthusiastic collector of many botanical, ethnographical, zoological and mineral samples. He described his experiences in vivid detail in letters to his family and colleagues in Zurich and Berlin. The extensive collections, with which he returned to Switzerland, and his subsequent research fostered his rapid career progression: in 1893 Hans Schinz became the director of the Zurich Botanical Gardens and in 1895 the Professor of Systematic Botany at the University of Zurich.
A child of a Jewish family fleeing Nazi-Germany and settling in apartheid South Africa in the 1930s, Ruth Weiss? journalistic career starts in Johannesburg of the 1950s. In 1968 banned from her home country, and then also from Rhodesia for her critical investigative journalism, she starts reporting from Lusaka, London and Cologne on virtually all issues which affect the newly independent African countries. Peasants and national leaders in southern Africa ? Ruth Weiss met them all, travelling through Africa at a time when it was neither usual for a woman to do so, nor to report for economic media as she did. Her writing gained her the friendship of diverse and interesting people. In this book she offers us glimpses into some of her many long-nurtured friendships, with Kenneth Kaunda or Nadine Gordimer and many others. Her life-long quest for tolerance and understanding of different cultures shines through the many personalized stories which her astute eye and pen reveals in this book. As she put it, one never sheds the cultural vest donned at birth, but this should never stop one learning about and accepting other cultures.
Women?s contributions against apartheid under the auspices of the Namibian liberation movement SWAPO and their personal experiences in exile take center stage in this study. Male and female leadership structures in exile are analysed whilst the sexual politics in the refugee camps and the public imagery of female representation in SWAPO?s nationalism receive special attention. The party?s public pronouncements of women empowerment and gender equality are compared to the actual implementations of gender politics during and after the liberation struggle.
The Swiss ophthalmologist Erika Sutter was born in Basel in 1917. She spent 32 years working in Elim Hospital, founded by the Swiss Mission in an impoverished rural area in North-Eastern South Africa. Together with her African colleague and friend, Selina Maphorogo, she founded the Care Groups, village self-help groups working for better health in their communities. The movement is still active after more than 30 years, and now has around 2,000 members, mostly women, in over 200 villages. Erika Sutter has received numerous international honours and awards for her pioneering work, including the award ?Woman of the Year? in 1984 from the South African newspaper ?The Star?, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel. For the creation of this biography, Erika Sutter spent many hours with the author, her friend Gertrud Stiehle, telling the story of her long life ? vividly, with a sharp eye for social issues, a hint of self-irony, and dry wit. Her account does not ignore events in the wider world. She experienced life on the Swiss-German border during the Second World War, and her years of working in South Africa were those when the apartheid policies of the South African Government were becoming more and more repressive, affecting many aspects of life in the country.
Trends in Nollywood: A Study of Selected Genres is a welcome addition to the growing body of works on the Nigerian cinema. It is part film history and part film theory and criticism. The history part traces the origin of the Nigerian cinema up to the present era of video productions. The work examines in detail, the contextual issues which have helped to define emergent trends within the industry.
Esiaba Irobi (1960-2010) was one of Africa's most innovative and productive younger playwrights. Deeply rooted in the indigenous performance traditions of his Igbo ethnic group, Irobi's drama, in the tradition of Wole Soyinka, is a hybrid production involving an iconoclastic reconceptualisation of the heritage he appropriates, its fascinating conflation with other performance traditions, and their projection onto the arena of contemporary Nigerian politics. This study by Isidore Diala is the first book-length examination of Irobi's work. It portrays a highly creative individual who was literally driven by the creative urge. The five chapters of this study illuminate different aspects of Irobi's oeuvre and include a vivid portrayal of Irobi the actor in his dream role of Elesin Oba, the eponymous King's Horseman in Wole Soyinka's drama. Diala highlight's Irobi's fascination for African festivals, which feature prominently in the earlier plays.He also demonstrates that although he is rooted in his Igbo culture, Irobi draws on different ethnic groups, pointing to conceptions of pan-Africanism that include the wAfrican diaspora.
Beginning from an auteur standpoint, this book interrogates extant cinematic re-presentation of African and Nigerian postcolonial realities in Nollywood. It makes a case, using Kunle Afolayan's The Figurine, for a critical space-clearing gesture around the notion of a neo-Nollywood, which transcends the formulaic cinematic re-presentation of African and Nigeriam realities to embrace a visionary and philosophic rearticualtion of the role of filmmaking, and of Nollywood, in the Nigerian imagination. The Idea of neo-Nollywood, and a visionary director, therefore stands at the core of a cinematic production process that challenges, disturbs and stimulates perceptions of current and future African identities.
A concern for social regeneration stands as the factor that animates Soyinka's life-long involvement in social and political activism, leading to hid incarceration for two years during the civil war, and his having to flee into exile during the period of Sani Abacha's dictatorship. Soyinka expresses this same concern for social regeneration in his writings, using difference metaphors. The focus of this work lies in the exploration of the articulations of social regeneration in the works of Wole Soyinka. The first past focuses on the dramatic works, and the argument of the author is that the metaphor adopted by Africa's foremost playwright in articulating his vision of social regeneration is that of ritual. Attention shifts in part two to Soyinka's two novels; and here, Bello goes to the roots of Yoruba metaphysics to fetch a metaphor which describes a creature with contradictory personality; which at once is committed to the regeneration of the social order while at the same time retaining a vindictive, vengeful nature.
Remembering a Legend: Chinua Achebe recaptures for the literary world the inimitable legacies of Chinua Achebe (1930-2013), Africa's leading novelist and literary philosopher of the 20th century. It addresses the questions of Achebe's role in establishing the African art of the novel, his theories and standards for the criticism of African writing. The volume articulates unequivocally how Achebe provided the message and pioneered a confident voice to African writers to express the message with audacity; repudiate without equivocation, any form of distortions of African past and present realities. The essays remind the reader how Achebe brought to the field of world literature new perspectives and vitality that distinguished the African art of storytelling from imaginative creativities elsewhere. This volume presents Achebe's articulation of the traditional and modern in African narrative techniques-linking the skills of the traditional artist (oral performer) to those of the modern writer; how the modern African creative artist can embellish his/her art with oral resources such as folktales, proverbs, sayings, festivals, songs, riddles, and myths. Chinua Achebe's unique distinctions as a novelist lie in the areas of informed vision and artistic integrity. His greatest legacy to 20th century world literature probably is his pioneer role in the 'nativization' and ingenious use of the English language. The exceptional genius of Achebe touched many traditional and cultural bases in his fiction, essays, and memoirs. The critical responses to Achebe's works in this book, address adequately almost every aspect of his creative imagination and craftsmanship. The reader will find in this convenient volume several seminal studies by two eminent scholars of Achebe's intriguing genius that authenticate him as among the best literary craftsmen of the 20th century and undeniably Africa's best.
South African poetry today is charged with restlessness, burstng with diversity. Gone is the intense inward focus required to deal with a situation of systematic oppression, the enclosing effort of concentration on a single predicament. While politics and identity continue to be central themes, the poetry since the late 1990s reveals a richer investigation of ancestors and history, alongside more experimentation with language and translation; and enduring concern with the touchstones of love, loss, memory, and acts of witnessing. In the Heat of Shadows: South African Poetry 1996-2013 presents work by 33 poets and includes some translations from Afrikaans, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sesotho and Xitsonga. This collection follows on from Denis Hirson's 1997 anthology The Lava of this Land: South African Poetry 1960-1996.
A Book of Rooms
(2014)
Kobus Moolman has published six previous collections of poetry, and several plays. He has been awarded the Ingrid Jonker prize, the PANSA award, the South African Literary Award, the DALRO poetry prize and the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry award. He teaches creative writing at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Mary Lederer provides a valuable critical/historical survey of the genesis and development of the English novel in Botswana. This book comes as a timely correction of the notion that Botswana has no sustained fiction written in English, thus filling a gap that has existed for a long time in the literature of that country.
They are Coming
(2014)
This is the story of a small family in Lobengula township, Bulawayo: a shoemaker, Ngwenya, his wife, MaVundla, and their two children, Ambition and Senzeni, whose lives are turned upside-down when Senzeni joins the local youth militia. Mlalazi captures the texture of everyday life in the township, the humour, warmth, rivalry and fear as neighbours interact with each other or get swept up by events outside their control. Their constant search, however, is for autonomy and independence, for the ability to have control over their own lives. They are Coming provides us with perspectives often hidden from view, in a story where particular events are part of a more complex history.
This book outlines perspectives of emerging and established African scholars on what one could describe as the debate on leadership and the articulation of the life of the mind in Africa's socio-economic, political and cultural life from the time of independence to date. The papers contained in the book cover the following thematic areas: Alternative Leadership Paradigm for Africa's Advancement; African Perspectives on Globalisation and international relations; Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance; Scientific, Technological and Cultural Dimensions of African Development. The first section deals with alternative leadership paradigms for Africa's advancement. It also debates the 'thin line' separating management studies from leadership studies and untangles the hermeneutic complexities in the term 'leadership'. Section two examines among other things, the crucial challenge of globalisation and public ethics and others African perspectives. The section also interrogates the current complexities and credibility deficits in the global governance of trade and towards the end engages philosophical questions about conscience and consciousness in African development and progress. The debates in section three continue to section four and focus on the overall issues of language and liberation, the significance of Multi-, Interand Trans-Disciplinary Approaches in the analysis of the African continent, appropriate indigenous paradigms for promoting the African renaissance as well as a series of debates on the meaning and prospects of regional integration in Africa's renewal. This provides just a snapshot of a very wide ranging and interesting debate contained in the publication.
After The Tears
(2014)
Busi is pregnant with Parks' baby. Her granny is sick, there is no money for food, and her mother is still in Jozi. Her friends are supportive, but they don't understand how lonely it feels to be pregnant while they are out partying. She knows she should forget Parks, but she can't. So when he sends her an SMS telling her to meet him she goes - only to find out that he is not alone. And so Busi's life becomes more complicated than she can ever imagine.
Now I See You
(2014)
Armed robbery is nothing new in South Africa. But when a pair of clever and squeaky-sounding criminals go on a looting spree that rocks several small towns in the Eastern Cape, Detective Inspector Thabisa Tswane from The Eagles, the Special Violent Crimes Unit is called to work the case. There's only one problem, one of the most important witnesses in the case is her estranged grandfather, Chief Solenkosi, who ordered her violent expulsion from the village over ten years ago. In another world of lunches at the Michelangelo, private game lodges and platinum cards, the rich and slick Ollis Sando smoothes his way through cocktail parties and networking meetings. He is rumoured to be in line for the presidency in the upcoming elections. But he has a dirty past, something to hide and a hostage to hide it for him. In Now I See You Thabisa's traditional and professional skills will be pushed to the limit. She will have to learn the difference between looking and seeing. And in stirring twists of fate, we'll see that past and present blur, everything is interconnected and nothing can be assumed.
As Ama's wedding day approaches and her friends - Beauty, Matlakala and Pamela are there to lend varying degrees of support. But when tragedy strikes on Ama's wedding day and spreads to every corner of the group's lives they hold on to each other to survive. Will their misfortunes bring them closer together or will they tear the quilt of their friendship apart? They are our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, our girlfriends, our aunties. Pamela's body is a ravaged canvas of her troubles. Matlakala tries to prop up a failing relationship. Beauty's sharp tongue and dark secret threatens to doom her to a life lived alone. In To the Black Women We All Knew, Maenetsha showcases the modern township existence and its weakening yet ever-present link to tradition. Her vivid writing tells of the capriciousness of life and love and the strength of women in the face of a crisis..
The Last to Leave
(2014)
The Last to Leave is Margaret Clough's second collection of poetry. These poems follow on from her first extremely popular collection, At Least the Duck Survived (2011) in that the light, warm-hearted tone continues as does Clough's engagement with aging and mortality. These poems are a tonic and leave the reader feeling refreshed, saddened and better off. Clough has participated in The Franschoek Literary Festival, and has been invited to a number of reading engagements in the Western Cape, including the McGregor Poetry Festival. Her books sell out every time she reads.
This Day
(2014)
Loss has left Ella Spinner alone to care for her husband, Bart, who suffers from clinical depression. Their days now echo the tides: any progress made, rolls back. Yet Ella keeps pushing against the monotony. Set in Mossel Bay, Ella?s day begins like any other. But on this day the minutes begin to crack allowing change to filter through. As we cheer on her tenacity, we?re left asking ourselves what motivates anyone to try again.
This report focuses on the chronology and geography of collective violence against migrant entrepreneurs since South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994. The overall aim of the research was to document and create a chronological account of attacks on migrant businesses, to categorise the types and frequency of attacks and to map the locations where such events occurred.
Maybe it was an error for crime reporter Maggie Cloete to ignore the call from the AIDS worker, before someone put four bullets in his chest. It is post-apartheid South Africa, at the turn of the century. But there is a threat to the country's new democracy: HIV/AIDS, which is met with fear and superstition. Now that fear has reached Pietermaritzburg and an AIDS activist is dead. Maggie's instincts are on red alert. Despite threats from politicians and gangsters, she learns too much about Balthasar's life and his work at the AIDS Mission to be distant and professional. She is deeply, and dangerously, involved. Balthasar's Gift continues the tradition of pacy, hard-boiled South African crime fiction.
Three years after the advent of Zimbabwe's Inclusive Government in February 2009, the country still awaits the elections that people hope will lead to a more enduring political settlement. Zimbabwe: Mired in Transition reviews the experience of recent years assesses the progress that has been made. What is the public mood, and how has it changed? What steps have been taken to reform the media? How important is a new constitution. Although the economy has stabilised to some extent with the adoption of a multi-currency regime, industrial and agricultural production are depressed, and investment inflows are limited; what spaces exist for fiscal reform? Are local authority structures and the state bureaucracy equipped to handle the tasks that will ne asked of them? In terms of two important areas, the book extends its analysis further back than 2009. First, is the issue of emigration. Estimates of the number of Zimbabweans in the diaspora range from three to four million; what impact us this having on national development, and to what extent might the trend of migration be reversed? The second concerns young people, the chapter on which concludes: 'We already have a 'lost generation' - those who were once called the 'born frees'. Unless positive changes are made, we will still have another'. This collection of eleven essays examines in detail some of the pressing questions which Zimbabweans must ask as they chart a way forward.
Im Rahmen einer Zusammenarbeit zwischen der Thüringer Landesanstalt für Umwelt und Geologie und der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt fand in Kooperation mit dem Deutschen Wetterdienst (DWD) eine umfassende Studie zum konvektiven Unwetterpotential über Thüringen statt. Unwetterereignisse, die durch konvektive Prozesse in der Atmosphäre verursacht werden, besitzen ein nicht unerhebliches Schadenspotential, obwohl sie oftmals eine räumlich eng begrenzte Ausdehnung aufweisen. Aufgrund ihrer Charakteristik ist sowohl die Vorhersage solcher Ereignisse, als auch eine vollständige, systematische Erfassung für eine detaillierte Auswertung längerer Zeitreihen noch immer eine Herausforderung. Zusätzliches Interesse besteht in der Abschätzung der durch den Klimawandel abhängigen Entwicklung des zukünftigen Gefährdungspotentials konvektiver Unwetter. Für eine gezielte Untersuchung des Themenkomplexes ist eine Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Daten und Methoden verwendet worden. Mit Hilfe von Fernerkundungsdatensätzen wird ein räumlich differenziertes Gefährdungspotential über Thüringen nachgewiesen. Bedingt durch das Relief ist das Auftreten von Konvektion am häufigsten und intensivsten über dem südlichen Thüringer Wald und dessen Ostrand zu beobachten, während Nordthüringen eine deutlich geringere Aktivität solcher Unwetterereignisse aufweist. Eine Abschätzung mittels globaler Klimamodelle und daraus abgeleiteten Wetterlagen zeigt unter Berücksichtigung des RCP8.5 Klimaszenarios für die nahe Zukunft (2016-2045) eine Zunahme des Gefährdungspotentials durch konvektive Unwetter. Aufgrund des Anstiegs feuchter Wetterlagen (49 % auf 82 %) erhöht sich die Zunahme der Gefährdung für den Zeitraum 2071-2100 noch deutlicher. Im Vergleich zu diesem statistischen Ansatz nimmt die projizierte Gefährdung durch extreme Ereignisse erheblich zu (Faktor 6), wenn die Ergebnisse expliziter Simulationen konvektiver Ereignisse mit einem regionalen Klimamodell (mit horizontaler Gitterdistanz von 1 km) und eine Zunahme der Tage mit konvektiven Extremereignissen berücksichtigt werden. Ein Anstieg der Gefährdung durch konvektive Unwetter in der Zukunft ist wahrscheinlich. Eine Quantifizierung bleibt jedoch unsicher.
Erich Arendt : Bibliographie
(2014)
Die Bibliographie verzeichnet die in Einzelausgaben (einschl. Nachauflagen, Neuausgaben und Lizenzausgaben) sowie die in Anthologien und Zeitschriften veröffentlichten Übersetzungen, in Einzelfällen zusätzlich die jeweils verwendeten Originalausgaben. Literarische Werke von Erich Arendt sind nicht berücksichtigt, nur Publikationen mit Bezug zu seinen Übersetzungen, meist Vor- und Nachworte. An Sekundärliteratur ist erfasst, was explizit Bezug auf Erich Arendt als Übersetzer nimmt bzw. für sein übersetzerisches Handeln oder anderweitig für den Blick auf den Übersetzer relevant ist.
Liebe als Lebenswerk : Phyllis und ihre Verlobung mit Narciß im 6. Buch von Goethes "Lehrjahren"
(2014)
Die 'Schöne Seele' ist die Erzählerfigur des VI. Buchs von Goethes Roman "Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre". Ihr Leben erscheint dem Leser als eine Hinführung zu frei gewählter Ehelosigkeit und religiöser Askese; sie kündigt nämlich ihre Verlobung mit Narciß auf, dem Anschein nach wegen der damit verbundenen, vom wahren Verhältnis zu Gott ablenkenden Formen gesellschaftlicher Unterhaltung, wird Stiftsdame und Anhängerin des zeitgenössisch verbreiteten Pietismus in seiner Hallenser wie dann schließlich auch seiner Zinzendorfischen Form. Der Name "Schöne Seele" ist ihr von ihren jungen Verwandten zugedacht, weil sie ihren Verzicht angeblich nicht als Verlust erleidet, sondern als Moment glücklicher Selbstvervollkommnung.
Kawa zeigt, daß diese bislang vorherrschende Lesart den Chakakter der 'Bekenntnisse' als Dokument der (fiktiven) Romanempirie übersieht. Damit stehe dieser Text nämlich in einem vielseitigen Konfliktfeld, in dessen Kontext es seine spezifische Gestalt erst erhalte; er sei sowohl von der Verfasserin selbst wie von den Propagatoren des Manuskripts, also den Mitgliedern der 'Turmgesellschaft', entsprechend gekürzt und geschönt worden. Die schließlich an den Lesrer tradierte Fassung sei hinsichtlich ihres Wahrheitsgehalts fragwürdig und gebe nur bei gründlicher philologischer Bemühung den Blick darauf frei, daß Phyllis, wie sich die ansonsten namenlose Hauptgestalt gelegentlich nennt, sich der maitressenhaften Beziehung mit ihrem fürstlichen 'Mentor' und 'Oheim' zu entziehen versucht, dabei aber nicht die Unterstützung ihres Verlobten und nur teilweise die ihrer Familie erhält. Ihrem Verlobten sei nämlich für die Zweckehe und damit für die äußerliche Legitimation des Oheims, der auf diese Weise ungestört sein Verhältnis zu seiner Nichte fortsetzen wolle, eine außergewöhnliche Karriere als Kompensation versprochen worden.
Nach dem Zerwürfnis mit Narciß führt Phyllis aber noch ein langes, mit zahlreichen erotischen Affairen durchsetztes Leben, das bei entsprechend scharfsinnig ausgerichteter Lektüre auch in allen anderen Büchern des Romans und selbst noch in "Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre" auf wie immer versteckte Weise in unterschiedlichsten Auftritten faßbar wird. Der Leser muß zum Zwecke der Einsicht in diese Handlungs-Stationen verborgene genalogische Zusammenhänge beim Figurenensemble auflösen und eine Person identifizieren, die im Roman unter mehreren Namen und Bezeichnungen auftritt.
Hingewiesen wird am Ende auf den Umstand, daß die Schreiberin sich dabei zunehmend von der Nicht-Existenz der Erbsünde und von einem künftigen Sündenerlaß überzeuge, wie er mit dem Theologem der "Herwiederbringung der Dinge" in der Gnosis (z.B. bei Origenes) verbunden ist und im radikalen Pietismus (z.B. bei Klopstock) wiederbelebt wird. Dieser Aspekt der prognostizierten 'Rettung', der erst noch bearbeitet werden muß, verknüpft das Schicksal der "Schönen Seele" eng mit dem Schluß von 'Faust II'.
The Kenyan population is highly concentrated in urban centres, leading to increased social, economic and environmental strains, with a significant percentage of urban dwellers living in sprawling slums. Urban development is increasingly a major focus, especially in the fight against urban sustainability problems. There is little practical orientation in the academic literature for the growing gap between the rich and poor. Current literature is enormously concerned with resource use and environmental pressures, paying scant attention to the nexus between urban sustainability and empowerment of the urban poor. This book initiates debates on the segment of urban population often referred to as 'the bottom of the pyramid (BOP)', by analysing the microfinance innovation following evaluation of the impacts of access to microfinance and financial training and the implications to urban sustainability in Kenya. The main conclusion reached is that microfinance has an instrumental role to play in promoting sustainable urban development as it supports social welfare improvement and increases the livelihood of participants, business development and urban sustainability to a certain extent, thereby empowering the urban poor in contributing to poverty alleviation.
Vom 31. Mai bis 2. Juni 2012 fand an der Universität Hildesheim unter dem Motto Zur Sprache.kɔm die 39. Jahrestagung des Fachverbandes Deutsch als Fremdsprache statt. Organisiert wurde sie zusammen mit dem Verband vom Institut für deutsche Sprache und Literatur und vom Institut für interkulturelle Kommunikation.
Die Themenschwerpunkte akzentuierten je unterschiedliche Aspekte des Lernens und Lehrens von Deutsch als fremder oder zweiter Sprache: Im Themenschwerpunkt (1) Sprachlernwege wurden Lernprozesse und -erfahrungen aus der Lernerperspektive sowie Konzepte durchgängiger Sprachförderung thematisch. Mit dem Themenschwerpunkt (2) Authentische Kommunikation rückte die Diskussion um die angemessene Auswahl und Bearbeitung von Lern- und Forschungsgegenständen bei der Bearbeitung interkultureller Kommunikation ins Zentrum. Über Verfahren des Unterrichtens und Lernens diskutierten die Teilnehmer/-innen des Themenschwerpunkts (3) Kreative Methoden. Der Themenschwerpunkt (4) Professionalisierung widmete sich neuen Konzepten der Aus- und Weiterbildung von Lehrenden im Bereich DaF und DaZ.::
Zunächst wäre zu klären, wo der Begriff "Graphic Novel" herkommt, welche Funktion er in einer groß angelegten Imagekampagne für den Comic hat und welche Kritik man an ihm üben kann. Dies geschieht anhand von ausgewählten Beispielen aus dem aktuellen Diskurs über "Graphic Novels", wie er von Comicschaffenden, Comicverlagen, VertreterInnen des Buchhandels und dem Feuilleton geführt und von der Comicforschung reflektiert wird. Vor allem soll in diesem Aufsatz jedoch der Versuch unternommen werden, den Begriff Graphic Novel, der nun einmal unleugbar da ist und eine gewisse Popularität genießt, probeweise einmal ernstzunehmen, statt bloß seine Schwächen zu kritisieren und ihn abzulehnen. Es kann ausnahmsweise durchaus produktiv sein, sich zu fragen, wie der möglicherweise leere Begriff sinnvoll gefüllt werden kann.
Mehr als 6.600 Doktorandinnen und Doktoranden forschen an der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. Das und vieles mehr ergab die erste repräsentative Umfrage unter Promovierenden und ihren Betreuern, die im Auftrag der Universität durch das Berliner Institut für Forschungsinformation und Qualitätssicherung (iFQ) durchgeführt wurde. Das gute Ergebnis ist nicht zuletzt auf GRADE, die Goethe Graduate Academy, zurückzuführen, dem universitätsübergreifenden Zentrum für die Doktorandenausbildung. ...
Der doppeldeutige Einsatz von Gegenständlichkeit kann als exemplarisch für das filmische Erzählen David Lynchs gelten, das auf geradezu unheimliche Weise zwischen dinglicher Konkretion, alptraumhafter Irrealität und medialer Selbstbezüglichkeit schwebt - eine komplexe Konstellation, die gern auf psychoanalytische Theoreme oder selbstreflexive Muster reduziert wird, ohne die widerständig-zweideutige Rolle der Gegenstände zu beachten: Sie beharren einerseits als dingliche Körper unabweislich auf der Tatsächlichkeit der erzählten Geschichte, verweisen aber zugleich auf den medialen Rahmen des Vorgestellten und mithin auf seine Fiktionalität. Dieser Verweis auf den äußeren Darstellungsapparat führt bei Lynch aber nicht zu einem Auseinanderbrechen der dargestellten Welt, sondern kann geradezu verbindende, Kohärenz bildende Wirkung haben. "Gegenständliches Erzählen" wäre hier folglich zugleich anschaulich-konkret (stellt eine gegenständliche Welt vor) und selbstbezüglich, ohne abstrakt zu sein (es verkörpert den Prozess des Erzählens in Gegenständen der erzählten Welt). In diesem Sinn wäre "gegenständliches Erzählen" zunächst als eine narratologische Strategie und charakteristische écriture zu verstehen. Sie soll im Folgenden nach den zwei Seiten Schriftlichkeit und Anschaulichkeit untersucht werden.
Susanne Heeg & Marit Rosol: Vorwort
Svenja Keitzel, Janine Pößneck & Ole Werner: Zwangsräumungen in Frankfurt am Main - Wandel des Wohnungsmarktes und seine Folgen
Eva Kuschinski: Sozialer Wohnungsbau lohnt sich nicht - Ökonomisierung der Frankfurter Wohnungspolitik am Beispiel der ABG Frankfurt Holding
Nicole Dornig & Andreas Blechschmidt: Betrieblicher Wohnungsbau im Wandel: Eine Untersuchung am Beispiel der Eisenbahnersiedlung in Frankfurt-Nied
Jakob Hebsaker & Pieterjan Dom: Alternatives Wohnen zwischen Häuserkampf und GmbH – Zur Entwicklung der Idee des Mietshäuser Syndikats
Lucas Pohl & Franziska Vaessen: Die Möglichkeit von Irrelevanz: Zur stadtpolitischen Auseinandersetzung um selbstverwaltete (Frei-)Räume am Beispiel des „Instituts für vergleichende Irrelevanz“ in Frankfurt am Main
Lara-Maria Mohr & Franziska Schmidt: Wohnraum verdichten, Wohnraum vernichten? - Bürgerbeteiligung bei der Planung von innerstädtischer Nachverdichtung
Amrei Biedermann, Andre Mascarinas & Anna-Lena Ripperger: Wie die Verbriefung von Gewerbeimmobilien deutsche Städte verändert – das Beispiel City Tower in Offenbach am Main
Der vorliegende 12. Band des vom Institut für Humangeographie herausgegebenen „Forum Humangeographie“ beschäftigt sich mit politischen Fragen rund um Wohnen und Immobilienentwicklung in Städten. Er vereint theoretisch fundierte und zugleich aktuelle empirische Beiträge zur Verwertung, Nutzung und Gestaltung der gebauten Umwelt, aber auch zu den Fragen, was der Verlust von Wohnraum bedeutet und welche alternativen Ansprüche an die gebaute Umwelt formuliert werden. Im regionalen Fokus dieses Sammelbandes stehen Frankfurt am Main und Offenbach als Teil der Rhein-Main-Region. Dieser räumliche Bezug hat forschungspraktische (z.B. Zugänglichkeit von Expert_innen), aber auch inhaltliche Gründe, da sich in dieser Region Wohnen und die gebaute Umwelt im besonderen Maße als gesellschaftliches Konfliktfeld – gekennzeichnet durch Phänomene wie Büroleerstand, Wohnungsmangel und Widerstand gegen Wohnen als Ware – erweisen und untersuchen lassen. Die Rhein-Main-Region ist wie andere große deutsche Metropolregionen von einem angespannten Immobilienmarkt geprägt, der das Ziel volatiler, d.h. in Bezug auf Umfang und Objekte sehr stark schwankender, Investments ist. Bis 2008 flossen Investitionen vorrangig in den Bürobestand, im Zuge der Finanz- und Schuldenkrise wurden Investments institutioneller Anleger jedoch in den Wohnungsmarkt umgelenkt (Scharmanski 2013; Heeg 2013). Hintergrund hierfür sind einerseits eine steigende Zahl von sog. notleidenden Krediten („non-performing loans“) im Büroimmobilienbereich (vgl. Biedermann et al., Kap. 7) und andererseits anziehende Mieten und Eigentumspreise auf dem Wohnungsmarkt, welche Investitionen in Wohnimmobilien lukrativ werden lassen (Kholodilin/Mense 2012). In der Folge werden vermehrt Luxuswohnungen erstellt und wird preiswerter Wohnraum vernichtet.
Im Zentrum des vorliegenden Bandes der Rilke-Blätter stehen Beiträge, die auf der Tagung der Internationalen Rilke-Gesellschaft im September 2012 in Bern und im Rahmen des Rilke-Treffens 2013 in Freiburg i. Br. vorgestellt und diskutiert wurden. Die Vorträge, Workshops und Gespräche, die hier als Essays, Abhandlungen und Berichte eine weniger flüchtige Gestalt finden, sind stets auch eine Chronik der Begegnungen und zugleich Erinnerung an diese stimmungsvollen Zusammenkünfte. In Bern stand der Bezug zu Rilkes Aufenthalten in der Stadt an der Aare und insgesamt zur Schweiz im Mittelpunkt, die Beiträge junger Rilke-Forscher, die auf Kurzvorträge der Berner Tagung zurückgehen, kreisen um das Thema des Verzichts und der Armut. Das Freiburger Treffen stand in allen Sektionen ganz im Zeichen der Sonette an Orpheus. Hier und in den weiteren Beiträgen, im Dokumentationsteil und in den Rezensionen, soll, so der Wunsch der Herausgeber, die methodisch und inhaltlich breite Aufstellung der Rilke-Forschung deutlich werden, aber auch das weite Feld philologisch noch nicht oder nur vorläufig erschlossener Dokumente wird dabei erkennbar.
Tütensuppe, Trambahn, Twitter: Dass sich die Geschichte der Beschleunigung anhand von alltäglichen Dingen nachvollziehen lässt, machte die Ausstellung "TEMPO TEMPO! Im Wettlauf mit der Zeit" anschaulich, die 2013 im Museum für Kommunikation Berlin gezeigt wurde. Die Ausstellung dokumentierte dabei die Vielfalt von Produkten und Medientechniken, die dem Menschen das Alltagsleben erleichtern sollen, indem sie Handlungen vereinfachen und beschleunigen und damit Zeit einsparen. Gleichzeitig thematisierte die Ausstellung aber auch das moderne Lebensgefühl der stetigen Beschleunigung und der Zeitknappheit. Auf diese Weise wurde anhand der Exponate das "ungeheure Paradoxon der modernen Welt" veranschaulicht, dessen innere Strukturen der Soziologe Hartmut Rosa aufgezeigt hat: Eigentlich zielen die vielen Innovationen darauf ab, Zeit zu sparen, indem sie den nötigen Zeitaufwand für Handlungen verringern. In ihrer Häufung führen sie jedoch zu einer empfundenen Beschleunigung des Lebens, weil in demselben Zeitraum mehr einzelne Handlungen als zuvor möglich sind und auch zunehmend erwartet werden. Die "Logik der Beschleunigung" formt die Zeitstrukturen in der Moderne.
Ein ungebremster Klimawandel „[…] würde[n] die physikalische Geografie der Welt transformieren. Eine radikale Änderung der physikalischen Geografie der Welt muss unbedingt starke Auswirkungen auf die humane Geografie haben – wo Menschen leben und wie sie leben.“(Stern 2006: iv)
Unser Erdsystem sowie unser Gesellschafts- und Wirtschafssystem zeichnen sich durch ihre Offenheit, Prozesshaftigkeit und Dynamik aus; sie befinden sich in einem ständigen Wandel. Auch das Weltklima hat sich schon immer verändert; gekennzeichnet durch einen Wechsel von Kalt- und Warmzeiten. Doch heute dominiert der Faktor Mensch das Erdsystem: Mit der industriellen Revolution und dem Übergang in ein kapitalistisches Gesellschafts- und Wirt-schaftssystem hat sich auch der natürliche Treibhauseffekt entscheidend beschleunigt. Durch vom Menschen verursachte Emissionen, ist die CO2-Menge in unserer Atmosphäre heute be-reits um ein Drittel höher als sie in den Jahrmillionen vor Beginn der Industrialisierung jemals war (Gebhardt und Glaser 2007: 963; Bernstein et al. 2008). Die Qualität und Tragweite des Phänomens Klimawandel ist von solchem Ausmaß, dass die natürliche wie soziale Umwelt dadurch aus ihren Fugen geraten kann.
Der Ruf nach einem „Rettungsschirm für Kommunen“, einem „Stärkungspakt Stadtfinanzen“ oder „kommunalen Entschuldungsfonds“ rückt in regelmäßigen Abständen die ernste Lage einer Vielzahl klammer Kommunen ins öffentliche Bewusstsein. Die drohende Überschuldung deutscher Städte und Gemeinden stellt parallel zur Entwicklung der globalen Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise eine besorgniserregende Realität dar. Große Löcher in den Kommunalhaushalten sind dabei kein Phänomen der jüngsten Vergangenheit, vielmehr macht sich die angespannte Finanzlage in vielen Kommunen bereits seit Jahren vor Ort bemerkbar. Beispielsweise in den Bereichen von Kultur, Jugendeinrichtungen, Beratungsstellen, Museen, Bibliotheken, Sportplätzen, Freibädern, Freizeitangeboten und Tierparks sind Ausgabenkürzungen an der Tagesordnung, die die Einwohner_innen alltäglich mit der finanziellen Unterausstattung auf Lokalebene konfrontieren. Außerdem dokumentiert ein rasanter Anstieg des Kreditvolumens im vergangenen Jahrzehnt die klamme Lage der Kommunen. Im Krisenjahr 2009 sind die sogenannten Kassenkredite, die kurzfristige Engpässe im Kommunalhaushalt ausgleichen sollen, auf fast 35 Milliarden Euro angestiegen und haben bundesweit mittlerweile ein Volumen von 48 Milliarden Euro überschritten (Deutscher Städtetag 2013).
Diese enorme Schuldenlast ist vor allem als Resultat einer strukturellen Unterfinanzierung der Städte zu werten, welche nicht zuletzt die Erbringung der kommunalen Daseinsvorsorge im Infrastrukturbereich gefährdet sowie wie bei der städtischen Gas-, Wasser- und Elektrizitätsversorgung oder im engeren sozialen Bereich. Um die lokale Verantwortung für die Versorgungssicherheit wiederzugewinnen, gab es in den letzten Jahren vermehrt Projekte, um Versorgungsbetriebe wieder in städtisches Eigentum zurückzuführen (Libbe 2011; Verband kommunaler Unternehmen 2012). Unter dem Stichwort Rekommunalisierung wurde die Gründung eigener Stadtwerke bereits als Abkehr von einer Privatisierungslogik (Candeias et al. 2009) präsentiert. In diesem Licht erscheint Kommunalpolitik mitunter als Alternative zu renditeorientiertem Wirtschaften.
Eine solche Darstellung übersieht allerdings, dass kommunales Handeln eng in den wachstumsorientierten Finanzmarktkapitalismus eingebunden ist. Diese Einbindung hat eine materielle Basis und tritt beispielsweise dann zu Tage wenn Kommunen auf Grund der konjunkturellen Flaute in der internationalen Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise stark unter steigenden Ausgaben für Sozialtransfers sowie unter sinkenden Steuereinnahmen leiden. Zusätzlich besteht aber auch eine diskursive Einbindung, die sich darin äußert, dass die Pflicht zur Fiskaldisziplin in bundesdeutschen Kommunen bereits eine vergleichbare Bedeutung erlangt hat wie in den Haushaltsplänen der Nationalstaaten der Euro-Zone. Schon werden in Anlehnung an die Einführung nationaler Schuldenbremsen kommunale Schuldenbremsen diskutiert (Bertelsmann Stiftung 2013). Das kann kaum verwundern, da in einer Mehrzahl der Kommunen schon kurz nach der Subprimekrise die Verantwortlichen zu einem wettberwerbsorientierten Politikverständnis zurückkehrten und konservative Konzepte der Krisenlösung anwendeten(Belina und Schipper 2009). Zum aktuellen Zeitpunkt gibt es daher wenig Anlass Kommunalpolitik auf einem alternativen Entwicklungsweg zu glauben.