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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In a country like Namibia, where few academics often have to cover a subject in all its aspects, the scope of research necessarily has to be wide. In the case of the one honoured with this Festschrift, Hans-Volker Joachim Gretschel, these areas cover the German language and literature, comparative literature, translation, as well as didactics and lexicography. In this book his colleagues, friends and companions address all of these issues. Nonetheless this is not a random potpourri but one united by the relevance for the development of Namibia. The reader can look forward to noteworthy articles showing the way for German and German Studies in Southern Africa.
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.
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..
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Acacia
(2014)
Acacia is a strong and independent woman whose heart and heritage like rooted in Africa, while her reality in contemporary America finds itself in a very different time and place. In living her life, she must breach the distance between her current space and the ties that bind her. Straddling two sometimes opposing worlds of medicine and dance, Dr Acacia Graeme must find the balance between feeding her mind through work and study, and nourishing her soul and spirit through dance. And what happened when the music stops? Because it does, often. How will she get through the silence of her every day? This is the story of a flawed heroine whose intentions are pure, her truth perhaps less so. Torn between the enduring innocence of her first love and the life-long search that is her longing for one true love, she is compelled to come to terms with her own free nature and independent spirit and, in so doing, turn tragedy to triumph.
The publication is the latest in the African Studies in Russia series of compilations and contains full articles and annotations of the most important - from the point of view of editors - works of Russian Africanists over a certain period. The authors work at the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). The present issue covers the years 2010 to 2013 and consists of two sections. The first section presents conceptual articles on Africa published in authoritative journals. The second section offers synopses of books by Russian authors on economics, cultural anthropology, social and political development, gender studies, and international relations of African countries. The main objective of the triennial series of compilations is to introduce new findings of Russian Africanists to interested foreign scholars who do not speak Russian.
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.
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.
Bless me Father
(2014)
Bless Me Father is the true story of an incredible South African life. Born into a violent and broken family, and growing up in a variety of institutions, Cape Town based poet and writer Mario d'Offizi tells his remarkable, often shocking and ultimately inspiring life adventure - one that spans several decades in a country undergoing radical change. From his tough days at Boys Town to wild years in the advertising world, a stint in the restaurant business and a sharp edged journalistic adventure in the DRC, d'Offizi tells his critically acclaimed story with the unfailing sensitivity and warmth of a true poet.
In Search of Happiness
(2014)
Nana is fifteen when she travels from her village in the Eastern Cape to the city. She is overjoyed to be reunited with her family, even if they are living in a tiny shack. But she struggles to fit in at her new school, and she is shocked at the violence shown to Chino and Agnes, her Zimbabwean neighbours. When she and Agnes become close friends, and find love in unexpected places, Nana learns firsthand just how brutal ignorance can be and how hard it is to hold on to happiness.
The year 2013 marked 15 years of the phenomenal diplomatic relations between South Africa and China. Th e relationship between South Africa and China has been developing since diplomatic ties were established on 1 January 1998. Since then, South Africa-China's bilateral relations have undergone rapid and all-facet development. Th ere were frequent high level and other kinds of mutual exchanges between the two countries. Th e bilateral relations within the space of fifteen years have evolved from a Partnership to a Strategic Partnership, and then to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Furthermore, in the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which was set out in the Beijing Declaration signed in 2010, the two countries expressed the desire to further strengthen and deepen cooperation in both bilateral and regional affairs by establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership based on equality, mutual benefit and common development. Th e agreements range from political dialogue, trade, investment, mineral exploration, manufacturing, and agriculture to joint efforts in the global arena, such as in the United Nations, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS). In recognition of the aforementioned bilateral achievements, on 19 September 2013, an Ambassadorial forum was co-hosted by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), The Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of South Africa, and the Africa Institute of South Africa Human Science Research Council (AISA-HSRC). The objective of the Ambassadorial Forum was to provide an opportunity for refl ections on the past and outlook on the future diplomatic relations between South Africa and China. This book presents the offi cial keynote addresses which provide strategic thinking and foresight into the bilateral relations between the two countries. Th e main substance of the book is a collection of the Ambassadorial Forum papers that were submitted. The papers evaluate economic and political progress from a national interest perspective. Progress is measured against variables such as trade growth, people-to-people development, partnerships, and the implementation of state agreements, all against the background of the theory of national interest.
This book addresses hot issues pertaining to the manner in which corporate South Africa has engaged the emerging green global economy. Firstly, the book profiles the green and low carbon economy landscape in South Africa and interfaces it with global trends. This way, the book aligns very well in terms of the Rio+20 outcomes on 'The Future We Want' that fully embraces the green global economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication. The rest of the chapters in the book profile breakthroughs from selected companies. The book also comes as the second in a series that is addressing global and national concerns on the green global economy agenda. The first book entitled 'Green Economy and Climate Mitigation: Topics of Relevance to Africa' was produced as part of the 17th Session of the Conference of Parties' collaborative work carried out by the Institute of Global Dialogue, the Africa Institute of South Africa and Unisa's Institute for Corporate Citizenship. The book 'Breakthrough: Corporate South Africa in the Green Economy' comes in seven parts. Part I focuses on the Green Economy Landscape. This part considers both the international and national perspectives. Parts II-VI present different sector initiatives namely: Mining and Energy (Part II), Banking and Insurance (Part III), Forest and Paper (Part IV), Industrial (Part V) and Retailing and Aviation (Part VI). The last part is made up of a single chapter dealing with Emerging Issues and Way Forward.
This volume is an attempt to provide this intersectional and reflexive space. The thinking behind the book began in Lamu in mid-2010. It was a time when growing community resistance emerged towards the Kenyan government's plan to build a second seaport under a trans-frontier infrastructural project known as the Lamu Port- South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET). The editors agreed that a book that draws community activists, academics, researchers and policy makers into a discussion of the predicament of indigenous rights and development against the backdrop of the Endorois case was timely and needed. Assembled here are the original contributions of some of the leading contemporary thinkers in the area of indigenous and human rights in Africa. The book is an interdisciplinary effort with the single purpose of thinking through indigenous rights after the Endorois case but it is not a singular laudatory remark on indigenous life in Africa. The discussion begins by framing indigenous rights and claims to indigeneity as found in the Endorois decision and its related socio-political history. Subsequent chapters provide deeper contextual analysis by evaluating the tense relationship between indigenous peoples and the post-colonial nation-state. Overall, the book makes a peering and provocative contribution to the relational interests between state policies and the developmental intersections of indigeneity, indigenous rights, gender advocacy, environmental conservation, chronic trauma and transitional justice.
The quality of education is pivotal for the production of human capital and this cannot be compromised by failing to refocus on the quality of education offered in schools. The inputs in the system such as trained and motivated teachers, buildings and classrooms including sanitation, clean water, instructional material such as textbooks, as well as strong leadership with vision to steer the winds of change are important in providing the desired outcomes. The chapters in this volume are broadly divided into three subsections as follows: learner related issues, (farm and rural schools, poverty and schooling, school violence, and students rights); teacher related issues,(teacher morale and motivation, teachers for all schools, management needs of school principals); and administrative/policy related issues (inclusive education, and school community relations). The social demand for better schools, effective principals, qualified and committed teachers and better opportunities for all place a huge challenge to provinces and the state to protect the rights of all citizens. This volume sets out the challenges facing the education system in South Africa, such as poor school infrastructure, poor learning conditions, and a lack of learning materials and provides recommendations on how some of these can be overcome.
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.
Building Peace from Within
(2014)
This book seeks to examine how successful models of building 'peace from within' in the African context function. It draws emerging lessons to provide critical recommendations on policy, practice and academia - our primary audience. While there are numerous examples of failures of conflict resolution in Africa, shown by intractable conflict axes, less attention is paid to successes. While acknowledging the challenges that exist, this edited volume provides positive examples of building peace from within in fragile contexts through many forms of initiatives and actions at different levels: community-based (through individual and/or collective local peace initiatives), government (through ministries and/or departments), and regional (through external and/or multilateral infrastructure for peace). As a guiding principle the notion of building peace from within draws from the idea of community regeneration, which describes voluntary and peaceful activities of grassroots actors that reflect their broader interests of building peaceful communities and existence.
This book employs the event of the Arab Spring revolution of 2011 to reflect on the event itself and beyond. Some of the chapters address the colonial encounter and its lingering reverberations on the African sociopolitical landscape. Others address the aftermath of large scale societal violence and trauma that pervade the African context. The contributions indicate the range of challenges confronting African societies in the postmodern era. They also illustrate the sheer resilience and inventiveness of those societies in the face of apparently overwhelming odds. What is the nature of political power in contemporary Africa as constituted from below instead of being a state driven phenomenon? What constitutes sovereignty without recourse to the usual academic responses and discourses? These two questions loom behind most of the deliberations contained in this book with contributions from an impressive field of international scholars.
This book foregrounds emerging and different perspectives on the centenary of the ANC which was celebrated in February 2012. Differing in tenor, methodology and style, we present nineteen chapters that tackle various epochs and events in the making of the centenary of the oldest political organisation in Africa. The book offers new angles to our understanding of what sustained the ANC over one hundred years in spite of all the internal and external contradictions. There is arguably a view that part of what distinguishes the ANC from other revolutionary movements in the continent is that from the turn of the twentieth century its founders prioritised national unity across tribal, ethnic, linguistic, religious, gender and racial identities. This ideal of national unity informed their responses to the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910 and the declaration of the South African Republic in 1961. In principle, the leadership was opposed not to these manifestations of concrete nation state formation but to the practice of excluding the majority of South African citizens according to racial markers. As a contribution to the historiography of the ANC and that of South Africa which it was established to liberate, the book tackles the following critical questions: what traits in the ANC's genetic code have kept it alive for one hundred years? Is the ANC on course to meeting its historical mission of building an equitable, nonracial, non-sexist and socially-democratic society as articulated in the Africans' Claims, the Freedom Charter and the Strategy and Tactics documents? Finally, would the ANC continue to retain relevance for a bicentenary especially as it now contends with new internal and external contradictions in an increasingly unequally society and unipolar world order? This new hypothetical architecture, hopefully, will be employed by many others engaged in the study of the rise and fall of political organisations.
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.
Textures
(2014)
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.
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.
The history of people with disabilities has been dominated by their isolation and exclusion. The long fight towards inclusion - and inclusive education in particular - started not many years ago. Most were powerless to control their own destiny. Their participation in society has been the object of other's actions. In many countries their disability policies have a substantial element of protection and charity but not the right to equalisation of opportunities. This book highlights the process of change that is underway internationally. The equalisation of opportunities requires new processes through which the various systems of society such as health services and education are delivered. It means the right for people with disabilities to remain in their communities and to receive the schooling and social supports they need within the ordinary structures available in local communities. Strong advocacy is needed for this to happen. In particular parents need to be empowered, communities mobilised and professionals trained in new ways of working: hence this book. Drawing on experiences in Africa, the book describes the issues to be considered when it comes to implementing inclusive strategies: the processes to be followed and the roles of different sectors, such as people with disabilities, parents, policy makers, educationalists, health and community development professionals and crucially, society at large.
Like in many parts of the world, water resources in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have been pivotal for human survival, economic growth, social development, and practicing certain religion and cultural ethos. However, in spite of the intrinsic values of water, its use and management in sub-Saharan Africa has not been without limitations. The demand for water resources is increasing mainly due to rapid population growth, industrialization and urbanization and dealing with water-related issues has been complex and challenging for sustainable growth. Whilst there are various efforts by national governments, non-government organizations and communities to effectively and efficiently utilize and manage water resources, there are few comprehensive studies in sub- Saharan Africa that show the impact of the efforts on poverty reduction. Although certain reports indicate that many SSA countries lack clear vision on how water use can be harnessed with pro-poor growth and how poor communities can be capacitated to use water for poverty reduction, there are little exhaustive studies that clearly show familiar and innovative water use and management interventions followed by communities, national governments and other stakeholders, and demonstrate the challenges and successes of the same. Cognizant of the knowledge gap, in 2012 OSSREA launched a research project on ordinary and innovative water use and management patterns and practices in SSA, with a view to generate new knowledge on unexploited opportunities that could enhance the contribution of water resources to poverty reduction. This anthology documents various issues including water use and management in agriculture especially in irrigation projects in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe; water harvesting in Kenya and Uganda; the role of local water use institutions in Ethiopia; and water source maintenance and protection in Uganda.
Feathers in Reverse
(2014)
Feathers in Reverse is the ideal gift for a loved one who is scared of poetry. It engages and immerses readers with the luring subtlety of a serpent. Themes treated include good and evil, heaven and earth, man and woman, birth and death, urbanism and rural life, wealth and poverty. As much as the poet highlights salient issues and conflicts in everyday life, he suggests answers to burning problems as well. A common thread runs through the over 300 poems feathered and featured in this collection. The notion of the 'feather' is cross-cultural. It reminds us of the feather used as a pen in ancient Europe and the 'red feather' that is stuck on the caps of African notables as a mark of distinction. Feathers in Reverse is a magic pudding to be sampled, shared and indulged.
This book is the celebration of one man's vendetta against a cancerous regime that thrives on the rape of democracy and human rights abuses. Lapiro de Mbanga, born Lambo Sandjo Pierre Roger on April 7, 1957 was a conduit for social change. He fought for change in his homeland and died fighting for change in Cameroon. Lapiro believed in the innate goodness of man but also had the conviction that absolute power corrupts absolutely. He was noted for contending that 'power creates monsters.' His entire musical career was devoted to fighting the cause of the downtrodden in Cameroon. He composed satirical songs on the socio-economic dysphonia in his beleaguered country. In his songs, he articulated the daily travails of the man in the street and the government-orchestrated injustices he witnessed. As a songwriter, Lapiro de Mbanga distinguished himself from his peers through bravado, valiance and the courage to say overtly what many a Cameroonian musician would only mumble in the privacy of their homes. Lapiro's anti-establishment music led to his arrest and imprisonment in September 2009 for three years. Released from prison on April 8, 2011 he was later given political asylum by the USA. On September 2, 2012 Lapiro relocated with some members of his family to Buffalo in New York where he died on March 16, 2014 after an illness. His revolutionary music and fighting spirit live on.
From my friendships and loves are born the lines herein. My greatest desire is that we must learn to love to the best of our abilities and not better than the Best of our abilities. Requesting the latter would be demanding the impossible. For me, every heart is filled with goodness and love that only a positive posturing and channeling of their energies can warrant the transcendence of these terrestrial realities to flirt with their divine counterparts.
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.
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.
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.::
Pronominalsystem im Thai
(2014)
In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die Thematik des Pronominalsystems in der thailändischen Sprache besprochen. Dazu ist zunächst der Begriff Pronomen zu definieren und die ThaiSprache in ihrer Struktur zu erläutern. Anschließend werden alle Arten von Pronomina der Reihe nach mit Beispielen aus der thailändischer Sprache erklärt, angefangen bei den Personalpronomina über Possessiva, Demonstrativa und Indefinitpronomina bis zu den Relativa und Interrogativa...
Zwei in mancher Hinsicht zusammenhängende Problemfelder werden durch die in diesem Band versammelten Beiträge namhafter Kenner des deutschen Gesundheitssystems – überarbeitete Fassungen von Vorträgen im April 2013 – untersucht: das seit langem kontrovers diskutierte Thema des Ob und Wie einer Vereinheitlichung des aus privater und gesetzlicher Krankenversicherung bestehenden Dualismus der Absicherung gegen Krankheit und die Frage wie, mit welchen Standards und durch wen (inwieweit auch durch die Gerichte?) der Leistungskatalog der sozialen Krankenversicherung bestimmt werden sollte. Diese Fragen werden auf der gesundheitspolitischen Agenda bleiben – auch soweit sie in der aktuellen Legislaturperiode des Bundestages nicht behandelt werden sollten.
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. ...
The Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS) is a research center of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, located in the "House of Finance". The Institute was established as implementation of the project "Currency and Financial Stability" funded by a grant of the Stiftung Geld und Währung (Foundation of Monetary and Financial Stability). The Foundation of Monetary and Financial Stability was created January 1, 2002 by federal law. ...
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.
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.
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.
Einar Schleef zählt zu den herausragendsten Theaterregisseuren der 1990er Jahre. Seine Theaterstücke polarisierten, waren unbequem und verlangten den Zuschauern ein Höchstmaß an Konzentration ab. Er wurde gefeiert und verflucht gleichermaßen. Weniger bekannt war allerdings, dass er sich auch als Schriftsteller betätigte und auch hier ausufernd und kompromisslos war. Erst nach seinem Tod 2001 rückten zunehmend seine epischen Werke in das Bewusstsein eines breiteren Publikums. Einar Schleefs "halbdokumentarische[r] Familien- oder Heimatroman" Gertrud, geschrieben in den Jahren nach seiner "Republikflucht" 1976, ist der schier endlose, auf nahezu tausend Seiten ausgebreitete Erinnerungsstrom einer alten, in Sangerhausen geborenen und dort lebenden Frau, Gertrud (Trude) Schleef, geborene Hoffmann. Sie ist die Mutter des Autors, die (durch das Sprachrohr Schleef) in einem ständigen Wechsel von Monologen, Briefen, Tagebuchnotizen ihr Leben erzählt. Als der erste Band gedruckt vor ihm liegt, schreibt Schleef in sein Tagebuch: "Mutter, ich habe dir eine Pyramide errichtet, einfach Schotter übereinander. Für eine Deutsche Familientragödie."
Bibel und Literatur um 1800
(2014)
Die Geschichte der Philologie war immer auch eine Geschichte des Lesens heiliger Texte. Dass auch die Moderne nicht notwendig mit dieser Herkunft bricht, zeigen die vielfältigen Beziehungen zwischen Literatur, Philologie und Bibelexegese in der epistemologischen Schlüsselepoche um 1800. Wenn Novalis 1798 an Friedrich Schlegel schreibt, eine "Theorie der Bibel" würde eigentlich einer "Theorie der Schriftstellerei oder der Wordbildnerei überhaupt" entsprechen, so ruft das nicht nur einen traditionellen Topos auf, sondern bezieht sich auch auf höchst aktuelle zeitgenössische Debatten. Denn die sich im Laufe des 18. Jahrhunderts ausbildende historische und philologische Kritik der Bibel erlaubt es nicht nur, das Buch der Bücher neu zu lesen, sondern verändert auch das Verständnis des Lesens und der Literatur überhaupt. Immer wenn um 1800 über Semiotik und Übersetzungstheorie, Rhetorik und Philologie, Poetik und Hermeneutik verhandelt wird, geschieht das auch mit Seitenblick auf die Bibel und ihre Lesbarkeit. Weidners Studie untersucht die literarischen und kritischen Diskurse um und über die Bibel, die für die Geschichte der Literaturwissenschaft von nicht zu unterschätzender Bedeutung ist.
Das Interesse an der Bibel wächst: Das Verhältnis von biblischem und literarischem Text wird zu einem immer komplexeren Forschungsfeld der Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft. Anhand konkreter Beispiele werden etablierte Forschungsansätze zur Beziehung von Bibel und Literatur erweitert. Im Bezug auf die Problemfelder Intertextualität, Medialität, Diskurspolitik, Säkularisierung, Normativität, Historizität und Hermeneutik wird das Verhältnis von Bibel und Literatur beleuchtet und die Schwierigkeiten diskutiert, die dieser Bereich der interdisziplinären Forschung bereitet.
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.
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'.
Aufgrund der Beschlüsse der Fachbereichsräte der an der Promotionsordnung beteiligten Fachbereiche im Sommersemester 2013 wird die Promotionsordnung der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fachbereiche der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main vom 26. Mai 1993 (ABL. 1/94, S. 21), zuletzt geändert am 17. August 2010 (UniReport 28. Oktober 2010) wie folgt geändert:...
Library Buildings around the World" is a survey based on researches of several years. The objective was to gather library buildings on an international level starting with 1990.
The parts Germany, France, United Kingdom, United States have been thoroughly revised, supplemented and completed for this 2nd edition. A revision of the other countries is planned for the next edition.