Book
Refine
Year of publication
- 2013 (221) (remove)
Document Type
- Book (221) (remove)
Language
- German (113)
- English (98)
- French (6)
- Multiple languages (4)
Has Fulltext
- yes (221)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (221) (remove)
Keywords
- Geschichte (5)
- Bibliographie (2)
- Bildnis (2)
- Diskurs (2)
- Disziplin <Wissenschaft> (2)
- Gerichtsbuch (2)
- Geschichte 1727-1733 (2)
- Gesicht <Motiv> (2)
- Hessen (2)
- Jugend (2)
Institute
Out of the first series of public lectures titled (Re) membering Kenya organised by the Volume editors together with Twaweza Communications and supported by the Goethe Institut Kenya, The Ford Foundation and the Institute for International Education, and whose key outcome was the publication of Remembering Kenya Vol.1 (2010) grew a second round of lecture series. The second series took cognisance of the fact that the problems that bedevil Kenya as a nation go far beyond questions of culture and identity that Volume 1 dealt with. Thus, the second presentations revolved mainly around issues of economics, governance and power. The awareness of the role and/or lack of equity and social justice in causing Kenya?s persistent problems informed all these presentations. Issues of how to bring marginalised groups into the mainstream were discussed. This Volume, in part, arises from the second presentations. The authors of chapters attempt to provide answers to the question: what entails (re)membering in post-conflict Kenya? From their work, it is clear that there is a lot to (re)member in Kenya, and many ways in which to reconfigure project Kenya. (Re)membering is re-thinking and re organising our ways of doing things. It entails a juggling of priorities; between peace and reconciliation, peace and justice, and seeking justice and reconciliation without undermining peace, all of which are arduous exercises. Reconciling misconceptions about places, issues and people is part of this reconstitution too. New pathways require being embraced, past mistakes (individual and collective) acknowledged and giving earnest meaning to the vow ?never again!? Yet, as observed in this Volume, Kenyans must be vigilant against individuals and groups that have often resisted change. There are also material constraints to the achievement of the various economic activities that come with reconfiguring the Kenyan nation. Worse still there exist certain cultural underpinnings that continue to have a debilitating effect on efforts to forge a sustainable peace after conflict. These aspects require deep reflection and honest work. In part, the contributors to this Volume suggest how it can be done. There is a hint in these chapters that we need to find new organizing spaces and principles on which a ?new? Kenya can move forward. Equally, debating the very meanings of social justice and reconciliation against the background of potential conflict should be a project of this endeavor. Questioning and identifying where impunity begun is key to this process. In doing so, we begin liberating ourselves from Kenyan society?s deep-rooted impunity. (Re)membering Kenya, after all, calls for a reconstruction of ?the journey to the conflict? in order to find the right balance between the right of remembrance and the duty of forgetfulness.
This book is a result of public dialogue forums in pursuit of accountable and transparent governance in Kenya organized by Twaweza Communications with the support of Ford Foundation. From the convenings it was evident that the stability of Kenya will be driven by the extent to which citizens feel fully included in the development agenda. Quite often, political leaders view the role of citizens in governance as restricted primarily to their participation in the electoral process. This narrow view has led to arrogance and total disregard of citizens after poll results are announced. Under the new political dispensation heralded by the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya on August 27, 2010 this trend must change and the sovereignty of the people, in theory and practice, must be reinscribed. The publication raises important issues worth serious reflection. It also suggests ways in which citizens can better participate in their own transformation. Case studies highlighted in the book exemplify the importance building the Kenyan nation by addressing patterns of exclusion and glaring inequalities. The topics covered include multipartism, natural resource governance, gender, politics of identity, marginalization of Coastal Kenya, youth empowerment and investing in knowledge economy among others. The book is a valuable addition to our understanding of the root political and social anxieties in Kenya and how these could be ameliorated.
This book is a timely humanistic touch to memory studies. It uses literature as a laboratory for the workings of the mind, and characters as the subjects of human experimentation and diagnostics. This book considers authors from different societies and historical periods. The book is a refreshing illumination on the functioning of human memory. It complements the work of neuroscientists who seek to rationalize the workings of the same. Drawing from various ideas on memory, this rich and authoritative volume results from wide-ranging endeavors centered on the common fact that tracking memory in literature provides an astounding vista of orientations covered in its separate chapters. The writers examined in the various chapters become mediums for unleashing memory and its reconfiguration into artistic images. The ten separate chapters investigate different aspects of memory in such memoric associations as power, music, resistance, trauma, and identity. It is therefore no surprise that the editors should consider this book as 'a veritable menu for everything needed for an unforgettable memory banquet'.
The Junkyard Blues
(2013)
In Cameroon life isn't only like living in limbo, it is like living in the very centre of a hellish junkyard where dreams are dumped and wishes shattered at will by forces which can barely be controlled or understood. It is in this junkyard of dreams that Jude Maimo finds himself after years of studies and obtaining a university degree that could not even procure him a decent job. Reluctantly living under his brother's care after having failed grossly in an attempt to be independent, and doing a job that is more than an insult to him, he still hopes to one day live his simple dream; furthering his education long enough to have a respectable and decent job that could make him truly independent. Entangled in a relationship he can barely understand and weighed down by the daily temptations of natural life, a long lost friend from back in his school days suddenly appears as a light to lead him to the end of the tunnel. But a little too late, he discovers that the promised light of salvation is just another face of darkness, a darkness that wants more than his soul, a darkness that can only lead to tragedy.
This crowning collection brings together seven of Bole Butake's finest plays since 1984, namely: Dance of the Vampires; Family Saga; Lake God; Betrothal Without Libation; And Palm Wine Will Flow; The Rape of Michelle; and Shoes. More than an academic, Butake has distinguished himself as a playwright, unearthing and foregrounding the ills, travails and predicaments of a land and people trapped by the blood-dripping impunities of vampires in power. In his rich repertoire of over ten plays, Butake takes sides with the downtrodden, the wretched of the earth, the deprived and the underdogs. His jabs and jibes, aimed at the rulers, are scathing, at times vitriolic. He has excelled at a stubborn determination to ignore the sinecures, lure and allure of power without responsibility.
In Nomads, Emmanuel Fru Doh combines historical fact, legend, and rumour to emerge with a memoir charged with nostalgia. In the process, he merges scenes and events from several lives and the process of nation building as they all unfold and mature with the passing of time. It becomes obvious that these are somber moments in Doh's life and that of the Cameroon nation, a nation that in recent decades selfish and reckless leaders without goodwill, foresight, or true love for the fatherland have succeeded in destroying. It all boils down to one fact: indeed, there has always been a socio-political agenda by the Francophone-dominated regimes, but it had nothing to do with building a truly united Cameroon. The plan has always been to tactfully subdue and eventually neutralize the Anglophone dimension of the union.
The Black Man and his Visa
(2013)
Tardif is the son of a medical practitioner, an herbalist and a spiritual healer in northwestern Cameroun. When his father eventually gives up his practice, his mother struggles to put him and four of his sisters through high school. But financing university is a challenge. Tardif works for seven years in the farms and as a school teacher and seeks help from all quarters of the globe to try to raise money for university in his home country. Then one day he finds himself in China - studying Chinese medicine - and hoping for a better life than the one he had in Cameroon. The predicaments are as challenging as they are profoundly instructive. Tardif poses as a Dutchman and as an American to get jobs teaching English and survive in his host country. He ends up earning the respect of his students and employers, but not without everyday encounters with precarity. Just as one problem is resolved, another always seems to be brewing on the horizon. Tardif autobiographically opens his adventures, his transformations and his musings on Chinese and African ways of thinking and living to those interested in intercultural mobility and learning about life. His story reads like a dairy and keeps one wondering what will happen next.
This is an eloquent, engaged and extremely well informed narrative of the environmental and natural resource conservation and management issues in Mozambique. While the topics in this volume are diverse, they are all explicitly designed to move beyond the routinized blame of natural resource mismanagement and environmental degradation on local communities, and to rethink ecosystem destruction, land degradation and natural resource over-exploitation in Africa and beyond. Never losing sight of the major causes of environment and resource mismanagement in Mozambique, the book advances the thesis that environment and resource problems are a result of compound factors such as poor governance, poverty, corruption, low education levels, and disregard of endogenous conservation epistemologies. A combination of all these factors makes the whole terrain of conservation even more complicated than ever; hence the need for urgent action by all social actors. This is a valuable book for environmental conservationists, land resource managers, social ecologists, environmental anthropologists, environmental field workers and technicians, practitioners and students of conservation sciences.
Zimbabwe: The Blame Game
(2013)
The Blame Game is a cycle of creative non-fiction pieces, pulling the readers through the politics of modern day Zimbabwe. Like in any game, there are players in this game, opposing each other. The game is told through the eyes of one of the players, thus it is subjective. It centres on truthfully trying to find who to blame for Zimbabwe's problems, and how to undo all these problems. Finding who to blame should be the beginning for the search of solutions. It encourages talking to each other, maybe about the wrongs we have done to each other, and genuinely trying to embrace and forgive each other. In trying to undo the problems in Zimbabwe, it also offers insight or solutions on a larger platform - Africa: particularly South Africa; that it might learn from other African countries that have imploded before it, how to solve its own problems.
Greener from a Distance
(2013)
Albert?s life dream is to immigrate to the USA, to seek greener pastures. After several failed attempts, he finally gets a visa. Then he arrives the USA hoping for a bright and easy future. Before long he hears stories of desperation, struggles and a few successes. Desperation is portrayed by Mola aka Mboma who adopts a dead man?s identity in order to stay in the USA and by Bruno who marries a US-born woman as his ticket to the USA, knowing fully well that she was leading a double life. Struggles are seen in Paul and Matt who have to work more than two times harder to barely survive in the USA. However, Samson, the surgeon is an example of a success story. Albert has to decide whether to stay in the USA, concoct a story for asylum and chase the dream that has proven elusive for many, or go back to his reality in Cameroon. Though the pasture may actually be greener on the other side for some, it takes a tremendous amount of work and dedication to keep it that way. Realising that the life in the Diaspora is not a bed of roses as portrayed by some Cameroonians, he decides to return to his modest job in Cameroon. Although this book could be considered a cautionary tale about immigration, it is also about the corruption that has overtaken Cameroon and its people.
The introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in middle and low income countries is arguably one of the most meaningful outcomes recorded in the fight against HIV and AIDS. A record number of some 6.2 million people living with HIV and AIDS are reported to be benefiting from the treatment, which is reported to have risen by 19 per cent between 2010 and 2011 and as a result of this, the region has also enjoyed a significant decline in AIDS mortality. This volume is the outcome of the 'call for abstracts' put out by OSSREA in 2011 for senior researchers, social scientists and practitioners to write scientific articles on issues surrounding ARVs. The volume contains eight chapters organized into four sections: ART and quality of life; Adherence to ART; Traditional medicine and ART; and Sexual behaviour of ART attendants. The chapters are contributed by Academics and researchers from three different African countries: four from Ethiopia, two from Uganda and two from Zimbabwe.
Most of the papers in this book were presented during the 9th International South Sudan and Sudan Studies Conference of the Sudan Studies Association USA and the Sudan Studies Society UK. 150 scholars from numerous academic disciplines, experts in conflict transformation and development, staff of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), former and current senior officers from ministries and military institutions from Sudan, South Sudan, and seventeen further countries participated in the conference. They engaged in vivid discussions on historical and recent cleavages in the societies of Sudan and South Sudan, inequality and exclusion in numerous variations, and on rapid social change accompanied by urbanisation and land conflicts. The severe economic crisis following the separation and the importance of creating political solutions instead of using technical approaches to work on the multitude of challenges affecting each of the two countries and the interrelations between them were also scrutinised. The participants intensely exchanged views and experiences on the difficulties and successes in taking responsibility rather than being dependent on foreign assistance. Discussions revealed strong potentials in both societies to overcome such problems; to initiate processes of reconciliation, and to consolidate peace. They shed light on the complex processes of nation-building and the creation of meaningful constitutions. This book attempts to capture at least some of this multitude of insights and aspects that had shaped the conference.
(De)connexions identitaires hadjeray : Les enjeux des technologies de la communication au Tchad
(2013)
The recent history of Africa is characterised by the 'revolution' in information and communication technologies (ICT), specifically in the sector of mobile telephony, which reconsiders the challenges pertaining to identity in African societies. In this book, we follow the manifestation of such dynamic forces in the Hadjeray society in Guera, Tchad, a society that has suffered a history of political violence, mobility and failures. The study shows the role of the Chadian government in the implementation of ICT and explains how government logics have amplified. Through the analysis of the changes in the economic and social spheres, occurring due to mobile telephony, we discover the identity issues that are also informed by the feeling of fear, which is part of the Chadian history of violence. However, the ways in which the Hadjeray adopt this new technology also leave them with a means to escape the logic of violence and disruption. It is mostly a dynamic force that occurs amongst the youth who, by making use of mobile networks, discover another mode of identification, between the ethnic group and the more global identity, and find through it a political voice.
Working for Cameroon state-owned Radio in the 1970s and ?80s meant toeing the official line and learning not to sing out of tune. While the rather scanty private press that existed at the time was subject to prior censorship, a different kind of censorship ? self-censorship prevailed at the Radio where topics for commentaries were vetted by the Minister of Information or his delegate. But for Anglophones working in a predominantly francophone environment, once topics were approved, the authorities could not be sure which direction commentaries were going to take as the journalists applied the tactics of ?bite and blow?, sometimes giving full expression of their Anglo-Saxon spirit of debate and critical analysis as evidenced in this selection of commentaries from the Sunday morning commentary programme, ?Cameroon Report? (now ?Cameroon Calling?) of the late 1970?s up till 1986. It is a showcase of the irrepressible seed of freedom of expression that Anglophone journalists were imbued with and demonstrated at a time when subjects related to coups d?état, human rights and governance were considered taboo. It was and shall remain the indelible input of the Anglophone character that has had a positive influence on Cameroon?s media landscape.
A Troubadour's Thread
(2013)
This volume powerfully conveys the pilgrimage of a singular spirit through adversity, equanimity, immanence and eventually, transcendence. It grapples with a range of emotions, topics and sensations. Christopher Okigbo achieved similar results but in an entirely different manner. Okigbo's vision is epical in its dimensions while Osha's work is infused with a sustained lyricism, mutedness or even more appropriately, quietude. Osha's poetry unveils a multi-layered journey from artistic infancy to complete aesthetic maturity. Most of this journey dwells upon the poet's inner states in which vast geographical vistas are revealed.
Duce Kingdom
(2013)
Duce Kingdom is a compelling mythical story of magic, sacrilege and violence, written in fine-styled first and third person dialogue and narration. The story commences with the rage of darkness into the official inauguration of the king, amid popular frustrations with the rigid laws and traditions of the kingdom. Sacrifice of virgins to gods, wars, romance and beheadings of criminals, make the future uncertain. The birth of Zalinda, a powerful sorcerer, redeems the kingdom from its woes.
This book is an opportune warning that alienation, estrangement and intentional diminishment serve as a cancer upon those who disburse it. The outsider suffers by being alone; the insider suffers even more by being forever known as a hypocrite who perpetuates dystopia. It uses literature as a hothouse for poisonous potted plants, the workings of a mind in turmoil and the exploration of a society or societies that seems to derive pleasure from others' ruin. Fears, Doubts, and Joy of Not Belonging considers themes that are biblical in scope from different societies and historical epochs. It is a sobering spiritual enlightenment of a child's 'silent treatment' in adult form. The text complements language engineers and social scientists who are on a quest or search for how the individual responds to pressure that is unexpected, ill-conceived and in desperate need of alleviation. Not only does this particular type of cancer differ from the type a surgeon can treat, the stage at which this malady is diagnosed causes far more problems than if it were dealt with head on. Pursuing numerous examples of estrangement, this diverse text delves into a wide spectrum of human behavior while coming to the realization that these problems are universal and have been with us for a long, long time. The purpose of resistance, individuality and personal identity is to rise above these obstacles without losing hope, resilience or optimism.
Armour Sucré
(2013)
Nerisha Yanee Dewoo writes in this book of poetry, her love for her people, love in its entire glory, Mauritian love...
This book aims at educating parents generally but divorcing or divorced ones specifically. The instruction is that the future and interest of the children, whatever the cause of their separation (or calculations for the non-divorcing others), should always be the prime mover for whatever arrangement (or decision) they make. That the world would be a better place if people generally look at the larger picture of things; larger picture people usually being better suited to give children, without definitional distinctions/exclusions, a better future than what they themselves have, irrespective of the societies they live in. The book's concern for the future of children also draws from the fact that social work departments, with enormous powers over the making or ruining of children's future, are often staffed by persons with contrary ideals to those these departments stand for. Africa and Canada are specifically examined but its messages apply across the globe; lessons dished out from both perspectives of a parent and a child who has been through it and seen it all and would not want other children/parents to go through similar experiences simply because of funny definitions of family or of child, classifications often exclusively geared toward making readily available resources for educating children unavailable to some children. There also is much apprehension about some parents' blatant use of children for accomplishing their own selfish agendas to the total disregard of the future of said children who, paradoxically, do not even feature in their new un-African and un-Canadian definition of family.
This is a study on the creative appropriation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by mobile Africans and the communities to which they belong, home and away. With a focus on Cameroonian migrants from Pinyin and Mankon who are currently living in Cape Town and the Netherlands, this book examines the workings of the social fabric of mobile communities. It sheds light on how these communities are crafting lives for themselves in the host country and simultaneously linking up with the home country thanks to advances in ICTs and road and air transport. ICTs and mobilities have complemented social relational interaction and provide migrants today with opportunities to partake in cultural practices that express their Pinyin-ness and Mankon-ness. Pinyin and Mankon migrants are still as rooted in the past as they are in the present. They were born into a community with its own sense of home, moral ethos and cultural pride but live in a context of accelerated ICTs and mobility that is fast changing the way they live their lives. Drawing on this detailed ethnographic case study and related literature, Henrietta Nyamnjoh argues that while ICTs continue to enhance mobility for those who move and for those who stay put, they have become inextricably linked in forging networks and reconfiguring existing ones. Contrary to earlier studies that predicted radical social change and the passing of traditional societies in the face of new technologies, ICTs have been appropriated to enhance the workings of existing social relations and ways of life while simultaneously pointing to new directions in ever more creative and innovative ways.
The poems in this collection are a mirror reflecting the goings-on in the nooks and crannies of the Republic of Cameroon. Crafted in the lingo of the man in the street, these poems speak for the voiceless in Cameroon, for all those who live on the fringe of a rich Cameroonian society. The themes broached are numerous, namely the culture of impunity, the vicious cycle of corruption, abuse of power, influence peddling, rape of the constitution, electoral gerrymandering, and the ineptitude of national bourgeoisie to name but a few. In sum, Speak camfranglais pour un renouveau ongolais is a clarion call for a new deal in Cameroon.
Boundaries and History in Africa : Issues in Conventional Boundaries and Ideological Frontiers
(2013)
This book compromises 26 well-researched essays in honour of Professor Verkijika G. Fanso, who retired in 2011 after over 36 years of distinguished service at universities in Cameroon. Contributors include colleagues, former students and close collaborators in Cameroon and beyond. Contributions cover a wide range of issues related to the contested histories, politics and practices of boundaries and frontiers in Africa. These are themes on which Fanso has researched, published and taught extensively, and earned international recognition as a leading scholar. The book explores, inter alia, indigenous and endogenous practices of boundary making in Africa; as well as colonial and contemporary traditions, practices and conflicts on and around frontiers. In particular focus, are disputed colonial boundaries between Cameroon and its neighbours. Issues of intra- and inter-disciplinary frontiers, politics and cultures are also addressed. The volume is crowned by a farewell valedictory lecture by Fanso. Like Fanso and his rich repertoire of publications, this bumper harvest of essays is without doubt, truly immortalising.
In Nzarayapera's village, famine and hunger strike as rain could not fall. The sky remains blue with scorching heat that leaves no creature desiring to move on with life. Chief Nzarayapera and his councillors believe this scourge is a curse from the ancestors. They think of holding a ceremony to mollify the ancestors and petition rain. The ceremony is held, but nothing happens except that hunger and famine strike even harder. This sets a fertile ground for conflict between traditionalists, Christians and scientists who lay blame on one another and take turns to intercede for the people. What comes out of this conflict only requires you to read Rain Petitioning for yourself. Equally there to awaken your curiosity is Step Child, the second play in this collection.
In the last two decades, erosion in the quality and effectiveness of education systems especially in sub-Saharan Africa has been compounded by factors - such as exogenous pressures precipitated by unsystematic provision of foreign aid - fostering corrupt practices, inadequate teacher training and limited deployment of professional educators to under-served communities. Yet, quality education is needed to attain high levels of critical thinking, analytic interpretation, academic creativity, innovativeness, effectiveness, personal and inter-personal skills in problem solving. This book, which focuses on Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, critically reflects on primary, secondary and tertiary education in Southern Africa with a view to explore the opportunities, constraints and challenges that practitioners, learners and other educational stakeholders face in their daily lives. The book draws on the findings from the aforementioned countries, to advance the thesis that education in sub-Saharan Africa faces problems of epic proportions that require urgent attention. Hence, the primary objective of this book is to serve as a drive and medium for informed change, critical thinking, constructive analysis, synthesis and evaluation of different situations, settings and problems situated in the interface of theory and practice in the education fraternity.
Forty Acres and a Mule
(2013)
These traveler's impressions across cultural and psychological spaces portray the two sides of this coin called life, oftentimes belligerent toward each other. In casting light on that dream of total freedom and the daunting contradictions inherent in its being and attainment, they represent a dialectic in our seemingly unending journey toward the shadow of the good life as we ceaselessly jettison virtue against vice. At a level, they confront a certain tyranny of thought, in more ways than one, challenging us to go beyond the comfort of our ideas and our upbringing and to dare to look at the world in ways hitherto only dreamed of. Another way this challenge is portrayed is in regard to language and the cannons of poetry. Because literary writing in this so-called global society may rightfully be considered as war by other means, the reader will quickly observe the, literally, take-no-prisoner approach embedded in many of the pieces the generalized despondency on the ground and the unprecedented cacophony of voices in the 'global village' calling for nothing less. The general conclusion of these poems would be the deferment promise of living even as they constitute a heightened harkening for us to live beyond existence.
This book draws on the case of the Shona and other Bantu people of Africa to argue that names are not mere identity tags. Names are an important cultural symbol of the people who give and bear them. The book challenges linguists and other social scientists to pay particular attention to the significance of names in the study of language use in society. Equally, it demonstrates the importance of names as part of the distinctive repertoire of Shona cultural heritage. Each Shona sentential name is a statement about that reality of being Shona. Carried in each name are sentiments that reflect on prevalent social, economic and political relations. The book focuses in particular on social names, religious names and war names inspired by such events as Zimbabwe's war of liberation.
Cameroon Anthology of Poetry
(2013)
In this carefully thought-through anthology, Bole Butake brings Cameroonian poets of different generations, gender, regions, backgrounds and interests into conversation not only among themselves but more especially with poets from other parts of Africa and the world. This is a testament on the universality of poetry. It is an invitation for those in tune with poetry to reaffirm its magic and to spread the warmth of its embrace in celebration of a common and boundless humanity.
This book draws on the perspectives of non-migrants and urban youth in Bamenda, in the Northwest region of Cameroon, as well as on the views of Cameroonian migrants in Switzerland, to explore the meaning and role of New Media in the negotiation of sociality in transnational migration. New Media facilitated connectedness serve as a privileged lens through which Cameroonians, home and away, scrutinise and mediate sociality. In this rich ethnography, Bettina Frei describes how the internet and mobile phones are adopted by migrants and their non-migrant counterparts in order to maintain transnational relationships, and how the specific medialities of these communication technologies in turn impact on transnational sociality. Contrary to popular presumptions that New Media are experienced as mainly connecting and enabling, this study reveals that in a transnational context in particular, New Media serve to mediate tensions in transnational social ties. The expectations of being connected go hand in hand with an awareness of social and geographical distance and separation.
This collection dissects post-independence Cameroon as a representative postcolonial junction. The history that assists in the writing of the poems is a necessary background to understand the dislocated vision of an erstwhile independent territory. After a patriotic pastime of sweeping every bit of rubbish under the carpet of national unity for over fifty years, the collection summons us to introspect on the consequences of feeding and living on a national lie. It is only after such reflection that, hopefully, remedial gestures can offer 'new dreams on the dawn of new sleep'.
Imaginary Crimes
(2013)
Habiba
(2013)
It is believed that even silence will whisper when pushed to the wall. Saleh's love and respect for his mother, Hamsatu, is not only detrimental to his own life but also injurious to his family life. Hamsatu makes all the decisions in his life. She becomes despotic and decides who her son should marry and the type of children his wife should bear. Habiba is just thirteen when her grandmother, Hamsatu brings in a suitor, Zubairu, a contemporary of her late husband. Although Saleh wishes to send all his children to school, a rainstorm renders him hopeless as his mother takes ill and eventually dies. After his mother's death, Saleh's bankruptcy compels him to take a loan from the elderly Zubairu on condition that failing to repay the loan means handing his daughter, Habiba, in marriage to Zubairu. Habiba is helpless, as it turns out that she is not just paying for the wrongs of her father but has to carry the responsibility of his abandoned wife and children by remaining married to Zubairu who is willing to assist them as long as she plays his game. Radiant Mohammed brings to the fore the socio-cultural plight and challenges that bedevil impoverished northern Nigerian families and compel parents to scuttle their children's educational ambitions at very tender ages in favour of marriage. Consistently, Mohammed nails the dilemma of the young Habiba between loving and hating the adults in her life that have caused her pain, and the desire to avenge her lost youth and ambitions.
Maybe Tomorrow
(2013)
When Clerics Kill
(2013)
The play depicts a troubled and violent society stoked by a vicious and violent culture of intolerance and extremism. It is about restiveness, puritanism and the politics of religiosity. The play gives a glimpse of the views and frustrations of young people, the supercilious and hateful perceptions of some clerics and the brigandage of law enforcers in such a given situation. The play points to the role courageous individuals could play in speaking out for peace and standing up to violence and in defiance of fear and for preservation of freedom.
Marsh Boy and other Poems
(2013)
Marsh Boy and other Poems is a welcome contribution to the tradition of poetry devoted to the revolutionary struggles of the people of the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The poems celebrate the radical spirit of the oppressed and exploited people in their relentless quest for equity, equality, and justice. They are songs of anguish, revenge, defiance, love and patriotism.
Sea of My Mind
(2013)
Having produced five volumes of poetry, with a vision conscious of nationhood, Raji has become a stable dependable and enduring voice in recent Nigerian poetry. A poet with a consummate political theme, Raji sees versification as an engagement in the socio-political discourse of his land, aimed at forging a just nation.
Development has been on Africa's agenda for a long time but progress has been both varied and limited, partly due to the diverse levels of the discussions on the challenges and the interventions for tackling them. Africa's greatest challenge is the uneven development within and between its countries, and the pressing issues of extreme poverty in southern Africa, and the continent as a whole. Poverty causes its victims to suffer social exclusion and political repression. In addition, societies that experience poverty are also mostly under continuous threat of ecological disasters and diseases. All poor people are therefore plagued by loss of freedom and dignity, and are often unable to participate effectively in the political, economic, legal and social processes of their countries. This book focuses on the social and cultural dimensions of development dynamics and, in particular, the role of values in shaping development. Values are at the core of the hopes and aspirations of individuals, communities and societies. The book therefore explains the values that motivate and inform African communities and societies, with a view to facilitating a dialogue about sustainable development in Africa among academics, intellectuals, policy and, and the communities. It also investigates the social and cultural dynamics of development in Africa, as a better alternative to earlier studies that blame African culture for poverty and exclude the people of Africa in their definition of developments in the continent. The significance of this book lies in its provision of a theoretical argument, from empirical perspective, on the role of values in the development of Africa; an argument that is capable of facilitating a dialogue about African development, which obviously proves more useful than either the imposition of a technical process or the announcement of a normative framework.
The Fast Track Land Reform Programme implemented during the 2000s in Zimbabwe represents the only instance of radical redistributive land reforms since the end of the Cold War. It reversed the racially-skewed agrarian structure and discriminatory land tenures inherited from colonial rule. The land reform also radicalised the state towards a nationalist, introverted accumulation strategy, against a broad array of unilateral Western sanctions. Indeed, Zimbabwe's land reform, in its social and political dynamics, must be compared to the leading land reforms of the twentieth century, which include those of Mexico, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Cuba and Mozambique. The fact that the Zimbabwe case has not been recognised as vanguard nationalism has much to do with the 'intellectual structural adjustment' which has accompanied neoliberalism and a hostile media campaign. This has entailed dubious theories of 'neopatrimonialism', which reduce African politics and the state to endemic 'corruption', 'patronage', and 'tribalism' while overstating the virtues of neoliberal good governance. Under this racist repertoire, it has been impossible to see class politics, mass mobilisation and resistance, let alone believe that something progressive can occur in Africa. This book comes to a conclusion that the Zimbabwe land reform represents a new form of resistance with distinct and innovative characteristics when compared to other cases of radicalisation, reform and resistance. The process of reform and resistance has entailed the deliberate creation of a tri-modal agrarian structure to accommodate and balance the interests of various domestic classes, the progressive restructuring of labour relations and agrarian markets, the continuing pressures for radical reforms (through the indigenisation of mining and other sectors), and the rise of extensive, albeit relatively weak, producer cooperative structures. The book also highlights some of the resonances between the Zimbabwean land struggles and those on the continent, as well as in the South in general, arguing that there are some convergences and divergences worthy of intellectual attention. The book thus calls for greater endogenous empirical research which overcomes the pre-occupation with failed interpretations of the nature of the state and agency in Africa.
Within the context of the absence of effective state sovereignty and the presence of numerous armed struggles for power, Nande traders have managed to build and protect self-sustaining, prosperous, transnational economic enterprises in eastern Congo. This book discusses the commercial enterprises of the Nande trust networks and the subsequent transnational community they have produced, thereby challenging the assumption that a 'weak state' or a 'failed state' or even a 'collapsed state' can be presumed to signal a 'failed' society. It demonstrates the fact that several sovereignties and property right systems can coexist side by side, reinforcing each other - an idea which seems inconceivable for those with a normative view of governmental institutions and state sovereignty. Rethinking the question of African state formation, the study contributes to the formulation of a more rigorously transnational and local paradigms in the study of post-colonial African state formations. It constitutes an original contribution to critical theory of societal responses to processes of state implosion, and the anthropology of new social formations that emerge when states disintegrate, especially in war-torn Africa. The book also discusses issues related to the dynamics of conflict, new state formation, transnational trade network, ethnicity, and global political and economic governance. In the midst of abundant anti-ethnic literature on African studies, this study posits that there may be a renewed usefulness and necessity in theorizing the salience and continuing production of 'ethnic' differences in a manner that challenges the notion of ethnicity as merely a devious and divisive invention of colonialism that must simply be overcome.
Education is an important tool for the development of human potential. Organizations and individuals interested in development consider knowledge, skills and attitudes, obtained through formal, non-formal and incidental learning, as invaluable assets. Therefore, it is necessary to reflect on fundamental elements that shape the process through which education is attained: How do people learn, and what are the conditions that facilitate effective learning? Answers to these questions demonstrate that no education can be politically neutral, because there is no value-free education. The traditional or indigenous education systems in Nigeria, which covered (and still cover) physical training, development of character, respect for elders and peers, development of intellectual skills, specific vocational trainings, developing a sense of belonging and participation in community affairs, and understanding, appreciating and promoting the cultural heritage of the community were, and are, not value-free. In other words, the goals and purpose of education, the content, the entire process and the procedures chosen for evaluation in education are all value-laden. This book attempts to show that the teaching-learning process in higher education, and religion, taught and learned through non-formal and informal education (or the hidden curriculum), and other socialization processes within and outside the formal school system, all interface to determine the persons that women become. This education enhances or limits women's capabilities, whether in the civic-political sphere or in their attempts to resist violence. Hence, education and religion have ways of empowering or disempowering women.
Ari Sitas is a distinguished sociologist, novelist, dramatist, a founder member of the Junction Avenue Theatre Company, and a cultural activist celebrated for his work in popular and worker theatre. As a poet he has written eight books, and collaborated with many visual artists and musicians. His poems are passionate, politically undaunted and wide-ranging, expressed with the exploratory instinct of a jazz improviser.
The current HIV and AIDS regime has opened up unknown vistas in intellectual pursuits and knowledge creation. One such newly opened up area of research is studying HIV and AIDS in relation to gender issues. However, owing to the devastating nature of the epidemic, most studies tend to focus on women merely as an 'at risk' population leaving aside the wider sociological dimensions that pertain to women's sexuality in general, issues of AIDS related stigma and discrimination and how it impacts on women's careers as economic contributors to society. The uniqueness of the present study lies in the fact that it embodies the author's triangulated research into the tripartite dimensions of HIV and AIDS, women's sexuality, and gender-sociology, all against the backdrop of analysing actual experiences of career women in Kenyan universities.
This book presents a detailed and practical explanation of the law of Civil Procedure in Kenya. It discusses the principles of Civil procedure Law in a practical setting. The intricate points of law have been illustrated by examples, and in the introduction the subject has been dealt with by topics rather than in the strict order of sections in the Act and Rules. This has been done to avoid cross-referencing to enable users to adequately grasp the doctrinal aspects of the subject.
Trading Places is about urban land markets in African cities. It explores how local practice, land governance and markets interact to shape the ways that people at society's margins access land to build their livelihoods. The authors argue that the problem is not with markets per se, but in the unequal ways in which market access is structured. They make the case for more equal access to urban land markets, not only for ethical reasons, but because it makes economic sense for growing cities and towns. If we are to have any chance of understanding and intervening in predominantly poor and very unequal African cities, we need to see land and markets differently. New migrants to the city and communities living in slums are as much a part of the real estate market as anyone else; they're just not registered or officially recognised. This book highlights the land practices of those living on the city's margins, and explores the nature and character of their participation in the urban land market. It details how the urban poor access, hold and trade land in the city, and how local practices shape the city, and reconfigures how we understand land markets in rapidly urbanising contexts. Rather than developing new policies which aim to supply land and housing formally but with little effect on the scale of the need, it advocates an alternative approach which recognises the local practices that already exist in land access and management. In this way, the agency of the poor is strengthened, and households and communities are better able to integrate into urban economies.
In Sounding the Cape, Denis-Constant Martin recomposes and examines through the theoretical prism of creolisation the history of music in Cape Town, deploying analytical tools borrowed from the most recent studies of identity configurations. He demonstrates that musical creation in the Mother City, and in South Africa, has always been nurtured by contacts, exchanges and innovations whatever the efforts made by racist powers to separate and divide people according to their origin.
The Turtle Dove Told Me
(2013)
THE TURTLE DOVE TOLD ME is the long awaited, debut collection of poetry from emerging South African poet and artist Thandi Sliepen. The first of a trilogy spanning the years 1990 - 2010, this collection traces her return to Africa at the age of 18 in search of her roots. The journey starts in Tanzania, then overland to Cape Town, her home city, which she had last seen in 1976. Her search takes her to a stretch of coast in the Ciskei and then to Clarens in the Eastern Free State where she finally finds what she has been searching for. Art, love and the healing embrace of land.
Beyond the Delivery Room
(2013)
A debut collection of poems from popular performance poet, Khadija Heeger. The collection is the first in a trilogy of poems that Heeger has worked on over many years. This collection is a combination of story-telling, resistance, re-naming, remembering. The language of the book is personal to the poet and reflects the wider community and society she is part of. She mixes languages, English and Afrikaans, and the language of the Cape called Kaaps.
Running and Other Stories
(2013)
Turning her back on what is considered conventional, Makhosazana Xaba engages with her subject-matter on a revolutionary level in Running and Other Stories. She takes tradition - be that literary tradition, cultural tradition, gender tradition - and re-imagines it in a way that is liberating and innovative. Bracketed by Xaba's revisitings of Can Themba's influential short story, The Suit, the ten stories in this collection, while strongly independent, are in conversation with one another, resulting in a collection that can be devoured all at once or savoured slowly, story by story. By re-envisioning the ordinary and accepted, Xaba is creating a space in which women's voices are given a rebirth.
Pleasure in Relating
(2013)
Pleasure-in-Relating is Susan Groves's first work, a culmination of many years' reflection. It spans her life in South Africa and time spent in England while weaving together her deep appreciation of the Buddhist and Christian traditions. Her training and experience in Core Process Psychotherapy is evident in her sensitivity to herself and those whose stories she shares. Her love for the part of Africa where she lives serves as an undertone which is present throughout her collection.
Shooting Snakes
(2013)
An old man is woken up by the wailing of a prophetess. Sitting on the veranda and staring into the dry veld he is beset with images of snakes hiding in the cellar beneath him. His peace is further disturbed by visits from his angry daughter, Susanna. Memories of his childhood on a remote mission station in Venda come flooding in. Johannes remembers his father's internment at Koffiefontein during World War II, leaving him and his sister free to make friendships, explore the mythical forests that surround their house and to connect with the spirit world of the Bavenda . On his return, the missionary tries to impose order on the mission station with tragic consequences.
Fractured Lives
(2013)
Fractured Lives is a memoir of one woman?s experiences as a documentary filmmaker covering the wars in southern Africa during the 1980s and 1990s. Part autobiography, part history, part social commentary and part war story, it offers a female perspective on a traditionally male subject. Growing up in South Africa in a politically active family, Toni went to Britain as an exile in 1965 in the wake of the famous Rivonia Trial, and in the years to follow, became a filmmaker. Despite constant difficulties fighting for funding and commissions from television broadcasters, and the prejudices of working in a male-dominated industry, Toni made several remarkable films in Mozambique and Angola. These bear witness to the silent victims of war, particularly the women and children. Fractured Lives paints the changing landscape of southern Africa: Namibian independence and the end of the war in Mozambique bring hope ? but also despondency. Yet there is also the possibility of redemption, of building new lives for the victims of war. In its final chapters, Fractured Lives traces the power of survival and the opportunities for new beginnings. Fractured Lives concludes with Toni?s return to South Africa after nearly three decades in exile. However, the joy following the demise of apartheid is tempered by the poignancy of returning to a place that for so long had existed in her dreams alone and the realization that home will forever lie somewhere else.
Team Trinity
(2013)
Life at boarding school is not all diets, dresses and dances, as Trinity Luhabe discovers when her parents move overseas for a term. She has hardly settled into Sisulu House when she finds herself caught up in the most unexpected love triangle of her life. Zach is the school sports hero, while James is different to anyone she?s ever met. One of them wants to control her ? the other holds the key to an old secret that has been buried for a very long time. Will Trinity figure out who to trust before it?s too late?
Writing Lives
(2013)
Writing Lives, a collection of short stories, featuring Lawrence Hoba, Tendai Huchu, Tendai Machingaidze, Nevanji Madanhire, Daniel Mandishona, Christopher Mlalazi, Blessing Musariri, Chiedza Musengezi, Sekai Nzenza, Fungisayi Sasa and Emmanuel Sigauke. Writing Lives is the seventh of Weaver's anthologies of short stories following Writing Still, Writing Now, Laughing Now, Women Writing Zimbabwe, Mazambuko and Writing Free. As with the other anthologies, this vibrant collection reflects the lives and experiences of Zimbabweans as filtered through the lens of each author's perceptions. Writing Lives gives us stories that will make us laugh and bring tears to our eyes as it provides a focus on the past, the present and even the future.
The defeat of ZANU-PF in the 2008 parliamentary election marked the end of one-party rule in Zimbabwe. The Global Political Agreement signed later that resulted in a Government of National Unity, and the former ruling party was, for the first time, faced with the reality of sharing power. The Hard Road to Reform presents a penetrating analysis of developments since the GNU was established, reviewing recent political history from a range of perspectives - political, economic, social and historical, and featuring the best work of Zimbabwe's young scholars. As Brian Raftopolos writes in his introduction: 'the book is an attempt to analyse and assess both the hopes and frustrations of the last four years and to confront the harsh challenges that lie ahead.'
This book demonstrates the place of women's movements during a defining period of contemporary Zimbabwe. The government of Robert Mugabe may have been as firmly in power in 2000 as it was in 1995, but the intervening years saw severe economic crisis, mass strikes and protests, the start of land occupations, intervention in the war in the DRC, and the rise of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Shereen Essof shows how Zimbabwean women crafted responses to these and other events, and aimed for a feminist agenda that would prioritise the interests of the rural and urban poor. Rejecting both the strictures of patriarchy and the orthodoxies of established feminism, she demands that Zimbabwe's women be heard in their own voices and in their own contexts. In doing so she writes a book that combines scholarly integrity with a wild, joyous cry for liberation.
Spread across a number of countries around the world, and concentrated in four Middle Eastern countries, Kurds have yearned for their own country for almost a century, but were forgotten when the region was carved up by the Sykes-Picot Agreement early in the twentieth century. Since then, the creation of a Kurdish state was high on the agenda of all Kurds. This was especially true when we consider the lot of Kurds in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. This book examines the political situation of Kurds in these four countries, looks at how this has changed-particularly in the past decade-and considers what the future might hold for the Kurdish people and for the notion of a state of Kurdistan. It asks the question of whether a Kurdish state is achievable, or, even, desirable. The book is written for policy makers and academics interested in the Middle East region and in Kurdish politics in particular. It is written in an accessible way that makes it easy reading for anyone curious about the region and its people.
Big Ups! NO Two
(2013)
FunDza brings you a second collection of its most popular short stories given Big Ups by FunDza fans. What does it feel like being bullied because you are different? Can a nerd get his dream girl? Should one marry for love or money? What would you do if you found a zombie in your back yard? To find out, read these exciting stories written specially for young South Africans by a range of Southern African authors.
This powerful collection from an international mix of respected academics, newer voices and political activists explores the place of Israel as a Jewish state in todays modern world a world in which identities, citizenship and human rights are de?ned in increasingly cosmopolitan and inclusive ways. Offering compelling and comprehensive arguments as to why Israel falls into the category of an ethnocentric state, the contributions to this volume explore four central themes. They reveal the reality behind Israels founding myths. They document the experiences of some of those who have fallen victim to this ethnic state. Then, they draw comparisons with other ethnic states, notably South Africa, and finally, they point towards the radical hope of achieving a single nation, united, peaceful and just. Unpacking both Jewish and Palestinian nationalism, the nation-state, and ethnic nationalism, this fascinating collection offers new insights into one of the worlds most intractable conflicts. It will appeal not only to scholars and teachers, but to anyone interested in the history, politics, anthropology and legal standing of Palestine-Israel. Contributors: Ali Abunimah, Neville Alexander, Max du Plessis, Steven Friedman, Daryl Glaser, Ran Greenstein, Heidi Grunebaum, Adam Habib, Naeem Jeenah, Ronnie Kasrils, Smadar Lavie, Fouad Moughrabi, Nadim N Rouhana, Shlomo Sand, Avi Shlaim, Azzam Tamimi, Salim Vally, Oren Yiftachel, Andre Zaaiman
At the turn of the millennium, after decades of struggle, the Palestinian Liberation Organization was in a shambles. In 2005, a reconciliation conference held in Cairo seemed to offer some hope for the revitalisation of the organisation, but Hamas's victory in the 2006 Palestinian Authority elections caught the PLO off-guard. Conflicts and tensions exploded as the PLO tried to claw back the power it had lost. Amid calls for the organisation to renew itself or make way for a new group, the al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations convened a conference in Beirut to discuss the PLO. Representatives of the PLO's main factions joined leaders from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, as well as activists and academics, to discuss what they could learn from the past, and try to forge some consensus on how to take the Palestinian struggle forward. This volume documents the papers and debates presented at the conference. Originally published in Arabic, the book provides a fascinating window on Palestinians' unique understandings of the history of their struggle, and of the PLO. It offers an insider's view on issues such as national unity, the intricate nature of relations between Palestinians in the diaspora and those in the Occupied Territory, the fragmented nature of the Arab condition, as well as the impact of the meddling by Arab nations and western powers in Palestinian affairs. For anyone interested in Palestine, and in national liberation struggles more broadly, this powerful collection provides an essential anthology of key perspectives on the Palestinian struggle up to 2006. The book offers readers a rare opportunity to eavesdrop on the conversations of those intimately involved in searching for solutions to one of the world's most intractable conflicts.
The strength of Mandela the Spear and other Poems lies in Okai's burning desire to celebrate the black experience and culture, through the iconic figures who symbolize those struggles and triumphs. Thus, not surprisingly, one encounters names like Mandela, Nadine Gordimer, Amilcar Cabral, Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, to name a few. Okai has long established himself as one of the towering figures in the field of modern African poetry in English. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of a vigorous reinvention of the poetic genre that revolutionized the poet/audience relationship, changed the mode of expression from scriptography to narratology, and the role of the audience from that of passive reception to active participation.
The popularity of the first two editions of this book necessitated a third revised and updated version to record the many challenges in Africa since the first edition appeared in 1998. Africa is a vast and fascinating continent whose population has exceeded the one billion mark. Africa A-Z attempts to provide, in a concise manner, the facts for an elementary understanding of the continent and its complex problems. The book falls into two main sections; the five chapters on the first main section focus on the continent as a whole, dealing with its physical and human diversity, its eventful history and Africans' struggle for economic survival. The second main section contains profiles of 58 independent countries, ranging from Algeria to Zimbabwe. Presentation of the profiles is uniform, in that the same themes are covered in each profile. The data panels with the profiles contain data not provided in the text. The maps, appearing throughout the text were produced by AISA's cartography department.
This book looks at the first ten years of the African Union. This is the second in a series of books that will be produced each year from annual conferences held on the multi-faceted issue of African liberation. The key themes of the book explore ways of improving the effectiveness of the African Union, fostering unity amongst African countries through entrenchment of pan-Africanism, and building ownership of the African Union by the African people and their communities. In addition, the thoughts of key figures of pan-Africanism and black emancipation, such as Sylvester Williams and Frantz Fanon, are re-positioned to even greater contemporary relevance. Through its promotion of Ethiopianism, pan-Africanism and the African renaissance, we trust that this book will add new interest and a fresh perspective to how Africans move forward together into a post-colonial era where policies and actions are determined by the united agency of liberated Africans the world over.
This book is a scriptural sculpture of how the physical dimensions of the earth - built and natural - and antecedents of history structure knowledges and the physical containers - human and non-human - that embody those knowledges. The book deals with universalisms grounded on African experiences and perspectives. A key theme is how (in)security relates to knowledge creation by drawing a parallel between the proliferation of violent conflict in Africa and the marginal position that the continent occupies in the modern formation of knowledge. Also explored is the concept of creativity in relation to art and politics, as experienced by the black African elite. Bottlenecks to African creativity and the role of space and history in the production and reproduction of knowledge and ways of knowing are critically reviewed. The author makes a case for the existence of irreducible forms of knowledge existing in distinct laboratories and traces how particular biological and environment features interact with human cognition to form what passes for knowledge. He interrogates the variety of environment cognition in the light of an increasing homogenization of human cognition globally with a particular accent on climate change. This is a bold and legitimate voice on an important conversation.
This book deals with love, marriage/family, and witchcraft issues but its central question remains that of whether love without understanding is love. Tackling love from much broader and interdisciplinary angles than just the love-making that most love stories usually focus on, it advances the duo of love and understanding as the foundation of any successful marriage/family. Although Momany is blessed with often easily finding this rare duo, the tensions of belonging in Cameroon have been constant and persistent challenges. The book uniquely raises and brings new and ground-breaking perspectives on its subject-matters, obviously leaving many social scientists with much to do further research on.
This landmark volume brings together a very rich harvest of forty critical essays on Cameroon literature by Cameroon literary scholars. The book is the result of the Second Conference on Cameroon Literature which took place at the University of Buea in 1994. The Buea conference was motivated by a determination to look at Cameroon literature straight into its face and criticize it using literary criteria of the strictest kind. Gone were the times when the criticism was complacent because it was believed that a nascent literature could easily be stifled by application of rather strict cannons of literary criticism. Both writers and critics had a lot to say. Subjects dealt with ranged from general topics on literature, survival and national identity, through specialized articles on prose, poetry, drama, translation, language, folklore, children's literature, Journalism and politics. It is the hope of the volume editors that the publication of these papers will instigate the kind of actions that were recommended and that the prolific nature of Cameroon literature will equally give rise to a prolific and robust criticism.
This book addresses Cameroon's culture, education and language policies since independence, scholarship on and vigorous debate about them, their bearings on different visions of national development, and their place in the political struggle between autocracy and democracy since 1990. A synoptic view of half a century's key experiences, issues and fault lines emerges.
Many contemporary African writers remain trapped in the quest for a worldview, philosophy, supposing a single 'African' demesne to explain the entire continent, referring to a mythical past. Paulin Hountondji shows how these strange conceptual constructions have played a positive role in the resistance led by intellectuals of colonial rule: they responded to the negation of the oppression that it comprised of, but it was an ambiguous answer, especially because it was built on the principles derived from the works of European ethnologists, particularly the Père Tempels. Independence opened a new historical period; these philosophical elaborations changed direction: once an expression of anti-colonial resistance, they are nowadays an ideology that justifies and reinforces the dominance of the contemporary state; the intellectuals who create them are today only the 'griots' of the regimes in place. Analysing without complacency the work of Nkrumah, of the Cameroonian Towa, and of the Rwandan Kagamé, amongst others, Hountondji exposes and denounces this antagonism. To him, the critical project proposed in this book seems a necessary step on the way to 'the liberation of theoretical creativity,' the peoples of Africa and their full participation in the universal intellectual debate!
Nemeso - a four eyed man-lived in southeastern Zimbabwe in the mid-17th century. Stories about him are widely known by the Duma in southeastern Zimbabwe as he left a legacy, a delicious dish - of edible stinkbugs locally named harurwa. These insects, believed to be a gift to Nemeso by the ancestors, thrive in a grove (jiri) where no one has been allowed to meddle since the time of Nemeso, the medium through whom the stinkbugs were gifted to the living by the living-dead. The insects are a source of livelihood for the Duma people and for people beyond, and serve as a drive for forest conservation in the area. The wealthy stories of Nemeso's life have been passed on through oral tradition. This book, generated from an ethnographic reconstitution in southeastern Zimbabwe, documents the stories in a lively and fascinating thirst quenching manner.
This book brings to light work done in the area of gender with a penchant to language within the Cameroonian context. It looks at different domains of gender study where language is a significant variable. It is the very first edited collection that examines language and gender side by side. Contributors draw richly on their current theoretical leanings and on the current gendered discourses within the Cameroonian context to interrogate the interconnections between gender and language through social relationships and interactions. This is a pluri-disciplinary study informed by perspectives from anthropology, sociology and applied linguistics. The book hinges on gender, discourse and social change in historical perspective. Gender and language studies contribute to knowledge of new problems in view of a better understanding of relations between women and men, and its amelioration in the social space. Gender and language studies necessarily incorporate gender and discourse studies. Discourse serves as a unifying factor to these diverse disciplines which bring external support to pure linguistic studies, not only to deepen the understanding of gender but more so to describe how it works in discourse. Here, discourse is seen as being at the centre of gender ideology.
A richly illustrated guide to the dolmen culture of Prehistoric Sicily.
Scattered around the world in woods and on mountains dolmens have posed a mystery for hundreds of years. The interpretations of these mysteries has been extremely imaginative over the centuries.
But in Sicily it has only been in recent years that the presence of numerous megaliths habe been revealed.
This manual provides a comprehensive guide to the dolmens of Sicily and the artefacts as well as historical and cultural associations of these prehistoric sites.
In Völkerschaustellung in Deutschland und Frankreich von 1874 bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg werden ethnologische Ausstellungen fremder Kulturen und Völker als Phänomen der Kolonialzeit untersucht. Es wird deutlich, dass diese heute befremdlich wirkenden Völkerschauen keineswegs allein aus imperialen Politiken und Praktiken heraus erklärt werden können. Anhand deutscher und französischer Quellen – Zeitungen, Zeitschriften und ausgewählte Ego-Dokumente – werden die jeweiligen gesellschaftlichen Diskurse rund um die Völkerschauen vergleichend untersucht, dabei die Frage nach zeitgenössischen Imaginations- und Konstruktionsformen des Fremden oder nach Wahrnehmung und Attraktivität von Exotik gestellt. Jenseits kolonialer Propaganda – und trotz der nationalen Unterschiede in Darstellung und Inszenierung – können in beiden Ländern unternehmerische Interessen der Veranstalter und insbesondere Neugier und Unterhaltungsbedürfnis der Ausstellungsbesucher als wichtige Faktoren zur Erklärung des Phänomens der Völkerschauen und der sie begleitenden Diskurse herausgearbeitet werden.
100 Jahre Ernest Jouhy : dialektische Vernunft als zweifelnde Ermutigung : zum Werk von Ernest Jouhy
(2013)
Die berufliche Bildung in Deutschland, vor allem das Duale System der Berufsausbildung, erfährt – nicht zuletzt vor dem Hintergrund der sehr hohen Jugendarbeitslosigkeit – in einigen Ländern der EU große Aufmerksamkeit. In empirischen Analysen zur engen Verzahnung von Lernen und Arbeiten sowie in theoretischen Fundierungen des Bildungspotenzials stellt die berufs- und wirtschaftspädagogische Forschung allen Akteuren im Berufsbildungssystem Erkenntnisse, Argumente und Impulse zur Weiterentwicklung zur Verfügung.
These ist, dass Superhelden derzeit so erfolgreich sind, weil das noch näher zu beschreibende System 'Superheld', Spezialwissen über Superhelden generiert, um dieses anschließend mit weiterführendem, kulturrelevantem Wissen anzureichern. Die RezipientInnen von Superheldenproduktionen partizipieren an diesem Wissen und tradieren es, um sich gegenüber anderen als Spezialisten zu profilieren. Um dies zu belegen, wäre zweifelsohne eine quantitative Rezeptionsstudie notwendig, was diese kurze Untersuchung keinesfalls leisten kann. Deshalb bleiben die Gedanken hier tatsächlich skizzenhaft, gedacht als eine systematisierte Sammlung von Ideen, die es erlauben, eine Diskussion über Superhelden als gleichermaßen zeitlose und zeitgebundene Systeme anzuregen.
Wir freuen uns, dass Sie sich für einen Aufenthalt an der Goethe-Universität entschieden haben. Frankfurt ist eine der internationalsten Städte Deutschlands, eine Stadt der Begegnungen und interkulturellen Befruchtung. Seit jeher war dieser beeindruckende und überaus historische akademische, logistische, kommerzielle und finanzielle Knotenpunkt auf den regen Austausch mit anderen Kulturen und Völkern angewiesen. ...
Ob nun jeweils sicherheits-, innen- oder finanzpolitische Motive zu Grunde liegen, stets stehen Straffreiheit und Straferlass im Spannungsfeld von zwingender Verantwortung des Einzelnen als Grundlage unseres Rechtssystems und der Forderung nach ausgleichender Gerechtigkeit und sozialem Frieden. Das Rechtsinstitut der Amnestie steht nicht nur begrifflich, sondern auch sachlich in antiker Tradition, vergleichbare Maßnahmen sind aus allen Epochen des Altertums nachzuweisen. Fünfzehn renommierte AutorInnen aus Deutschland, Großbritannien und Österreich, alle ExpertInnen in verschiedenen Fachgebieten und Epochen des Altertums, nämlich der Altorientalistik, des pharaonischen Ägypten, der Griechischen und Römischen Rechtsgeschichte, des archaischen und klassischen Griechenland, des Hellenismus, der altitalischen Geschichte, der Römischen Republik, der frühen und hohen römischen Kaiserzeit und der Spätantike, präsentieren ihre Beiträge in diesem Band. Sie behandeln das Thema jeweils aus der eigenen Perspektive — entweder in Form von Spezialuntersuchungen zu exemplarischen Fällen oder aber in breit angelegten Übersichtsreferaten. Von besonderer Bedeutung ist dabei, dass alle Kategorien von Schriftquellen, also die literarische Überlieferung, juristisches Schrifttum, Inschriften und Papyri, in die Analyse eingeflossen sind. Hierdurch wurden erstmals in der Forschungsgeschichte die Voraussetzungen geschaffen, eine Gesamtschau über Fragen der Amnestie und des Straferlasses vom Alten Orient bis in die Spätantike zu bieten und rote Fäden durch die Jahrhunderte zu ziehen. Auf diese Weise wurde auch eine neue Grundlage für eine Typologisierung von Amnestien gelegt.
Wie die Gesichter der Menschen, die in früheren Epochen gelebt haben, ausgesehen haben, wissen wir nicht. Wir haben keine Ahnung, welche Gesichtszüge sie hatten. Uns ist unbekannt, mit welcher Miene sie ihre Zeitgenossen angeschaut haben, wie ihr Lächeln, ihre Trauer, ihre Angst oder ihr Zorn ausgesehen haben mögen. Und wir wissen nicht, ob wir das Antlitz der früher lebenden Menschen als schön und angenehm empfänden oder uns lieber abwenden würden. Wir kennen ihre Züge nur durch bildliche Darstellungen: von Skulpturen, aus deren ebenmäßigen Gesichtern uns die steinernen Augenhöhlen wie blind anschauen, von den Abdrücken der Grabmasken mit ihren toten Blicken, denen immer etwas Fremdes oder Geheimnisvolles anhaftet, oder aus der Malerei, aus deren Geschichte die Gattung des Porträts hervorgegangen ist. In ihm verdichtet sich die Idee vom getreuen Abbild einer Person mit individuellen Gesichtszügen, so dass es zum Modell und Ideal des Bildnisses geworden ist: das Porträt als ähnliches Abbild eines lebenden Urbildes, in dem dessen Gesicht als gleichsam natürlicher Ausdruck des Charakters eingefangen ist. Doch bildet das Porträt nicht nur das Ideal von Gesichtsdarstellungen, es ist auch deren Sonderfall. Sowohl die Gesichter, die uns aus der Zeit vor dem Zeitalter der Porträts überliefert sind, als auch die medialen Gesichter und die Dekonstruktionen in der Kunst der Moderne machen deutlich, dass uns Gesichter überwiegend in Gestalt von Artefakten vertraut sind. Das Bild vom Menschen basiert nicht unwesentlich auf der Geschichte von Bildnissen.
Bei der Ionenstrahltherapie bestimmt die Energie der Ionen die Eindringtiefe in das Gewebe und damit die Lage des Braggpeaks, in dem der größte Teil der Ionisationsenergie deponiert wird.
Um die gewünschte Dosis möglichst genau im Tumor zu lokalisieren, müssen in den aufeinanderfolgenden Extraktionen die gewünschten unterschiedlichen Energien möglichst genau sein.
In der Beschleunigungsphase werden die Magnetfelder der Magnete im Synchrotron bis zum vorgegebenen Exktraktionswert hochgefahren. Dieser bestimmt zusammen mit der Synchrotronfrequenz die Strahlenergie. Während und insbesondere am Ende dieser Phase, Rampe genannt, sollte das Magnetfeld daher sehr genau dem berechneten Sollwert folgen, um Strahlverluste zu minimieren und die geforderte Strahlqualität zu erreichen.
In der zeitlichen Steuerung der Magnetströme müssen magnetische Effekte, die hauptsächlich im Eisen der Magnete auftreten, wie Wirbelströme und die Hysterese berücksichtigt werden, da sie das Feld verfälschen und damit den Strahl in unerwünschter Weise beeinflussen. Die während der Rampe entstehenden Wirbelströme stören das Magnetfeld, so dass bisher vor der Extraktion des Strahls eine Wartezeit eingeführt wurde, bis die Wirbelströme abgeklungen waren.
Bei beliebig wählbaren Abfolgen der vordefinierten Zyklen kommt es durch die Hysterese des Eisens zu unterschiedlichen Remanenzfeldern, die das Magnetfeld verändern. Um dem vorzubeugen, durchliefen die Magnete eine vordefinierte Hystereseschleife. Ist die geforderte Energie des Strahls erreicht, wird das Magnetfeld konstant gehalten und die Teilchen aus dem Synchrotron extrahiert. Der Rest der Hystereseschleife wurde am Ende des Zyklus durchlaufen.
Die im Rahmen dieser Dissertation entwickelte dynamische Magnetfeldregelung misst das integrale Magnetfeld sehr genau und korrigiert die Feldfehler. Das integrale Magnetfeld folgt damit jederzeit seiner Vorgabe, unabhängig von den dynamischen Störeffekten. Die Wirbelströme und die Hysterese sind zwar immer noch vorhanden, die dadurch verursachten Feldfehler können aber durch eine Rückkopplung auf den Strom des Magneten korrigiert werden.
Es werden verschiedene Verfahren zur Messung der Magnetfelder untersucht. Am besten eignet sich für die dynamische Magnetfeldregelung die Kombination aus einer Hallsonden- und einer Induktionsspulenmessung. Die Messung muss das integrale Magnetfeld des Magneten BL, also das gesamte Feld entlang des Strahlwegs, bestimmen. Die Induktionsspule, oder Pickupspule, liegt deshalb entlang des Strahlrohrs im Magneten und liefert eine Spannung in Abhängigkeit von der Änderung des magnetischen Flusses. Durch die Integration dieser Spannung erhält man das integrale Feld des Magneten. Die Messung wird mit einer Hallsondenmessung zu Beginn des Beschleunigerzyklus auf einen absoluten Messwert geeicht.
Der Hauptteil dieser Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Entwicklung des sogenannten HIT Integrators, der die Integration der Pickupspulenspannung übernimmt. Bisher verfügbare Integratoren konnten die notwendigen Anforderungen an Genauigkeit, Echtzeitfähigkeit, automatische Kalibrierung, ständige Messbereitschaft, Temperaturunabhängigkeit und hohe Verfügbarkeit nicht erfüllen. Der neu entwickelte HIT Integrator wurde diesen Anforderungen entsprechend entwickelt. Der Integrator mit dem neuartigen Konzept der gleichzeitigen Messung und Kalibrierung in Echtzeit ist als Patent angemeldet worden. Neben der Entwicklung und Verwirklichung des Gesamtkonzepts war die numerische Integration des stark verrauschten Pickupspulensignals und die sofortige Umsetzung des integralen Werts in ein Steuersignal für die Dipolmagnetstromgeräte eine besondere technische Herausforderung.
Die elektronischen Schaltungen für die dynamische Magnetfeldregelung sind in der Baugruppe des HIT Integrators zusammengefasst. Die Ansteuerung der Hallsonde mit einer temperaturkompensierten Stromquelle, der Signalaufbereitung und Analog-Digital-Wandlung, sowie der Integrator und der Regler bilden eine technische Einheit.
Der HIT Integrator ist speziell für den Einsatz im bestehenden Beschleunigerkontrollsystem und den Magnetnetzgeräten entwickelt worden.
Die Regler der Magnetnetzgeräte wurden so verändert, dass sie einen Zusatzsollwert verarbeiten können, der auf den berechneten Sollwert der Datenversorgung addiert wird.
Die Magnetfeldregelung wurde in den Therapiebeschleuniger integriert, dazu wurde die Datenversorgung und das Kontrollsystem angepasst. Die Magnetfeldregelung stellt ein neues Gerät im Beschleuniger dar, das in die Netzgeräte der Synchrotronmagnete eingebaut worden ist. Die Datenversorgung dieser Geräte beinhaltet u.a. eine neue Methode der Kalibrierung.
Es konnte durch Messungen gezeigt werden, dass die Magnetfeldregelung mit hoher Genauigkeit funktioniert. Es wird eine Genauigkeit von besser als 10^{-4} des maximalen Feldes von 1.5 T erreicht, also weniger als 150uT, der dreifachen Stärke des Erdmagnetfelds. Vor allem die Bestrahlungszeit mit Protonen und die Bestrahlung bei niedrigen Energien profitiert von der Magnetfeldregelung, da hier das Extraktionsniveau der Magnete relativ gering ist und das Durchlaufen der vordefinierten Hystereseschleife prozentual mehr Zeit im Zyklus in Anspruch nimmt. Durch den Wegfall dieser Phase wird daher pro Zyklus mehr Zeit eingespart. Die Messungen zeigen, dass im Beschleunigerzyklus trotz der fehlenden Wartezeiten, die bis zu 24% betragen, eine gleichbleibend gute Strahlqualität erreicht wird. Dies wurde mit Vergleichsmessungen gezeigt, bei denen der Strahl mit und ohne Feldregelung vermessen wurde. Untersucht wurde eine große Stichprobenmenge aus dem Parameterraum, gegeben durch zwei Ionensorten mit jeweils 255 Strahlenergien, 10 verschiedenen Teilchenraten und 4 Strahlbreiten. Außerdem wurde die Energie des Strahls nachgemessen.
Für die Einführung in den Therapiebetrieb musste eine Impactanalyse gemacht werden, die mögliche Auswirkungen des neuen Verfahrens behandelt. Das Risiko für Patienten, Mitarbeiter und Dritte darf durch die Magnetfeldregelung nicht erhöht werden. Daraus entstand auch die Forderung nach einem redundanten System, das Fehler erkennt und die Bestrahlung abbricht.
Die mittlere Leistungsaufnahme des Beschleunigers des Heidelberger Ionenstrahltherapiezentrums liegt bei etwa 1 MW, bei einem Jahresenergieverbrauch von 8 GWh mit Kosten von etwa 1 Million Euro. Dies entspricht einer deutschen Kleinstadt mit 10000 Einwohnern. Die Verkürzung der Zykluszeiten wirkt sich direkt auf die Bestrahlungszeit und auf die Energiekosten aus. Würde man die Anlage durch die Zeiteinsparungen kürzer betreiben, würde man etwa 2 GWh pro Jahr sparen, was die Stromkosten um etwa 250000 Euro reduziert.
Zusätzlich zu den eingesparten Kosten wird auch die Bestrahlungszeit kürzer und damit auch die Zeit, die der Patient bei der Behandlung fixiert wird. Die Behandlung für die Patienten wird angenehmer. Man kann aber auch durch die eingesparte Bestrahlungszeit pro Patient entsprechend mehr Patienten behandeln. Das heißt man kann an Stelle von 700 Patienten im Jahr 910 Patienten mit einem Tumor behandeln. Dieser für die Patienten willkommene Effekt bedeutet auf der anderen Seite für HIT aber auch Mehreinnahmen von 4.2 Millionen Euro im Jahr.
Das Konzept der Magnetfeldregelung kann auch an anderen Beschleunigeranlagen zum Einsatz kommen. Dazu müssen die Magnete mit den Sonden bestückt werden und die Magnetnetzgeräte einen Eingang für einen Zusatzsollwert bekommen. Das Beschleunigerkontrollsystem kann erweitert werden, damit es einen Sollwert mit allen notwendigen Kalibrierungen berechnen kann. Der HIT Integrator wird dann als eigenständiges Gerät in das Kontrollsystem eingebunden.
Mit dem Konzept der Grundordnung verbindet sich eine vieldeutige Semantik, die das Zusammenspiel von Grund (als Boden/Territorium) mit dem Grund der Begründung betrifft, das für die Konstitution wie auch Geltungsbereich von Verfassungen eine wichtige Rolle spielt. Die kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektive der Frage nach Grundordnungen richtet sich auf jene Voraussetzungen, die im Zuge der juristischen Verengung des Begriffs ausgeschlossen worden sind. Damit gehen die Untersuchungen dieses Bandes hinter bzw. vor die juristische Semantik des Verfassungsbegriffs zurück. Untersucht werden die vielfältigen Übergänge zwischen Kultur, Religion und Gesetz und damit diejenigen Praktiken und Konzepte, mit denen das Selbstverständnis eines Volkes in konkrete politisch-juristische Grundsätze oder Grundrechte transformiert wird. "Mit der Frage nach der Grundordnung gehen die Untersuchungen dieses Bandes hinter bzw. vor die juristische Semantik des Verfassungsbegriffs zurück. Denn dieser ist, wie andere moderne Fachtermini auch, das Ergebnis einer Verengung. Die 'Verfassung', zunächst ein 'Erfahrungsbegriff', "der den politischen Zustand eines Staates umfassend wiedergibt", habe sich zum Begriff für den "rechtlich geprägten Zustand eines Staates" verengt und falle "nach dem Übergang zum modernen Konstitutionalismus mit Gesetz in eins", währenddessen der Begriff des Gesetzes nun "die Einrichtung und Ausrichtung der staatlichen Herrschaft regelt" und "damit selbst vom deskriptiven zum präskriptiven Begriff" wird, so Dieter Grimm, der die genannte Verengung damit erklärt, dass der Begriff der 'Verfassung' seine "nichtjuristischen Bestandteile zunehmend" abgestoßen habe. Diese nichtjuristischen Bestandteile aber sind Grundlage und Voraussetzung des Grundgesetzes, das sich eine Gemeinschaft gibt, um sich als politisch-rechtliches Gebilde zu konstituieren. Sie betreffen das Selbstverständnis eines politischen Gemeinwesens, ob Land, Staat oder Föderation, das tiefer und weiter zurück reicht als das Gesetz."
Ausdrucksphänomene fluktuieren zwischen den Sphären von Körperlichkeit und Bewegung sowie Sprachlichkeit und Kommunikation. Um Ausdruck in seiner eigentümlichen Mobilität und Wandlungsfähigkeit zu erfassen, erkunden die Beiträge des vorliegenden Bands seine ästhetischen, sozialen und (inter-)subjektiven Dimensionen und deren Überschneidungen sowohl im Rahmen historischer Entwicklungen als auch vor dem Hintergrund aktueller Erkenntnisse und Debatten der Psychologie, Philosophie, Hirnforschung und Linguistik. Aus den Themenbereichen Körper, Sprache und Künste, aber gleichfalls aus übergreifenden Fragestellungen der Anthropologie heraus werden kommunikative und körperliche Ausdrucksformen, auch in ihrem Zusammenspiel, in systematischer Weise analysiert und auf ihre situative und historische Spezifik hin untersucht. Nicht nur sprachliche Äußerungen, sondern ebenso Gesten und Gebärden, Tanz, Musik, Mienenspiel und Malerei stoßen dabei an Grenzen der Verständlichkeit und verweisen auf Ausdrucksqualitäten jenseits von Verbalität und Körperlichkeit.
Gesichtsauflösungen
(2013)
Zu Beginn des 18. Jahrhunderts wird aus einem wiedergeöffneten Stollen der Bergwerke von Falun in Schweden der nahezu unversehrte Leib eines verschütteten Mannes geborgen. Die verblüfften Bergleute blicken in ein frisches Gesicht, in "die noch unveränderten Gesichtszüge eines verunglückten Jünglings" – wie es in der Quelle, in Gotthilf Heinrich von Schuberts Ansichten von der Nachtseite der Naturwissenschaften (1808) heißt. Gleichsam eingelegt in Kupfervitriolwasser hat das Gesicht in 300 Ellen Tiefe überdauert, doch kann dessen Konservierung der Berührung mit Luft und Licht und mithin dem Auge der Umstehenden nicht standhalten. Gesicht und Körper lösen sich auf, zerfallen zu Staub, doch erst, nachdem ein altes Mütterchen "an Krücken und mit grauem Haar" den Konservierten erkennt und an ihre Brust drücken kann: Nicht die Mutter, nein sie ist die Braut des Jünglings von vor fünfzig Jahren, und ihr eingefallenes, "verwelktes" Gesicht kontrastiert der Wirkung des seinen. Die Geschichte vom konservierten Bergmanngesicht ist eine der bekanntesten Kombinationen von Literatur und anorganischer Chemie. Johann Peter Hebel und E.T.A. Hoffmann haben diese Geschichte der Flüssigkeiten als eine Art Antidoton gegen die Auflösungserscheinungen des Gesichts erzählt, die zumindest bei Hebel von einer Verwirrung der Chemikalien und ihrer Wirkungen geprägt ist. Denn die schnelle Auflösung, freilich nach vollzogener Identifikation durch die alte Braut, widerspricht dem chemischen Prozess, durch die jedoch deutlich werden soll, dass der unversehrte Kopf in Vitriol, seine Erkennbarkeit und Präsenz nur um den Preis der Sichtbarkeit zu haben ist: Allein als ein den Blicken und Interaktionen mit den Menschen entzogener Kopf bleibt er sich gleich, ist er intakt, unvergänglich. Damit wird gleichsam auf dem Haupt des aus der Zeitlichkeit herausgefallenen Bergmanns ein Spiel um natürliche und erworbene Konservierungsmodalitäten durch das Vitriol des Berges einerseits und das Gedächtnis der ergrauten Braut andererseits ausgetragen. Als Garanten gegen die Auflösung buhlen sie um die Haltbarkeit und physische Integrität des Menschen, genauer um das Bild von ihm. Durch eine "Verwirrung der Chemikalien", die im Übertrag von der Quelle zur Prosaerzählung erfolgte, wird der Konservierungsstoff Kupfervitriol oft als Eisenvitriol oder folgenreicher und entgegen der Nomenklatur gar als Schwefelsäure überliefert. In dieser starken Säure allerdings hätten sich nicht nur Gesicht und Körper des Bergmanns in maximal zwei Stunden, sondern auch das ganze Bergwerk zersetzt. Im konservierten Bergmann als der Geschichte einer aufgeschobenen Auflösung konvergieren einige Themenfelder der folgenden Beiträge: Neben dem Entzug und der Bergung eines unversehrten Antlitzes, dem eine Art facelifting zuteil wurde, sind es die Umstände seiner Erinnerung und die Bedingungen zu seiner Wiedererkennung, seine Fragilität und sein Zerfall. Themen, in die an dieser Stelle ein wenig eingeführt werden soll.
"Die Jugend aber ist das Dornröschen, das schläft und den Prinzen nicht ahnt, der naht, es zu befreien." (Walter Benjamin)
Walter Benjamins Jugendschriften stellen eine weitgehend unbekannte Seite seines Schaffens dar. Zumeist wird mit Befremden auf sein enthusiastisches Engagement in der Jugendbewegung vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg reagiert. Benjamins philosophische und literarische Anfänge gilt es jedoch als eigenständige Phase seines Denkens Ernst zu nehmen. Denn Benjamin war nicht nur jung, als er seine frühesten Schriften verfasste, sondern die ambivalente Idee der Jugend diktiert diesem Diskurs auch sein Gesetz. Die vorliegende Studie rekonstruiert die spezifische Konfiguration von Benjamins Jugendphilosophie und wirft ein neues Licht auf spätere Phasen seines Denkens. Damit stellt sie die erste umfassende systematische und historische Auseinandersetzung mit dem jungen Benjamin dar. Durch die konsequente Berücksichtigung des zeitgenössischen Kontexts wird ein wichtiger Beitrag zur kulturgeschichtlichen Aufarbeitung der Jahrhundertwende, einem Stiefkind der Philosophiegeschichte, geleistet.
Weil Grenzen – ob reale, disziplinäre oder symbolische – Orte der Begegnung und Konfrontation sind, entstehen gerade in ihren Zwischenräumen vielseitige Dynamiken. Der Grenzraum zwischen Tier und Mensch ist der zentrale Ermöglichungsgrund und Austragungsort des Wandels der politischen Semantik in der Frühen Neuzeit. Für diesen Wandel spielen politische Schriften ebenso eine wichtige Rolle wie wissenschaftliche und literarische Texte. Benjamin Bühler geht den Grenzfiguren wie dem Hirten, Fuchs, Picaro oder der Bevölkerung im Feld des Politischen nach. Ausgangspunkt der Studie ist die These, dass die Verortung der politischen Akteure zwischen Tier und Mensch in Perioden des Umbruchs die Ausbildung und Erprobung neuer politischer Semantiken erlaubt.
Angaben aus der Verlagsmeldung: Von 1905–1907 unternahm der Missionsinspektor Johannes Spiecker eine Reise durch Deutsch- Südwestafrika, das heutige Namibia. Zu dieser Zeit fand der Aufstand der Herero und Nama gegen die deutsche Besatzung statt. Die Mission, die das Vertrauen der schwarzen Bevölkerung weit eher besaß als Kolonialregierung und Siedler, wurde dabei zu einer politischen Kraft. Sie schickte Boten aus, um die Aufständischen zur Aufgabe zu bewegen, und richtete Sammelstellen für Heimkehrer ein; diese wurden anschließend meist in Konzentrationslager verbracht, wo viele starben. Spieckers Rolle ist von besonderem Interesse, weil er bei Missionaren und Kolonialregierung ebenso Ansehen besaß wie bei den Stammeshäuptlingen. Er intervenierte für die Gefangenen und gegen die Vernichtungspläne deutscher Militärs. Um die Ausbreitung des Krieges zu verhindern, setzte er sich beim Gouverneur gegen einen Ovambofeldzug ein und reiste zudem – gegen die Anweisungen der Deputation in Barmen – in die nördlichen Ovambogebiete, um Häuptling Nechale zu treffen. Diesem empfahl er eindringlich die Unterwerfung unter die Kolonialregierung. – Spieckers Rolle ist also ambivalent; seine Einmischung in politische und militärische Entscheidungen könnte die Entwicklung des Krieges beeinflusst haben. Seine privaten Aufzeichnungen werden hier erstmals umfassend vor dem historischen Hintergrund ausgewertet.
Das Ausgangsmaterial für die vorliegende Untersuchung stammt aus dem Phonetischen Normalbuch von Luzi (1903-05). Zunächst werden die beiden Ortsdialekte von Sils (Nr. 34) und Scharans (Nr. 33) miteinander verglichen (Kap. 2.2). Hernach werden beide zusammen je einer benachbarten Ortsmundart der angrenzenden Talschaften gegenübergestellt (Kap. 2.3 bis Kap. 2.7). Gewählt wurden für das äußere Domleschg Rodels (Nr. 32), für das Schams Zillis (Nr. 42), für das Albulatal Obervaz1 (Nr. 58), für den oberen Heinzenberg der heute ausgestorbene Dialekt von Flerden (Nr. 39), und für den unteren Heinzenberg der heute ebenfalls erloschene Dialekt von Cazis (Nr. 36).