Kenneth Bo Nielsen. Land Dispossession and Everyday Politics in Rural Eastern India

In Land Dispossession and Everyday Politics in Rural Eastern India, anthropologist Kenneth Bo Nielsen explores the phenomenon of state-led land expropriation for the benefit of private investors following the adoption of the 2005 Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Act (Jenkins, Kennedy and Mukhopadhyay 2014), and the associated struggles over land dispossession, popularly termed as India’s “new land wars” (Levien 2013). The originality of this study is however its focus on the case of the Singur mov..

Introduction

A well-worn copy of Robert E. Lerner’s The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages has held a central place on my bookshelf for more than half my life. Upon being accepted into the doctoral program at Northwestern University to study medieval history with Robert Lerner in 1996, I rushed to buy and read his best-known work, already a classic even then. I was twenty-six years old, The Heresy of the Free Spirit, published in 1972, was twenty-four. My immediate impression was that the ..

Using financial statement data as economic indicators for urban governance: the case of Antwerp

In this paper, the focus is on the interaction between high-quality urban policy-making on the one hand and the issue of data needs to construct useful indicators on the other hand. Such an approach implies that first an evaluation is to be made of the trends and developments that influence the urban development process structurally in order to distinguish some of the important keystones for a justified urban policy. Having a notion of what the urban cornerstones are and how they relate to one another, attention is then paid to the data that are required to monitor the dynamics of these cornerstones. Given that our focus is mainly on monitoring the urban economic dimension, the use of company-related data at district level (i.e. financial statement data obtained by the National Bank of Belgium) seems an interesting starting point. The data are first described and analysed statistically. Next, the methodological framework to construct a number of economic urban indicators is explained and tested. The city of Antwerp is taken as case study.In deze bijdrage staat de interactie tussen het voeren van een verantwoord stedelijk beleid enerzijds en de vraag naar geschikte gegevens en indicatoren om dat beleid te evalueren en bij te sturen anderzijds centraal. Gegeven deze insteek dienen twee vragen te worden beantwoord. Vooreerst, wat wordt verstaan onder een «verantwoord» stedelijk beleid? Om hierop een afdoend antwoord te formuleren, worden aan de hand van een Europese vergelijking van steden en uit de ervaringen van het Grootstedenbeleid in Nederland een aantal belangrijke stedelijke dimensies (zoals sociale cohesie, leefbaarheid en duurzaamheid, bereikbaarheid, en vitaliteit) onderscheiden die bijzondere aandacht verdienen. Het is daarbij opvallend dat tot op heden voornamelijk de «economische dimensie» in het stedelijk beleid onderbelicht blijft. Wellicht is dit deels te verklaren door het gebrek aan geschikte economische data en databanken op buurtniveau die in staat zijn om de stedelijke vitaliteit op buurtniveau te monitoren. Dit brengt ons meteen bij de tweede vraag: welke economische gegevens en welke databanken kunnen dit euvel mogelijks verhelpen. Hier wordt in hoofdzaak gedacht aan het gebruik van jaarrekeninggegevens verzameld door de Nationale Bank van België. Deze gegevens worden eerst statistisch geanalyseerd, om vervolgens als basis te worden gebruikt voor de constructie van stedelijke economische indicatoren. De gehele procedure wordt uitgewerkt waarbij de Stad Antwerpen als voorbeeld wordt gebruikt

Mutual Transformations of State and Traditional Authority. The renewed role of chiefs in policing and justice enforcement in Mozambique

This article explores the renewed role of chiefs in policing and justice enforcement from the perspective of every-day practices and modes of organising the relationship between chiefs and local state institutions. Based on ethnographic material from Dombe in Sussundenga District, in Mozambique, it asks what the newly forged relationship implies for local state and traditional authority. The article shows that the Decree 15/2000 was appropriated by the local tiers of state police not as a benign recognition of already existing chiefly practices, but as a means to regulate chiefs and bolster state authority in the former war-zone of Dombe.Este artigo explora o renovado papel dos chefes na aplicação da justiça e da lei a partir da perspectiva das práticas quotidianas e modos de organização das relações entre os chefes e as instituições estatais locais. Baseado em material etnográfico recolhido em Dombe, distrito de Sussundenga, em Moçambique, questiona-se quais as implicações das novas relações quer para o Estado local quer para as autoridades tradicionais. O artigo demonstra que o Decreto 15/2000 foi apropriado pelos membros locais da polícia estatal não como um reconhecimento benigno das práticas já existentes dos chefes mas sim como um meio para controlar os chefes e proteger a autoridade do Estado na antiga zona de guerra em Dombe

Sierra Leone After the End of the Armed Conflict

Since March 1991, Sierra Leone has experienced continuous civil strife culminat­ing in a protracted civil war, leading to widespread destructions of infrastructures and property, and the death of thousands of people, many more injured and over half of the population displaced. Three peace accords were signed in 1996, 1997 and 1999 in Abidjan, Conakry and Lame respectively. However, these agreements did not bring peace. In this paper, the author situates the reasons and the nature of the conflict, the events leading to both government and rebel leaders declaring in January 2002 the end to conflict. Finally, he looks at Sierra Leone following the formal declaration of an end to the war.Desde Março de 1991, a Serra Leoa viveu uma experiencia de permanentes conflitos violentes envolvendo populações civil, experiência esta que desembocou numa verdadeira guerra civil, com a destruição em larga escala de infra-estruturas e propriedades, a morte de milhares de pessoas, um número muito maior de feridos, e mais de metade da população deslocada. Três acordos de paz foram assinados — em 1996 (Abidjan), 1997 (Conakry) e 1999 (Lame), respectivamente. Porém, nenhum deles trouxe a paz. No presente artigo, o autor localiza as razoes e a natureza do conflito, e os acontecimentos que levaram o governo e os líderes rebeldes a declarar o conflito terminado, em Janeiro de 2002. Na parte final analisa a situação Serra Leoa desta «declaração de fim de guerra».Dès mars 1991, la Sierra Leone a vécu une expérience de continuels conflits violents qui impliquaient des populations civiles. Cette expérience a débouché sur une vraie guerre civile, avec destruction à grande échelle d'infrastructures et propriétés, la mort de milliers de personnes, un nombre encore plus grand de blessés, et plus de moitié de la population déplacée. Trois accords de paix ont été signés — en 1996 (Abidjan), 1997 (Conakry)et 1999 (Lame), respectivement. Cependant, aucun d'entre eux n'a produit la paix. Dans l'article qui suit, l'auteur localise les raisons et la nature du conflit ainsi que les évènements que ont conduit le gouvernement et les chefs rebelles a déclarer le conflit comme terminé, en janvier 2002. Dans la parte finale il analyse les résultats de cette « déclaration de fin de guerre » en Sierra Léone

Ana Ma Manzanas and Jesús Benito, Cities, Borders, and Spaces in Intercultural American Literature and Film.Ana Ma Manzanas and Jesús Benito, Occupying Space in American Literature and Culture: Static Heroes, Social Movements and Empowerment.

As the titles of the two books suggest, Cities, Borders, and Spaces in Intrercultural American Literature and Film and Occupying Space in American Literature and Culture: Static Heroes, Social Movements and Empowerment analyze the trajectories of the spatial turn taking place from mid-20th century onwards which has resulted in the appearance of new ways of assessing spatiality as well as new definitions of spatial concepts. Even though the two volumes are not a continuation per se, both books..

Judiciary and Gender Topics. German Experience and International Perspectives

In Germany the first female judge was admitted in 1926 but it took decades for women judges to gain a substantial share of positions in the judiciary. In the 1970s, still only about 6% of judges were women. Their numbers only started to increase in the late 1980s, proportionally to the risen participation of women in law studies. For the past ten years more women than men have studied law (55% in 2014), the number of women judges has risen to 46% (out of 20,500), women public prosecutors even..

Towards a theory and method for usability evaluation of complex human-technology systems

Un des rôles centraux de la recherche en ergonomie est de fournir une base normative pour évaluer l’adaptation des objets destinés à être utilisés dans les activités humaines. Dans cet article on propose une approche basée sur la théorie de l’activité, appelée « analyse de la core task ». Inspirée par cette dernière, une méthode d’évaluation, appelée «  l’évaluation contextuelle de l’utilisabilité des systèmes  » a été développée pour analyser l’appropriabilité des systèmes complexes d’information et de conduite de processus. Les principes de base de cette méthode, et les indicateurs qui permettent l’évaluation sont décrits succinctement.One of the central roles of ergonomic research is to provide a normative basis for the evaluation of the appropriateness of artefacts used in various human activities. In this paper a new activity theory based approach, the Core-Task Analysis is introduced. Inspired by that, an evaluation method, Contextual Assessment of Systems Usability, was developed for the analysis of the appropriateness of complex information and control systems. The basic structure of the method is described and the indicators for assessment briefly described.Uno de los roles centrales de la investigación en ergonomía es de aportar una base normativa que permita evaluar la adaptación de los artefactos utilizados en diversas actividades humanas. En este artículo presentamos un nuevo enfoque basado en la teoría de la actividad, denominado Core-Task Analysis (análisis de las tareas centrales). Inspirados en este último, se ha desarrollado un método llamado « evaluación contextual de la usabilidad de los sistemas » que permite evaluar cuán apropiados son los sistemas complejos de información y de control de procesos. Se describen sucintamente, los principios de base de este método, y los indicadores que permiten la evaluación

Allard den Dulk, Existentialist Engagement in Wallace, Eggers and Foer: A Philosophical Analysis of Contemporary American Literature

I’d been familiar with the work of Allard den Dulk for a while before diving into his latest book. Existentialist Engagement in Wallace, Eggers and Foer stems from all of the work the man has done in his years as an academic. Taking a look at his previous publications will give you a notion of den Dulk’s determined focus in literary (and most specifically Wallace) studies.  Focus and specialization always come with their pros and cons, and this book is no exception. For the sake of clarity, a..

Andrea Acri, Roger Blench, Alexandra Landmann (eds), Spirits and Ships ; Cultural Transfers in Early Monsoon Asia

The volume under review consists of eleven essays, seven of which are papers that were presented at the conference entitled “Cultural Transfer in Early Monsoon Asia : Austronesian-Indic Encounters.” All the essays, and a useful introduction (“Introduction : Re-connecting Histories across the Indo-Pacific,” pp. 1-37), are linked by their interest in the (early) history of maritime Southeast Asia, and the values, concepts, and practices shared by the people of this expansive region. As usual wi..