Colonial Trauma in Márquez and Rushdie’s Magical Realism

Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children are hallmarks of the genre of magical realism. A typically problematic genre in terms of classification, this article looks at magical realism from a Freudian perspective, with particular reference to Freud’s notion of The Uncanny. Freud’s notion of uncanniness deals in displacement; it is uncomfortable, haunting and cyclical. The dominant presence of such uncanny effects in magical realist literature, I argue, reveals the haunting presence of colonial trauma within the current postcolonial psyche

Land Degradation, Desertification "Most Critical Challenges" in West Asia, as Rolling Conflicts Damage Environment, Human Health

The spread of land degradation and desertification and its economic and environmental consequences are the "most critical challenges" facing West Asian countries. The scarcity of the region's renewable water resources also poses a major challenge, denting the region's ability to produce enough food to meet the growing population's needs.DriversArable land degradation is caused by mismanagement, climate change and water scarcity.Climate scenarios project changes in the region's temperature, rainfall and sea level, which will have impacts on both the availability and use of water resources.High population growth and continuous conflicts and wars mean that the carrying capacity of the land has become too low to support people with freshwater and food.Shrinking of agricultural lands is caused by population growth, urbanization, land degradation and desertification.Increasing water demand has exacerbated the region's serious water scarcity and exerted pressure on groundwater extractions rates.West Asia has been recognized as one of the major regions where sand and dust storms originate causing environmental, social and economic impacts.ImpactsFood security in the region will be increasingly at risk, especially in the Mashriq countries and Yemen.Land degradation has accelerated the rise of soil salinity, increased the rate of soil erosion and converted wetland to dryland.Overexploitation of groundwater resources has resulted in a deterioration of water quality, seawater intrusion, depletion and salinization of aquifers, and rising pumping costs.A prevalence of climate extremes and forecasted climate change may exacerbate the extent of land degradation and water scarcity in the region.Water demand in West Asia has been increasing, resulting in a diminishing per-person availability of water. Only 4 out of 12 countries in West Asia are above the water scarcity limit of 1,000 cubic metres per person per year.Due to its aridity and water scarcity, the region has already surpassed its natural capacity to meet its own food and water demand.Examples97 per cent of Iraq's total area is arid, about 50 per cent of which is desert. Desertification affects 39 per cent of the country's surface area with an additional 54 per cent under threat.Although Iraq has the largest area of available farmland in the region, it suffers the most from soil salinity and wind erosion.Rangeland in Jordan covers more than 80 per cent of the country's total area, mainly used for pastoralism and agriculture. Conflicts over land-use and general mismanagement have led to overgrazing, land degradation and ultimately desertification. Livestock overgrazing is, possibly, the main cause of land deterioration and means that the land is no longer able to support the livestock that used to graze there.ResponsesReuse domestic wastewater and recycle agricultural drainage water, groundwater inter-basin transfer, seawater and brackish water desalination.Use of brackish and sea water for bio-saline and halophyte agriculture desalination can enhance the water availability throughout the region.Integrated monitoring is essential to understanding the causes and consequences of desertification.Efforts to combat land degradation and desertification in the region should capitalize on advances in science and technology for devising and up-scaling remedial and preventive measures.Regional cooperation is key for combatting desertification, drought and dust storms

The Environmental Theology of Aimee Semple McPherson (Chapter 4 of Blood Cries Out : Pentecostals, Ecology, and the Groans of Creation)

Excerpt: My initial investigation into Aimee Semple McPherson—founder of The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel—and ecology was bleak: every word search returned a spiritual metaphor. “Garbage” came back as “garbage can of Satan,” “pollution” came back as “pollution of the soul,” “plants” came back as “plants of faith,” and “dumping” came back as “dumping ground for gossip.” But eventually, persistence paid off. Popular pastor and author Rick McKinley writes, “Margins are those clear spaces along the edge of a page that keep the words from spilling off. Every book has them. You might jot notes in the margins, but for the most part they go unnoticed. They don’t represent the book, and they don’t define its message. They’re simply there.”McKinley’s analogy describes McPherson’s engagement with nature. McPherson made comments, not commentaries, about nature. She had strong opinions—some radical by today’s standards—yet most remained underdeveloped. Moreover, her theology was largely anthropocentric. People, not the environment, occupied the center of her doctrine.While nature, theologically, occupied the margins for McPherson, politically, it took center stage, especially during her anti-war expositions. Thus, environmental concern ultimately found expression in her patriotism