Looking from the South, Speaking from Home: African women confronting development

Jessica Horn interrogates the discourse and practice of development in the post-independence, globalized world. She argues that development, defined in Euro-American forums, has been unresponsive to the varied needs of African women. She shows that it is African women themselves who are now confronting the Euro-centric presumptions of development, and are working to better the lives of women on the continent through place-based coalitions and culturally sensitive activism. Development (2007) 50, 109–116. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100352

Islamic economics: a survey of the literature

A central thesis of this paper is that social science is the study of human experience, and hence is strongly conditioned by history. Modern Western political, economic and social structures have emerged as a consequence of the repudiation of religion associated with the Enlightenment and are based on secular principles. Many of these are inimical to Islamic principles, and cannot be adapted to an Islamic society. Muslim societies achieved freedom from colonial rule in the first half of the twentieth century and have sought to construct institutions in conformity with Islam. The development of Islamic economics is part of this process of transition away from Western colonial institutions. This paper is a survey of the literature on Islamic economics, which focuses on the contrasts between Western economic theories and Islamic approaches to the organization of economic affairs