Questions of presence

This article considers some of the ways in which ‘the black woman’ as both representation and embodied, sentient being is rendered visible and invisible and to link these to the multiple and competing ways in which she is ‘present’. The issues are engaged through three distinct but overlapping conceptualisations of ‘presence’. ‘Presence’ as conceived (and highly contested) in performance studies; ‘presence’ as conceived and worked with in psychoanalysis; and ‘presence’ as decolonising political praxis among indigenous communities. I use these conceptualisations of presence to consider the various ways in which the black woman as figure and as embodied/sentient subject has been made present/absent in different discursive registers. I also explore what is foreclosed and how this is itself linked to legacies of colonial ‘worlding’. I end with consideration of alternative modes of black women’s presence and how this offers a resource for new modes of sociality. Keywords Black women; presence; colonial violence; de-gendering; psychosocial; triangular spac

Productive Development Policies in Latin American Countries: The Case of Peru, 1990-2007

This paper assesses the institutional setting and productive impact of selected productive development policies (PDPs), institutions, and programs implemented in Peru during the period 1990-2007. The assessment is based on a simple, basic framework of a series of economic or market failures that may have constrained the transformation of the productive structure, the process of innovation, and the growth of total factor productivity. Evidence indicates that the PDPs and structural reforms implemented in Peru did not significantly alter the productive structure of the Peruvian economy. If the objectives of the PDPs are to transform the productive structure, increase total factor productivity, and enhance innovation, government interventions need to focus directly on the source of market failures and create quality productive changes within the private sector

In savage Africa.

Mode of access: Internet

Towards a History of Mass Violence in the Etat Indépendant du Congo, 1885-1908

The present article provides an up-to-date scholarly introduction to mass violence in the Etat Indépendant du Congo (Congo Free State, EIC). Its aims are twofold: to offer a point of access to the extensive literature and historical debates on the subject, and to make the case for exchanging the currently prevalent top-down narrative, with its excessive focus on King Leopold's character and motives, for one which considers the EIC's culture of violence as a multicausal, broadly based and deeply engrained social phenomenon. The argument is divided into five sections. Following a general outline of the EIC's violent system of administration, I discuss its social and demographic impact (and the controversy which surrounds it) to bring out the need for more regionally focused and context sensitive studies. The dispute surrounding demographics demonstrates that what is fundamentally at stake is the place the EIC's extreme violence should occupy in the history of European ‘modernity’. Since approaches which hinge on Leopoldian exceptionalism are particularly unhelpful in clarifying this issue, I pause to reflect on how such approaches came to dominate the distinct historiographical traditions which emerged in Belgium and abroad before moving on to a more detailed exploration of a selection of causes underlying the EIC's violent nature. While state actors remain in the limelight, I shift the focus from the state as a singular, normative agent, towards the existence of an extremely violent society in which various individuals and social groups within and outside of the state apparatus committed violent acts for multiple reasons. As this argument is pitched at a high level of abstraction, I conclude with a discussion of available source material with which it can be further refined and updated

Economics of Land Degradation in Argentina

Argentina is one of the countries with a vibrant agricultural sector, which provides both economic development opportunities and environmental challenges. Argentina was selected as a case study due to its rich land degradation data, its diverse agroecological systems, and rapid poverty reduction. The country also represents high human development index countries. This study reports the cost of land degradation, the cost of inaction and cost and benefits of taking action against land degradation. The total loss of ecosystem services due to land-use/cover change (LUCC), wetlands degradation and use of land degrading management practices on grazing lands and selected croplands is about 2007 US$75 billion, which is about 16$4 per US$ invested—justifying the need to take action to improve human welfare and environmental protection. The actions against land degradation include investment in restoration of degraded lands and prevention of land degradation through stricter regulation of agricultural expansion into forests and other higher value biomes. They also include reforestation and other restoration efforts; protection wetlands and restoration of degraded wetlands. The excessive use of agrochemicals also require action to regulate their potential off-site effects. Case studies also show that promotion of rotational grazing, extending conservation agriculture beyond soybean; tillage method and crop-livestock production systems offer promising strategies for addressing land degradation. The world has a lot to learn from Argentina—given its rapid poverty reduction and successful adoption rate of conservation agriculture using public-private partnership. If Argentina aims at maintaining its economic and social development, it will need to work harder to address its growth-related environmental challenges that affect the poor the most. Argentina is better prepared to face these challenges. This study will contribute to informing policy makers on the best strategies for taking action against land degradation and the returns to such actions.Fil: Bouza, Mariana Eve. Universidad Nacional del Sur; ArgentinaFil: Aranda Rickert, Adriana Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Secretaría de Industria y Minería. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Provincia de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja; ArgentinaFil: Brizuela, Maria Magdalena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Secretaría de Industria y Minería. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Provincia de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja; ArgentinaFil: Wilson, Marcelo Germán. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Sasal, Maria Carolina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Sione, Silvana. Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos. Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias; ArgentinaFil: Beghetto, Stella. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Gabioud, Emmanuel Adrián. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Oszust, José Daniel. Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos. Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias; ArgentinaFil: Bran, Donaldo Eduardo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Velazco, Virginia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Gaitán, Juan José. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Silenzi, Juan Carlos. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Echeverría, Nora Elena. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: de Lucia, Martín Pascual. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Iurman, Daniel Eduardo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Vanzolini, Juan. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Castoldi, Federico José. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Hormaeche, Joaquin Etorena. Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrallo Sustentable de la Nación; ArgentinaFil: Johnson, Timothy. International Food Policy Research Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Meyer, Stefan. International Food Policy Research Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Nkonya, Ephraim. International Food Policy Research Institute; Estados Unido