Conflicting Neo-colonialist Narratives in the Representation of Africa in Ngugi and Naipaul\u27s Novels

In their article Conflicting Neo-colonialist Narratives in the Representation of Africa in Ngugi and Naipaul\u27s Novels Weiping Li and Xiuli Zhang analyze the conflicting neo-colonialist narratives by comparing the different representations of the post-independent Africa between Ngugi\u27s Petals of Blood and Naipaul\u27s A Bend in the River. The multiple narrators in Petals of Blood expose imperialists\u27 continuing domination of Africa, while the limited third person narrator in A Bend in the River blames the African people for the deterioration and chaos of the African society. One from an insider\u27s perspective, the other from the outsider\u27s, Ngugi and Naipaul thus form conflicting narratives on neo-colonialism. With their diverse perspectives, the two writers provide not only clashing representations of African women but also opposing visions of the African future

The State and the Arts of Research on Foundation Buried Depth Effect on Building Structure

The state and the arts of research on foundation buried depth effect on building structures are reviewed and summarized in detail from such aspects as static response property and dynamic response property, and a brief discussion is carried out on the future developments and studies. Different scholars have conducted research for this aspect of the issue; the conclusions vary because of differences in the conditions of the upper structure stiffness. Superstructure should consider different stiffness conditions a lot of numerical calculations, foundation depth summary obtained reaction influence on the dynamic characteristics and dynamic soil structure interaction system of law

Firm-level Human Capital and Innovation: Evidence from China

Understanding the factors that may produce a sustained rate of innovation is important for promoting economic development and growth. In this paper, we examine the role of human capital in firms’ innovation by using a large sample of manufacturing firms from China. We use two firm-level datasets from China: one from metropolitan cities, and one from provincial small and medium sized cities. Patent applications are used as the measure of innovation. Human capital indicators used include skilled human capital (number of highly educated workers), general manager’s education and tenure, and management team’s education and age. We find that skilled human capital has a significant positive effect on firms’ innovation, while the management team’s age has a significant negative effect on innovation. The General Manager’s tenure plays a significant positive role in firm innovation in metropolitan cities, while it is the General Manager’s education that has a positive and significant effect on firms’ innovation in small and middle cities. We also find that the effect of R&D on patents is insignificant for firms in large cities, but it is positive and significant in the smaller and medium sized cities. We conclude by noting some policy issues for promoting innovation in developing economies

Business Borderlands: China's Overseas State Agribusiness

In the context of widespread interests in China's agro?state?owned enterprises (SOEs), this article starts demystifying four narratives prevailing internationally. In this intellectual landscape, the article coins an innovative approach, ‘farm as business borderland’ to investigate an agro?SOE in Tanzania. Based on the ethnographic case study, the article presents the tensions arising between the case farm and its Beijing headquarters on the one hand, and between Chinese managers and local stakeholders on the other. The authors examine the reasons why the travelling business bureaucracy rationalities from Beijing to Tanzania works and how this is adapted locally in the farm's daily practices. The authors also explore why and how Chinese managers' footloose expatriate lifestyle is not as relevant as normally expected in constructing convergence with locals. Finally the article discusses the implications of the new approach on international development inquiry and global governance practices