26 research outputs found
Science, ideology and development : three essays on development theory
In these essays the author starts from two basic assumptions. First, he believes that science is as social and as subject to perversion as all other forms of knowledge in society. This being the case, there is no absolute way of separating science from the pervading ideologies of the day. In development theory it is only logical that the socially desirable goals should be strated before the instruments for realising them can be forged. But in the process of forging instruments for solving current problems new truths are often revealed which become subversive of the prevailing set-up. Nor should this be surprising in Professor Mafeje's view, for it is implicit in the concept of "critique" in Marxian dialects. According to the latter, there is no affirmation without a negation. "Development" as an evocative and affirmative concept can scarcely avoid the connotation of "destruction" of existing structures and theories. For those who are dissatisfied with orthodox theory, there is a great deal to recommend in these essays.Contents: 1. Introduction -- 2. The Role of State Capitalism in Predominantly Agrarian Economies -- 3. Beyond "Dual Theories" of Economic Growth -- The East, Central, and Southern African historical experience -- 4. Ideology and Development</p
Response to Shannon Morreira's paper: ‘Anthropological futures’? Thoughts on Social Research and the Ethics of Engagement
The Anthropology and Ethnophilosophy of African Literature / ﺗﻮﺍﺷﺞ ﺍﻷﺩﺏ ﺍﻷﻓﺮﻳﻘﻲ ﺑﺎﻷﻧﺜﺮﻭﺑﻮﻟﻮﺟﻴﺎ ﻭﺍﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺤﻠﻴﺔ
[يضيء هذا البحث البعد الأنثروبولبجي في الأدب الأفريقي والقضايا المعرفية المتصلة بهذا الموضوع في المرحلة الراهنة التي تتميز بتحولات معرفية٠ فتقاطع الأنثروبولوجي بالأدبي أصبع هاجساً ملحاً في أفريقيا منذ الاستقلال وفي النقد الأمريكي ـ الأفريقي في الولايات المتحدة في الآوني الأخيرة٠ ويستشهد صاحب البحث للتدليل على ذلك بنخبة من الكتب المتميزة في هذا الصدد ومنها كتابة الثقافة (١٩٨٦) بإشراف جيمس كليفورد وجورج ماركوس [تراجع ترجمة مقالة كليفورد في الكتاب المذكور في القسم العربي من هذا العدد] والقرد الرامز: نظرية أمريكية ـ أفريقية في النقد (١٩٨٨) لهنري لويس غيتس ودار أبي لأنتوني أپايا (١٩٩٢) والثقافة والإمبريالية لإدوارد سعيد٠ وهناك تيار يقترب مما سبق ويربط بين التمثيل الإثنوغرافي والتصور التاريخي (كما في أعمال جون وجين كوماروف) والذي ترجع جذوره إلى مدرسة فرديناند بروديل المعروفة باسم الحوليات (نسبة إلى المجلة الشهيرة التي تبنت هذا الاتجاه) والتي قدمت تصوراً رائداً للتاريخ وفلسفته٠ ويرى الباحث أن دراسة الأدب الأفريقي تتطلب وعياً بالدلالات الإثنوغرافية والمرحلة التاريخية٠ ولا بد في هذه الحالة من استبعاد المفاهيم التقليدية للأنثروبولوجيا ومنها افتراض أنها حقل دراسة البدائيين٠ وقد ساهم الفيلسوف سارتر بدحض مبدأ تقسيم الإنسانية إلى عنصر أسود وعنصر أبيض، محققاً قطيعة معرفية مع الفكر الكولونيالي، وذلك في المقدمة التي كتبها لكتاب أورفيوس الأسود (١٩٤٨) الذي جمع بين دققيه منتخبات شعرية لشعراء سود قام ليوپولد سنغور باختيارها٠ وقد كان الأب تيمبلس أول من نبّه إلى الفلسفة الأفريقية في كتابه كتابه فلسفة البانتو (١٩٤٥)٠ لكن تقديمه لفكر البانتو جرّده من مقومات الفلسفة كما عرفت في الغرب، بأسسها المنطقية والتاريخية٠ وبالتالي تبدو هذا الفلسفة أقرب ما تكون ألى الحكمة اللاتاريخية٠ ويقدم صاحب المقالة جولة في الأدب الأفريقي المكتوب باللغة الإنجليزية والفرنسية في القرن الأخير ليستدل على أهمية القضية الأنطولوجية (الكينونة) في هذا الأدب من جهة وأهمية السياق التاريخي من جهة أخرى٠ فأدب ما قبل الاستقلال كان موجهاً ضد الاستعمار ، بينما توجه أدب ما بعد الاستقلال إلى نقد السلطة والفساد٠
Leadership and change : a study of two South African peasant communities
The fieldwork this thesis was carried out between the 8th December, 1962 and the 28th February, 1963 - an unusually short period by modern anthropological standards. The brevity of my intensive field being Xhosa-speaking, I had a previous knowledge of the two villages. As a small boy, I grew up in one of them (Gubenxa) and, as a student in the secondary school, travelled through the second one (All Saints) repeatedly. So I did not only have a fair idea about the: social system of the two villages, but also knew individual persons in them. This factor plus the fact that in both cases I was accommodated in the heart of the village added to the facility with which I was absorbed into the village life. I was with the villagers from dawn to midnight as a participant observer. My communication with them was direct, and this was enhanced by the fact that I spoke the same language as they and I had an adequate understanding of their cul¬tural background. My research techniques included attendance and observance of the different activities that took place in the village e.g. church assemblies, funeral or commemoration services, meetings at the head¬man's place, meetings of the various committees and recreational clubs, work-parties, bear-drinks, dances, women's gossip groups, and so on
Class and Nation in the Agrarian Questions of the South: Notes in Response to Moyo, Jha and Yeros
Phenomenological ecology in two occasional poems by Ben Okri
This article begins with a brief discussion of the three terms: the poet, ontopoiesis
and eco-phenomenology or phenomenological ecology. An explication of its thrust,
viz. the significance of sowing/sewing ‘a quilt of harmony’ (Wild 2012: 20), in
relation to the broad yet symbiotic theme of cosmic ecology follows. The discussion
proceeds by presenting a close critical analysis of Ben Okri’s ‘Lines in Potentis’, a
poem commissioned by the then Lord Mayor of London in 2002 in commemoration
of the bombing of the City of London and which is featured in Okri’s most recent
anthology of poetry, Wild (2012: 26-27). Both my thrust and my argument are
predicated on another occasional poem from Wild, ‘A Wedding Prayer’ (2012: 20-22),
which is not analysed in any detail. Axiomatic to the interpretation is the poet’s own
conception of ‘wild’, cited on the dust cover of the anthology, as ‘an alternative to
the familiar, where energy meets freedom, where art meets the elemental, where
chaos can be honed’. More precisely, for this London loving Nigerian poet, ‘the wild
is our link with the stars...’. This is not aesthetic posturing. As I attempt to show in my reading of the focal poem, it has to do with mystical unrest viewed from
an eco-phenomenological ‘enjoyment of literature, of beauty, of the sublime, the
elevated, as well as our compassion for the miseries of humankind, [and] generosity
towards others... inspired by the subliminal passions of the human soul’ (Tymieniecka
1996). As the conclusion attempts to show, this projects some of the epistemology
of Africans in Africa and the Diaspora. It does this by invoking the contentions of
fellow African phenomenologist, Achile Mbembe, in comparison with Tymieniecka’s
argument that the soul is the ‘soil’ of life’s forces and that it is thus the transmitter
of life’s constructive progress. Such progress is from the primeval logos of life to its
annihilation in the anti-logos of man’s ‘transnatural telos’ (Tymieniecka 1988: 3).http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rars202015-12-31hb201