Colonial Crime, Environmental Destruction and Indigenous Peoples: A Roadmap to Accountability and Protection

The contemporary climate emergency is directly traceable to colonial activities commenced on indigenous territories, continued under postcolonial regimes, with the active support (material and logistic) of the former colonial powers. These practices stimulated demand for ‘products’, treated territories as resource hotbeds, and ignored the human rights of indigenous peoples who were treated as objects rather than subjects of law, and resulted in the systematic destruction of habitats hastening the breach of planetary boundaries. [...

The rise of majorities and emerging existential threats to India and China

China and India are comparable in size, complexity, and their relatively recent state-building histories. Commencing in 1947 and 1949 the relatively recent foundations of India and China respectively, highlighted a ‘unity in diversity’ message. The significance of this lay as much in ideology, as in a pragmatism that was both central, and relatively successful in bringing what could be argued as many civilisations, into singular modern states. While the messages about diversity have always been contested in some quarters by rival ethno-nationalists, they remained significant in laying the foundations for a strong ‘national’ identity. To the majority populations, Hindu in India, Han in China, they called for restraint to any triumphalism or chauvinism; to the minorities they called for unshakeable loyalty in return for full citizenship rights. In both cases these messages were backed by constructive affirmative action measures that, irrespective of their efficacy, served to emphasize the ‘unity in diversity’ message, sowing a degree of fealty towards the state, over what may have been more prominent and compelling ethno-religious or ethno-linguistic cleavages. In recent years however this message has been significantly altered, as political majoritarianism has begun to oust legally or administratively determined minority protections. This essay seeks to offer an assessment of the potential impact on this phenomenon on each country, arguing that it has contributed to instability, sowing seeds for the rise of opposing sub-national identities that the founding parents of each state actively sought to counter in their statecraft

Modelling equality in the midst of religious diversity: lessons from beyond Europe? Religions, 12 (11) , e923. ISSN 2077-1444

The extent to which global legal systems are generated by, derived from, and adhere to European values is so widespread that it has become trite to present such an observation in conclusion to a series of high-quality essays as contained in this Special Issue [...

International law and self-determination : the interplay of the politics of territorial possession with formulations of national identity

The principle of self-determination has great pedigree. It is a norm that had at heart, the foundations of the concept of democracy - based on the idea that the consent of the governed alone, could give a government legitimacy. These noble ideas, expressed in the American and French Declarations form the cornerstone to the principle of self-determination. This is the principle that, through changes influenced by various political factors. was primarily responsible for the decolonisation process that has shaped the current international community. Self-determination has been used in equal rhetorical brilliance by a number of great leaders - some meritorious, with a genuine concern for human emancipation, others dubious, with the vested interest of ascendancy to power at the heart of their project. In any case, 'self-determination' has come to mean different things in different contexts.It is this particular issue that this thesis wishes to tackle. Being a vital principle,especially in the context of the post-colonial state, it is one factor that at once,represents a threat to world order, while at the same time holding out the promise of a longer-term peace and security based on values of democracy, equity and justice. This thesis looks at the intricacies of the norm in its current ambiguous manifestation and seeks to deconstruct it with regard to three particularly inter-linked discourses: that of minority rights. statehood & sovereignty and the doctrine of uti possidetis which shaped the modern post-colonial state. IN analysing these factors we shall focus specifically on the option of secession from the modern post-colonial state - one of three options stated explicitly by General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) as constituting the act of self-determination.These norms are then sought to be analysed further within two case studies. The first of these looks briefly at the situation concerning the creation of Bangladesh - a case of self-determination achieved. The second case study, much more complex in itself, looks at the situation concerning the Western Sahara where self-determination (whatever its manifestation) is yet to be expressed. In the course of this latter case study we shall seek to highlight the problematic nature of 'national identity' and the 'self in settings far removed from post-Westphalian Europe from where these norms originate, and which remain so integral to the modern discourse of international law

Imaginario bíblico y mítica pagana en la narrativa de Abelardo Arias

En la narrativa del escritor mendocino Abelardo Arias, al menos en tres de sus novelas más logradas -Álamos talados {1942), La viña estéril ( 1968) y Minotauroamor ( 1970) resulta evidente la presencia de elementos míticos provenientes del mundo clásico, pagano, e imágenes de clara raigambre bíblica. Esta imaginería es explícita por ejemplo en Álamos talados, construida alrededor de la idea directriz del Paraíso perdido/recobrado, mientras que y a desde el título en Minotauroamor es el mito helénico el que suministra la materia narrativa, que se adensa al cargarse de un nuevo, patético sentido. Pero es en La viña estéril donde ambas series aparecen en cierto modo contrapuestas, en una antítesis que enriquece y complica sus posibilidades significativas. Así, para el estudio de este texto, y a partir del tema de la obsesión por la pureza y p o r la culpa (de naturaleza sexual) se impone naturalmente la relación con las imágenes bíblicas del Jardín del Edén y, a través de ellas, con una serie de figuras míticas.Fil: Castellino, Marta Elena. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Filosofía y Letra

Utopía y distopía en El oído absoluto de Marcelo Cohen

La novela de Marcelo Cohen, El oído absoluto, constituye dentro del sistema de la narrativa argentina, un ejemplo interesante y original por su relación con el género utópico. En efecto, el mundo posible creado por el texto para enmarcar la peripecia de los protagonistas: Evelino Borusso, Clarisa Wald, el padre de ésta, cuyo nombre original -León- ha devenido en Lotario, Tristán (nombres en los cuales es dable percibir un dejo de ironía que es la característica de toda la narración) se dan muchas de las características (insularidad, dirigismo, colectivismo, gobierno patriarcal regido por un grupo de filósofos o notables) y de las virtudes ensalzadas en la utopía clásica (el espíritu comunitario, la valoración del trabajo en detrimento del ocio, el desdén por el dinero). Pero al mismo tiempo se socavan, desde las dudas del narrador y de los personajes, las raíces mismas de ese mundo perfecto, y se reclama por una nueva utopía -a música, el lenguaje, la creación novelesca...- que cale más hondo en la intimidad, para clausurar, de una vez para siempre, la soledad y la incomunicación erigidos en puntos centrales de la meditación que la novela propone.The novel The absolute Ear, by Marcelo Cohen, is an interesting and original text, within Argentine fiction, in what refers to its relation with utopia as a genre. The possible world created in the text as a setting for the characters' peril: Evelino Borusso, Clarisa Wld, whose father's original name -León- has become Ltario, Tristan (all names with a touch of irony typical of the text as a whole), presents many of the characteristics (insularity, directivism, collectivism, patriarchal government ruled by a group of philosophers or notables) and of the virtues praised in classical utopia (communal spirit, hard work as opposed to idleness, contempt for money). Yet, at the same time, from the narrator's and the characters' doubts, the very roots of that perfect world are questioned; and there is a claim for a new utopia -music, language, creative writing- which goes deeper into intimacy. This would cancel, once and for ever, the loneliness and incommunication which are central to the meditation posed by the novel.Fil: Castellino, Marta Elena. Universidad Nacional de Cuy

Chas, Susana. Los que pintan la aldea : panorama general de la novela en Córdoba (1980-2003). Córdoba, Rubén Libros, 2004, 457 p.

Fil: Castellino, Marta Elena. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Filosofía y Letra