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Newness, Imperialism, And International Legal Reform In Our Time: A Twail Perspective, Obiora Chinedu Okafor

Obiora Chinedu Okafor

No abstract provided.

"Passing Through The Mirror": Dead Man, Legal Pluralism And The De-Territorialization Of The West, Ruth Buchanan

Ruth Buchanan

The failures of Western law in its encounter with indigenous legal orders have been well documented, but alternative modes of negotiating the encounter remain under-explored in legal scholarship. The present article addresses this lacuna. It proceeds from the premise that the journey towards a different conceptualization of law might be fruitfully re-routed through the affect-laden realm of embodied experience – the experience of watching the subversive anti-western film Dead Man. Section II explains and develops a Deleuzian approach to law and film which involves thinking about film as ‘‘event.’’ Section III considers Dead Man’s relation to the western genre and …

Muslim Women’S Memoirs: Disclosing Violence Or Reproducing Islamophobia?, Esmaeil Zeiny

Esmaeil Zeiny

As an upshot of 9/11, the literary market in the West saw a proliferation in writings by and about Muslim women. Many of these works are memoirs which focus on Islam, a patriarchal society, and the state’s oppression on women. These Muslim women memoirists take the western readers into a journey of unseen and unheard events of their private lives which is apparently of great interest for the westerners. Some of these memoirs, which reveal the atrocities and hardships of living in a Muslim society under oppressive Islamic regimes, are fraught with stereotypes and generalizations. Utilizing Gillian Whitlock’s theory of …

Colonial Companies, Indentured Labour And Imperialism 1860-1940, Robert Castle, James Hagan, Andrew Wells

Robert G. Castle

The literature on modem imperialism is both immense and inconclusive. The defInition, central facts, archival sources, methods, theories and implications of 'imperialism' are subject to endless contestation. The doyen of Australian liberal historiography, WK Hancock, was moved to warn nearly half a century ago, 'Imperialism is no word for scholars'. Despite his assertion the scholarly and polemical debates continued unabated.

Legitimating Revolt: Classical Legal Thought And The Birth Of Political Islam, Andrew V. Moshirnia

Andrew V Moshirnia

Scholars typically identify the Tobacco Movement in Nineteenth-Century Iran as the key moment when the ulama, or Muslim clergy, emerged as a political force. While theorists have suggested that religious reform or the Marxist class struggle caused this event, these explanations fail to account for the Movement’s emphasis on the will of the individual, the need for systematized laws, and the involvement of women. These attributes are hallmarks of Classical Legal Thought, the dominant legal consciousness of the era. Two key reformers, Sayyid Jamal ad-Din (“Afghani”) and Mirza Malkum Khan (“Malcom”), used the language of Classical Legal Thought in painting …

The Real Resource Curse And The Imperialism Of Development, Timothy Dimuzio

Timothy DiMuzio

The idea that the scope of anthropology in the face of the new development economics be widened is a welcome one. In explaining what has been called ‘the resource curse’, Gisa Weszkalnys (in this issue) suggests that anthropologists must go beyond merely looking for the social details that might help economists account for why their theories often go awry in real social settings. In other words, the role of the anthropologist is not to provide social justifications for economic models gone wrong. Rather, Weszkalnys asks anthropologists concerned with studying communities with coveted and valuable world resources to approach their study …

On The Nature Of Anglophone Conservatism And Its Applicability To The Analysis Of Postcolonial Politics, Stefan Andreasson

Stefan Andreasson

This essay examines the nature and development of an Anglophone tradition of conservative political thought (conservatism). It considers how, in contrast to a more reactionary European tradition, conservatism has evolved over time in its variously diverging and converging Anglo-American historical and cultural contexts and what relevance – what analytical utility – this body of political thought may have today for understanding politics and socio-cultural developments in a postcolonial world beyond its Western origins. In considering the relative merits of conservatism as compared to other theoretical approaches, the essay asks whether this conservatism can offer a superior analysis of postcolonial politics …

Imperfections In U. S. Foreign Policy Toward Oromia And Ethiopia: Will The Obama Administration Introduce Change?, Asafa Jalata

Asafa Jalata

This paper argues that because of its perceived strategic national interest and the wrong advice it received from experts and racist assumptions about the Oromo, the U.S. government has allied with the Tigrayan minority elites to form a colonial government and to suppress the Oromo national movement. Thus, the major question becomes will the Obama administration respect the rights of African peoples in general and that of the Oromo in particular?

The Secret Weapon Of Globalization: China's Activites In Sub-Saharan Africa, Kehbuma Langmia

Kehbuma Langmia

A Brown Skin Writer As An Imperialistic Native Informer: Remembering The Homeland In Reading Lolita In Tehran, Esmaeil Zeiny

Esmaeil Zeiny

Largely neglected throughout the 1980s and 1990s, in the post-revolution period, Iranian immigrant women writers have become important to a growing Western readership. One of the most striking features of this emerging literature is its obsession with the personal and collective past, which has translated into the dominance of the memoir as a genre. For the last few decades, these women in exile have been creating a literature engaged with what have become the most suitable topics of the day: immigration, exile, religious fundamentalism and women‟s right (Darznik, 2008). Through memoirs, they were able to voice their political and ideological …

My Work And Foucault's Genius: Foucault, Barthes, Said, Paul J. Rich

Paul J. Rich

Recent comparison of some of my work to that of Foucault is really a huge exaggeration of its importance but does point to a point that Foucault made, which is that research into small or obscure topics can have a high yield in terms of insight. Critics for example are interested in the role I have explored of Freemasonry in education.

Federalism And National Integration In Nigeria (1999-2007), Fab O. Onah Phd, Ozy B. Orluwene Jp

Dr Ozy B.Orluwene,JP

ABSTRACT This study examined the concept of federalism and the issue of national integration in Nigeria from 1999-2007. It is observed that governance in Nigeria is replete with very many contradictions, controversies, paradoxes and crises emanating from the country’s fragile experiment in a multi-ethnic federalism. These have generated conflicting interests, which have over the years lingered unresolved since Lord Lugard forced the amalgamation of disparate and isolated ethno-linguistic nationalities into a country in 1914. Considerable information on federalism, national integration and related concepts were synthesized. The literature review identified gaps, which the study addressed. Source of data for the study …

Federalism And Impediments To National Integration In Nigeria: An Appraisal, Ozy B. Orluwene Jp

Dr Ozy B.Orluwene,JP

ABSTRACT This paper is primarily an appraisal of how the practice of Federalism in Nigeria is faced with many impediments. Theoretically, Federalism is established or adopted with a view to ensuring the unity of the people and faith in their fatherland so as to further the end of liberty; equality and justice in the country. With the data on governance being replete with contradictions controversies, paradoxes and crises emanating from the persistently fragile practice of federalism in multi-ethnic Nigeria. The situation tends to validate the French saying that “the more things change, the more they stay the same”. The governance …

The Pitfalls In The Nigerian Federalism, Ozy B. Orluwene Jp

Dr Ozy B.Orluwene,JP

ABSTRACT The paper is primarily examining the pitfalls in Nigeria’s federalism. Theoretically, federalism as a system of government and power arrangement is crafted deliberately to deal with a sociological complex polity as presented in Nigeria’s multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious composition. But there exist wide gaps between theory and practice, vision and reality, with the data of governance being replete with many contradictions, controversies, paradoxes and crises emanating from the persistent stagnation and diminution that follow fragile practice of federalism. Rather than improving the quality of governance and practice, it tends to diminutates and validates the fact and conclusion that the …

Japan And Transformation Of National Identities In The Imperial Era, Li Narangoa, Robert Cribb

Robert Cribb

Japan's view of the nationality of its Asian neightbours took many forms during the imperial era. In some respects Japan asserted its superiority to those neighbours, in other respects saw them as nations with a standing equal to that of Japan. The working out of these two views reflected Japanese strategic interests.

中國民族主義˙帝國主義˙台灣獨立運動︰評三本90年代中國出版的「台獨研究」專書, Weider Shu

Weider Shu

Based on three books conducted by Chinese scholars regarding the Taiwan Independence Movement (TIM), this paper tries to critically examine the so-called “imperialism,” --- the thesis adopted by most, if not all, Chinese scholars while analyzing the issue relevant to TIM. According to this thesis, the origin and development of the postwar TIM is conceived as the product caused by foreign power, which is led by the United States, for the purpose of interfering Chinese domestic politics. This paper argues that we have to explore these Chinese scholars’ notion of nationalism for comprehending their rationale of adopting the imperialism as …

Sociocultural Origins Of The Oromo National Movement In Ethiopia, Asafa Jalata

Asafa Jalata

This paper examines social and cultural factors that have necessitated the emergence of the Oromo national movement. Since their incorporation into Ethiopia, the Oromo have lost their autonomous cultural and social development. With the help of the European colonial power, the Ethiopians effectively occupied Oromia, expropriated Oromian economic resources, established settler colonialism, and repressed Oromo culture and negated Oromo history. The colonial settlers created oppressive institutions that facilitated the extraction of Oromo produce and labor. The Oromo have become second class citizens and lost political freedom and institutional power. Recently Oromo cultural resistance has been transformed into the Oromo national …