Exploiting Tribal Identity: Evidence From The Darfur Conflict (2001-) And The Chad-Sudan Proxy War (2005-2010), Eline Rosenhart

The Journal of Social Encounters

Using the case of the Darfur conflict (2001-) and the Chad-Sudan proxy war (2005-2010), this study will demonstrate that conflict in Chad and Sudan cannot be fully understood without taking into account how heads of state and rebel leaders in both countries manipulated tribal identities to retain and enhance power. It shows how Idriss Déby, a Zaghawa leader, held onto his tenuous position as President of Chad by leveraging tribal customs and symbols, while the Darfur conflict and the Chad-Sudan proxy war destabilized his rule. It also sheds light on the ways in which Darfuri and Chadian rebel leaders maneuvered …

When Peace Interventions Become Elusive: The Convoluted Darfur Conflict, Elias Opongo

The Journal of Social Encounters

The conflict in Darfur, rooted in longstanding tensions among ethnic and political groups in western Sudan, is marked by widespread violence, displacement, and human rights abuses. Whereas there have been concerted efforts by successive governments and different local, regional, and national stakeholders to resolve these conflicts through various transitional justice and traditional mechanisms, these interventions have largely been ineffective, often resulting in accusations of bias and unequal treatment by the Khartoum government. This article seeks to evaluate conflict intervention efforts by different actors such as the Sudan government, the African Union (AU), Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), regional governments, and …

The Dynamics Of The Resistance Committees (Rcs) Movement Amid The Current Challenges Of Democratic Transition In Sudan, Salih Mustafa, Marafi Albahi

The Journal of Social Encounters

After the wave of protests that led to the fall of the former regime in April 2019 and the establishment of the Transitional Justice in August 2019, Sudan is undergoing transitional phases marked by significant political and social changes since 2018. The Sudanese Resistance Committees (RCs) have played important and crucial roles throughout the whole period since the breakthrough of the Revolution in Sudan in December 2018. Those roles are showcased starting from organizing and mobilizing the protests that took place prior to the fall of the regime. The dynamics of the movement have developed since then due to the …

Gold Mining In Darfur: Its Role In The General Economy, Political Conflicts And The Current War, Raphaëlle Chevrillon-Guibert, Enrico Ille, Mohamed Salah Abdelrahman

The Journal of Social Encounters

Darfur has been shattered by a long chain of violent escalations, and numerous interpretations of reasons and recommendations for solutions have been put forward. Since the early 2010s, gold mining appeared as an additional element in ongoing conflicts and became a dominant aspect, not just as one of the financial pillars of the upcoming Rapid Support Forces under Dagalo family leadership, but also as a source of environmental pollution. Nevertheless, gold mining made its way only slowly into political analyses, and although its substantial role in Sudan's recent history, including the current war, has now more often been recognized, it …

Reshaping Identity Politics: Capitalising On Shari‘A Debate In The Sudan, Musa Adam Abdul-Jalil

The Journal of Social Encounters

The relationship between religious identity, ethnic identity, and politics has always been a problematic one, especially in plural societies like Sudan. This article is an attempt to understand the reasons behind the insistence of the popular parties of the Muslim majority in Northern Sudan on establishing shar’ia law as the law of the land. By using secondary data on party programmes, public opinion, and an analysis of political events, I reconstruct the evolution of the debate in order to identify its prime movers. My conclusion is that this debate emerged as a result of the quest for a national identity …

Darfur And Sudan: The People, Politics, Conflict, And Recovery: An Introduction, Mawa Mohamed, Ronald Pagnucco

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

No. 27: Invisible Work, Visible Impacts: Gender, Migrants, And Informal Food Trade Amid The Covid-19 Pandemic In The Global South, Laeba Khan

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

This paper examines the abrupt and far-reaching consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on women engaged in the informal food sector within the Global South. It highlights the deepening effects of the pandemic on food insecurity, gender inequality, and economic disparities. Based on a case study of three groups of women – internal migrants, international migrants, and cross-border traders – engaged in informal food work within and across countries and regions of the Global South, the paper investigates the compounded challenges they face, as well as their exacerbated risks and vulnerabilities. The analysis exposes the complex interplay between gender, migration, and …

No. 03: Addressing Urban Food Security Challenges For South-South Migrants, Abel Chikanda, Jonathan Crush, Godfrey Tawodzera

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

This policy brief examines the growing phenomenon of South-South migration, with a focus on the challenges of urban food security faced by migrants moving from one Global South country to urban areas in another. South-South migration has become increasingly significant, yet it remains under-researched, especially regarding the food insecurity that many migrants face in their host cities. The brief highlights the unique vulnerabilities of these migrants, who often find themselves in precarious employment, facing xenophobia, and excluded from formal social protection mechanisms, all of which exacerbate their food insecurity. The case study of Cape Town, South Africa, underscores the severity …

No. 02: Leveraging Food Remittances For Enhanced Food Security In Urban Africa, Jonathan Crush

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

This policy brief highlights the critical yet underexplored role of food remittances in enhancing food security across Africa. While global attention has predominantly focused on cash remittances and their economic impacts, food remittances – defined as the transfer of foodstuffs by migrants to their home regions – play a vital role in ensuring the availability, accessibility, and stability of food supplies for both rural and urban households. These remittances help bridge the food security gap between urban and rural areas, with food produced in rural regions supporting the nutritional needs of family members in cities. The reciprocal flow of resources, …

Major Political Events From The 1960s To The 2020s: An Analytical Perspective, Yun Song

Multicultural Center Publications

This research paper provides a comprehensive analysis of major political events in the United States from the 1960s to the 2020s. It examines key presidential elections and significant political incidents, exploring their impact on the political landscape and their contributions to the evolution of American governance and society. The study delves into the interplay between media, social movements, economic conditions, and political strategies, highlighting how these factors have shaped electoral outcomes and policy decisions over the decades.

No. 01: Mitigating The Impacts Of Covid-19 On Migrants And Food Security In The Global South, Sujata Ramachandran, Jonathan Crush

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing vulnerabilities among migrants, particularly those involved in South-South migration, leading to heightened risks of poverty, food insecurity, and marginalization. The pandemic disrupted global migration patterns, hindered access to essential services, and severely impacted the livelihoods of millions of migrants. Governments in the Global South faced the dual challenge of mitigating these impacts while fostering inclusive recovery strategies. This policy brief provides recommendations for governments to address the immediate and long-term challenges posed by the pandemic on migration and food security, as well as planning for future pandemics. Key areas include enhancing social protection, ensuring healthcare …

Claiming The Right To Belong: Diversity And The Politics Of Inclusion In Queens, New York, Susan J. Tanenbaum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines social integration in a diverse civic and political mainstream. The social science research on intergroup contact in U.S. cities undergoing significant demographic change tends to focus on encounters between members of majority “in-groups” and minority “out-groups” in the context of workplaces, neighborhoods, and families. I contend that civic politics is another compelling strategic site for observing intergroup contact between emerging and established players. My study presents three cases of claims-making activity during the post-9/11 period in New York City’s borough of Queens, where close to 50% of the population is foreign-born and no single racial group predominates. …

Bodies For Catastrophe: A Montage Study Of Palestinian Digital Labor, Francisco Ramos

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis investigates Palestinian digital labor through the method of montage. Digital labor, understood as bodily activity transfigured by digital machines into exploitable information, is examined within the context of Israeli surveillance technologies used against Palestinians. The study critically explores the dual political functions of these technologies: as tools of settler-colonial domination aiming to dispossess Palestinians, and as neoliberal mechanisms seeking to profit from the surveillance of Palestinian bodies. The second half of the thesis turns to the ways Palestinians engage with such technologies and unsettle the economic and colonial logics embedded in them.

The research is structured nonlinearly using …

No. 01: South Africa At War: Food Insecurity, Migrant Exclusion And Covid-19 Policies, Jonathan Crush, Sean Sithole

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

The policy audit critically examines the South African government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly focusing on the militaristic enforcement of lockdowns and the resulting food insecurity and exclusion of migrant populations. The report aims to inform policy-makers about the impacts of these policies and provide recommendations for crisis management.

On 27 March 2020, South Africa imposed a nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of COVID-19. This lockdown, enforced by the police and the military, was characterized by stringent measures including curfews, bans on inter-provincial travel, and the closure of non-essential businesses. These measures, while necessary to control the pandemic, …

Second International Marxism And The Finnish Revolution, Luke Brodersen

University Honors Theses

This paper will consider the Finnish revolution of 1917-1918 as it was understood by Second International Marxists--not because these Marxists were right, but because the revolution was led by Marxists of a socialist party formed in the Second International. By dint of the constraints of time, of resources, and of a language barrier, this paper cannot be an exhaustive historical account of the activities of the Finnish socialists, nor a comprehensive explanation of Marxism, nor would it assume to provide a proper 'Marxist' analysis of this history. Of the two 20th century English language histories of this revolution--the work of …

The (Im)Possibility Of Anti-Systemic Politics: Uprisings, Exilic Spaces, And Alain Badiou, Jason C. Mueller

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

The world-system is in crisis, and a flurry of uprisings challenge the mantra that 'there is no alternative' to capitalism. However, some questions remain. What will replace the global capitalist mode of production, and how will those aspiring to transform the system do so? These questions are of relevance to three separate but related domains of research: (1) the study of anti-systemic movements by world-systems analysts; (2) the study of exilic spaces by scholars using an anarchist perspective; and (3) the work of French Philosopher Alain Badiou. This article stages a discussion between these three areas, locating areas in each …

Exploring Strategy In India, Vinay Kaura

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This review essay discusses Rajesh Basrur's Subcontinental Drift: Domestic Politics and India’s Foreign Policy and Feroz Hassan Khan's Subcontinent Adrift: Strategic Futures of South Asia and explores Indian strategy, especially concerning domestic issues and the relationship between Pakistan and India. The review concludes by noting that the two books agree on the oversized role of the Pakistani military in India’s national politics, where most security and foreign policy decisions are directed toward Pakistan.

From The Acting Editor In Chief, C. Anthony Pfaff

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Welcome to the Autumn 2024 issue of Parameters. The Autumn issue consists of a special piece from the US Army War College Commandant and Provost on their strategic vision for the college, three In Focus special commentaries, three forums (Cooperative Partnerships, Professional Development, and Historical Studies), two regular forums (A Major’s Perspective and the Civil-Military Relations Corner), and a review essay focused on strategy in India.

Eisenhower As Supreme Allied Commander: A Reappraisal, Richard D. Hooker Jr.

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article argues that the historical assessment of Dwight D. Eisenhower as Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in World War II lacks objectivity and balance. It identifies several strategic errors and missteps attributable to Eisenhower, which resulted in severe casualties and prolonged the war in Europe. The conclusions can help US military practitioners and policymakers assess the background and qualities required for successful theater command during wartime and senior commanders’ performances.

Parameters Autumn 2024, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Welcome to the Autumn 2024 issue of Parameters. The Autumn issue consists of a special piece from the US Army War College Commandant and Provost on their strategic vision for the college, three In Focus special commentaries, three forums (Cooperative Partnerships, Professional Development, and Historical Studies), two regular forums (A Major’s Perspective and the Civil-Military Relations Corner), and a review essay focused on strategy in India.

Book Reviews, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Carceral Liberalism: Feminist Voices Against State Violence, Andrea Michaels

Feminist Pedagogy

The following book review of Shreerekha Pillai’s Carceral Liberalism: Feminist Voices against State Violence (2023) is an expansive and timely collection of essays on the carceral state in its implications for feminist educators. This review focuses on the connections and connectivity of two essays in the collection that attempt to address a minor examination of the person as political.

Archetypal Energies And Global Mental Health, Carroy U. Ferguson

Psychology Faculty Publication Series

As a keynote speaker at the Global Mental Health Conference 2024, held at Sophia University, Costa Mesa, CA, in-person and virtually, August 16-18, 2024, my topic was "Archetypal Energies As A Framework for Self-Empowerment and Well Being". The theme of this 2024 global conference was: Enlightened Minds, Compassionate Hearts, and Embodied Wisdom. To supplement my keynote address, I wrote this blog article titled "Archetypal Energies and Global Mental Health".

Strategic Governance To “Silence The Guns” In Africa: Urban Sub-Saharan African Perceptions On War's Root Causes., Peter Tresor Miyalou, Chun Yan Hu

Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies

Despite the African Union’s campaign to silence the guns in Africa by 2020 (STGIA 2020), many African countries are suffering from wars and political instability, the primary causes of underdevelopment in Africa. This paper examines the roots causes of wars in Africa and provide a strategic governance to silence the guns beyond 2020. To accomplish this, we gathered data from 169 questionnaire responses administered across 25 African countries, to capture African people’s perceptions on the root causes of wars and whether employing strategic governance would help silence the guns in these countries. The results showed that political power struggle (47.9%), …

Thinking Blue / Writing Red: Marxism And The (Post)Human, Stephen C. Tumino

Publications and Research

Thinking Blue/Writing Red interrogates contemporary culture across a range of texts, from the pandemic (‘Covid’ and ‘Trump Speak’) to high theory (Melville's narratives) and popular culture (Beyoncé's ‘Formation’ and Super Bowl performance, Twin Peaks , metamodern ‘cli-fi’ films). Inspired by Derrida’s idea of the secret, Tumino examines the significance of social movements (Black Lives Matter, Occupy, alter-globalization) and naïve art (Darger, Ryden) to argue that these texts speak of the secrets that capitalism cannot speak. Contending that the cultural surfaces narrate only the ‘nonsecret,’ that to see the social logic of the culture one must dig into what Bruno Latour …

No. 25: Responses To Covid-19 By Internal Migrants In South African Cities, Jonathan Crush, Godfrey Tawodzera, Maria Salamone, Zack Ahmed

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

This paper explores the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on internal migrants in the urban centres of Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. Focusing on the socio-economic and livelihood challenges faced by this population, the research utilizes a survey conducted in 2023 to investigate how the pandemic exacerbated existing vulnerabilities. Results highlight significant disruptions in employment, increased economic hardship, and heightened health risks among migrants, particularly those living in low-income neighbourhoods. Despite the hardships, very few migrants intended to permanently return to their rural origins, indicating a complex interplay between economic necessity and pandemic-induced constraints. The findings underscore the unique challenges …

No. 24: Food And Health Security Among Burmese Migrant Domestic Workers In Singapore Amid Myanmar’S ‘Triple Crisis’, Brenda Yeoh, Franchesca Morais, Theodora Lam, Kristel Acedera, Bittiandra Chand Somaiah

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

Migrating overseas to work as domestic workers is an increasingly important livelihood strategy for capital-poor women in Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar. However, the recent COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest in Myanmar has highlighted the entrenched precarities and uncertainties attached to this migration strategy. The health crisis has further heightened the importance of remittances and food security for migrants and their sending households. Food production, food systems and access to food supplies in the country have been especially hit by political instability, the energy crisis and inflation. This paper explores issues concerning the food and health security of female …

No. 26: Pandemic Precarities And Remittance Narratives In The Global South, Jonathan Crush, Sujata Ramachandran

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

The COVID-19 pandemic has been referred to as a great disruptor of global migration leading to a crisis of immobility caused by public health lockdowns, closed borders, and the suspension of visa processing. Layoffs and retrenchments of migrant workers led to widespread hardship and an intensification of pre-pandemic precarity, as well as disrupted remittance channels and flows. Against this backdrop, the paper provides an overview of current debates about the relationship between COVID-19 and international migration in the context of South-South migration. We assess how pre-pandemic South-South migration flows were disrupted by the pandemic and the evidence for a crisis …

Remembering, Forgetting, And Artifact Deposition In Late Prehistoric Florida, Andrew Bowen

Master's Theses

Material culture plays a fundamental role in memory processes. Artifacts are an important means of both connecting with and cutting ties with a real or imagined past. They can be reminders or symbols of connection to other people, places, things, powers, or memories, making them key components within networks and relations. The way materials are deposited or destroyed often follows specific customs or responds to environmental factors. Specific situations, like interactions with outside groups or socio-political changes, prompt particular depositional events. During the Mississippi period, such circumstances were prevalent throughout the Southeast. By treating artifacts in specific ways during deposition, …

Human Trafficking Screening Tools Amongst Migrants And Refugees: Current Tools And Future Outlooks, Audra Fox

Student Theses

While various human trafficking screening tools exist to help stakeholders identify indicators and risk of trafficking, few tools are designed specifically for use amongst migrants and refugees. Via interviews with anti-trafficking stakeholders, the following qualitative study describes what tools stakeholders currently use to asses trafficking amongst migrants and refugee, and if stakeholders desire a new tool specific for migrant/refugee populations. Thematic results indicate that most stakeholders are not using validated tools for trafficking victims, let alone migrants and refugees (n=5, 38.5%). Of the total sample, 62% of participants (n=8) reported various screening discrepancies across stakeholders. Additionally, …