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History making and present day politics : the meaning of collective memory in South Africa
No full textIn this collection, some of South Africa's most distinguished historians and social scientists present their views on the importance of history and heritage for the transformation of the South African society. Although popular use of history helped remove apartheid, the study of history lost status during the transition process. Some of the reasons for this, like the nature of the negotiated revolution, social demobilisation, and individualisation, are analysed in this book. The combination of scholarly work with an active role in changing society has been a central concern in South African history writing. This book warns against the danger of history being caught between reconciliation, commercialisation, and political correctness. Some of the articles critically examine the role of historians in ideological debates on gender, African agency, Afrikaner anti-communism, early South African socialism, and the role of the business world during late apartheid. Other contributions explore continuing controversies on the politics of public history in post-apartheid South Africa, describe the implementation of new policies for history education, or investigate the use of applied history in the land restitution process and in the TRC. The authors also examine a range of new government and private initiatives in the practical use of history, including the establishment of new historical entertainment parks and the conversion of museums and heritage sites. For readers interested in nation building processes and identity politics, this book provides valuable insight.CONTENTS -- History in the new South Africa: An introduction/Hans Erik Stolten -- PART I: THE ROLE OF HISTORY IN THE CREATION OF A NEW SOUTH AFRICA -- Thoughts on South Africa: Some preliminary ideas/Saul Dubow -- New nation, new history? Constructing the past in post-apartheid South Africa/Colin Bundy -- Truth rather than justice? Historical narratives, gender, and public education in South Africa/Elaine Unterhalter -- Claiming land and making memory: Engaging with the past in land restitution/Anna Bohlin -- Reflections on practising applied history in South Africa, 1994–2002: From skeletons to schools/Martin Legassick -- From apartheid to democracy in South Africa: A reading of dominant discourses of democratic transition/Thiven Reddy -- PART II: THE HANDLING OF HERITAGE AND THE POPULARISING OF MEMORY -- The politics of public history in post-apartheid South Africa/Gary Baines -- The transformation of heritage in the new South Africa/Christopher Saunders -- Reframing remembrance: The politics of the centenary commemoration of the South African War of 1899–1902/Albert Grundlingh -- Structure of memory: Apartheid in the museum/Georgi Verbeeck -- Building the “new South Africa”: Urban space, architectural design, and the disruption of historical memory/Martin Murray -- PART III: INTERPRETATIONS OF SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY -- Whose memory – whose history? The illusion of liberal and radical historical debates/Bernhard Makhosezwe Magubane -- Four decades of South African academic historical writing: A personal perspective/Christopher Saunders -- The role of business under apartheid: Revisiting the debate/Merle Lipton -- Afrikaner anti-communist history production in South African historiography/Wessel Visser -- “1922 and all that”: Facts and the writing of South African political history/Allison Drew -- A useable past: The search for “history in chords”/Catherine Burn
Does one size fit all? : the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission revisited
No full textSocieties emerging from protracted conflict and violence face numerous challenges at the individual, community and national levels. Accordingly, a variety of strategies have been suggested for "healing" the wounds of the past and coping with the future, thereby facilitating national reconciliation and peace buildings. One of these approaches is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, TRC, believed to provide a veritable platform for victims and perpetrators alike, to have a voice that would enable them to come to terms with the horrifying past. In Africa, TRCs as strategies for coming to terms with the past in Africa came into prominence following the example of South Africa after the end of apartheid in 1994. Since then, TRCs have been set up in Rwanda and Sierra Leone, while one has been proposed for Liberia. From such a standpoint it is tempting to argue that there has emerged what we can call a "one size fits all" syndrome, that is, if the TRC "worked" for South Africa, a position that is the subject of intense debate within and outside that country, then it is "good" for Sierra Leone, Liberia or any other African society that is emerging from protracted violent conflict. The main purpose of this study, therefore, is to draw attention to the TRC phenomenon in Sierra Leone, to stimulate discussion on the diverse questions surrounding its rationale, processes and outcomes, especially its impacts on post conflict reconciliation in the country. Another goal of the project is to document the multiple and conflicting perceptions among various groups in the TRC processes, and how such perceptions were reflected in the Commission's work and recommendations. Finally, it is expected that the study would form the basis for future empirically grounded research and policy analysis, more extensive research and perhaps even collaboration, between the author and those working on innovative but home-grown mechanisms for promoting reconciliation in post war Sierra Leone and elsewhere.CONTENTS -- Introduction -- Objectives of the study -- Scope of the study -- Methodology -- Civil war and paradise lost -- TRCs and post conflict reconciliation: A synoptic review of the literature -- The Sierra Leone TRC: Matters arising -- Challenging assumptions of TRCs and post conflict reconciliation in Sierra Leone -- Perceptions of TRC processes in Sierra Leone -- Conclusion: Ownership, capacity and long-term utility of a truth commissio
Re-thinking Africa : A Contribution to the Swedish Government White Paper on Africa
No full textEdited by Signe Arnfred and Mats Utas.</p
The development dimension or disillusion : The EU's development policy goals and the Economic Partnership Agreements
No full textThe EU and the ACP countries aim to conclude the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) by the end of December 2007. All parties agree that these trading arrangements are meant to be first and foremost “development instruments”. However, their positions differ greatly on how the EPAs will impact on theultimate goal of poverty reduction. In this policy note Marikki Stocchetti addresses the key issues of this disagreement
African Agriculture and The World Bank : Development or Impoverishment?
No full textAfrican smallholder family farming, the backbone of the continental economy throughout the colonial and early post-colonial period, has been destabilized and eroded over the past thirty years. Despite the World Bank’s poverty alleviation concerns, agrarian livelihoods continue to unravel under the impact of economic liberalization and global value chains. Can African smallholders bounce back and compete? The World Development Report 2008 argues they can and must. How realistic is this given the history of World Bank conditionality in Africa? This essay explores the productivity and welfare concerns of Africa’s smallholder farming population in the shadow of the World Bank.CONTENTS -- World Bank Policy and the WDR 2008 -- African Development Policies over the Last 25 Years Land Rights, Markets and Capital -- Institutional Supports for African Smallholder Agriculture -- African Rural Agency in Response to Global Market Pressures -- Reading Between the Lines of the WDR 2008: African Smallholders’ Rural Future</p
Amizade traída e recuperada : O ANC em Moçambique (1976-1990)
No full textÍNDICE: INTRODUÇÃO – Prelúdio: UM ESTRANHO TIPO DE PARAÍSO -- PRIMEIRA PARTE: UMA LUTA COMUM: Frelimo e ANC (até 1975) -- SEGUNDA PARTE: FUGIR DE CASA, CHEGAR A CASA (1976-1980) -- TERCEIRA PARTE: AS REALIDADES DA GUERRA: Os Operativos do ANC em Moçambique (1981-1983) -- QUARTA PARTE: UMA GRANDE TRAlÇÃO? O Acordo de Nkomati e o ANC (1984-1986) -- QUINTA PARTE: RENOVAÇÃO DA CONFIANÇA: Moçambique, O ANC e a Queda do Apartheid (1986-1990) </p
China in Africa
No full textThe contributions to this compilation add in various ways to the ongoing discussion on China’s role in Africa. They offer a blend of general overviews on the new scramble for Africa’s resources, the Chinese expansion into Africa and case studies on Uganda and South Africa. They present reflections on and insights to a current theme, which is widely and controversially debated also within Africa.CONTENTS -- The (not so) New Kid on the Block: China and the scramble for Africa’s resources: An introductory overview. Henning Melber -- Unpacking China’s Resource Diplomacy in Africa. Ian Taylor -- Uganda and China: Unleashing the power of the dragon. Margaret C. Lee -- China-African Relations in the 21st Century: A ‘win-win’ relationship. Sanusha Naidu</p
The security-development nexus : expressions of sovereignty and securitization in Southern Africa
No full textThe link between security and development has been rediscovered after 9/11 by a broad range of scholars. Focusing on Southern Africa, the Security-Development Nexus shows that the much debated linkage is by no means a recent invention. Rather, the security/development linkage has been an important element of the state policies of colonial as well as post-colonial regimes during the Cold War, and it seems to be prospering in new configurations under the present wave of democratic transitions. Contributors focus on a variety of contexts from South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia, to Zimbabwe and Democratic Congo; they explore the nexus and our understanding of security and development through the prism of peace-keeping interventions, community policing, human rights, gender, land contests, squatters, nation and state-building, social movements, DDR programmes and the different trajectories democratization has taken in different parts of the region.CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION –- The Security-Development Nexus/Lars Buur, Steffen Jensen and Finn Stepputat -- INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL BOUNDARIES -- You Do Need a Stick to Be Able to Use It Gently – The South African Armed Forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo/Thomas Mandrup Jørgensen -- The Nationalist Imperative – South Africanisation, Regional Integration and Mobile Livelihoods/Steffen Jensen and Lars Buur -- Namibia’s Pariah Heroes – Swapo Ex-Combatants Between the Liberation Gospel and Security Interests/Lalli Metsola and Henning Melber -- STATES, DEVELOPMENT AND VERNACULAR SECURITY -- The Intertwined History of Security and Development – The Case of Developmental Struggles in South Africa’s Townships/Lars Buur -- The Politics of Policing – Recapturing “Zones of Confusion” in Rural Post-War Mozambique/Helene Maria Kyed -- Militarising Politics and Development – The Case of Post-Independence Namibia/Guy Lamb -- Struggling for the City – Evictions in Inner-City Johannesburg/Jacob Rasmussen -- IDENTITY, VIOLENCE AND RIGHTS -- Through the Lens of Crime – Land Claims and Contestations of Citizenship on the Frontier of the South African State/Steffen Jensen -- Criminality, Security and Development – Post-Colonial Reversals in Zimbabwe’s Margins/Amanda Hammar -- Post-Apartheid South Africa – Gender, Rights and the Politics of Recognition. New Avenues for Old Forms of Violence?/Tina Sideri
Young women in African wars
No full textYoung women are combatants in contemporary African wars. They also participate in a whole array of different roles. However, by and large, they remain invisible to us. In fact, our “northern” hackneyed views on women’s innate non-participation in war prevent us from seeing specific needs for young women during and in the aftermath of wars. For instance, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes often fail to address appropriate needs for young women and in a variety of ways “prevent” them from partaking. Issues of stigma, safe demobilisation, individual concerns for post-war marriage, health and education, need to be addresed in both a more gendered way, but also with an apposite understanding of young women’s agency in both peace and war. In this Policy note it is argued that to improve policy and programming efforts it is necessary to broaden the understanding of young women’s roles and participation in armed conflict in Africa historically and today
