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Prospective Solar Energy Technologies for Sustainable and Inclusive Development in BRICS Countries
Full text linkThe climate change scenario observed in the last few years calls for immediate attention and planned action. One of the major factors responsible for climate change is fossil fuel-based energy consumption patterns which leads to increased greenhouse gas emissions. Energy availability is important for economic development and improved quality of life, therefore transition to clean renewable energy options is required without compromising on energy availability. According to sustainable development goal number seven, for sustainable and inclusive development it is important to focus on clean and affordable energy for all with consideration for the environment. Here the role of solar energy technologies becomes extremely important, as their carbon footprint is low and can be used for a wide variety of applications. This paper discusses the potential of solar resources for the BRICS countries and the prospective solar thermal and solar PV technologies for each country according to the region-wise resource. BRICS countries represent around 40% of the world\u27s population. The methodology for identifying the prospective solar technologies for the BRICS countries is based on an analysis of the solar resource potential for each country. It is found that all the BRICS countries have good solar potential and can utilize several solar energy technologies to enhance green technology practices. Further, the challenges in the implementation and promotion of solar projects are discussed with suggestions for collaborative research and development in this area. Policy requirements to overcome the limitations of the technologies and their penetration are also pointed out
Theory vs practice: perceptions of professionalisation in strategic communication education
Full text linkThis research examines the professionalisation of strategic communication as a teaching discipline by exploring perceived tensions within the subject. Higher education is a “battleground” for both professions and would-be professions, and the study offers a deeper understanding of the dynamic tensions shaping the professionalisation process of this discipline. However, there has been limited research in this area within strategic communication. This study is based on qualitative interviews with 25 programme directors of international master’s programmes and leading academics from various parts of the world. The empirical findings show that the interviewees perceive the tension between theory and practice as crucial. Some educational programmes prioritise theory to provide students with a profound understanding of fundamental principles, whereas others emphasise practice to enhance employability and practical skills. The study shows that the perceived dichotomy theory and practice in master’s programmes is oversimplified and involves several nuances and distinctions. The research provides greater insight into how tensions surrounding professionalism arise in emerging fields at the university level, particularly in disciplines that are still establishing their position and trajectory. Furthermore, it raises new questions about how university systems and traditions affect professionalisation processes
The Rationality of Spirits and Demons: Extending the Study of Pentecostalism and Politics in Africa
Full text linkLate modernity (neo-)liberal states—into which we also inscribe most contemporary African countries—are democracies or semi-authoritarian regimes, not theocracies. Demons and spiritual warfare are not terms that readily belong to this contemporary political lexicon, other than in specific contexts or studies. The study of Pentecostalism in Africa offers an advantageous starting point to the study of demons and spiritual warfare, as there is no need to first reconcile demons and spirits with modernity. The modern/unmodern tension in this field began to be addressed at the beginning of the 21st century, while other areas of enquiry (for example, Pentecostalism and Politics in the United States) remain tied up with questions concerning modernization. However, while spirits and warfare are fully recognized as part of the African political imagination, they are still to be fully integrated into political lexicon and understood in their operational logic, especially with regards to their work in national political spaces. With the rise of Pentecostal politics in the African state, there is still a need to elaborate the necessary lexicon and tools to explain in political terms how demons motivate and shape public action and how they operate within the national political space
A Review of Dying for Freedom: Political Martyrdom in South Africa by Jacob Dlamini (Polity Press, 2024).
No full textDlamini’s latest book delivers an incisive review of necropolitics in the history of South Africa’s political life. According to Achille Mbembe (Necropolitics 2019), necropolitics is the use of both political and social power to dictate how one must live and how one must die. The history of South African politics evinces how dying for freedom was considered the pinnacle of heroism. Championed by the ideas of political activists like Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko, political deaths during apartheid were interpreted as one’s passport to a heroic legacy, an experience one had to look forward to. Following this, it is clear why Dlamini decides to explore necropolitics through the notion of political martyrdom in critiquing South Africa’s racialised perspective of the sacrifices made by most South Africans during apartheid. In the light of the failure of most South Africans to follow the ways in which they were expected to live and to die, they found themselves stripped of their heroic legacy and some stifled into oblivion as discussed in Dlamini’s book
Exploring the Quadruple Helix Model for Strengthening Community Engagement in Innovation
No full textThis research investigated the potential for increased community engagement in both the triple and quadruple helix models of industrial development as a tool to achieve better innovation results, using the East London Industrial Development Zone and Science and Technology Park case study. The study was qualitative in nature and employed the non-probability sampling technique. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 key informants, which included five industrialists, four business executives, four ex-factory workers, and 40 residents living close to and around the three industrial parks. This was augmented by an in-depth analysis of literature as part of desktop data. The study found that greater community involvement would result in innovations that are tailored to local requirements and circumstances, maximising their potential for adoption and dissemination. Partnerships with communities could also act as a feedback mechanism. The study concludes that the quadruple-helix model offers a sounder community engagement dimension for harnessing the socio-economic potential of innovations and recommends more innovative partnerships with local communities that can see more meaningful implementation and adoption of innovations
Assessing the Dynamics of kilowatt per capita in Nigeria; Evidence from Non-Seasonal ARIMA modeling
No full textUsing data from 1990 to 2023, this study examines the suitability of a non-seasonal ARIMA (0,1,1) model with drift for short-term forecasting of Nigeria\u27s annual per-capita electricity consumption (kWh). ACF/PACF analysis was used to determine the model specification, which was ARIMA (0,1,1) with drift (μ = 1.6456). The mean of the first differences was subtracted to estimate the drift. A moving average coefficient (θ = -0.2246) was obtained by maximum likelihood estimation, and a Ljung–Box test (p = 0.2941) verified the model\u27s adequacy and showed no discernible residual autocorrelation. Per-capita electricity use is expected to rise gradually between 2024 and 2026, with prediction intervals increasing over time to reflect growing uncertainty. These findings imply that the parsimonious ARIMA (0,1,1) with drift is a useful and interpretable tool for policy and planning in situations with limited data since it accurately captures the central trend in Nigeria\u27s per-capita electricity consumption and offers trustworthy short-term forecasts
Appendix 1: Annotated Readings
No full textThe annotated readings present seminal works on female religious authority in Indonesia, each with a brief summary and reflection on its scholarly contribution. 
On Decolonial Crackings and Sowings: I-We Reflections on/from Higher Education
Full text linkThe university is one place, among many others, to sow and nurture decolonial thought, analysis, reflection, and action; analytical-actional thought, and thoughtful-reflective actionings, inside, outside, despite—and that both spite and crack—the institution of higher education. This article offers reflections from the author’s own lived experience of decolonial sowings and cracking during more than two decades at the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar in Ecuador, an international graduate-level public university formed in the decade of the 90s as part of the Andean Community of Nations. Its specific focus is with the planting and cultivation of a doctoral program-project collectively postured from the outset as an otherwise of graduate study grounded in decolonial praxis in which coloniality/decoloniality were central and guiding conceptual and analytical tools. Through a recount of some of the collective processes and practices of decolonial sowings and cracking, the article offers an I-we narrative that works to undo critiques of coloniality/decoloniality as an abstract universal, bringing to the fore decoloniality’s actional character and embodied praxis
Challenging Boundaries in Acts 8:26-40: Toward seeing “othered bodies” through Decolonial Feminist Eyes
Full text linkCartography, the scientific name for “mapping”, sets boundaries that separate people and places. As a metaphor, it is “another name for stories told by winners”, which may also refer to the politics of knowledge production captured in biblical texts. As such, stories mapped by hegemonic powers ignore the presence, knowledge, and insights of the marginalized “othered”. Reception history of the story mapped in Acts 8:26-40, and by implication sermons preached on this biblical text, primarily lends itself to the advancement of the Christian missionary task – proselytization. The story of the Ethiopian eunuch has generally served as a literary prop to “proclaim the Good News”. Explicit references to racial and sexual identity markers in the text are generally “glossed over” and the unnamed character is seen as the “other” in need of salvation. This paper explores how, when seen from a decolonial feminist perspective, a different picture of the unnamed Ethiopian eunuch emerges. The argument made here is that when hegemonic understandings of the biblical text are questioned, boundaries that separate people and places are challenged to reveal a theological map of radical inclusivity.
Hommage à Robert Sévigny, pionnier de la sociologie clinique au Québec
No full textC’est avec beaucoup de tristesse que nous vous annonçons le décès de Monsieur Robert Sévigny survenu à Montréal le 13 mai 2025 à l’âge de 94 ans. Il était l’époux de feue Thérèse Paquet-Sévigny, et le père d’Odile, sa fille et de feu Éric, son fils. Professeur émérite à l’Université de Montréal, Robert Sévigny (PhD sociologie, Université Laval) a joué un rôle central dans le développement d’une approche clinique de la sociologie. En 1966-1967, il fut chercheur invité à l’Association pour la recherche et l’intervention psychosociologique (ARIP) à Paris puis au Centre Carl Rogers, à La Jolla, Californie en 1980-1981. Il a su constamment relier les apports de la France et des États-Unis pour développer ses recherches et ses pratiques d’intervention au Québec. En 1991, il fut à l’origine, avec madame Jan Fritz de l’Université de Cincinnati, du Comité de recherche en sociologie clinique (RC 46) au sein de l’Association internationale de sociologie (AIS). Cela achevait une démarche qui avait débuté dès 1982, lors d’un précédent congrès de l’AIS. Nous soulignons quatre idées centrales de la pensée de M. Sévigny : la dimension de l’approche clinique en sociologie et en sciences sociales; la notion de sociologie implicite; la perspective interdisciplinaire; l’avenir de l’approche clinique en sociologie et en sciences sociales dans le contexte social actuel.[1]
[1] Nous invitions le lecteur ou la lectrice à prendre connaissance de l’entretien fait avec M. Robert Sévigny dans la présente revue, Volume 19, no.2 en 2024, pp. 1-25