University of Hradec Králové Journals
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The Environmental Crisis and The End of Philosophy
No full textProstřednictvím Hegelovy filosofie ducha předkládaná studie usiluje ospravedlnit Descartovo „umrtvení“ přírody na res extensa jakožto výlučnou podmínku možnosti řešení environmentální krize. Odhaluje, že moderní vykořisťující vztah člověka k přírodě není základem environmentální krize, nýbrž základem jejího řešení. Toto odhalení odvrací naši pozornost od (teoretického) soustředění se na základ a nutí vyjít vstříc (praktickému) každodennímu životu. Toto „překonání zprostředkování“ ústí ve stanovisko „reflektované naivity“, které ví, že nemá „přehodnocovat“ kapitalismem institucionalizovaný instrumentální vztah člověka k přírodě, nýbrž ho konsekventně naplňovat, aby lidstvo vymáhalo energii z přírody ještě efektivnějším způsobem a tím vytlačilo z trhu způsob méně účinný. Příslibem je, že ještě efektivnější vymáhání energie z přírody dovolí ponechat přírodu zasaženou méně účinným vymáháním nedotčenou ve smyslu Heideggerova konceptu Gelassenheit.By means of Hegel’s philosophy of Spirit the present paper justifies Descartes’ “mortification” of nature to res extensa as the exclusive condition of possibility of solving the environmental crisis. It reveals that the modern – exploitative – treatment of nature is not the foundation of the environmental crisis but the basis for its solution. This revelation turns our attention from the (theoretical) origins and impels us to ascend to everyday (practical) life. This “overcoming of mediation” results in the standpoint of “reflexive naivety” which knows that it should not re-evaluate the instrumental relationship towards nature institutionalized by capitalism, but instead consequently assert this relation so that humanity extracts energy from nature by even more efficient ways and thereby displacing the less efficient manner of today. The promise says that the even more efficient extraction of energy from nature allows us to leave nature affected by the relatively inefficient extraction alone in the sense of Heidegger’s concept of Gelassenheit
“By June, Everyone Would Have Died”: Historicising Humour during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Ghana
Get PDFThe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human interactions deeply affected the sense of humour of individuals. Using a social media research approach, this article analyses social media data in order to understand how social media users related with COVID-19. We sought to address the various events that generated humour among Ghanaians during the pandemic. The study reveals that the various instances of humour revolved around nose and/or face masks, terminologies and various social media posts. People neutralised their tensions and raised their humour with posts that flooded social media. This stemmed from the idea that people were mainly surprised at what they saw, watched or heard as they sought to release stress. We conclude that, owing partially to the creation of humour, the fear and tension associated with COVID-19 decreased with time among Ghanaians
Interstate Media Wars: The Experience of the Ethiopian Federation
Get PDFThe present study interrogates the interstate media wars that erupted following the emergence of relational troubles among the parties of Ethiopia’s coalition: the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Data from archives and interviews were used to understand the causes and characteristics of the media wars that were mostly fought out on television and other mass media. Findings show that the states used offensive and defensive strategies that included delegitimation, narrativisation and moralisation. Findings further indicate that the most open media war involved the Somali and Oromia states, which used Facebook as their major platform to express an open political hostility relating to their ethnoterritorial disputes in the earliest phases of the conflict. The present study highlights the potential dangers of inflammatory state media deployment in the context of fractured and fragile federations
Fisher, Jonathan and Wilén, Nina. 2022. African Peacekeeping. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 242 pp. ISBN: 978-1-108-49937-8.
Get PDFAfrican Philosophy Post 1994: In Conversation with Alena Rettova
No full textThe present article aims to initiate a conversation with Alena Rettová on her article “Post-Genocide, Post-Apartheid: The Shifting Landscapes of African Philosophy, 1994-2019” that was published in Modern Africa in the Summer of 2021. We identify several issues in her historical account of African philosophical thoughts that need polyphonic engagement in order to ensure that Africa’s pluralistic intellectual heritage is not reduced to a monophonic one. We are intentional at being Rettová’s intellectual dialogical partner on the reading of African philosophy, while bearing in mind that the ideologies of apartheid and genocide are still active. While we explore some key aspects of her work, we also acknowledge that African philosophy is constantly in the making and it would be problematic to use the yardstick of one context, in this case, the Western context, as a benchmark in order to account for the progression of philosophical thoughts in other philosophical contexts (Africa) without taking into account the historical peculiarities of each context
Afterword – The Black Box of Eritrean Futurity
Get PDFIn summarising the contributions of the present issue this brief afterword considers our understanding of futurity in Eritrea. It describes how politics both inside and outside of Eritrea are in many ways harnessed by a mode of representationalism that is immersed in discarding and signifying particular historical events, and marking notable political struggles as improper, seemingly with an oddly foreclosed future in mind. Secondly, it highlights the institutional apparatus of the Eritrean president Isaias Afewerki as something of a black box. While the internal workings of the regime remain opaque, it is increasingly generative for the longevity of his leadership and an exclusive framing of “Eritreanness.” Yet, this afterword suggests that futurity in Eritrea is contingent on those illegible events and subjects that remain unaccounted for – nevertheless, perhaps contained somewhere in that “black box” of contemporary Eritrean governance
Oscillating Imaginaries: War, Peace, and the Precarious Relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia
Get PDFWhile the 2018 peace declaration between Ethiopia and Eritrea was widely celebrated, Eritrean refugees expressed concern that peace would be destabilising, and their status in Ethiopia would change. Their concerns were shaped by a long history of oscillating imaginaries of how Eritrea “fits” with Ethiopia. Drawing from historical analysis and ethnographic fieldwork leading up to the peace agreement, we explore how these oscillating imaginaries create an uncomfortable and unstable situation for Eritreans in Ethiopia, rendering refugees vulnerable to unpredictable violence. Better understanding the way identity categories have been subject to constant slippage and have been instrumentalised by political elites could help to forge a more peaceful future among Ethiopia’s nationalities and between Ethiopia and Eritrea
Toward Building Strategic International University-Society Partnerships in Africa
Get PDFIn order to redefine the university-society relationship, African universities aspire to forge new partnerships with local, national, regional, and international actors. Employing a critical review of the literature and an analysis of the strategic plans of regional African organisations and African universities, this study explores the challenges and opportunities of creating strategic university–society partnerships in Africa. Against a backdrop of African universities fashioned after modernity, the study draws from (1) “Mode 2” knowledge production, “Mode 3” research, entrepreneurial university, and academic capitalism, (2) the helices models and epistemic cultures, (3) power dynamics in international negotiations over educational policy, and (4) uBuntu and Cosmo-uBuntu, to inspire African universities towards contextual relevance and significance. Furthermore, the study proposes a conceptual framework of strategic international university-society partnerships to inform policy making, strategic planning, and further research
Framing Injustice: Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS) in Nigeria and the #EndSARS Protest Response from a Social Movement Theory Perspective
Get PDFThis article employs Social Movement Theory (SMT) to examine collective action mobilisation against malfeasance by Nigeria’s Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS). Created in the 1990s to counter armed gangs, SARS gradually became discredited. Finally, in October 2020, after weeks of public protest, the unit was disbanded. The #EndSARS movement proved instrumental here. The present article explores the origins, nature and decline of SARS until the #EndSARS protests. #EndSARS arguably provoked police reform in Nigeria. Furthermore, whereas social media has dominated the discourse on the protesters’ agency, I employ framing theory, as a SMT sub-set, to show that #EndSARS employed diagnostic, prognostic and motivational frames, within “injustice” master frames, towards collective action mobilisation. In conducting this analysis, I situate the #EndSARS case within the broader literature debate on impactful protests against police brutality