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Africa’s Science and Technology Strategy in the Thought of Kwame Nkrumah
Get PDFThis paper explores the African Union’s (“AU”) science and technology plan and strategy for Africa within the construct of Kwame Nkrumah’s socio-political thought. Nkrumah was one of Africa’s most important political and intellectual agitators of the 20th century. He was Ghana’s first prime minister and president, and a founding member of the African Union’s forerunner, the Organization of African Unity. An Africa, unified, modernized and developedwith science and technology for the benefit of all Africans, was the vision he strived for. The paper argues that while the AU is working towardsto achieve Nkrumah’s vision and quotes him prominently, their approach to the plan betrays an ideological conception for Africa’s development that is in contradiction with Nkrumah’s vision by, a) the S&T plan’s ahistorical vision statement, b) exclusion of the African majority from the process, c) baring primarily the interests of the African elites and global corporation by its reliance on foreign aid and capital, and c) Planning and policy omissions in the continent’s fastest growing area of technology adoption. Nkrumah’s worldview and development thinking used to examine the African Union’s strategy is explained with both classical and contemporary sociological theories and philosophy
Towards an Enlightened Externalism: A Demystification of the Internalism Externalism debate
Get PDFThe Paper argues for the synthesis of the Internalism and Externalism theory of justification. It is the opinion of the paper that since both internalist and externalists legitimately seeks the epistemic quest for certainty, both are important epistemologically. Moreso, since both Internalism and Externalism define issues that must be addressed in a theory of knowledge, they can and should be understood as compatible doctrines. Against all positions of non-compatibility, the paper holds that the compatibility of both internalism and externalism is logically strengthened. As a matter of fact both should not be view as “Contradictory” but as “Sub –contraries”. Finally, the paper proposed a guide to, even in its crudeness, resolving the Internalism and Externalism debate: A hybrid of internalism and externalism
Inverted Gaze and Altered Erotic Spectacle
Get PDFIn primitive law of social organization, a woman is defined as a symbol of exchange between men and as an object of possession which is extended to the representation of women in paintings and later in photography and cinema. In cinematic representations, according to feminist film theory, it is the male protagonist who actively dominates the screen and the gazes while the female character, though essential for the narrative, is portrayed as a passive bearer of the gaze. The female body, as a spectacle, offers voyeuristic pleasure to the male spectator. But with the turn of the century, an inversion of the power equation in the dominant discourse of representation has taken place. With the advent of postmodernity and the concept of sex for sale, eroticized male body has appeared in the ambit of representation which is also a product of consumerist capitalism where every aspect of life is segmented to form separate consumer entities. This paper tends to look at popular Hindi films that are released in the recent past where the male body is offered as an eroticized spectacle. Interestingly, this kind of representation of the male body has also given rise to the concept of the metro-sexual man and a desire for mesomorphic body enhanced with all cosmetic products, promoting consumerism. The paper bases its analysis on Laura Mulvey’s theory of visual pleasure and I attempt to apply it on the re-imagination of sexuality in cinematic spaces. The paper also examines the consumer spaces where the homo-sexual communities occupy substantial space as target audience which has enough potential to determine the direction and success of any popular cultural medium
The idea of the political, reconfiguring sovereignty and exception: Analysing theoretical perspectives of Carl Schmitt and Giorgio Agamben
Get PDFThe idea of ‘political’ is the most controversial term in the contemporary social science discourse and it remains vaguely understood. The ‘political’ is the fundamental authoritative domain pertaining to the state which ropes into it one of the basic concepts of politics i.e- sovereignty. The interconnectedness between ‘political’ and sovereignty is challenged with the emergence of liberal democracy. The idea of ‘political’ in the theoretical perspective of Carl Schmitt is related to the notion of sovereignty which is in contrary to the conventional understanding of sovereignty. His idea of sovereignty is specifically related to an exception. Giorgio Agamben’s theory of ‘state of exception’ is inspired from Carl Schmitt’s idea of sovereignty and its relation to exception though it re-interpreted exception as a permanent rule. This paper attempts to analyse Carl Schmitt’s and Agamben’s theories through this interesting tripartite relation among the political, sovereignty and exception which gives an interesting account to reconfigure sovereignty and its effects felt on Indian emergency of 1975-77 and anti-terror laws in recent times. Also in what ways it appears as a challenge to the centrality of law in a democracy
Scottish and French Enlightenment J. Mackintosh and the revolution controversy in Great Britain
Get PDFEdmund Burke’s Reflexions on the Revolution in France provoked one of the most fertile political debates in Great Britain. As a response to the French revolution and declaration of 1789, Burke received instantly numerous responses, namely by Thomas Paine, Mary Wollstonecraft and others; this paper examines the Scottish enlightenment involvement in this debate through James Mackintosh’s response to Burke this encounter of British and French enlightenment will illuminate our modern vision of human rights theories
Caste, Gender and Resistance: A Critical Study of Bama’s Sangathi
Get PDFDalit literature articulates the oppressions and exploitations faced by Dalits in a caste ridden society. Dalit writing as a political form of writing records the cultural and social lives of Dalits and ideologically the writing offers a call for resistance. Bama is a Tamil Christian Dalit writer who writes about the lives of Dalit Women in Tamil Nadu. This paper attempts a look at Bama’s novel Sangathi as a site representing Dalit women and analyses how caste and gender act as tools of double oppression in their life. This critical feminist reading of the novel from a Dalit Feminist perspective focuses on how women are discriminated in the Paraiya community in their relations with different social institutions like education, marriages, electoral politics etc. Simultaneously, we see how this text through its form and theme builds up a resistance against the oppressions the women face in their everyday lives
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN MICRO SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (MSMES) IN INDIA: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY
Get PDFThe emergence of women entrepreneurs and their contribution to the national economy is quite visible in India. Women’s entrepreneurship has been recognized during the last decade as an important untapped source of economic growth. According to of statistics women in India 2010, proportion of female main workers to total population in percentage is 16.65 in rural areas and 9.42 in urban areas this shows overall less contribution of women in work but more percentage of women workers in rural areas. According to the quick result of the Fourth All India Census of MSMEs (2006-07), there are 26 million MSMEs in India which provides employment to about 60 million people. The sector contributes about 40 % GDP, beside 45% to the total manufacturing output and 40 % to the exports from the country. There could be many opportunities identification hidden inside the challenges for small business concerns. This paper examines various opportunities and challenges for Women Entrepreneurship Development in Micro Small and Medium Enterprise. More precisely the paper explores, rewards for starting a small business, myths about small businesses, new opportunities, four forms of entrepreneurship, identification practices among first generation and major challenges in small business
Exploring the Explorer: My Conversation with Dr. A. K. Choudhary
Get PDFArbind Kumar Choudhary, the propagator of the cultural beauty of India to the world, needs no recognition in the contemporary literary society in India and abroad who credits more than 1200 sensational poems published in India, Mongolia , Canada, China, Cyprus, Greece, Malta and England national and global awards and fifty published interviews in Malta, Romania, Albania and India for the prosperity of Indian culture all around the corner
How and Why to Analogize Socratic Questioning to Zen Buddhist Koan Practice
Get PDFThe nature and aim of Socrates’ philosophical method is a contested matter in ancient philosophy scholarship. Among scholars who believe that there is a coherent method in Plato’s dialogues, it is generally agreed that Socrates’ method is a practice that aims to elicit something by way of question and answer. I, among others, believe that something to be a transformation (in the sense of an awakening) on the part of the interlocutor to his own ignorance and conceit of knowledge. Instead of pointing to Plato’s dialogues for evidence in order to argue for this, I analogize the method and aim of Socratic Questioning to Zen Buddhist koan practice
Corruption Prevention Measures Recommended by Kautilya
Get PDFCorruption is all-pervading phenomena. Today, it is observed that the world is going through the problem. The malady of corruption prevailed in all periods of history; i.e. ancient, medieval, modern. It can be said that history of corruption is as old as the history of mankind. The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the remedies of corruption as was suggested in Kautilyas Arthashastra