Armed mobilisation and the nexus of territory,identity, and authority: the contested territorial aspirations of the Banyamulenge in eastern DR Congo

The closely intertwined notions of territory, identity, and authority are at the heart of conflict dynamics in the eastern DR Congo. Focusing on the territorial aspirations of the Banyamulenge community in South Kivu, this article looks at the ways in which the nexus of territory, identity, and authority shapes and is shaped by armed mobilisation. Excluded from a customary chiefdom in the colonial era, the Banyamulenge, a community framed as ‘migrants’, have been striving for a territory of their own for decades. These aspirations have fed into armed activity by both Banyamulenge and Mai-Mai groups linked to opposing communities, providing deeply resonating mobilising narratives that are employed to justify violent action. Yet, as this article demonstrates, the links between armed mobilisation and the nexus of territory, identity, and authority are both contingent and reciprocal, as violent conflict also impacts the meanings and boundaries of identities, authority structures and territory.     

On the Postcapitalist Nature of Learning Spaces

This paper uses the concept of learning spaces to reflect on the pedagogies that will help humans acquire the wisdom to support a transition to a durable postcapitalist socioeconomy. Since Plato’s Academy dedicated “academic” spaces have been set aside from economic life. While humans naturally learn all the time, access to higher status learning remains restricted. Most learning is informal and outside academic spaces. An example is given from a novel published more than 100 years ago of an unpromising workplace becoming a space for deep learning about socialist resistance. I will suggest that all spaces occupied by humans at every scale from the room to the globe, and not just those of formal education, are learning spaces. The question is how they can be linked up to form a global space of exchange that could be called a learning society or, alternatively, postcapitalism, socialism, communism, or the society of associated producers. The ideas outlined here were presented in a module on Geographies of Education that I designed and taught at the University of Brighton until my recent retirement.     

“零容忍”：对纽约市警务政策与实践的个案研究

由威廉·布莱顿（William Bratton）开始的纽约市警务改革现在被鲁迪·朱利亚尼（Rudy Giuliani）市长称为“零容忍”zero tolerance）警务的典范，他称赞这些改革带来纽约市犯罪率的急剧下降。但是如同控告警察行为不当和滥用权力的诉讼案件数一样。市民投诉调查委员会面对市民投诉的数字却急剧上扬。把纽约市犯罪率、逮捕统计数和市民投诉与实施更加倾向于问题导向型社区警务战略的圣地亚哥市进行比较，可以强有力地证明，在实现有效的犯罪控制的同时给城市社区带来较少的负面影响是可能的。     

HOMOSEXUAL PARENTS

This article will first examine the approaches used by the courts in making custody decisions that involve homosexual parents; second it will review the assumptions commonly made about homosexuals and the effect homosexual parenting has on a child, and how these rationales are in fact used to justify a denial of custody or the imposition of restrictions on the homosexual parent; third, it will discuss what implications the courts' treatment of this issue has for legal practice.