Hélène Cixous's Autre Bisexualité and the Eternal Feminine in the Works of Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill

This article analyses the creative engagement of the Irish-language poet Ní Dhomhnaill with Hélène Cixous's écriture féminine. Ní Dhomhnaill translates Cixousian images and concepts into her texts, returning on several occasions to the concept of l'autre bisexualité (‘the other bisexuality’). Cixous uses this concept to rehabilitate—and celebrate—what she designates as ‘the feminine’, the alterity within and outside the self. For both writers, this alterity comprehends marginalized cultures as well as femininity. Both bring anti-essentialist convictions to their views of gender and cultural identity, but their respective poetics are born of shared preoccupations with biblical and mythological figures, and narratives often implicated in essentialism. Ní Dhomhnaill connects these archetypal figures with the cultural realities of post-colonial Ireland. The author argues that she draws on the works of Cixous to connect the indigenous Irish language and culture with the rehabilitation of femininity. But whereas, in Cixousian texts, ‘femininity’ eludes concrete definitions and stable meanings, in the works of Ní Dhomhnaill, it often signifies an authentic pre-colonial culture that is ripe for rediscovery in post-colonial Ireland. Ní Dhomhnaill simultaneously celebrates this culture and acknowledges its embeddedness in a Celtic patriarchy that her Cixousian tropes work to undercut.     

Homemakers,Supervisors, and Peach Stealing Bitches: the role of overseers' wives on slave plantations in eighteenth-century Virginia and South Carolina

The otherwise extensive historiography of slavery in colonial America has rather neglected the overseer and his family, as indeed the wider historiography of colonial society has often neglected the white poor. By considering, specifically, the role of overseers' wives, this article seeks to recover the history of poor white women who, although often vilified by their employers for their allegedly wayward behaviour, made a significant contribution, economically and socially, to the plantation community. By so doing, it casts fresh light upon white women who lived on the margins of wider colonial society and the shadowy ‘edges’ of slavery itself.     

Financial crisis and capital controls: Latin America

Over two decades Chile has moved from an inward‐looking model of development based on industrialisation through import‐substitution to an outward‐looking model opening the economy to the outside world and based on export‐led development. This shift has brought about a profound change in the country's trade policies, entailing the adoption of neutral tariffs and tax policies, non‐discriminatory policies, and low level of protection. As a consequence, there has been a drastic improvement in the resource allocation process. Diversification of the country's foreign markets is a key component in the success of the new strategy, which has been reflected in the country's rapid economic growth of the last 12 years.     

The State of American Federalism, 1993-1994

National political energies in 1993–1994 were focusedon major initiatives promised by the Clinton administrationduring the 1992 presidential campaign, especially health-carereform and crime. From the perspective of the states, federalgovernment action in these (and other) policy areas raised seriousquestions about preemption and mandates. The administration'sofficial pronouncements on federalism have suggested a strategyof decongestion and decentralization. Thus far, its actionshave fallen short of empowerment, taking instead the path ofregulatory waivers. Frustrated with the federal government,states and localities continued to engage in policy experimentation.