‘Rioting in goatish embraces’: Marriage and improvement in early British Jamaica

Marriages were relatively infrequent among the white population of early British Jamaica. This article examines the ideological implications of the failure of whites to marry with sufficient regularity to ensure that white population increase would allow Jamaica to become a settler society on the British North American model. It looks, in particular, at the tendency of whites to live in irregular unions, either with other whites or with black or brown concubines, and the effect that such arrangements had on perceptions of white Jamaicans as especially immoral. It connects these views with other discourses on settler societies in which improvement and frequent marriage were linked.     

Phenomenological ecology in two occasional poems by Ben Okri

Abstract

This article begins with a brief discussion of the three terms: the poet, ontopoiesis and eco-phenomenology or phenomenological ecology. An explication of its thrust, viz. the significance of sowing/sewing ‘a quilt of harmony’ (Wild 2012: 20), in relation to the broad yet symbiotic theme of cosmic ecology follows. The discussion proceeds by presenting a close critical analysis of Ben Okri's ‘Lines in Potentis’, a poem commissioned by the then Lord Mayor of London in 2002 in commemoration of the bombing of the City of London and which is featured in Okri's most recent anthology of poetry, Wild (2012: 26-27). Both my thrust and my argument are predicated on another occasional poem from Wild, ‘A Wedding Prayer’ (2012: 20-22), which is not analysed in any detail. Axiomatic to the interpretation is the poet's own conception of ‘wild’, cited on the dust cover of the anthology, as ‘an alternative to the familiar, where energy meets freedom, where art meets the elemental, where chaos can be honed’. More precisely, for this London loving Nigerian poet, ‘the wild is our link with the stars…’. This is not aesthetic posturing. As I attempt to show in my reading of the focal poem, it has to do with mystical unrest viewed from an eco-phenomenological ‘enjoyment of literature, of beauty, of the sublime, the elevated, as well as our compassion for the miseries of humankind, [and] generosity towards others.. inspired by the subliminal passions of the human soul’ (Tymieniecka 1996). As the conclusion attempts to show, this projects some of the epistemology of Africans in Africa and the Diaspora. It does this by invoking the contentions of fellow African phenomenologist, Achile Mbembe, in comparison with Tymieniecka's argument that the soul is the ‘soil’ of life's forces and that it is thus the transmitter of life's constructive progress. Such progress is from the primeval logos of life to its annihilation in the anti-logos of man's ‘transnatural telos’ (Tymieniecka 1988: 3).     

‘We're not like that’: Denial of racism in the Afrikaans press in South Africa

Abstract

While the South African media on the whole underwent significant shifts after the demise of apartheid, repositioning was especially acute on the part of the Afrikaans-language press, which during the apartheid years largely served as legitimising institutions for apartheid and now had to adapt to the changing democratic political and social environment. This repositioning coincided with a liberal consensus in the news media in general, in terms of which individual rights, independence of the media and freedom of speech were emphasised. What complicated matters for the Afrikaans media was the need to retain the loyalty of primarily white Afrikaans readers, who remained attractive to advertisers, while having to orientate itself in relation to the new centres of political power in the country. The precarious balance between the liberal consensus of individual rights and freedom of expression on the one hand, and the imperative to carry a torch for Afrikaans cultural identity in the new dispensation, comes to light in news coverage of a recent racist incident at a historically white, Afrikaans university. This article will seek to explore editorial comment on the incident in selected Afrikaans media, to indicate how the event was interpreted and presented as an individual transgression, rather than a systemic and historically determined problem.     

监狱警察执法意愿：要素、价值和结构

监狱执法活动是监狱功能发挥和监狱日常运作的基本表现。以往的研究侧重于关注制度建设和罪犯管理层面的内容,而忽视了执法主体相关属性的研究。监狱警察的执法意愿界定为执法主体的主观认知特征和能动性状态,以现代组织行为学为理论支撑,监狱警察的执法意愿包括要素、价值和结构三个层次。在价值方面分析执法意愿的理论基础,在结构方面分析执法意愿的发展思路,拓宽我国监狱执法的研究广度和研究视域。     

归责何以可能:人工智能时代的自由意志与法律责任

自由意志是归责的基础,以基因编辑技术为代表的基因工程、医疗性人工装置和人工智能构成了对自由意志的根本挑战,对法律责任的认定影响甚大。这些挑战是根本性的,而不是工具意义上的。它们在法哲学上可以分为两个方面:一是现实的挑战,即以基因工程和弱人工智能为代表的新兴科技引发了人类在自由意志方面的争议;二是未来的终极挑战,即强人工智能体被认为具有和人一样的自由意志,能够成为法律主体,从而承担完全的法律责任。现实的挑战构成了责任承担的新的"宽恕"条件;而未来的挑战也值得认真对待,因为自由意志不仅关乎责任,也关乎人性尊严。     

东盟对外自由贸易区发展现状及态势

本文介绍与东盟保持长期战略对话关系的10个主要贸易伙伴，并概括介绍当前东盟进行对外双边自由贸易合作的基本状况，在此基础上从市场份额的角度分析比较其中代表性的5个经济体与东盟构建自由贸易区的合作基础和前景，借以评价和判断今后东盟对外自由贸易区的合作格局与发展态势。     

意思自治与民事纠纷的解决

当事人选择不同的民事纠纷解决方式反映了意思自治原则 ,该原则在不同的方式中有不同的表现。我国现行法律对意思自治在各种方式中的贯彻有不足之处 ,需要完善 ,以弥补当事人多种选择诉讼方式解决纠纷之缺陷。     

公共政策制定过程中公意的应然表达

在一个民主的社会，是否合乎公意无疑是评判公共政策的最为重要的指标之一。公共政策制定过程中公意的应然表达包括三个层次。其一，公意作为全体人民的意愿和需求的表现形式，应该是公共政策制定的逻辑起点；其二，公意作为全体人民对政治系统输出的公共政策的认同和忠诚的观念，应该是公共政策制定的合法性基石；其三，公意作为民主政府公共政策的依归，应该是公共政策制定的价值取向。     

单位犯罪成立自首的认定条件

单位犯罪可以成立自首，这有利于实现刑罚公正，可以减少单位犯罪的社会危害后果。但单位犯罪成立自首需要符合特定的条件，即由相关人员以单位的名义、代表单位的意志主动投案，如实供违犯罪事实。     

流质契约的多视角反思

流质契约一方面是意思自治的结果,另一方面又维护了交易双方利益之衡平,实无禁止的必要。承认了流质契约的效力,也就为非典型担保物权制度的建立扫清了障碍,对我国担保物权制度的完善意义重大。