Mbeki's African Renaissance Vision as Reflected in isiXhosa Written Poetry: 2005–2011

IsiXhosa literary critics have not yet interrogated literature that was produced during and after the tenure of Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki as deputy president and president of the Republic of South Africa in order to study the impact of his African Renaissance doctrine. This article analyses poetry that was produced from 2005 to 2011. The content of the isiXhosa written poetry is profoundly influenced by the context of former President Mbeki's African Renaissance philosophy, its implementation structures and philosophy of self-confidence and self-reliance. The selected poems analysed and interpreted in this article suggest that Mbeki's legacy of the African Renaissance empowered poets to develop a narrative that advances the building of a regenerated South African nation and the African continent. Selected poetry of the period is contextualised, and the findings reveal that the poets have a dialectical relationship with historical developments of the time, and that they demonstrate acquiescence to the African Renaissance ideology, and support the operational structures created; namely African Union, Pan-African Parliament and the Vuk’uzenzele programme.     

Understanding Russia’s energy turn to China: domestic narratives and national identity priorities

This study investigates whether, as part of a broader “Asian Energy Pivot,” Russia’s energy giant Gazprom refashioned its export strategy away from Europe, and what impact such a reorientation might have on the EU–Russia gas relationship. It uses four empirical cases to emphasize the domestic movers underlying Russia’s eastward shift in energy trade, developing a constructivist theory rooted in the dynamics of Russia’s dominant public narrative and the contours of domestic politics. It argues that Russia’s national interests changed as a result of how Russian policy-makers interpreted and reacted to the stand-off with Europe, in response to what they perceived as Europe’s attempt to isolate it economically and geopolitically. Russia’s Eurasianists, who had advocated the notion of a necessary turn to the East for a long time, positioned themselves as norm entrepreneurs and their new interpretation of the preexisting material incentives shaped the future course of action.     

Oasis in the steppe: health and masculinity of Kazakhstani miners

ABSTRACT

This article studies the masculinities of Russian-speaking miners in Kazakhstan through an ethnographic study conducted in a miners’ sanatorium, a place of heightened sociality. Studies of gender in Central Asia have mostly focussed on women, and both masculinity and femininity are studied in relation to Islam and the nation-state. This article aims to make a contribution to the study of working-class masculinities in Northern Kazakhstan, arguing that labour and professional identities are important in performing masculinities. Kazakhstani miners wish to show that they are good colleagues, good drinkers, sexually capable and providers for the family. New economic pressures and deteriorating work conditions challenge the miner’s body and make it hard for miners to live up to the hegemonic masculinity.     

The dog that did not bark: the army and the emergency in India

In June 1975, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency rule, capping off a decade long process of the ‘deinstitutionalisation’ of the founding Congress party, increased social mobilisation, and political instability – factors generally considered conducive to military intervention in politics. Organisational factors encouraging military praetorianism, such as military involvement in internal security missions and the growth of ‘rival’ paramilitary institutions, accompanied this process of political decay. But the Indian military did not exploit this window of opportunity. This article offers an institutionalist explanation of the military’s political restraint based on two factors. First, institutionalised mechanisms of civilian control, forged during the critical juncture following independence, insulated the military from politics and the politicians from the military despite the weakening of the political system under which these were created. Second, military internalisation of the norm civilian supremacy, continually reinforced via professional socialisation processes, acted as an internal barrier to military role expansion.     

Uruguay’s long transitional decade and a new era of gendered activism

This article examines the nature and type of women’s activism before, during, and after Uruguay’s dictatorship, arguing that advocacy during the latter part of the country’s military rule paved the way for an increased role for women in society after democracy was restored. Focusing on the female-led movement to place the 1986 Ley de Caducidad (Law of Expiry or amnesty law) before a national referendum, it analyzes how women marshaled a gendered identity that had been effective in campaigning against the military. Through examining connections between earlier women’s movements and the 1980s, the article explores how challenging a key piece of legislation in the recently restored democratic environment ultimately forged a new era of activism for women in post-authoritarian Uruguay. The article ultimately rethinks the process of Uruguay’s transition, the continual negotiations over what is included in human rights discourse, and the importance of gendered activism in transitional societies.     

Multiple femininities in two Russian women’s magazines, 1970s–1990s

In both the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods, femininity and beauty were traits often attributed to the ideal working mother portrayed and promoted in state media. But with greater exposure to global beauty ideals in the post-communist era, the sexualized and beautified female body acquired a social value that was independent of its role in the reproductive process. In this paper, I analyse changes in the way care for the female body was represented in two Russian women’s magazines Rabotnitsa and Krest’yanka (1970s–1990s). Over this period, the ideal of the working mother figures less prominently and there is an increasing focus on the ways that women-consumers ought to work on their individual body-projects. This might appear to be a radical change. But by analysing the representations of women more carefully, I show that the move towards the privatization of the body project was already under way in the late Soviet period, but only for some categories of women. That is, non-Slavic women of various ages could be working mothers, but individual consumption was a realm reserved for their Slavic countrywomen.     

我国电子废弃物回收处理研究——基于生产者责任延伸制度

当前,我国电子废弃物回收处理存在一些问题,为此,应结合我国企业的发展实际,尽快建立和完善以生产者责任延伸制度为切入点的电子废弃物回收与处理体系,从根本上解决电子废弃物对环境的负面影响。     

论“手机吸费”现象及其法律规制

当前我国存在严重的"手机吸费"现象,不少手机用户的账单中多出无线增值业务费。这是一些不法手机厂家、经营者和软件作者利用手机内置扣费代码或者扣费程序所造成的,并严重损害了消费者的利益。同时,"手机吸费"暴露出目前我国的电信领域监管不严和相关法律措施不完善等弊端。分析我国存在的"手机吸费"现象,对"手机吸费"行为进行法律解析,提出应加强电信领域的法律规制,建立"冷静期"制度,加强电信市场监管,全面打击"手机吸费",维护消费者的合法权益。     

中国国家形象的塑造:南方谈话的当代启示

1992年的南方谈话是邓小平认真分析国际国内局势特点后发表的重要谈话,对改革开放和现代化建设具有重要启示,并且对当代中国国家形象进行了目标定位——爱好和平、开放包容、科技强国和法治国家的形象。南方谈话成为当代国家形象塑造的指南针。     

开展干部下基层活动应解决好四个问题

开展干部下基层活动是党中央在新的形势下为扎实做好群众工作、化解基层矛盾、维护群众利益、推动和谐发展作出的一项重要决策部署。自活动开展以来,各级干部纷纷深入基层磨炼意志、增长本领、提升能力,取得了较好的实践效果,但也暴露出了一些问题和不足。要想使这项活动长久稳定地坚持下去,应着重解决好四个问题：统一思想认识,确保下基层活动不走过场;树立正确理念,确保党群干群关系密切和谐;加强建章立制,确保干部下基层下得去、呆得住、干得好;着力排解民忧,确保下基层活动取得实效。