Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series, September 1st–30th 2001 Published October 25th 2001

In This Issue Seychelles Rene Wins Again 14551 Angola Peace Offensive 14557 Eritrea Critics Arrested 14560 Zimbabwe Can Abuja Accord Hold? 14565 Africa ‐ US Backlash Warning 14570 Sudan ‐ Change of Tune 14564 UN ‐ Racism Durban Conference 14574 Contents Continental Alignments 14546 Internal Developments 14548 National Security 14556 Military 14567 Overseas Relations 14570 Social and Cultural 14575 Rates 14577 Index 14578     

State‐Space beyond Territory: Wormholes,Gravitational Fields,and Entanglement

Neo‐Weberian historical sociology and political science establishes that territory is a defining feature of the modern state. Drawing on insights from political geography, I argue that ‘territory’ is not a pre‐existing physical location, but an effect produced by state practices and technologies. The spatial fetish of territory, moreover, distracts analytical attention from the equally important non‐territorial dimensions of the state. To map these new and unfamiliar dimensions, I propose three analogies from the study of physics ‐ wormholes, gravitational fields, and quantum entanglement ‐ as powerful conceptual devices with the potential to reorient social scientists towards a fuller understanding of state‐space.     

Economics: The State of Play 1

The paper examines methodology and research priorities. It considers whether economists are asking the wrong questions and whether they are producing inadequate answers to questions. It examines the nature of imbalance in economists’ efforts ‐ drawing on e.g. the economics of racial discrimination, growth and distribution ‐ and the reasons for this imbalance. It concludes with an appeal for a wider approach to a topic or problem than most individual economists normally adopt: one which incorporates not only economic theory and statistical testing but also a deep knowledge of the facts, a study of relevant institutions, and ‐ where helpful ‐ a crossing of conventional disciplinary boundaries.     

Development,the state,and transnational political connections: state and subject formations in Latin America

Focusing on the processes of making and sustaining transnational political ties between actors, international actors and states, this paper reviews recent work from a number of disciplines on globalization and politics, and outlines an agenda for future research. Rather than seeing transnational political linkages merely as forerunners to the loss of local sovereignty, the paper argues for a wider conceptualization of transnational connections, embedded within processes of state formation in Latin America. Using a variety of examples, it is argued that transnational networks are associated with a wide range of meanings and a variety of responses by diverse actors. Drawing on recent work in political science, post‐structuralism and anthropology, it is suggested that geographical concepts ‐ related to scale, process and networks ‐ offer a means through which to analyze and ‘map out’ these transnational political processes.     

Legal Marriage,Unequal Recognition,and Mental Health Among Same‐Sex Couples

The authors examined whether the perception of unequal relationship recognition ‐ a novel couple‐level minority stressor ‐ has negative consequences for mental health among same‐sex couples. Data were analyzed from a dyadic study of 100 same‐sex couples (200 individuals) in the United States. Being in a legal marriage was associated with lower perceived unequal recognition and better mental health; being in a registered domestic partnership or civil union—but not also legally married—was associated with greater perceived unequal recognition and worse mental health. Actor partner interdependence models tested associations between legal relationship status, unequal relationship recognition, and mental health (nonspecific psychological distress, depressive symptomatology, and problematic drinking), net controls (age, gender, race and ethnicity, education, and income). Unequal recognition was consistently associated with worse mental health, independent of legal relationship status. Legal changes affecting relationship recognition should not be seen as simple remedies for addressing the mental health effects of institutionalized discrimination.     

Five artists' valuations of the visual

Abstract

This paper comprises interviews with five practising artists: Terry Atkinson, Torie Begg, Rebecca Fortnum, Lubaina Himid, and James Hugonin. The aim is to gauge the ways in which ‘the visual’ features in contemporary fine art practice, not only at the end of a century in which the visual ‐ at least for much of the first half of that century ‐ was often accorded special status, but also, more recently, after Conceptualism and radical egalitarian interventions have challenged the status of and assumptions about the value of the visual. All five artists were asked the same questions: What/who are the formative influences on your work?; What role does the visual play in your work ‐ to what extent do you value the visual?; Can you say something about (i) aesthetic and (ii) pleasure ‐ however you define them?; How does a work evolve?; How do you define quality ‐ what makes you think one of your works is better than another?; What is the spectator's relationship to your work? ‐ what role does the spectator have? The responses bear witness to significantly different ways in which contemporary artists value the visual.     

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series, August 1st–31st 2005

In This Issue Sudan Garang's Successor 16316 South More Cohesive? 16332 Ethiopia Controversial Results 16319 Chad Habre's Men Purged 16323 Nigeria Agitation For Biafra 16330 Comoros ‐ France Committees On Mayotte 16339 Human Trafficking Empty Promises 16341 Contents Continental Developments 16310 Internal Developments 16313 National Security 16322 Military 16377 Overseas Relations 16339 Social and Cultural 16341 Rates 16344 Index 16346     

Beyond cheap labour: trade unions and development in the Turkish metal industry

The ability of developing countries to export to more developed parts of the world is often associated with cheap labour. But such very obvious economic advantage is not always the end of the story. A fuller account needs to consider the wider institutional context. In some instances trade unionism can be an important part of this. This paper addresses trade unionism with specific reference to workers employed in large firms in Turkey that are significant exporters of consumer goods to the European market. The union examined is the largest union in the metal industry, an industry that is a driving force in the Turkish economy, and a major centre of trade unionism with over half a million of Turkey's three million trade unionists. The particular ‐ autocratic ‐ character of this union is critically examined and located with reference to wider forces of political economy and the specific constraints and difficulties to which its members are subject. Finally, the significance of this sort of trade unionism for economic ‐ and socio‐political ‐ development is discussed.     

Reply to Tomlinson and Bisschop

The notion of the devolution of power from central to regional and local levels is gaining popularity across a wide front as a point of departure ‐ a rudimentary strategy ‐ to conceptualise ways in which South African society can be transformed. The South African government has contributed to this exercise by launching a process of establishing Regional Services Councils, new multi‐racial metropolitan and ‘areawide’ bodies outside South African ‘homelands’. This article identifies and analyses the stances of the most important opposition political actors operating legally on the South African stage to the establishment of these new bodies. These actors range from the right‐wing white parties ‐ the CP and the HNP‐to AZAPO and the UDF. Three general stances to this government‐initiated process are identified, and its chances for success are assessed.     

Migration and other Modes of Transnationalism: Towards Conceptual Cross‐Fertilization

Sociological notions such as social network, social capital and embeddedness have proven valuable when adopted into a wide variety of social scientific fields. This has certainly been the case in the sociology of migration. Similarly, certain concepts drawn from studies on different modes of transnationalism ‐ for instance, research and theory concerning the global activities of social movements and business networks ‐ might serve as useful tools for understanding transnational social forms and practices among migrant groups.     

Gender,Work and Organization: A gender–work–organization analysis

This article, celebrating 25 year of Gender, Work and Organization, reflects on some of the events that led to establishing the journal. It proceeds to consider the three central elements that have inspired the journal ‐ gender, work and organization ‐ and how they have become more problematic, perhaps much more problematic, over the lifetime of the journal. Indeed, paradoxically, these shift have occurred at the same time as GWO and the field of which it is part have become more established. Just as the field of gender and organizations has become more legitimate area of study, the concept of ‘gender’ has become more complex, more contested, less certain. This also applies to the notion of ‘organization’, perhaps less so to ‘work’. The latter part of the article considers what happens when one views the GWO itself in terms of gender‐work‐organization analysis, and how such questions may develop in the future.     

Best Practices to Manage Migration: The Philippines

The Cooperative Efforts to Manage Emigration (CEME) project examines ways in which countries of origin, transit, and destination can cooperate to better manage migration. The project focuses on source countries of migration that are in transition to market economies and democratic systems of governance, developments that promise to reduce unwanted migration, and uses study visits to seek best practices for organizing the three Rs ‐ recruitment, remittances, and returns ‐ to protect migrants and to reduce emigration pressures and for promoting ongoing cooperation on migration matters between countries of origin, transit and destination.     

Leonard Barnes and South Africa (1)

The Dutch East and West India Companies established colonies in the Caribbean, Brazil and at the Cape of Good Hope. The resulting townscapes can be read as artefacts of domination ‐ attempts to stamp order on the chaos of newly‐colonized lands. But at the same time, such built forms incorporated knowledge of the “low‐other” ‐ the underclasses in highly hierarchical colonial worlds. As a result, the experience of resistance (rarely directly visible in such public constructions as street grids and building fagades) was incorporated into the symbolic language of dominance, setting up a dialectical relationship between the High and the Low.     

Brazilian slavery: A survey from the cape of recent literature in English

This article surveys some of the rich historical writing on slavery in Brazil which has appeared in English over the past twenty years. This work has made important modifications to the notion that Brazilian slavery was part of a benign seigneurial society, markedly different from that of other New World colonies. By selecting five themes ‐ the transition from indigenous Indian to imported African slavery; slavery and rural production; slaves on the mines and in the towns; treatment of slaves; and the causes of emancipation ‐ the article draws attention to features of comparative interest to slavery elsewhere and particularly to that at the Cape.     

Commercialisation of Non‐timber Forest Products: A Reality Check

This article challenges the pervasive view that commercialisation of non‐timber forest products can (easily) achieve ecosystem and species conservation as well as improving livelihoods. Following a brief review of who and what is involved, it focuses on the main ecological and livelihood risks of unconsidered promotion of NTFP commercialisation, drawing on a wide range of case studies from around the world. It concludes with some recommendations, emphasising the lack of ‘magic‐bullet’ products, and the importance ‐ among other things ‐ of not ignoring national policy, taking an integrated view of the value chain, considering the implications of different production options, and improving both quality and quantity.     

Toward an ethnography of lotto

Abstract

Lotto ‐ a state‐sanctioned lottery in New Zealand ‐ is a pervasive socio‐cultural phenomenon. Every week more than one‐third of the adult population purchase lottery tickets and in doing so replicate the promotion of Lotto as a form of benign gambling which is fun and entertaining to play. Within a model of constructive gambling Lotto may be cast as a site of normative or ideal gambling within the New Zealand context. Moreover, Lotto promotions and participation reaffirms the nationalistic ideals of the New Zealand ‘good life’, while simultaneously articulating some of the key narratives of transnational economics.     

Mobile Livelihoods: The Sociocultural Practices of Circular Migrants between Puerto Rico and the United States1

This article focuses on the bilateral flow of people between Puerto Rico and the United States ‐ what has come to be known as circular, commuter, or revolving‐door migration. It documents the migrants' livelihood practices based on a recent field study of population flows between Puerto Rico and the mainland. Specifically, the basic characteristics of multiple movers, one‐time movers and nonmovers residing in Puerto Rico are compared. More broadly, the article assesses the implications of circular migration for Puerto Rican communities on and off the island. The author's basic argument is that the constant displacement of people ‐ both to and from the island ‐ blurs the territorial, linguistic, and juridical boundaries of the Puerto Rican nation. As people expand their means of subsistence across space, they develop multiple attachments to various localities. In the Puerto Rican situation, such mobile livelihoods are easier to establish than in other places because of the free movement of labor and capital between the island and the mainland. The author hypothesizes that circulation does not entail major losses in human capital for most Puerto Ricans, but rather often constitutes an occupational, educational, and linguistic asset.     

Eurocentrism: a worldwide phenomenon with regional peculiarities

In this article I will heuristically remove the term Eurocentrism from its negative connotations. I describe Eurocentrism as a structure of, and for, cognition, whose constituent components of rational logic and objectivity continue to have validity for gaining scientific knowledge. Such a view of Eurocentrism starts with the origin of the phenomenon, not with its effects. Further, its driving forces can be detailed, as they ‐ until the present ‐ have been interpreted mostly phenomenologically and not analytically. Here, Eurocentrism shall be defined as a phenomenon that, across space and time, has become a productive force for the development of man and nature from the Enlightenment to the present day.