Ideal Homes and the Gender Politics of Consumerism in Postcolonial Ghana, 1960–70

This article uses the 1967 Ideal Home Exhibition in Accra as a window onto understanding connections between gender and consumerism in postcolonial Ghana. Drawing upon newspapers, comics and novels, it argues that the home was placed at the centre of national debates about economic recovery and political stability. Major goals of attracting Western investors and building Ghana's private sector simultaneously promoted conservative gender roles and restrictions on consumer behaviour. Cultural stereotypes targeting the consumption habits of women and youth intensified in the postcolonial period, masking larger issues like unstable wages, increasing foreign debts, high costs of living and government corruption.     

The renaissance in Switzerland

The geographical position of Switzerland made contact with Renaissance manifestations in Italy and Germany easy even if the country was too small and poor for notable buildings or works of art. Participation in the wars in north Italy increased interest in military and governmental aspects of the Renaissance.Basel was an early centre for printing, and its presses, particularly when intelligently directed by the Amerbach family and by Froben, contributed largely to the availability of Greek and Latin texts.Erasmus lived for many years in Basel and attracted numerous scholars - Bär, Glarean, Capito, Beatus Rhenanus, Vadian, Oecolampadius, Zwingli and Myconius wrote near-classical Latin and all had some knowledge of Greek. Konrad Witz, Manuel, Urs Graf and Asper were painters of repute: Dürer and Holbein did some of their work in Basel.The Swiss cities, Basel, Zurich, St Gall, Glarus and Bern, encouraged scholarship and education: with Tschudi, Justinger, Schilling and Anshelm, a new approach to the writing of history was possible. Paracelsus and Gessner made contributions to medicine and natural science.     

The renaissance in Switzerland

The geographical position of Switzerland made contact with Renaissance manifestations in Italy and Germany easy even if the country was too small and poor for notable buildings or works of art. Participation in the wars in north Italy increased interest in military and governmental aspects of the Renaissance.Basel was an early centre for printing, and its presses, particularly when intelligently directed by the Amerbach family and by Froben, contributed largely to the availability of Greek and Latin texts.Erasmus lived for many years in Basel and attracted numerous scholars - Bär, Glarean, Capito, Beatus Rhenanus, Vadian, Oecolampadius, Zwingli and Myconius wrote near-classical Latin and all had some knowledge of Greek. Konrad Witz, Manuel, Urs Graf and Asper were painters of repute: Dürer and Holbein did some of their work in Basel.The Swiss cities, Basel, Zurich, St Gall, Glarus and Bern, encouraged scholarship and education: with Tschudi, Justinger, Schilling and Anshelm, a new approach to the writing of history was possible. Paracelsus and Gessner made contributions to medicine and natural science.     

Pinochet: The Politics

Against the background of the Pinochet affair, the author considers that a new era of international politics is in the process of being created. The House of Lords' ruling which has allowed extradition procedures against the former Chilean dictator, is understood as a formidable and groundbreaking decision in international law based on the defence of human rights against crimes committed by authoritarian and unlawful rulers. The decision taken under the European Convention on extradition and the setting up of a Permanent International Criminal Court in the summer of 1998 are, according to the author, signs that international law and international politics are moving in the direction of a universal acceptance that violators of human rights must bepunished.
However, the author is also cautious about the tension between the new path opened to international politics and the old power politics based on the absolute and indivisible sovereignty of the state. Double standards will certainly prevail and powerful states, in particular the United States, are reluctant to accept that international law and international politics are in the process of change.     

Postcolonial Archaeologies in Africa: Breaking the Silence

Postcolonial archaeologies in Africa are engaged in a variety of agendas including the decolonization of everyday practices in the field and in the classroom. Postcolonial theory, concerned with issues of power and the Other, is increasingly being invoked to examine how archaeologists conduct their field research and how archaeology is used to dismantle essentialized histories—the metanarratives that arose in the colonial as well as the postcolonial era. Easily misunderstood, however, is the passion expressed by some African archaeologists who are voicing their own views while simultaneously trying to free themselves from dominating “expert” voices. These occurrences create tensions in archaeological discourse that are a natural part of decolonizing archaeology, joining other forms of disenchantment, particularly the disenchantments arising in contemporary African communities about social services, civil society, and human rights. Archaeologists are also implicated in disenchantments as they conduct investigations in the midst of people who may be without water or are suffering from HIV/AIDS—conditions that starkly contrast with their own comfortable lives. We may also need to reconsider how to deal with states that see archaeological research as contrary to nation building. This essay responds to some current misunderstandings that have arisen over these and related issues.     

Heritage in Palestine: Colonial Legacy in Postcolonial Discourse

This essay addresses the need to look into ‘postcolonial’/‘post-Oslo’ Palestine heritage discourses and practices to uncover commonalities and divergences. These practices and discourses, I claim, tell a story about hidden codes of subjectivity while revealing the setbacks of postcolonial heritage discourses in a ‘postcolonial era’. I show that the Palestinian ‘postcolonial’ heritage polices and preservation practices echo colonial discourses in terms of approach, legal framework and end results. My premise is built on a long engagement with governmental and non-governmental heritage organisations as well as the literature on the topic that shows heritage discourses and practices implicated within the specific narrative that they are destined to (re) produce. I claim that postcolonial approaches to the material culture, consciously and unconsciously, reproduce the colonial situation and while the impetus towards preservation itself is a symptom of postmodernity, it is still carried out in a modernist spirit. Throughout my analysis, I show that what spills out from the heritage discourses, as well as the unintended consequences of heritage practices are worth considering in any analytical approach of heritage discourses.