‘Caught’ between foreign cultural and development policies: perspectives of German Studies and German as a foreign language in Africa

The promotion of the German language abroad and of German Studies plays a central role in German Foreign Cultural Policy. With regard to Sub-Saharan Africa, otherwise a peripheral region for foreign policy, German as foreign language is firmly established as second language after English. Learners especially in Francophone West and Central Africa have increased over the past decade. Numerous funding programmes and actions are supported by German nongovernmental organizations at college/university levels. But bilateral cooperation between German and African academic institutions are challenged both by negative perceptions of the ‘Global South’ among Western colleagues and by an infrastructure adverse to research and to career development in most African countries. Additionally, North/South relations are traditionally seen in terms of (under-)development by German institutions, effecting cooperation. The paper develops a differentiated picture of African Studies in Africa, and outlines benefits that can be attained through collaboration ‘at eye-level’.     

Asymmetric Entrant Locaiton with a Discrete Consumer Distribution: Spatial Price Discrimination Versus Mill Pricing

In this paper I examine the profit-maximizing locations of entrants. Suppose that firms practice spatial price discrimination and consumer locations are discrete, such as five equally spaced towns on a roadway. With completely inelastic consumer demand an entrant between two existing firms is often indifferent between the symmetric (central) location and a continuum of asymmetric (noncentral) locations. However, downward-sloping consumer demand often causes the entrant to strictly prefer either of two asymmetric locations to any other location. These results are very different from those found in mill-pricing (free-on-board or f.o.b.-pricing) models.     

Sigisvult the Patrician, Maximinus the Arian, and political strategems in the Western Roman Empire c. 425–40

This study investigates the roles played by the barbarian general Sigisvult and the Arian bishop Maximinus in western imperial politics during the reign of Valentinian III. In c. 426/7 Sigisvult was sent to North Africa to subdue the rebel Count Boniface. He was accompanied by Maximinus, who, in the course of the campaign, engaged in a celebrated debate with Augustine. Maximinus helped achieve a non-violent settlement that returned Boniface and his German troops to the imperial fold. Sigisvult then returned to Italy and was appointed Patrician and Master of Soldiers after the assassination of Felix in 430. In 435, however, this position was transferred to Fl. Aëtius, who spent most of his time campaigning in Gaul. In 440, the Vandals attacked Sicily, and Sigisvult was placed in charge of the defence of the Italian coast. At the same time, an Arian bishop Maximinus, apparently the one who had debated with Augustine, was in contact with the Vandals. He may have planted disinformation that Sebastianus, the son of the now-deceased Boniface, was about to invade Africa. This resulted in a Vandal withdrawal, and both Italy and Sicily were saved. Sigisvult last appears in the mid-440s, and his subsequent demise, perhaps in the early 450s, may have resulted in the breakdown of a precarious balance of power and the murders of Aëtius and Valentinian in 454 and 455, which hastened the demise of the Western Roman Empire. In an appendix it is suggested that although Boniface called in Vandal auxiliaries in 427, he was not responsible for the Vandal crossing in 429.     

Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

A Clench-Fastened Boat in Kerala, India

In May 2003 the author observed a clench-fastened boat near Chertala, Kerala, India. The boat appears to indicate a vessel-type previously undocumented in the area. This article reports the observations made of the vessel and its pertinence to the boat-construction traditions of Kerala and the subcontinent.
© 2009 The Author     

Angewandte Geographie

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