Confronting the settler legacy: Indigenisation and transformation in South Africa and Zimbabwe

This article examines attempts to negotiate a perceived residual dominance of settler populations in South Africa and Zimbabwe by means of developmental and cultural policies deemed necessary to restore sovereignty to Africans. Indigenisation has become a preferred strategy for reconstructing post-colonial states in Africa: indigenisation of the economy as part of a Third Chimurenga in Zimbabwe and Black Economic Empowerment in the socio-cultural context of Ubuntu in South Africa. These are issues arising from the regional legacy of contested and uneven transitions to majority rule. Identifying how governments frame the ‘settler problem’, and politicise space in doing so, is crucial for understanding post-colonial politics. Indigenisation in Zimbabwe allows the government to maintain a network of patronage and official rhetoric is highly divisive and exclusivist although couched in terms of reclaiming African values and sovereignty. Revival of Ubuntu as a cultural value system in South Africa facilitates a more positive approach to indigenisation, although Black Economic Empowerment displays elitist tendencies and cultural transformation remains controversial and elusive. The perceived need to anchor policy in socially acceptable (i.e., ostensibly indigenous/traditional) contexts has become a prominent feature of post-colonial politics and is indicative of an indigenous turn in Southern African politics.     

REGIONAL WAGE DIFFERENCES IN THE NETHERLANDS: MICRO EVIDENCE ON AGGLOMERATION EXTERNALITIES

Based on micro data on individual workers for the period 2000–2005, we show that wage differentials in the Netherlands are small but present. A large part of these differentials can be attributed to individual characteristics. Remaining effects are partially explained by variations in employment density, with an elasticity of about 4.8 percent, and by Marshall‐Arrow‐Romer externalities, where doubling the local share of a (two‐digit) industry results in a 2.9 percent higher productivity. We also find evidence for small negative effects of competition (Porter externalities) and diversity (Jacobs externalities).     

Freizeitgroßprojekte als Schnittstelle zwischen Freizeitgeographie und Regionalplanung

Die stetig wachsende Vielfalt an neuen Freizeit- und Erholungsformen unterstreicht den entsprechenden Bedarf in unserer heutigen „Erlebnisgesellschaft“. Neben den ruhigen, naturnahen Erholungsformen wie Wandern, Joggen oder Radfahren spielen für die Bürger mittlerweile zunehmend neue, moderne Formen der Freizeitgestaltung etwa in Freizeit- und Erlebnisparks eine bedeutende Rolle.Der Sektor „Freizeit und Erholung“ ist für Gemeinden und Regionen ein bedeutender Wirtschaftsfaktor. Es gibt aber auch Kehrseiten: Schadstoffemissionen und Lärmbelästigungen durch Freizeitverkehr, Belastung von Fauna und Flora, zunehmender Flächenverbrauch durch immer größer dimensionierte Freizeitanlagen bzw. Freizeitgroßprojekte.Sowohl die Freizeitgeographie als angewandte Wissenschaft als auch die Regionalplanung versuchen für das Thema „Freizeit und Erholung“ raumverträgliche Lösungen für die vielfältigen Nutzungskonflikte zu finden. Die im vorliegenden Artikel beschriebene modellhafte Kooperation in der Region München unterstreicht am Beispiel des aktuellen Themas „Freizeitgroßprojekte“ die Schnittstelle zwischen Freizeitgeographie und Regionalplanung.Endprodukt dieser Zusammenarbeit war die Fortschreibung des Kapitels B III „Freizeit und Erholung“ des Regionalplans München mit normativen Vorgaben zu Freizeitgroßprojekten. Die Festlegung verbindlicher Ziele und Grundsätze soll bei einer potentiellen Ansiedlung von Freizeitgroßprojekten in der Region München zu raumverträglichen Lösungen führen.     

Narrating intersections of gender and dwarfism in everyday spaces

Dwarfs, midgets, even freaks, are among the terms that have been used to label little people. Feminist theorists have argued that discursive identities of women prevent any meaningful essentialised analysis of their experiences. Similarly, disability researchers have argued against generalising the experiences of disabled individuals. This paper explores the intersection of gender and dwarfism through the narratives of four women who are little people. Findings suggest that the ways women, who are little people, negotiate public spaces are affected by discourses of gender, disability and common conceptions of what is physically normal. Furthermore, these discourses have material implications in the everyday lives of these women. A brief historical overview of dwarfism is followed by narratives that describe experiences in public spaces, perceptions of height related to age and capability, gendered spaces and sexual stereotypes, uncomfortable spaces, violations of personal space and transportation. This paper provides a partial perspective on how discourses of dwarfism are manifest in social spaces and the built environment. Despite these significant commonalities that little people shared with other disabled people, there are socio‐spatial experiences that appear to be unique to people with dwarfism .     

Lebensaltertheorien in der Anthropologie der Romantik

Theories of stages of life within the anthropology of romanticism. – The essay discusses the importance and prominence of theories about different stages of life in the anthropological and medical discourse of romanticism. This discourse has clearly a stabilising and restaurative function, favouring the age of moderate manhood. The political and social regulative implications of these theories demand a restaurative roll‐back. The essay is based on a concept of sociology of knowledge formation.