Mungiki,Vernacular Organization and Political Society in Kenya

This article uses the concept of ‘political society’ as unfolded by the ‘subaltern studies’ in India to shed new light on present‐day political actors and democratic transitions in Africa. It discusses the political practices and discursive terrains of organizations within ‘really existing’ civil society that are based on identities and regarded as outside legitimate civil society. It looks at politics from below, taking the example of the 2007 elections in Kenya, and the role of Mungiki, an organization characterized by the intersection of class, generation, religion and ethnicity. Mungiki builds on Kenya's history and rich archive of indigenous popular culture. It originated in the early 1990s’ turmoil of ‘ethnic clashes’ and population displacement and now operates in rural and poor urban areas, providing income opportunities, service delivery and extortion/protection. During elections, sections of Mungiki have been recruited by political leaders and functioned as violent militia; concurrently, it seeks representation in formal and parliamentary politics. The organization is distinct from ‘respectable’ segments of Kenya's civil society who participate in NGO activities and mainstream churches. The article ends by calling for an inclusive and non‐normative approach to the study of state–civil society engagement that recognizes culturally based discourses and organizations when analysing the transitions to and the broadening of democracy in post‐colonial societies.     

Reviews

Else Kragelund Holt &; Kirsten Nielsen (eds.), Bibelkundskab. Introduktion til Det Gamle Testamente. Aarhus Universitetsforlag 1997, pp 317.

Göran Eidevall, Grapes in the Desert. Metaphors, Models, and Themes in Hosea 4–14. CB Old Testament Series 43, Almqvist &; Wiksell, Stockholm 1996, pp xii + 274. ISBN 91 22 01709 7.

Mogens Müller, Det Garnie Testamente som kristen bog, Anis, Frederiksberg 1997, pp 92. ISBN 87 7457 200 8.

March Vervenne (ed.), Studies in the Book of Exodus. Redaction — Reception — Interpretation. Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium CXXVI. Leuven University Press‐Uitgeverij Peeters, Leuven 1996, pp xi + 660. ISBN 90 6186 755 X1/90 6831 825 X.     

Mussels,Tourism and Community Development: A Case Study of Place Branding Through Food Festivals in Rural North Jutland,Denmark

Abstract

Rural areas are facing prospects of marginalization and peripherality in an age of globalization where the attention of governments and media focuses increasingly on the (lack of) competitiveness of urban and metropolitan regions in Europe. Many rural areas have, therefore, searched for ways to improve their position vis-à-vis other localities by mobilizing local resources and employing policy tools that are believed to foster indigenous social and economic development, including place branding. Unsurprisingly, using food as a means to profile rural localities has become widespread, with branding efforts revolving around local food festivals that commodify local cultural resources. The article attempts to illuminate the challenges faced by branding processes in rural areas through a case study of Løgstør, a small rural town in North Jutland, Denmark, which builds its branding efforts around an annual mussel festival. The analysis focuses on the relationship between stakeholders and branding strategies, and in particular aims to uncover the role of the food festival in aggravating or alleviating inherent tensions between different stakeholders and target groups. It is argued that in the case of Løgstør making a food festival pivotal, a signature event for the place branding efforts has been created, which appeals to both external and internal audiences, and that this may hold wider lessons for place-branding initiatives in other small towns across Europe.     

Hunting strategies in the Late Glacial of northern Europe: A survey of the faunal evidence

Presented here is a general overview of the evidence concerning the procurement strategies in the Late Glacial of northwestern Europe. Their rich faunal assemblages make Stellmoor and Meiendorf, in northern Germany, key sites in this respect. Both may be considered specialized reindeer hunting camps. A survey of the hunting techniques and exploitation patterns reflected by the material from these sites emphasizes the differences between the Hamburgian and the Ahrensburgian economies.     

THE OUTSIDE AND INSIDE IN NORWEGIAN AND ENGLISH PRISONS

This article is based on our first experiences visiting prisons, and being surprised by the ways in which the inside and outside often seemed indistinct. One of our narratives comes from England, the other from Norway. Our analysis emerges from a recognition that, despite visiting prisons for different research projects in different countries, our experiences in prison spaces shared striking similarities. We had each expected prisons to have clear and demarcated boundaries between inside and outside, consistent with Goffman's binary distinctions in the total institution model. However, this model was not a good fit with our view of prisons, since it did not capture the importance of indistinction. The inside and outside were often entangled and fused with one another, having both distinctions and indistinctions simultaneously. The seemingly incompatible juxtapositions between inside and outside were consistent with the Foucauldian concept of heterotopia, as a better fit with our ideas. Our observations improve our understanding of confinement as a dynamic and often contradictory state of be-tweenness. After exploring our personal narratives from visiting prisons, some theoretical implications of the concept of heter-otopia within institutional research are discussed and contrasted to that of total institution.