Canaan Banana,Churches and the Land Issue: Revisiting Theology of Zimbabwe’s Vilified Prophet

ABSTRACT

This study seeks to revisit and evaluate the “combat theology” developed by Canaan Banana, a contemporary theologian, Methodist minister and the first president of Zimbabwe, notably with regard to the issue of land dispossession. It does so primarily against the backdrop of the historical analysis of the ways in which power operated at the intersection of religion and politics during the first three decades after Zimbabwe’s attainment of political independence (1980). The article interrogates several facets of Banana’s liberationist view of justice with regard to the land issue, including (a) speaking truth to political power, regardless of consequences; (b) bearing a prophetic witness vis-à-vis the church’s own complicity in wrongdoing; as well as (c) making a distinction between the selective acts of “liberating violence” and the systemic violence inherent in unjust socio-political structures.     

Electioneering,the Third Reform Act,and Political Change in the 1880s*

This article investigates the impact of the 1883–5 electoral reforms on the political culture of elections and electioneering in the constituencies, using the borough of Ipswich as its focus. It argues that historians have underestimated the extent to which the Franchise and Redistribution Acts of 1884–5 transformed political cultures outside the countryside and large cities, and that the Corrupt Practices Act of 1883 had a major impact on the modernisation of party organisation. Principally, however, it challenges the prevailing historical consensus that the basis of post‐reform constituency politics remained, to a large extent, local in nature, by suggesting that electioneering cultures were placed under considerable ‘nationalising’ influences from the early 1880s on. Rather than resisting these influences, the established Ipswich parties largely embraced them. Moreover, a general decline in corruption, and a general increase in the number of speeches reported in local newspapers from ‘carpetbagger’ candidates and national leaders, created a climate in which it was now more difficult for any constituency, however idiosyncratic, to insulate itself from ‘national’ politics.     

Experimental study of aqueous fluid infiltration into quartzite: implications for the kinetics of fluid redistribution and grain growth driven by interfacial energy reduction

To investigate the kinetics of interfacial energy‐driven fluid infiltration, experiments were carried out in a quartzite–water system at 621–925°C and 0.8 GPa. Infiltration couples were made by juxtaposing presynthesized dry quartzite cylinders and fluid reservoirs. The infiltration process was confirmed by the presence of pores at the quartzite grain edges. As predicted from theoretical considerations and previous experiments, wetting fluids such as pure water and NaCl aqueous solution infiltrated into quartzite, whereas nonwetting CO₂‐rich fluids did not. Newly precipitated quartz layers at the surfaces of the infiltrated sample proved that infiltration took place by a dissolution–precipitation mechanism. The enhancement of grain growth by fluid infiltration was observed over the entire range of experimental temperatures. The fluid fraction, gauged by the porosity of the run products, increases at the infiltration front and then decreases towards the fluid reservoir to form a high‐porosity zone with a maximum porosity of 2.3–2.9%. As infiltration proceeds, the high‐porosity zone advances like a travelling wave. This porosity wave is probably caused by a grain curvature gradient resulting from preferential grain growth in the infiltrated part of the quartzite, perhaps combined with other factors. The infiltration kinetics were modelled with a steady‐state diffusion model over the high‐porosity zone. The solubility difference between dissolving and precipitating grains was deduced to be 2 × 10^?2?3 × 10^?1 wt %. The experimentally obtained infiltration rate of aqueous fluid in the steady‐state diffusion regime (2 ± 0.5 × 10^?8 m sec^?1 at 823°C) is much faster than the estimated metamorphic fluid flux rates, so that interfacial energy‐driven fluid redistribution in quartz‐rich layers could significantly contribute to the fluid flux in high‐grade metamorphism, at least over a short distance. Cathodoluminescence observations of the run products revealed that the grain growth of quartzite in the presence of fluid proceeds extensively, which would promote the chemical equilibration between fluid and rock more effectively than would volume diffusion in quartz crystals.     

The disappearance of a Rom community and the rejection of the politics of recognition

The politics toward Rom minorities in Italy is marked by a binary of recognition: on one hand, there exists the recognition of a nomad identity (present in various institutional practices), on the other a recognition of a cultural identity of Rom and Sinti (exemplified by many associations, either pro-Gypsy or Gypsy). But in the case of Melfi the predominant politics is a decisive refusal of recognition by Melfitani and Melfitani of Gypsy origins. The situation in Melfi should be read as the logical conclusion of a long process of assimilation which led to the dissolution of the historical Rom community.     

An empirical study on the modification of China's current urban social security system

This study challenges the conventional correlation between economic performance and the level of the development of social security systems. By focusing on China's urban areas, we provide an overview of the components and benefits, from a comparative perspective, of China's current social security system. We also create a comprehensive and generally applicable method using factors such as economics and population, among others, as standards to evaluate the efficacy of China's system. In order to demonstrate our primary hypothesis – that the Chinese Communist Party government has to modify its social security system to adapt to or bring about changes in the basis of its legitimacy – we analyse Chinese social security records and other related data after 1949 by statistical methods. The formula we provide in this study can be used to forecast China's expenditure on its urban social security system, and other scholars can apply our methods to countries in which conditions are broadly similar.     

The Palestinian Museum,Ramallah

Abstract

Whereas recent studies have correctly identified a clan-based social structure presumed in the place names of the Samaria Ostraca, an analysis of the power relations within these structures has not been sufficiently developed. Approaching the evidence from a consumption perspective of the commodities for yn y?n (‘aged wine’) and ?mn r?? (‘washed oil’) suggests that the economic significance of these items is tied to complex social interactions. Specifically, both archaeological and ethnographic studies associate such prestige commodities with elite feasting and ceremonial displays. By gifting these items, the central power engaged in a form of ‘competitive feasting’ to secure political capital for future use from clan leaders of the periphery of Samaria. Accordingly, the Samaria Ostraca hint at the use of redistributive mechanisms to secure power relations at elite gatherings.