Lokales Wissen


Book Description




Polyculturalism and Discourse


Book Description

This volume gathers together research by ten scholars engaging with multicultural discourse in Australia and Germany. The term ‘polyculturalism’ rather than ‘multiculturalism’ is employed deliberately to re-open a space in which the workings of discourse on culturally diverse societies, both as archive or practice, and as intervention, can be considered in greater depth. The inter-cultural perspective and wide range of disciplinary affiliations exhibited by the essays in this volume contribute to this goal: whereas the majority of discourse analytical work addresses the diversity of speaking positions, as well as the arbitrariness of ascribed meanings, within a historical framework delimited by national boundaries and disciplinary boundaries, the texts collected here transgress this perspective in working comparatively between Australia and Germany.




Ethnic and Cultural Dimensions of Knowledge


Book Description

This book presents theoretical and methodical discussions on local knowledge and indigenous knowledge. It examines educational attainment of ethnic minorities, race and politics in educational systems, and the problem of losing indigenous knowledge. It comprises a broad range of case studies about specifics of local knowledge from several regions of the world, reflecting the interdependence of norms, tradition, ethnic and cultural identities, and knowledge. The contributors explore gaps between knowledge and agency, address questions of the social distribution of knowledge, consider its relation to communal activities, and inquire into the relation and intersection of knowledge assemblages at local, national, and global scales. The book highlights the relevance of local and indigenous knowledge and discusses implications for educational and developmental politics. It provides ideas and a cross-disciplinary scientific background for scholars, students, and professionals including NGO activists, and policy-makers.




Potentials for forestry and political drivers in integrated rural development policy


Book Description

Die Arbeit befasst sich mit dem regionalisierten und sektorübergreifenden Steuerungsansatz von Regional Governance und der Einbeziehung der Forstwirtschaft als Politiksektor. Am Beispiel der integrierten ländlichen Entwicklung klärt sie einerseits die Frage nach forstwirtschaftlichen Potentialen in Regional Governance-Initiativen und analysiert andererseits allgemeine politische Kräfte, die Regional Governance bestimmen. Es wird gezeigt, dass im Rahmen von Regional Governance-Initiativen konventionelle und innovative Potentiale für die Forstwirtschaft bestehen. Diese können jedoch aufgrund unterschiedlicher Informationsstände, verschiedener Kapazitäten sowie unterschiedlicher Anreizwirkungen nicht von allen Akteursgruppen gleichermaßen realisiert werden. Die vorgefundenen politischen Determinanten von Regional Governance umfassen die Konkurrenz zwischen Regional Governance-Institutionen und demokratisch legitimierten Institutionen, die Strategie höherer politischer Ebenen zur Erlangung von Einfluss auf Regionalpolitik, sowie die Prägung von Regional Governance durch die Interessen von starken Akteuren und deren Koalitionen. In diesem Zusammenhang wird gezeigt, dass der sektorübergreifende Anspruch von Regional Governance aufgrund sektoraler Interessenlagen sowohl in der Formulierung als auch im regionalen Vollzug nicht erfüllt wird und sich lediglich punktuelle Integrationserfolge auf Projektebene erreichen lassen. Diese Ergebnisse lassen sich durch zweierlei Machtstrategien erklären: Einerseits das Bemühen übergeordneter politischer Ebenen, ihren Einfluss auf Regionalpolitik auszuweiten und andererseits die Strategie von konkurrierenden Politiksektoren, ihren Einflussbereich zu verteidigen bzw. zu Lasten anderer Sektoren auszudehnen.




Beautiful Floods


Book Description

Floods are generally perceived as natural hazards. This book, in contrast, portrays the 'beautiful floods' of the Mekong Delta, which annually constitute a substantial resource for people's rural livelihoods. With a focus on floods, the book employs a 'lifeworlds' analysis to investigate dynamics of environmental and livelihood knowledge among farming and fishing communities, and it demonstrates that rapid agrarian change has both positive and negative impacts. (Series: ZEF Development Studies - Vol. 19)







The Politics of Reconstruction and Development in Sri Lanka


Book Description

Sri Lanka’s conflict and peace processes have gained global attention during recent years. This book presents a comprehensive insight into the politics of reconstruction and development in Sri Lanka, focussing on the ceasefire which was negotiated between the Government of Sri Lanka and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2002 and which lasted until 2006. Based on extensive empirical fieldwork, the book provides a unique ethnographic account of this specific historical period of peace. It explains how development was shaped by interplay and cooperation, but also by the disparities and conflicts between a variety of local and intervening actors, including local organizations and civil society, LTTE, Government of Sri Lanka, international development cooperation and the Tamil diaspora. Starting from an interdisciplinary viewpoint, the author integrates findings from development sociology with new perspectives on transnationalization and the migration-development-nexus. This provides a fine grained analysis of the emerging development visions and perspectives in relation to transnationalization and global interconnectedness. Making an innovative contribution by linking the analysis of local reconstruction with contemporary phenomena of transnationalization, diasporization, and globalization, this book will appeal to those with an interest in Sociology, Social Anthropology and Political Science.




Environmental Uncertainty and Local Knowledge


Book Description

Southeast Asia is a laboratory showing current worldwide ecological issues. Environmental change, natural resource exploitation as well as global climate change increasingly threaten people's livelihoods. Environmentally-based uncertainties foster a high level of knowledge uncertainty. This poses a constantly growing threat to agricultural production. Vulnerable communities with a low degree of resilience are most severely affected. But local communities have abilities to innovate and develop locally embedded coping strategies. The contributors of this volume are most interested in environmental change that fosters knowledge uncertainties. Regions discussed include the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, Moluccas, Central Kalimantan, West Sumatra and South Sulawesi in Indonesia and Tangail Region in Bangladesh.




Learning and Calamities


Book Description

It is widely assumed that humanity should be able to learn from calamities (e.g., emergencies, disasters, catastrophes) and that the affected individuals, groups, and enterprises, as well as the concerned (disaster-) management organizations and institutions for prevention and mitigation, will be able to be better prepared or more efficient next time. Furthermore, it is often assumed that the results of these learning processes are preserved as "knowledge" in the collective memory of a society, and that patterns of practices were adopted on this base. Within history, there is more evidence for the opposite: Analyzing past calamities reveals that there is hardly any learning and, if so, that it rarely lasts more than one or two generations. This book explores whether learning in the context of calamities happens at all, and if learning takes place, under which conditions it can be achieved and what would be required to ensure that learned cognitive and practical knowledge will endure on a societal level. The contributions of this book include various fields of scientific research: history, sociology, geography, psychoanalysis, psychiatry, development studies and political studies, as well as disaster research and disaster risk reduction research.




Ethiopia and the Missions


Book Description

Since the sixteenth century, Ethiopian Orthodox Chris-tianity and the indigenous religions of Ethiopia have been confronted with, and influenced by, numerous Catholic and Protestant missions. This book offers historical, anthropological and personal analyses of these encounters. The discussion ranges from the Jesuit debate on circumcision to Oromo Bible translation, from Pentecostalism in Addis Ababa to conversion processes among the Nuer. Juxtaposing past and present, urban and rural, the book breaks new ground in both religious and African studies. Verena Bll and Evgenia Sokolinskaia are researchers at the department of African and Ethopian Studies at the Asia-Africa Institute, University of Hamburg. Steven Kaplan is professor of African Studies and Comparative Religion at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.