scholarly journals The colonial matrix of power: Image ontology and the question of blackness

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Itumeleng D. Mothoagae
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Black People ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global South ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

The question of blackness has always featured the intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality and class. Blackness as an ontological speciality has been engaged from both the social and epistemic locations of the damnés (in Fanonian terms). It has thus sought to respond to the performance of power within the world order that is structured within the colonial matrix of power, which has ontologically, epistemologically, spatially and existentially rendered blackness accessible to whiteness, while whiteness remains inaccessible to blackness. The article locates the question of blackness from the perspective of the Global South in the context of South Africa. Though there are elements of progress in terms of the conditions of certain Black people, it would be short-sighted to argue that such conditions in themselves indicate that the struggles of blackness are over. The essay seeks to address a critique by Anderson (1995) against Black theology in the context of the United States of America (US). The argument is that the question of blackness cannot and should not be provincialised. To understand how the colonial matrix of power is performed, it should start with the local and be linked with the global to engage critically the colonial matrix of power that is performed within a system of coloniality. Decoloniality is employed in this article as an analytical tool.Contribution: The article contributes to the discourse on blackness within Black theology scholarship. It aims to contribute to the continual debates on the excavating and levelling of the epistemological voices that have been suppressed through colonial epistemological universalisation of knowledge from the perspective of the damnés.

Fanonian practices in South Africa: From Steve Biko to Abahlali baseMjondolo (Nigel Gibson)

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Munyaradzi Mawere
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Latin America ◽  
South African ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Frantz Fanon ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The World

Frantz Fanon, the Algerian theorist of revolution and social change, continues living through his profoundly luminous work that remains influential to the thinking and actions of many a people across the world even today. In Fanonian Practices in South Africa (2011), which comprises an introduction and five chapters, Nigel Gibson grapples with the important question of the relevance of Fanon's thought, 50 years after his death in 1961, to the South African situation especially from the time of Steve Biko to the time of the birth of the shack dwellers' movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo (Abahlali) in Durban on 19 March 2005. Gibson acknowledges that the idea of Fanonian Practices is not limited to South Africa but relevant also for other African countries. Elsewhere, Fanon's ideas have been exported to Black theology of liberation by scholars such as James Cone in the United States of America (USA) and Paulo Freire in Latin America.

scholarly journals Black theology versus black spirituality and black faith: The centrality of spirituality and faith in black theology of liberation in the South African context

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olehile A. Buffel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Spiritual Journey ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Theology Of Liberation

Black theology, which is linked to black power in the context of the United States of America and black consciousness in the context of South Africa is often regarded as having nothing to do with spirituality, faith and salvation. It is often regarded by critics as radical, militant and political. In some circles its theological character is questioned. Advocates of liberation theology, past and present are accused of mixing religion with politics. The article traces the history of black theology, as part of liberation theology, which started in the 1960s in three contexts, namely Latin America, United States of America and South Africa. The article argues that spirituality, faith and salvation are central to black theology of liberation. The critical theological reflection that black theology of liberation is all about happens in the context of the spiritual journey of the poor believer and oppressed.Contribution: The contribution that this article makes is to serve as a corrective discourse that rebuts the mistaken accusation that black liberation theology has nothing to do with spirituality and faith. The article makes a direct link between spirituality and faith on the one hand and on the other hand liberating Christian praxis of the poor in their spiritual journey, in the context of South Africans as they struggle to liberate themselves amid poverty, service delivery struggles and COVID-19 and its implications.

scholarly journals European and American Perspectives on the Choice of Law Regarding Cross-Border Insolvencies of Multinational Corporations – Suggestions for South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
Jeanette Weideman ◽  
Leonie Stander
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
International Trade ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
The United States ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The World ◽  
Model Law

An increase in economic globalisation and international trade has amounted to an increase in the number of multinational enterprises that have debt, own assets and conduct business in various jurisdictions around the world.  This, coupled with the recent worldwide economic recession, has inevitably caused the increased occurrence of multinational financial default, also known as cross-border insolvency (CBI). The legal response to this trend has, inter alia, produced two important international instruments that were designed to address key issues associated with CBI. Firstly, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) adopted the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (the Model Law) in 1997, which has been adopted by nineteen countries including the United States of America and South Africa. Secondly, the European Union (EU) adopted the European Council Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings (EC Regulation) in 2000.  Both the EC Regulation and Chapter 15 adopt a “modified universalist” approach towards CBI matters. Europe and the United States of America are currently the world leaders in the area of CBI and the CBI legislation adopted and applied in these jurisdictions seems to be effective. As South Africa’s Cross-Border Insolvency Act is not yet effective, there is no local policy guidance available to insolvency practitioners with regard to the application of the Model Law. At the basis of this article is the view that an analysis of the European and American approaches to CBI matters will provide South African practitioners with valuable insight, knowledge and lessons that could be used to understand and apply the principles adopted and applied in terms of the EC Regulation and Chapter 15, specifically the COMI concept, the “establishment” concept in the case of integrated multinational enterprises and related aspects.  

John Kramer for President: The rise of authoritarian horror

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-140
Author(s):  
Reece Goodall
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Horror Films ◽  
Demographic Changes ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Political Force ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

In 2016, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States of America, to great surprise. His election has been connected to the emergence of authoritarianism as a political force in America, as political scholars have argued Trump’s campaign success lay in how his rhetoric is authoritarian in nature, and how it activates an authoritarian tendency in a sizeable portion of the voter base in response to social and demographic changes within the country. This article argues that contemporary horror cinema reflects and responds to the rise of American authoritarianism. Building on the work of scholars of authoritarianism, this article outlines a number of characteristics of authoritarian horror films. Specifically, it analyses the case study of Jigsaw to argue that two understandings are possible, linked to the coding of both the authoritarianism associated with the villain and the social threats they react to as troubling. It then draws on a number of further examples (Unfriended, Don’t Hang Up and the Purge films) to suggest that the emergence of this tendency within horror cinema is reflective of an increasingly polarized population and that, although the films explicitly condemn authoritarianism through their villain characters, they simultaneously cater to both halves of this divide by also depicting the world in which these authoritarians rise as horrific.

Abortion in the world: statistical update (for thirty countries) with particular attention for United States of America

2003 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 841-886
Author(s):  
Ermenegildo Spaziante
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Statistical Point ◽  
Natural Right ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Usa

The problem of procured abortion is still very actual. The Author has continued to outline the planetary dimensions, and now refers to a statistical study of the incidence of the abortion phenomenon in the United States of America. The placing of the U.S.A in the classification of the incidence of induced abortion within thirty countries of the world is identified, in relation to the natal rate and the consistency of the population. The comparison of the statistical data of the last twenty years among the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Italy is presented. A specific examination is made for the 50 States of the USA from a statistical point of view, and as a comparative analysis of some socio-economic factors. A significant framework emerges of the analogies and differences between the various States of the USA Federation. The Author presents some ethical and social considerations, wishing for a programmed intervention that is co-ordinated and efficient to contain this “sore of the social body”, as well as the perspective that the USA, which has suffered historically from the serious problem of slavery, should spread the ideal of freedom and human dignity in the world. It is also hoped that there can be a similar movement towards a higher respect, and greater and more systematic help for the new life, as a subject for the recognition as a conceived human being with the natural right to the protection of its life, for progress in the civil and humanitarian conscience.

The dimensions of the Moroccan position on the Gulf crisis 1990-1991

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
pp. 179
Author(s):  
Nazhan Hammoud Nassif Al Obeidi ◽  
Abdul Wahab Abdul Aziz Abu Khamra
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
New World ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
New World Order ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Gulf Crisis ◽  
The Subject

The Gulf crisis 1990-1991 is one of the important historical events of the 1990s, which gave rise to the new world order by the sovereignty of the United States of America on this system. The Gulf crisis was an embodiment to clarify the features of this system. .     The crisis in the Gulf was an opportunity for the Moroccans to manage this complex event and to use it for the benefit of the Moroccan situation. Therefore, the bilateral position of the crisis came out as a rejection, a contradiction and a supporter of political and economic dimensions at the external and internal levels. On the Moroccan situation, and from these points came the choice of the subject of the study (the dimensions of the Moroccan position from the Gulf crisis 1990-1991), which shows the ingenuity of Moroccans in managing an external crisis and benefiting from it internally.

Electoral Systems in Context

2017 ◽  
pp. 720-740
Author(s):  
Steven L. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Elections ◽  
Unique Element ◽  
Unique System ◽  
The World ◽  
Elected Office

The United States of America has one of the longest, continually functional electoral systems in the world. On one level, the system is seemingly simple, as it is based predominantly on plurality winners in the context of single-seat districts. However, its extensive usage of primary elections adds a nearly unique element to the process of filling elected office. This mechanism is used more extensively in the United States than in any other case. Additionally, the United States has a complex, and unique, system for electing its national executive. All of these factors help create and reinforce one of the most rigid two-party systems in the world.

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