State and Class in Kenya – Notes on the Cohesion of the Ruling Class

1984 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Currie ◽  
Larry Ray

This article attempts to situate the recent power struggle between President Daniel arap Moi and the ex-Minister for Constitutional Affairs, Charles Njonjo, in the context of class antagonisms in the Kenyan state. Over the past few years, Moi survived a number of crises partly as a result of the consistent support he has received from Njonjo. During the run-up to the general election of 26 September 1983, however, Moi was hoping that he could mobilise sufficient support amongst Kenya's political élite to be able to dispense with Njonjo, and thereby remove the only politician powerful enough to pose any threat to his leadership. SinceJomo Kenyatta's death in 1978, Njonjo had been regarded as the third member of a ruling triumvirate, with Moi and Vice-President Mwai Kibaki. In the following analysis, we examine the class context for conflict with the figure most closely associated with the conservative, capitalistic, and pro-British tendency in Kenyan nationalism.

Africa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. C. McCaskie

AbstractThis article is about Queen Mother Yaa Asantewaa (c. 1830s–1921) ofEdweso (Ejisu) in Asante, locally famous in tradition for her supposed leadership role in the last Anglo–Asante conflict (1900–1), and now internationally celebrated as an epitome of African womanhood and resistance to European colonialism. The article is in three parts. The first part examines the historical record concerning Yaa Asantewaa and sets this within the conflicted context of Edweso–Kumase relations before, during and after her lifetime. It also considers her role in the 1900–1 war and the nationalist constructions placed on that role by later Asante and other Ghanaian commentators. The second part examines the politics of the celebrations held in Asante in 2000 to mark the centenary of the last Anglo–Asante war and to honour Yaa Asantewaa for her part in it. Discussion here is concerned with the struggle between the ruling Asante elite and the Rawlings government in Accra to take possession of Yaa Asantewaa's reputation and to define and reinterpret it for contemporary political purposes. This was also a significant and revealing episode in the run–up to the Ghanaian national elections of 2000, in which J. A. Kufuor's Asante–based NPP finally ousted Rawlings's NDC which, in various incarnations, had ruled Ghana for twenty years. The third part examines the recent and ever–growing afterlife of Yaa Asantewaa in the age of globalization and the Internet. Attention is paid in particular to the constructions placed on her by Americans of African descent and to cultural expressions of her present status as, perhaps, the most famous of all pre–colonial African women. Finally, Asante reactions to the internationalization of Yaa Asantewaa are considered. In general, and using the case of Yaa Asantewaa, this article sets out to show that in Asante – as elsewhere in Africa – history is a continuous and vivid presence, constantly fought over, reworked and reconfigured to make the past serve new needs and aspirations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 761-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucinda Maer

Abstract The departmental select committee system, established in 1979, is seen as increasingly powerful, with committees producing more work, engaging with more people, and doing more to scrutinise the actions of those with power than ever before. There have been two main periods of select committee reform over the past 40 years: the first following the 2001 general election, and the second in the run-up to the 2010 general election. More recently, select committees, strengthened by the election of their chairs and members, have pushed at the boundaries of their powers and remit. This article sets out the story of reform.


2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-171
Author(s):  
Nāṣir Al-Dīn Abū Khaḍīr

The ʿUthmānic way of writing (al-rasm al-ʿUthmānī) is a science that specialises in the writing of Qur'anic words in accordance with a specific ‘pattern’. It follows the writing style of the Companions at the time of the third caliph, ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān, and was attributed to ʿUthmān on the basis that he was the one who ordered the collection and copying of the Qur'an into the actual muṣḥaf. This article aims to expound on the two fundamental functions of al-rasm al-ʿUthmānī: that of paying regard to the ‘correct’ pronunciation of the words in the muṣḥaf, and the pursuit of the preclusion of ambiguity which may arise in the mind of the reader and his auditor. There is a further practical aim for this study: to show the connection between modern orthography and the ʿUthmānic rasm in order that we, nowadays, are thereby able to overcome the problems faced by calligraphers and writers of the past in their different ages and cultures.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-224
Author(s):  
ʿĀʾiḍ B. Sad Al-Dawsarī

The story of Lot is one of many shared by the Qur'an and the Torah, and Lot's offer of his two daughters to his people is presented in a similar way in the two books. This article compares the status of Lot in the Qur'an and Torah, and explores the moral dimensions of his character, and what scholars of the two religions make of this story. The significance of the episodes in which Lot offers his daughters to his people lies in the similarities and differences of the accounts given in the two books and the fact that, in both the past and the present, this story has presented moral problems and criticism has been leveled at Lot. Context is crucial in understanding this story, and exploration of the ways in which Lot and his people are presented is also useful in terms of comparative studies of the two scriptures. This article is divided into three sections: the first explores the depiction of Lot in the two texts, the second explores his moral limitations, and the third discusses the interpretations of various exegetes and scholars of the two books. Although there are similarities between the Qur'anic and Talmudic accounts of this episode, it is read differently by scholars from the two religions because of the different contexts of the respective accounts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Hazem Hamad Mousa Al Janabi

Tripartite Negotiating philosophy: (strategy - tactics - technique) At the beginning , the research consists of four sections as follows: The first axis titled: "what negotiation", and the second axis: "philosophy of negotiation," The third axis titled: "negotiation strategy". Down to the fourth axis which included titled: "negotiating tactic", Sajama with the past and as a supplement came fifth axis titled: "negotiating technique", to be the bottom line in the form of a set of conclusions. Negotiation consists of a base triple hierarchical strategy - tactics - technique. The philosophy of negotiating interactive basis of rationality. Negotiable three parties are the position and the case and the parties involved. Is the process of negotiating strategic recruitment capacity and capabilities to achieve the desired goal of the crisis prematurely. Negotiating tactic is the process of hiring capacity and capabilities to achieve the desired goal at the negotiating table. •The technique is the process of negotiating employment capacity and capabilities to achieve the desired goal at the negotiating table to contain thesudden things check response and renewed flexibility.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Abbiss

This article offers a ‘post-heritage’ reading of both iterations of Upstairs Downstairs: the LondonWeekend Television (LWT) series (1971–5) and its shortlived BBC revival (2010–12). Identifying elements of subversion and subjectivity allows scholarship on the LWT series to be reassessed, recognising occasions where it challenges rather than supports the social structures of the depicted Edwardian past. The BBC series also incorporates the post-heritage element of self-consciousness, acknowledging the parallel between its narrative and the production’s attempts to recreate the success of its 1970s predecessor. The article’s first section assesses the critical history of the LWT series, identifying areas that are open to further study or revised readings. The second section analyses the serialised war narrative of the fourth series of LWT’s Upstairs, Downstairs (1974), revealing its exploration of female identity across multiple episodes and challenging the notion that the series became more male and upstairs dominated as it progressed. The third section considers the BBC series’ revised concept, identifying the shifts in its main characters’ positions in society that allow the series’ narrative to question the past it evokes. This will be briefly contrasted with the heritage stability of Downton Abbey (ITV, 2010–15). The final section considers the household of 165 Eaton Place’s function as a studio space, which the BBC series self-consciously adopts in order to evoke the aesthetics of prior period dramas. The article concludes by suggesting that the barriers to recreating the past established in the BBC series’ narrative also contributed to its failure to match the success of its earlier iteration.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Abbiss

This article offers a ‘post-heritage’ reading of both iterations of Upstairs Downstairs: the LondonWeekend Television (LWT) series (1971–5) and its shortlived BBC revival (2010–12). Identifying elements of subversion and subjectivity allows scholarship on the LWT series to be reassessed, recognising occasions where it challenges rather than supports the social structures of the depicted Edwardian past. The BBC series also incorporates the post-heritage element of self-consciousness, acknowledging the parallel between its narrative and the production’s attempts to recreate the success of its 1970s predecessor. The article’s first section assesses the critical history of the LWT series, identifying areas that are open to further study or revised readings. The second section analyses the serialised war narrative of the fourth series of LWT’s Upstairs, Downstairs (1974), revealing its exploration of female identity across multiple episodes and challenging the notion that the series became more male and upstairs dominated as it progressed. The third section considers the BBC series’ revised concept, identifying the shifts in its main characters’ positions in society that allow the series’ narrative to question the past it evokes. This will be briefly contrasted with the heritage stability of Downton Abbey (ITV, 2010–15). The final section considers the household of 165 Eaton Place’s function as a studio space, which the BBC series self-consciously adopts in order to evoke the aesthetics of prior period dramas. The article concludes by suggesting that the barriers to recreating the past established in the BBC series’ narrative also contributed to its failure to match the success of its earlier iteration.


2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 208-210
Author(s):  
Zaineb Lstrabadi

Dorothy Drummond's book was born at the dawn of the third millennium,when the author was in Jerusalem. She had taken notes throughout hertravels in the Holy Land, which she defines not only as the land of historicPalestine, but also the lands of present-day Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq,and Egypt (i.e., where the Patriarchs, Prophets, and the Holy Familyroamed). Rather than write a travelogue, she decided to write a book aboutthe Arab-Israeli conflict while interspersing her personal comments (initalics) about her journeys. Her intent is not to "answer the question posedin the title of this book. Rather, by shedding light on dark corners, itattempts to bring understanding," as she explains in the prologue.The book is divided into three parts: a discussion of the IsraeliPalestinianconflict in the present, a discussion of the roots of the conflicttraveling 4,000 years into the past, and a brief discussion of how negotiationis the only way to resolve the conflict. There are maps and pho tographsthroughout the book, as well as a 40-page glossary of the HolyLand's people and places. Drummond has written the work in the presenttense, because of the immediacy of all that has happened in the MiddleEast, but the discussion ultimately centers on the area between theMediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.Her book promises to be a good, balanced account written in a wonwonderfullyaccessible style. However, early on it runs into problems. Forexample, when she talks about the 1956 Israeli attack on Egypt, she fails ...


Author(s):  
Antonio Girolami ◽  
Diana Noemi Garcia de Paoletti ◽  
Marcelo Leonardo Nenkies ◽  
Silvia Ferrari ◽  
Hugo Guglielmone

Background: Investigation of rare bleeding disorders in Latin-America. Objective: The report of a new case of FX deficiency due to a compound heterozygosis. Methods: Accepted clotting procedures were used. Sequencing of DNA was carried out by means of Applied Biosystems Instruments. Results: A compound heterozygote due to the association of a new mutation (Gla72Asp) with an already known mutation (Gly154Arg) of the FX gene is reported. The proposita is a 38 year old female who had a moderate bleeding tendency (menorrhagia, epistaxis, easy bruising). The proposita has never received substitution therapy but in the occasion of a uterine biopsy. The mother was asymptomatic but was a heterozygote for the new mutation. The father was asymptomatic but had deserted the family and could not be investigated. After this abandonment the mother of the proposita re-married with an asymptomatic man and she gave birth to a son who was asymptomatic but was also heterozygous for the new mutation (Gla72Asp). As a consequence it has to be assumed that the first husband of the mother of the proposita was heterozygous for the known mutation (Gly154Arg). Conclusion: This is the third case of a new mutation in the FX gene reported, during the past few years, in Argentina.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document