scholarly journals Carceral Repair

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-37
Author(s):  
Kristin Doughty
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Dissolved Methane ◽  
Energy Futures ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Methane Extraction ◽  
Lake Kivu ◽  
Energy Projects ◽  
Post War

This article, based on ethnographic fieldwork in 2016–2019, examines methane extraction operations in Lake Kivu on the Rwanda/DRC border as a lens into understanding how energy futures in Africa are imagined and enacted within national projects of post-war reconstruction. In 2005, scientists suggested that the lake’s dissolved methane risked oversaturation within the century. This spurred state-backed projects to simultaneously prevent a natural disaster and harness the methane to meet Rwanda’s rising electrification needs. Two companies are currently building and operating methane-fuelled power plants. The article suggests that these energy projects, an integral part of the overall architecture of social repair in Rwanda, reproduce and generate forms of captivity and entrapment that are central to understanding the lived politics of ‘carceral repair’, a generation after genocide.

Leroi-Gourhan and the Field of Ethnology

Paragraph ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-44
Author(s):  
Christopher Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
Arctic Circle ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Language Technology ◽  
Formative Experience ◽  
Post War

The work of French ethnologist and prehistorian André Leroi-Gourhan (1911–86) represents an important episode in twentieth-century intellectual history. This essay follows the development of Leroi-Gourhan's relationship to the discipline of ethnology from his early work on Arctic Circle cultures to his post-war texts on the place of ethnology in the human sciences. It shows how in the pre-war period there is already a conscious attempt to articulate a more comprehensive form of ethnology including the facts of natural environment and material culture. The essay also indicates the biographical importance of Leroi-Gourhan's mission to Japan as a decisive and formative experience of ethnographic fieldwork, combining the learning of a language with extended immersion in a distinctive material and mental culture. Finally, it explores how in the post-war period Leroi-Gourhan's more explicit meta-commentaries on the scope of ethnology argue for an extension of the discipline's more traditional domains of study to include the relatively neglected areas of language, technology and aesthetics.

scholarly journals Politics, industry, and tourism: The conceptual construction of the blue highway

2020 ◽  
pp. 002252662097950
Author(s):  
Fredrik Bertilsson
Keyword(s):  
Road Network ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Road ◽  
Conceptual Construction ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Post War

This article contributes to the research on the expansion of the Swedish post-war road network by illuminating the role of tourism in addition to political and industrial agendas. Specifically, it examines the “conceptual construction” of the Blue Highway, which currently stretches from the Atlantic Coast of Norway, traverses through Sweden and Finland, and enters into Russia. The focus is on Swedish governmental reports and national press between the 1950s and the 1970s. The article identifies three overlapping meanings attached to the Blue Highway: a political agenda of improving the relationships between the Nordic countries, industrial interests, and tourism. Political ambitions of Nordic community building were clearly pronounced at the onset of the project. Industrial actors depended on the road for the building of power plants and dams. The road became gradually more connected with the view of tourism as the motor of regional development.

STATE POLICING AND INVISIBLE FORCES IN MOZAMBIQUE

Africa ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helene Maria Kyed
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
War Zone ◽  
Police Authority ◽  
State Police ◽  
State Authority ◽  
Post War ◽  
Spiritual Problems

ABSTRACTThis article explores how the state police in Mozambique tried to (re)encroach upon a former war zone and what their methods implied for state authority more generally. Post-war reform efforts to professionalize the police in accordance with the rule of law and human rights have had apparently paradoxical results. This is in part because efforts to constitute state authority have relied on both embracing and taming ‘tradition’ as an alternative domain of authority, order and law. Ethnographic fieldwork at police stations shows that the police increasingly handle witchcraft cases and spiritual problems. This, the article argues, does not only reflect a tension between local/customary and state/legal notions of order and justice. Equally significant is the existence of partial sovereignties. A spiritual idiom of power and evildoing constitutes an alternative articulation of sovereignty due to the capacity of invisible forces to give and take life. This is an idiom mastered by chiefs and healers. Police officers engage with invisible forces to gain popular legitimacy and manifest state power, and yet they never manage to fully master those forces. Consequently, state police authority remains uncertain, and must be continually reinforced by enacting hierarchies and jurisdictional boundaries and by using force.

Peacemaking Rituals in the Context of Natural Disaster

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-299
Author(s):  
Urte Undine Frömming
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Social Function ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Space And Place ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Natural Catastrophes ◽  
The People ◽  
Clan Identity

This article is based on ethnographic fieldwork in Indonesia and will raise questions about the meaning that cultures ascribe to potentially dangerous natural spaces. By tracing the mythological and ritual life of the local clans of the Lamaholot and Ngada people, one can note that the entire cosmology and belief system of the people of Flores is tightly interwoven with the religious perception of space and place. Volcanoes play a key role in this belief system because the different clans see volcanoes as places of origin, though they also have a practical social function This article emphasizes the importance of volcanoes for individual and clan identity, and their function in the ideology of association and spiritual linkage between people, ancestors, and natural features. It furthermore examines the phenomenon of public confessions of guilt. These coincide with local interpretations of natural catastrophes as a result of the failure to respect local social values and norms and to fulfil religious duties. Consequently, the article argues, the idea of a dualism between humans and nature becomes irrelevant. Within this context, their reciprocal relationship with volcanoes enables clan groups in Flores to reconcile the unpredictability of nature with the dangerous and sometimes violent aspects of society.

scholarly journals Preliminary recognition of state of incorporating climate change impacts and adaptation considerations in SEA and EIA procedures for renewable energy projects

2020 ◽  
Vol 154 ◽  
pp. 07004
Author(s):  
Magdalena Tyszer ◽  
Slávka Gałaś
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Implementation Climate ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Energy Projects

In the last years, the European Union has developed and set a several environmental policies whose imposes an obligation on Member States to implement specific actions, including incorporating climate change considerations into SEA and EIA processes. One of major environmental challenges facing most developing countries is that of global climate change. The aim of the research was to obtain a comprehensive review of existing SEA and EIA practical approaches for renewable energy installations in the aspect of adaptation to climate change with specific reference to Polish projects. Both SEA and EIA procedures implemented in Poland and other countries was introduced with the intent of factoring in potential risk to the environment by future large-scale project developments such as the construction of power plants, roads, or dams. The paper consist the initial recognition of available data of the current experience and level of implementation climate change impact and adaptions into local procedures. Preliminary results suggest that the additional funding should be given for climate change adaptation in the energy sector, especially in renewable energy projects, as well as specific interventions for climate-adapted energy systems should be targeted in order to fill the gap in RES sector and spur sustainable energy development.

scholarly journals Reliable reference for the methane concentrations in Lake Kivu at the beginning of industrial exploitation

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 4707-4716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertram Boehrer ◽  
Wolf von Tümpling ◽  
Ange Mugisha ◽  
Christophe Rogemont ◽  
Augusta Umutoni
Keyword(s):  
Pressure Sensor ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Gas Pressure ◽  
Dissolved Methane ◽  
Dissolved Carbon ◽  
Direct Measurements ◽  
Lake Kivu ◽  
Custom Made ◽  
Responsible Action ◽  
Gas Tight

Abstract. Dissolved methane in Lake Kivu (East Africa) represents a precious energy deposit for the neighbouring countries, but the high gas loads have also been perceived as a threat by the local population. This is especially the case with respect to potential changes to the lake's stratification during planned industrial exploitation. Both of the above-mentioned issues require accurate and reliable measurements of dissolved gases and temporal changes to take responsible action. Previous data were unable to satisfactorily fulfil these requirements. Prior to our measurements, there was considerable disagreement about prognosticated new formation of methane. We show how measurement accuracy could be significantly improved by implementing equipment that is especially designed and modified for the complex gas conditions in Lake Kivu. Samples were taken from depths of 150 to 430 m to more reliably and more accurately determine the amount of dissolved methane and dissolved carbon dioxide. Beyond the provision of gas concentration profiles at the beginning of exploitation, this investigation can also potentially provide methods to survey the further evolution of gases over time. The use of gas-tight sampling bags produced highly reliable and accurate measurements. Our measurements confirmed the huge amount of stored methane, but clearly did not support the current belief of a significant recharge beyond diffusive loss. Direct measurements with a custom-made gas pressure sensor indicated no imminent danger due to limnic eruptions. However, a further survey of gas pressures is mandatory to detect changing conditions. Using sampling bags and a gas pressure sensor, we introduced reliable and highly accurate measurement approaches for the survey of the further development of gas concentrations. This equipment requires little effort with respect to calibration, which makes it suitable for use in the remote areas of Africa.

scholarly journals “I Will Show You My Faith by My Works”: Addressing the Nexus between Philosophical Theodicy and Human Suffering and Loss in Contexts of ‘Natural’ Disaster

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Roger Philip Abbott
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Human Suffering ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Catastrophic Earthquake ◽  
The Caribbean

As a practical theologian and researcher in the field of ‘natural’ disasters, as well as being a disaster responder chaplain, I am often confronted by, and have to confront, the nexus between theology/philosophy and “real life” in extremely traumatic contexts. The extreme suffering that is often the consequence of catastrophic natural disasters warrants solutions that can help vulnerable populations recover and adapt to live safely with natural hazards. For many practice-based responders, speculative theological/philosophical reflections around situations that are often human-caused seem predominantly vacuous exercises, potentially diverting attention away from the empiricism of causal human agency. In this article, I explore a middle ground involving a nuanced methodological approach to theodicy that is practical but no less intellectually demanding, that is theological more than philosophical, practical more than theoretical; a middle ground that also takes seriously the human culpability as causal for the human, and some would say the divine, suffering from disasters. I will include in this exploration my ethnographic fieldwork following the catastrophic earthquake to hit the Caribbean nation of Haiti in 2010.

scholarly journals Nuclear’s Model T

2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (07) ◽  
pp. 36-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig F. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Economic Performance ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economy Of Scale ◽  
Energy Projects ◽  
Alternative Sources ◽  
A Site ◽  
Central Station ◽  
Broad Interest

This article discusses that the future of nuclear energy could lie in plants that can be factory built, shipped to a site, and operated 30 years without refueling. The scope and timing •of the “nuclear renaissance,” however, remain somewhat uncertain. All that is known is that in countries around the globe, including the United States, significant numbers of new nuclear energy projects are under way or in various stages of planning, and this activity represents a departure from that of recent decades. The broad interest in developing new small reactor system concepts seems to be in conflict with the trend toward ever-larger central station power plants, which is driven by the principle of economy of scale. The Secure Transportable Autonomous Reactor (STAR) concept and the Small Secure Transportable Autonomous Reactor (SSTAR) reactor in particular provide good examples of additional design features that could make the introduction of such reactors more readily accepted while offering the potential for economic performance that makes sense in comparison to other alternative sources of energy.

scholarly journals Vietnam and Ukraine: Briliant Relations in New Period

2018 ◽  
pp. 273-282
Author(s):  
Nguyen Anh Tuan
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Foreign State ◽  
Footwear Industry ◽  
New Period ◽  
New Development ◽  
Post War ◽  
National Reconstruction

The article describes the development and strengthening of communication between Ukraine and Vietnam thanks to tireless work of many generations. Ukraine provided tremendous efficient moral and material assistance to Vietnam while it conducted struggle for peace and national independence as well as in the period of post-war national reconstruction. In the course of this war, thousands of Ukrainian advisors and military experts marched long distances throughout Vietnam to make their contribution to assisting the Vietnamese nation. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese, namely high-ranking officials in various fields, have been trained in Ukraine and obtained the necessary knowledge and skills. Ukrainians have made a significant contribution to the development of Vietnam. Over the last 26 years, traditional friendship and all-round cooperation between the two states have transformed into a comprehensive partnership. That upshot is the establishment of a new development basis of Vietnamese-Ukrainian relations that were rapidly developing in all domains, including economy, politics, defense, trade, science, education, and humanitarian cooperation. Ukraine is highly interested in developing cooperation with Vietnam, especially on those matters related to giving permission to Ukraine for vegetable exports to Vietnamese market. Ukraine also purports to deepen cooperation in the realm of machinery production, energy, in particular in projects of modernization, improvement or construction of new power plants in Vietnam. Besides, Vietnam is the only foreign state where Ukraine has its own port. Vietnamese and Ukrainian enterprises in the realm of agriculture, mining, IT, vessel construction, and footwear industry have concluded a range of agreements. Keywords: Vietnam, cooperation, Ukraine, Vietnamese nation, comprehensive partnership, Vietnamese-Ukrainian agreements.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document