scholarly journals Memory and local Identity: the Persistence of Colonial-Era Street Names in Hong kong after 1997

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
Wenchuan Huang
Keyword(s):  
Political Agenda ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Local Identity ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Block Spaces ◽  
Spatial Changes ◽  
Street Naming ◽  
The City

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> The critical study of toponymy has paid considerable attention to the renaming of streets following revolutionary political change since 1980s. Such renaming is intended to institutionalize a new political agenda through shaping the meanings in everyday practices and landscapes. For example, after taking back the foreign concessions in 1943,the Wang Jingwei government eradicated all the streets of Shanghai named after foreign figures. The same case as post-colonial Singapore after 1965, where naming streets served to erase the colonial past and assert national independence. Nevertheless, the most of Colonial-Era Street Names still persisted in the city after Hong Kong's reunification to China in 1997.</p><p>This research seeks to advance the critical toponymical study through the history and spatial changes of Hong Kong's street names to explore the street naming operations of Colonial governance with different block spaces in different periods. And further discusses about memory, local identity and the persistence of Colonial-Era street names after 1997.</p>

scholarly journals Indonesian Political Islam: Capitalist Development and the Legacies of the Cold War

2011 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vedi R. Hadiz
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
New Order ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Sociological Factors ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The City

This article explores the genesis of Indonesian political Islam and its interactions with the nationalist secular state in the immediate post-colonial era while examining some of the origins of the ‘radical’ stream that has garnered much attention in the current post-authoritarian period. It puts forward the idea that, rather than an outcome of Indonesian democratisation, this stream was in fact the product of authoritarian New Order rule. The article also considers some parallels in the trajectories of political Islam more generally in Indonesia, the Middle East and North Africa, especially as a kind of populist response to the tensions and contradictions of global capitalism. It addresses the city of Surakarta (Solo) as a case study and highlights the importance of Cold War politics in moulding political Islam in Indonesia and elsewhere. The approach emphasises historical and sociological factors shaping political Islam that have tended to be relegated to the background in prevalent security-oriented analyses concerned with issues of terrorism and violence.

scholarly journals Belonging to the City: Representations of a Colonial Clock Tower in British Hong Kong

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-332
Author(s):  
Catherine S. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Local Identity ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Colonial Society ◽  
Government Documents ◽  
Urban Elites ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽  
City Representations ◽  
The City

This study interprets the transformation of a European clock tower that was built in British Hong Kong. By examining its purpose and life in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, I focus on the voices that spoke for the clock tower in times of crisis and change. Through a combination of government documents, newspaper articles, editorial letters, historical narratives, travel guides, and photographs, this study aims to show the transitions of the clock tower in line with the development of local identity in Hong Kong during the colonial era. It highlights the shift in colonial society from a racially segregated city to a cosmopolitan city shared, to a certain extent, by urban elites, foreign settlers, and local Chinese residents.

Landscape and Ecology

2020 ◽  
pp. 342-368
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Grimley
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Cultural Transformation ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Musical Thought ◽  
The Social ◽  
Representational Practice ◽  
Raymond Williams ◽  
The City ◽  
Privileged Site

Images of landscape lie at the heart of nineteenth-century musical thought. From frozen winter fields, mountain echoes, distant horn calls, and the sound of the wind moving among the pines, landscape was a vivid representational practice, a creative resource, and a privileged site for immersion, gothic horror, and the Romantic sublime. As Raymond Williams observed, however, the nineteenth century also witnessed an unforeseen transformation of artistic responses to landscape, which paralleled the social and cultural transformation of the country and the city under processes of intense industrialization and economic development. This chapter attends to several musical landscapes, from the Beethovenian “Pastoral” to Delius’s colonial-era evocation of an exoticized American idyll, as a means of mapping nineteenth-century music’s obsession with the idea of landscape and place. Distance recurs repeatedly as a form of subjective presence and through paradoxical connections with proximity and intimacy.

Between Madras and Chennai: Narratives of belonging in a post colonial city

2021 ◽  
pp. 002198942199245
Author(s):  
Kavithaa Rajamony ◽  
Jyotirmaya Tripathy
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Change ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Fictional Characters ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Cultural Autonomy ◽  
New Name ◽  
Fictional Narratives ◽  
The City

Fictional narratives on Chennai, after its official conversion from Madras in 1996, offer an intriguing register for exploring ways of belonging. Using a postcolonial framework, the paper closely scrutinizes T. S. Tirumurti’s Clive Avenue and Chennaivaasi (and some other authors invested in Chennai’s contemporary culture) and subjects them to critique as sites of meaning making. An effort is made to explore how these narratives respond to the new reality of Chennai, to what extent they see the city producing a standardized experience, and how the fictional characters corroborate or contest institutional change. In the process, the texts are brought to converse with the postcolonial desire for cultural autonomy, its mediation by a nativist agenda, as well as the ambivalence and contradictions inherent in such a desire. The texts betray the inadequacies of the new name as a stable container of cultural meanings and propose an idea of the city that is internally incoherent and multi-experiential.

scholarly journals Failure to Meet up to Expectation: Examining Women’s Activist Groups in the Post-Colonial Period in Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-35
Author(s):  
Adebukola Dagunduro ◽  
Adebimpe Adenugba
Keyword(s):  
Colonial Period ◽  
Women's Activism ◽  
Women's Groups ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Nigerian Women ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Liberal Feminism ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Women’S Groups ◽  
Activist Groups

AbstractWomen’s activism within various ethnic groups in Nigeria dates back to the pre-colonial era, with notable heroic leaders, like Moremi of Ife, Amina of Zaria, Emotan of Benin, Funmilayo Kuti, Margaret Ekpo and many others. The participation of Nigerian women in the Beijing Conference of 1995 led to a stronger voice for women in the political landscape. Several women’s rights groups have sprung up in the country over the years. Notable among them are the Federation of Nigerian Women’s Societies (FNWS), Women in Nigeria (WIN), Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) and Female in Nigeria (FIN). However, majority have failed to actualize significant political, social or economic growth. This paper examines the challenges and factors leading to their inability to live up to people’s expectations. Guided by patriarchy and liberal feminism theories, this paper utilizes both historical and descriptive methods to examine these factors. The paper argues that a lack of solidarity among women’s groups, financial constraints, unfavourable political and social practices led to the inability of women’s groups in Nigeria to live up to the envisaged expectations. The paper concludes that, for women’s activist groups to survive in Nigeria, a quiet but significant social revolution is necessary among women. Government should also formulate and implement policies that will empower women politically, economically and socially.

scholarly journals Social Perception and Urbanscape Identity of Flagship Cultural Developments in Szczecin (in the Re-Urbanization Context)

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 398
Author(s):  
Eliza Sochacka ◽  
Magdalena Rzeszotarska-Pałka
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Social Perception ◽  
Local Identity ◽  
Functional Complexity ◽  
Questionnaire Surveys ◽  
Urban Strategy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City ◽  
Cultural Developments

A growing number of urban interventions, such as culture-led regeneration strategies, has emerged alongside growing awareness of the concept of re-urbanization. These interventions evolve to create a holistic urban vision, with aims to promote social cohesion and strengthen local identity as opposed to traditional goals of measuring the economic impact of new cultural developments. Szczecin’s, Poland urban strategy is focused on the expansion of culture—a condition for improving the quality of life and increasing the city’s attractiveness. This article assesses the potential for re-urbanization of Szczecin’s flagship cultural developments. Questionnaire surveys and qualitative research methods were used to assess the characteristics that distinguish cultural projects in the formal, location-related, functional, and symbolic layers, as well as examining their social perception. The results show that the strength of these indicators of urbanscape identity affects how the cultural developments are assessed by the society. Semiotic coherence and functional complexity of the structures have a significant impact on the sense of identification, while their monumentality and exposure contribute to the assessment of the impact on their surroundings. A development with a firm identity, embedded in the city’s tradition not only preserves the cultural heritage of the city but also makes inhabitants feel association with the new project.

Colonial Education, Political Elites, and Regional Political Inequality in Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 001041402199717
Author(s):  
Joan Ricart-Huguet
Keyword(s):  
Political Elites ◽  
Colonial Education ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Political Inequality ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Strategic Bargaining ◽  
Recruitment Practices ◽  
Colonial Legacies ◽  
Home Region

Political elites tend to favor their home region when distributing resources. But what explains how political power is distributed across a country’s regions to begin with? Explanations of cabinet formation focus on short-term strategic bargaining and some emphasize that ministries are allocated equitably to minimize conflict. Using new data on the cabinet members (1960–2010) of 16 former British and French African colonies, I find that some regions have been systematically much more represented than others. Combining novel historical and geospatial records, I show that this regional political inequality derives not from colonial-era development in general but from colonial-era education in particular. I argue that post-colonial ministers are partly a byproduct of civil service recruitment practices among European administrators that focused on levels of literacy. Regional political inequality is an understudied pathway through which colonial legacies impact distributive politics and unequal development in Africa today. JEL: F54, I26, N37, N47

scholarly journals China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Will it Make or Mar Development in the Central and West Africa Subregions?

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
William G. Dzekashu ◽  
Julius N. Anyu
Keyword(s):  
Growth Dynamics ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
The West ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Domestic Products

The West, chiefly Europe, left political footmarks in Africa from the Colonial Era, along with varying economic footprints and surviving engagements in the immediate Post-colonial Era. However, the relationships between Africa and her former colonial masters have hardly yielded much to the former following the wave of independence, leading to the perception of failed relationships. This perception of failure to deliver on their undertakings has left Africa with only one option—China. The latter has been addressing some of Africa’s urgent infrastructure needs in return for natural resources and agricultural products. These engagements on the surface appear to be good business, but on further examination seem questionable notably as it relates to debt distress on vulnerable economies. To increase her footprint within the continent, China extended her Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to most African nations who have signed a memorandum of understanding for future development projects. Though the commitments usually are unspecified, China’s investments have seen rapid growth since the early 2000s, largely owing to the implementation of the BRI. The memoranda have had the potential to strengthen ties with partner nations. The expansion to include Africa in its economic participation in the BRI has left the West questioning China’s motives while reinforcing suspicions about possible future US-China conflict. The impact of BRI on the African continent is quite visible in all the subregions, especially in their improved gross domestic products. A burning question has been whether these partnerships represent win-win relationships for sustainable growth or debt-growth dynamics.

scholarly journals Role of the South in the Development of International Environmental Law

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-157
Author(s):  
Parvez Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Law Texts

Abstract In the post-colonial era, the newly emerging and independent states of Asia and Africa, supported by the developing world in South America, questioned the validity and legitimacy of norms of international law. Those norms were perceived to serve only the interests of the developed Western nations and were alien to the aspirations of the developing countries. International law has evolved over time, with a willingness to accept the viewpoint of new participants in the global process in a variety of contexts. These include the international protection of human rights and international law regarding the permanent sovereignty of nations over their natural wealth and resources. The interests of developing countries have been assimilated, though the extent to which this is done varies. A central message advanced is that the ultimate integrity of international law is the commonality and synthesis of the interests of all states, rich and poor, agricultural and industrial. The continuing contribution of developing countries, through their participation in conferences, negotiation of treaties and soft law texts, adds immeasurable strength to the current state and future development of international environmental law.

Locating the politics of a Sierra Leonean chiefdom

Africa ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 558-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Fanthorpe
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Sierra Leonean ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Breeding Grounds ◽  
Primary Means

The chiefdoms of Sierra Leone are institutions of colonial origin but nevertheless continue to serve as local government units in the post-colonial state. The prevailing view among scholars is that these institutions have little basis in indigenous political culture, and have furthermore become breeding grounds of political corruption. This view has tended to elide anthropological analysis of internal chiefdom politics. However, it is argued in this article that such conclusions are premature. With reference to the Biriwa Limba chiefdom of northern Sierra Leone, it is shown that historical precedent, in many cases relating to prominent political figures of the late nineteenth century, continues to serve as a primary means of ordering local rights in land, settlement and political representation. This phenomenon is not a product of innate conservatism but emerges rather as a pragmatic response to the persistent failure of successive Sierra Leone administrations to extend modern measures of citizenship to the bulk of the rural populace. Rights and properties have become progressively localised in villages originally registered for tax collection in the early colonial era. Here one finds one of the most telling legacies of the British policy of indirect rule in post-colonial Sierra Leone.

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