scholarly journals Songea Mbano and the ‘halfway dead’ of the Majimaji War (1905–7) in memory and theatre

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 4-22
Author(s):  
Yann LeGall
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Post Mortem ◽  
The South ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public ◽  
Theatre Production ◽  
The Future ◽  
Transnational Memory ◽  
Colonial Violence

Debates on the relevance of repatriation of indigenous human remains are water under the bridge today. Yet, a genuine will for dialogue to work through colonial violence is found lacking in the European public sphere. Looking at local remembrance of the Majimaji War (1905–7) in the south of Tanzania and a German–Tanzanian theatre production, it seems that the spectre of colonial headhunting stands at the heart of claims for repatriation and acknowledgement of this anti-colonial movement. The missing head of Ngoni leader Songea Mbano haunts the future of German–Tanzanian relations in heritage and culture. By staging the act of post-mortem dismemberment and foregrounding the perspective of descendants, the theatre production Maji Maji Flava offers an honest proposal for dealing with stories of sheer colonial violence in transnational memory.

When the ‘Other’ becomes ‘Us’: the future of Muslims and Islam in Europe

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-78
Author(s):  
H. A. Hellyer
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Member States ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Way

Whether one regards it positively or negatively, it is clear that the Muslim presence and the space that Islam is currently negotiating in the European public sphere are having significant impacts on the way that Europe thinks of itself: both as a continent and in member states. What does this mean for European societies, when the “Them” becomes “Us”? What sort of diversity are European societies prepared to accept already, and what is contentious? Are Muslims required to “reform” in order to fit within the parameters of European societies, or is this unnecessary? How should Muslims be represented in Europe, and what forms of representation can European societies manage within their pre-existing political systems?

scholarly journals Foibe literature: documentation or victimhood narrative?

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Zamparutti
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
World War ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Selection Of

This essay analyses the literature on the foibe to illustrate a political use of human remains. The foibe are the deep karstic pits in Istria and around Trieste where Yugoslavian Communist troops disposed of Italians they executed en masse during World War II. By comparing contemporary literature on the foibe to a selection of archival reports of foibe exhumation processes it will be argued that the foibe literature popular in Italy today serves a political rather than informational purpose. Counterpublic theory will be applied to examine how the recent increase in popular foibe literature brought the identity of the esuli, one of Italy‘s subaltern counterpublics, to the national stage. The paper argues that by employing the narrative structure of the Holocaust, contemporary literature on the foibe attempts to recast Italy as a counterpublic in the wider European public sphere, presenting Italy as an unrecognised victim in World War II.

Facing Democratic Crisis in the EU: the New European Citizens’ Initiative Regulation

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-147
Author(s):  
Diego González Cadenas
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Effective Development ◽  
Popular Initiative ◽  
Legitimacy Crisis ◽  
The Eu

For some scholars, the possibilities for diminishing the European democratic deficit and the Union’s legitimacy crisis are intertwined with the creation of a European demos and a European public sphere, that, in turn, can create a European civil solidarity. The European citizens’ initiative, which has recently been re-regulated, was precisely designed to help to solve these problems. As we shall see, the new Regulation includes a whole series of positive technical issues that will improve the usage of the mechanism. However, the European citizens’ initiative is still far from being a popular initiative and, therefore, to contribute to diminish the perception of distance between institutions and citizens of the EU or promoting the creation of a European demos. In this vein, after an overview of the European citizens’ initiative new Regulation main innovations and weaknesses, I will present a set of measures in order to achieve a more effective development of the mechanism.

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