(Sea?) Fortress Commander Huynefer, and His Shabti

A hitherto anonymous Nineteenth Dynasty shabti is published fully for the first time. Its text, though damaged, identifies its owner as Huynefer, a Royal Scribe and a xtm-Fortress Commander. This unusual combination of administrative and military titles was particularly associated with two important northern frontier fortresses, the fortress of Tjaru and the Fortress of the Great Green, guarding respectively the Ways of Horus and the Mediterranean Sea. The same name and titles are known from a tomb at Saqqara, although the owner’s immediate family members, Mahu and Nebnefer, are better known from an adjacent tomb. The administrative and military implications of the titles held by these men are discussed in relation to the sea fortress, which is shown to be Huynefer’s post, set against events that took place in Egypt’s northern territories during their lifetimes. The possible impact of Huynefer’s career on the atypical design of this shabti is explored.

Using Excavated Slips to Look at Effective Governance of the Northern Frontier during the Han Dynasty—The Lelang Commandery in Han Slips

By analyzing “The Record of the Increase and Decrease in the Number of Households in Lelang Commandery by County in Year Four of Chuyuan” 樂浪郡初元四年縣别户口多少[集] 簿 from Han tomb #364, located in Jeongbaekdong 정백동 (貞柏洞), Pyeongyang, this paper shows how population and territory were fundamental to the exercise of power. Complete population figures for Lelang Commandery 樂浪郡 are evidence of the existence of a governing mechanism of commanderies and counties in this region during the Western Han. Furthermore, an assortment of excavated seals in the area are symbols of different levels of official authority. The discovery of impressions on clay from seals of government officials from commandery level to county level, essentially covering every county in Lelang Commandery, indicates the effectiveness of various administrative bodies and officials of all levels in exercising their functions and powers. Wooden slips that refer to Lelang, which were excavated in the Juyan 居延 area, show that Lelang commandery and all other border commanderies were effectively governed during the Western Han down through Wang Mang to the Eastern Han.

Violent Extremism in the Northern Frontier Counties of Kenya: Exploring Human Security as a Sustainable Countering Strategy

The contemporary rise of terrorism as a form of violent extremism has led the government to adopt a narrow state-centric security approach to mitigate these threats. Violent extremism compromises peace, security, and communal cohesion, and often thrives on human security deficits such as marginalisation and disenfranchisement from the decision-making processes. The prominence of a state-centric security approach has overshadowed the human security dimension of countering violent extremism, thereby compromising state-society relations. On the contrary, a human security approach which entails freedom from fear and freedom from want, is viewed as a holistic approach to security that secures both the state and society. Less debated, however, is the relationship between countering violent extremism and societal marginalisation as viewed through the lens of human security. This paper argues that the narrow state-centric approach adopted by the Kenyan government in the Northern Frontier Counties has continually marginalised the community living in these counties and is proving unsustainable in countering violent extremism. As a point of departure from this approach, a more human security centred approach is suggested which is likely to be more sustainable in countering violent extremism and more successful in reversing the trend of marginalisation that has arisen from the narrow state-centric approach.