Book Review: Jelena Subotić, Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2019.

In 2010, Claus Leggewie, a German professor of Political Science, tried to define what he called “the seven circles of European memory”, common memories shared, in theory, by all Europeans: - European unification as a success story which, however, has had little impact on European self-confidence; - the notion of Europe as a continent of immigrants; - European colonialism and colonial massacres, such as the Herero massacre, as forerunners of the Holocaust; - War and wartime memories, specially about World Wars I and II; - Population transfers and ethnic cleansings as pan-European traumas (for example, the Armenian genocide or the Ukranian Holodomor); - Soviet communism; - The Shoah as Europe’s negative founding myth. At that time, he saw the possible problems caused by the imposition of the Holocaust as “the matrix for dealing with communist state crimes against humanity across the whole of Eastern Europe” (Leggewie 4), which might lead “these nations to exploit this consensus [Eastern European countries having been victims of the Soviet empire] in order to relativize or conceal their participation in the murder of the Jews” (Leggewie 5).

Distort, Deflect, Deny: Appraising European Colonialism at Empire’s End, 1956–63

With an emphasis on the British Empire Commonwealth, this article explores how English-speaking Canadians understood European colonialism – its historical purpose, legacies, and demise – and the anti-colonial nationalism that ranged against it in the years bracketing the United Nations’ adoption of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in 1960. An extensive survey of opinion in the mainstream English-language press, supplemented by the perspectives of intellectuals, diplomats, and parliamentarians, suggests that empire apologism, contempt for anti-colonial nationalism, and the misrepresentation of colonial liberation struggles were pervasive. Building on recent scholarship that explores how race thinking shaped Canada’s international relations, and drawing from cultural theorist Kuan-Hsing Chen’s concept of “deimperialization,” the author argues that the preponderance of these phenomena evinced and abetted a failure to come to terms with colonialism’s deleterious imprint on the Third World.

Postcolonialism, Decoloniality, and Epistemologies of the South

Postcolonialism, decoloniality, and epistemologies of the South (ES) are three main ways of critically approaching the consequences of European colonialism in contemporary social, political, and cultural ways of thinking and acting. They converge in highlighting the unmeasurable sacrifice of human life; the expropriation of cultural and natural wealth; and the destruction, by suppressing, silencing, proscribing, or disfiguring, of non-European cultures and ways of knowing. The differences among them stem in part from the temporal and geographical contexts in which they emerged. Postcolonial studies emerged in the 1960s in the aftermath of the political independence of European colonies in Asia and Africa. They focused mainly on the economic, political, and cultural consequences of decolonization, highlighting the postindependence forms of economic dependence, political subordination, and cultural subalternization. They argue that while historical colonialism had ended (territorial occupation and ruling by a foreign country), colonialism continued under different guises. Decolonial studies emerged in the 1990s in Latin America. Since the political independence of the Latin American countries took place in the early 19th century, these analytical currents assumed that colonialism was over, but it had in fact been followed by coloniality, a global pattern of social interaction that inherited all the social and cultural corrosiveness of colonialism. Coloniality is conceived of as an all-encompassing racial understanding of social reality that permeates all realms of economic, social, political, and cultural life. Coloniality is the idea that whatever differs from the Eurocentric worldview is inferior, marginal, irrelevant, or dangerous. The ES, formulated in the 2000s, aim at naming and highlighting ancient and contemporary knowledges held by social groups as they resisted against modern Eurocentric domination. They conceive of modern science as a valid (and precious) type of knowledge but not as the only valid (and precious) type of knowledge; they insist on the possibility of interknowledge and intercultural translation. ES share with postcolonialism the idea that colonialism is not over. However, they insist that modern domination is constituted not only by colonialism but also by capitalism and patriarchy. Like decolonial studies, the ES denounce the cognitive and ontological destruction caused by coloniality, but they focus on the positiveness and creativity that emerge from knowledges born in struggle and on how they translate themselves into alternative ways of knowing and practicing self-determination.

Lay Expertise, Botanical Science, and Botanic Gardens as “Contact Zones”

Botanic gardens came into existence in the late 1500s to document, study, and preserve plants originating from all over the world. The scientific field of botany was a direct outcome of these developments. From the 1600s onward, botanic gardens also paid key roles in acclimatizing plants across distinct ecosystems and respective climate zones. This often entailed the appropriation of Indigenous systems of plant expertise that were then used without recognition within the parameters of scientific botanical expertise. As such, botanic gardens operated as contact zones of unequal power dynamics between European and Indigenous knowledge systems. Botanic gardens were intimately embroiled with the global expansion of European colonialism and processes of empire building. They helped facilitate the establishment of cash-crop systems around the world, which effectively amounted to the extractive systems of plant wealth accumulation that characterize the modern European colonial enterprise. In the mid-20th century, botanic gardens began to take on leading roles in the conservation of plant biodiversity while also attending to issues of social equity and sustainable development. Relationships between lay expertise and scientific knowledge acquired renewed significance in this context, as did discussions of the knowledge politics that these interactions entailed. As a consequence of these transformations, former colonial exchanges within the botanical garden world between Indigenous knowledge practices and their appropriation by science came under scrutiny in the final decades of the 20th century. Efforts to decolonize botanic gardens and their knowledge practices emerged in the second decade of the 20th century.

What Does Critical Race Theory Have to do With Music Education?

As more states pass bills banning critical race theory in schools, it is especially important for teachers to understand what critical race theory is and the implications of such bills. To understand what critical race theory is and intends to do. I look at its origins and how it has been employed in the field of education. Recognizing the legacy of European colonialism in music education, I propose that teachers critically examine our own subjectivities and engage with students’ counterstories to disrupt the dominant narrative.

Technology Translation and Synthesis: A Conceptual Framework for Critiquing Determinism in the Development Project

<p>This thesis constructs a theoretical framework which critiques the legitimacy of technology transfer for the purposes of development. Under the auspices of the development project, technology transfer has involved the introduction of technology into so-called developing societies in the hope of leapfrogging them toward modernity. This process embodies a deterministic definition of technology that sees it as an inherently objective and rational process, mapping the ideas of Western science. Hence, all technological and social change is expected to follow a linear progression from pre-modern to modern, and developing to developed, respectively. In contrast, philosophers of technology have argued that technology has a cultural dimension which permits multiple avenues of change. This definition incorporates a dialogue between technology and society, whereby technologies are reinterpreted and imbued with culturally specific meanings by the adopting societies. The culturally contingent nature of these meanings entails that they are not necessarily transferable between cultures. Rather, technology must be translated. Conceptually, technology translation requires that aspects of the donor and recipient cultures are intertwined, producing a novel set of hybridised meanings. I argue that this process occurs primarily through the mode of synthesis - an emergent process whose outcomes are not predictable based solely on a priori knowledge of the interacting cultures. These ideas are tested in case studies arising from Indian agriculture. Indian agriculture has a long history of external agricultural influence in the shape of European colonialism, the Green Revolution and the more recent Gene Revolution. The results support the idea that both technology transfer and synthesis have occurred in Indian agriculture following the adoption of new technologies. Development agencies must revise their simplistic notion of technology by acknowledging the centrality of culture as part of technology, therefore, if they wish to ensure greater success in the future.</p>

Technology Translation and Synthesis: A Conceptual Framework for Critiquing Determinism in the Development Project

<p>This thesis constructs a theoretical framework which critiques the legitimacy of technology transfer for the purposes of development. Under the auspices of the development project, technology transfer has involved the introduction of technology into so-called developing societies in the hope of leapfrogging them toward modernity. This process embodies a deterministic definition of technology that sees it as an inherently objective and rational process, mapping the ideas of Western science. Hence, all technological and social change is expected to follow a linear progression from pre-modern to modern, and developing to developed, respectively. In contrast, philosophers of technology have argued that technology has a cultural dimension which permits multiple avenues of change. This definition incorporates a dialogue between technology and society, whereby technologies are reinterpreted and imbued with culturally specific meanings by the adopting societies. The culturally contingent nature of these meanings entails that they are not necessarily transferable between cultures. Rather, technology must be translated. Conceptually, technology translation requires that aspects of the donor and recipient cultures are intertwined, producing a novel set of hybridised meanings. I argue that this process occurs primarily through the mode of synthesis - an emergent process whose outcomes are not predictable based solely on a priori knowledge of the interacting cultures. These ideas are tested in case studies arising from Indian agriculture. Indian agriculture has a long history of external agricultural influence in the shape of European colonialism, the Green Revolution and the more recent Gene Revolution. The results support the idea that both technology transfer and synthesis have occurred in Indian agriculture following the adoption of new technologies. Development agencies must revise their simplistic notion of technology by acknowledging the centrality of culture as part of technology, therefore, if they wish to ensure greater success in the future.</p>

Whatever Happened to the Canaanites? Principles of a Christian Ethic of Mass Immigration

This article aims to articulate a set of general principles of a Christian ethic of mass immigration. Toward this end, it considers: biblical and theological grounds for cosmopolitanism (and ‘open borders’); biblical and theological caveats against cosmopolitanism; elements of a Christian ethic of the treatment of near and distant neighbours; what Francisco de Vitoria’s ‘On the American Indians’ has to contribute; what lessons should be learned from the history of European colonialism; and the nature of mass immigration into twenty-first-century Europe and the problems it entails. The article concludes with six principles: relevant empirical data should be mastered before developing a judgement; concerns about mass immigration should not be dismissed out of hand as ‘racist’; care of the alien may take a variety of forms, not only that of granting asylum; illegal economic immigrants should normally be returned home; compassion should look in several directions—not only at the migrant, but also at the working-class competitor for jobs and services, and at members of government burdened with the responsibility of making hard decisions; and the Christian is obliged to exercise, not only compassion, but justice and prudence.

Introduction

The subject of the book is the history of citizenship in its twofold meaning: as a legally defined, formal status of belonging to a (nation) state, i.e. nationality, as well as a bundle of rights and obligations associated with the status of citizenship. The book reveals the transformation of citizenship by examining the connection between its two aspects and the struggles for belonging behind them. Citizenship in this broad sense is examined in its development since the beginning of the twentieth century while concentrating on five key questions: First, to what extent is citizenship a measuring rod for inclusion and exclusion? Second, does the change of politico-social constellations better explain the development of citizenship than idioms of nationhood? Third, does citizenship confirm the thesis of a legal development gap between Western and Eastern Europe? Fourth, how is citizenship in Europe shaped by repercussions of European colonialism? Fifth, how does citizenship serve as a legal tool to establish social ranking of groups, particularly of women and Jews, in European societies?