Patrolling Epistemic Borders in a World of Borderless Pandemics

Patrolling Epistemic Borders in a World of Borderless Pandemics
Author: Artwell Nhemachena
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 436
Release: 2021-11-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9956552526

The global epistemological gendarmerie do not only police epistemologies but they also infect the world with infectious epidemics of laughter targeted at those people whose epistemologies are offhandedly condemned as sterile and useless in controlling and containing pandemics. Patrolling epistemic borders in ways that demobilise indigenous epistemologies, the global epistemological policemen have ironically managed to prevent "transgressive" epistemologies from crossing borders but they have fatally failed to prevent the transgressive COVID-19 from recurrently crossing borders, be they bodily, national or continental. Brandishing fetishised degree and diploma certificates, African comprador academics, who are more interested in fetishised ranks and titles than in creativity and innovation, have also fatally failed to help African communities by producing vaccines for Africans by Africans. Arguing that Eurocentric epistemologies have become sterile fetishes, the book contends that such epistemologies have disabled African scholars from actively producing vaccines on a continent where there are paradoxically more epidemics of mimetic laughter than there are efforts at creativity and innovation. The book is useful for scholars in sociology, anthropology, development studies, languages and communication, natural sciences, historical studies and social work.

Rebuilding Higher Education Systems Impacted by Crises: Navigating Traumatic Events, Disasters, and More

Rebuilding Higher Education Systems Impacted by Crises: Navigating Traumatic Events, Disasters, and More
Author: Kayyali, Mustafa
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2024-04-05
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The resilience and adaptability of higher education systems are under unprecedented strain. From natural disasters to pandemics, and economic crises to political turmoil, universities and colleges worldwide have grappled with a myriad of crises that disrupt their core missions of teaching, research, and community engagement. As we find ourselves at the crossroads of these tumultuous times, the imperative to reconstruct and revitalize higher education systems becomes increasingly evident. Rebuilding Higher Education Systems Impacted by Crises: Navigating Traumatic Events, Disasters, and More is a pioneering work that addresses the critical issues surrounding the restoration of higher education systems in the wake of various crises. This book serves as a roadmap for educators, administrators, policymakers, and stakeholders who share a commitment to preserving and advancing higher education, even in the face of adversity. The 21st century has witnessed a rapid escalation in the frequency and severity of crises affecting higher education institutions. These crises span from the abrupt shift to online learning necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic to the enduring ramifications of climate change on campus infrastructure. Additional factors such as financial pressures, evolving demographics, and the ever-changing technological landscape further complicate the challenge. This book embarks on a deep exploration of these challenges and offers practical solutions, making it an indispensable resource for anyone vested in the future of higher education.

The Russia-Ukraine War from an African Perspective

The Russia-Ukraine War from an African Perspective
Author: Artwell Nhemachena
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 574
Release: 2023-09-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9956553077

In the Russia-Ukraine war, attention has been focused on the "Special Military Operation" This book argues that there are many other special operations, in various other arenas in the world, that deserve equal and urgent attention. Connecting special military operations to what it calls special economic operations, special cultural operations, special technological operations, special sexual operations and special political operations, the book argues that special operations are not exclusive. AIso drawing on topical debates about technoscience, the book critically examines invasive technologies in relation to bodily autonomy, integrity and privacy, and it urges scholars and thinkers to compare these invasive technological operations to invasive special military operations. The book grapples with the future of humanity in a world where the human is decentred even as the world is witnessing the proliferation of resource wars. The book is relevant for scholars in anthropology, sociology, politics, government studies, international relations, history, media studies, science and technology studies and disaster management.

Sovereignty Becoming Pulvereignty

Sovereignty Becoming Pulvereignty
Author: Artwell Nhemachena
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2022-09-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9956552828

This book delves into the topical issue of the future of humanity and of being African in a world increasingly subjected to the power of technology and the dominance of a mercilessly self-absolved global elite. A slave is not only someone who is materially impoverished but also someone who is deprived of autonomy and sovereignty in the sense of being physically or virtually chained or shackled to human and nonhuman networks that negate the essence of the "I" or the "self". Discoursing the neologism slave 4.0 with the ongoing 21st century revolutions designed to create flat ontologies, this book argues that the world is witnessing not only the emergence of industry 4.0 but also the concomitant emergence of slave 4.0. Whereas historically, Africans were physically captured and transported across the Atlantic Ocean, minds of twenty-first century Africans are set to be nanotechnologically scanned, captured and transferred to the metaverse where they will neither own natural resources nor biologically reproduce. The book is handy for scholars in sociology, anthropology, political science, government studies, development studies, digital humanities, environmental studies, religious studies, theology, missiology, science and technology studies.

Globalization and International Law

Globalization and International Law
Author: D. Bederman
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2008-06-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 023061289X

This volume develops a set of provocative themes: globalization is not new; it is neither legally inevitable nor irreversible; and international legal systems and institutions can assert only a special and limited influence on globalizing developments.

The Modern State

The Modern State
Author: Christopher Pierson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2004-07-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134331347

The modern state is hugely important in our everyday lives. It takes nearly half our income in taxes. It registers our births, marriages and deaths. It educates our children and pays our pensions. It has a unique power to compel, in some cases exercising the ultimate sanction of preserving life or ordering death. Yet most of us would struggle to say exactly what the state is. The Modern State offers a clear, comprehensive and provoking introduction to one of the most important phenomena of contemporary life. Topics covered include: * the nation state and its historical context * state and economy * state and societies * state and citizens * international relations * the future of the state

International Security Management and the United Nations

International Security Management and the United Nations
Author: Muthiah Alagappa
Publisher: Manas Publications
Total Pages: 506
Release: 2004
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9788170491989

What kind of comparative advantage does the United nations hold in the field of security compared to other states and regional organizations? What assets does the United Nations possess to deal with security issues? These are some of the questions that this book explores.

The Ideal River

The Ideal River
Author: Joanne Yao
Publisher:
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2022-03-08
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9781526154385

This book examines the geographical imaginaries that underpinned international efforts to create the first international organizations along the Rhine, Danube, and Congo Rivers. In doing so, these imaginaries helped constitute the early international order in the nineteenth century and continues to underpin modern global governance today.

Transpositions

Transpositions
Author: Rosi Braidotti
Publisher: Polity
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2006-03-27
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0745635962

"This book offers an account of ethical and political subjectivity in contemporary culture. It makes a case for a non-unitary or nomadic conception of the subject, in opposition to the claims of ideologies such as conservatism, liberal individualism and techno-capitalism. Braidotti takes a stand against moral universalism, while offering a vigorous defence of nomadic ethics against the charges of relativism and nihilism. She calls for a new form of ethical accountability that takes "Life" as the subject, not the object, of enquiry. The nomadic ethical subject negotiates successfully the complex tension between the multiplicity of political forces on the one hand and the sustained commitment to emancipatory politics on the other."

The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Development

The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Development
Author: Wendy Harcourt
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 672
Release: 2016-04-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1137382732

With original and engaging contributions, this Handbook confirms feminist scholarship in development studies as a vibrant research field. It reveals the diverse ways that feminist theory and practice inform and shape gender analysis and development policies, bridging generations of feminists from different institutions, disciplines and regions.