Land and Contestations over Autochthony and Local Citizenship in Agrarian Ghana

2021 ◽  
pp. 227797602110687
Author(s):  
Gertrude Dzifa Torvikey
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Agrarian Change ◽  
The Political ◽  
Citizenship Status ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Community Institutions ◽  
Land Grab ◽  
The Social ◽  
Local Citizenship

This article examines the reimagination of communities in an industrial cassava frontier of Ghana in the wake of a contested land grab supported by state and community institutions. Qualitative and survey data were used to construct the existing social relations in the communities through the lens of earlier processes of agrarian change that have transformed the social base of the communities. It is argued that the expansion of capitalist production systems into agrarian areas results in local citizenship contestations centered on land, and redefinition and reclassification of people and their access to land. The multiple claims and contestations that arose from the land grab and the political reactions from below are highlighted. It is further argued that differentiated dispossession and class differences determine the strategies used by affected people. While some farmers demonstrated agency by holding on to a “little pie” to enjoy greater community social cohesion, others, drawing from their local citizenship status, although contested, fought the land grab.

Applied Linguistics in the Neoliberal University: Ideological keywords and social agency

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marnie Holborow
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Social Agency ◽  
The Political ◽  
Institutional Discourse ◽  
The Social ◽  
Neoliberal Ideology ◽  
Social Dynamic ◽  
The University

AbstractNeoliberalism and neoliberal ideology has only recently begun to gain attention within applied linguistics. This paper seeks to contribute to this development with a focus on neoliberal keywords in official texts. The ideological content of these keywords can best be understood within the political project of neoliberalism and within the political economy of contemporary capitalism. Studies which have highlighted the marketization of institutional discourse have analysed this phenomenon from a discourse-based perspective, rather than seeing neoliberal ideology in language as a contradictory manifestation of wider social relations in periods of social crises. The appearance of ideology in language, this paper holds, is unstable, unfinished, unpredictable and dependent for meaning on what Dell Hymes characterised as the “persistent” social context. The ideology of neoliberalism, for all its apparent hegemony, is not guaranteed full consent, and this applies also to its presence in language. The question of social agency is crucial to understanding the social dynamic and unpredictability of ideology in language, both in terms of who produces neoliberal keywords and how they are received and understood. This paper argues that international think tanks, articulating the interests of capital, act as powerful keyword standardisers and their influence will be examined in the production of texts in the Irish university context. However, neoliberal keywords, in certain conjunctures, will also be contested, as will be shown. The paper concludes that applied linguistics is uniquely placed to both critique and challenge neoliberal keywords in the university and that such a challenge has the potential to find wider political resonance as governments, amid continuing economic recession, recharge the ideology of neoliberalism.

Historical Context of Agricultural Commercialisation in Ghana: Changes in Land and Labour Relations

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Awetori Yaro ◽  
Joseph Kofi Teye ◽  
Gertrude Dzifa Torvikey
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Agrarian Change ◽  
Wealth Accumulation ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Global Capital

This paper provides a broad review of agrarian change in Ghana by highlighting the major developments in the agrarian political economy and their implications for agricultural commercialisation and its modifying influence on land tenure systems, livelihoods, production systems, social relations, and labour relations. While current land tenure arrangements and labour relations in Africa are often explained in terms of globalisation, we argue that the historical context of agricultural commercialisation in Ghana shows continuities and discontinuities in agrarian relations from the colonial period to the present. We also argue that changes over the years have blended with globalisation to produce the distinct forms of labour relations that we see today. The commercialisation of agriculture in Ghana has evolved progressively from the colonial era aided by policies of coercion, persuasion and incentives to its current globalised form. The expansion in the range of commodities over time necessarily increased the demand for more land and labour. The article contributes to the literature by providing great insights into changes in land and labour relations due to increasing commercialisation, and how these enhanced wealth accumulation for the richer segments of society and global capital to the detriment of the poor throughout Ghana’s agrarian history.

scholarly journals GEOGRAFIA POLÍTICA E O SETOR MINERAL: as proposições legislativas que impactam a gestão dos territórios com mineração no estado do Pará – 2011 a 2016

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Luana Faria Medeiros
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Conflicts Of Interests ◽  
Political Aspect ◽  
Mineral Sector ◽  
The Social ◽  
Politica Publica ◽  
Toma De Decisiones ◽  
The Government

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND THE MINERAL SECTOR: the legislative propositions that impact the management of the territories with mining in the state of Pará – 2011 to 2016GEOGRAFÍA POLÍTICA Y EL SECTOR MINERO: las proposiciones legislativas que impactan la gestión de los territorios con la minería en el estado de Pará – 2011 a 2016O presente trabalho tem o objetivo de resgatar o campo da política na Geografia, no contexto da atividade mineral no estado do Pará, principalmente diante de vários entendimentos de que os conflitos de interesses nas sociedades e nos territórios se resolvem também pelo viés político; partindo de uma leitura teórica do conceito de território, poder e política, onde essa tríade será determinante para o entendimento das proposições legislativas dos anos de 2011 a 2016 voltadas para a mineração, e da análise da gestão política e territorial no setor mineral paraense e seus impactos na sociedade a partir das políticas públicas. A relevância da pesquisa está no aspecto político que envolve a tomada de decisão que é essencialmente importante nas relações sociais de poder do Governo do Estado do Pará que, materializadas, causam impactos no território com mineração, sobretudo na utilização da taxa mineral, instrumento regulador de ação no território.Palavras-chave: Território; Poder; Política; Mineração.ABSTRACTThe present work aims to redeem the field of politics in geography, in the context of the mineral activity in the state of Pará, mainly faced with various understanding that conflicts of interests in societies and territories also resolve by bias Political; Starting from a theoretical reading of the concept of territory, power and politics, where this triad will be decisive for the understanding of the legislative propositions of the years of 2011 to 2016 focused on mining, and the analysis of the political and territorial management in the mineral sector Pará and Its impacts on society from public Policy. The relevance of the research is in the political aspect which involves the decision making which is essentially important in the social relations of the Government of the state of Pará that, materialized, cause impacts on the territory with mining, especially in the use of the mineral rate, Action-regulating instrument in the territory.Keywords: Territory; Power; Policy; Mining.RESUMEN El presente trabajo pretende redimir el campo de la política en geografía, en el contexto de la actividad minera en el estado de Pará, frente principalmente a diversos entendimientos de que los conflictos de intereses en sociedades y territorios también se resuelven por sesgo Política. A partir de una lectura teórica del concepto de territorio, poder y política, donde esta tríada será decisiva para la comprensión de las proposiciones legislativas de los años de 2011 a 2016 se centró en la minería, y el análisis de la gestión política y territorial en el sector minero de Pará y Sus impactos en la sociedad de la política pública. La relevancia de la investigación está en el aspecto político que implica la toma de decisiones que es esencialmente importante en las relaciones sociales del gobierno del estado de Pará que, materializadas, causan impactos en el territorio con la minería, especialmente en el uso de la tasa mineral, Instrumento de regulación de la acción en el territorio.Palabras clave: Territorio; Poder; Política; Minería.

scholarly journals KONVERSI KEAGAMAAN PASCA 1965, MENGURAI DAMPAK SOSIAL BUDAYA DAN HUBUNGAN ISLAM KRISTEN DI PEDESAAN JAWA

Harmoni ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-240
Author(s):  
M. Alie Humaedi
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Social ◽  
National Archives ◽  
Islam And Christianity ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Heating Up ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between Islam and Christianity in various regions is often confronted with situations caused by external factors. They no longer debate the theological aspect, but are based on the political economy and social culture aspects. In the Dieng village, the economic resources are mostly dominated by Christians as early Christianized product as the process of Kiai Sadrach's chronicle. Economic mastery was not originally as the main trigger of the conflict. However, as the political map post 1965, in which many Muslims affiliated to the Indonesian Communist Party convert to Christianity, the relationship between Islam and Christianity is heating up. The question of the dominance of political economic resources of Christians is questionable. This research to explore the socio cultural and religious impact of the conversion of PKI to Christian in rural Dieng and Slamet Pekalongan and Banjarnegara. This qualitative research data was extracted by in-depth interviews, observations and supported by data from Dutch archives, National Archives and Christian Synod of Salatiga. Research has found the conversion of the PKI to Christianity has sparked hostility and deepened the social relations of Muslims and Christians in Kasimpar, Petungkriono and Karangkobar. The culprit widened by involving the network of Wonopringgo Islamic Boarding. It is often seen that existing conflicts are no longer latent, but lead to a form of manifest conflict that decomposes in the practice of social life.

Claude Lefort as interpreter of Machiavellian social conflict

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 684-694
Author(s):  
Luana M Alagna
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Conflict ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Political Freedom ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Claude Lefort ◽  
The Social

Claude Lefort, French philosopher and activist, exponent of the anti-totalitarian moment in France, has developed an original theoretical proposal on democracy and totalitarianism. When he distanced himself from the creed of the proletarian revolution as an instrument of understanding of human action, he focused on the understanding of the political as a space in which the social emerges, in which it takes shape. The idea that society acquired a unity through the revolutionary project was overturned by the knowledge that the social cannot be contained; it cannot be the object of appropriation and unification through action or knowledge without threatening freedom and the existence of society itself. Democratic political society can only be heterogeneous, in which the conflict cannot be resolved precisely because the various interests in society are irreducible and asymmetrical. Machiavelli, in the Lefortian thinking, had identified the sense of the political at the beginning of his institution, in which the division and disagreement between classes are the foundation of social relations. This view is opposed to the classical conception of dissent as a moment of collision between passions and reason, where the disorder compromises the political structure. Social conflict indeed is an irreducible resource for the existence of human relations, public space and political society. In the clash between two realisms, Lefort shelved the Marxist one to deepen the turmoil of the ‘divine Machiavelli’, replacing in his theoretical vision the Machiavellian idea of the political as a social dimension to the Marxist dominance of the production forces; the political is the way in which society represents its legitimacy and presupposes conflict as inescapable, a way to guarantee political freedom. Plurality and irrepressible diversity will be instruments for guaranteeing democracy.

Violent Imaginaries and the Beginnings of a New State

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Oliver Chang
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Chinese Immigrants ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Leaders ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ritual Violence ◽  
Chinese Individual ◽  
The Revolution

U.S. consular reports on Mexican anti-Chinese activities document the uncoordinated, synchronous anti-Chinese activities that took place as a part of the revolutionary battlefield. This chapter traces the social relations that gave rise to cooperative violence, or grotesque assemblies, in the context of the revolution. Events like the massacre at Torreón in 1911 illustrate the emergence of new social ties based upon Porfian discontent and doing harm to Chinese. Individual cases of tactical assassinations and ritual violence against the Chinese bodies further illuminate the absence of mestizo nationalism as motivation. The chapter details reports of ritualized violence that present a battlefield where Chinese immigrants are under constant attack. These modes of popular violence against Chinese shifted the political identity of assailants, no matter their allegiance or affiliation, to patriotic revolutionaries. Peasants and Indians did not threaten the bourgeois military leaders of the revolution when they expressed antichinismo.

The Concept of Primacy in Historical Explanation

1982 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Milton Fisk
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Class Struggle ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Explanation ◽  
The Social

AbstractG.A. Cohen interprets Marx as a technological materialist: the productive forces are “primary” in history. There are several mistakes here. First, for Marx technology is neither always nor predominantly the direct stimulus - either causal or functional - of the social relations of production. Second, it is not even the case that for Marx primacy in explanation is a matter of being a direct stimulus. It has to do rather with being a framework that underlies interconnections between direct stimuli and their results. It turns out that this framework cannot be technology but only the relations of production. Third, technological development is not an autonomous process but is for Marx one that is dependent on the cooperation of producers. This introduces the political element of the class struggle into technological development and refutes a technological reading of why a given class rules.

scholarly journals Sree Narayana Movement and Social Transformation of Modern Kerala: A Bird’s - Eye View

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-97
Author(s):  
Shaji Anirudhan
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Hierarchical Structure ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Democratic Society ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Pillar Structure

Among the various factors that contributed for the transformation of Kerala into a modern democratic society the role played by Sree Narayana movement was most significant. Realising that the political power was the master key to social progress, the leaders of the movement came into tacit understanding with non Hindus, made permutations and combinations with them to maintain and strengthen their position in the society. Through their protests, incessant conflicts and assertions, they succeeded in transforming the pyramidal social structure of Kerala into pillar structure. From the position of caste victims they could elevate themselves to the makers of their own destinies. They also succeeded in politicising the social relations. The philosophies and pragmatic approaches propounded by Narayana Guru for the material and spiritual advancement of the backward caste people of Kerala was found successful that contributed for the social transformation from structural relations to human relations and from caste hierarchical structure to inter-personal relations.

scholarly journals Kontestasi antar orang asli Papua terhadap hak pertuanan di Kaimana

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Cahyo Pamungkas
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The Political ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
The Social ◽  
Customary Rights ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The City

This article is addressed to describe the social relations within the Papuan ethnic groups and between Papua native and migrants concerning some customary rights in Kaimana district. This research describes the struggle of inland and beach tribes in fighting for customary rights of land in Kaimana. Moreover, it captures the respond of migrants in dealing with the customary right. This study shows the recognition of the the eldest ethnic in Kaimana is a strategy and discourse constructed by Papua ethnic groups that have felt marginalized while migrants have taken their resources. This right could be understood as the need for recognition of Papua ethnic groups. The most important issue is not who the native of Kaimana is, but what the proper ways to give recognition to Papua ethnic groups which had been left behind in development are. The relation between the Papua natives and migrants in Kaimana is not complicated as the migrants have no privileges in the political contestation. However, these relationship are affected by the differences in religious affiliations. The Muslim Papua ethnic groups generally have a closer relationship with the Muslim migrants. The analytical framework of this study using the theoretical framework of identity and ethnicity to look at the issue. Does the definition of identity and ethnicity according to sociological theories are still relevant to understanding the issue of claims of ethnic identity in the city of Kaimana.

Anthropocene futures: Linking colonialism and environmentalism in an age of crisis

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Erickson
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Race ◽  
Ecological Protection ◽  
The Social ◽  
Environmental Discourses ◽  
The Future ◽  
Canadian Boreal Forest ◽  
A Site

The universal discourse of the Anthropocene presents a global choice that establishes environmental collapse as the problem of the future. Yet in its desire for a green future, the threat of collapse forecloses the future as a site for creatively reimagining the social relations that led to the Anthropocene. Instead of examining structures like colonialism, environmental discourses tend to focus instead on the technological innovation of a green society that “will have been.” Through this vision, the Anthropocene functions as a geophysical justification of structures of colonialism in the services of a greener future. The case of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement illustrates how this crisis of the future is sutured into mainstream environmentalism. Thus, both in the practices of “the environment in crisis” that are enabled by the Anthropocene and in the discourse of geological influence of the “human race,” colonial structures privilege whiteness in our environmental future. In this case, as in others, ecological protection has come to shape the political life of colonialism. Understanding this relationship between environmentalism and the settler state in the Anthropocene reminds us that the universal discourse of the Anthropocene is intertwined with the attempt to sustain whiteness into the future.

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