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Social Policy in Context Cristiana Panella (Ed.) West Africa has a long and infamous history of gold mining. Over the last fifteen years, soaring gold prices and neoliberal politics have pushed gold mining, both artisanal and industrial, to the centre stage of land use in West Africa. The organization of mining in countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso has made a shift from dominant state intervention - both on the level of production and the selling of gold - to a sector giving ample room to private companies. This process of liberalization, and the increase of African peasants being involved in artisanal mining have triggered heated debates on the pro's and con's of gold mining for Africa's future; should gold be seen as a curse or as a blessing? This volume seeks to move beyond the dichotomy of winners versus losers, beyond rigid monolithic models, and beyond rhetoric on gold mining and development, and proposes instead a critical analysis with in-depht case studies. New insights and assessments are based on an interdisciplinary collaboration from anthropology, history and geology investigating broader articulations of mining with other forms of land use as part of long term, dynamic processes of co-habitation.

A Family Feud. Afrikaner nationalism and dutch neo-calvinism Gerrit Schutte According to many people, the Afrikaner Christian-National ideology (and its corollary apartheid) is a variant of Dutch Neo-Calvinism, the antirevolutionary theology and worldview of dr. Abraham Kuyper. A critical analysis of their histories (and the role of Kuyper's Vrije Universiteit as alma mater of many Afrikaner intellectuals) as well as their relative positions, however, reveals that Dutch and Afrikaner Calvinists are kin, but also that different fruits have grown from common roots, due to diverging social and political contexts. Family Feud is a revised and abridged translation of De Vrije Universiteit en Zuid-Afrika 1880/2005, for which Gerrit Schutte, professor emeritys of history of Dutch Protestantism at VU University Amsterdam, received the 2006 Stals History Award of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns.

Allegories of Wildness. Three Nambikwara ethnohistories of sociocultural and linguistic change and continuity Edwin B. Reesink A 'primitive wild people' that only Rondon could 'pacify', that was the reputation of wildness of these 'savages' around 1910. Not only that, Rondon also renamed them as the "Nambiquara" and hence, a few years later, this people acquiered its first fame in Brazil with a new name. Actually, colonial expansion and war had been part of their history since the seventeenth century. The crossing of the enormous Nambikwara territories by the telegraph line constructed by Rondon's Mission produced, as far as known, the first real pacific contact. For those local groups most affected it proved as disastrous as all 'first contacts' without any preparation and substantial medical assistance. When Lévi-Strauss travelled through the region the so-called civilization had receded again. His research was very severely hampered by the historical consequences and by the fact the Indians still retained their political autonomy. Yet he has remarked they were the most interesting people he met and regarded this journey as his initiation in anthropological fieldwork. Tristes Tropiques made this people famous to a very large public and fixed another particular image of the Nambikwara. And then, in the seventies and eighties of the last century, the final assault took place by their being "before the bulldozer" (as written by the best known Nambikwara expert David Price). Only after a demographic catastrophy, permanent encirclement and great losses of territory, several Nambikwara local groups coalesced and emerged as peoples while many other local groups perished in this genocide. In effect, the so-called Nambikwara never were 'one people'. This study explores the ethnohistory of the name, fame and fate of three of these peoples -- the Latundê, Sabanê and Sararé -- and dedicates some special attention to language loss and maintenance.

When Congo wants to go to school. Educational realities in a colonial context Jan Briffaerts The education system in the Congo was widely considered to be one of the best in colonial Africa, in particular because of its broad reach among the congolese youth. At independence however, the wake-up call was brutal as soon it became clear that the colonial educational system had neglected to form an educated class of people able to cope with administrating one of Africa's biggest and economically most important countries. To be able to understand the mechanisms and effects of missionary education it is most enlightening to go back to the classroom and investigate the everyday reality of school. What did missionary education do exactly, how did it work, what did it teach, and how did it relate to its subjects, the children of the Congo? This book gives clear insights into the everyday realities of colonial education. It is the result of historical research into educational practices and realities in catholic missionary schools in the Tshuapa region, located in the south of the congolese province of Equateur. It is based on a rich array of historical source material, ranging from missionary archives and mission periodicals through to contemporary literature and interviews with missionnaries and former pupils who experienced colonial education themselves. The title, "When Congo wants to go to school... " refers to one of many articles published in Belgian mission periodicals on the subject of the education and civilisation work carried out by missionaries in the Belgian colony.

The Irish Asia Strategy and Its China Relations Fan Hong, Jörn-Carsten Gottwald The Irish government's Asia Strategy was initiated in 1999. It aimed to establish with Asian countries a coherent policy of engagement, on a political, economic, commercial, educational and cultural level. China was one of the countries identified as core in the Asia Strategy. Guided by the Asia Strategy political, economic, cultural, educational and social relations between Ireland and China have improved beyond recognition during the past ten years. A decade after its inauguration the Asia Strategy is set to be revised to take account of the ever changing world. In this book for the first time, leading representatives from government, business and academia together revisit the Asia Strategy, examine its development and analyses it in the context of other European countries. Following a Foreword by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the authors discuss the political process that led up to the strategy and the roles of various actors within the strategy, in terms of Ireland-China in particular. Together with its Appendix containing an overview of significant historical steps in bilateral relations, this book presents an informative and in-depth analysis on Ireland's Asia Strategy and its engagement with the emerging economies in the Asian region, especially China.

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