Aquinas’ view of kingship and the Aristotelian response Essay

St. Thomas doubting Thomas takes many of Aristotles ideas from The Politics in order to create his idea of the surpass regime. He revisits the good and bad forms of from each matchless type of regime Aristotle introduced, and then makes his decision that the lift out regime is a type of monarchy that he calls kingship. This decision stems from his definition of a king as one who rules everyplace the people of a city or province for the common good (17).Kingship is beneficial because it is the rule of one person. Aquinas states that the correct and close to recyclable way to carry out an objective is when it is lead to its appropriate end (15). The incorrect way would be the oppositeto lead something to an inappropriate end, or not to lead it to an end at all. In light of this definition, the most effective government would lead the people to their appropriate end, which Aquinas gestates is unity. In this sense, Aquinas believes that seemingly something that is itself one ca n promote unity better than that which is a plurality (17).This may not seem quite so obvious to anyone else, and his analogy in the midst of unity and heat may seem a little vague, but Aquinas still makes a valid point in that creating a government promoting unity is more difficult when more people are involved. This is simply because of the number of ideas and interpretations reach within a group that are not present under the rule of one.Aquinas also argues that kingship, or the good, just monarchy, is preferable because it is present in nature. He likens the king to God, because naturally God is the Ruler over all (17). It is therefore natural for one man to rule many, as long as he is leading the people to their appropriate end, which is unity. The king should be a shepherd who seeksnot his own benefit (16), which is an instance of government represented by nature. Aquinas believes that as art imitates nature (18), so should politics, and the best art is that which best imita tes nature. In this sense, the best government would be that which imitates natural order. The king has a duty to act in his kingdom like the nous in the body and God in the world (26). This is the best way in which a government can reflect nature in its practice.Aquinas understands that monarchy is considered by many as odious because itis associated with the evils of tyranny (20). He, however, believes that kingship is so important, that a slight change of the type of monarchy would not be that bad. This is interesting, because Aquinas also says that tyranny is the worst form of government (18) because it seeks only the good of the tyrant, and is therefore further from the appropriate end of government, which is the common good and unity. The reasons Aquinas seems to change his mind roughly the idea of tyranny seem to be a little cloudy.He suddenly decides that tyranny in its less excessive forms is nowhere near as bad as the better forms of government, even though he says it i s the worst. Aquinas would advise the citizens to tolerate a mild tyranny for a time (23) kind of of doing anything rash that may bring on many dangers that are worse (23). These dangers include democracy and oligarchy, which are supposed to be better forms of government than tyranny. In any case, the tyranny would still be the rule of one, although not for the common good. This may be what Aquinas means when he says tyranny is tolerable.Aristotle would agree with most of Aquinas statements, mainly because they were Aristotles statements first. Aristotle poses questions on the issue of kingship, and sets up arguments others have against it, while Aquinas attempts to come up with some answers as to why kingship is the best alternative. Aristotle agrees that there are some states that kingship would benefit greatly. His view is not that all states would benefit from a kingship, which is what Aquinas is trying to prove. This is the major difference, as both believe that kingship is a worthy form of government.

Applications of Nanocellulose

an overview of the recent research on the fundamental and applied properties of nanoparticles extracted from cellulose, the most abundant polymer on the planet and an essential renewable resource. precondition the rapid advancements in the field and the high level of interest within the scientific and industrial communities, pioneered the use of cellulose nanoparticles (cellulose nanocrystals or whiskers and cellulose microfibrils) in nanocomposite applications. n the look sciences and bio-based applications, biological, chemical and agricultural engineering, organic chemistry and materials science. Cellulose has great potential as a nanomaterial as its abundant, renewable and biodegradable. It provide be used in composing for its superior strength properties and can also be used as a wet-end additive to enhance retention in coating and packaging applications.Nanocellulose can form transparent films with excellent barrier properties, allowing it to be competitive with petroleum-b ased plastics in food packaging. Due to its reinforcing properties, nanocellulose can also be used in bio-composites and separate matrix materials. 6. 9 Concluding remarks Natural fibres, cellulose and other constituents of natural fibres are very promising materials for the future, having the capability to replace current synthetic materials. ith the rapid developments in nanotechnology, nanocellulose brings many new insights to the materials world, such as its modulus value of 160 GPa, which is much greater than metallic materials. Considerim the challenges mentioned earlier, it is rational to predict that immediate applications of nanocellulosic materials can be theorise from water-based polymer matrices, like polyvinyl alcohol, starch/polyvinyl alcohol blends and latexes, by which two major problems can be eliminated.Here, the dispersion is done in the aqueous phase, so the additional shade of drying can be omitted and the hydrophobic modification of the nanocellulose materia ls is not required. However, the main limitation is that this will give a product that can be used yet tinder dry condition like This paper provides an overview of recent progress made in the area of cellulose nanofibre-based nanocomposites. An introduction into the methods used to isolate cellulose nanofibres (nanowhiskers, nanofibrils) is given, with details of their structure. interest this, the article is split into sections dealing with processing and characterisation of cellulose nanocomposites and new developments in the area, with particular emphasis on applications. The types of cellulose nanofibres cover are those extracted from plants by acid hydrolysis (nanowhiskers), machinelike treatment and those that occur naturally (tunicate nanowhiskers) or under culturing conditions (bacterial cellulose nanofibrils).Research highlighted in the article are the use of cellulose nanowhiskers for shape memory nanocomposites, analysis of the interfacial properties of cellulose nanowh isker and nanofibril-based composites employ Raman spectroscopy, switchable interfaces that mimic sea cucumbers, polymerisation from the surface of cellulose nanowhiskers by atom transfer radical polymerisation and ring opening polymerisation, and methods to analyse the dispersion of nanowhiskers.The applications and new advances covered in this review are the use of cellulose nanofibres to reinforce adhesives, to make optically transparent paper for electronic displays, to create DNA-hybrid materials, to generate hierarchical composites and for use in foams, aerogels and starch nanocomposites and the use of all-cellulose nanocomposites for enhanced coupling between matrix and fibre. A comprehensive coverage of the literature is given and some suggestions on where the field is promising to advance in the future are discussed.

Parental Influence on Childrens Socialization Gender Roles Essay

The article Pargonntal Influence on Childrens Socialization to Gender Roles by Susan D. Witt is about sexual urge socializing and the primary role conjure ups play. She states that clawren learn at an aboriginal age what it means to be a boy or girl. Witt states that it is different for a child to break and not experience some sort of sex bias. The basic expectation during a childs primary cultivation is socialization that comes about through parents influence. Witt states that a childs earliest ikon to what it means to be male or female comes from parents.An earliest exposure would be a parent dressing the child in gender particular(prenominal) colors such as pink for girls and non-white for boys. Another early exposure to gender socialization would be gender differentiated toys such as dolls for girls and trucks for boys. Children internalize parental messages regarding gender at an early age (Witt, Susan D. 1997). In Witts article she states that wizard study found th at children at age two and a half use gender stereotypes in negotiating their world.In a 1992 article by Steinbacher and Holmes it stated that most parents prefer male children throughout the world ad that these people are most likely to use technology for selecting sex of a child this is defiantly a form of gender bias. Parents often encourage their children, both sons and daughters to participate in gender type activities (Witt, Susan D. 1997), such as cooking for girls or playing with trucks for boys. Both parental sex write is shown in childrens toy preferences and both mother and father attain been found to reinforce stereotypes however, fathers have been shown to reinforce these stereotypes much.Childrens bed cortege have shown they are more so than not gender specific. Such as, girls rooms having more pink, dolls and manipulative toys and boys rooms having more blue, tools or sports related themes (Witt, Susan D. 1997). Research has shown that a parents influence is a pri mary socialization tool in a childs developing however, Some studies have suggested that parents as a gender socialization factor have little encroachment on a childs sex role development (Witt, Susan D. 1997).Studies have shown that parents treat sons and daughters differently and that this plays a role into adult relationships. Witt states that parental attributes towards their children have a strong impact on their development and self-esteem. Sex role stereotypes are established in early childhood. It is shown that messages about appropriate behavior are based on gender, there are some benefits to strict gender stereotypes such as providing a sense of security and to facilitate decision making (Witt, Susan D. 1997).Witt states a negative factor to gender stereotyping and socialization would be limiting opportunities for both boys and girls based on what is seen to be gender appropriate in society. She withal states that androgynous (neutral) individuals have been found to ha ve higher self-esteem and higher levels of identity achievement and more flexibility in dating and relationships. Witt also states that children with parents who have more neutral values tend to be more knowledgeable about non sex type objects and occupations.Families who look at situations with less gender specific roles have been found to score highest in parental warmth and support (Witt, Susan D. 1997). Because of the strong influence of parents regarding gender role socialization those which were to be gender fair and encourage the best in both their sons and/or daughters would do well to adapt to genderless role orientation and encourage the same in their children (Witt, Susan D, 1997). Witts article shows her view and others of gender socialization and how it plays a role in a childs upbringing.

The Alhambra

After a long time of going back in time to experience first hand the stories behind the worlds greatest paintings, I decided to take a break in studying visual art and poke out my perspectives a bit. I stayed up all night on which adventure to take next, and the all-night contemplation take me to a decision to take other adventureto take on Architectural artworks. First stop, the world-famous Alhambra in Granada, Spain. I went back 12 centuries in time, all the way to the ninth centurythe reign of the Muslim invasion of Spain.The Zirites, who are the first kings of Granada, had the Alhambra constructed for military reasons. They built their castles on the hill across the Alhambra, fashioning the building a fortress for forthcoming attacks from anticipated conquerors. Tension was in the air at all propagation during this point, but it didnt stop me from appreciating the beauty of the structure that is Alhambra. Though still not fully developed, its obvious Arabesque meansa typ e of Islamic art with repetitive complex, geometric patterns of interlacing plant, animal, and abstract formsmakes it a green goddess to behold.I have already read in art and history books that the Alhambra as a fortress would go on until the 13th century, so I decided to skip the boring part and take myself to 1238. It was at this point when the Alhambra was used as a residence of the kings. During this time, it was the Nasrites who ruled the Islamic kingdom in Spain. The Alhambra was later(prenominal) on developed to include a alcazaba (fortress), an alcazar (palace) and a small medina (city), still with Islamic art thought the finishedty of the structures.The old fortress was later on restored the artworks developed to reach the full potential of its beauty. This, in turn, signified the Golden Age of Islam in Spain. Perhaps it was the overwhelming awe over the legendary computer architecture of the Alhambra and the chills it gave me just by looking at some parts of its struct ural design which transported me to yet another century. Next thing I know, it was 1492, and Granada was no longer occupied by the Islams.Catholicism was brought back to Spain, and the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabel conquered the city, making the Alhambra a Christian court. Military garrisons and churches were built inside the compound, incorporating Catholicism into the Islamic architecture. For centuries the Alhambra turned into a Catholic city built on Islamic roots, but as years passed, the legendary architectural love was left neglected. I was then transported to the 19th century, and it shocked me to find the Alhambra unoccupied, except by thieves, beggars, and homeless people.It stricken me so hard that in no time I got back to present time. Now, as I am writing this, the Alhambra is already a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a strong contender for the unfermented Seven Wonders of the World. The Alhambra being recognized as one of the most important structures and a rchitectural artworks in the entire world makes me so proud that I was part of history when it all happened though I was vigour but a spectator, I got to experience the rich culture in which the Alhambra was rooted, and the colorful history it had withstood.References Crayon, G. (1832). The Alhambra. capital of the United Kingdom Samuel Bentley. Lipscomb, K. (2005). Hunter Travel Guides Spain. New Jersey Hunter Publishing, Inc. Irwin, Robert. (2004). The Alhambra. London Butler & Tanner Ltd. Feminism. (n. d. ). In Encyclop? dia Britannica online. Retrieved from http//www. britannica. com/EBchecked/ root word/724633/feminism Granada, The Alhambra. (n. d. ). In Andalucia Website. Retrieved from http//www. andalucia. com/cities/granada/alhamhistory. htm Arabesque Art Movement. (n. d. ). In Art Education. Retrieved from

Clausewitz in the 21st Century

Cla officewitz lived in a time where battles were fought in columns and lines, with soldiers using muskets and solid-shot potnon when states were the exclusive actors in scrape when technological miscellanea occurred over decades, if not centuries. What relevancy could his work therefore realise for the strategic problems of the twenty-first nose candy? Introduction Clausewitz was not a cook give-and-take writer. He was not looking for hard and agile rules for conducting fight, which he eschews.Indeed, Clausewitzian theories elaborated at various periods of time be in close conjunction with the paramount insurance policy-making, strategic, and armament context, which is completely consonant with Clausewitzs original idealion of his profess work Theory should be study, not doctrine It is an analytical investigation leading to a close acquaintance with the capacity use to experience in our crusade, to army history it leads to thorough familiarity with it.The close r it comes to that remnant, the more it proceeds from the objective constitute of a science to a subjective form of a skill, the more effective it bequeath produce in atomic number 18as where the character of the case admits no arbiter but talent. Theory is meant to educate the mind of the proximo air force officer, or, more accurately, to guide him in his self-education, not to accompany him to the battlefield. If the absurd variance among theory and employment is to be contained, then the correspondence between theory and practice implies the correspondence between the military commander and military thinker.Therefore, self-education is important and useful to the military thinker too. He must not be bounded by a single theory of state of state of state of contend but with the means to develop his own ideas (objective knowledge of war), fuelled by his talent (subjective capacity and application). The phenomena of war argon more diverse than ever from terrorism to inter-state war, from in make-up war to riots in rural aras, from air strikes to intifada. Loose ne 2rks of limited wars have replaced the expectation of a nuclear apocalypse that characterized the Cold war.The differences and contradictions between the various conclusions and corresponding analyses regarding a strategic situation be but a reflection of the variety of military fights and the diversity of perspectives from which these involutions be ob helpd. These perspectives depend on time, culture, and policy-making context. This phenomenon has been analyzed through the design of strategic culture, that is a distinctive and lasting set of beliefs, harbors and habits regarding the bane and use of force, which have their roots in such fundamental influences as the geographical setting, history and governmental culture.States (e. g. Americans, Europeans, Chinese, Iranians, Indians etc. ) tend to have polar perspectives on strategic problems, and the reason for these di vergences probably goes beyond the defense of short-term interests. The extremely heterogeneous situation of the phenomena of war is analyzed from very different lenses of different strategic cultures, and hence makes states theories of war difficult to critique. Moreover, it is difficult to validate the doctrines that reflect these different theories by the use of examples of ope cerebral success or failure.Therefore, the need for a theory-of-theories of war remains valid. An overarching theory of war will take into ac enumerate the influence of the interaction between the thinker and his object and can form the mannikin required to analyze the strategic debate. Clausewitz gum olibanum continues to remain relevant to analyze strategic problems of the 21st century as he had developed a theory about the theory of war. Research ApproachClausewitz recognized that catnap had overreached himself and the theoretical significance that a consistent, single military strategy could have di fferent historical outcomes. In his own credit evident in his tint of 1827 that any theory of war had to accommodate two sorts of war war to overthrow the enemy and war that is the basis of negotiation with him. Four fundamental contrasts are emphasized between the early and by and by Clausewitz because they remain primal to contemporary debates about his work (1) The primacy of military force versus the primacy of government activity. 2) Existential warfare, or quite an warfare touchd to whizzs own identity, which set-aside(p) Clausewitz most strongly in his early years, as against the instrumental view of war that prevails in his later(prenominal) work. (3) The pursuit of military success through eternal rage embodying the principle of destruction, versus the primacy of limited war and the restriction of violence in war, which loomed increasingly large in Clausewitzs later years. (4) The primacy of defense as the stronger form of war, versus the promise of decisive results that was embodied in the seizure of offensive initiative.It is not the intent or purpose of this paper to summarize Clausewitzs works, given its scope, or to challenge the assertions of specific anti-Clausewitz writers such as Martin van Crevald, John Keegan or yet Alvin and Heidi Toffler. The paper will instead highlight the seeming unbounded-ness of war (or armed conflict) and violence in the twenty-first century, and propose a strategy of containment of war and violence. This will relate later Clausewitzs concepts of war and governance to our current reality. At the outset, I will provide an outline of Clausewitzs concept of the nature of war.Additionally, given the research questions implication that Clausewitz should be apart(p) due to his lack of regard for non-state actors and that his writings were in a time of slow technological change, I will also demonstrate that Clausewitz was well-aware of the influence of non-state actors and their ability to wage war and h is thoughts has continued relevance in our time of rapid technological changes. The Nature of War For Clausewitz, war was likened to a chameleon, allowing for changes to its appearance, but suggesting that its inherent nature remains unchanged.The character of war has certainly changed or morphed since his time. His critics argue that some changes can deviate wars very nature, and the nature of war today is radically different from the nature of war then, the age of Napoleon. In other words, the changes are more fundamental than can plainly be accounted by shifting characteristics. The most recent English translation of the text, by Michael Howard and Peter Parat, renders its opening sentence thus War is more than a true chameleon that slightly adapts its characteristics to the given case. As a essence phenomenon its dominant tendencies al bureaus make war a remarkable tierce. Clearly, a chameleon remains a chameleon whatever color it dramatises for the time being. The crucial two words in the translation are more than, which imply that the circumstances of war can cause war to change more than its characteristics War in other words is not like a chameleon. However, this translation did not capture the ghost of Clausewitzs original Der Krieg ist also nicht nu rein wahres Chamaleon, weil er in jedem konkreten Fall seine Natur etwas andert, sondern er ist auch seinem Gesamterscheinungen nach, in Beziehung auf die in ihm herrschenden Tendenzen, eine wunderliche Dreifaltigkeit.The implication here is that war may indeed be a chameleon, in that it changes its nature slightly in each individual case (its character), but not its nature in general, which is made up of the trinity (addressed later). The translation thus reads War is not only a true chameleon, because it changes its nature slightly in each concrete case, but it also, in it is overall appearance, in relation to its inherent tendencies, a wondrous trinity. The Primacy of form _or_ system of governm ent and the Trinity War is an instrument of policy. It is simply a continuation of political intercourse, with the addition of other means. Clausewtizs aphorism on the family relationship between war and policy was now being dismissed not because war had no utility-grade but because it is being waged for reasons that are not political or policy-driven. Critics argue that Clausewitz no longer have a place in the current strategic and security studies debates, where war was no longer the body politic of armed forces but also of non-state actors.The question was whether strategy, traditionally-defined, continues to be the best way of looking at what was, revealingly, no longer however called war, but armed conflict. Clausewitz understood a community as having its own political and social identity, even if it lacked statehood. much(prenominal) an interpretation is consonant with Clausewitzs own interest in wars in the beginning 1648, where he specifically linked the weaknesses of states to exceptional manifestations in the art of war.In his review of the history of war, he described the semibarbarous Tartars, the republics of antiquity, the feudal lords and trading cities of the Middle Ages, eighteenth-century kings and the rulers and peoples of the nineteenth-century as all conducting war in their own special(prenominal) way, using different methods and pursuing different objective lenss. Despite this variability, Clausewitz stresses that war is all these cases remains a continuation of their policy by other means. In doing so, however, he suppresses the difference between the policies of states and the intentions of other communities which wage war.Therefore, it makes mavin to supplement the primacy of policy as a general category with the affiliation of belligerents to a warring community. If the communities are states, we can speak of politics in the modern sense if they are ethnic, religious, or other communities, the value systems and goals of thos e communities (their cultures) are the more important factors. Based on this, we could replace Clausewitzs meaning of state with the vox populi of it being that of the intentions, aims or values of the warring community, thus remaining much more faithful to his collar of what a state embodies.Otherwise, we would implicitly express a modern understanding of Clausewitzs concept of state. Clausewitzs concepts of war (including armed conflict) and violence continue to be relevant so long as they are motivated by interests and policy and not hate, rage, boredom, the need for personal meaning and bonding. Die Wunderliche Dreifaltigkeit (The Wondrous Trinity) Clausewitz describes the trinity as composed of (1) Primordial violence, hatred, and enmity, which are regarded as a blind natural force (2) The renovate of chance and probability, within which the creative spirit is free to roam and 3) Its element of subordination, as an instrument of policy, which makes it subject to pure reason. Read in tandem with Clausewitzs metaphor of wars appearance from case to case as a chameleon, the trinity addresses the underlying forces that drive those changes. His message was that the relationship among these three elements was inherently unstable and shifting. To quote, the taskis to keep our theory of war floating among these three tendencies, and not try to set, or to count on any fixed relationship among them. Clausewitz and a invigorated ContainmentThe Removal of the Inhibitions on War and a sweet Containment The twenty-first century appeared for a time an age defined by economics and, to a great extent, peace. These expectations quickly disappeared with the massacres and genocides in Africa, return of war to Europe, the 9/11 attacks, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with their continuing, violent consequences and the Arab Springs. A struggle against a new totalitarianism of an Islamic type appears to have started, in which war and violence is ordinarily perceived as havi ng an unavoidable role, and perceived to be becoming more unbounded than ever before.Spatially, the terrorist are potentially ever present. Temporally, there seems no end-in-sight to their attacks. We face new types of threats such as the development of atomic bombs by problematic states like Iran and North Korea and the possession of weapons of mass destruction by terrorists. The emergence of mainland china as a potential super reason and perhaps great powers, like India, may lead to a fresh arms dynamic, with the possibility of a nuclear dimension. Violence seems to be going out of rational control, an image that the media has not hesitated to portray.There is a grave portent of mankind confronting a coming anarchy of alien dimensions. Hence, a new strategy of containment is needed. There is no longer one exclusive actor to be contained. A strategy for military containment of chinaware similar to that used against the Soviet Union in the mid-fifties and 1960s, will likely provo ke all kinds of crises and even conflict, which such a strategy intends to avoid. Therefore, a different concept of containment is needed, one that is not perceived as a threat by China.The second difference is that current developments in the strategic environment display fundamentally conflicting tendencies. A strategy knowing to counter only one of these conflicting tendencies may be problematic with respect to the others. Therefore, there is a need to strike a balance between competing possibilities. The tertiary difference is that the traditional containment was perceived primarily as military disapproverence of the Soviet Union. The new containment must combine traditional, military containment on one side and a range of opportunities for cooperation on the other.That is inevitable with respect not only to China, but even to political Islam, in order to reduce the appeal of militant Islamic movements to millions of Muslim youths. In receipt to this unbounded-ness on war a nd violence, a conception for their containment is needed to provide a sustained and continual limitation through the fencing in and encircling of the same forces. The guiding perspective is that of a peaceful, or rather a pacified, global society. This perspective cannot be equated with peace since in order to reach this goal, non-peaceful, violent and even military means must in some cases be employed.Clausewitzs Concept of government The vote down of Napoleon was the turning point of Clausewitzs theory, where he faced the problem of dealing with strategies of limited war within the same conceptual framework as those leading to total defeat of the enemy. He agnize that there are very different and even contrasting kinds of war and strategy. The conflicting tendencies in war, specially between limited and unlimited war compelled Clausewitz to conclude that the unifying general principle was politics. However, which kind of politics could serve to contain war and violence in the twenty-first century?Clausewitzs notions of limited warfare have their foundations in the last parts of book VIII. They find some reflection in book I, chapter 2 Be that as it may, we must always consider that with the conclusion of peace the purpose of the war has been achieved and further on Since war is not an act of senseless passion but is controlled by its political object, the value of this object must determine the sacrifices to be made for it in magnitude and also in duration. In book VIII, he stated In this way the belligerent is again driven to adopt a middle course.He would act on the principle of using no greater force, and setting himself no greater military aim, than would be sufficient for the achievement of his political purpose. To turn this principle into practice, he must renounce the need for absolute success in each given case. It is a natural entirely tone to evolve from his strategy of limited warfare to one of the limitations of war and violence as the overarching purpose of political action in the twenty-first century. This perspective is still based on Clausewitzs statement that war is a continuation of politics by other means, while stressful to actualize his concept of politics.Clausewitz describes war on the one hand as a continuation of politics, but on the other side as waged with other than political means. This implicit tension is the basis of the explicit contrast between the first and the third tendencies of Clausewitzs trinity. Furthermore, one could argue that globalization and the ubiquity of information technologies have created a worldwide political space from which no one can escape, however much his actions might be derived, in their quick motivation, from private interests or from the cultural practices of ethnic or tribal communities.Hence, the role of politics is intensified and chemical reaction time within all three tendencies of Clausewitzs trinity is reduced. Containing War and Violence in gentleman Soci ety The concept of containment is associated with the insight that we cannot expect in the foreseeable future to see fully non-violent societies or a non-violent world society. In addition, the aspiration to a world without conflicts as such fails to recognize that in the course of history conflicts and conflict solutions have frequently been necessary for human development.The main task confronting politics and social forces in the twenty-first century is the radical limitation, even diminishing of violence and war, so that non-violent structures can be sustained and the mechanisms of the world of societies can come to fruition. The overall political perspective on which the concept of the containing of war and violence in world society rests therefore consists of the following elements, the pentagon of containing war and violence 1) The ability to deter and discourage any opponent from fighting a large-scale war and to conduct precise military action as a last resort (2) The possi bility of using military force in order to limit and contain particularly excessive, large-scale violence which has the potential to destruct societies (3) The willingness to counter phenomena which armed service to cause violence, such as poverty and oppression, especially in the economic sphere, and also the recognition of a pluralism of cultures and styles of life in world society 4) The motivation to develop a culture of civil conflict management (concepts which can be summed up in the civilizational hexagon, global governance, and democratic peace), based on the note that the reduction of our action to military means has proved counterproductive and in the end will overhaul our military capabilities and (5) Restricting the possession and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, as well as of small arms, because the proliferation of some(prenominal) is inherently destructive to social order. Antulio Echevarria writes that the U. S.National Stra tegy for Combating Terrorism also let ins an essential, but rather ambitious goal of diminishing the conditions that terrorists typically exploit, such as poverty, social and political disenfranchisement, and long-standing political, religious, and ethnic grievances reducing these conditions requires, among other things, education political, social, and economic development, good governance, the rule of law, and consistent participation in the war of ideas Further important tasks include preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and of small arms.Normative criteria are required for the containment of war and violence in world society. Such criteria combine politicalmoral considerations with aspects relevant to every states interest in self-preservation. It requires political actors to recognize the advantages of self-limitation as part of their own enlightened self-interest. In anthropological terms, we can see the roots of the political in the openness and indete rminacy of the human power to act. In historical terms, we can follow Aristotle in beholding these roots in the way we are forced to limit ourselves once we become aware of the hazard of human actions.It follows from this that one of the decisive questions for future development is that of the possible self-interest of the United States, or regional powers, making conflict subject to legal norms, in civil conflict management, and binding military power into alliance systems. President Obamas Pivot to Asia necessitated the development of a military strategy for the potential, if highly improbable, conflict with China. Seeking a decisive victory or traditional military containment are not feasible strategies in current and projected realities, as they probably only serve to escalate the situation.Also, the United States must select ways that minimize the probability of escalation to nuclear conflict simply because it does not understand Chinas nuclear release process and there is n o winner in a study nuclear exchange. The logic leads to the concept of Offshore Control. Operationally, it uses currently available means and restricted ways to abnegate China the use of the sea in a strategy of economic strangulation to exhaust China to the point it seeks war resolution. Penetration into China is forbidden to reduce the possibility of escalation and to make war termination easier.Offshore Control seeks to allow the Chinese Communist Part to end the conflict in the same way China ended its conflicts with India, the UN (in Korea), the Soviet Union and the Vietnamese. It allows China to declare it taught the enemy a lesson and thus end the conflict. The progressive limitation of war and violence indefinitely can be an end to itself in the realization of a basically peaceful global policy. The enduring and progressive containment of war and violence is therefore necessary for self-preservation of states, even their survival, and for the civility of individual societ ies and world society.Conclusion Clausewitz, in his note of 1827, recognized the need to rework the whole of On War according to his new insight, the distinction between limited war and war whose aim is to overthrow the enemy and render him powerless. However, he was not always clear in his thoughts especially in his early writings and even up to 1827. For example, there is a lack of clarity on the hash out at the beginning of book I, chapter 1, of the three interactions that push war to the extreme, despite the fact that these sections were presumably create verbally after the note of 1827.It can be said that for the purpose of analyzing and studying warfare, some(prenominal) the early and later Clausewitz is of great importance and value. However, for political and military action of our time, perhaps only the later Clausewitz needs serve as an important basis. As Clausewitz himself emphasized at the end of his discussion of the trinity, at any rate, the overture concept of wa r casts a first ray of light on the basic structure of theory, and enables us to make an initial differentiation and identification of its major components. Thinking about contemporary and future warfare with, and sometimes beyond, Clausewitz can still be the best way to begin. Bibliography 1. Andreas, H. -R. (2009). Clausewitz and a bare-assed Containment. In S. Hew, H. -R. Andreas (Eds. ), Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 283-307). radical York Oxford University constrict Inc. 2. Andreas, H. -R. , Antulio , E. (2007, December 27). Clausewitz in the Twenty First-Century Primacy of Policy and a New Containment. From World Security Network http//www. worldsecuritynetwork. com/showArticle3. cfm? article_id=14985 3. Antulio, E. (1995-1996, Winter).War, Politics and the RMA The Legacy of Clausewitz. Joint Force Quarterly, pp. 76-80. 4. Antulio, E. I. (2003). Globalization and the Clausewitzian Nature of War. The European Legacy, 8/3, pp. 317-32. 5. Clausewitz, C. v. (197 6). On War. In H. Michael, P. Peter, H. Michael, P. Peter (Eds. ). New Jersey Princeton. 6. Durieux, B. (2009). Clausewitz and the Two Temptations of Modern strategical Thinking. In S. Hew, H. Andreas (Eds. ), Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 251- 265). New York Oxford University excite Inc. 7. Hammes, T. (2012, Spring). Offshore Control A Proposed Strategy. Infinity Journal, 2(2), pp. 0-14. 8. Hew, S. , Andreas, H. -R. (2009). Introduction. In S. Hew, H. -R. Andreas (Eds. ), Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 1-13). New York Oxford University Press Inc. 9. Antulio, E. (2009). Clausewitz and the Nature of the War on Terror. In S. Hew, H. -R. Andreas (Eds. ), Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 196-218). New York Oxford University Press Inc. 10. Ken, B. , R. , T. (1999). Strategic Cultures in the Asia-Pacific Region. London. 11. Metz, S. (1994). Clausewitz Homepage. From A Wake for Clausewitz Toward a philosophical system of 21st-Century Warfare h ttp//www. lausewitz. com/readings/Metz. htm 12. Sumida, J. (2009). On Defence as the Stronger Form of War. In S. Hew, H. -R. Andreas (Eds. ), Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 164-181). New York Oxford University Press Inc. 1 . Durieux, B. (2009). Clausewitz and the Two Temptations of Modern Strategic Thinking. In S. Hew, & H. Andreas (Eds. ), Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 251- 265). New York Oxford University Press Inc. 2 . Carl von Clausewitz, On War, trans. and ed. Michael Howard and Peter Parat (Princeton, NJ, 1976), II, 2, p. 141. 3 . Ibid. II, 2, p. 141. 4 . Ibid. II, 2, p. 142. 5 . Ken, B. , & R. , T. (1999). Strategic Cultures in the Asia-Pacific Region. London. 6 . Durieux, B. (2009). Clausewitz and the Two Temptations of Modern Strategic Thinking. In S. Hew, & H. Andreas (Eds. ), Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 251- 265). New York Oxford University Press Inc. 7 . The same principles and strategies that were the decisive foundatio n of Napoleons initial successes at Jena and Auerstedt proved inadequate in the special situation of the Russian campaign and eventually contributed to his final defeat at Waterloo. 8 . Clausewitz or Sun Tzu Paradigms of warfare for the 21st century written by Andreas Herberg-Rothe, 13-Dec-06. WorldSecurityNetwork. com WorldSecurityNetwork. com. http//www. worldsecuritynetwork. com/printArticle3. cfm? article_id=13757 9 . On War, I, 1, 28, P. 89. 10 . Hew, S. , & Andreas, H. -R. (2009). Introduction. In S. Hew, & H. -R. Andreas (Eds. ), Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 1-13). New York Oxford University Press Inc. 11 . Vom Kriege, ed. Werner Hahlweg (19th edn, Bonn, 1980), 1, 1, 28, pp. 212-213. 12 . On War, VIII, 6B, p. 610. 13 . Ibid. p. 605. The phrase with the addition of other means is deliberately used by Howard and Paret as they wanted to make it clear that war in itself does not suspend political intercourse or change it into something entirely different. Ess entially, the intercourse continues, irrespective of the means it employs. The main lines along which military events progress, and to which they are restricted, are political lines that continues throughout war into the subsequent peace. It could not be otherwise.Political relations between peoples and between their governments do not stop when diplomatic notes are no longer exchanged. 14 . The German word Politik covers both policy and politics. Clausewitz did mean different things at different points. Sometimes the context suggests that he has foreign policy in mind, at others he highlights the social upheaval of the French Revolution and its consequence for warfare. 15 . Antulio Echevarria, War, Politics and the RMA The Legacy of Clausewitz, Joint Force Quarterly, 10 (winter 1995-6), 76-80. 16 . On War, VIII, 3B, p. 589 17 . Ibid. p. 586. 18 . Hew, S. , & Andreas, H. -R. (2009). Primacy of Policy and Trinity in Clausewitzs Thought. In S. Hew, & H. -R. Andreas (Eds. ), Clause witz in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 74-90). New York Oxford University Press Inc. No modern translator is prepared to render wunderliche in the military context as wonderful or wonderous. Howard and Paret in 1976 used remarkable, which was a throwaway word of no particular significance. This was changed to paradoxical in the 1984 mutant, but this word seems to have no relationship to wunderliche and carries inappropriately negative connotations. 19 . On War, I, 1, 28. 20 . Ibid. Clausewitzs description of the trinity followed after the metaphor of war as a chameleon. 21 . Ibid. 22 . George Kennan formulated his original vision of containment more than sixty years ago. Although altered in its application by various administrations in the United States, it has in practice been incorporated within the concept and politics of common security, which in turn has itself been the essential complement to purely military containment. 23 . In comparison to the Cold War. 24 .Between glo balization on the one hand, and local struggles for identity and regional advantages and interests on the other between high-tech wars and combat with knives and machetes or attacks by suicide bombers between symmetrical and crooked warfare between wars over the world order, with the re-politicization and re-ideologization, between imperial-hegemonic dominance of the only superpower and the formation of new regional power centers between international organized crime and the institutionalization of regional and global communities and between increasing violations of international law and human rights on one side and their expansion on the other. 25 . Andreas, H. -R. (2009). Clausewitz and a New Containment. In S. Hew, & H. -R. Andreas (Eds. , Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 283-307). New York Oxford University Press Inc. 26 . Clausewitz discussed unlimited and limited war in terms that reinforcered his conception of the defense as the stronger form of war. The central issue in both cases of war was the will of the combatants. Unlimited war occurred when the attacker was determined to destroy the political independence of the defender through battle if necessary, and the defender no less determined to observe its political independence. Equivalence in the strength of will did not, however, mean the outcome would be determined by the balance of military forces and the fortunes of war.Even catastrophic military defeat at the hands of a militarily headmaster attacker, Clausewitz believed, would not produce a decision if the defender had the will to preserve what remained of his regular military forces by retreat even to the point of abandonment of all national territory, and to resort to armed popular support against the invader in spite of its potential to promote anarchy. Limited war meant a situation in which the attackers objectives did not involve the destruction of the political independence of the defender, and the defenders stake in the ou tcome was thus not one of survival. (Sumida, 2009) 27 . Andreas Herberg-Rothe had elaborated this interpretation in Andreas Herberg-Rothe, Das Ratsel Clausewitz. Politische Theorie des Krieges im WIderstreit (Munich, 2001), 79-145, and in the English edition of the same book, Clausewitzs Puzzle (Oxford, 2007).We can find this conclusion in the trinity within the note of 1827, in which Clausewitz mentioned both aspects as guiding principles for reworking the whole text in book I, chapter 2 and in most parts of book VIII of On War, 28 . On War, I, 2, pp. 91-2. 29 . Ibid. VIII, 3B, p. 585. 30 . It can be demonstrated that, due to systematic reasons but also with the respect to historical experience, trying to suspend this tension for the sake of the primacy of one of the two sides always leads to a primacy of the military means, of warfare and violence see Beatrice Heuser, Reading Clausewitz (London, 2002). 31 . Antulio, E. I. (2003). Globalization and the Clausewitzian Nature of War. The European Legacy, 8/3, pp. 317-32. 32 .Ernst Otto Czempiel, Weltpolitik im Umbruch. Die pax Americana, der Terrorisinus und die Zukunft der interuationalen Bezh. hungen (Munchen, 2002). 33 . Andreas, H. -R. (2009). Clausewitz and a New Containment. In S. Hew, & H. -R. Andreas (Eds. ), Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 283-307). New York Oxford University Press Inc. 34 . Antulio, E. (2009). Clausewitz and the Nature of the War on Terror. In S. Hew, & H. -R. Andreas (Eds. ), Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 196-218). New York Oxford University Press Inc. 35 . Hammes, T. (2012, Spring). Offshore Control A Proposed Strategy. Infinity Journal, 2(2), pp. 10-14. 36 . Ibid. I, 1, 28, p. 89.

Freedom of speech Essay

Freedom of speech and the liberty to uphold anes expression has want been the subject of some(prenominal) debates. It has taken centuries if not years for mankind to come to a point where many can easily voice their opinions with turn out having to ponder everywhere the consequences. But one should always know where to stimulate the line. Freedom of expression also needs to have its limits. Two of the masterminds who put forth their work on liberty and freedom of speech were John Stuart hoagy and Jean-Jacque Rousseau. The c one clock timepts penned by Rousseau contradict those that were constructed by Mil man the cooker focused on the functioning of the confederacy as a whole, the latter advocated the right ons of the undivided to his freedom. lallygag basic whollyy line of business in his piece On Liberty supplys for Utilitarian approach. His main creative thinker was to deliver family and human nature a complete independence to mature and expand in infinite ways a nd direction. The main idea revolved around the kind of power that can be lay upon the individual by the society, and how that power was wrong unless exercised in self-defense. In particular, minorities were often the ones being oppressed. Mill pointed out that this tyrannical behavior was being supported by the major thinkers of that day. Public opinion espouseed the opinion of these thinkers and then ended up doing the same. On Liberty sought to diminish the power the society had over an individuals freedom by giving that individual the freedom of speech. It was identified through the works that most(prenominal) people had precedent and preference which further provoked dissent and thus pressurized people. Mill also observe that there was no way of judging people on their interference into an early(a) soulfulnesss private affairs.Mills idea of complete and total independence from society is contradicted in Rousseaus works The tender Contract, according to which man was rest ricted by the state and society that he existed in, once he became a part of the land he gave up the right to himself society had a right upon the individual which he agrees to when he chooses to exist within a given society. This, he believed, was done for the great good of the entire society thereby his main focus was the society and not the individual, unlike Mill. For Rousseau, society itself was like a collective individual and that collective entity was sovereign and not a singular entity. Heallowed for individuals having their own aims and goals, but asseverate that the will of the collective paved way for the greater good. By this translation he gives the society the power to act for the greater good and confirms that originatority as absolute. He until now goes as far as to recommend the death penalty for anyone who goes against this norm.Their ideas give us two diametric facets of life. Should one speak ones mind or work for the greater good of the society?Mill belie ved in supporting diversity plot of land condemning conformity by rejecting any form of manipulation that could be applied to a persons opinion or behavior. It was the revolutionary authors belief that liberty forms the basis of much of the social progress that takes place. Through On Liberty, it is asserted that freedom of speech is important primarily because to begin with, the opinion which most find disdainful peradventure the correct one. Secondly, even if one voices a direly disproportionate view, refuting it will only help strengthen the oecumenical understanding of the topic amongst the masses.It was Mills belief that by continuously voicing thoughts, ideas and questions people unploughed society moving and defied stagnation. The Social Contract, on the other hand goes onto state that the authority the ruler has over the state is like that of the father over his child. There is literally absolute control. Through Rousseaus argument we are told that the mighty are the fit test to lead and decide what is best for the entire society. The wellbeing of the society depends on it functioning as one body, mind and soul. Each individual is part of the grand scheme which is construct around the orders of the sovereign i.e. the rulers of the state.Mill charted troika categories of freedom and asserted that the society was to abide by all three, if it were a free society. The first was freedom of thought and opinion, the second being the right to plan ones life and future and the third to associate with other individuals on mutual grounds. The main idea behind this was that one should be able to pursue their own whims without hurting others in the process. Rousseau also has three implications of the contract.The first one being the fact that the conditions of the contract are same for everyone which is why everyone will collectively make it easier for everyone else to follow, secondly an individual cannot stand against the authority because he has given up t hatright because he is a part of the state, and lastly, there is completely equality ergo the natural freedom that people bask stays intact, regardless of the social contract. It was in the deal of Inequality that Rousseau observed of inequality that the powerful has the option between giving the masses an equal piece of the pie or letting the masses rot while they took everything for themselves. He was not an advocate of the powerful he merely illustrated how the meek must always follow them because they have no other choice.The problem with Rousseaus approach is that it completely rejects the claim that minorities or slight groups may have on the society. If the masses chose to, they can quite literally annihilate any olive-sized sects that they wish without as much as a blink of an eye. In this regard, we are forced to office with Mills argument. However, On Liberty has its own faults because it focuses too much on the individuals needs without paying much heed to the socie ty. Mill believed that the only instance where any one person or the society itself was justified in interfering with someones freedom was for their own self-preservation. In this way Mills only restriction on liberty was when it ended up harming other people, for which he advocated restraint. He was against the idea that meddling in someones affair. Diversity was not something to be toyed with, but the right to liberty was to be treated with respect.One has to also note that much of Mills work is at times vague on the limitations that can be placed on an individual. Another weak point is his constitutional emphasis on the individual and not creating a ratio between the individual and the society. While the individual was required to support the society he/she lived in, that by no means gave society any right to probe into their matters. As stated in the Discourse of Inequality, The remnant between good and bad men is determined by public esteem The rank of citizens ought, theref ore, to be regulated, not according to their personal merit for this would put it in the power of the magistrate to apply the law almost arbitrarily, this shows that he believed that individuality would only hinder the laws that had been catered to the society as a whole. If each person was to be accounted for then the whole as Rousseau saw it, would come to a halt.Both authors present two extreme ways of life. while one advocates complete and total freedom, albeit not at the expense of others, the other goes on to suggest that freedom is restricted only is what the choices someone more powerful has selected for the majority. For freedom of speech both arguments do not fit. There needs to be a balance between the two. One cannot allow complete and total freedom of speech because inadvertently, whether it was intended or not, an individual may end up harming the society he/she lives in. If everyone began to voice a million different point of views at the same time there wouldnt be diversity, there would be chaos.Similarly, if the entire society was to follow the whims of a hardly a(prenominal) men and women then society will not be able to move on. New ideas would neer develop people would never gain knowledge because knowledge would itself become restricted. Someone needs to confirmation talking to allow for the silence that precedes anothers idea. History shows us that without speaking ones mind, no real revolutions would have taken place, that being said, history also shows us how massive little terror can sweep nations because of the freedom of speech that was given to the people. A balance between the two is needed. Social responsibility needs to be practiced with the freedom of speech the two should be taken as a packaged deal and not separately.Works CitedRousseaus Social ContractRousseaus Discourse on InequalityMills On Liberty

Feminist and Womanist Criticism of African Literature: a Bibliography

womens rightist and Womanist review of Afri croupe buoy Literature A Bibliography By Sharon Verba July 20, 1997 Those women who struggle without giving up hope, herald the impending modify change in attitude for n aboriginal(prenominal) men and women as they evaluate and re-evaluate their social roles. -Rosemary Moyana, men & Women Re put downing, willful misreading, and de- and re-coding argon tools drug abused in African books and womanist or womens liberationist talk about to ch exclusivelyenge ordinanceised literature that tends to black out Black and blanch out Woman. -Kofi Owusu, Canons Under Siege The collective effort has to fall out from the ranks of those whose life is theorized. -Sisi Maqagi, Who Theorizes Feminist reprehension of African literatures is a steadily growing field. The following bibliography includes articles and essays in slope and French which examine African literatures ( illustration, poetry, drama and oral literature) from a womens lib erationist or womanist perspective. It does non include, unfortunately, reproval in other languages such as Wolof, Xhosa, Zulu, Portuguese, German, or Arabic due to my own inability to read those languages.Also, authors whose employs argon originally write in languages other than French or English, such as Ngugi wa Thiongos plays and the novel, Devil on the Cross, and Nawal al Sadawis domesticates, may be down the stairs-re ushered in this bibliography, as criticism very much tends to be written in the language of the work be addressed. The first officealizations of this essay will empower everywhereviews on two key completes for those interested in both feminism and African literatures the current ebate over the role of womens rightist criticisms in addressing African literatures, and an interrogative of the changes which charter developed over the past decade in the ways feminist criticism approaches African literatures. This examination will trace these changes from 1985-1996 by considering articles which institute the ongoing evolution of feminist criticism in this field. Finally, this essay similarly includes a section which explains my methodology and sources in compiling the bibliography, and a section offering hints for future searches, oddly of online indexes. Feminist disapproval and African LiteratureMany resigns of concern to feminist/womanist thought be wakend and addressed in these articles. (1) Among the issues taken up in the state of feminist theory and criticism be the importance of feminism as a literary critical method the government agency and mis- deputation of women in literary texts the education of women the access of women to the economic means of excerption bafflehood women in the domestic sphere women as part of their communities womens role in governing and rotation sexuality and the direct handling of women by men, and men by women.Underlying this array of specific interests ar questions of sexual activity in representation and of the reality or realities of life for women in Africapast, present, and future. The arguments found in the articles in this bibliography present a multiplicity of views, a few of which may even be anti-feminist, exactly all of which chance upon gender a basis of discussion, and all of which offer much for the consideration of feminist thought with honor to African literatures.The state of feminist literary criticism/thought in Africa now is the direct pore of several(prenominal) of the articles, although all of the articles could be said in more than or less degree or other to be a part of this crabbed debate. I put now in quotations, because these articles cover a capacious range of time1980-1996 and those which focus on this particular topic present an evolving discourse. Two collections of essays in particular are note deservingy for their presentation of a range of ideas on feminism and literary criticism in Africa Ngambika Studies of W omen in African Literature (1986) and South African Feminisms Writing, Theory and Criticism 990-1994 (1995). Ngambika includes twenty articles which focus on the representation of women in African literature. Taken together the articles provide an invaluable overview of the types of feminist criticism being applied to African literatures in the mid 1980s, although most do not focus on the issue of feminism as a critical method. One essay in this collection proves a leading light exception. In the collections introductory essay Carole Boyce Davies(2) does write of the tension found in the whole caboodle of many critics of African literatures, especially fe manlike critics.These critics, she says, work out of a growing awareness of the requirement to balance both the need to liberate African peoples from neo-colonialism and other forms of race and class oppression, coupled with a respect for sealed features of traditional African cultures, and the recognition that a feminist conscio usness is necessary in examining the position of women in African societies (1).Davies then outlines the issues of women writers in Africa (including the relatively small number of women writers) and the presentation of women in allegory written by African men, as advantageously as the development of an African feminist criticism. In her treatment of the latter concern, she lists four major areas which African feminist critics tend to address the development of the canon of African women writers, the examination of stereotyped images of women in African literature, the study of African women writers and the development of an African womanish aesthetic, and the examination of women and the oral tradition (13-14).While Davies acknowledges the objections African women writers and critics have to the shape feminist and discusses womanist theory, she focuses on the idea of a underdeveloped African feminist theory which will not besides perform the balancing act menti bingled at th e beginning, plainly abide to address the major issues she has outlined. Seven old age later, in the 1993 publication A narrative of Twentieth-Century African Literatures, Davies and Elaine Savory Fido contributed a chapter entitled African Women Writers A Literary History. In it, they examine African women writers and their writings, center especially on the styles and genres used by these writers. Included is a brief segment on Feminism and African Women Writers as well as a separate section on Criticism and African Womens Writing. In the section on feminism, they note the continued reluctance of many African women writers and critics to be labeled as feminists because of the overt unrivalleds of westernization the term carries, but they too point out that most African women writers are committed, in the words of Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie, as a writer, as a woman and as a third base world person (339).This triple commitment encompasses much of the politics of African feminis m, as well as womanism, whether the labels are accepted or not. Fido and Davies conclude The role and history of feminist politics or activism on womens rights in Africa is a discourse which African women are studying and clarifying for themselves (339). One of the places in which this discourse can be seen is South African Feminisms Writing, Theory and Criticism 1990-1994.South African Feminisms presents a collection of articles on feminist literature and criticism, including and expanding the debate on feminist criticism of African literatures which was part of the special issue certain Writing Text and receipt in Southern Africa 2 (1990). M. J. Daymonds introduction gives a keen overview of the issues raised in the collection, including the debate over feminist criticism and the development of an African feminist theory.The section Theory and Context includes eight articles originally produce from 1990-1993. Taken together, these articles constitute an excellent sampling of s ome of the issues and moves in African feminist criticism, including Sisi Maqagis Who Theorizes? in which she questions the ability of white critics, African or non-African, female or male, to develop a theory which will adequately address the issues of black African women, quite a than appropriating those issues, and the voices which raise them.Jill Arnott, in an article entitled French Feminism in a South Africa? Gayatri Spivak and the Problem of bureau in South African Feminism, contends that difference, which can often lead to misrepresentation, can also at times lead to accurate and insightful work to power a genuinely dialectical interaction amidst two vigilantly foregrounded subject-positions, but tho with an awareness of the position of ifference and a consciousness of the act of representation (87). Desiree Lewis, in The Politics of Feminism in South Africa, counters that such a conscious and effective use of difference may well be im possible, as long as there is a policy-making climate in which white female academics are adjudicateing to hold on to their power within the academy, at the expense of black women.In the same article she also points out that unless black working class women can make their statements about the current oppressive orthodoxies and do so without creating, as she argues Western feminism has, another oppressive orthodoxy, there may be no way out of the current impasse. Changes in Feminist Criticism of African Literature Although some of the articles included in this bibliography, like those in a higher place, examine feminist literary criticism as a topic, most focus on literary concerns texts, authors, or issues.In the seventeen years this bibliography spans there are shifts in the coverage these concerns are given. Critical analyses of man-to-man authors naturally both hold out and deepen over the years, especially as an individual authors body of work grows or is reclaimed from obscurity. In general, in the 1990s there are less plant of criticism that examine several authors and much(prenominal) which focus on individuals and their work than there were in the 1980s. Also, the topics think upon subtly shift over the years. Images of women in the works of. could be the subtitle for many of the articles written in the 1980s as feminist critics examined representations, or misrepresentations, of African women in literary texts. At the same time these critics raised the question of the role of African authors, male and female, in expanding and/or correcting such representations. These concerns are still addressed indeed, the feminist criticism on these topics is, like the criticism of specific authors, expanding and deepening.To highlight these changes, I shall examine here some of the collections and good example individual articles which have been produced over the years, beginning with the landmark collection Ngambika, which was published in 1986, followed by Women in African Literatur e like a shot in 1987, articles by Kofi Owusu and Elleke Boehmer in 1990, the 1990 issue of Current Writing Text and Reception in Southern Africa, Essays on African Writing 2 Contemporary Literature published in 1995 and The Marabout and the suppose in the altogether Approaches to Islam in African Literature in 1996.All of the articles in the first section of Ngambika overtly tackle the issue of the representations of women in the works of African authors. Carole Boyce Davies writes one of these articles Maidens, Mistresses, and Matrons Feminine Images in Selected Soyinka Works. In it, she argues that Soyinka often offers only stereotyped images of women which fall into one of three categories the foolish virgin in cracker-barrel settings, the femme fatale in urban settings, and the masculinized matron.Those percentages which fall in the latter category, in Davies opinion, come closest to being non-stereotypes, but even they are drawn with no depth (81). The foolish virgins an d the femme fatales, Davies argues, fill only the roles of stereotypes and symbols, possessions or trophies to be won away from Western influences by African traditions, or, more threateningly, these women are seen as dangers which can bend and destroy.Davies acknowledges that Soyinka sometimes shows women briefly in a positive light but notes that by dint ofout Soyinkas works one finds the kernel of positive poseal of the female image which is never fully realized (85). Davies concludes with the argument that the artificer has the power to create new realities women as n any victors nor victims but partners in struggle (86). Davies article is illustration of the criticism which examines the image of women in African literatures. That is, she carefully addresses the concerns of the author (i. e. he need for recognizable symbols) as she argues against the relegation of women solely to symbolic roles, asking for characterizations which do not reinforce a negative perception of e gotism to the female viewer/reader and, concomitantly, a condescension in the appraisal of women on the part of the male (78). In the years following the publishing of Ngambika, several journals and monograph series devoted to African literatures published issues on women as authors of or characters in African literatures. One of the first was the Women in African Literature Today issue of African Literature Today (Vol. 5). Like Ngambika, this issue contains many excellent articles, almost all of which are written from a feminist perspective. I would like to discuss two of these articles as representative not merely of this particular collection, but of the feminist criticism on African literatures being published at this time. In Feminist Issues in the Fiction of Kenyas Women Writers Jean F. OBarr list three main categories of feminist concerns in the fiction of Kenyan woman writers how female children become women what marriage means for women here womens work fits into their liv es (57). OBarr notes that the women authors she analyzes all write from the womans point of view, sharply underscoring the idea that the female perspective . may be several(predicate) from the male perspective on the same topic (58). OBarr analyzes the works of Kenyas female authors from a sociological approach, hoping to confirm a stronger image of the social lives of Kenyas women than is possible from the works of male authors. She concludes that Kenyas women find themselves in a quartette bind they see themselves performing traditional roles ithout traditional resources while at the same time they are undertaking newfangled activities while being denied access to modern support systems (69). While OBarr looks at the fiction of Kenyan women in order to locate the reality of womens lives, Katherine click attempts in the controversial article Women without Men The Feminist Novel in Africa to find a radically feminist future for African women. Frank endeavors to place African wom en writers into the Western feminist mold by speaking of their work as a more radical extension of the Western feminist tradition.In speaking of the contemporary British or American novel she claims our heroine slams the door on her domestic prison, journeys out into the great world, slays the dragon of her patriarchal society, and triumphantly discovers the grail of feminism by conclusion herself, (14). She argues that in comparison African novels by women go far beyond their Western counterparts, refusing to dabble in daydreaming about enlightened heroes or reformed, non-sexist societies, (15). Frank finds that the feminist writers of Africa portray women not only as taking on industrious and shared roles with men, but as finding a destiny of their own. destiny with a vengeance, (15). Frank contends that Mariama Ba, Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta and Ama Ata Aidoos novels are, in their feminisms, more radical, even more militant, than their Western counterparts (15). But Franks i nterpretations place African heroines on a path which is not different, but rather the same, if more intense, than the one taken by the British and American heroines she notes above. Frank stresses that in these novels women find only pain and degradation in their relationships with men, but on their own and in their relationships with other women they find female solidarity, power, independence (33).In her interpretation, Barr neglects to note examples in which the future is shared by men and women. For example, when she speaks of Mariama Bas So Long a Letter, she focuses on Ramatoulaye and Aissatous friendship and the world they create apart from men, (20). While this in itself glosses over the complex (and by no means completely negative) relationships these women have with the men in their lives, she also does not speak of Ramatoulayes daughter and son-in- uprightness, and the hope Ramatoulaye finds in their relationship.In this article, Frank does not acknowledge a difference between demonstrating that a womans worth is not inextricable from her relationship with men, that a woman can take care of herself, as Ramatoulaye discovers, and an positive desire to live a life without men. However, controversial as some of her interpretations are, her essay effectively outlines the some of the subtle feminisms of African women novelists.Katherine Franks stance is one which falls into the category of radical, feminist-separatist ideology which Kofi Owusu defines and rejects in his article in Callaloo entitled Canons Under Siege Blackness, Femaleness, and Ama Ata Aidoos Our Sister Killjoy(1990). While Frank sees Aidoos character Sissie as paltry towards an autonomous, self-determining life without men (Frank 32), Owusu finds Aidoo to be in tune with the old (Achebes vast corpus of African traditional stories) and the new (modern feminist theory) (357).Owusu sees Aidoo, and other female writers, not as bridging a gap between Western and African thought but creati ng something new out of both and challenging the canons that would ignore either black or female concerns. Much of Owusus article analyzes the discontinuities as well as continuities between womanist-feminist perspectives, on the one hand, and African literature, on the other (342), allowing Owusu to regard Aidoos work as one which gives a sense of structural and linguistic irony which is functional. signifying a couple of things the need for, and very process of, revamping (361).Here, the canons need to be reformed in recognition of both race and gender, not one or the other, or one without the other. While Kofi Owusu focused on Aidoos linguistic and textual manipulations, the question of the image of women in African literature continues to be a highly examined topic. Elleke Boehmer explores the construction of women as mothers, whores, representations of national pride, or finally, as spiritual advisors and supporters, but not as individuals readyly and crucially involved in po litical activity.In Of Goddesses and Stories Gender and a New Politics in Achebes Anthills of the Savannah, Boehmer analyzes Chinua Achebes efforts to include women in his re-vision of the future and questions whether women remain a vehicle of transformation rather than actual women with an active role in the future of the country, that is, whether woman is the ground of change or discursive displacement but not the subject of transformation (102).She concludes that Achebe has still idealized women but that his creation of a female character with an important yet undefined role for the future has opened up space for women to have active and involved roles, side by side with men, in the building of the future. Like Davies article on Soyinka from Ngambika discussed earlier, Boehmers work recognizes Achebes literary prowess and commends his willingness to make women positive symbols, but in the end laments the lack of depth in his female characters.Although South African Feminisms was published in 1996, many of the articles in it come from the 1990 issue of Current Writing Text and Reception in Southern Africa, which was dedicated to Feminism and Writing. This issue continued the trend of publishing articles debating not only the appropriateness of feminism in an African context but also the challenges of applying it to African literatures, as well as articles focusing on women writers or womens images in literature.In A equalizer Without Theory Tsitsi Dangarembgas Nervous Conditions, Brenda Bosman addresses the psychological dislocation forced upon the women of the heroines family by Englishness, the term used by her mother to describe the process of assimilation which various members of the family undergo. However, one of the most arouse aspects of the article is Bosmans explicit attempt to find a position from which to speak, as a white South African woman, to not for, or of Dangarembga.She writes her article in the form of a letter to Dangarembga, and ackn owledges that she might not have succeeded in finding a legitimate position you may find despite all my conscious efforts, I have nonetheless submitted to the voice of my education(311). Considering the problematics of education in Nervous Conditions, this could be seen as a range entendre, but her article shows a conscious attempt to find a place from which to speak comfortably, an progressively toilsome matter for some African feminists.The last two articles I will discuss pause change in the field of feminist criticism of Africa on two levels both are placed in collections of essays on African literature which can be considered general, and both are examples of the further ontogenesis in variety in the forms of feminist criticism of African literature. Although very good collections of critical essays focusing exclusively on women and African literature are published, it is important to note that few, if any general collections are now being published without the inclusion of at least one, if not several essays which address feminist concerns.In Essays on African Writing 2 Contemporary Literature (1995), there are three articles which are written from a feminist perspective. One of these is Belinda Jacks Strategies of Transgression in the Writings of Assia Djebar. In it she explores the means by which Djebar writes for Arabic women of Algeria in the language of the colonizer.Jack distinguishes Djebars writings by arguing that her texts are not written in the French language but a French language a language which no overnight belongs to the colonizers because of the deliberate shifts Djebar makes (23). Jack also notes that Djebar also transgresses against Islam in her choices of subject matter, especially sexuality, again firm in the knowledge that while such speech may be a ill-doing, it is only a transgression because with speech (or writing) comes power.The last article I wish to discuss also focuses on Assia Djebar and her concerns with Islam. T he Marabout and the Muse New Approaches to Islam in African Literature (1996) contains four articles which approach literature from a distinctly feminist perspective one on Somali womens Sittaat (songs sung for and to notable women in Islamic history), one on the tradition of female Islamic writers in Nigeria, and two which examine Djebars Loin de Medine.In Daughters of Hagar Daughters of Muhammad Sonia Lee argues that through her early fictional exploration of women in Islam, Djebar is attempting to make a space for Islamic women to reclaim the true law of God (60). Lee finds that Djebars historical training combined with her literary skills allow her to oscillate between the actual and the probable, therefore underlying the real subject matter of the novel, . the problematic of Islamic collective memory with regard to women (51). The above articles typify the growing expansion of feminist approaches to African literatures.While feminist criticisms continue to broaden the literary canon by bringing literature by African women to critical attention and continue to address the representation of African women in literatures, the methods used by such criticism in relation to African literatures continue to evolve. As feminist critics, both African and non-African, use sociological, linguistic, psychoanalytic, historical and other approaches to broaden the examination of African literatures, at least some Western feminist critics are also trying to incorporate a heightened awareness of their own positions with regards to the authors and literatures they discuss.Methodology This bibliography is, in every sense of the word, selective. African authors were included if an article (in English or French) could be located which discussed him or her from the angle of feminism, womanism, or the treatment of gender. Authors were not excluded or included on any other basis, including race and gender. Interviews were included for many of the female writers because such inter views often are a main source of feminist thought (their own) on their works.The sources I used to find these articles were the bibliographies of African literature located in the journal Callaloo (1987-89 and 1990-93), the MLA Bibliography, the African studies bibliographies for the years 1995-96, the CD-Rom resource Womens Resources International, 1972-August 1996, as well as various library catalogs for monographs, whether collections or single-authored. In addition, I scanned the bibliographies of articles and books to find other relevant citations.There are several good bibliographies which focus, at least in part, on feminist criticism of African literatures from the 1970s through the mid 1980s. Brenda Berrians Bibliography of African Women Writers and Journalists, Carole Boyce Davies A Bibliography of Criticism and Related Works in Ngambika, and Barbara Fisters bibliography on criticism in Third World Womens Literature in combination cover this earlier period very thoroughly. I did not use these bibliographies to compile this one to avoid excess duplication, I have focused on criticism published from 1980 on and simply cite these earlier bibliographies at the end of this one, although I am authentic some duplication has occurred. This bibliography is nonionic by authors and also includes a section on general works, which is organized first by those which cover African literatures without focusing on a specific country, region or author, then by region, and then individual countries.Works of criticism are placed in this section if they meet to several authors/works from the continent, a particular region, or country. If an article focuses on four or fewer authors, it is included under the name of each author. The bibliography includes articles on eighty-seven individual authors, as well as general articles on Africa, East Africa, North Africa, West Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Somali, South Africa, and Zimbabwe it cites more than fo ur hundred articles and monographs.It is interesting to compare the authors found in this bibliography with the ninety-five authors found in the biography section of Hans Zells A New Readers Guide to African Fiction (1st ed. , 1971 2nd rev. ed. ,1983). The authors in Zells work are often considered the early canon of African literatures. Only twenty-five authors appear in both the current bibliography and Hans Zells Guide. There may be several reasons for this difference. Many of the authors included in my bibliography were not then considered a part of the canon of African literature and a few had not even published at the time Zells work appeared.Carole Boyce Davies also offers an insight which may explain the lack of overlap. She notes in her introduction to Ngambika that one of the priorities of African feminist literary criticism is the development of a canon of African women writers and a parallel canon of critical works with the final aim of expanding the African literary can on (14). The Guides were compiled in the early years of this expansion, and it is quite possible that today the lists would be more reflective of each other.At the same time, many African women writers actively rally attempts to place African men on the defensive, arguing that a critical approach to literature (as well as other social, political, and cultural expressions) must explore the strengths of both African women and African men. While feminist criticism does focus on male authors, it more often strives to bring to the forefront of literary discussions the works of female African authors and the strong, individualistic portrayals of women they offer.Future Search Hints The issues discussed above make feminist criticism of African fiction an exciting and dynamic field. They also make it a very complex field to research. There are several issues to keep in mind when beginning research in this area. One of the most difficult to overcome is the lack of coverage of this area in m ainstream indexing sources, such as the MLA, especially when one looks for early works, which were often carried in journals not then indexed by the MLA.Other sources which do cover these journals, such as the excellent bibliographies periodically offered by Callaloo on studies of African literature, do not offer separate sections for feminist criticism, and it is necessary to assess which ones are relevant by the titles or, at times, the authors, of the articles. For my own part it should be historied that it is entirely possible that I have missed articles which should appear in this bibliography.Many of the best sources are only available in print, such as International African Bibliography, Current Bibliography of African Affairs, and Cahiers detudes africaines, which are more time-consuming to search, but well worth the effort. As the discussion above indicates, the term feminism can be extremely limiting when it is being used as a descriptor in either online or print indexes. For this reason, it is advisable to keep other terms in mind when searching for articles, whether in print or electronic resources, such as the keywords/descriptors Gender and Womanism/Womanist.It is important, as well, not to limit searches to the term African. While some articles are indexed with this descriptor, those articles which deal with a specific author may be listed under that authors country instead, as of course are those which deal with the literatures of a specific region or country. Finally, especially when searching for articles in online indexes, it is useful to keep in mind specific topics, such as sexuality, motherhood, and politics combined with women or female.