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Volume XIV (2003)
FOREWORD
In this
issue, we are pleased to have three articles and seven book reviews
covering a wide range of theoretical issues, analytic methodologies, and
geographic regions. From an over-flight of issues related to
globalization and culture to a statistical analysis of land and
education reform in South Africa to a study of the media representation
of a militant indigenous movement in southern Mexico, the articles
demonstrate the complex variety of problems included in Third World
Studies in general and the ITWSJ&R’s publication program in
particular.
Building on
many years of experience in Third World countries, Alvin G. Edgell takes
a look at the relationship between globalization and culture. In a broad
survey of recent works on the subject, he presents studies that depict
various understandings of culture and the variety of ways in which
culture is implicated in globalization. Within the frame of his own
definitions, Edgell characterizes the “state of play” on the subject by
looking closely at the contributions to Huntington and Harrison’s
Cultural Encounters, as well as Berger and Dore’s National Unity
and Global Capitalism and Dani Rodrik’s The New Global Economy.
Edgell’s overview of his subject nicely complements the more narrowly
focused contributions of Irogbe and McCowan.
Kema Irogbe
explores the issues of land and education as they intersect with the
racial disparities in post-apartheid South Africa. In education, he
identifies efforts to reverse decades of racial exclusion from key
universities, noting the uneven results of reform evident in various
tables of social statistics. On the issue of inequities in land
distribution, Irogbe highlights three programs of land reform: land
restitution, land redistribution, and land tenure reform. He finds
modest signs of progress toward a more equitable system, yet much
remains to be done to fulfill the promises of the Mandela and later
Mbeki administrations. In particular, Irogbe critiques attempts to
correct past injustices on a market basis (e.g., “willing buyer, willing
seller” in real estate) arguing that the distortions in access to both
land and education are unlikely to be redressed adequately without a
proactive policy.
Turning to
Clint McCowan’s study of the early 1990s Zapatista self-representation
through Subcomandante Marcos and its appropriation by the international
media and Mexican economy is an excellent example of the struggle for
signs and symbols, in this case between a more powerful national
political and military structure and a regional (Chiapas) indigenous
movement. McCowan’s analysis lies at the level of representation.
Through Marcos, the latter were represented as a people fighting for
their land; over the years, his rhetoric has employed varying degrees of
socialist rhetoric. Critical questions remain about extent to which the
voice of the indigenous peoples of the Zapatista movement has been
overlooked under the dominant and media savvy presentation of Marcos.
The Book
Review section of this issue includes seven reviews. Rory J. Conces
reviews Fatos Tarifa’s Culture, Ideology and Society (Smiet,
2001); Paul Allen Williams reviews Asma Barlas’ Believing Women in
Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an
(University of Texas Press, 2002); Ali Kamali reviews Robert Holton’s
Globalization and the Nation-State (St. Martin’s Press, 1998); David
T. Jervis reviews Princeton Lyman’s Partner to History, The U. S.
Role in South Africa’s Transition to Democracy (U.S. Institute of
Peace Press, 2002) and also Masao Miyoshi and H. D. Harootunian’s
Learning Places: The Afterlives of Area Studies (Duke University
Press, 2002); Tanweer Akram reviews Abbas Alnasrawi’s Iraq’s Burden:
Oil, Sanctions, and Underdevelopment (Greenwood Press, 2002); and
Owen G. Mordaunt reviews Dinesh D’Souza’s What’s So Great About
America (Penguin Books, 2002).
The
editorial staff of the Journal invites you to continue manuscript
submissions for consideration in future issues. As always, ITWSJ&R
is a refereed publication and is open to articles and book reviews
addressing any aspect of Third World studies. Articles examining the
concept of the Third World are equally solicited. In addition, future
issues will include reviews of films, translations, book notes,
discussion notes, and interviews. Submissions should be mailed to the
address printed in the Information for Contributors section of this
issue.
In an attempt to make the
journal more readily accessible, the editors are examining the prospect
of providing an online version of the paper journal. Whether the journal
moves to an online-only format will be determined by the success of this
experiment.
The contents
of Volume XIII (2002), Volume XIV (2003), and the Information for
Contributors can be found on the journal’s website. The journal’s
homepage is maintained by the Department of Philosophy and Religion at
http://www.unomaha.edu/ITWSJ-R. For information on the
annual Third World Studies Conference at the University of Nebraska at
Omaha, see the Twenty-Seventh National Meeting notice in this issue
and/or go to the Third World Studies Conference note on the website.
— Paul Allen Williams
Volume XIV |
