Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism

Brian Thompson is a Senior Nutrition Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO is an intergovernmental organization, it has 191 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. As a knowledge organization, FAO creates and shares critical information about food, agriculture and natural resources in the form of global public goods. FAO plays a connector role, through identifying and working with different partners with established expertise, and facilitating a dialogue between those who have the knowledge and those who need it. By turning knowledge into action, FAO links the field to national, regional and global initiatives in a mutually reinforcing cycle. Its mandate is to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living. What is the size of the malnutrition problem and what regions are most affected? There are persistently high levels of undernutrition. Nearly 870 million people in the world go to bed hungry (1 in 8 people) according to the recently released report of The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012 (SOFI) and 2 billion have some form of micronutrient malnutrition – this constitutes a crime against humanity and is a responsibility for all of us. Prevalence of undernourishment in developing countries has declined over the past two decades, from 23 to 15 percent. In terms of total numbers in 1990– 92, around 980 million individuals were estimated to be undernourished. The number dropped to 901 million in 1999– 2001, to 885 million in 2006–06 and to 852 million in 2007–09. The financial crisis, economic downturn, persistent food price volatility, drought and other repercussions of climate change since 2006–08 may have prevented any further significant improvements in the number of people who are undernourished in developing countries since then. Africa has by far the highest prevalence, at around 23 percent in 2010–12 but though it is down from what it was in 1990–92 (27 percent) the numbers have risen from 175 million to 239 million with nearly 20 million added in the past four years. In subSaharan Africa, the modest progress achieved in recent years up to 2007 was reversed, with hunger rising 2 percent per year since then. In Asia, both prevalence and numbers dropped over the same period from 24 percent (739 million) to 14 percent (563 million). Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) boasts the lowest rate of undernourishment (8 percent) among developing country regions but the rate of progress has slowed recently. Countries considered as leastdeveloped countries and lowincome economies have the highest prevalence rates of all around 30 percent but down from the 40 percent levels of twenty years ago.

Interview ラン・ラン

he revised English edition of this book tlie T original Swcdisli cdition. without tlie subtitle. is froni 1997 should be considered :is i111 important contribution to sociology and social science in general to tlie extent tliat it is a clear and wcll-structured introduction to critical i-disrri, one of the most rccent and vigorous theoretical streams in the field of thc social scicnces. if we take into coiisidcration tlic influential work of hlargaret t\\rclier (1995: Realist Socinl Tlicory: Tlic I\\loriJlio!gciicti(’

Explaining Society, Critical Realism in the Social Sciences:

Like the printing press, typewriter, and computer, paper has been a crucial agent for the dissemination of information. This engaging book presents an important new chapter in paper's history: how its use in Islamic lands during the Middle Ages influenced almost every aspect of medieval life. Focusing on the spread of paper from the early eighth century, when Muslims in West Asia acquired Chinese knowledge of paper and papermaking, to five centuries later, when they transmitted this knowledge to Christians in Spain and Sicily, the book reveals how paper utterly transformed the passing of knowledge and served as a bridge between cultures. Jonathan Bloom traces the earliest history of paper - how it was invented in China over 2,000 years ago, how it entered the Islamic lands of West Asia and North Africa, and how it spread to northern Europe. He explores the impact of paper on the development of writing, books, mathematics, music, art, architecture, and even cooking. And he discusses why Europe was so quick to adopt paper from the Islamic lands and why the Islamic lands were so slow to accept printing in return. Together the beautifully written text and delightful illustrations of papermaking techniques and the many uses to which paper was put give new lustre and importance to a now-humble material.

Paper before Print: The History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic World

Foreword Chinua Achebe 1. Introduction 2. Literature for the masses 3. Passport to the happy life 4. Romantic love: its sources for West Africa 5. Daughters and fathers 5. The love of love 7. The reign of Shakespeare: style 8. The newspaper and the cinema 9. Religion and morals 10. Conclusion Appendix A bibliography of the pamphlet literature Index.

An African Popular Literature, A Study of Onitsha Market Pamphlets

In A History of the University Presses in Apartheid South Africa , Elizabeth le Roux examines the origins, publishing lists and philosophies of the university presses, as well as academic freedom and knowledge production, during the apartheid era.

A Social History of the University Presses in Apartheid South Africa: Between Complicity and Resistance

African print culture has not been widely studied from a historical perspective. Many studies focus on the present, without interrogating the historical developments that led to the present situation. We do find information available on what has been published over time, but little attention has been paid to the material forms of texts, their distribution, marketing, readership, or impact. Much earlier work is also largely descriptive. It is only recently—in the past ten years or so—that theoretical models of book history have begun to influence studies in this field. This essay is the first attempt to organize book historical studies in an African context. While this survey cannot be considered comprehensive, given the scope of the continent and its research, it presents a sampling of the most significant work and highlights trends.

Book History in the African World: The State of the Discipline

Annual book publishing industry survey report

The study of book history is in its infancy in South Africa, with a small group of scholars working in the area and little sense of a shared body of literature, which could be used as foundational texts for those wishing to conduct research in this fi eld. This article describes an attempt to map the terrain of book and print culture studies in South Africa to date. Although it is only in recent years that writings have come to be grouped under a broader heading of book history (whether at conferences or in special issues of journals), work has been done in this fisince the early twentieth century. This is similar to the situation in other countries, where the ‘accidental’ growth of book history has meant that a great deal of work has been done on a wide variety of relevant topics. The article describes key strands in the literature, including print history, publishing history, the overlap with literary history, and studies of readership and reception.

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The accidental growth of book history: A literature review of print culture and book history studies in South Africa

Digital technologies such as e-books are predicted to have a profound effect on publishing, but they are yet to have a serious impact on the industry. This paper considers the implications of digitization and digital publishing for the trade book publishing industry in South Africa. Through surveys and interviews with South African trade publishers, a picture was developed of the current state of digital publishing. This state is evaluated using the context and predictive value of disruptive technology theory. In this case, digital technology is seen as a disruptive technology in the traditional print publishing environment. As the paper shows, the problems that publishers are experiencing are characteristic of industries faced with disruptive technology. The principles of disruptive technology can therefore be applied to develop recommendations and suggest strategies for publishers planning to venture into digital publishing. Although the focus of the research was on South African trade publishers, the r...

Elizabeth le Roux

Papers

A Social History of the University Presses in Apartheid South Africa: Between Complicity and Resistance

Book History in the African World: The State of the Discipline

Annual book publishing industry survey report

The accidental growth of book history: A literature review of print culture and book history studies in South Africa

The Predictive Value of Disruptive Technology Theory for Digital Publishing in the Traditional Publishing Environment: A South African Case Study