Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror
TL;DR: Maddani as discussed by the authors reviewed Mahmood Mamdani, Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror (New York: Pantheon, 2009).
Abstract: David Mickler reviews Mahmood Mamdani, Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror (New York: Pantheon, 2009). ISBN 978-0-307-37723-4.
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Book•
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the first account of the Darfur crisis to consider recent events within the broad context of Sudan's history, and examine the efficacy of the world's response to the ongoing violence.
Abstract: "Saviours and Survivors" is the first account of the Darfur crisis to consider recent events within the broad context of Sudan's history, and to examine the efficacy of the world's response to the ongoing violence. Illuminating the deeply rooted causes of the current conflict, Mamdani works from its colonial and Cold War origins to the war's intensification from the 1990s to the present day. Examining how the conflict has drawn in national, regional, and global forces, Mamdani deconstructs the powerful Western lobby's persistent calls for a military response dressed up as a 'humanitarian intervention'. Incisive and authoritative, "Saviours and Survivors" will radically alter our understanding of the crisis in Darfur.
263 citations
TL;DR: The status of international law and transnational legal agreements with respect to the sovereignty claims of liberal democracies has become a highly contentious theoretical and political issue as discussed by the authors, and there is increasing reticence on the part of many that prospects of a world constitution are neither desirable nor salutary.
Abstract: The status of international law and transnational legal agreements with respect to the sovereignty claims of liberal democracies has become a highly contentious theoretical and political issue. Although recent European discussions focus on global constitutionalism, there is increasing reticence on the part of many that prospects of a world constitution are neither desirable nor salutary. This article more closely considers criticisms of these legal transformations by distinguishing the nationalist from democratic sovereigntiste positions, and both, from diagnoses that see the universalization of human rights norms either as the Trojan horse of a global empire or as neocolonialist intentions to assert imperial control over the world. These critics ignore “the jurisgenerativity of law.” Although democratic sovereigntistes are wrong in minimizing how human rights norms improve democratic self-rule; global constitutionalists are also wrong in minimizing the extent to which cosmopolitan norms require local contextualization, interpretation, and vernacularization by self-governing peoples.
167 citations
Dissertation•
17 May 2012
TL;DR: The authors explore l'histoire scolaire soudanaise a l'ere de l'ebranlement colonial" qui succeda a la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
Abstract: Reinscrivant le Soudan anglo-egyptien dans l'histoire imperiale britannique, cette these explore l'histoire scolaire soudanaise a l'ere de l'"ebranlement colonial" qui succeda a la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Les materiaux didactiques, les contenus prescrits et les pratiques pedagogiques sont analyses a la lumiere de cinq developpements majeurs des annees 1945-1953 : le virage "paterno-progressiste" des politiques coloniales britanniques en Afrique, dont l'objectif etait desormais de preparer les peuples colonises a l'autogouvernance ; la polarisation des positions britannique et egyptienne sur la question du Soudan ; la concurrence accrue entre les deux courants du nationalisme soudanais (independantiste et unioniste) ; l'unification hâtive du Nord et du Sud-Soudan apres plus d'un demi-siecle de gestion separee ; et la tentative des elites nord-soudanaises de construire un Etat-nation arabo-musulman. Le second volet de la these est consacre a une mise en perspective diachronique et synchronique de l'histoire scolaire soudanaise de fin d'Empire : celle-ci marqua-t-elle une veritable rupture par rapport a l'histoire scolaire pratiquee au Soudan jusqu'en 1945 ? Quelles etaient les convergences et les divergences entre l'histoire scolaire du Soudan et celle d'autres territoires de l'(ex-)Empire britannique (Ouganda, Rhodesie du Nord, Nigeria, Egypte, Inde, Grande-Bretagne) ? Ma reflexion s'acheve sur deux problemes cruciaux de l'ere postcoloniale : la decolonisation - ou non - des recits historiques scolaires apres l'independance (1956) et le role catalyseur de l'histoire scolaire dans la guerre civile entre le Nord et le Sud-Soudan.
90 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that those still able to do fieldwork in sites of increasing danger do so by virtue of building their own "tribes, forming and joining different social micro-systems to collect data and, in some cases, survive.
Abstract: Can fieldwork still be done in today’s most violent warzones? We contend that long-held methodological principles about power and impartiality do not hold in today’s conflict-ridden environments. Research of this kind can still be pursued, but only if the scholar’s place is reconceived as one of limited power and unavoidable partiality. We argue that those still able to do fieldwork in sites of increasing danger do so by virtue of building their own ‘tribes,’ forming and joining different social micro-systems to collect data and, in some cases, survive. Field research must, therefore, be recognized as its own form of foreign intervention. In considering the future of political science research in the most challenging war-torn settings, we examine the risks and opportunities that accompany ‘tribal politics’ of this kind and underline the importance of reflecting on our own positionality in the process of knowledge production.
70 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined how the New York Times reported the Darfur conflict in the Sudan, which has led to an estimated 300,000 deaths and over 2.3 million people displaced by the fighting.
Abstract: This multi-method study examines how the New York Times reported the Darfur conflict in the Sudan, which has led to an estimated 300,000 deaths and over 2.3 million people displaced by the fighting. Drawing on normative media theories and prior studies of Africa's representation, the role of sources in the frame-building process was analyzed, together with the impact of news-making processes on journalists' reporting about Darfur. The textual analysis largely supports results of prior studies on news framing of Africa. However, interviews with four New York Times journalists reveal that the individual biases and motives of the journalists and their sources significantly influenced the coverage. While the journalists participated in news-making processes distinguishable by journalist goal, source availability, and source credibility, their sources also provided information that reinforced certain media frames.
68 citations
Cites background from "Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Poli..."
...President Omar AlBashir’s antagonistic relationship with the United States made it easier to frame the government ‘‘as the genocidaire while shielding the insurgents in the name of justice’’ (Mamdani, 2009, p. 4)....
[...]
...These stories provided analysis from the journalist’s perspective about the situation in refugee camps and the challenges of providing aid to Darfuris....
[...]
...By predominantly devoting resources to cover actions of State department officials, and violence on the ground, opportunities were lost to shed light on the underlying causes of the conflict* land ownership and US vested interest in punishing Al-Bashir (Mamdani, 2009)....
[...]
...It was then that the rest of the world began to notice the plight of Darfuris (Mamdani, 2009)....
[...]
...Consequently, the reporting becomes limited to government officials’ efforts and accomplishments in Darfur and crucial information about US government’s reasons for intervening in Darfur*for example to provide a human face to the ‘‘War on Terror’’ (Mamdani, 2009)*are omitted from the narrative....
[...]
References
More filters
Book•
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the first account of the Darfur crisis to consider recent events within the broad context of Sudan's history, and examine the efficacy of the world's response to the ongoing violence.
Abstract: "Saviours and Survivors" is the first account of the Darfur crisis to consider recent events within the broad context of Sudan's history, and to examine the efficacy of the world's response to the ongoing violence. Illuminating the deeply rooted causes of the current conflict, Mamdani works from its colonial and Cold War origins to the war's intensification from the 1990s to the present day. Examining how the conflict has drawn in national, regional, and global forces, Mamdani deconstructs the powerful Western lobby's persistent calls for a military response dressed up as a 'humanitarian intervention'. Incisive and authoritative, "Saviours and Survivors" will radically alter our understanding of the crisis in Darfur.
263 citations
TL;DR: The status of international law and transnational legal agreements with respect to the sovereignty claims of liberal democracies has become a highly contentious theoretical and political issue as discussed by the authors, and there is increasing reticence on the part of many that prospects of a world constitution are neither desirable nor salutary.
Abstract: The status of international law and transnational legal agreements with respect to the sovereignty claims of liberal democracies has become a highly contentious theoretical and political issue. Although recent European discussions focus on global constitutionalism, there is increasing reticence on the part of many that prospects of a world constitution are neither desirable nor salutary. This article more closely considers criticisms of these legal transformations by distinguishing the nationalist from democratic sovereigntiste positions, and both, from diagnoses that see the universalization of human rights norms either as the Trojan horse of a global empire or as neocolonialist intentions to assert imperial control over the world. These critics ignore “the jurisgenerativity of law.” Although democratic sovereigntistes are wrong in minimizing how human rights norms improve democratic self-rule; global constitutionalists are also wrong in minimizing the extent to which cosmopolitan norms require local contextualization, interpretation, and vernacularization by self-governing peoples.
167 citations
Dissertation•
17 May 2012
TL;DR: The authors explore l'histoire scolaire soudanaise a l'ere de l'ebranlement colonial" qui succeda a la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
Abstract: Reinscrivant le Soudan anglo-egyptien dans l'histoire imperiale britannique, cette these explore l'histoire scolaire soudanaise a l'ere de l'"ebranlement colonial" qui succeda a la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Les materiaux didactiques, les contenus prescrits et les pratiques pedagogiques sont analyses a la lumiere de cinq developpements majeurs des annees 1945-1953 : le virage "paterno-progressiste" des politiques coloniales britanniques en Afrique, dont l'objectif etait desormais de preparer les peuples colonises a l'autogouvernance ; la polarisation des positions britannique et egyptienne sur la question du Soudan ; la concurrence accrue entre les deux courants du nationalisme soudanais (independantiste et unioniste) ; l'unification hâtive du Nord et du Sud-Soudan apres plus d'un demi-siecle de gestion separee ; et la tentative des elites nord-soudanaises de construire un Etat-nation arabo-musulman. Le second volet de la these est consacre a une mise en perspective diachronique et synchronique de l'histoire scolaire soudanaise de fin d'Empire : celle-ci marqua-t-elle une veritable rupture par rapport a l'histoire scolaire pratiquee au Soudan jusqu'en 1945 ? Quelles etaient les convergences et les divergences entre l'histoire scolaire du Soudan et celle d'autres territoires de l'(ex-)Empire britannique (Ouganda, Rhodesie du Nord, Nigeria, Egypte, Inde, Grande-Bretagne) ? Ma reflexion s'acheve sur deux problemes cruciaux de l'ere postcoloniale : la decolonisation - ou non - des recits historiques scolaires apres l'independance (1956) et le role catalyseur de l'histoire scolaire dans la guerre civile entre le Nord et le Sud-Soudan.
90 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that those still able to do fieldwork in sites of increasing danger do so by virtue of building their own "tribes, forming and joining different social micro-systems to collect data and, in some cases, survive.
Abstract: Can fieldwork still be done in today’s most violent warzones? We contend that long-held methodological principles about power and impartiality do not hold in today’s conflict-ridden environments. Research of this kind can still be pursued, but only if the scholar’s place is reconceived as one of limited power and unavoidable partiality. We argue that those still able to do fieldwork in sites of increasing danger do so by virtue of building their own ‘tribes,’ forming and joining different social micro-systems to collect data and, in some cases, survive. Field research must, therefore, be recognized as its own form of foreign intervention. In considering the future of political science research in the most challenging war-torn settings, we examine the risks and opportunities that accompany ‘tribal politics’ of this kind and underline the importance of reflecting on our own positionality in the process of knowledge production.
70 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined how the New York Times reported the Darfur conflict in the Sudan, which has led to an estimated 300,000 deaths and over 2.3 million people displaced by the fighting.
Abstract: This multi-method study examines how the New York Times reported the Darfur conflict in the Sudan, which has led to an estimated 300,000 deaths and over 2.3 million people displaced by the fighting. Drawing on normative media theories and prior studies of Africa's representation, the role of sources in the frame-building process was analyzed, together with the impact of news-making processes on journalists' reporting about Darfur. The textual analysis largely supports results of prior studies on news framing of Africa. However, interviews with four New York Times journalists reveal that the individual biases and motives of the journalists and their sources significantly influenced the coverage. While the journalists participated in news-making processes distinguishable by journalist goal, source availability, and source credibility, their sources also provided information that reinforced certain media frames.
68 citations