Contestations over Hijrat and postcoloniality

1. Contestations over development

Australia is a rich first world nation. In 2007–08 it had a $1 trillion economy as measured by nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with per capita income of over $A50 000. In recent years mining sector revenue has constituted a growing share of the national economy, reaching about 11 per cent of GDP in 2007–08 with a value of $A119 billion (Reserve Bank of Australia 2009). The Minerals Council...

Contestations and Constraints for Databases

Rabbinic Contestations of Authority

The following well-known text from the Babylonian Talmud (redacted ca. 600 C.E.) has had an enormous influence on scholarly accounts of the relation between divine authority and human authority in talmudic rabbinic Judaism. [Regarding a certain kind of oven, R. Eliezer rules that it is ritually pure and the sages rule that it is ritually impure.] It was taught: On that day, R. Eliezer responded...

The Humanities in the Face of Postcoloniality

As the title of my intervention, I have chosen “The Humanities in the Face of Postcoloniality.” You will notice in due course that I could also have chosen “The Humanities in the Face of the Other,” or “The Humanities in the Face of the Subaltern,” or “The Humanities in the Face of the Masses.” But I could also have chosen what apparently would seem like the opposite title: “The Humanities Faci...

Contemporary contestations over working time: time for health to weigh in

BACKGROUND Non-communicable disease (NCD) incidence and prevalence is of central concern to most nations, along with international agencies such as the UN, OECD, IMF and World Bank. As a result, the search has begun for 'causes of the cause' behind health risks and behaviours responsible for the major NCDs. As part of this effort, researchers are turning their attention to charting the temporal...