Kyrgyzstan: A Country Remarkably Unknown
Kyrgyzstan is a remarkably unknown country to most world citizens. Since its conception in the 1920s, outside observers have usually treated it as a backwater of the impenetrable Soviet Union. There was little interest and even less opportunity to gather information on this particular Soviet republic. But even within the Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan was relatively [...]
Joseph Semah: After Paul Celan, Tango and Fugue
Being a Dutch art historian, working in Germany, I was asked to give a short introduction in English to an Israeli artist working in the Netherlands. The inherent confusion, the mingling of languages, that follows from this is a good starting point to talk about the work of Joseph Semah. Because there is even another [...]
Joseph Semah: Breathing In Reverse
Joseph Semah, Paul Groot and Mohammed Sabet simultaneously reading Baruch de Spinoza “Tractatus theologico-politicus” in the Hebrew, Latin and Arabic languages: 23 Feb. 2008 Amsterdam (Galerie Ferdinand van Dieten – d’Eendt). More at www.josephsemah.nl
Gold the True Motor of West African History: An Overview of the Importance of Gold in West Africa and its Relations with the Wider World
While the prime sources of gold remained more or less where they had always been, hidden from the outside world, along the headwaters of the Rivers Senegal and Niger (Wright 2007: 21). Towards a Longer Time Frame for African History Slavery and African slaves have dominated historical perspectives of Africa and its relations with the [...]
Ayatollah Khomeini en de wijnschenker
Wie zou kunnen geloven dat de oprichter van de Islamitische Republiek van Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, het hierna volgende gedicht over de wijn heeft gecomponeerd? In Nederland is Khomeini voornamelijk bekend als een strenge geestelijke die de fundamentalistische islamitische denkbeelden in de wereld heeft verspreid en een fatwa uitvaardigde tegen Salman Rushdie. Men zou denken dat [...]
The Consolation of Philosophy: Hannah Arendt and the Green Movement
What does it mean to say that one needs to act? In The Human Condition Hannah Arendt insists that we should always distinguish “making” from “acting” when reflecting on the liberating potential of movements such as the Green Movement. Should people make the changes that they desire, or do they act to realize them? Connected [...]
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