Modernism (Political Science)

Governing the Karimojong: Tradition, Modernity and Power in Contemporary Karamoja

by Karol Czuba

The complex gerontocratic governance system of the Karimojong, the largest ethnic group in Karamoja, was challenged in... more The complex gerontocratic governance system of the Karimojong, the largest ethnic group in Karamoja, was challenged in the second half of the twentieth century by the combined forces of the modernising Ugandan nation-state and undisciplined young men. The paper demonstrates that, although Karimojong power structures were substantially weakened during the period of great disequilibrium between the late 1970s and 2000s, recent years have seen their gradual reconstruction. Some traditional institutions have disappeared or declined, but the position of elders has been largely restored. Ekokwa, or an informal assembly, has partially integrated the state-imposed Local Council 1 structure and emerged as the new central political forum of the Karimojong. Karimojong culture remains in a state of flux and significant changes can be expected in the near future.

Review of POLITICAL ISLAM, IRAN, AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT: PHILOSOPHIES OF HOPE AND DESPAIR by Ali Mirsepassi (Cambridge University Press, 2011)

by Amir Dastmalchian

published in AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ISLAMIC SOCIAL SCIENCES
2011, vol. 28, issue 3

Modernism in our Time: Review of Roger Griffin's 'Fascism and Modernism' (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)

by Catherine Brown

Published in 'Essays in Criticism', 60 (2010), 189-96

Griffin argues that modernism has hitherto been too narrowly conceived – as an aesthetic but not a social phenomenon,... more Griffin argues that modernism has hitherto been too narrowly conceived – as an aesthetic but not a social phenomenon, and as overwhelmingly connected to the left wing. The second point is not wholly dependent on the first; there are, Griffin contends, many more right-wing works of aesthetic modernism than have previously been recognised. Italian fascism and Nazism embraced aesthetic modernism to a significant degree, and were politically modernist in their desire to achieve national rebirth through social acts of creative destruction. Griffin at times pushes at an open door. His main area of interest is neither literature nor Britain (he concentrates on plastic art, Germany, and Italy); readers approaching his book from an English-literary perspective are unlikely to assume that modernism is predominantly a leftist phenomenon. His prose is sadly jargon-encumbered. But his conclusion - considering the respects in which we today are 'modernist' (and in which the state of Israel is the sole surviving state based in late-nineteenth century racial ideology) - is lively.