Crude power

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Emilio del Valle Escalante

"This book focuses on the emergence and political-cultural implications of Guatemala's Maya movement. It explores how, since the 1970s, indigenous peoples have been challenging established, hegemonic narratives of modernity, history, nation, and cultural identity as these relate to the indigenous world. For the most part, these narratives have been fabricated by non-indigenous writers who have had the power not only to produce and spread knowledge but also to speak for and about the Maya world. Contemporary Maya narratives promote nationalisms based on the reaffirmation of Maya ethnicity and languages that constitute what it means to be Maya in present-day society, as well as political-cultural projects oriented toward the future."--BOOK JACKET.

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Henry A. Giroux

The University in Chains argues that both the academy and democracy are in peril, that a fundamental assault has been launched on the academy's unfulfilled legacy of democratic education and its present and future role as a democratic public sphere. But the rigid ideological, economic, and religious chains that are now engulfing higher education so as to eliminate critical thought, noncommodified and nonmilitarized forms of knowledge, intellectual engagement with important social issues, and interdisciplinary social formations represent more than an attack on democracy. Such assaults also suggest an attack on politics itself-that is, on those forms of teaching, exchange, dialogue, and social relations that refuse to "methodically eliminate speaking and acting human beings. "The University in Chains makes a case for reclaiming higher education as a democratic public sphere and counterinstitution, one that enables teachers and students to engage in a culture of questioning, a pedagogy of critical engagement, and a democratic politics of civic responsibility.

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Sarah Maddison

Drawing on extensive interviews with activists and politicians, Black Politics explains the dynamics of Aboriginal politics. It reveals the challenges and tensions that have shaped community, regional and national relations over the past 25 years.Why do Aboriginal communities struggle so hard to be heard in mainstream politics? How do remote and urban communities respond to frequent dramatic shifts in federal and state Aboriginal policies?Since the early 1990s Aboriginal Australia has experienced profound political changes with very real and lasting implications, from the Mabo land rights case in 1992, to the abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) in 2005, to more recent attempts to reduce the autonomy of remote communities. Sarah Maddison identifies the tensions that lie at the heart of all Aboriginal politics, arguing that until Australian governments come to grips with this complexity they will continue to make bad policy with disastrous consequences for Aboriginal people.Based on original interviews with influential Aboriginal leaders including Mick Dodson, Tom Calma, Alison Anderson, Jackie Huggins, Warren Mundine and Larissa Behrendt, Black Politics seeks to understand why Aboriginal communities find it so difficult to be heard, get support, and organise internally. It also offers some suggestions for the future, based on the collective wisdom of political players at all levels of Aboriginal politics.'Sarah Maddison has brought together a formidable range of Indigenous voices and sources and placed their narratives within an analysis to show the depth and complexity of Indigenous cultural and political expression.' - From the foreword by Pat Dodson

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Robin Hambleton and Jill Simone Gross

Provides an international overview with case studies and contributions from the people involved; looks at both the theory and practice of governing cities in a globalizing world; and includes practical lessons regarding the governing cities.