What d'I say to dis?
De answer's pretty much known:
Fu-furahi day!
University of Nairobi
Posts
Tsitsikamma: segunda parte — Tsitsikamma National Park, South Africa
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Mariana, Sergio y Yogurtu Mghe
15 minutes ago
Friday, June 05, 2009
Obama's Speech in Cairo: June 4, 2009
Obama's speech, it seems, was well received, both by the live audience and the global TV audience.
1. To view the speech: Click here
2. To read the full text of President Obama's speech in Cairo, click here
1. To view the speech: Click here
2. To read the full text of President Obama's speech in Cairo, click here
Witness to Manda: Haiku
Coup da bin so. Brave!
Khou la seyy'd: dis de de ma!
Mon, soon, he'd bin -- fien'!
Khou la seyy'd: dis de de ma!
Mon, soon, he'd bin -- fien'!
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Obama the Nilote, in the Land of the Pharaohs
Obama the Nilote, whose own roots are the Nile's very own, today comes upon the Nile's journey's endless end, there in Egypt -- the glorious land of the Pharaohs. That same Nile, which is timeless: nourisher of Time itself, which is likewise timeless; and nourisher of the earth's very soul.
How so very apt the moment & how so very nice & else!
May his speech there be great and may it gladden Imhotep's heart, who is for all Time!
____________________________________
Note: Obama at the Sphinx and the Pyramids:
Click 1
Click 2
Click 3 (For info on the Sphinx)
Click 4
____________________________________
References:
1. Ali Mazrui, "Nilotes I have Known, From Obote to Obama"
2. Philip Ochieng, "The Pride of a People: Barack Obama, the Luo"
How so very apt the moment & how so very nice & else!
May his speech there be great and may it gladden Imhotep's heart, who is for all Time!
____________________________________
Note: Obama at the Sphinx and the Pyramids:
Click 1
Click 2
Click 3 (For info on the Sphinx)
Click 4
____________________________________
References:
1. Ali Mazrui, "Nilotes I have Known, From Obote to Obama"
2. Philip Ochieng, "The Pride of a People: Barack Obama, the Luo"
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Structural-Functionalism
Structural-functionalism is a compound of two broad social theories, or theory sets -- "structural" and "functional" theories -- which attempt to show how society is structured (or organized) and how its identified parts relate to one another in actual (real-life) social interactions and processes. Structural-functionalism are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have structures without functions, and no functions without the structures whose consequences and reciprocal rationalizations they happen to be and in fact are.
Structure refers to the inter-related, and inter-relatedness of, parts constitutive of a given type of social organization, which are required for its effective and sustained operation. Indeed, a discrete social organization (or system), which we may give a more specific label (such as society, or family or community), is the "social fact" that embodies the more abstract idea of structure, and structure is what enables us to see, by way of metaphors and similes, the shape and form of a generalized or particular kind of social organization. Social structure and social organization are thus, in effect, also one and the same idea. But that is still only one half of the story; for it is important to add that, in this sameness, structure represents what, and only what, we may call the statics of social organization.
Social organization has another side -- the functional side. Since it is to be understood that social organization is the product and reflection of social inter-action, its components must, ipso facto, be understood to relate to each other in motion -- some kind of motion, even if not necessarily perpetual motion. Hence the idea that the flip side -- a necessary side -- of social statics is social dynamics.
The functional side is the dynamic side of the social organization. However, it is functional not simply by virtue of the motion we observe in the moving parts, but of something more fundamental to sociologists. It is functional in the sense of the consequences of the motion(s) that may at first attract attention. Both Durkheim and Merton saw "function" in those terms; the consequences being the "solidarity" which the parts generate for and among themselves, and the adaptive capacity which the parts, in their motion and solidarity, confer upon the whole.
[More to follow]
Structure refers to the inter-related, and inter-relatedness of, parts constitutive of a given type of social organization, which are required for its effective and sustained operation. Indeed, a discrete social organization (or system), which we may give a more specific label (such as society, or family or community), is the "social fact" that embodies the more abstract idea of structure, and structure is what enables us to see, by way of metaphors and similes, the shape and form of a generalized or particular kind of social organization. Social structure and social organization are thus, in effect, also one and the same idea. But that is still only one half of the story; for it is important to add that, in this sameness, structure represents what, and only what, we may call the statics of social organization.
Social organization has another side -- the functional side. Since it is to be understood that social organization is the product and reflection of social inter-action, its components must, ipso facto, be understood to relate to each other in motion -- some kind of motion, even if not necessarily perpetual motion. Hence the idea that the flip side -- a necessary side -- of social statics is social dynamics.
The functional side is the dynamic side of the social organization. However, it is functional not simply by virtue of the motion we observe in the moving parts, but of something more fundamental to sociologists. It is functional in the sense of the consequences of the motion(s) that may at first attract attention. Both Durkheim and Merton saw "function" in those terms; the consequences being the "solidarity" which the parts generate for and among themselves, and the adaptive capacity which the parts, in their motion and solidarity, confer upon the whole.
[More to follow]
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Herdsboy: ILRI's June 2009 Calendar
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), www.ilri.org, has a knack for producing remarkable calendars. I was just looking closely at the June 2009 calendar this morning, which affirms that view, and which prompts a nagging thought.
There is a warm and eye-catching picture of a boy taking a dozen or so cattle to pasture, such as there may be, and which stirs up a wave of nostalgia. He has just left the village, though the sun is already quite up. Both the sun and the village are caught up in a haze of dust whipped up by the cattle's, walking. But I can spy a thatched roof, which is what I was saying -- and which whips up emotions wherever you are if you remember these icons of the village, as we all do, don't we?
This is the Savannah, for sure. But it might be the wetter side of the Sahel, too. The animals look well fed, no matter where this is and no matter what all that dust suggests and no matter that the grass looks sparse.
The boy wears "gum" boots! But boys at that tense border between rapidly eroding innocence and days of raging hormones will wear anything that suits no one else's fancy but theirs. Or perhaps there is a patch of wetland, or a river to contemplate, somewhere ahead, and the boy knows more than you do. Perhaps there are snakes there, and horror stories. Perhaps where he walks there will one day a tarmac road, as there was, out of the blue, for me (who herded barefoot, but not for long).
And he, the herdsboy, wears a cap which is more hip than functional. He has a plastic "gourd" with him. Enough drinking water for the day, which mama made sure he had. Perhaps he already has had a meal, such as there was, and goes forth without any worries about logistics and without his mama fretting either about a son who gets the animals to feed and will not himself be gotten a meal so that he may grow properly into as much a man as his father and more.
The boy looks purposeful, and without regrets; but this is what I really wanted to talk about, very quickly. The ILRI slogan at the bottom of the picture reads: "More livestock means more young people educated." The picture and the slogan are a contradiction, for this is a boy of school-going age, who is not at school. Unless it is the picture of a boy on school holiday, it is, besides being a contradiction, obscene in its implications. And if he is not on school holiday, what one would like to know is: is he waiting for the fees to add up or is he a dropout or a hired hand or an orphan or an eldest son or else?
There is a warm and eye-catching picture of a boy taking a dozen or so cattle to pasture, such as there may be, and which stirs up a wave of nostalgia. He has just left the village, though the sun is already quite up. Both the sun and the village are caught up in a haze of dust whipped up by the cattle's, walking. But I can spy a thatched roof, which is what I was saying -- and which whips up emotions wherever you are if you remember these icons of the village, as we all do, don't we?
This is the Savannah, for sure. But it might be the wetter side of the Sahel, too. The animals look well fed, no matter where this is and no matter what all that dust suggests and no matter that the grass looks sparse.
The boy wears "gum" boots! But boys at that tense border between rapidly eroding innocence and days of raging hormones will wear anything that suits no one else's fancy but theirs. Or perhaps there is a patch of wetland, or a river to contemplate, somewhere ahead, and the boy knows more than you do. Perhaps there are snakes there, and horror stories. Perhaps where he walks there will one day a tarmac road, as there was, out of the blue, for me (who herded barefoot, but not for long).
And he, the herdsboy, wears a cap which is more hip than functional. He has a plastic "gourd" with him. Enough drinking water for the day, which mama made sure he had. Perhaps he already has had a meal, such as there was, and goes forth without any worries about logistics and without his mama fretting either about a son who gets the animals to feed and will not himself be gotten a meal so that he may grow properly into as much a man as his father and more.
The boy looks purposeful, and without regrets; but this is what I really wanted to talk about, very quickly. The ILRI slogan at the bottom of the picture reads: "More livestock means more young people educated." The picture and the slogan are a contradiction, for this is a boy of school-going age, who is not at school. Unless it is the picture of a boy on school holiday, it is, besides being a contradiction, obscene in its implications. And if he is not on school holiday, what one would like to know is: is he waiting for the fees to add up or is he a dropout or a hired hand or an orphan or an eldest son or else?
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