CONCEPT: Entitlement

Entitlement (or Food Entitlement): Amartya Sen introduced the concept of entitlement into conversations about food scarcity and famine. He pointed out that people suffer famine not because of an absolute scarcity of food, but because of their lack of entitlement to it. In essence, vulnerability to famine is crucially a function of one's relative entitlement to food. 

In his book titled Poverty and Famines, Sen suggested four (clearly unequal) options for gaining access to food: (a) direct production, (b) food procurement via market exchange, (c) food donations or gifts, and (d) working in food-for-work schemes (see also Walker, 1989: 90). Emphasizing the pivotal role that entitlement plays during famine outbreaks, Sen (1981: 1) argued at the very beginning of his book that "Starvation is the characteristic of some people not having enough food to eat. It is not the characteristic of there being not enough food to eat." This proposition has spawned a considerable amount of argumentation, systematic review and empirical investigation.

Buchanan-Smith and Davies (1995: 3), for example, concur with Sen that the search for workable solutions to famine outbreaks must shift attention to the demand-side of food access -- that is, from "food availability decline (FAD) to food entitlement decline (FED)". They add, however, that even Sen's solution requires refinement anchored on more recent empirical evidence from Africa. That evidence suggests that epidemic diseases kill more people than starvation per se. This suggests that the factor of universal health cover, or entitlement/access to comprehensive health services, must be brought in through robust public policy measures.

Moreover, they argue, economist Sen's preoccupation with market exchange masks the role that "a wider bundle of entitlements" can play -- incorporating "investments, stores and claims", as well as insurance and sale of assets; even though these can in turn attract more mouths, or the unwanted attention of powerful 'claimants' to the private property of the less powerful. 

In addition to (and perhaps above) all that, conflict and war have become a major and stubborn cause of famine across Africa (Buchanan-Smith and Davies, 1995: 3-4). Their effects pose a serious challenge to Sen's entitlement meme. Perhaps we should see how we incorporate peace into the basket of entitlements -- or an entitlement equation. 

But, to be fair to Sen, he did concede that not having enough food to eat may in fact be the result of there being not enough to go around in the first place. His point was that the actual linkages must be empirically investigated, not simply assumed. Subsequent investigations in that direction are most likely the reason that conflicts (including those involving terrorism), war, epidemic outbreaks and  "a winder bundle of entitlements" have more recently assumed the significance they have as explanations for starvation and famine -- in Africa and elsewhere.  The idea of entitlement has clearly morphed. To what extent, one may ask, are epidemic outbreaks also a function of entitlement?

[For an account of certain critiques of Sen's entitlement theory, read Stephen Devereux's 2001 paper titled "Sen's Entitlement Approach: Critiques and Counter-Critiques"]

MUSIC (Lingala): Makolo ya Massiya by Carlyto Lassa

Some songs, like Carlyto's Makolo ya Massiya, you don't find. They find you. You just "bump into them", sort of, as some kind of a long planned-for prey into the spider's web. You get caught, entrapped by a sudden wave of inescapable verve and unbelievable melody of voice. A certain bewitching, air-filling moment of magical sounds. A wirtschaft (an economy) of (e)motion that belies great self-assurance and creativity in the singer.

I heard Makolo ya Massiya (Messiah's Heaven?) for the first time, I believe, today, around One. One of those songs you get to, unwittingly, via YouTube's "Up Next" app. Of course, my immediate impression was: Another great #LingalaPop discovery! So I checked the year of publication: December 7, 2017. Aha, pop! 

The title didn't at first mean a thing to me. I didn't even hear Yesu Massiya in the first round of play. But I did in the second. Ah, Gospel! Ah, Jesus the Messiah! A search for the lyrics and a quick scouring for telltale biblical words and phrases, which pass you by in the singing, confirmed the impression. I don't ordinarily do Gospel. But I have done some. My focus is pop. AfroPop. But it wouldn't let go. And then I couldn't:


Click to listen to the song's audio


 Carlyto is altogether master of all that hears him, and his band. He goes by several variations to his name, too: Carlyto Lassa, Frere Carlyto Lassa, Frere Carlyto, and Fr. Carlyto. But not stand-alone Carlyto. So be it. He sings in Lingala, and so must be Congolese (one reasons); not a reverse-migrant from Brazil or some other part of the Americas. There are hints of Samba, or Denge, in the tunes here; but this song is more decidedly a Soukous piece. It is sprinkled here and there with mild rapping. But spoken Lingala is music enough! The most musical of all African languages, if you ask me. The song runs for all of 9:11 out-of-this-world minutes.

Mesmerizing is the word with Makolo ya Massiya. It is cry-some cool in tone, in parts. It is solid-gold melody, and a super-laid back engagement.What angelic instrumentation all through it! This is a massive rendition, in all ways, of the inspired Word in lay tones.

There are several high points (two-digit seconds at a go) along the song that really resonate: 1:25-1:44, 2:25- 2:38, 6:02-6:32 and 7:20-7:59. And what a lilting, transporting, vocal coda at the end -- especially in the precious seconds from 8:29 to 8:44!

READ: Makolo ya Massiya Lyrics

NOTE: As I publish this post, the audio has a total of 21,729 'views' (that is, plays). 

CONCEPT: Global Warming

Global Warming: As already pointed out under Climate Change, global warming precedes and fuels climate change, which is thus its logical and worrisome consequence. First the world's average temperature(s) begin to rise and keep on rising, and then local and regional climate systems begin to change in manifest and quantifiable ways.

Global warming is itself the direct effect of greenhouse gas emissions -- particularly the emission of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. These emissions are caused by modern industrial and agricultural production and related human activity, which trace back historically to the (English) Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. This simmering climate change has been noticed increasingly by experts since the 1950s. The emissions have mostly occurred in the 'industrialized' parts of the world, but endanger the entire planet.

One of the greatest challenges for humanity today is how to reverse the on-going process of global warming. Certainly, that is not an end in itself. The underlying and hugely consequential purpose is to arrest and even reverse the trends in climate change that we already see. We need to do so in order to save ourselves, as only we can, from its dire consequences. Evidence of these consequences continue to pile up (see CONCEPT: Climate Change).

CONCEPT: Climate Change

Climate Change: The concepts of climate change and global warming are, though distinct, frequently used interchangeably -- and perhaps too frequently. In reality, global warming precedes climate change, which is its logical and worrisome consequence. First the world's average temperature(s) begin to rise and gradually keep on rising, and then local and regional climate systems begin to change in manifest and quantifiable ways.

Climate change has a wide-range of consequences. Its impact is already being felt in a growing number of the world's economies, and more specifically in agricultural production (and related food-security concerns). It is likewise felt in terms of measurable degradation in general human health, the environment, and the social fabrics of vulnerable communities and societies around the world. Sites of great historical and cultural significance to many countries, and to humanity in general, are increasingly under threat as well. Alarm bells are already ringing, but there are still many skeptics -- and many who are not quite alarmed yet, or alarmed but powerless to act in any collective sort of way.

[READ: "Concept: Global Warming"]




Selected Readings on the Consequences of Climate Change:

1. Scott, M.J., et al (1990) "Consequences of climatic change for the human environment"

2. UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (nd) Climate Change: Impacts, Vulnerabilities and Adaptation in Developing Countries

3. Wikipedia, Global Warming

4. Yambo, Mauri (2015), "Climate Change: Rising Sea Levels May Be More Dangerous than Previously Calculated, NASA Reports"




UPDATED: March 7, 2018

CONCEPT: Contamination

Contamination: It is fairly common knowledge in science that this concept originated from the Latin word contaminat, which means "made impure" -- or tainted with impurity. Of several definitions given in one English dictionary (The Free Dictionary), the most broadly-conceived gives us the idea of contamination as "The presence of foreign material that adulterates or renders impure a material the composition of which is thereby degraded". Tom Sizmur defines it concisely as "the PRESENCE of a substance that should not be present naturally" -- that is, in the "host" in question. 

A longer definition by Sizmur, which focuses on soil contamination, captures the generic sense that many people probably have of contamination (and not necessarily with Sizmur's reference to the soil). He states that soil contamination is "an excess of any element or compound, through direct or secondary exposure, which causes a toxic response to biota or humans, resulting in unacceptable environmental risks" (Sizmur, 2011?). Generically speaking, however, a substance doesn't have to be present "in excess" for it to be a contaminant inside the "host". In many cases, a "mere presence" will be deemed a compromising impurity and a contamination -- for diverse and often conflicting (or mutually-reinforcing) cultural, aesthetic, ethical, religious and/or personal reasons.

In a word, then, to contaminate is to introduce an undesirable or harmful solid, liquid or gas into a container which holds a quality-assured substance (a gas, a liquid or a solid), which compromises the latter's integrity, efficacy or appeal -- and thus poses a danger to those who may use it.





Note: The Sizmur quote is correct, and correctly attributed, but, despite several efforts, I couldn't quite retrace my steps back to it soon after transcribing it.