DOCSLIB.ORG

Congo’ Consecrations: an Anthropological Analysis of Cuban Reglas Congas

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Congo’ Consecrations: an Anthropological Analysis of Cuban Reglas Congas CORROBORATION AND CONTENTION IN ‘CONGO’ CONSECRATIONS: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF CUBAN REGLAS CONGAS By LONN S. MONROE A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2007 1 © 2007 Lonn S. Monroe 2 To my family and friends living and dead. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank my mentors, Dr. Kesha Fikes, Dr. Guérin Montilus, Dr. Robin Poynor, Dr. Michael Heckenberger, and Dr. Manuel Vasquéz. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................8 LIST OF RELIGIOUS TERMS IMPORTANT IN REGLAS CONGAS AND AFROCUBAN RELIGIONS....................................................................................................9 ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................12 CHAPTER 1 ‘CONGO’-‘MADE IN CUBA’: THE CONTEMPORARY RELIGIOUS PRACTICES OF CUBAN REGLAS CONGAS ..........................................................................................13 Positioning Reglas Congas in Literature, Method, and Theory..............................................13 The Literature and Anthropology on Congo-derived Religion ..............................................16 The Politics of Diaspora: Race, Religion, and Representation in Cuban Reglas Congas ......26 Methods and Ethnographic Perspectives in Researching Reglas Congas ..............................32 2 THE HISTORICAL GENEALOGY OF REGLAS CONGAS: CUBAN DIALOGUES AND THE IDENTIFICATION OF AFRICAN RELIGION .................................................37 Narrating ‘Afro’ and ‘Congo’ Ethnicity in 20th Century Cuban History ...............................37 Chapter Synopsis-What is this Chapter and What is it Doing? ..............................................39 What Every Good Scholar Should Know About Reglas Congas: Spanish Catholicism and Nationalizing African Cuban Religious Practices........................................................43 The Formulation of Reglas Congas and AfroCuban Religiosity............................................46 The Cuban Nation, Ortiz and AfroCuban Religiosity ............................................................47 20th Century Accounts of Reglas Congas in AfroCuban Religion: The Historical Description of ‘Practices’ in the Examination of African Religion....................................50 The Contemporary Description of African Religions through the Analysis of the ‘Practitioner’ .......................................................................................................................53 Considering Methods in Contemporary and Historical Approaches of Signifying of African and African-Identified Religion: Historicizing the Methodological Shift from ‘Practices’ to ‘Practitioner’ .................................................................................................55 The Historical Production of AfroCuban ...............................................................................57 3 PALO MONTE PRACTITIONERS: RELIGIOUS RITUALS, BELIEFS, AND IDENTITIES IN CUBA .........................................................................................................60 Inquiries of ‘Congo’-Identified Religion in Cuba ..................................................................60 The Production of Munanso in Cuban Reglas Congas...........................................................64 Ritualized Perspectives of Congo-Identified Practice and Belief: The Cuban Nganga .........71 Describing Los Nfumbi, Nzambi, and Los Mpungos.............................................................73 5 ‘Congo’ Craftwork in Cuba....................................................................................................79 Munanso NsasiMusundi (La Habana April 14th 2004) ..................................................81 Munanso NsasiNdembo (El Oriente/Province, May 15th 2002).....................................83 Ritual Language and Ritualizing Language ....................................................................85 The Firmas of Palo Practices...........................................................................................89 Possession in Palo Practices ............................................................................................91 A Hot Summer Day in El Oriente (June 6 2002) ............................................................92 Claiming ‘Congo’ Identity in African-Derived Cuban Religions ..........................................96 4 THE NGANGA OF REGLAS CONGAS: AN ANALYSIS OF AESTHETICS AND MEANING IN CONGO-IDENTIFIED CUBAN NECROMANCY...................................111 Positioning Distinctions and Derivation in the Cuban Nganga............................................111 Evoking Congo in the Cuban Nganga ..................................................................................114 Nganga as Cuban Culture Congo Style: Deriving Beliefs in Cultures of the Cuban Nganga ..............................................................................................................................124 Potentials and Symbols in Rituals Processes of the Nganga ................................................128 The Cuban Nganga: Considering Consequences of Creation and Critique..........................132 5 BETWEEN THE TANGIBLE AND LOS TRATADOS CONGOS: THE MATERIALITY OF NFUMBI IN THE CUBAN NGANGA.............................................140 The Tangibility of Mystery: The Living Nganga .................................................................140 Collecting and Disbursing Power: The Corporeal Life of the Nganga ................................142 Seclusion, Secrets, and Subtlety: Performing Mystery in the Rituals of the Nganga ..........145 Communal Participation, Privilege, and Power of the Nganga............................................148 Concluding the Dynamics of Nganga: Making a Mystery ...................................................150 6 ACTORS, INTERMEDIARIES, AND THE PRODUCTION OF REGLAS CONGAS.....153 Considering Context, Collusion, and Craftsmanship of Cuban Congo................................153 Ngangulero’s Administration ...............................................................................................156 The Ortizian Legacies: 20th Century Authors on AfroCuban Religiosity ............................161 Historical Contingencies and AfroCuban Identity ...............................................................167 Public Displays and Contemporary Publications: Folklore, Facsimile, and Facilitation .....173 Compiling Congo: Coercion and Continuity in Cuban Religiosity......................................180 7 ‘CONGO’ CULTURE AS DIASPORA: DEFINING CONTEXT IN CONTEMPORARY AND PAST REPRESENTATIONS OF CONGO IDENTITY IN CUBA ...................................................................................................................................185 Dissecting the Meanings in the Cultural Analysis of ‘Diaspora’ .........................................185 Congo Identity in Cuban Religious Consciousness..............................................................190 Reading Representation, Replication, and Reception of ‘Congo’ in African Diasporic Representations of Cuba ...................................................................................................198 6 8 UNCOVERING THE ‘CONGO’ LEGACIES: RACE, RELIGION AND REPRESENTATION IN CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES OF REGLAS CONGAS .....204 Conquests and the Colony: Colonial Conceptions of Race in Construction of Religion .....204 Defining National Order: Race, Religion, and Representation of Cuban Progeny ..............209 AfroCuban Realities: ‘Congo’ Hybridities in National Legacies, Religious Identity, and the African Diaspora of Cuba ...........................................................................................215 9 CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................222 LIST OF REFERENCES.............................................................................................................227 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................................267 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 3-1 An nganga from 1998 ......................................................................................................102 3-2 An nganga from 1999. .....................................................................................................103 3-3 An nganga from 2000. .....................................................................................................104 3-4 An nganga 2002 ...............................................................................................................105 3-5 Offerings to the nganga 2000...........................................................................................106 3-6 Chamalongos, candle (muinda), and symbol of Nzambi Mpungo in front of the nganga 2000.....................................................................................................................107 3-7 Feeding the nganga with tobacoo (nsunga) 2000 ............................................................108
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Economic and Social Council
    UNITED E NATIONS Economic and Social Distr. GENERAL Council E/CN.4/2004/7/Add.1 24 March 2004 ENGLISH/FRENCH/SPANISH ONLY COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS Sixtieth session Item 11 (b) of the provisional agenda CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE QUESTIONS OF DISAPPEARANCES AND SUMMARY EXECUTIONS Report of the Special Rapporteur, on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Asma Jahangir Addendum ∗ Summary of cases transmitted to Governments and replies received ∗ The present document is being circulated in the languages of submission only as it greatly exceeds the page limitations currently imposed by the relevant General Assembly resolutions GE.04-12275 E/CN.4/2004/7/Add.1 page 2 Contents Paragraphs Page Introduction 1 – 2 4 Summary of cases transmitted and replies received 3 – 632 4 Algeria 3 4 Angola 4 – 7 4 Argentina 8 – 18 5 Azerbaijan 19 – 22 9 Bangladesh 23 – 26 10 Belgium 27 – 28 12 Bolivia 29 – 34 13 Brazil 35 – 37 15 Bulgaria 38 – 39 16 Cambodia 40 – 41 17 Chad 42 18 China 43 – 76 18 Colombia 77 – 135 25 Costa Rica 136 45 Côte d’Ivoire 137 – 138 45 Democratic Republic of the Congo 139 – 140 46 Ecuador 141 47 Egypt 142 -150 47 El Salvador 151 – 152 49 Equatorial Guinea 153 50 Gambia 154 50 Ghana 155 51 Guatemala 156 – 171 52 Guinea-Bissau 172 – 173 55 Guyana 174 56 Haiti 175 – 183 56 Honduras 184 – 192 59 India 193 – 210 62 Indonesia 211 – 224 68 Iran (Islamic Republic of) 225 – 233 71 Iraq 234 – 241 73 Israel 242 – 276 75 Jamaica 277 – 279 80 Kenya 280 – 284 81 Kyrgyzstan 285 – 286 82 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 287 83 Malaysia
    [Show full text]
  • Reglas De Congo: Palo Monte Mayombe) a Book by Lydia Cabrera an English Translation from the Spanish
    THE KONGO RULE: THE PALO MONTE MAYOMBE WISDOM SOCIETY (REGLAS DE CONGO: PALO MONTE MAYOMBE) A BOOK BY LYDIA CABRERA AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION FROM THE SPANISH Donato Fhunsu A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English and Comparative Literature (Comparative Literature). Chapel Hill 2016 Approved by: Inger S. B. Brodey Todd Ramón Ochoa Marsha S. Collins Tanya L. Shields Madeline G. Levine © 2016 Donato Fhunsu ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Donato Fhunsu: The Kongo Rule: The Palo Monte Mayombe Wisdom Society (Reglas de Congo: Palo Monte Mayombe) A Book by Lydia Cabrera An English Translation from the Spanish (Under the direction of Inger S. B. Brodey and Todd Ramón Ochoa) This dissertation is a critical analysis and annotated translation, from Spanish into English, of the book Reglas de Congo: Palo Monte Mayombe, by the Cuban anthropologist, artist, and writer Lydia Cabrera (1899-1991). Cabrera’s text is a hybrid ethnographic book of religion, slave narratives (oral history), and folklore (songs, poetry) that she devoted to a group of Afro-Cubans known as “los Congos de Cuba,” descendants of the Africans who were brought to the Caribbean island of Cuba during the trans-Atlantic Ocean African slave trade from the former Kongo Kingdom, which occupied the present-day southwestern part of Congo-Kinshasa, Congo-Brazzaville, Cabinda, and northern Angola. The Kongo Kingdom had formal contact with Christianity through the Kingdom of Portugal as early as the 1490s.
    [Show full text]
  • “Spiritist Mediumship As Historical Mediation: African-American Pasts
    Journal of Religion in Africa 41 (2011) 330-365 brill.nl/jra Spiritist Mediumship as Historical Mediation: African-American Pasts, Black Ancestral Presence, and Afro-Cuban Religions Elizabeth Pérez, Ph.D. Dartmouth College, Department of Religion 305 !ornton Hall, Hanover, NH 03755, USA [email protected] Abstract !e scholarship on Afro-Atlantic religions has tended to downplay the importance of Kardecist Espiritismo. In this article I explore the performance of Spiritist rituals among Black North American practitioners of Afro-Cuban religions, and examine its vital role in the development of their religious subjectivity. Drawing on several years of ethnographic research in a Chicago-based Lucumí community, I argue that through Spiritist ceremonies, African-American participants engaged in memory work and other transformative modes of collective historiographical praxis. I contend that by inserting gospel songs, church hymns, and spirituals into the musical reper- toire of misas espirituales, my interlocutors introduced a new group of beings into an existing category of ethnically differentiated ‘spirit guides’. Whether embodied in ritual contexts or cul- tivated privately through household altars, these spirits not only personify the ancestral dead; I demonstrate that they also mediate between African-American historical experience and the contemporary practice of Yorùbá- and Kongo-inspired religions. Keywords African Diaspora, Black North American religion, historiography, Santería, Espiritismo, spirit possession Pirates of the Afro-Caribbean World Among practitioners of Afro-Cuban religions such as Palo Monte and Lucumí, popularly called Santería, Spiritist ceremonies are frequently celebrated. !is has been the case wherever these traditions’ distinct yet interrelated classes of spirits—including Kongo mpungus and Yorùbá orishas—have gained a foot- hold, particularly in global urban centers.
    [Show full text]
  • The Botanical Exploration of Angola by Germans During the 19Th and 20Th Centuries, with Biographical Sketches and Notes on Collections and Herbaria
    Blumea 65, 2020: 126–161 www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nhn/blumea RESEARCH ARTICLE https://doi.org/10.3767/blumea.2020.65.02.06 The botanical exploration of Angola by Germans during the 19th and 20th centuries, with biographical sketches and notes on collections and herbaria E. Figueiredo1, *, G.F. Smith1, S. Dressler 2 Key words Abstract A catalogue of 29 German individuals who were active in the botanical exploration of Angola during the 19th and 20th centuries is presented. One of these is likely of Swiss nationality but with significant links to German Angola settlers in Angola. The catalogue includes information on the places of collecting activity, dates on which locations botanical exploration were visited, the whereabouts of preserved exsiccata, maps with itineraries, and biographical information on the German explorers collectors. Initial botanical exploration in Angola by Germans was linked to efforts to establish and expand Germany’s plant collections colonies in Africa. Later exploration followed after some Germans had settled in the country. However, Angola was never under German control. The most intense period of German collecting activity in this south-tropical African country took place from the early-1870s to 1900. Twenty-four Germans collected plant specimens in Angola for deposition in herbaria in continental Europe, mostly in Germany. Five other naturalists or explorers were active in Angola but collections have not been located under their names or were made by someone else. A further three col- lectors, who are sometimes cited as having collected material in Angola but did not do so, are also briefly discussed. Citation: Figueiredo E, Smith GF, Dressler S.
    [Show full text]
  • Afro-Cuban Ritual Use of Human Remains: Medicolegal Considerations
    Commentary Afro-Cuban Ritual Use of Human Remains: Medicolegal Considerations Introduction Medicolegal professionals occasionally encounter human remains that have been used for ritual purposes. In the state of Florida, practitioners of the Afro-Cuban religious system of Palo (a Kongo-inspired religion frequently referred to as Palo Mayombe) use human skulls and crania in religious rituals [1–3]. Recent research by forensic anthropologists from the University of Florida’s C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory (CAPHIL) has identified biocultural and taphonomic signa- tures left by Palo practices on human remains [3]. Some of the traits included in the biocultural and taphonomic signatures are shared by other Afro-Cuban religious systems–most notably, Ocha (often called Santería), Palo’s Yoruba-inspired cousin religion [3–6]. However, other traits constitute unique elements of Palo ritual [4, 5], enabling anthropologists to identify the religious affiliation of these assemblages with confidence [3]. We begin this paper with a literature review describing the religious systems of Ocha and Palo, the major components of Afro-Cuban ritual assemblages, and the history of medicolegal interactions with these assemblages. We then enhance existing Afro-Cuban biocultural and taphonomic signatures [3] with new observational data and present a synthesis of material cultural and biological data to enable further specificity in identifying Palo assemblages. Finally, we outline medicolegal considerations for the identification and handling of these ritual assemblages of human remains and material culture. We provide background on the legal and illegal sourcing of ritual human remains, recom- mendations for criminal investigations, and guidelines for the safe and ethical handling of these unique assemblages–includ- ing cases in which they have been contaminated with elemental mercury.
    [Show full text]
  • Biodiversity in Sub-Saharan Africa and Its Islands Conservation, Management and Sustainable Use
    Biodiversity in Sub-Saharan Africa and its Islands Conservation, Management and Sustainable Use Occasional Papers of the IUCN Species Survival Commission No. 6 IUCN - The World Conservation Union IUCN Species Survival Commission Role of the SSC The Species Survival Commission (SSC) is IUCN's primary source of the 4. To provide advice, information, and expertise to the Secretariat of the scientific and technical information required for the maintenance of biologi- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna cal diversity through the conservation of endangered and vulnerable species and Flora (CITES) and other international agreements affecting conser- of fauna and flora, whilst recommending and promoting measures for their vation of species or biological diversity. conservation, and for the management of other species of conservation con- cern. Its objective is to mobilize action to prevent the extinction of species, 5. To carry out specific tasks on behalf of the Union, including: sub-species and discrete populations of fauna and flora, thereby not only maintaining biological diversity but improving the status of endangered and • coordination of a programme of activities for the conservation of bio- vulnerable species. logical diversity within the framework of the IUCN Conservation Programme. Objectives of the SSC • promotion of the maintenance of biological diversity by monitoring 1. To participate in the further development, promotion and implementation the status of species and populations of conservation concern. of the World Conservation Strategy; to advise on the development of IUCN's Conservation Programme; to support the implementation of the • development and review of conservation action plans and priorities Programme' and to assist in the development, screening, and monitoring for species and their populations.
    [Show full text]
  • The Formation of African Identities in the Americas: Spiritual “Ethnicity”
    THE FORMATION OF AFRICAN IDENTITIES IN THE AMERICAS: SPIRITUAL “ETHNICITY” Ivor L. Miller African Diaspora Studies Program, DePaul University ABSTRACT From the sixteenth century onward, various spiritual traditions were carried by enslaved Africans to the Caribbean and the Americas, where their bearers restruc- tured them by adapting to the economic, political, and social realities of the slave regimes. In Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Trinidad, and other cultural zones, Africans and their descendants were able to reconstruct fundamental concepts and elements of their homeland material and spiritual cultures while adding new features to these mod- els. Just as we can speak of Anglo-American, Iberian-American, or Franco-Amer- ican culture—instead of speaking of a monolithic Black or an African American culture, or of an abstract Afro-Cuban culture—we can discuss Kongo-American, Calabarí-American, or Yorùbá-American cultures. Being inclusive, these African- derived cultural systems, perpetuated in most cases through ritual-kinship lineag- es established by Africans, have for some time been practiced by people of all her- itages, and in many cases become unofficial symbols of the particular nation-state in which they reside, even while resisting allegiance to that state and its dominant mythologies. “No nation now but the imagination.” Derek Walcott1 in a linear paradigm, the study of transatlantic history is a study of progress; progress being a condition requiring adaptation to Euro-American norms. The assimilation of Africans enslaved in the Americas entailed a process of several generations, exemplified by this scenario from Argentina: “When the African na- tions declined beginning in the mid-nineteenth century with the deaths of the last generation of people born in Africa, Afro-Argentineans began to form mutual aid societies.
    [Show full text]
  • The Connectors of Two Worlds: Chano Pozo, Dizzy Gillespie, and the Continuity of Myth Through Afro-Cuban Jazz
    California State University, San Bernardino CSUSB ScholarWorks Theses Digitization Project John M. Pfau Library 2005 The connectors of two worlds: Chano Pozo, Dizzy Gillespie, and the continuity of myth through Afro-Cuban jazz Dwight Paul Sweeney Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project Part of the Music Commons, and the Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons Recommended Citation Sweeney, Dwight Paul, "The connectors of two worlds: Chano Pozo, Dizzy Gillespie, and the continuity of myth through Afro-Cuban jazz" (2005). Theses Digitization Project. 2823. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2823 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the John M. Pfau Library at CSUSB ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses Digitization Project by an authorized administrator of CSUSB ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE CONNECTORS OF TWO WORLDS: CHANO POZO, DIZZY GILLESPIE, AND THE CONTINUITY OF MYTH THROUGH AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, San Bernardino In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies by Dwight Paul Sweeney, Jr. March 2005 ■3 THE CONNECTORS OF TWO WORLDS: CHANO POZO, DIZZY GILLESPIE, ZYND THE CONTINUITY OF MYTH THROUGH AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, San Bernardino by Dwight Paul Sweeney, Jr. March 2005 Approved by: 3-2- Chair, History Date Russell Barber, Anthropology ABSTRACT The histories of Cuba and the United States ran a parallel course until the late nineteenth century, and musical cultural exchanges are a legacy of this interaction.
    [Show full text]
  • Kongo Presence in Contemporary Art of the Americas Jennifer Potter College of Fine Arts, University of Florida
    Across the Waters: Kongo Presence in Contemporary Art of the Americas Jennifer Potter College of Fine Arts, University of Florida The Fall 2013 international exhibition Kongo across the Waters at the Harn Museum of Art will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the beginning of African presence in the state of Florida by featuring art associated with the Kongo people of Central Africa and the later African Diaspora, including the work of several contemporary artists. These contemporary artists incorporate Kongo and Kongo- influenced spiritual and cultural concepts into their work, but they do so in different ways based on the individual relationships that they cultivate with these traditional ideas. This study will explore and analyze the distinctively Kongo aspects of pieces by specific contemporary artists featured in the exhibition. Ultimately, the presence of fundamental Kongo concepts in their art emphasizes the enduring impact of Kongo ideas on contemporary culture. The Atlantic slave trade brought about the forced when Ne Kongo came down from heaven bearing the first migration of Africans, mostly from West and Central healing medicine, called an nkisi, that was held in an Africa, to the Americas. As they physically moved across earthenware vessel. Beneath this supreme creator god was the waters, Africans inevitably brought their cultural, a pantheon of ancestors and immortal sprits called bisimbi spiritual, and artistic ideas with them, many of which that also contributed to Kongo religious practice.2 originate among the Kongo peoples. 1 These ideas and practices transformed, merged, and adapted over time, but Minkisi some still endure to the present day, although they may exist in different forms.
    [Show full text]
  • West Africa Geology and Total Petroleum Systems
    Geology and Total Petroleum Systems of the West-Central Coastal Province (7203), West Africa 0° 5°E 10°E 15°E 20°E NIGER CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC DELTA CAMEROON 5°N DOUALA BANGUI GULF OF DOUALA, KRIBI- MALABO YAOUNDE GUINEA CAMPO BASINS RIO MUNI BASIN EQ. GUINEA CABO SAN JUAN ARCH ANNOBON-CAMEROON LIBREVILLE 0° VOLCANIC AXIS GABON N'KOMI FRACTURE DEMOCRATIC ZONE REPUBLIC OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO CONGO GABON BASIN CASAMARIA BRAZZAVILLE HIGH 5°S CONGO ANGOLA (CABINDA) KINSHASA ATLANTIC BASIN OCEAN AMBRIZ ARCH LUANDA 10°S ANGOLA KWANZA (CUANZA) BASIN BENGUELA HIGH BENGUELA BENGUELA BASIN 15°S NAMIBE BASIN 0 250 500 KILOMETERS NAMIBIA LVIS RIDGE WA U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2207-B U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Geology and Total Petroleum Systems of the West-Central Coastal Province (7203), West Africa By Michael E. Brownfield and Ronald R. Charpentier U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2207-B U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior P. Lynn Scarlett, Acting Secretary U.S. Geological Survey P. Patrick Leahy, Acting Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2006 Posted online June 2006 Version 1.0 This publication is only available online at http://www.usgs.gov/bul/2207/B/ For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment: World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Geopolitical Overview of Conflicts 2016
    Geopolitical overview of Spanish Institute for conflicts 2016 Strategic Studies MINISTERIO DE DEFENSA Geopolitical overview Spanish Institute for of conflicts 2016 Strategic Studies MINISTERIO DE DEFENSA SPANISH OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS CATALOGUE http://publicacionesoficiales.boe.es Edita: SECRETARÍA GENERAL TÉCNICA http://publicaciones.defensa.gob.es/ © Author and Publisher, 2017 NIPO: 083-16-308-8 (print on demand) NIPO: 083-16-309-3 (e-book edition) Publication date: september 2017 The authors are solely responsible for the opinions expresed in the articles in this publication. The exploitation righits of this work are protected by the Spanish Intellectual Property Act. No parts of this publication may be produced, stored or transmitted in any way nor by any means, electronic, mechanical or print, including photo- copies or any other means without prior, express, written consent of the © copyright holders. ÍNDEX Page Introduction The role of the major powers in current conflicts ...................................................... 9 Miguel Ángel Ballesteros Martín Conflict trends ............................................................................................................................... 9 The resolutions of the Security Council as a gauge of its activity ...................................... 11 Russia’s comeback as a world power ...................................................................................... 13 The military policy of China as an emerging power .............................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Legal Regime for Use and Protection of International Watercourses in the Southern African Region: Evolution and Context
    Volume 41 Issue 4 Fall 2001 Fall 2001 Legal Regime for Use and Protection of International Watercourses in the Southern African Region: Evolution and Context Salman M. Salman Recommended Citation Salman M. Salman, Legal Regime for Use and Protection of International Watercourses in the Southern African Region: Evolution and Context, 41 Nat. Resources J. 981 (2001). Available at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nrj/vol41/iss4/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Natural Resources Journal by an authorized editor of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. SALMAN M.A. SALMAN* Legal Regime for Use and Protection of International Watercourses in the Southern African Region: Evolution and Context ABSTRACT Water resources management is receiving increased attention worldwide due to the growing realization that most areas of the world face major challenges with regard to the quantitativeand qualitative aspects of water. These challenges are attributed to a multitude offactors, the most important of which are the signifi- cant increase in population, urbanization, and environmental d adation. Such factors are more apparent in the Southern Afican Region than in many other parts of the world. The region is, by and large,arid and semi-aridand as a resultfaces a shortage of water in many areas. Moreover, the high rates of population growth and urbanization threaten to worsen the situation. The region depends, to a large extent, on the waters of river basins, most of which are shared by two or more countries.
    [Show full text]