The India that can’t say yes? Weltinnenpolitik und die theorieimmanente Exklusion des Globalen Südens

The persistence of Euro- and Western-centric universalization within the concept of Weltinnenpolitik is the cause of the theory-immanent suppression of asymmetrical power and rule relations. The nexus of postcolonial criticism and current discussions about global rule can serve as a source to deduce demands on the concept of Weltinnenpolitik, thus allowing us to critically reflect on this theory. A concept like Weltinnenpolitik must focus on resistance in order to avoid Western-centrism and more accurately depict global domination structures.

Of Old and New Business Ethics: How Fair Trade Becomes Patronage and Paternalism in a Darjeeling Tea Plantation

This paper is about Fair Trade and business ethics. It analyses data from fieldwork conducted in a famous Darjeeling tea plantation which practices biological and biodynamic farming and is labeled as Fair Trade. Its aim is to show how the plantation owner, using aggressive marketing of his engagement with eco-friendly and corporately-responsible management, has managed to regenerate an old patronage system more or less similar to industrial paternalism, but with its roots in colonial as well as indigenous domination structures. Disappointed by their unions, workers have had no alternative but to accept this form of governance, and some even acknowledge it as a good one. This case is a good example of how Fair Trade, which claims to empower workers, can be used to fuel a system which results in their disempowerment as social actors.

Standard Written Academic English: A Critical Appraisal

Science today is mainly communicated through standard written academic English (SWAE). In this paper, I apply the postulations of Gramsci, Bourdieu and Canagarajah to show how domination structures are reproduced in scientific communication worldwide. I argue that these structures do not allow nondominant epistemologies and ways of producing and communicating science to participate in the international arena. I apply a critical lens to interpret each one of the terms present in SWAE. I propose that a critical appraisal of each one of these terms is the first step towards a more democratic conceptualization of science communication where the standards are not only seen as a means of innocuous communication but also as ideologically charged fictitious universals. It is my claim that understanding the arbitrary nature of these universals and the influence that language has on knowledge construction will give space to nondominant ways of producing and communicating knowledge.