A r t i c l e s

DROZDÍK, Ladislav: Language and Linguistics in Postmodern Discourse, p. 113
DIETRICH, Michael H.: Ein "himmlischer Spagat". Das Zeichen für den Stern Algol in
Rongorongo, p. 119
KRUPA,Viktor: Bicknell’s Translation of St. Johns’ Gospel into Marquesan, p.143
KAULBACH, Barbara: Street Theatre in China in the 1930 s, p. 148
ISLAM, Syed Serajul: Elections and Politics in the Post-Ershad Era in Bangladesh, p. 160
BALESIN, A. S.: Europäische Missionare in Ost- und Südafrika: Kulturbegegnung oder Gewalt? (Anhand Archivquellen), p. 174
BONDARENKO, Dmitri M. – ROESE, Peter M.: Ancient Benin: Where Did the First Monarchs Come from?, p. 185

Review Articles

KOZIEL, Miroslav: Poverty in Africa, p.199

B o o k R e v i e w s

SELUTINA, Irina Jakovlevna: Kumandinskij vokalizm. Eksperimentalnofoneticheskoe issledovanie. By Yuri Tambovtsev, p. 210
EDZARD,LUTZ: Polygenesis, Convergence, and Entropy: An Alternative
Model of Linguistic Evolution Applied to Semitic Linguistics. By Ladislav Drozdík, p. 214
SCHULZ, E.- G.KRAHL- W.REUSCHEL: Standard Arabic: An Elementary-Intermediate Course. By Ladislav Drozdík, p. 219
OLIVERIUS, JAROSLAV: Kapitoly ze syntaxe moderni spisovné arabštiny. By Ladislav Drozdík, p. 223
OWENS, JONATHAN (Ed.): Arabic as a Minority Language. By Ladislav Drozdík, p. 225
KLEIN,MARTIN: Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa. By Miroslav Koziel, p. 227

ABSTRACTS

LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS IN POSTMODERN DISCOURSE

Ladislav DROZDÍK
Institute of Oriental and African Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia

On the intellectual scene of the Saussurean structuralist heritage, linguistics was perceived as a powerful source of methodological inspiration and played a renovating role to a wide range of social sciences. As a result of subsequent development, with the advent of what came to be known as postmodernism, the basic tenets of the once inspiring structuralism have been challenged. The concentrated criticism of logocentrism is one of the most prominent characteristics of this development. The following short notes are mostly focused on Derrida's strategy adopted in this criticism.

EIN ,,HIMMLISCHER SPAGAT". DAS ZEICHEN FÜR DEN STERN ALGOL IN RONGORONGO

Michael H. DIETRICH
Stitzenburgstraße 17, 70182 Stuttgart, Germany

(Für Horst Cain und Friedrich Witte, ohne deren Hilfe es nie gelungen wäre, Rongorongo zu entziffern).

A "Celestial Rope" The
The Character for the Star Algol in Rongorongo

In the following you would find a further contribution to the new understanding and analysis of the character of Rongorongo. The concept: "Nothing is ever itself is again verified. The symbol was identified in the ancient "handed on" astronomical knowledge of New Zealand Maori. The Maori named the star Algol "Matohi" which means "doing the splits". It is to be found in the constellation of "Perseus". For the first time in the investigation of Rongorongo, the papers of copies from Thomas Barthel, which were published in 1958, and those of Roger Steven Fischer, published in 1997, could be compared.

BICKNELL’S TRANSLATION OF ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL INTO MARQUESAN

Viktor KRUPA
Institute of Oriental and African Studies,
Slovak Academy of Sciences, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia

Alongside the Catholic R. P. Pierre Gerard Chaulet, the Protestant James Bicknell was one of the first translators who have undertaken to introduce Bible to the Marquesans, namely St. John's Gospel, one of the more abstract Biblical texts and had to solve a variety of problems resulting from this exacting task.

STREET THEATRE IN CHINA IN THE 1930s

Barbara KAULBACH
Goethe-Institut, Panenská 33, 814 82 Bratislava, Slovakia

Street theatre, jietouju (1), was born after the Mukden-Incident in 1931 when the Japanese began to gradually occupy China from the Northeast as means of protest and anti-Japanese propaganda. Being first performed in the Beijing-area, it was soon found everywhere in China: on streets, temple stages, carriages, by professional troupes as well as by amateurs. Today jietouju is considered as a great step forward in the development of spoken drama (huaju, 2) in China, towards drama as an important factor in reflecting a modern society.

ELECTIONS AND POLITICS IN THE POST-ERSHAD ERA IN BANGLADESH

Syed Serajul ISLAM
Department of Political Science, Lakehead University
955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7B 5E1, Canada

In 1990 the resignation of President General Hossain Muhammad Ershad (henceforth Ershad) marked the fall of "dictatorship" and the beginning of "democracy" in Bangladesh. Since then, Bangladesh has had three national elections - February 1991, February 1996 and June 1996 - and each election seemed to be unique. However, once each election was over the post-election period followed a consistent pattern, i.e., while the opposition political party, that is, the minority seats winner in the Jatiyo Sangsad (National Assembly), claimed election to be "rigged and unfair", the party which formed the government, that is, the party which won the majority of the seats, declared the election to be "free and fair". Consequently, in the aftermath of the election the opposition party or parties became engaged mainly in bringing down the regime rather than anything else. Perhaps this is quite a common phenomenon in many other Third World countries as well. It raises an important question: Why is it so? It seems that this is due fact that complete democratic conditions, values, and procedures are distant ideals unattainable in these countries in view of various socio-political, economic and human factors.

EUROPÄISCHE MISSIONARE IN OST- UND SÜDAFRIKA:
KULTURBEGEGNUNG ODER GEWALT? (ANHAND ARCHIVQUELLEN)

A.S. BALESIN
Institute of General History, Centre for African Studies, Russian Academy of
Sciences, Leninskij Prospekt 32 A, 117334 Moscow, Russia

On the basis of archival sources, the author argues that missionaries in Tropical and Southern Africa brought the Africans not only purely religious, but much broader knowledge. In fact, the missionaries taught their African pupils essentials of the European way of life, European agriculture, European technology. Africans profited from that base of knowledge, sometimes even unwillingly. On the other hand, European missionaries also learned much from their African partners, although this partnership was not equal. The author's argument is that one can speak of the interaction of European and African cultures as a result of the missionaries' activities in Africa.

ANCIENT BENIN: WHERE DID THE FIRST MONARCHS COME FROM?

Dmitri M. BONDARENKO,
Department of Cultural Anthropology, Centre of Civilizational and Regional Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences,
30/1 Spirinodovka street, 103 001 Moscow, Russia

Peter M. ROESE
Nibelungenstrafie 227, 64686 Lautertal, Germany

One of the most mysterious episodes of Benin history, namely the establishment of the so-called "1 st (Ogiso) dynasty" in the end of the 1st millennium A.D., is discussed in the paper. The authors argue that the first Ogiso could come (and bring the monarchy as a form of supra-chiefdom political organization to Biniland) from the Yoruba town of Ife. Not Benin City, but the settlement of Udo situated on the way from Ife to Benin could well be the first capital of the country, that is the seat of the founder of the Ogiso dynasty and Benin Kingdom.

REVIEW ARTICLES

POVERTY IN AFRICA

Miroslav KOZIEL
Institute of Oriental and African Studies,
Slovak Academy of Sciences, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia

The real African family is a body with three heads, one looking back into past, one following the present and one forecasting the future. Its a great unbeatable creature, which is perfectly equipped for surviving in the harshness of this world. When we read about the disasters, which Africa attracts as a flashlight does mosquitos, we wonder that there are still some people ever living. The Americans would probably be long dead. The Europeans desperate. The Russians worried. But the African family lives, like nothing would ever happen ...