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This paper aims to assess the role of archives in documenting African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) records on the liberation struggle of South Africa from 1960 to 1990 with a view to recommending the best method of collection and preservation of archival materials.

Qualitative data were collected through interviews with purposively selected employees of the African National Congress (ANC), the Nelson Mandela Foundation centre of memory, the national heritage and cultural studies at the University of Fort Hare, the National Archives of South Africa and provincial archives of South Africa. Interview data were augmented through content analysis of ANC documents such as policies, websites and annual reports.

The study found a gap of documentation of the role of archives in documenting ANCWL’s contribution to the liberation of South Africa. The National Archives of South Africa did not play a meaningful role to document the history of African National Women’s League in the liberation struggle of South Africa. There was also a lack of coordination of community archives that keep ANCWL archives materials. There is a need to embark on oral history and bilateral relations with overseas archival institutions to repatriate ANCWL archives to South Africa. Furthermore, contemporary history records about the ANCWL records need to be listed, arranged and described and made available to the public.

The research is limited to the role played by the National Archives of South Africa and community archives such as the ANC archives, the Mayibuye Centre archives based at the University of Western Cape in documenting ANC and ANCWL and contemporary issues that impact the development of ANCWL records created from 1960 to 1990.

The findings are expected to be instrumental to document the history of women’s struggle for democracy in South Africa. The ANCWL collection may contribute to social cohesion to enable society to understand the role of ANCWL during the struggle for democracy in South Africa. While the literature on women’s archives is limited, there is still much research that needs to be conducted. Increasing the body of research will strengthen understanding of the role of the National Archives of South Africa and community archives on documenting women’s liberation struggle in South Africa.

The document of women’s history would enrich the archival collection. This means that records with historical, cultural and social significance will be permanently preserved by archives.

The research appears to be the first of its kind to assess the documentation on the role of archives on documenting ANCWL. The archival heritage of women’s struggle for democracy forms part of the national archival heritage of South Africa as they bridge the gap of undocumented history of South Africa.

This paper aims to analyse the current Southern African countries’ archives and records management legislations to identify the gaps and challenges. It is important to assess the role played by National Archives legislations within the preservation of heritage and history; private archives known as liberation archives; the transfer of archives; the disposal and retention of records, access, copyright management and skills; and development of staff.

The study used a qualitative methodology through document analysis, interviews and observation. The sampling of the study comprised representatives from the selected Southern African National Archives (South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia).

The key findings revealed gaps of the archives and records management legislations in terms of definitions, transfer, disposal and transfer of records and accessibility. Some of the Southern African countries failed to use archives and records management legislation to promote accountability and governance.

The research is limited to the following countries: Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa.

Archive and records management legislation which has gaps creates problems in terms of effective implementation of archives and records management programmes.

The failure by Southern African countries to revise their National Archives legislations and clarify the role of National Archives will lead to loss of archival materials if not addressed.

Updated archives legislation contributes to the development of effective archives and records management programme.

This essay examines how two Marxist anti-colonial intellectuals from Portuguese India and French India – Aquino de Bragança and V Subbiah – differentially theorized movements for independence from colonial rule. Through the analysis of primary source documents in French, Portuguese, Italian and English, I compare V Subbiah's Dalit, anti-fascist anti-colonial Marxism to Aquino de Bragança's internationalist anti-colonial Marxism. Both theorists' approaches have similarities in (1) theorizing the relationship between fascism and colonialism given that the Portuguese Empire was administered by Salazar's Estado Novo and the French Empire was under Vichy rule, (2) rethinking Marxism to better fit the Global South context and (3) intellectual and political connections to Algeria were critically important for theory and praxis. Despite the distinct geographic and social spaces in which they lived and worked, both produced remarkably similar theories of anti-imperialism.

Here Marx's philosophy is dissected from the angle of bourgeois capitalism which he, Marx, sought to overcome. His social, political and economic ideas are criticised. Although it is noted that Marx wanted to ameliorate human suffering, the result turned out to be Utopian, contrary to his own intentions. Contrary to Marx, it is individualism that makes the best sense and capitalism that holds out the best hope for coping with most of the problems he sought to solve. Marx's philosophy is alluring but flawed at a very basic level, namely, where it denies the individuality of each person and treats humanity as “an organic body”. Capitalism, while by no means out to guarantee a perfect society, is the best setting for the realisation of the diverse but often equally noble human goals of its membership.

The paper seeks to examine the evolution of, and assesses current trajectories of change in, the Algerian employee relations system.

The paper reviews a range of literature on employee relations in Algeria and draws on the authors' research over the years in the field, including recent interviews with unions' representatives.

The paper provides evidence to suggest that the Algerian system of employee relations is a product of interactions and intersections between historical circumstances and different institutional arrangements and configurations to enable the state to hold together its power and control over unions. The paper shows how the preferential treatment of the UGTA by the government created an uneven playing field favouring the UGTA over independent unions.

A major limitation of the paper is lack of strong empirical evidence.

The paper suggests that the single most important factor determining unions' ability to manoeuvre is the continuing support they obtain from the government and its institutions. The analysis provides practical suggestions for independent unions.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper on recent developments in employee relations in Algeria.

The significance of literature in nation-building in two “second generation” nations, Germany and Norway, is discussed. In both countries a specific national literature was constituted parallel to the political institutions during the latter half of the 19th century. Yet there are clear differences in political effects in the two cases. In Norway, the struggle for national independence up to 1905 entailed a significant democratization of society. Germany, in the wake of the revolution of 1848, developed into a politically authoritarian regime, fully established under Prussian leadership in 1871.

These processes are mirrored in the position of literature. In Norway, where artistic traditions were absent, the national literature was a product of the 19th century, and emerged in close connection to ongoing political debates. In Germany, the Weimar heritage had gained classical status during the 1850s. Thus, the problem was foremost that of redefining the spiritual heritage to fit the history of the German Reich.

A related difference is found in the diffusion of literature through its most important channel – the school system. Norway developed a modern, uniform school, where the nation’s new literature was accorded a central place. In Germany, a more class-based school system was cemented, and the idea of diffusing the cultural heritage to the population at large held a weak position.

Along with these institutional factors, the development of national literatures in the two countries is seen in the light of regional specificities, constellations of literary genres with high and low prestige, and the social and political position of writers.

The focus of this chapter is drawn from the author’s lived experience and background as a third generation stateless Palestinian refugee who lived in one of the Palestinian camps in Lebanon and inherited the refugeeship from her parents and grandparents. Even though the author agrees with Hannah Arendt (1943) that ‘We don’t like to be called refugees’ (p. 264), the process of this research and thoughts behind it are attributed to the author’s personal experiences, as Arendt (1964) confirms in her statement that the process of thought can seldom be possible without being attributed to a personal experience.