The article presents current problems related to the Chinese cultural and educational activity in West Africa, developed since 2008 through Confucius Institutes. First part focuses on theoretical framework of concepts soft power and cultural diplomacy as tools of the Chinese foreign policy in West African states. Then, background and aims of establishment of Confucius Institutes were explained in a global, and regional, sub-Saharan context. Second part describes three main types of reactions of Africans for Confucius Institutes in West Africa. Apart from the general tendencies, described in the literature, author refers to first-hand statements of Nigerian students and lecturers from the local branches of the Confucius Institute. In the final remarks, common features of Confucianism and African values with contribute to „sino-optimistic” attitude where highlighted. They result in enthusiastic reception of the educational/propaganda offer of the Confucius Institutes in Africa.
Drawing a distinction between circular and linear time is only one of many possible divisions. It can coexist and overlap with sacrum and profanum, ecological and structural as well as with objective and subjective time. Moreover, the very same event, such as for example the rite of initiation, by most community members considered as a manifest of circular time, by individuals can be seen as linear in their personal perception. Closing the passing of time in a circular, cyclic or spiral figure contradicts the scientific principle of anizotropia. Therefore, to fully understand the essence of circular time, meant as a kind of 'return of time', it is necessary to abandon the terms of modern physics and try to analyse the myth, the genealogy, history, the astrological and meteorological cycles, observed in a preindustrial society. Different forms of perceptions of this subject can be found in ancient India, ancient Greece, and another in traditional sub-Saharan Africa. Time treated as a cicrcle is relatively static, non-cumulative, it is also focused on ancestors, emphasises the importance of archetypic myth, and it can be seen as unfavourable to the development of a modern industrial society.
This paper attempts to understand the question why Nigerians were involved in nationwide strikes, that took place in major cities across Nigeria in January 2012, it was interpreted as a prelude to civic revolution, like it was in the countries of the Arab Spring. The immediate cause of the national uprising that affected all sectors of the labor market; the government’s decision which was announced on the 1st of January 2012, was taking the subsidy off fuel prices on the Nigerian market. In Nigeria, one of the largest exporters of crude oil on the African continent, by the end of 2011 the price per liter of fuel was 65 Naira. From January 1 liter of petrol cost 141 Naira. Protesters demanded the withdrawal of the government decision and also demanded that problems of corruption, lack of financial transparency in public offices and mismanagement of the economy be tackled in an open way. After a week of protests the government reduced the price of gasoline to 97 Naira per liter, resulting in protesting citizens have suspended street protests and unions’ strikes. The authors adopted a psychosocial perspective text analysis of the January events, focusing on the prevailing attitudes of Nigerians towards the policy and to pursue a common public interest.
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