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This chapter studies two notable missionary novels, Alice Tisdale Hobart's 1936 Yang and Yin and Claude McKay's Banana Bottom. The first novel is considered to be the best fictional account of an American Protestant medical missionary placed in China during the first quarter of the twentieth century. The other novel is a result of its author's experience with Baptist missionaries prevalent in the British colony of Jamaica. Both the novels engage the subject of Western imperialism. The main point of view of Yang and Yin is the rigid theology of the Christian mission, which is highly misdirected and counterproductive. On the other hand, Banana Bottom treats missionary evangelicalism with respect to post-colonial slavery legacy in the Americas.

In such an uncertain climate, it seemed unlikely Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart would get a further commitment from Paramount, so Hart briefly rejoined his partner in New York, only to find there was nothing for them there either. The newspapers reported that Rodgers and Hart were back together in Hollywood helping with recordings of Phantom President and “huddling on the subject of Al Jolson's next production.” How this came about requires a short preface which might be entitled “The Banana Bag Contract.” Jolson was sunbathing on the rooftop of his Palm Springs home with Joe Schenck, president of United Artists (UA). During their sunbathing session Schenck made Jolson an unheard-of offer: 2 million dollars if Al would star in four UA pictures. Needless to say, Al agreed, and a contract was drawn up on their paper lunch sack: hence the title of the story.

Smeathman arrives at the Banana Islands and meets the Clevelands and Corkers, powerful mulatto chiefs. He describes various aspects of African life, from cures for exotic tropical diseases to African oratory and the Poro, West Africa’s secret society. He is inducted by the Clevelands to the landlord–stranger relationship, part of which involves him gifting to James Cleveland a fancy toy from London, an electrical machine. He establishes a reputation as a good doctor, visits the Plantains and the Sherbro, including Corker Town, the Kamaranka river, and Sherbro Island.

This essay examines the persuasive fit between the biographical evidence of Claude McKay’s life, his characterization of Bita Plant as a maroon figure returning to “the point of entanglement” (Glissant, Caribbean Discourse 26), and the continuum of masculine subjectivity in McKay’s work, from Jake/ Ray to Banjo/Ray to Bita. The author posits the idea of Bita as McKay’s maroon self returned in drag on two bases: one, that the life of a vagabond troubadour, and the habit of literary self-portrait had so become second nature to McKay, that he was unable to inhabit a less ambiguous, less tricksterish persona; two, that McKay’s unresolved issues with his mother and father play out as impersonation or ventriloquism, reconciliation, exorcism, and homage in the figure of Bita. The essay argues also that McKay’s lifelong and haunting need to return to the country of his birth played out in this literary disguise in which, if we also see Bita as Jamaica developing a decolonized subjectivity, her move is from (feminized) colonial territory to an authoritative republic of the self.

Murakami rose through Japan’s literary prize system and small journals, winning the Gunzo Prize for Hear the Wind Sing. He then trained himself to be a translator and apprenticed by translating Raymond Carver, Raymond Chandler, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. In his inter-textual word play, analyzed by Rebecca Suter, he forged a new style attractive to Japanese consumers in the Japanese Boom of the 1980s. Norwegian Wood, however, shows this style to be based on unresolved tensions from the 1960s student movement. He puts “gatekeeping” at the thematic center of his early work, but later (in 1Q84) attacks the industrialization of literature in Japan. His own assembly line approach to writing and translation, revealed by German scholars, highlights the “process and production” mode of current World Literature.

St Lucia is a small developing island nation in the Caribbean which historically depended on the banana industry as a major source of output growth, employment, and foreign exchange. When external conditions in its main export market became unfavorable, the country gradually made the transition to a largely services economy with a major emphasis on the tourism sector. With high levels of unemployment (especially among the youth) and poverty, St Lucia has made efforts to create good jobs through agricultural diversification, information services, financial and related services, tourism, and government services. There is also potential for job creation in the “green” economy and the “blue” economy (coastal activities). To meet its jobs challenges, St Lucia needs to develop a strategic development plan which would include provisions for production diversification into new areas, human resources development, development finance, regional and international economic agreements, and institutional arrangements to complement strategic policy actions.

Agriculture and food security, water resources, ecosystems, natural disasters, and human health are all affected significantly by short-term fluctuations of weather and by longer-term changes of climate. Such effects can be severe enough to disrupt national and regional economies, particularly in developing countries, thus exacerbating poverty and thwarting sustainable development in both the short and long term. Developed and developing countries differ in their vulnerability to the effects of climate and in their capacity to recover from them. Developing countries are expected to be more vulnerable than developed countries to long-term climate change caused by the anthropogenic build-up of greenhouse gases. The challenge is to integrate climate adaptability into sustainable development effectively, so that detrimental effects are minimized and positive effects are enhanced. In this chapter we address the questions of how climate generally and El Niño specifically can affect sustainable development, consider the related concepts of vulnerability and adaptive capacity, and evaluate policies and programs designed to incorporate improved responses to climate variability and change into society. Sustainable development, a term brought to the attention of the world by the Bruntland Report, Our Common Future (United Nations Commission on Environment and Development, 1987), is a broad, often normative term used to describe a process by which developing countries are able to achieve economic growth comparable to the more developed countries without compromising environmental health and social equity. The report defines development as sustainable when it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Another simpler working definition that has been put forward is “development that lasts” (Magalhães, 2000, p. 4). Sustainable development is often characterized asmultidimensional, having economic, social, environmental, and political aspects (Magalhães, 2000). Economic sustainability is defined as the ability of programs to exist without long-term government incentives. Social sustainability relates to progress toward amelioration of poverty, income equality, and inclusiveness; whereas political sustainability involves shared participation in decision making and in stable institutions. Environmental sustainability involves the use of natural resources in a way that preserves or enhances their productivity, even while conserving habitats, biodiversity, and landscape.

Rene Martin Verdugo-Urquidez was driving in San Felipe, Mexico on a winter’s day in 1986 when he was stopped by several Mexican police officers. The officers arrested Verdugo-Urquidez, placed him in the back of an unmarked car, and forced him to lie down on the seat with his face covered by a jacket. A Mexican citizen, Verdugo-Urquidez was believed to be one of the leading members of a major drug cartel and was suspected of participating in the brutal murder of Enrique Camarena-Salazar, an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). After a two-hour drive north the Mexican officers walked Verdugo-Urquidez to the international border, where he was transferred to U.S. Border Patrol agents. He was then brought to a federal detention center in San Diego. Working with the Mexican Federal Judicial Police, DEA agents based in Mexico searched Verdugo-Urquidez’s residences in Mexicali and San Felipe, where they found incriminating documents relating to drug trafficking. This seemingly smooth example of international police cooperation ran into a hurdle once Verdugo-Urquidez faced trial in the United States. His lawyers sought to suppress the evidence, arguing that it had been obtained without a warrant and in violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against “unreasonable searches and seizures.” The district court agreed, declaring that the Fourth Amendment applied to the search in Mexico. The court called the search a “joint venture” of the DEA and the Mexican police. Because the DEA had failed to obtain a warrant, and because the search was improperly handled, the district court held that the incriminating evidence had to be suppressed pursuant to what is usually called the “exclusionary rule.” The Reagan administration immediately appealed the ruling. Drug trafficking had become a major concern of the United States in the 1980s, and the DEA overseas activities at issue in the Verdugo-Urquidez case were an important front line in what was commonly termed the war on drugs. If the Constitution regulated searches and seizures outside the United States, the DEA and other agencies would have to revamp their approach to foreign criminal investigations.

Oxidic soils are deeply weathered, fine-textured, oxide-rich soils in the tropics. These soils are the second most abundant soils in the tropics. Geographically, oxidic soils are found in Latin America (Brazil, Central America), East and Central Africa (Kenya, Congo, and Cameroon), the Caribbean Basin, and the Pacific Islands. In southeastern Asia, oxidic soils are found in isolated areas of Indonesia, the Philippines, and northern Australia, usually on the volcanic and limestone-dominated geomorphic surfaces. Oxidic soils are oxide-rich, low bulk density Oxisols, Alfisols, and Ultisols according to the Soil Taxonomy classification. In other soil classification schemes, most oxidic soils are classified under Sols Ferallitiques according to the French system, and Ferralsols and Nitosols under the FAO/UNESCO system. Oxidic soils are differentiated into high-base-status and low-base-status soils on the basis of the 70% base saturation limit calculated from effective CEC. The high-base-status oxidic soils generally are enriched with Ca-saturated organic matter in the surface layer and are among the more productive upland soils in the tropics. The low-base-status oxidic soils are acidic, have a low effective CEC, and the degree of exchangeable Al saturation often exceeds 60% in the subsoil horizons. Because of their excellent soil physical properties, oxidic soils are more resistant to soil erosion and therefore better suited to large-scale mechanized agriculture than kaolinitic soils. Although the dominant clay mineral is kaolinite, the presence of moderate amounts of crystalline and amorphous Fe and Al oxides and hydrous oxides (around 5% Fe2O3 or higher) with a high specific surface area (100 m2/g or larger) gives rise to many unique chemical and physical properties, such as a variable surface charge, the formation of microaggregates, low bulk density (0.8-1.2 Mg/ m3), stable soil structure, and high permeability. Most oxidic soils are red or dark red due to the presence of clay-size hematite (Fe2O3) in the soil. The yellowish oxidic soils contain primarily goethite (FeOOH) in the clay fraction and occur in the wetter geomorphic positions of a deeply weathered landscape. Extensive areas of clayey, yellowish oxidic soils are found in the Amazon Basin. Gibbsite (A1OOH) is the major crystalline Al oxide.

Allophanic soils are dark-colored young soils derived mainly from volcanic ash. These soils typically have a low bulk density (< 0.9 Mg/m3), a high water retention capacity (100% by weight at field capacity), and contain predominantly allophanes, imogolite, halloysite, and amorphous Al silicates in the clay fraction. These soils are found in small, restricted areas with volcanic activity. Worldwide, there are about 120 million ha of allophanic soils, which is about 1% of the Earth's ice-free land surface. In tropical regions, allophanic soils are among the most productive and intensively used agricultural soils. They occur in the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Caribbean and South Pacific islands, East Africa, Central America, and the Andean rim of South America. Allophanic soils are primarily Andisols and andic Inceptisols, Entisols, Mollisols, and Alfisols according to the Soil Taxonomy classification. Allophanic soils generally have a dark-colored surface soil, slippery or greasy consistency, a predominantly crumb and granular structure, and a low bulk density ranging from 0.3 to 0.8 Mg/m3. Although allophanic soils are apparently well-drained, they still have a very high water content many days after rain. When the soil is pressed between fingers, it gives a plastic, greasy, but non-sticky sensation of a silty or loamy texture. When dry, the soil loses its greasiness and becomes friable and powdery. The low bulk density of allophanic soils is closely related to the high soil porosity. For example, moderately weathered allophanic soils typically have a total porosity of 78%, with macro-, meso-, and micropores occupying 13%, 33%, and 32%, respectively. Water retained in the mesopores is readily available for plant uptake. Water retained in the micropores is held strongly by soil particles and is not readily available for plant use. The macropores provide soil aeration and facilitate water infiltration. The high water retention capacity is also associated with the high soil porosity. In allophanic soils formed under a humid climate, especially those containing large amounts of allophane, the moisture content at field capacity can be as high as 300%, calculated on a weight basis. Such extremely high values of water content seem misleading.

The term “tropics” refers to the continuously warm and frost-free zone of the world that lies approximately between the Tropic of Cancer (or latitude 23.5° north of the equator) and the Tropic of Capricorn (or latitude 23.5° south of the equator). The tropical region comprises approximately 36% of the world’s land surface. Geographically, the tropics encompasses the entire region of Southeast Asia, Central America, the islands in the South Pacific and the Caribbean Basin, a major part of Africa, South America, a large portion of the Indian subcontinent, and a small part of northern Australia. Within a tropical region, natural vegetation and agriculture vary with elevation and rainfall regime. Within the tropical belt, mean annual temperature at sea level is about 26 °C, and it decreases approximately 0.6 °C with every 100 m increase in elevation. On the basis of elevation, the tropics may be further divided into • lowland tropics (areas below 600 m), • midaltitude tropics (areas between 600 and 900 m), and • high-altitude tropics or tropical highlands (areas above 900 m). Tropical highlands account for 23% of the tropics whereas the low- and midaltitude regions together comprise about 87% of the total area. Tropical highlands usually have cool air temperatures with a mean annual temperature of 20 °C or lower. Rainfall on tropical highlands can be extremely variable within a short distance. Because of the year-round comfortable temperature, areas of tropical highlands with favorable rainfall and fertile soils are usually densely populated and hence intensively cultivated. Climates in the lowland and midaltitude tropics generally share three common features, namely, a year-round warm temperature, rainfall of high intensity and short duration, and a high rate of evaporation. Climates are characterized principally by mean monthly air temperature, and the amount and distribution of rainfall.

In the natural world, plant species evolve and adapt to specific soil and climatic conditions. The productivity and stability of a natural soil-plant continuum or ecosystem are maintained through diversity, succession, and internal nutrient cycling. Hence, there are no rich soils or poor soils but different soils supporting different ecosystems. From an agricultural viewpoint, however, the term soil fertility may be defined as the capacity of a soil, under a given rainfall or water management regime, to support the growth of common food and fiber crops with minimum or no external inputs for a long period of time without adversely degrading the chemical, physical, and biological properties of the soil. Thus, a naturally fertile or productive soil usually possesses the following features: • good soil tilth or workability • adequate organic matter content in the surface layer • adequate permeability • adequate available water-holding capacity • slightly acidic to neutral pH • loamy-textured topsoil • moderate amounts of smectite and weatherable minerals Worldwide, the most fertile soils are prairie soils derived from glacial till, young alluvial soils in river valleys and deltas and high-base-status volcanic ash soils. These soils are also known as Mollisols, high-base-status Entisols and high-base- status Andisols, respectively, according to the Soil Taxonomy classification. At the other end of the scale are the so-called infertile soils. These are the highly weathered and strongly leached soils or “lateritic soils” of the tropics. Ultisols and Oxisols rich in kaolinite and Fe and Al oxides fall into this category. The soil fertility status of other types of soils falls in between these two groups. In general, parent material and stage of weathering are good indicators of soil fertility. Moderately weathered soils derived from basic parent rocks such as basalts and limestone and recent alluvial deposits are invariably more fertile than those derived from acidic parent rocks such as sandstone, quartzite, and coarse-grained granite. Strongly weathered soils generally have a low fertility because primary minerals containing plant nutrients such as Ca, Mg, and K have long disappeared through dissolution, acidification, and leaching. The dominant clay-size minerals in strongly weathered soils, kaolinite and Fe and Al oxides, possess little capacity to retain these cations.