scholarly journals Women and the Afghan peace and reintegration process

2022 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-104
Author(s):  
Althea-Maria Rivas ◽  
Mariam Safi

Abstract In 2010, as the Afghan government announced its intention to begin a formal peace process, there were numerous calls for women to have a seat at the table. Both mainstream and critical discourse on women and the peace process in Afghanistan, however, relied on the production of essentialized subjectivities which failed to recognize the political and social complexity of women's lives, diminished their intellectual contributions and silenced their voices. This article challenges the simultaneous hyper-visualization and silencing of Afghan women by both Afghan and international actors. Drawing on feminist and decolonial theory, we examine the ways in which the colonial mechanisms of intervention, patriarchy and the global hierarchies of knowledge production worked in tandem to marginalize Afghan women while upholding them as agents of peace. The article brings together findings from three participatory research projects on women and peace, which took place from 2010 to 2014 across eight provinces in Afghanistan. A prismed view of the participants' intersectional realities is constructed, which highlights diverse positionalities and articulations of peace, the social and political cleavages, and differentiated obstacles to their involvement in the peace and reintegration process. The concluding remarks emphasize the relevance of these findings for Afghanistan at the time of publication.

2020 ◽  
pp. 001139212093114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sujata Patel

How did the process of decolonization reframe the social sciences? This article maps the interventions made by theorists of and from the ex-colonial countries in reconceptualizing sociology both as practice and as an episteme. It argues that there are geographically varied and intellectually diverse decolonial approaches being formulated using sociological theory to critique the universals propounded by the traditions of western sociology/social sciences; that these diverse knowledges are connected through colonial and global circuits and that these create knowledge geographies; that collectively these diverse intellectual positions argue that sociology/social sciences are constituted in and within the politics of ‘difference’ organized within colonial, nationalist and global geopolitics; that this ‘difference’ is being reproduced in everyday knowledge practices and is being structured through the political economy of knowledge; and that the destabilization of this power structure and democratization of this knowledge is possible only when there is a fulsome interrogation of this political economy, and its everyday practices of knowledge production within universities and research institutes. It argues that this critique needs to be buffered by the constitution of alternate networks of circulation of this knowledge.


Author(s):  
Ernesto Treviño Ronzón

Este ensayo se basa en los resultados de dos proyectos de investigación sobre violencia, política y políticas en México, que han aportado material para discutir la función politizante de la violencia desde el ángulo de lo político. Se trata de una reflexión conceptual que en la actualidad cruza diferentes ámbitos de las ciencias sociales y las humanidades. El argumento a desarrollar es que en algunas sociedades donde la agresión, la victimización y la delincuencia alcanzan niveles altos y constantes, la violencia hace patente su función en la disolución y constitución tanto de estructuras, relaciones, identidades y sujetos, como en la inclusión y exclusión social. En esta lógica, es posible afirmar que, en ciertos contextos, la violencia tiene una función ontológica y política. Para explorar esta tesis, el texto recorre, en primera instancia, las preocupaciones de algunos filósofos interesados en la violencia; en segundo término y a manera de focalización, recupera algunos estudios contemporáneos sobre la violencia dirigida a la población joven en México y América Latina, que sirven como referencia para el debate de la politización a partir de elementos conceptuales desarrollados por pensadores contemporáneos.Palabras clave: Violencia, Lo político, Politización, Subjetividad, VíctimasViolence and the political. A reflection on violence as a producer of political subjectivitiesAbstractThis article is based on the results of two research projects on violence, politics and public policies in México, which have provided material to discuss the politicizing function of violence from the political angle. It is a conceptual reflection that currently crosses different areas of the social sciences and the humanities. The argument to be developed is that in some societies where aggression, victimization and delinquency reach high and constant levels, violence makes clear its role in the dissolution and constitution of structures, relationships, identities and subjects, as well as in inclusion and social exclusion. In this sense, it is possible to say that, in certain contexts, violence has an ontological and political function. To explore this thesis, the text covers, in the first place, the concerns of some philosophers interested in violence; secondly, and as a focus, it recovers some contemporary studies on violence directed at the young population in Mexico and Latin America, which serve as a reference for the debate on politicization based on conceptual elements developed by contemporary thinkers.Key words: Violence, The political, Politicization, Subjectivity, VictimsLa violence et le politique. Une réflexion sur la violence comme productrice de subjectivités politiquesCet essai est basé dans des résultats de deux projets de recherche sur violence et politique et politiques au Mexique, qui ont apporté du matériel pour discuter la fonction politisante de la violence depuis l’angle du politique. Il s’agit d’une réflexion conceptuelle qui actuellement croise différents domaines des sciences sociales et des humanités.L’argument à développer est que dans quelques sociétés où l’agression, la victimisation et la délinquance atteignent des hauts et constants niveaux, la violence manifeste sa fonction dans la dissolution et constitution aussi de structures, de  relations, d’identités et de sujets que d’inclusion et d’exclusion sociale.Dans cette logique, il est possible d’affirmer que, dans certains contextes, la violence a une fonction ontologique et politique. Pour explorer cette thèse, le texte parcourt, premièrement, les préoccupations de quelques philosophes intéressés dans la violence ; en deuxième terme et comme focalisation, il récupère quelques études contemporaines sur la violence dirigée à la population jeune au Mexique et en Amérique Latine, qui servent comme référence pour le débat de la politisation à partir d’éléments conceptuels développés par des penseurs contemporains.Mots Clé: Violence, Le politique, Politisation, Subjectivité, Victimes


Author(s):  
Samuel Weeks

Abstract This article brings together trends in Critical Discourse Analysis dating from the 1980s – which examine how language use and ideologies (re)produce social inequality – with current research in the social sciences on neoliberalism and other emerging politico-economic formations. The article addresses such a problematic with an empirical case: the language strategies, dubbed langue de bois, that people affiliated with Luxembourg’s offshore financial center employ to justify their practices. The contribution herein surveys the political rationality of the country’s financial center by analyzing the langue de bois that its representatives and boosters use. These language strategies, furthermore, enable Luxembourg’s finance elites to socialize the domestic public’s understanding of their activities.


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieran Bonner

In what way can social action be simultaneously inquired into and ethically evaluated by social theory? This paper explores the responsibility sociology has with regard to the political and ethical implications of its knowledge production and does so through a case study examination of the sociological concept of role. It compares and evaluates the different orientations that ground the concept of role and Arendt’s concept of action, which is then expanded to address the critique of the social sciences by theorists like Arendt and Foucault. The paper engages a particular tradition of reflexive sociology in the context of the danger of banal evil (Eichmann) and in the context of modern structures of domination that makes that danger more prevalent. Arguing that a theoretical non-empirical reflexivity is called for, and drawing on the phenomenological reflexivity of Berger and the constitutive reflexivity of Blum and McHugh, the paper seeks to demonstrate the need for a reflexive awareness of the actor’s responsibility for action and the theorist’s responsibility for formulating action that can make conceptual space for reasoned evaluation oriented by and to principle.


Author(s):  
Declan Long

Chapter one concentrates on the social and political developments pertinent to a study of post-Troubles art — asking what it means to talk in ‘post’ Troubles terms at all — and examines relevant contemporary art examples that offer distinctive, ambivalent perspectives on post-Troubles realities. Fundamental background details on the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement are combined with questions regarding the political and theoretical framing of this process of negotiation — keeping in mind the broader international contexts of a notional ‘post-Troubles’ situation. This widening of the frame (acknowledged globalisation as a factor in the peace process) is also vital in developing an adequate account of the art of this era, but diverse local outcomes of the Agreement are nonetheless acknowledged: from ongoing political problems caused by the ambiguities and inconsistencies of the Agreement itself, to material manifestations of ‘peace’ in architecture and the wider built environment of Belfast.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-98
Author(s):  
Davide Bizjak

Functional approaches and practices can be seen as loci of knowledge production and preservation. The present paper provides a comprehensive reflection on the former by discussing in detail the concept of discourse and discourse analysis applied to organisational contexts. Indeed, language and discourse are the principal means by which institutions and organisations create their own social reality. With the aim to clarifying how the social world is constructed and construed through actions of intersubjective meaning-making processes and to avoid the emphasis placed only on micro-linguistic elements, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was introduced to raise the attention on the macro-social aspects of discourse within organisations.


Author(s):  
Sonia Tinshe ◽  
Junaidi Junaidi

Immigration has been a crucial discussion in the American politics ever since the nation was still writing its constitution. Seeing how immigrants have shaped the American society, it is important to see how they are perceived, as minorities, by significant political figures, such as the president. The objective of this paper is to understand the ideology behind Obama and Trump’s political speeches about immigration, as well as its relevance to the political discourse and social context in America. Five political speeches from Obama (2009-2014), as well as two political speeches from Trump (2016-2017) are analyzed, as the primary data, using Critical Discourse Analysis, particularly Fairclough’s (1993) three-dimensional framework. The finding shows that Obama’s and Trump’s ideology on immigration is related with their idea of the immigrant’s identity in American society. It is shown through their word choice, such as pejorative adjective, and the theme related with the issue of immigration. Seen from the political discourse, the speeches are showing perceived superiority that the presidents have over immigrants. Moreover, from the social perspective, it dehumanizes and reduces the identity of immigrants.


Author(s):  
Sonia Tinshe ◽  
Junaidi Junaidi

Immigration has been a crucial discussion in the American politics ever since the nation was still writing its constitution. Seeing how immigrants have shaped the American society, it is important to see how they are perceived, as minorities, by significant political figures, such as the president. The objective of this paper is to understand the ideology behind Obama and Trump’s political speeches about immigration, as well as its relevance to the political discourse and social context in America. Five political speeches from Obama (2009-2014), as well as two political speeches from Trump (2016-2017) are analyzed, as the primary data, using Critical Discourse Analysis, particularly Fairclough’s (1993) three-dimensional framework. The finding shows that Obama’s and Trump’s ideology on immigration is related with their idea of the immigrant’s identity in American society. It is shown through their word choice, such as pejorative adjective, and the theme related with the issue of immigration. Seen from the political discourse, the speeches are showing perceived superiority that the presidents have over immigrants. Moreover, from the social perspective, it dehumanizes and reduces the identity of immigrants.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-61
Author(s):  
Éric Dagiral ◽  
Ashveen Peerbaye

This paper provides an ethnographical study of the ways in which infrastructure matters in the production of knowledge in the social worlds of rare diseases. We analyse the role played by a relational database in this respect, which exists at the crossroads of a large and complex network of individuals, institutions, and practices. This database forms part of a “boundary infrastructure”, in which knowledge production constitutes one output of infrastructural work, that needs to be articulated with other kinds of activities and matters of concern. We analyse how members of the network negotiate the place and forms of knowledge production in relation to these other purposes, and highlight the political nature of the distinction between knowledge and information, which frames collective action. We also show how infrastructural inversion serves to articulate knowledge production with other forms of mobilisation, thereby shaping and reconfiguring the boundary infrastructure as a whole.Keywords: knowledge infrastructures, boundary infrastructures, relational databases, rare diseases 


Jurnal KATA ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 384
Author(s):  
Gagar Asmara Sofa

<p><em>van Dijk (2009) stated that we need to understand the whole context before understanding a discourse. First context is the internal aspects, which is based on what the speaker said or what was written in the text - from diction and sentence study, to the paragraph's continuity, in creating context of the discourse. Second, based on its social context, which perceived the social situations as part of the discourse. Understanding of the first political speech of the elected governor of DKI Jakarta 2017, Anies Baswedan, is one of the incomprehensive practice of discourse. In addition to causing an incomprehensive understanding, the speech also reaps a controversy driven by mass media toward Anies Baswedan for the misleading meaning of the word 'pribumi'. Therefore, the researcher would like to understand Anies Baswedan political speech using van Dijk critical discourse analysis. The frame and analytical units used in this speech will be based on analysis on the social, social-politics, and social-culture contexts. The analysis result shows that the polarized social situation post-election created a social identity among community, proponent of Anies-Sandi and the political opponent, Ahok-Djarot. Moreover, we can infer that Anies Baswedan is a prominent orator, has the faith to harmony in politics, has affiliation motives, and proper knowledge about the history and culture of Jakarta and its people</em></p><p><em><br /></em></p><p><em>Van Dijk (2009) menyatakan bahwa untuk memahami sebuah praktik wacana perlu dilihat konteks secara keseluruhan. Pertama, dilihat dari konteks internal berupa tuturan penutur wacana atau dari apa yang tertulis di dalam sebuah teks—termasuk studi kata, kalimat, hingga kesinambungan paragraf yang saling mendukung dalam pembentukan konteks suatu wacana. Kedua, konteks sosialnya</em><em> yang </em><em>menganggap bahwa situasi sosial adalah bagian dari pewacanaan. Pemahaman terhadap pidato politik pertama Gubernur terpilih DKI Jakarta 2017, Anies Baswedan, merupakan salah satu praktik wacana yang tidak menyeluruh. Selain menyebabkan pemahaman yang tidak komprehensif, pidato tersebut juga menuai banyak kontroversi. Hal itu disebabkan adanya penyempitan makna oleh media massa terkait kata ‘pribumi’ yang terdapat pada pidato Anies Baswedan. Oleh karenanya, peneliti terpicu untuk memahami pidato politik Anies Baswedan dengan menggunakan analisis wacana kritis van Dijk. Kerangka dan unit-unit analisis yang digunakan adalah analisis praktik wacana dalam konteks sosial, sosial-politik, dan sosial-budaya. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa situasi sosial yang masih terpolarisasi pascapemilukada, membentuk identitas sosial masyarakat, yaitu pendukung Anies-Sandi dan pendukung lawan politiknya, Ahok-Djarot. Selain itu, dapat diketahui bahwa Anies Baswedan memiliki keterampilan sebagai orator, memiliki keyakinan terhadap pentingnya harmoni dalam politik, memiliki motif afiliasi, serta memiliki pengetahuan sejarah dan budaya yang cukup mengenai masyarakat dan kota Jakarta. </em></p><p><em><br /></em></p>


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