Four ‘Ordinary’ Deaths

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kausar S. Khan
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Early Research ◽  
Available P ◽  
First Person ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Loss And Grief ◽  
Emotional Landscape

This chapter by Kausar S. Khan draws continuities between her early research in unplanned settlements (katchi abadis) in Orangi, her activism in the Karachi’s Women’s Action Forum, and her academic research into the effects of structural, gendered and political violence on women and marginalized communities. She offers a moving account of the deaths of four friends in 2013. Khan writes using the first person, forcing the reader into an intimate, uncomfortable relation with the text, and the emotional landscape she engages. This compelling auto-ethnographic piece highlights the contradiction in experiences of loss and grief which are deeply unfathomable, compared with the need to crystallize their articulation in activist agendas. Thereby it comprises a view into violence’s lasting effects, ways research and activism co-constitute spaces of mourning, and the basis of a hardening desire to oppose violence by the means available.

Being at the Centre

2020 ◽  
pp. 66-71
Author(s):  
Jonardon Ganeri
Keyword(s):  
Phenomenal Property ◽  
Available P ◽  
First Person ◽  
Conceptual Distinction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

We can begin to unravel the enigma of heteronymy if we note that a rather similar puzzle arises in the context of dreaming. I may certainly figure within my own dream, and there is therefore a conceptual distinction between the dreaming subject and the subject-within-a-dream. But is it possible for me to have a dream such that, within the dream, I am a subject other than the subject I am? The puzzle is to know what makes it the case that in the dream I am X and not JG: on what grounds should we answer the question ‘Which one is me?’ J. J. Valberg’s proposal is to call attention to what he calls a ‘positional use’ of the first person, distinct from its mundane use as an indexical, and a corresponding positional conception of self. Using ‘I’ positionally, I am the one to whom all this is presented, the one to whom every phenomenal property is directed, or, as Valberg puts it, the one who is ‘at the centre’ of the manifold of presentation which he calls the experiential horizon. The positional conception of self is one which Pessoa quite explicitly puts at the heart of his philosophy. With the positional conception of self to hand, a solution to the enigma of heteronymy is available.

The Emotional Landscape of Abelard ’s Planctus David super Saul et Ionatha

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol J. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Original Music ◽  
First Person ◽  
Personal Reflection ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Emotional Landscape

In Abelard’s Letter 16 addressed to ‘Héloise, sister to be revered in Christ and loved’, he refers to a set of six planctus or laments written in the voices of a number of Old Testament characters The last of these, Planctus 6, in which David laments for Saul and Jonathan, is probably the most famous and is the only one for which a reliable, original music setting survives. The laments are all in the first person and provide a deeply personal reflection on the tragic events which inspired them; they are virtuosic in language and almost shockingly intense in emotional range. This study examines Planctus 6 considering the link between Abelard’s language and the expression of specific emotions and, wherever possible, examines how music serves to intensify that expression.

Unraveling the Neocolonial Epistemologies: Decolonizing Research Toward Transformative Literacy

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bekisizwe S Ndimande
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Historical Awareness ◽  
Decolonizing Research

For many years, research epistemologies and methodologies have been influenced by colonial perspectives in knowledge production. The focus of this article is to discuss ways in which research can be transformed for the purpose of including marginalized communities, such as Indigenous communities, whose knowledge has been systematically excluded in academic research. In fact, I argue that whether or not research is conducted in the contexts of Indigenous or other marginalized communities, it must embody the elements of decolonization to interrupt and interrogate the long-standing colonial discourse in research. I specifically focus on the importance of language as well as the sociocultural and historical awareness of communities who allow us to work with them. I conclude by urging all scholars to ask serious questions about the knowledge they produce and who benefits from it.

If You Cannot Beat Them, Why Not Have Them Join Up?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Hall
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Canadian Armed Forces ◽  
Emotional Appeal ◽  
Military Members ◽  
Mainstream Society ◽  
The Military

This paper explores the plausibility of a rather novel solution to the problem of domestic terrorist threats: might the risk posed by individuals from communities that are thought to be prone to acts of political violence and terrorism be mitigated by recruiting to the military members of communities that public and political discourse has deemed a fifth pillar? The military presents a stable, well-paying career to individuals marginalized by their ethno-religious identity that have to this point been grossly under-represented in the Canadian Armed Forces. It can also bring members of these communities into a closer relationship with the state and mainstream society that will foster allegiance, combat alienation, and stifle the desire to commit violence against Canada and its citizens. Two implications follow for the Canadian Armed Forces from the explanation of the Toronto 18 as a non-peaceful node of an identity-based network. One is that the institution should be cautious not to fall into the trap of a populist vernacular reification of identity that might inadvertently further the community’s collective alienation by overtly appealing to “Arabs” or “Muslims”. The other is that the military may do well to focus on the equality of treatment within their institution rather than material benefits when attempting to extend an olive branch to Canada’s marginalized communities, instead making an emotional appeal based on the common good.

The Question of Ireland: Reflections on Five Books

1984 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Arthur
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Class Conflict ◽  
The Political ◽  
Security Community ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Vast Literature ◽  
Irish Republic ◽  
General Work

POLITICAL VIOLENCE CREATES ITS OWN MOMENTUM NOT ONLY in the wider security community but also in that refuge for the voyeur, academic research. Before 1968 a mere handful of books looked at the Ulster problem. Since then more than two hundred books and several thousand articles have appreared. But to what avail? In a survey of this vast literature Professor John Whyte concludes that there has been a disproportion between the enormous effort expended and the exiguous results achieved. The purist might maintain that it is not the task of scholars to indulge in political engineering: to those of us who live in the benighted province any port in a storm will do. The merit of these five books is that, wittingly or not, they create some optimism simply because they shift our gaze from the depressing reality of Belfast and examine the problem in a wider context. Of course, that might not be their purpose. Bad Chubb set out with the modest task of explaining the political process of the Irish Republic for the benefit of his own students who had lacked an up-todate general work. Bew and Patterson took as their starting point ‘the irrepressible reality of the class conflict generated by the capitalist structure of the Irish economy’ (p. 187).

“We Were Not at School Today”: First-Person Pronouns and Discursive Construction of Identities by Emerging Middle-Class Chinese Parents

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-306
Author(s):  
Yanmei Han ◽  
Jianping Chen
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
First Person ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Chinese Parents ◽  
Young Parent ◽  
Involved Parents

Abstract In the process of China’s dynamic social changes over the past decades, the young-parent identity construction of an emerging middle class and the resulting changes of social-cultural values in this context have attracted the attention of academic research in recent years. With the focus on the discursive construction of parent identity, this study examines the utilization of first-person pronouns in three different interactional contexts, namely, parent-teacher interaction, parent-parent interaction, and parent-child interaction. The study further explores the patterns of alignment between the parents and their children, parents and teachers of their children, and peer parents during the process of identity construction, followed by a discussion of the implication that young, emerging middle-class Chinese parents fundamentally shape themselves as “concerned” and “involved” parents and the change of values between collectivity and agency. The study not only demonstrates the dynamic and pluralistic nature of parent identity but also deepens our understanding of the indexical roles of first-person pronouns in the discursive construction of emerging middle-class Chinese parent identity and its relationship with the recent social-cultural changes in the Chinese context.

Climate Change and Insecurity: Mapping Vulnerability in Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 132-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua W. Busby ◽  
Todd G. Smith ◽  
Kaiba L. White ◽  
Shawn M. Strange
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Risk Of Death ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Mapping Vulnerability

Many experts argue that climate change will exacerbate the severity and number of extreme weather events. Such climate-related hazards will be important security concerns and sources of vulnerability in the future regardless of whether they contribute to conflict. This will be particularly true where these hazards put large numbers of people at risk of death, requiring the diversion of either domestic or foreign military assets to provide humanitarian relief. Vulnerability to extreme weather, however, is only partially a function of physical exposure. Poor, marginalized communities that lack access to infrastructure and services, that have minimal education and poor health care, and that exist in countries with poor governance are likely to be among the most vulnerable. Given its dependence on rainfed agriculture and its low adaptive capacity, Africa is thought to be among the most vulnerable continents to climate change. That vulnerability, however, is not uniformly distributed. Indicators of vulnerability within Africa include the historic incidence of climate-related hazards, population density, household and community resilience, and governance and political violence. Among the places in Africa most vulnerable to the security consequences of climate change are parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and South Sudan.

Ethical and Practical Reflections of Resident Anthropologists in Conflict Zones: Experiences from the Tokwe Mukosi Dam Project and Displacement at Chingwizi, Zimbabwe

2021 ◽  
pp. 0972558X2199473
Author(s):  
Lloyd Nhodo ◽  
Vivian B. Ojong ◽  
Donald Chikoto
Keyword(s):  
Protected Area ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Other ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Protracted Conflict ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
The One

This article is derived from the methodological experiences from a 1-year ethnographic study carried out at Chingwizi among the Tokwe Mukosi displaced persons in Zimbabwe. This followed the unexpected and ultimately contentious disarticulation of over 6,000 Chivi and Mushawasha families from their ancestral land, sources of livelihoods, and social well-being. This study was therefore carried out in the context of a volatile and unpalatable relationship between the state and its functionaries, on the one hand, and the Tokwe Mukosi residents, on the other hand. The protracted conflict between the said actors has unintentionally made the Chingwizi area a very sensitive and protected area in terms of academic research. In this article, we therefore reflect on the ethical and practical dilemmas in studying the marginalized and often traumatized ‘victims’ of this dam project and the subsequent displacement, albeit from an insider’s perspective. Central to our discussions are issues such as the politics of signing forms, gaining entry, informed consent suspicion, and balancing the insider–outsider dilemma in research. The article moves on to look at the practical solutions to the said ethical and practical impediments in studying the marginalized communities in conflict situations. We therefore place emphasis on the significance of reflexivity, identity, and the politics of belonging, which was engrained in the wematongo concept. In addition to a number of strategies used under reflexive ethnography is the significance of social capital.

Anthropological Activism and Visual Ethnography

Anthropology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan S. Marion ◽  
James Scanlan
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Visual Ethnography ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Ethnographic Film ◽  
Resistance Movements ◽  
Indigenous Media ◽  
Visual Technology ◽  
General Movement ◽  
Community Improvement ◽  
Almost All

Since the development of mechanical visual technologies—such as still and moving photography—some producers and scholars have seen the potential of using these technologies as tools for social improvement and change. Photographers and journalists were the first to wed social justice to visual imagery, as well as early film pioneers like theorist and documentary innovator Dziga Vertov. Anthropologists and ethnographers also saw the benefit adopting visual technology for research early on, but many of the products of this early era were exploitative, stereotypical, and theoretically simplistic. Notable exceptions to this trend included Margaret Mead’s photographic and film work in Bali and beyond and Jean Rouch’s reflexive experimental films which both resulted in sensitive and influential work. The general tide began to change as the technology became more democratic and as wider theoretical discourse began to consider the various impacts of creation, representation, and dissemination. During the 1980s and into the 1990s there was a serious crisis within ethnographic film and the social sciences more widely concerning representations of the Other in Western media. This coincided with video cameras and videotape becoming more widely available commercially, leading to an explosion of visual projects including many that were Collaborative, Participatory, or otherwise aimed at improving the lives of the community or group being studied. The emphasis on collaboration and equal participation of those being studied continues today, and this article describes key threads of current research that continue to explore the intersections of activism and visual ethnography. Almost all regions of the globe have begun to see the establishment of video projects and other visual research with indigenous and other marginalized communities, including a general movement to decolonize museums and visual representations of indigeneity. There has been a growing awareness during this time that the products of indigenous filmmaking could not be thought of solely as products of academic research, but rather as resulting from indigenous perspectives within the context of academic research. This has given rise to major discourses questioning not only the received traditions of production and presentation of indigenous media, but the place of indigenous media within academia and within the international film world more broadly. More recent projects—including work in and with photography, video, multimedia, and museums—have continued to develop collaborative and participatory methods linking the evocative potential of visual ethnography to activist sensibilities including resistance movements, undermining traditional narratives, and community improvement.

scholarly journals Una aproximación a la historiografía sobre el Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, 1961-1979”/ “An Approach to Historiography of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, 1961-1979

2017 ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
José Manuel Ágreda Portero
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Main Topic ◽  
Violencia Politica

This article is an approach to contents, value and political and epistemological aspects of the sources and bibliography concerning the Nicaragua Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional. Choosing the guerrilla period (1961-1979) as main topic, we shall focus both on the academic research and the books of personal recollections, witnesses and institutions. Through this classification we examine the chronological evolution of the publications, the authors’ positioning, and the specific topics with which they deal.Key WordsFrente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, political violence, revolutionary guerrilla, witness.ResumenEl presente artículo es una aproximación a los contenidos, y las coordenadas políticas y epistemológicas de la bibliografía relativa al Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional en Nicaragua. Seleccionando el período de guerrilla (1961-1979), nos hemos centrado tanto en las investigaciones académicas como en los libros de memorias personales, de testimonios y de carácter institucional. A través de esta clasificación hemos examinado la evolución cronológica de las publicaciones, los posicionamientos de los autores y los temas específicos de que tratanPalabras claveFrente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, violencia política, guerrilla revolucionaria, testimonio.

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