When Love and Violence Meet: Women's Agency and Transformative Politics in Rubaiyat Hossain's Meherjaan

Hypatia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 760-777
Author(s):  
Elora Halim Chowdhury
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Feminist Art ◽  
Rape Survivors ◽  
Unresolved Question ◽  
Feminist Theories ◽  
Transformative Politics ◽  
Political Message ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

In official and unofficial histories, and in cultural memorializations of the 1971 war for Bangladeshi independence, the treatment of women's experiences—more specifically the unresolved question of acknowledgment of and accountability to birangonas, “war heroines” (or rape survivors)—has met with stunning silence or erasure, on the one hand, or with narratives of abject victimhood, on the other. By contrast, the film Meherjaan (2011) revolves around the stories of four women during and after the war, and most centrally the relationship between a Bengali woman and a Pakistani soldier. In this article, I investigate the anxieties underlying the responses to Meherjaan, particularly in association with themes of trauma—its absence or omnipresence—to nonnormative gender frames of national sexuality, and the notion of loving the Other. Drawing from feminist theories of vulnerability, ethics, and love, I want to explore these themes at two levels: the political message the film transmits, and its aesthetic choices and affects. Finally, I want to comment on the potential of this film, as feminist art, in furthering a dialogue around healing and ethical memorialization in relation to 1971 in Bangladesh.

A Constitution for a Nonstate

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-58
Author(s):  
Emilio Dabed
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Constitutional Order ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Constitutional Regime ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Law Making

This article sheds new light on the political history of legal-constitutional developments in Palestine in the fourteen years following the Oslo Accord. It examines the relationship between the unfolding social, political, and economic context in which they arose, on the one hand, and PA law-making and legal praxis, on the other. Focusing on the evolution of the Palestinian Basic Law and constitutional regime, the author argues that the “Palestinian constitutional process” was a major “battlefield” for the actors of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Thus, changes in the actors' political strategies at various junctures were mirrored in legal-constitutional forms, specifically in the political structure of the PA. In that sense, the constitutional order can be understood as a sort of “metaphoric representation” of Palestinian politics, reflecting, among other things, the colonial nature of the Palestinian context that the Oslo process only rearticulated. This perspective is also essential for understanding the evolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict after Oslo.

Peru: the Political Economy of an Intermediate Regime

1976 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. V. K. Fitzgerald
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Foreign Capital ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Intermediate Regime ◽  
Domestic Capital ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Made In

Any attempt to define the changes in the Peruvian political economy that have taken place since 1968 1 must be made in terms of the relationship between the state and domestic capital on the one hand and foreign capital on the other, and must offer an explanation of the way in which this military- controlled state has tended to replace the former and establish a new relationship with the latter. In particular, the confrontation between the government and foreign capital, and the significance of internal ownership reforms cannot be understood without reference to the development of Peruvian capitalism before 1968.

Port Harcourt: Ibo Politics in Microcosm

1969 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Wolpe
Keyword(s):  
Political Change ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Political Experience ◽  
Port Harcourt ◽  
Post War ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

To the political scientist concerned with the relationship between social and economic modernisation, on the one hand, and political change and integration, on the other, the Ibo experience has long held particular interest. In his pioneering study of Nigerian nationalism, James Coleman observed that Ibos had played a singular role in the post-war political era: ‘Ibos overwhelmingly predominated in both the leadership and the mass membership of the N.C.N.C., the Zikist Movement, and the National Church. Postwar radical and militant nationalism, which emphasized the national unity of Nigeria as a transcendent imperative, was largely, but not exclusively, an Ibo endeavor’1 But radical and militant pan-Nigerian nationalism was only one part of the Ibo political posture. No less noteworthy was the parallel development of a highly cohesive and organisationally sophisticated pan-Ibo movement, the very success of which ultimately undermined the pan- Nigerian aspirations of the Ibo-led N.C.N.C. and, subsequently, was one of several factors operating to impair the national legitimacy of an Ibo-led military régime. It is this paradoxical blending of ‘civic’ and ‘primordial’ sentiments which, perhaps, best defines the modern Ibo political experience2.

scholarly journals POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASPECT OF ADMINISTRATIVE-TERRITORIAL REFORMS OF THE 1930TH ‒ THE 1950TH IN MODERN RUSSIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Белоногов Юрий ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Personal Power ◽  
Soviet History ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
Regional Leaders ◽  
Regional Authorities ◽  
The Relationship

The article considers historiographic assessments of the administrative-territorial transformations of the Stalinist period of Soviet history through the prism of relations "Center - Regions." For the supreme government in the period under study, the obvious dilemma was the choice between the economic efficiency of the spatial development of enlarged and self-sufficient regions, on the one hand, and the increase in the political manageability of the Center for regional development, on the other hand. The policy of disengaging the regions and giving the former dis-trict centers the status of regional capitals was connected with the need of the Cen-ter to monitor the processes of industrialization and collectivization, bring man-agement closer to production, as well as weaken the influence of regional leaders to strengthen the regime of personal power of I.V. Stalin. Subsequently, the political struggle for power in the 1950s. contributed to a gradual and irreversible review of the relationship between the central and regional authorities: for political reasons, the Center abandoned the administrative-territorial transformations of the regions.

scholarly journals Intertextuality of Political Discourse in Germany (on the Example of “Political Ash Wedfnesday”)

2020 ◽  
pp. 76-90
Author(s):  
Maria A. Elizarieva ◽  
Marina A. Chigasheva ◽  
Boris Blahak ◽  
Maria Yu. Mikhina
Keyword(s):  
Literary Work ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Television Commercial ◽  
The Third ◽  
Christian Social Union ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

The article is devoted to the role of intertext in public speeches of politicians of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria within the framework of the “political ash Wednesday”. On the example of the speeches of M. Söder, A. Scheuer and M. Blume in 2018, the relationship between the type of intertext and its pretext, on the one hand, and the speaker’s intention, on the other, was analyzed. As a result of the analysis of 23 intertextual inclusions, four intentions were revealed, among which (48 %) criticism of political opponents (SDPG, “The Greens”, AfD, “Free Voters”) prevails. Quotes from representatives of these parties, political slogans, a paraphrase of the name of the eco-movement and a quote from an artist are used to express it. As the intertextual analysis showed, to verbalize the second intention (appeal to authoritative opinion and emphasize the continuity of the party course), the former chairman of the CSU F. J. Strauss is cited, while the third intention (opposing Bavaria to the rest of Germany) is implemented using a quote from the Bavarian anthem, a paraphrase of a television commercial and quotations from a literary work. In addition, the authors found that the fourth intention (emphasizing the dialogic nature of communication with ordinary people) is found only in M. Söder’s speech in the form of a retelling of his dialogues with ordinary citizens.

scholarly journals The relationship between the members of parliament and political parties

2011 ◽  
pp. 259-268
Author(s):  
Svetozar Ciplic
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Free Term ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Voting System ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Member Of Parliament

In this paper an attempt has been made to present one of the most prominent contradictions of the contemporary parliamentarianism in states which have a proportional voting system. This contradiction stems from the three-fold relationship between: a voter, a member of parliament (MP) and a political party from whose electoral list the MP is elected. On the one hand, a person does not have the possibility to be elected in the parliament if acting independently, outside the political party and its party mechanisms and logistical capacities. On the other hand, after being appointed the parliamentary term as a result of the party's will, the person attains the freedom, through their free term of office, to distance themselves from their political party, and even to leave it and join another political option. The paper also shows that this phenomenon significantly affects and deforms the principle of citizens' sovereignty, given that it is the political parties which have the major impact on the voters' sovereign will expressed at the elections. .

The marginalization of the Arab language in social science: Structural constraints and dependency by choice

2014 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 723-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sari Hanafi ◽  
Rigas Arvanitis
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

This article aims at questioning the relationship between Arab social research and language by arguing that many factors including the political economy of publication, globalization, internationalization and commodification of higher education have marginalized peripheral languages such as Arabic. The authors demonstrate, on the one hand, that this marginalization is not necessarily structurally inevitable but indicates dependency by choice, and, on the other hand, how globalization has reinforced the English language hegemony. This article uses the results of a questionnaire survey about the use of references in PhD and Master’s theses. The survey, which was answered by 165 persons, targeted those who hold a Master’s or PhD degree from any university in the Arab world or who have dealt with a topic related to the Arab world, no matter in which discipline.

Spatial Contingencies in Thucydides' History

2007 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-218
Author(s):  
Karen Bassi
Keyword(s):  
Comprehensive Approach ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

Abstract This paper argues that spatial contingencies, defined by the relationship between where historical actors are in the narrative and what they say, are crucial for understanding the political and ideological effects of Thucydides' History. A comprehensive approach to these contingencies is linked to two related premises. First, that the city of Athens is the principal spatial referent in the History and, second, that Athens refers both to a set of ““real”” topographical features and to a transcendent and trans-historical ideal that exceeds those features. The dynamic between these two is mediated by Athens' inevitable defeat and by the related conflict between the History as the presentation of facts about the past, on the one hand, and as the source of future predictions, on the other. Framing this analysis are the distinctive characteristics ascribed to the Athenians as a collective and to the positions of Thucydides and Alcibiades as Athenians in exile.

scholarly journals Buddy Schemes between Refugees and Volunteers in Germany: Transformative Potential in an Unequal Relationship?

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inka Stock
Keyword(s):  
Age Differences ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
The Other ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
Feminist Theories ◽  
Gender And Age Differences ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

Since 2016, many German citizens have participated in so-called ‘buddy schemes’ in which volunteers provide personalised support to refugees to help them build their new lives in Germany. These relationships are characterised by ethnic, gender, and age differences between the two parties. This article looks at buddy schemes from the perspective of both volunteers and refugees and investigates whether their relationships open up spaces for transformative citizenship practices, or rather reinforce exclusionary discourses. Drawing on feminist theories of care, the article describes how volunteers and refugees attach meaning to their activities and roles in the relationship. On the one hand, values attached to caring relationships, such as emotional closeness, trust, and respect, contribute to migrants’ heightened sense of self-esteem and autonomy and foster volunteers’ sense of responsibility for fighting against inequality. On the other hand, both parties enter into particular logics of care that potentially reinforce power hierarchies between them. These ambiguous dynamics influence the possibility of transformative citizenship practices on both sides. While some volunteers and refugees develop and take a critical stance on restrictive migration policies in their relationships with others, others reinforce their exclusionist viewpoints on who deserves to be helped and by whom.

Introduction

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Kamen
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Thick Description ◽  
Naturalized Citizens ◽  
Military Life ◽  
The One ◽  
Full Citizen ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, namely to provide a thick description of Athenian status, ultimately broaching larger questions about the relationship between Athenian citizenship and civic ideology. “Civic ideology” here refers to the conception that all Athenian citizens—and only Athenian citizens—were autochthonous (that is, descended from ancestors “born from the earth” of Attica) and engaged in the political and military life of the city. This survey of statuses will demonstrate, among other things, that Athenian democracy was both more closed and more open than civic ideology might lead us to think: on the one hand, only some citizen males exercised full citizen rights; on the other, even noncitizens and naturalized citizens were, to varying degrees, partial shareholders in the Athenian polis.

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