Horrors of the Great Banal

2021 ◽  
pp. 147821032110314
Author(s):  
Emma Minke McMain ◽  
Brandon Edwards-Schuth

The iPhone 62 has just been released. Political gridlock and the governmentally approved process of locking immigrant children in cages continue ad infinitum. Public schools resort to primarily remote learning as pandemic viruses ebb and flow. University students study post-postmodernism on campuses that remain on stolen Indigenous land. In this year of 2071, where humans remain desperately attached to “normalcy,” suffering continues beneath the fear that transformation would surely be devastating. Unknowns horrify privileged communities, eased only by the comfortability of a level of “bad” with which they are at least familiar. The world has settled into the Great Banal, an age of blind faith that tomorrow’s problems can be answered with solutions of yester-today. Written as an “e-seance” Zoom conversation among “ghost-scholars of the future,” we explore the horrors of a future in which the “normalities” of 2021 all persist. This is not a dystopian nightmare in which climate disasters wreak unparalleled havoc on vulnerable communities and new fascist regimes sink their claws into education, nor is it a utopic imagining of a society that has made great bounds toward social-ecological justice. In this seemingly absurd imaginary of no substantial change at all, we draw from (eco)critical, Indigenous, and feminist frameworks to ask: What might education look like in a world that has adamantly resisted radical transformation for fear of the worst, in exchange for all hopes of the best?

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
pp. 74-87
Author(s):  
Irina N. Sidorenko

 The author analyzes the conceptions of ontological nihilism in the works of S. Kierkegaard, F. Nietzsche, M. Heidegger, E. Jünger. On the basis of this analysis, violence is defined as a manifestation of nihilism, of the “will to nothingness” and hypertrophy of the self-will of man. The article demonstrates the importance of the problem of nihilism. The nihilistic thinking of modern man is expressed in the attitude toward a radical transformation of the world from the position of his “absolute” righteousness. The paradox of the current situation is that there is the reverse side of this transformative activity, when there is only the appearance of action and the dilution of responsibility. Confidence in the rightness of own views and beliefs increases the risk of the violent imposition of own vision of reality. Historical and philosophical reconstruction of the conceptions of nihilism allowed to reveal the following projects of its comprehension and resolution: (1) the project of “positing of values,” which consists in the transformation of the evaluation, which is understood as another perspective of positing values, leading to the affirmation of being; (2) the project of overcoming nihilism from the space of temporality, carried out through the resoluteness to accept the historicity of own existence; (3) the project of overcoming nihilism as the oblivion of being from the spatial perspective of the “line,” allowing to realize the “glimpse” of being. The author concludes that it is impossible to solve the problem of violence and its various forms of its manifestation without overcoming “ontological nihilism.” Significant role in solving the problem of ontological violence is assigned to philosophy as a critical and responsible form of thinking, which is capable to help a person to bear the burden of the world, to provide meanings and affirm being, as well as to unite people and resist the fundamentalist claims of exclusivity and rightness.


Author(s):  
Gianfranco Pacchioni

About 10,000 years ago, at the beginning of the agriculturalrevolution, on the whole earth lived between 5 and 8 million hunter-gatherers, all belonging to the Homo sapiens species. Five thousand years later, freed from the primary needs for survival, some belonging to that species enjoyed the privilege of devoting themselves to philosophical speculation and the search for transcendental truths. It was only in the past two hundred years, however, with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, that reaping nature’s secrets and answering fundamental questions posed by the Universe have become for many full-time activities, on the way to becoming a real profession. Today the number of scientists across the globe has reached and exceeded 10 million, that is, more than the whole human race 10,000 years ago. If growth continues at the current rate, in 2050 we will have 35 million people committed full-time to scientific research. With what consequences, it remains to be understood. For almost forty years I myself have been concerned with science in a continuing, direct, and passionate way. Today I perceive, along with many colleagues, especially of my generation, that things are evolving and have changed deeply, in ways unimaginable until a few years ago and, in some respects, not without danger. What has happened in the world of science in recent decades is more than likely a mirror of a similar and equally radical transformation taking place in modern society, particularly with the advent ...


Author(s):  
Mary Rangel

Na perspectiva da Psicologia Social (no enfoque, moscoviciano, da representação), foram investigados conceitos e imagens do cotidiano popidar na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, conforme se apresentam em cartilhas adotadas em escolas públicas. Procurou-se, então, notar a possível influência da literatura citico-social da alfabetização (acentuada desde o final dos anos 70) que, entre outras questões, discute a dissociação entre conhecimento (escolar) e realidade, enfatizando o princípio de aprendizagens significativas e contextualizadas. Nas análises, confrontaram-se as representações com "indicadores sociais" do cotidiano, levantados em estudos sociológicos. Os resultados demonstraram a predominância de conceitos e imagens de situações que, não só se distanciam, como invertem as que se apresentam nos "indicadores ". Desse modo, permanece a constatação de que o mundo das crianças não encontra significado no mundo das cartilhas. Abstract In the perspective of Social Psychology (in the Moscovite focal point of the representation), concepts and images of the popular quotidian in Rio de Janeiro city have been investigated, as they present themselves in the spelling books adopted in public schools. One endeavoured, then, to note the possible influence of the critical-social literature of the first year of schooling (accentuated since the end of the 70s), which, among other matters, discusses the dissociation between knowledge (scholar) and reality, enphasizing the principle of significative and contextualized apprendticeships. In the analysis, the representations confront themselves with "social indicators" of the quotidian, raised up in sociologie studies. The results demonstrated the predominance of concepts and images of situations which not only keep away from, as well as invert the ones which present themselves in the "indicators ". Thus, endures the evidence that the world of the children does not find significance in the world of the spelling books. Résumé Sous la perspective de la Psychologie Sociale, d 'après Moscovici (1978), ont été analises concepts et images du quotidien populaire dans la ville de Rio de Janeiro, selon ils se présentent dans les abécédaires adoptés dans les écoles publiques. Nous avons cherché, alors, observer la possible influence de la littérature critique-sociale (accentuée dès le final des années 70) sur l'alphabétisation. Cette littérature, parmi d 'autres questions, discute la dissociation entre savoir (scolaire) et réalité, en emphatisant le principe des apprentissages significatifs et contextualisés. Dans les analyses se confrontent les représentations avec les "indicateurs " sociaux du quotidien, relevés dans les études sociologiques. Les résultats ont démontré la prédominance des concepts et des images de situations que, non seulement s'éloignent comme inversent celles qui se présentent dans les "indicateurs". Ainsi, il nous reste la constatation que le monde des enfants ne recontre pas de signification dans le motide des abécédaires. Resumen En la perspectiva de la Psicoligia Social (en el enfoque moscoviciano de la representación), se investigaron conceptos y imágenes de lo cotidiano popular en la ciudad de Rio de Janeiro, según se presentan en cartillas adoptadas en escuelas públicas. Se procuró observar la posible influencia de la literatura crítico-social de la alfabetización, incrementada desde finales de los años setenta, que, entre otros temas, discute la disociación entre conocimiento (escolar) y realidad, enfatizando el principio de aprendizajes significativos y contextuados. En los análisis se confrontali las representaciones con "indicadores sociales" de lo cotidiano, obtenidos en estudios sociológicos. Los resultados han demostrado la predominancia de conceptos e imágenes de situaciones que no sólo se alejan, sino que invierten las presentadas en los "indicadores ". De esta manera, permanece la constatación de que el mundo de los niños no encuentra sifnificado en el mundo de las cartillas.


2021 ◽  
pp. 181-196
Author(s):  
Mehdi Ghazinour and ◽  
Arian Rostami

Research shows that police work is one of the most stressful professions in the world, and police officers typically suffer a variety of physiological, psychological, and behavioral effects and symptoms. Thus, constant exposure to stressful situations requires resilient police officers. Legislation, social support, organizational factors, and individual resources all play different roles in maintaining resilience among police officers. The aim of this chapter is to contribute to a multisystemic ecological theory of police resilience. By applying this analytical approach, the authors illustrate how systems on different levels interact with each other reciprocally. They conclude that resilience is necessary for officers to have the capacity to act authoritatively in uncertain situations. The use of multisystemic social-ecological theory provides a deeper understanding of the processes that contribute to positive development in professionally stressful contexts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron C. Sparks

Scientific warnings about climate change continue as climate disasters strike all around the world. There is increasing public support for climate mitigation policies, and major mass protests shed light on the issue. How does climate change impact increase climate activism? I build on a conventional understanding of activism by adding the insight of construal level theory. When climate change is experienced more directly, people are more likely to act because they care more and can link concern to specific actions. Among a sample of Californians (MTurk; n = 604) as climate was perceived as more proximate, respondents were more likely to take action. A survey-experiment conducted using a US sample (MTurk; n = 609) demonstrated that as issues become more psychologically proximate, respondents were more likely to take political action. These results suggest that organizers can activate proximity to mobilize supporters.


Author(s):  
N. Gegelashvili ◽  
◽  
I. Modnikova ◽  

The article analyzes the US policy towards Ukraine dating back from the time before the reunification of Crimea with Russia and up to Donald Trump coming to power. The spectrum of Washington’s interests towards this country being of particular strategic interest to the United States are disclosed. It should be noted that since the disintegration of the Soviet Union Washington’s interest in this country on the whole has not been very much different from its stand on all post-Soviet states whose significance was defined by the U,S depending on their location on the world map as well as on the value of their natural resources. However, after the reunification of Crimea with Russia Washington’s stand on this country underwent significant changes, causing a radical transformation of the U,S attitude in their Ukrainian policy. During the presidency of Barack Obama the American policy towards Ukraine was carried out rather sluggishly being basically declarative in its nature. When President D. Trump took his office Washington’s policy towards Ukraine became increasingly more offensive and was characterized by a rather proactive stance not only because Ukraine became the principal arena of confrontation between the United States and the Russian Federation, but also because it became a part of the US domestic political context. Therefore, an outcome of the “battle” for Ukraine is currently very important for the United States in order to prove to the world its role of the main helmsman in the context of a diminishing US capability of maintaining their global superiority.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-32
Author(s):  
Semen Kireev ◽  
I. Popov ◽  
A. Ban'kovskiy ◽  
E. Litvinenko ◽  
E. Surova

At the end of 2019, an outbreak of a new coronavirus infection occurred in the People's Re-public of China with an epicenter in the city of Wuhan (Hubei province). On February 11, 2020, the World Health Organization has assigned the official name of the infection caused by the new coronavirus - COVID-19 ("Coronavirus disease2019"). On February 11, 2020, the International Committee on Virus Taxonomy gave the official name to the infectious agent - SARS-CoV-2.Since the end of January 2020, cases of COVID-19 have begun to be registered in many coun-tries of the world, mainly associated with travel to the PRC. At the end of February 2020, the epidemiological situation with COVID-19 in South Korea, Iran and Italy sharply worsened, which subsequently led to a significant increase in the number of cases in other countries of the world associated with travel to these countries, incl. and in Russia. The World Health Organiza-tion announced the COVID-19 pandemic on 11 March 2020, and the pandemic's challenge to the world will remain so as long as people are not immune to it.The Regional Director of the World Health Organization Takeshi Kasai, on the basis of an epidemiological analysis, reports that the spread of coronavirus infection COVID-19 in July-August 2020 occurred mainly among people under 50 years old, and they often did not even know about it, because they had mild or no symptoms. In the future, these people then infect older people who are more difficult to tolerate COVID-19. And we need to redouble our efforts to prevent the spread of the virus in vulnerable communities.


Author(s):  
Gregory Rosenthal

This book’s epilogue considers how the story of the rise and fall of Hawaiʻi’s indigenous workers—and the diasporic, migratory nature of their experiences—revolutionizes what we think we know about the place of Hawaiʻi in the Pacific, and the place of the Pacific in the world. I also raise questions about what this story can contribute to twenty-first-century struggles over capitalism and colonialism in Hawaiʻi as well as across our globalizing world. The epilogue looks specifically at the twenty-first-century legacies of nineteenth-century practices and experiences of Hawaiian migrant labor, state labor discipline, indigenous land dispossession, policing and incarceration, and life in “perpetual diaspora.”


2020 ◽  
pp. 176-199
Author(s):  
Gracia Liu-Farrer

This chapter studies immigrant children's diverse strategies to make sense of their subjectivities and establish their relationships with Japanese society. In particular, it examines how changing environments, especially the different institutional contexts they go through in the course of their growing up, contribute to the shaping of their identities. Born to foreign parents, immigrant children in Japan are surrounded by a complex cultural and social environment and have to continually adjust their relationships to such contexts and modify their subjectivities in the course of doing so. Because nationality is a powerful identification, they also have to negotiate their own identity between Japan—the place where they live and are acculturated to but at times rejected by—and the country or countries where their parents are from and where their passports say they are from. This process of encounters and negotiations enhances their awareness of the limits and freedom of being immigrants in Japan. In the end, among a group of them, a cosmopolitan self emerges as a response to the limited repertoire of identity choice. In other words, many immigrant children, unwilling to resign to either nationality, choose to become citizens of the world.


Author(s):  
Hannah Gill

On April 20, 2006, Latinos in North Carolina took a break from their jobs to join thousands of people participating in marches around the state. In Charlotte, restaurants closed and almost four hundred students walked out of public schools. In Raleigh, three thousand people gathered at the capital to support immigrants. In Lumberton, employees of Smithfield Foods, the largest slaughterhouse and meat-processing plant in the world, marched miles to a rally....


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