Interpreting Modernity and the Cultural Possibility of Social Transformation

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-162
Author(s):  
Urmi Bhattacharyya
Keyword(s):  
Social Transformation ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Instrumental Rationality ◽  
Antonio Gramsci ◽  
Cultural Hegemony ◽  
The West ◽  
Moral Transformation ◽  
Critical Understanding

Modernity is associated with the celebration of rationality and the intervention of science, which manifested itself in the historical development of industrialisation in the West and also colonialism in the non-West. Dominated by the ideals of reason, culture has been critiqued to have been reduced to a mechanistic representation of instrumental rationality and consumerism. Reviewing selected works of Marxist theoretician Antonio Gramsci and sociologist Avijit Pathak, this essay explores the possibilities of conceiving culture as a space of social transformation and humanism. Reflecting on the historical and contextual interpretations of cultural hegemony and the need for critical consciousness to overthrow the bourgeois order in Italy, and engaging with the paradoxes and constraints confronting Indian modernity, this work attempts at a critical understanding of modernity and looks into the possibility of achieving moral transformation through the reinterpretation of culture.

scholarly journals The CSTO in new system of coordinates of the global international security. New calls and threats to security for the states of the CSTO and a form of response to them.

2016 ◽  
pp. 7-12
Author(s):  
A. A. Orlov
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
International Security ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
New System

Specifics of present moment of historical development is cardinal change of a geopolitical picture of the world. The period of partnership between Russia and the West came to an end. Partnership is succeeded by new structure of the international relations which will be constructed on much more pragmatic basis. At the same time it is obvious that the unipolar world was absolutely not effective. This world finally disbalanced all system of the international relations that was expressed in the number of the regional and local conflicts unprecedented before, and in return in the last two years of direct confrontation between Russia and the West.

scholarly journals Gender Representation In Public Schools Textbooks Of Balochistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rana Saba Sultan ◽  
Nadil Shah ◽  
Ambreen Fazal
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
The Other ◽  
Antonio Gramsci ◽  
Cultural Hegemony ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Gender Presentation ◽  
Power And Energy

Gender became the attention of contemporary scholarships when women were found in domestic issues as well as gender inequality in terms of job opportunities, education, health, political participation etc. Many studies have been carried out regarding women issues and provided policies and laws to provide opportunities for women to contribute in the society. So, gender presentation in school textbooks is newly emerging field of study in the academia. The present study focuses on women presentation in school textbooks of Balochistan. The English Books for Class I, to V were taken as sample for present study. These books were selected through purposive sampling. All conversations, texts and images related to women misrepresentation were taken from selected books. These data were analysed by the help of Michal Foucault’s theory of power/Knowledge and Discourse Analysis and also Cultural Hegemony by Antonio Gramsci. The findings of the present study suggest that textbooks of Balochistan are clearly misrepresenting women and promoting the male hegemony. The women are shown in domestic works and teaching jobs which are considered soft works. On the other hand, men are shown in school administrations, public domains, ownerships and in those jobs which need more power and energy. So, it is clear that schools textbooks promote the gender biased approach because men are shown in powerful, prestigious, well reputed and respectable jobs and women are shown in less respected and less valued positions.

scholarly journals “Love is the mystery inside this walking”: Anne Carson on the Road to Compostela

2021 ◽  
pp. 179-197
Author(s):  
Carmen García Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Social Transformation ◽  
Personal Transformation ◽  
The Road ◽  
Anne Carson ◽  
Construction Of Self ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
Critical Understanding ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Alternative Discourses

This paper explores Anne Carson’s “Kinds of Water: An Essay on the Road to Compostela,” the author’s journal on her pilgrimage to Santiago. Taking water as a metaphor for the Camino, the text reflects the creative dimension of the pilgrimage both from an artistic and personal standpoint. Alternative discourses of the female writer and pilgrim occur in a text that is an essay and a meditation on the forms of resilience put into practice by Carson after facing a series of personal losses. The progressive construction of self-knowledge is seen as an emancipatory act that transcended Carson’s mourning period in her experience, which she took as an opportunity to embrace personal transformation. I suggest that my approach can bring useful perspectives not only to further and refine knowledge on Carson in Spain but also for the consideration of resilience as an aspect that contributes to the critical understanding of narratives of individual and social transformation.

scholarly journals “A reward rather than a right”: Facilitators’ perspectives on the place of music in Norwegian prison exceptionalism

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-289
Author(s):  
Áine Mangaoang
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Critical Understanding ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Music Activities

Scholarship on prison music-making projects and programmes to date has largely overlooked the perspectives of prison music facilitators, who form an integral part of many prison music activities. The aim of the study, which was exploratory in nature, was to contribute to a better understanding overall of the relationship between music and imprisonment by focusing on the perspectives of prison music practitioners. Drawing from data collected in four Norwegian prisons through ethnographic research, data was analysed thematically with four key themes emerging: interpersonal communication and emotional connection; social responsibility; prison system and environment, and (in)difference and exclusion. The findings highlight the fact that the range of prison music activities offered in many Norwegian prisons affects music facilitators deeply in a number of ways, and support existing studies that find that prison music practices can contribute to creating a community of caring individuals both inside and outside prisons. Notably, the emergence of the (in)difference and exclusion theme demonstrates a more critical and nuanced view of prison music facilitators’ experiences as going beyond simplistic, romantic notions of music’s function in social transformation. Concerns raised for those who appear to be excluded or differentiated from music-making opportunities in prison – in particular foreign nationals and women – suggest that (even) in the Norwegian context, music in prisons remains a “reward” rather than a fundamental “right.” This study marks a step towards a richer and more critical understanding of prison musicking and aims to inform future research, practice, and the processes involved in the possibilities for offering music in prisons.

State, Civil Society, and Market in India: The Context of Mobilization

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Oommen
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Economic Liberalization ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory Construction ◽  
The West ◽  
Market Mechanisms ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Communal Life ◽  
Intergroup Conflicts

Western societies have accomplished relative autonomy of the state, civil society, and market. The current thrust of social transformation in post-colonial and post-socialist societies also point in the same direction. This article traces the trajectory of autonomization achieved and/or attempted in these societies, and identifies the implications of the processes involved for theory construction. It is argued that in the context of mobilizing for change, privileging either state, civil society, or market would be a rash prejudgment. The possessive individualism of the West articulated in its rapacious market mechanisms alienates individuals destroys communal life. With reference to India, I trace out how the current tendency of privileging civil society as the sole agency to reestablish democratic values in past socialist societies-and relegating the state to the background-may foment serious intergroup conflicts. The recently initiated process of economic liberalization in the part-colonial democratic societies often ignores that there is nothing much to chose between the behemoth of the market and the leviathan of a state. It is suggested that only an equipoise between the state, society and market can produce a 'good society."

Chaadaev, Pëtr Iakovlevich (1794–1856)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Walicki
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Social Philosophy ◽  
Philosophical Problem ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Human History ◽  
The West ◽  
Strong Reaction ◽  
Western Development ◽  
General Rules

Pëtr Chaadaev was the first Russian thinker for whom his own country became a philosophical problem. His works initiated the powerful Russian tradition of reflecting on Russia’s whence and whither: that is to say, the meaning of Russian history, the character of Russian national identity, and the possible, or necessary, paths of Russian historical development in the future. However, Chaadaev’s answer to these questions was mostly negative: he defined Russia not by what it was, but by what it was not. A paradoxical feature of Chaadaev’s s position was that his general philosophical views did not apply to his native country. He was a convinced Westernizer, identifying Western development with universal human history, but Russia was in his view the opposite of the West, an exception to the general rules. His general social philosophy, deeply influenced by the French theocratic traditionalists, was inherently conservative, stressing the importance of supra-individual unity and of continuous historical traditions; in contrast with this, his philosophy of Russian history defined Russia as a country without unity and without history, thus lacking the basic conditions for a genuine conservatism. This view provoked a strong reaction among Russian Romantic conservatives: they accepted some aspects of Chaadaev’s conservative critique of atomistic individualism but tried to refute his pessimistic view of Russia, by arguing that, in fact, not Russia but the West represented atomistic disintegration and incapacity for organic development.

What Gramsci Can Tell Sport Communication Scholars About How Civic Leaders Sell Sports to Their Communities: A Look at the Braves’ Move to Atlanta

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-277
Author(s):  
Bill Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Antonio Gramsci ◽  
Brute Force ◽  
Cultural Hegemony ◽  
Sports Teams ◽  
Civic Leaders ◽  
Sport Communication ◽  
Financial Benefits ◽  
Major League ◽  
Baseball Team ◽  
The City

Antonio Gramsci argued that ruling classes stayed in power as much through cultural hegemony as through economic hegemony or brute force. Gramsci maintained that the dominant class established and maintained this cultural hegemony through negotiation and persuasion. Gramsci’s theory offers much to sport communication scholars who try to ascertain why certain communities (especially their civic leaders) build stadiums to attract major-league sports teams and events despite mounting economic evidence that these ventures often fail to yield the financial benefits touted by their advocates. This paper uses Gramsci’s theory to examine how the civic leaders of Atlanta enticed the populace and sporting press to use public funds to build a new sports stadium in the mid-1960s. Atlanta’s leaders used the sports stadium not only to lure a Major League Baseball team to the city but also to persuade the city’s populace that this move made the metropolis “big league.”

scholarly journals An Unknown Arabic Source for Star Names

1987 ◽  
Vol 91 ◽  
pp. 155-163
Author(s):  
Paul Kunitzsch
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
German Studies ◽  
The West ◽  
Star Catalogue ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
Islamic Civilization

Arabic star names are well known in two areas: in the Orient itself, i.e. in the Arabic-Islamic civilization, and in the West where many of them were adopted since mediaeval times and continued to be used until today.The complex known in modern Western astronomy as “Arabic star names” is the result of a historical development of almost exactly one thousand years. In mediaeval times, those names were introduced into Western use by Latin translations of Arabic astronomical and astrological works. Afterwards, since Humanist and Renaissance times, and until this present century, Western astronomers used to pick up more “Arabic” names from philological studies of orientalists who tried to describe and explain the stellar nomenclature of the Arabs and other Oriental peoples. As outstanding examples, I mention the studies of Joseph Scaliger and his follower Hugo Grotius (both printed in 1600) whose nomenclature was borrowed by Johannes Bayer into his star atlas Uranometria of 1603; Thomas Hyde’s commentary to his edition of Ulugh Bēg’s star catalogue (Oxford, 1665) from which Giuseppe Piazzi borrowed a great number of names into the second edition of his Palermo Catalogue, 1814; German studies by F.W.V. Lach (1796) and Ludwig Ideler (1809) which were used by continental astronomers such as J.E.Bode and many others; and still the book on star names by R.H. Allen (1899) from which several new names appear in astronomical books and atlases of our times.

scholarly journals The Muslim Veil in North America

2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 110-112
Author(s):  
Shabana Mir
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
North America ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Basic Information ◽  
The West ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Veil

When it comes to Muslims in the West, nothing is a more sensational visualsymbol than the hijab. Due to the current Muslim and non-Muslim fixationon it, scholarly examination of hijab and related issues is necessary.The Muslim Veil in North America examines some of its historical, sociological/anthropological, and theological aspects. Part 1 engages with theveil’s hyper-visibility in Canada. Since the book does not engage with theAmerican experience, I am not sure why the title refers to North America.I enjoyed part 2 immensely, and will use it as a reference on the subject.The bulk of this section explores the historical development of the veil’stheological status and nature. This book is different from, say, Maudoodi’sPurdah, which sees the veil in its contemporary form as a product of historicalprocesses.This book is dedicated to diasporic Muslim women, although introductorymaterial in various chapters addresses readers unfamiliar with Islam. Undergraduates will appreciate its accessibility in comparison tomost academic texts, and it will make the subject comprehensible to layreaders. Unfortunately, this means that the book wavers between being anacademic (education, anthropology, and sociology) and a lay read. This isnot because the entire book is tailored to different kinds of readers, butbecause its two parts are rather disjointed. Part 1 addresses a more lay andintroductory social science-related reader with basic information; part 2, onthe other hand, is a highly specialized examination of exegetical and hadithhistory.The editors, in addressing a gaping void in the literature, possiblyattempt to do too much: specialized theology, history, politics, anthropology,and sampling of “voices.” I would have preferred it to be more selective.Also, “let the voices speak” is a commendable approach, but after a certainpoint we should go beyond it. There is also a line between “reportage syndrome,”writing without an adequate theoretical framework, and skillfulacademic writing, which allows contextualized voices to be heard by fellowacademics within the social sciences. I would also have preferred that thetheology and sociology chapters be connected by common threads ...

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