New Forms of Antisemitism, the Law, and the Politics of Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary France

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Natacha Chetcuti-Osorovitz ◽  
Fabrice Teicher
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Political Traditions ◽  
Lgbt People

Abstract Since 2012, hundreds of thousands of people mobilized and demonstrated against a French law that made both marriage and adoption possible for same-sex couples. In these demonstrations, seemingly heterogeneous groups and political traditions came together against those they saw as common enemies, namely Jews, LGBT people and feminists. Are these paradoxical alliances new? How have they transformed the public space and the imaginary of citizenship? The analysis of these activist repertoires shows that the ethos of anti-modernism, which has historically characterized reactionary groups, expressed itself through an obsessive focus and fear of the alleged undoing of gender, which is seen as emblematic of a post-modern society. Whether online or in demonstrations, a collection of political actors, ranging from the far-right to post-colonial second-generation groups, join forces in denouncing mass media, capitalism, and human rights, which they believe to be avatars of the decadence of their postmodern world. Their activism has reshaped the French political landscape.

Multi-occupation segregation through London's tube network

2021 ◽  
pp. 0308518X2110271
Author(s):  
Yao Shen ◽  
Yiyi Xu ◽  
Zhuoya Huang
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Transport System ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Segregation Index ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Transport System ◽  
Transfer Stations

As an extension of public space, the public transport system in modern society is an arena for cross-group interactions. Uncovering social segregation in public transport space is an essential step in shaping a socially sustainable transport system. Based on 2011 origin–destination flow data for London, we simulate the working flows between each pair of connected tube stations for every occupation with minimised transfer times and travelling hours and calculate the multi-occupation segregation index for all tube stations and segments. This segregation index captures the density and diversity aspects of the working population. The results demonstrate that segregation levels vary significantly across stations, lines, and segments. Transfer stations and tube segments in the city centre do not necessarily have lower levels of segregation. Those stations or segments close to a terminus can also be socially inclusive, e.g., Heathrow. Victoria is the line with the lowest levels of segregation, and Green Park is the most socially inclusive station during commuting peaks. The proposed mapping approach demonstrates the spatial complexity in the social performance of the public transport system and provides a tool for implementing relevant policy with improved precision.

Queer of colour hauntings in London’s arts scene: performing disidentification and decolonising the gaze. A case study of the Cocoa Butter Club

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-463
Author(s):  
Laurie Mompelat
Keyword(s):  
Cocoa Butter ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
White Gaze

This article analyses the representational stakes of queer of colour performance, by taking the case study of the Cocoa Butter Club: queer of colour cabaret night in London. Within a British landscape that has silenced queer subjectivities of colour at the intersection of race, gender and sexuality, I explore the potential of QPOC performance to redress historical erasure. To enact their presence, I argue that the Cocoa Butter Club’s performers showcase their collective disidentification from the scripts pre-assigned to their bodies within the European imagination. By doing so, they disrupt hegemonic representations of queerness and racialised otherness, making room for a multitude of queer of colour becomings kept otherwise invisible from public view. Such disidentifications unleash ‘ghosts’ into the public space, spectres of elided subjectivities and unresolved coloniality within a city that likes to think of itself as a post-racial LGBT haven. Drawing on ethnographic material and interviews with performers, I analyse what happens when such queer of colour hauntings reach the audience’s gaze. I consider their unsettling effects in relation to the white gaze, as well as their empowering function in relation to desiring QPOC subjects, seeking reflections of themselves in spectatorship.

Feminizing Development: The Political Sociology of Female Tokenism in the Nigerian Project

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 410-443
Author(s):  
Sylvanus I. Ebohon
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Women Politicians ◽  
Male Dominance ◽  
The Political ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Public ◽  
Steady Growth ◽  
Global Discourse ◽  
Female Presence ◽  
Women Participation

Abstract This paper interrogates the phenomena of gendered development and gendered opportunity structure in the context of the Nigerian project. On the basis of a body of empirical evidence, male dominance and female tokenism are presented. It is argued that while female participation has recorded steady growth, the emergence of women politicians in the “public face” makes a case for the exceptionality of agendered development in the Nigerian project. It is further argued that the rising profile e of women in the Nigerian ‘public space’ is not only one of the exceptionalities in the global discourse, but that it owes its emergence to post-colonial reform efforts. It is however argued that rising female profile under Goodluck Jonathan in the national executive space marks the rise of top-down approach to feminization of the public space. The paper also points out that the capacity of women to carve autonomous political space within the Nigerian project may be limited by the declining profile of bottom-up approach to female presence in elective offices. The sociological transition from biological femaleness to sociological maleness has engendered the phenomena of ‘female hybridization’ and token radicalism amongst women. The paper concludes with analysis of the sociological roots of de-empowerment located in the growth in women participation.

scholarly journals Society, Space and the Public Realm: Beyond Gated Individualism

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary P. Corcoran
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Public Realm ◽  
Third Places ◽  
The Public ◽  
Know How ◽  
The City ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Late Modern

A feature of late modern society is the economisation and privatisation of social life resulting in a decline in the public realm. Judt has observed that we are drifting toward a society of ‘gated individuals who do not know how to share public space to common advantage’ (2010: 216). Similarly Oldenburg (1989) has expressed concerns about the sustainability of third places – places that occupy the space between the marketplace, workplace and home place – in the modern era. He argues that ‘third places’ are being replaced by ‘non-places’ – places where individuals relate to each other purely in utilitarian terms. Non-places promote civil disaffiliation rather than civil integration. This article argues for an exploration of the ‘spaces of potential’ within the public realm of the city that can help to promote relationships of trust, respect and mutuality. Acknowledging and promoting such ‘spaces of potential’ amounts to a challenge to the privatisation and economisation of social life. Moreover, it creates the possibility of a reinvigorated public sphere and an enhancement of civil integration.

scholarly journals A Review of Robert Shaw, The Nocturnal City. London: Routledge, 2018, 126 pр.

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (48) ◽  
pp. 239-251
Author(s):  
Fedor Veselov
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Urban Theory ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Artificial Lighting ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Urban Theory ◽  
New Research ◽  
The City

This review focuses on the book The Nocturnal City written by the British social geographer Robert Shaw. The author’s major objective is to put the night at the center of the research agenda in urban studies, to contribute to urban theory in general, and to open up a new research field — nightology. The theoretical ambition for Shaw is an attempt to establish a dialogue between planetary urbanism (critical urban theory) and the post-structuralist understanding of the city (assemblage thinking). The author employs the conceptual model of ‘three ecologies’ developed by Felix Guattari; it considers the city as consisting of three interconnected layers: ‘self — society — earth’. Another important analytical tool is the post-colonial metaphor of the night as a frontier, which Shaw develops, considering specificities of the nocturnal city: infrastructures of artificial lighting and cleaning, the night-time economy, the changing aesthetics of cities at night and the experience of night-time at home, beyond the public space. The book does not offer a ready-made solution to theoretical problems and reveals just a little of the empirical diversity of nocturnal cities, but it is recommended as an introduction to a new field — nightology (especially for the Russian social sciences) — and as an elaboration of the discussion around the compatibility of critical urbanism and assemblage thinking in urban theory.

scholarly journals Political exile in the post-2019 Brazilian context: history of exile and work-existence/resistance of a Brazilian intellectual

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-324
Author(s):  
FERNANDA TARABAL LOPES ◽  
ALESSANDRA DE SÁ MELLO DA COSTA
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Psychological Function ◽  
Far Right ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Exile ◽  
University Professor ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

Abstract Recent years have witnessed the rise of far right-wing leaders in various parts of the world. Stanley (2019) recognizes the particularities of the different nations where this phenomenon is observed but advocates for generalizing it. The author uses the label “fascism” to refer to a variety of ultranationalism. When analyzing the current Brazilian situation, Souza (2019) also refers to fascism, exploring its irrational origins and particularities in Brazil, noticing the emergence of a neo-fascism. Against this backdrop, there are cases of people leaving their countries due to the increasing violence experienced. This study explores this particular situation, presenting the history of Tiburi’s exile, a philosopher, writer, university professor, and Brazilian politician. Concerning the theoretical discussion of the case, the study recalls, among other contributions, the debate about the centrality of work and its psychological function and how it presents itself as a form of existence and resistance for political exile. The article also discusses solidarity and the ‘public space of word’, a possibility that ceases in the country of origin and is sought in expatriation, primarily through work as a mode of existence and resistance. This study uses life history research, which is a rich possibility of apprehending the social experience and the subject in their practices. It is a method particularly fruitful in the study of phenomena such as migration. It is also essential through this research to register and reflect on work in the context of the recent Brazilian political exile.

‘Enough is Enough’: an ethnography of the struggle against impunity in Burkina Faso

2002 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sten Hagberg
Keyword(s):  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
White People ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public

This article analyses the ways in which socio-political opposition is expressed by looking into the morally loaded discourse of political legitimacy in Burkina Faso that emerged after the assassination of the journalist Norbert Zongo in December 1998. Through the analysis of different political statements, newspapers and various comments from the ‘street’, it locates the struggle against impunity in a social and political undercurrent in Burkinabe society. In this context, notions of the public space are central, because the public space defines both the boundaries of public debate and the behaviour of key political actors. Two recurrent themes in Burkinabe political discourse, namely ideas of truth and courage, and the legitimacy of White people, illustrate the various ways in which socio-political opposition seeks to define the public space within which politics is to be practised and the behaviour to be observed by those acting there. But the struggle against impunity also takes place on a symbolic level at which key symbols are appropriated, interpreted and incorporated into political discourse.

scholarly journals Information Openness of the State and Municipal Service: Panopticon Model

Lex Russica ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 70-77
Author(s):  
E. A. Koval ◽  
M. V. Palchikova
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
The State ◽  
Municipal Service ◽  
The Public ◽  
Municipal Employees ◽  
Big Data Technologies ◽  
Control Procedures ◽  
The Government

The paper is devoted to the study of prospects and regulatory limitations of the development of the concept ‘information openness of the state and municipal services’. The authors focus on how the public function affects the activities of state and municipal employees not only in but also out the service. The principle of openness of the state and municipal service in modern society obliges to take a responsible approach to any information posted publicly on the Internet, even if it is not related to the service. Big data technologies and the analytical capabilities of neural networks allow us to collect information from various sources and deanonymize them by comparing them. As a result, any state and municipal employee who is present in the public space can be subjected to public control procedures at any time. The panopticon model is used as an explanatory model. It is transformed in the conditions of digitalization of modern society. Alongside the synopticum, the panopticon expands the supervisory capabilities of the government, but at the same time makes its representatives visible to the mass "observer". The model of a new panopticon determines the risks of the emergence and reproduction of social tension and distrust between the authorities and the population. This is also as any member of the public can act as an expert without having expert knowledge and skills. In order to avoid the termination of the information openness development of the power in the new panopticon, it seems promising to educate the citizens in the area of regulatory (legal and moral) grounds for the state and municipal employees’ activities. It is important to include rules governing the presence of the authorities in social media and determine the degree of responsibility of those violating the rules of behavior in public space into the administrative ethics codes.

scholarly journals Informaciniai nutylėjimai: priežastys ir pasekmės

2014 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 127-146
Author(s):  
Mantas Martišius
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
General Context ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
The Media ◽  
Political Economic

Šiuolaikinėje visuomenėje žiniasklaida atlieka svarbią funkciją. Ji ne tik informuoja, teikia pramogą ar šviečia, bet ir kuria bendrąjį kontekstą. Žiniasklaidos temų darbotvarkės kūrimas formuoja visuomenės temų darbotvarkę. Medijos teikiamos informacijos kokybė lemia visuomenėje naudojamo diskurso lygį, o pastarasis turi įtakos bendrųjų politinių, ekonominių ar socialinių klausimų sprendimui. Siūlomas naujas teorinis bendrojo konteksto nagrinėjimo aspektas – informacinis nutylėjimas. Informaciniai nutylėjimai – tai svarbios informacijos nepasakymas, kuris veikia bendrąjį kontekstą. Empirinis tyrimas nėra atliekamas, nes siekiama į reiškinį pažvelgti komunikacijos teorijos aspektu. Kitas aspektas, kad informacinių nutylėjimų empirinis nagrinėjimas vestų prie konkrečios istorijos pateikimo analizės. Būtų prarastas holistinis teorinis požiūris į informacinį nutylėjimą, kai, pateikiant informaciją ir sąmoningai ar atsitiktinai dalį svarbių žinių, duomenų ar faktų paliekant paraštėse, kuriamas nevisavertis visuomenės informuotumas. Straipsnio tikslas – analitiniu teoriniu būdu panagrinėti informacinio nutylėjimo reiškinį, jį sieti su propaganda ir bendrojo konteksto formavimu. Aptarti informacinio nutylėjimo priežastis ir poveikį Jurgeno Habermaso viešosios erdvės teorijos aspektu.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: informacinis nutylėjimas, propaganda, bendrasis kontekstas, žiniasklaida. Informative veiling: causes and consequencesMantas Martišius SummaryIn the modern society, the media play an important role. They not only inform, educate and provide entertainment, but also provide to the people the general context. Creating the news, the media shape the public agenda. The information provided by the media determine the quality of society’s discourse level and affect the political, economic, and social issues. The article theoretically proposes a new aspect of the examination, which is the information veiling. Informative veiling is an important information suppressing, which affects understanding of the context of general events. The information veiling can be intentional or accidental, but the effect will be the suppressing of important knowledge, data or facts and their unbalanced awareness. The purpose of the article is to examine analytically and theoretically the phenomenon of information veiling, linking it with propaganda and the context formation in general. In the deliberate or accidental information veiling, the result appears to be similar. Such information creates a weakly informed audience which is not using the valuable information for making the most effective decisions. If the public space is dominated by a large percentage of information veiling news, in society evolve myths, false assessments, and incorrect conclusions. In order to reduce the influence of information veiling, the audience should be careful as to the source of information and its expected effect. Examination of the media interest in the material reduces its propagandistic effect, and a more critical approach to the media coverage could reduce the information influence on the audience. On the other hand, we have to admit that it is a more idealistic approach rather than the reality.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document