Transgressing Time, Place, Gender, and the Material: The Political Strategies of Louise Erdrich, Tomson Highway, and Daniel David Moses

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Schaefli
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Louise Erdrich ◽  
First Nation ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Strategies ◽  
Material Reality ◽  
Tomson Highway ◽  
Gender Transgression

The colonization of Aboriginal peoples in North America involved systematic efforts to control and eradicate Indigenous knowledges and cultures. However, Aboriginal peoples have resisted colonization through creative expression; creating space for the exploration and critique of the myriad identities informed by this relationship. This study focuses on work by prominent American and Canadian authors Louise Erdrich, Tomson Highway, and Daniel David Moses. Erdrich, who self‐identifies as Chippewa with mixed European ancestry, is best known for the interconnections of short narratives between and within her novels. Tomson Highway, a Cree novelist and playwright, is most famous for his cycles of“rez” playsdetailing life on a fictional Ontario reserve. Daniel David Moses, member of the Delaware First Nation in Brantford, Ontario and acclaimed Canadian playwright, is best known for his parody of non‐Aboriginal constructions of the “authentic Indian” in his work. These authors use political destruction of normative categories, particularly gender transgression, but also past and present, here and there, material reality and the spirit realm to create space for the playful exploration of Indigenous identities. I explore the ways in which gender transgression is nested in larger themes of playful category destruction and creative reconstruction to open up issues of political importance to these authors. By exploring these themes in conjunction with author biographies and interviews, I identify the political motives and implications of category transgression.

Acting Out: Exploring Applied Theatre Practices in Canadian Correctional Facilities

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Omstead
Keyword(s):  
Louise Erdrich ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
The Political ◽  
Correctional Facilities ◽  
Acting Out ◽  
Applied Theatre ◽  
Material Reality ◽  
Tomson Highway ◽  
Gender Transgression

The colonization of Aboriginal peoples in North America involved systematic efforts to control and eradicate Indigenous knowledges and cultures. However, Aboriginal peoples have resisted colonization through creative expression; creating space for the exploration and critique of the myriad identities informed by this relationship. This study focuses on work by prominent American and Canadian authors Louise Erdrich, Tomson Highway, and Daniel David Moses. Erdrich, who self-identifies as Chippewa with mixed European ancestry, is best known for the interconnections of short narratives between and within her novels. Tomson Highway, a Cree novelist and playwright, is most famous for his cycles of “rez” plays detailing life on a fictional Ontario reserve. Daniel David Moses, member of the Delaware First Nation in Brantford, Ontario and acclaimed Canadian playwright, is best known for his parody of non-Aboriginal constructions of the “authentic Indian” in his work. These authors use political destruction of normative categories, particularly gender transgression, but also past and present, here and there, material reality and the spirit realm to create space for the playful exploration of Indigenous identities. I explore the ways in which gender transgression is nested in larger themes of playful category destruction and creative reconstruction to open up issues of political importance to these authors. By exploring these themes in conjunction with author biographies and interviews, I identify the political motives and implications of category transgression.

Political orientation and moral foundations

2019 ◽  
Vol 118 (11) ◽  
pp. 365-371
Author(s):  
J Dorasamy ◽  
Mr Jirushlan Dorasamy
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
North America ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Open Approach ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Moral Foundation ◽  
The North

Studies, especially in the North America, have shown a relationship between political orientation and moralfoundation. This study investigated whether moral judgements differ from the political orientation of participantsin South Africa moral judgment and the extent to which moral foundations are influenced by politicalorientation.Further, the study investigated the possibility of similar patterns with the North AmericanConservative-Liberal spectrum and the moral foundation. There were 300participants, 78 males and 222 females,who completed an online questionnaire relating to moral foundation and political orientation. The results partiallysupported the hypothesis relating to Liberal and Conservative orientation in South Africa. Further, this studypartially predicted the Liberal-Conservative orientation with patterns in the moral foundation, whilst showingsimilar findings to the North American studies. A growing rate of a neutral/moderate society is evidenced in SouthAfrica and abroad, thereby showing the emergence of a more open approach to both a political and generalstance.”””

Populism as a Political Strategy: An Approach’s Enduring — and Increasing — Advantages

2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172110026
Author(s):  
Kurt Weyland
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Political Strategies ◽  
Chief Executives ◽  
Strategic Approach ◽  
Urgent Task ◽  
The World

Responding to Rueda’s questions, this essay explains the political-strategic approach (PSA) to populism and highlights its analytical strengths, which have become even more important with the emergence of populist governments across the world. PSA identifies populism’s core by emphasizing the central role of personalistic leaders who tend to operate in opportunistic ways, rather than consistently pursuing programmatic or ideological orientations. PSA is especially useful nowadays, when scholars’ most urgent task is to elucidate the political strategies of populist chief executives and their problematic repercussions, especially populism’s threat to democracy.

Return of the Natives: Explaining the Development and Non-Development of Political Action by Indigenous Peoples in Democratic Political Systems

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-480
Author(s):  
Lee E. Dutter
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
North America ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Present Treatment ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Political Actions

Studies of individuals or groups who might use violence or terrorism in pursuit of political goals often focus on the specific actions which these individuals or groups have taken and on the policies which defenders (that is, governments of states) against such actions may adopt in response. Typically, less attention is devoted to identifying the relevant preconditions of political action and possible escalation to violence and how or why potential actions may be obviated before they occur. In the context of democratic political systems, the present analysis addresses these issues via examination of indigenous peoples, who typically constitute tiny fractions of the population of the states or regions in which they reside, in terms of their past and present treatment by governments and the political actions, whether non-violent or violent, which individuals from these peoples have engaged or may engage. The specific peoples examined are Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders of Australia, Haudenosaunee of North America, Inuit of Canada, Maori of New Zealand, and Saami of Scandinavia.

Where Do New Ideas (About Class) Come From?

2000 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 53-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Weinstein
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Labor History ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Working Class History ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
American Labor

In my comment I raise two main questions about the Eley/Nield essay. First, I express some doubts about whether the issues discussed in their essay can be unproblematically transposed to historiographical debates in areas beyond Western Europe and North America. Certain themes, such as the need to reemphasize the political, are hardly pressing given the continual emphasis on politics and the state in Latin American labor history. Closely related to this, I question whether the state of gender studies within labor history can be used, in the way these authors seem to be doing, as a barometer of the sophistication and vitality of labor and working-class history. Despite recognizing the tremendous contribution of gendered approaches to labor history, I express doubts about its ability to help us rethink the category of class, and even express some concern that it might occlude careful consideration of class identities. Instead, pointing to two pathbreaking works in Latin American labor history, I argue that the types of questions we ask about class, and primarily about class, can provide the key to innovative scholarship about workers even if questions such as gender or ethnicity go unexamined. Finally, I point out that class will only be a vital category of analysis if it is recognized not simply as “useful,” but as forming a basis for genuinely creative and innovative historical studies.

scholarly journals The Universal Factory

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-31
Author(s):  
Kevin Rogan
Keyword(s):  
Urban Design ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Data Networks ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Critical Data ◽  
The Third ◽  
Material Reality ◽  
Vast Network

Critical data studies have made great strides in bringing together data analysts and urban design, providing an extensible concept which is useful in visualizing the role of local and planetary data networks. But in the light of the experience of Sidewalk Labs, critical data studies need a further push. As smart cities, algorithmic urbanisms, and sensorial regimes inch closer and closer to reality, critical data studies remain woefully blind to economic and political issues. Data remains undertheorized for its economic content as a commodity, and the political ramifications of the data assemblages remain locked in a proto-political schema of good and bad uses of this vast network of data collection, analysis, research, and organization. This paper attempts to subject critical data studies to a rigorous critique by deepening its relationship to the history thus far of Sidewalk Labs’ project in Quayside, Toronto. It is broken into sections. The first section discusses the material reality of Kitchin and Lauriault’s (2014) data assemblages and data landscapes. The second section investigates data itself and what its ‘inherent’ value means in an economic sense. The third section looks at the way the understanding of data promoted by the data assemblage effects smart city design. The fourth section examines the role of the designer in shepherding this vision, and moreover the data assemblage, into existence.

scholarly journals Ice conditions offshore West Greenland

1993 ◽  
Vol 159 ◽  
pp. 43-47
Author(s):  
H.H Thomsen
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Environmental Studies ◽  
The Political ◽  
West Greenland ◽  
Ice Conditions ◽  
Special Information

An offshore West Greenland licensing found was formally approved by the Danish Minister of Energy on 26 March 1992, and announced in industry journals in the following months. To give interested companies an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the political framework, licensing terms, geology of the licensing area and general working conditions in Greenland, presentations were held in Europe and North America (Christiansen et al., this report. In addition GGU prepared a special information package 'Offshore West Greenland – Exploration Information 1992' for the licensing round. One of the enclosures in this package is a brief review of ice conditions offshore West Greenland with particular reference to the licensing area (Thomsen, 1992; Fig. 1). The licensing round failed to attract any applications, but ice conditions offshore West Greenland remain of prime interest to any group planning geophysical or environmental studies in the area. For this reason a summary of the report enclosed in the information package is given here.

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