scholarly journals Narratives of identity

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Tilia Marie Björkman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Interdisciplinary Study ◽  
Swedish School

Sweden portrays itself as a champion of human rights. Simultaneously, it violates the rights of its indigenous Saami population. To understand the dynamics of this duplicity, this interdisciplinary study explores how Saami identity is constructed and perceived in Swedish cultural memory. Avril Bell’s (2014) theory of thesettler imaginary is applied to analyse the narrative on Saami identity in Swedish school textbooks, legislation, political debates, and its historical context. The findings indicate that Saami identity, in Swedish cultural memory, has been constructed by Swedish settlers as authentic, static and incompatible with the majority of society. This image is perpetuated in the present day’s educational and political institutions. Implications of such an image are reflected in discrimination against the Saami.

Liberating Afghan Women

2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 70-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Afghan Women ◽  
The Media ◽  
Policy Priority

Public opinion in the United States and elsewhere celebrated the liberation of Afghan women following the defeat of the Taliban government. The United States promised to stay in Afghanistan and foster security, economic development, and human rights for all, especially women. After years of funding various anti- Soviet Mujahidin warlords, the United States had agreed to help reconstruct the country once before in 1992, when the Soviet-backed government fell, but had lost interest when the warlords began to fight among themselves. This time, however, it was going to be different. To date, however, conditions have not improved for most Afghan women and reconstruction has barely begun. How did this happen? This article explores media presentations of Afghan women and then compares them with recent reports from human rights organizations and other eyewitness accounts. It argues that the media depictions were built on earlier conceptions of Muslim societies and allowed us to adopt a romantic view that disguised or covered up the more complex historical context of Afghan history and American involvement in it. We allowed ourselves to believe that Afghans were exotic characters who were modernizing or progressing toward a western way of life, despite the temporary setback imposed by the Taliban government. In Afghanistan, however, there was a new trope: the feminist Afghan woman activist. Images of prominent Afghan women sans burqa were much favored by the mass media and American policymakers. The result, however, was not a new focus on funding feminist political organizations or making women’s rights a foreign policy priority; rather, it was an unwillingness to fulfill obligations incurred during decades of American-funded mujahidin warfare, to face the existence of deteriorating conditions for women, resumed opium cultivation, and a resurgent Taliban, or to commit to a multilateral approach that would bring in the funds and expertise needed to sustain a long-term process of reconstruction.

scholarly journals Urban Conflict, Rent Seeking, and Corruption Economic and Political Institutions in a Historical Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
Marie-Christine THAIZE CHALLIER
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Rent Seeking ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Social Unrest ◽  
Abuse Of Power ◽  
Medieval France ◽  
Limiting Property ◽  
Urban Conflict ◽  
Commitment Problems

This paper is an empirical analysis to explore the relationships between urban conflict and both rent seeking and corruption. It examines social disturbances in medieval France through a sample of twelve towns examined over the period 1270-1399 in a real context of informational asymmetries, commitment problems, and issues indivisibilities. As regards the economic corruption class, it is found that townspeople rebel more often and more intensely against the extortion of funds carried out by policy makers than against the embezzlement of a part of these funds. As to the political corruption class, the findings highlight that abuse of power against municipalities is identified in more social unrest than influence peddling against these local institutions. Furthermore, it is shown that rent-seeking-related policies (like arbitrary actions limiting property rights, economic rules-based policies, and targeted political measures) have less influence on urban conflict than corrupt policies do. These findings produce insights that apply beyond the historical context and analysis of the paper. Situations presenting over-indebted towns despite overtaxed people disturb also modern democracies.

scholarly journals Human Rights and Human Nature

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-534
Author(s):  
Jean Rhéaume
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Positive Law

At least two important consequences follow from the fact that human rights are based on human nature. First, they exist according to natural law even in cases where positive law does not recognize them. Secondly, they cannot evolve because the nature and purpose of the human being does not change: only their formulation and level of protection in positive law can vary according to the socio-historical context.

Re-presenting Genocide: The Canadian Museum of Human Rights and Settler Colonial Power

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Kaur Dhamoon
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Settler Societies ◽  
Forced Movement

AbstractIn settler societies like Canada, United States, and Australia, the bourgeoning discourse that frames colonial violence against Indigenous people as genocide has been controversial, specifically because there is much debate about the meaning and applicability of genocide. Through an analysis of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, this paper analyzes what is revealed about settler colonialism in the nexus of difficult knowledge, curatorial decisions, and political debates about the label of genocide. I specifically examine competing definitions of genocide, the primacy of the Holocaust, the regulatory role of the settler state, and the limits of a human rights framework. My argument is that genocide debates related to Indigenous experiences operationalize a range of governing techniques that extend settler colonialism, even as Indigenous peoples confront existing hegemonies. These techniques include: interpretative denial; promoting an Oppression Olympics and a politics of distancing; regulating difference through state-based recognition and interference; and depoliticizing claims that overshadow continuing practices of assimilation, extermination, criminalization, containment, and forced movement of Indigenous peoples. By pinpointing these techniques, this paper seeks to build on Indigenous critiques of colonialism, challenge settler national narratives of peaceful and lawful origins, and foster ways to build more just relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

Democracy, Indigenous Movements, and Postliberal Challenge in Latin America

1999 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah J. Yashar
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Indigenous Movements ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Community Rights ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Ethnic Movements

Scholars of democratic consolidation have come to focus on the links between political institutions and enduring regime outcomes. This article takes issue with the conceptual and analytical underpinnings of this literature by highlighting how new political institutions, rather than securing democratic politics, have in fact had a more checkered effect. It delineates why the theoretical expectations of the democratic consolidation literature have not been realized and draws, by example, on the contemporary ethnic movements that are now challenging third-wave democracies. In particular, it highlights how contemporary indigenous movements, emerging in response to unevenly institutionalized reforms, pose a postliberal challenge to Latin America's I newly founded democracies. These movements have sparked political debates and constitutional reforms over community rights, territorial autonomy, and a multiethnic citizenry. As a whole, I they have laid bare the weakness of state institutions, the contested terms of democracy, and the I indeterminacy of ethnic accommodation in the region. As such, these movements highlight the need to qualify somewhat premature and narrow discussions of democratic consolidation in favor I of a broader research agenda on democratic politics.

scholarly journals Noble Polish Sexuality and the Corrupted European Body

Intersections ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Randi Gressgård ◽  
Rafał Smoczynski
Keyword(s):  
Sex Education ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Moral Integrity ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Good Citizenship ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Empty Signifier ◽  
Political Divide

This article attends to the instrumentalization of gender and sexuality in recent Polish political campaigns. Locating current political debates in a cultural-historical context of long-established hierarchical divides, it conceives of gender and sexuality as ‘empty signifiers’ deployed in political struggles (for hegemony) over notions of civic responsibility, good citizenship and articulations of Europeanness. Similarly, it takes ‘Europeanness’ as an empty signifier, without any essential meaning, arguing that these signifiers are key to understanding recent mobilizations around moral frontiers in Polish politics. Illustrative examples serve to elaborate how LGBT rights and sex education are instrumentalized among self-proclaimed liberals as well as rightwing nationalists, seeking to guarantee the moral integrity of the nation according to an antagonistic logic. On both sides of the political divide, we witness a self-orientalizing positioning towards the European ‘core’, whether phrased in terms of sexual modernity or Christian civilization.

scholarly journals Modern Historical Film: Genre and Dramaturgic Features

2021 ◽  
pp. 41-48
Author(s):  
O. O. Kosachova
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Mirror Image ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Historical Drama ◽  
Happy Ending ◽  
Empirical Basis ◽  
Historical Film ◽  
Historical Films

The aim of the article is to explore of genre and dramaturgic features of a modern historical film. The research methodology is based on the systematic use of materials from the scientific branches of art and cultural science, cinema theory and history, psychology, etc. The empirical basis of the study included a series of historical films of the XXI century, a detailed analysis of genre and dramaturgic features was carried out. The results. Historical drama is the leading genre of a film based on real events, which grinds the past, turning it into a mirror image of the present. Thus, the theme of the film, its newsworthiness has the equal importance along with the genre, which ensures the integrity of the material, director’s and cameraman’s methods and techniques and the style, which forms the aesthetic expressiveness of the film. Films based on real events, which premiered in the XXI century, were chosen as the empirical basis of the study. As the core of the plot were chosen issues of human rights violations, social discrimination and injustice. These problems have their origins in ancient times and have long been the main obstacles for the establishment of democratic values in society. We found that modern historical drama has significant morphological differences from the XX century drama: lack of epicism, abandonment of the tragic component in favor of a happy ending, the transition from melodramatics to hybridization of drama with more dynamic genres: action, road movie, western. At the same time, we see that modern historical drama has signs of genre elasticity and syncretism, which allows forming new multi­genre constructions that have not yet entered scientific circulation in the domestic press (action drama, crime drama, western drama, kidnap drama, etc.). The dramatic features of modern historical films are closely related to the genre construction of the films. The genre of autobiography determines the priority of using the “plot of growing up” and “plot of the experience”, when the main characters grow up psychologically and fight for their rights: life, freedom, personal inviolability. The hero — is dominated archetype, a person who serves others, sacrifices himself or puts himself in constant danger for the sake of others. The issue of social inequality in the historical context, when realities separate the viewer from the depicted events for a significant period of time, is reflected in the historical film more often and has a proper response from the viewer. At the same time, the modern issue of human rights, which demonstrates the principle of “democracy for the elect” is not so popular among modern fans of historical cinema. Novelty. The scientific novelty of the article is to identify the modern morphology of historical film, the actualization of the relationship between the genre, the magnitude of the theme of historical film, its dramatic solution and the value expectations of the audience. The practical significance. The main theses and results of the research may be useful for practicing screenwriters of historical films. The recommendations in this article contribute to the creation of a commercially successful and psychologically powerful film product. In addition, the article can be used for academic disciplines in film schools in Ukraine and abroad.

The Policing Board

2021 ◽  
pp. 98-130
Author(s):  
Richard Martin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Law And Politics ◽  
Statutory Duty

The Policing Board sits at the heart of the intersection between human rights law and politics. As a corporate body, the Policing Board has a statutory duty to monitor police compliance with the HRA. This chapter argues that regardless of the Policing Board’s statutory duty to monitor policing based on the standards of the HRA, for the political members on the Policing Board, human rights are a vessel harbouring deep sentiments and concerns at the heart of which are competing histories of the conflict, legacies of policing and understandings of Northern Ireland’s imperfect peace. These narratives swirl around, and at times directly contradict, the official police voice, further demonstrating the elasticity of human rights to stretch to fit the visions of different actors. The examination of alternative official narratives by political parties in Northern Ireland is developed across three sections, inspired by the dimensions of the ‘political life’ of human rights set out in Chapter 1. These three dimensions are: the role historical context plays in structuring the ambit and style of human rights contestation involving social actors; human rights as an articulation of a much wider array of interests, fears and aspirations that find expression through rights narratives; and how human rights can be used by groups to actively construct claims with the hope of achieving legal gains in specific fields

Political and Social Implications

2020 ◽  
pp. 247-255
Author(s):  
Mona Lena Krook
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Multiple Dimensions

Chapter 19 considers the political and social consequences of violence against women in politics. The implications of these acts reach far beyond their effects on individual victims, harming political institutions as well as society at large. First, attempting to exclude women as women from participating in political life undermines democracy, negating political rights and disturbing the political process. Second, tolerating mistreatment due to a person’s ascriptive characteristics infringes on their human rights, damaging their personal integrity as well as the perceived social value of their group. Third, normalizing women’s exclusion from political participation relegates women to second class citizenship, threatening principles of gender equality. The chapter concludes that naming the problem of violence against women in politics thus has important repercussions along multiple dimensions, making the defense of women’s rights integral to the protection of political and human rights for all.

An Expanded Vision

2020 ◽  
pp. 36-45
Author(s):  
Mona Lena Krook
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Political Field ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Female Journalists ◽  
Politically Active

Chapter 4 notes that the concept of violence against women in politics—as it has emerged—has largely been restricted to actions perpetrated against women in elections and/or within formal political institutions. During this same period, however, parallel campaigns have emerged to draw attention to violence committed against women human rights defenders and against female journalists. Observing that these efforts take up highly similar issues concerning violence as a barrier to women’s participation in the political field, the chapter advocates joining these various streams to forge a more comprehensive concept of violence against women in politics, underscoring continuities across challenges faced by politically active women of all types.

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