The Fate of 'Backwardness'

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-113
Author(s):  
Catarina Frois

In Portugal, terms such as 'modernisation', 'progress' and 'development' are continually invoked by a wide range of social actors, representing the right path and ultimate goal of all political and social change, but on the other hand conceal the actual truth that, to use Latour's expression: 'We have never been modern'. The result is that the demand for modernisation is accompanied by the parallel reification of 'backwardness'. Alluding to Portugal's peripheral condition, to its distance from the rest of Europe and so forth, is part of common everyday discourse, and the country is typically portrayed as a kind of European backwater, forever lagging behind more advanced states. This article aims to present and discuss how backwardness and modernisation are recurrently present in political discourse as a leitmotiv for social, economic and cultural change and the way it is incorporated into a broader and rooted self-representation of the Portuguese modus vivendi and national features.

Antiquity ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (347) ◽  
pp. 1211-1220 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.F.W. Higham

Almost half a century has elapsed since the first area excavation of a prehistoric site in north-east Thailand at Non Nok Tha (Bayard & Solheim 2010) (Figure 1). A long and still unresolved debate has ensued, centred on the chronology of the establishment of rice farming and bronze casting, that has dovetailed with further controversies on the pace and nature of social change. Results obtained during the past 20 years of fieldwork focused on the upper Mun Valley of north-east Thailand, together with a new series of AMS radiocarbon determinations from key sites, have thrown into sharp relief contrasting interpretations of two issues: one centres on the timing and origin of the Neolithic settlement; the other on the date and impact of copper-base metallurgy. A consensus through debate would bring us to a tipping point that would see Southeast Asian prehistory turn to more interesting issues of cultural change.


Author(s):  
Tim Judah

On February 17, 2008, Kosovo declared its independence, becoming the seventh state to emerge from the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. A tiny country of just two million people, 90% of whom are ethnic Albanians, Kosovo is central - geographically, historically, and politically - to the future of the Western Balkans and, in turn, its potential future within the European Union. But the fate of both Kosovo, condemned by Serbian leaders as a “fake state” and the region as a whole, remains uncertain. In Kosovo: What Everyone Needs to Know, Tim Judah provides a straight-forward guide to the complicated place that is Kosovo. Judah, who has spent years covering the region, offers succinct, penetrating answers to a wide range of questions: Why is Kosovo important? Who are the Albanians? Who are the Serbs? Why is Kosovo so important to Serbs? What role does Kosovo play in the region and in the world? Judah reveals how things stand now and presents the history and geopolitical dynamics that have led to it. The most important of these is the question of the right to self-determination, invoked by the Kosovo Albanians, as opposed to right of territorial integrity invoked by the Serbs. For many Serbs, Kosovo's declaration of independence and subsequent recognition has been traumatic, a savage blow to national pride. Albanians, on the other hand, believe their independence rights an historical wrong: the Serbian conquest (Serbs say “liberation”) of Kosovo in 1912. For anyone wishing to understand both the history and possible future of Kosovo at this pivotal moment in its history, this book offers a wealth of insight and information in a uniquely accessible format.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 506
Author(s):  
İsmail Yücedağ ◽  
Nurgün Koç

<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>Education passed through a wide range of reform movements like other institutions in Ottoman Emire during XIX century. The era of Abdülhamit II is especially prominent regarding educational reforms. A number of important steps were taken during his reign to improve education such as building new schools, effort to increase the number of students, more participation of girls in education and teaching, use of modern tools and techniques etc. This period was also characterized by the development of nation-states that were started to be established under the influence of the nationalist movement. Some cultural privileges were given to the Balkan peoples, such as Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, and Vlachs, who had revolted against the Ottoman Empire to keep them binding with the state. The right to education was one of those important privileges. Indeed, non-Muslims who had already educated in their own tongues and schools had begun to use their studies of language and education more in shaping their cultural identities in this period. At this point, it can be said that the Albanians were more backward than the other Balkan peoples, because unlike the other Balkan nations, though they were in an ethnic union but having more religious pluralism (Muslim, Orthodox Christian, and Catholic Christian) in their society. Therefore, the demand of Albanians from the Ottoman State for their education with their own tongues has only emerged from the beginning of the 1900s. The Ottoman central government looked favorably on these requests and considered the right to education in mother tongue as a constitutional right for them. However, the Albanians could not have a consensus that should their education in the mother tongue be in Turkish (Arabic) letters or Latin alphabet. This was also a reflection of the cultural differences in Albanians.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Öz</strong></p><p>XIX. yüzyılda Osmanlı Devleti’nde diğer bütün alanlarda olduğu gibi eğitimde de geniş reform hareketleri içine girilmiştir. Yüzyılın son çeyreğinde, özellikle II. Abdülhamit döneminde eğitimle ilgili reformlar öne çıkmaktadır. Okul yapımı, öğrenci sayısının arttırılması çabası, kız öğrencilerin eğitim ve öğretime daha fazla katılması, modern araç- gereç ve tekniklerin kullanılması vb. çalışmalar dikkat çekmektedir. Bu dönem aynı zamanda milliyetçilik akımının güç kazandığı ve belli ölçüde başarıya ulaştığı bir dönemdir. Osmanlı Devleti’ne karşı ayaklanan başta Rumlar, Bulgarlar, Sırplar, Ulahlar gibi Balkan halklarının devletten kopmasını engellemek için onlara birtakım kültürel ayrıcalıklar verilmiştir. Ana dilde eğitim hakkı da bunlardan biridir. Esasen daha öncesinde de kendi dillerinde ve okullarında eğitim gören gayrimüslim halklar, bu dönemde dil ve eğitim ile ilgili çalışmalarını daha çok kültürel kimliklerin şekillendirilmesi için kullanmaya başlamışlardır. Bu noktada Arnavutların diğer Balkan halklarına göre daha geri planda kaldığı söylenebilir. Çünkü diğerlerinden farklı olarak etnik yönden bir olsalar da dini yönden ayrışım içindeydiler (Müslüman, Ortodoks Hristiyan ve Katolik Hristiyan). Bu yüzden Arnavutların Osmanlı Devleti’nden kendi dilleri ile eğitim talebi ancak 1900’lü yılların başlarından itibaren karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Bu taleplere Osmanlı merkezi olumlu bakmış ve ana dilde eğitim talebini anayasadan kaynaklanan bir hak olarak görmüştür. Fakat Arnavutlar kendi içlerinde anadilde eğitimin Arapça harflerle mi yoksa Latin alfabesiyle mi olması konusunda bir uzlaşıya varamamışlardır. Bu durum da Arnavutlardaki kültürel farklılığın bir yansımasıdır.</p>


Dynamic Form ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 135-177
Author(s):  
Cara L. Lewis

This chapter examines a wide range of work by Evelyn Waugh—the novels Vile Bodies (1930) and The Loved One (1948) and the stories “The Balance” (1926) and “Excursion in Reality” (1932)—in order to show how Waugh develops an overarching narrative aesthetic out of his relationship with film. Engaging with the epistemology of the camera eye and the complexities of film viewing, this broader film writing constantly oscillates between two poles of formal extremism, sometimes risking a mechanical, formulaic rigidity and at other times courting a dissolution into chaotic formlessness. Waugh's aesthetics can therefore be described as bad formalism: one side of this dialectic develops too much form, while the other establishes too little. Neither manages just the right amount of formal production to count as “good” modernist formal innovation. Taken together, these extreme forms attest to the extent to which Waugh's work consistently allegorizes the condition of the late modernist writer struggling to survive a changed media ecology dominated by the cinema, as Waugh's satires take the form of—or rather deform—the Künstlerroman, twisting its narrative into a different shape with a less than heroic end.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Bal Chandra Luitel ◽  
Niroj Dahal

Transformative praxis covers a wide range of scholarly pursuits for social change via reflexive research and practice. Praxis is used to raise the consciousness of researchers, participants and social actors through a constant embracing of a critical stance toward text, discourse, and the lifeworld. A host of images are used to conceptualise the notion of transformative praxis as epistemology, theory, methodology, professional development, genres and logics, and empowerment. Transformative praxis as epistemology refers to multiple ways of knowing embedded in critiquing, reconceptualizing self, and envisioning; whereas transformative praxis as theory is informed by the critical scholarship of strengths and limitations of theories, philosophies, and perspectives as a means for social change. Our ideas of transformative praxis as methodology are embedded in the commitments of researchers and practitioners to engage in the process of holistic meaning making. Reflexive engagement of researchers and practitioners in the lifeworld contributes to the conceptualisation of transformative praxis as professional development. Transformative praxis as empowerment draws upon the ongoing discourse of an emancipatory interest that emphasises autonomy, responsibility, and criticality. The articles in this issue focus on developing cosmologically responsible educational processes, deviance as pedagogical action, holistic learning, and pedagogical change through multiparadigmatic research processes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-269
Author(s):  
Nargiza Raimova

Information, exactly confidential information, is the most important component of the development of society in formative modern world.  The current civil society is gradually turning from an informed to the information, so we can fearlessly say that the 21th century is considered to be the age of information. Information is a very important and necessary element of any activity of man, society and the state in the public, social-economic and political spheres. It is noted in the article that the problems related to the fact that the legislation provides a wide range of powers by government organs in the different tests that may affect the interests of sensitive enterprise because unset concrete facets of government intervention in economic activities of enterprises considered painful for entrepreneurs in many countries. It is concluded that the commercial valuable information is the right of every establishment for keeping secretness of it's industrial, commercial and financial operations, as well as proper documentation. It presents great interest in securing a wide range of problems related to those which information belong to a commercial secrets, as far as possible lifts the curtain for partners, competitors, government organs not to cause adverse effects on its business. Based on the study of foreign experience and scientific and theoretical views, ways to improve legislation in the field of regulation of confidential information were investigated. Based on the results of the analysis, relevant conclusions were drawn and proposals were developed for the current legislation


2021 ◽  
pp. 030913252110243
Author(s):  
Kate Boyer

Freedom from harassment is a basic human right and precondition to mental and physical health. While sexual harassment has become a higher-profile issue in recent years across a range of cultural contexts, including through the global rise of the # MeToo movement and the Everyday Sexism project, this issue has also attracted the attention of policymakers at the highest levels, leading, in the UK, to a Parliamentary Inquiry in 2018 on sexual harassment in public places, and a briefing paper on sexual harassment in higher education from the House of Commons in 2018. All of these highlight the urgent need for both deeper understanding and cultural change on this issue. Meanwhile, sexual harassment constitutes an important area of academic inquiry across a wide range of scholarly fields including psychology, sociology, women’s studies, criminology, law and social policy as well as geography. This article critically reviews key trends in scholarship on sexual harassment in public. It focuses on the spatial contexts of the street, the night-time economy and higher education institutions. A fundamental question of spatial justice, I argue that sexual harassment can be approached through three conceptual lenses: the relational emergence of bodies; the politics of everyday spatial practice; and the ways affects and the atmospheres they generate shape spatial experience. I argue that geographers have a vital role to play in advancing knowledge on this issue, and conclude by outlining a research agenda tracing outlines along which this work might unfold.


Author(s):  
عبد الرزاق بوسمينة ◽  
كمال بطوش

Conferences are among the most important access points to scientific communication. The development of IT applications in addition to open access caused the appearance of new diffusion vessels that suggest the right to access to their content with the least restrictions possible. Conferences' sponsors were obliged to make their publications available on these new vessels. In the other hand, there are many problems that face these works, the most important is the quality of arbitration of these works and the difficulty faced to track them . This paper aims to confirm the obligation of making the conferences' works available in addition to studying the most important problems that are faced and also to put and visualize a recommendation of an Algerian data base to manage these scientific events in order to overcome these problems. The study relied on the descriptive methodology and came up with the conclusions below: Conferences works are considered to be one of the main outcomes of scientific communication which must be available. The study also recomends Encouraging the development of digital platforms to manage the scientific events because of its contribution to raise the quality of researches' arbitration and providing its Works to a wide range of users.


Genetics ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
pp. 725-736
Author(s):  
Teresa M Rogalski ◽  
Donald G Moerman ◽  
David L Baillie

ABSTRACT Five formaldehyde-induced deficiencies that uncover unc-22 IV, a gene affecting muscle structure in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans were isolated and positioned. The largest deficiency, sDf2, extends in both directions from unc-22 and is approximately 1.0-2.0 map units in length. The other four deficiencies, sDf7, sDf8, sDf9 and sDf10, are all smaller than sDf2 and are located within the region uncovered by this deficiency. Thirty-seven ethyl methanesulfonate-induced lethal and sterile mutations linked to unc-22 were isolated and tested for complementation with sDf2. Nineteen lethal mutations failed to complement sDf2. Sixteen of these were further positioned by recombination mapping and also by deficiency mapping with sDf7, sDf8, sDf9 and sDf10. These sixteen mutations define 11 new essential genes in this region. Eight of the genes lie in a 0.9-map unit interval to the left of unc-22, whereas the three remaining genes lie in a region of about 0.2 map units to the right of unc-22. We believe that two of the essential genes identified in this study, let-56 and let-52, are the adjacent genes on either side of unc-22. The lethal mutations exhibit a wide range of terminal phenotypes: from first stage larva to sterile adult.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 464-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nitin Pangarkar

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for effective crisis response. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology involves a qualitative examination of responses by companies that have been judged by analysts to be varyingly effective. Toyota, for instance, had a poor response to its product quality and recall crisis. Singapore Airlines on the other hand, is often cited as an exemplar for an effective response to the crash of its flight SQ 006 in Taiwan. Findings – This research finds that organizations with a strong commitment to doing the right thing for stakeholders and a high readiness are most likely to effectively respond to crises. Organizations lacking in one of the two critical dimensions (commitment to stakeholders and/or readiness), on the other hand, are likely to have ineffective responses with possible post-crisis losses in competitive (e.g. market share) and financial (e.g. penalties) terms. Research limitations/implications – The case study methodology implies limitations about generalizability. The framework may also be less useful in crises where there is ambiguity about the genesis of the crisis and its implications, such as the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines’ MH 370 flight. Practical implications – Since crises are commonplace and can impact any company, the framework can be useful for a wide range of companies. Originality/value – The proposed framework fills a gap in the understanding about why some companies have effective responses to crises and others do not. Prior literature has often adopted narrower perspectives such as the skills and the personality of the CEO, pre-crisis drills and effective communication strategies post-crisis. This study argues that while these factors are important, they are not sufficiently strategic.


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