Scotland's Gàidhealtachd Futures: an introduction

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-156
Author(s):  
James Oliver ◽  
Iain MacKinnon
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Community Networks ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Contemporary Research ◽  
Finite Space ◽  
To Come

This special issue of Scottish Affairs is the first to be solely dedicated to matters relating to Scotland's Gàidhealtachd. Scottish Affairs has a broad, interdisciplinary readership and this informs our approach as guest editors for the special issue. As such, the focus for the issue is to be future-oriented, whilst necessarily being informed by cultural context, contemporary society and lived experience. By curating the articles in these terms, an aim is to encourage an ethic of engagement with a spectrum of topics (not exhaustive) of contemporary research and debate of relevance to the Gàidhealtachd, and to encourage relational perspectives and creative horizons across that spectrum. Therefore, the special issue is not constrained by a single disciplinary focus or structure; although, in important, different ways, the articles are oriented to forms of disciplinarity and practice. This emphasis on emerging debates within the Gàidhealtachd includes their intersections and orientations with situated experiences, subjectivities and voices. Whilst the theme of the special issue is ‘futures’, this is not in a superficially speculative or unproductive sense. Rather, it is ontologically oriented: to the spaces and cultural articulations of encounters and entanglements of people, places and social or community networks. Nevertheless, and not least because of the finite space afforded in a collection or volume of writing, the special issue does not claim to be representative of all dimensions, experiences or understandings of the Gàidhealtachd. Some are yet to come – sin mar a tha e.

scholarly journals Critiquing Anthropocentrism in Henry Ole Kulet’s Vanishing Herds

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-55
Author(s):  
Pushpa Raj Jaishi
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
East African ◽  
To Come

Vanishing Herds (2011) is Henry Ole Kulet’s novel that hovers around the ecological depletion caused by the anthropocentric attitude of the human beings. Set in the East African Savannah, the novel grapples with the critical issue of anthropogenic environmental degradation. The novel is based on the tribulations of a young Maasai couple –Kedoki and Norpisia whose epic journey through the wilderness provides a window through which the destruction of the physical environment can be viewed. Additionally, the text catalogues the challenges faced by a pastoralist community’s attempt to come to terms with the socio-economic realities of a fast-evolving contemporary society. The paper is an attempt to study this novel under the surveillance of green lens and throw light on the ecological destruction especially the clearing of the forest by human self centered endeavors and to critique the anthropocentric attitude of the human beings that render the environment at the verge of destruction.

Translation, interpreting and the genealogy of conflict

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Pérez-González
Keyword(s):  
Special Issue ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
The Public ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
The Media ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Impact

While the growing ubiquitousness of translation and interpreting has established these activities more firmly in the public consciousness, the extent of the translators’ and interpreters’ contribution to the continued functioning of cosmopolitan and participatory postmodern societies remains largely misunderstood. This paper argues that the theorisation of translation and interpretation as social phenomena and of translators/interpreters as agents contributing to the stability or subversion of social structures through their capacity to re-define the context in which they mediate constitutes a recent development in the evolution of the discipline. The consequentiality of the mediators’ agency, one of the most significant insights to come out of this new body of research, is particularly evident in situations of social, political and cultural confrontation. It is contended that this conceptualisation of agency opens up the possibility of translation being used not only to resolve conflict and tension, but also to promote them. Through a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, the contributing authors to this special issue explore a number of sites of linguistic and cultural mediation across a range of institutional settings and textual/interactional genres, with particular emphasis on the contribution of translation and interpreting to the genealogy of conflict. The papers presented here address a number of overlapping themes, including the dialectics of governmental policy-making and translation, the interface between translation, politics and the media, the impact of the narrative affiliation of translators and interpreters as agents of mediation, the frictional dynamics of interpreter-mediated institutional encounters and the dynamics of identity negotiation.

scholarly journals Symposium in Honor of Irving I. Gottesman (December 29, 1930–June 29, 2016)

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-284
Author(s):  
Nancy L. Segal
Keyword(s):  
International Society ◽  
Human Genetics ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Twin Research ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
To Come ◽  
Personal Reflections ◽  
Academic Positions

The June 2016 death of our esteemed colleague, Dr Irving I. Gottesman, was felt as an extreme loss at so many levels by colleagues, students, friends, and family across the globe. Irv's stellar contributions to the field of twin research will continue to be remembered and cited for many years to come. In commemoration of his life and work, I organized a symposium at the 16th meeting of the International Society for Twin Studies, held in Madrid, Spain, November 16–18, 2017. The panelists included mostly former students, as well as colleagues, who presented their scientific research and personal remarks reflecting Irv's profound influence in shaping their lives and careers. A chronology of Irv's academic positions and honors is included in the introduction to this special issue of Twin Research and Human Genetics, followed by brief sketches of the panel participants; their scholarly papers and personal reflections follow.

‘To die, to sleep’ – assisted dying legislation in Victoria: A case study

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1976-1982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Gilbert ◽  
Jane Boag
Keyword(s):  
Terminal Illness ◽  
Assisted Dying ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Australian Society ◽  
Australian State ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Impact

Background: Assisted dying remains an emotive topic globally with a number of countries initiating legislation to allow individuals access to assisted dying measures. Victoria will become the first Australian state in over 13 years to pass Assisted Dying Legislation, set to come into effect in 2019. Objectives: This article sought to evaluate the impact of Victorian Assisted Dying Legislation via narrative view and case study presentation. Research design: Narrative review and case study. Participants and research context: case study. Ethical considerations: This legislation will provide eligible Victorian residents with the option to request access to assisted dying measures as a viable alternative to a potentially painful, protracted death. Findings: This legislation, while conservative and inclusive of many safeguards at present, will form the basis for further discussion and debate on assisted dying across Australia in time to come. Discussion: The passing of this legislation by the Victorian parliament was prolonged, emotive and divided not only the parliament but Australian society. Conclusion: Many advocates for this legislation proclaimed it was well overdue and will finally meet the needs of contemporary society. Protagonists claim that medical treatment should not provide a means of ending life, despite palliative care reportedly often failing to relieve the pain and suffering of individuals living with a terminal illness.

scholarly journals A Queering-to-Come

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-376
Author(s):  
Kirk Fiereck ◽  
Neville Hoad ◽  
Danai S. Mupotsa
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Colonial Archive ◽  
Global North ◽  
To Come ◽  
Academic Study

This introduction outlines the idea of the queer customary and how various African articulations of it engage, contest, and nuance central concerns of queer theory produced in the global North, particularly around ideas of normativity—hetero and homo. It speculates on the customary’s reworking of temporality and what that reworking does to historical time and the problems and possibilities in reading the colonial archive in the search for a useable past for both lived African sexual and gendered experience and the academic study of it. The customary is seen as an iterative containment of ancestral time, a powerful form of self-fashioning in the present, and as an invitation to futurity. Brief framings of how the various essays in the special issue elaborate what we are calling the queer customary follow.

scholarly journals Editors’ Introduction to the Special Issue of the Journal of Transformative Education on Assessing Transformative Learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-305
Author(s):  
Kris Acheson ◽  
John M. Dirkx
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Transformative Education ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Jack Mezirow ◽  
Education Community ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Over 40 Years

Over 40 years ago, Jack Mezirow introduced the idea of transformative learning (TL) to the adult education community. Representing a profound shift in how one thinks and feels about one’s self and the socio-cultural context in which one is embedded, transformative learning has since evolved to reflect numerous theoretical lenses and its framework continues to be extended and elaborated. As TL theory expands within different contexts and across different disciplines, particularly within postsecondary education, the term transformative learning is often employed with scant connection to the theoretical framework in which it was initially grounded. Learners and educators alike frequently describe learning experiences as transformative, yet little consensus exists around a definition of transformative leaning However, if the field is to continue to evolve theoretically, we cannot accept these claims of transformation at face value. The phenomenon must be measured in some manner. The field continues to struggle with several perennial issues related to assessment. This special issue of the Journal of Transformative Education seeks to address the need to wrestle with these underlying theoretical and conceptual issues by critiquing the state of the field, introducing new approaches to operationalizing the phenomenon, and advancing new trajectories for research. We approach this charge through two major threads explored through eight papers that represent Methodological Innovations and Cases of Methodological Application. We close this introduction to the Special Issue with key themes represented in the eight papers and recommendations for addressing the challenges of assessing the processes and outcomes of transformative learning.

Socially constructing safety

2009 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 1259-1266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Turner ◽  
Garry C. Gray
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Organizational Conditions ◽  
Cultural Considerations ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Social Scientific

Social scientific perspectives on occupational safety largely characterize it as a disembodied, tangible, and easily quantifiable phenomenon. Recent research efforts have focused on exploring organizational conditions that predict occupational safety outcomes, resulting in top-down, often de-contextualized prescriptions about how to control safety in the workplace (e.g. ‘management should promote a culture of safety’). There is growing interest in how social processes of organizing, wider socio-cultural considerations, and the situated production of safety can contribute to the appreciation of the ‘lived experience’ of life and death at work. This Special Issue focuses on the socially constructed nature of occupational safety and the insight it provides in understanding broader social and organizational processes. In this article, we first describe how various social scientific disciplines share an interest in occupational safety and organizational behavior, yet rarely speak to another. We provide an overview of the five articles that comprise the Special Issue, and briefly highlight some ways forward for studying safety in organizations.

Richness in diversity: Towards more contemporary research conceptualisations of women’s entrepreneurship

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 609-618
Author(s):  
Colette Henry ◽  
Susan Coleman ◽  
Lene Foss ◽  
Barbara J Orser ◽  
Candida G Brush
Keyword(s):  
Women Entrepreneurs ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Contemporary Research ◽  
Women’S Entrepreneurship ◽  
Novel Approaches ◽  
Women's Entrepreneurship ◽  
Key Dimensions

Analyses of the diversity of women entrepreneurs and their enterprises, using novel approaches and theoretical viewpoints, is lacking in contemporary scholarship. Accordingly, this article reviews and critiques five articles that constitute this Special Issue (SI) focused on exploring the diversity of women’s entrepreneurship. The authors acknowledge that entrepreneurship is a rich and multi-coloured tapestry, hence, these SI articles highlight the complexities of women entrepreneurs and celebrate their diversity through signposting towards research conceptualisations that reflect the actual rather than the assumed status quo. The article contributes to extant scholarship by platforming the heterogeneity of women’s entrepreneurial endeavours, supporting the view that in terms of supporting women’s entrepreneurship, ‘one size (still) does not fit all’. We also propose a framework to help future scholars strengthen the quality and relevance of their research on women entrepreneurs along four key dimensions: influence of context; theoretical development; multiplicity of dimensions; and heterogeneity.

Introduction: Transmitting Rosa Luxemburg

2018 ◽  
Vol 94 (94) ◽  
pp. 4-6
Author(s):  
Filippo Menozzi
Keyword(s):  
Political Engagement ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
National Question ◽  
Living Substance ◽  
To Come ◽  
Forms Of Violence ◽  
Nancy Fraser ◽  
Rosa Luxemburg

Rosa Luxemburg will be honoured, remembered, and celebrated as a figure from the past only when, in a future still to-come, the goals of social justice, peace and equality that she fought for are realised. As long as bitter struggles and widespread suffering continue, she is still living, a living substance that is part of the present and can inspire political engagement. The wider meaning of declaring Rosa Luxemburg our contemporary, then, is that the objectives she struggled for are still to-come, and the forms of violence and oppression she struggled against are still part of the material social conditions of today’s world. This coevalness can be pronounced because many issues at the heart of her thought and activism are still with us: from imperialism and the national question to what Nancy Fraser calls the 'back-stories' of capitalism. This special issue of New Formations aims to contribute to the transmission of this vital legacy by suggesting questions about relevance, memory and resonance: how does Luxemburg speak to us, how do her thoughts echo with our own? How can we prevent the legacy of Rosa Luxemburg from becoming heritage, a thing of the past? The essays and interviews included in this special issue grapple in different ways with the central question of how to assess the contemporaneity of Rosa Luxemburg without turning her into an object of commemoration.

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