scholarly journals Engaged Anthropology and the Need for Empathy: Anthropological Interventions in the Face of the So-called Refugee Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-97
Author(s):  
Natalia Bloch
Keyword(s):  
Public Debate ◽  
Applied Anthropology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Face ◽  
Engaged Anthropology

This paper is an attempt to consider how engaged anthropology could be practiced in connection with the refugee/migrant crisis. The author presents in detail three anthropological interventions conducted in Poznań, a city in western Poland: (1) the project “We’re All Migrants: (Re)gained Migration Memory”; (2) the campaign “Adopt a Lifejacket”; and (3) the campaign “Gallery without a Home.” At the same time, she criticises the sedentary perspective predominant in the public debate regarding refugees and migrants, and the reduction of the refugee/migrant figure to the category of an Other. She perceives a need to depart from the role of expert and to stimulate empathy by making people aware of the adventitious nature of their lot in life and by emphasizing closeness to the other person rather than constantly focusing on differences. She points to the divergence between engaged and applied anthropology, and the related challenges facing anthropologists in Polish institutions who want to get involved in building social sensibility and interpersonal solidarity. She also calls for the propagation of hope.

Democratization in Serbia: An Analysis of Rational Choice and Structuralist Explanations

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dunja Apostolov-Dimitrijevic
Keyword(s):  
Rational Choice ◽  
Path Dependence ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
The Other ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Transitional Societies ◽  
The Face

This paper explains political democratization in Post-Milosevic Serbia, utilizing two different accounts of the democratization process: one rooted in the rational choice framework and the other in structuralism. While rational choice explains the decisive role of political leadership in overcoming path dependence, the structuralist explanations show the transnational linkages that encourage democratization in the face of domestic setbacks. This particular debate between the two types of explanations represents the larger debate concerning the role of internal factors and external linkages in propelling democratization in transitional societies. The paper concludes by integrating the two sets of explanations offered by each theoretical perspective, in order to develop a coherent understanding of Serbia's democratization.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v9i1.240

The SORS Decision-Making Support System: A statistical tool for better policy making in the Republic of Serbia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Miladin Kovačević ◽  
Katarina Stančić
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Statistical Tool ◽  
The Public ◽  
System A ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Trusted Data

Modern society is witnessing a data revolution which necessarily entails changes to the overall behavior of citizens, governments and companies. This is a big challenge and an opportunity for National Statistics Offices (NSOs). Especially after the outbreak of COVID-19, when the public debate about the number of mortalities and tested and infected persons escalated, trusted data is required more than ever. Which data can modern society trust? Are modern societies being subjected to opinion rather than fact? This paper introduces a new statistical tool to facilitate policy-making based on trusted statistics. Using economic indicators to illustrate implementation, the new statistical tool is shown to be a flexible instrument for analysis, monitoring and evaluation of the economic situation in the Republic of Serbia. By taking a role in public policy management, the tool can be used to transform the NSO’s role in the statistical system into an active participant in public debate in contrast to the previous traditional, usually passive role of collecting, processing and publishing data. The tool supports the integration of statistics into public policies and connects the knowledge and expertise of official statisticians on one side with political decision makers on the other.

The Interrelation between Public Participation and Access to Justice in the eia Context in the Face of the Increasing Use of Digital Technologies: Comment on the cjeu Judgment in the A.Flausch et al Case (C-280/18)

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 39-55
Author(s):  
Vasiliki (Vicky) Karageorgou
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Specific Aspect ◽  
Time Limit ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Face ◽  
Procedural Autonomy

Abstract The article analyzes the cjeu Judgment in the A. Flausch et al case, which concerns the compatibility of the Greek procedural rules relating to specific aspects of the public participation in the eia context and to a specific aspect of access to justice (time limit) with the respective EU Law provisions in the face of the increasing use of digital technologies in the public participation procedures. This ruling is important, because it sets limits to the procedural autonomy of ms when it comes to the rules that are applied to the eia-related disputes and those that concern the public participation arrangements. It demonstrates, though, the lack of a steady line in the Court’s jurisprudence concerning the standards for assessing the national procedural rules and the role of Article 47 cfr. Moreover, the Court did not lay the ground for an interpretation of the ΕU public participation provisions in a way that an obligation for taking measures could be established, with the aim to ensure equal participation opportunities.

scholarly journals Julkinen kaivoskeskustelu diskursiivisena välienselvittelynä

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veera Kangaspunta
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Online News ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Online Newspapers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
Unique Part

The aim of this article is to approach one specific environmental topic and the public debate around this topic from a user-oriented perspective – through online news comments. The article analyses online news and comments sections from three Finnish online newspapers concerning the mining accident of Talvivaara company in November 2012. Discourse and discursive legitimation strategies are used as analytical tools with the focus of critical discourse analysis. The study aims to solve what kind of discourses the public debate contains and how these discourses are connected to certain legitimation strategies. In addition, the article also continues the conceptual deliberation about the concept of the public as a group of people participating in public discussion. The study shows that Talvivaara news and news comments consist four main strategies, authorization, rationalization, moral evaluations and mythopoiesis, used for legitimation, relegitimation and delegitimation. However, the parties differ in the way they utilize these strategies and different discourses. Consequently, online news commenting appears as a unique part of the public debate about the topic, rather than remaining marginal flaming. The users tend to absorb the role of the public as a part of the public showdown about the shared issue.

scholarly journals AgFact: Linking farmers with facts

1997 ◽  
pp. 145-147
Author(s):  
G.I. Ogle ◽  
A.L. Craigie ◽  
M.J. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Service Sector ◽  
The Other ◽  
Information Need ◽  
End User ◽  
Information Base ◽  
The Public ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Distribution Chain

The AgLINK bulletin series dominated all agricultural and horticultural information publications from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, when it was discontinued. The collapse of such a high profile series raises questions about the viability of such a mechanism for linking farmers with facts. This failure highlights three key issues: the need to define and allocate the costs based on who benefits; the appropriate positioning of parties within the distribution chain; and a quality specification to which bulletins must adhere. We consider that AgFACT, the AgResearch pastoral agriculture information base which superseded AgLINK in 1997, should largely be cost neutral to science groups in AgResearch. However, the resources for providing information need to be met by science programmes, a cost which is outweighed by the opportunity to communicate with science stakeholders. The costs of distribution and retail need to fall with the other parties who benefit from the dissemination of this information - the retailer and the end user. We also consider that the role of AgResearch is in manufacture rather than sales to the public, which is best done by the agricultural service sector. AgFACT must maintain tight specifications, to ensure that it is relevant to farmers and other users, accurate and unbiased, and up to date. The penalty for not doing so is a loss of value and, moreover, a risk of it becoming a public liability. Keywords: AgFACT, AgLINK, agricultural information, information base, technology transfer

Die Reformen des Wahlrechts zum Deutschen Bundestag 2011 und 2013 im öffentlichen Diskurs

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 844-864
Author(s):  
Eric Linhart ◽  
Oke Bahnsen
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
Electoral Law ◽  
German Newspapers

The German electoral law to the federal parliament was reformed in 2011 and in 2013 . While political scientists have extensively evaluated consequences of these reforms, the role of the public discourse has been largely neglected . We analyze articles from three leading German newspapers (FAZ, SZ, Welt) on this topic and find the debate around the reforms to be dominated by parties and political institutions . Scientists, interest groups, and journalists have only played minor roles . Regarding content, the discourse largely focused on surplus seats, reform speed, and a proposal by the CDU/CSU‑FDP coalition government in 2011 . A broad public debate in which multiple social groups could participate has not taken place . From a normative perspective this is problematic since the lack of a public debate might have contributed to the poor quality of the reform’s result .

Crimes against the body: causing harm

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alannah Tomkins
Keyword(s):  
Violent Crime ◽  
Expert Witness ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
The Public ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Lay Public

Medical practitioners who were accused of committing violent crime against the bodies of people other than patients presented both the profession and the public with a problem. Both professional bodies and the lay public desired doctors to be social heroes, inhabiting the role of expert witness and protecting the body rather than appearing as a defendant. This study of practitioners accused of either rape or murder finds the limits of medical competition, as men accused of rape were likely to be acquitted to courtroom applause. Medical murderers, on the other hand, offered the profession viable scapegoats to reinforce the impression that the medical fraternity was willing to admit to limited instances of wrong-doing.

scholarly journals Half-Remembering and Half-Forgetting? On Turning the Past of Old Norse Studies into a Future of Old Norse Studies

Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Jan Alexander van Nahl
Keyword(s):  
Old Norse ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
The Public ◽  
Special Obligation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
The Face

Many Humanities scholars seem to have become increasingly pessimistic due to a lack of success in their efforts to be recognized as a serious player next to their science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) colleagues. This appears to be the result of a profound uncertainty in the self-perception of individual disciplines within the Humanities regarding their role both in academia and society. This ambiguity, not least, has its roots in their own history, which often appears as an interwoven texture of conflicting opinions. Taking a stance on the current and future role of the Humanities in general, and individual disciplines in particular thus asks for increased engagement with their own past, i.e., histories of scholarship, which are contingent on societal and political contexts. This article’s focus is on a case study from the field of Old Norse Studies. In the face of the rise of populism and nationalism in our days, Old Norse Studies, with their focus on a ‘Germanic’ past, have a special obligation to address societal challenges. The article argues for the public engagement with the histories of individual disciplines to strengthen scholarly credibility in the face of public opinion and to overcome trenches which hamper attempts at uniting Humanities experts and regaining distinct social relevance.

scholarly journals Two decades of change in Dutch university art libraries

2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 24-28
Author(s):  
Martien Versteeg
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Art History ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Public ◽  
Dutch Art ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Many ◽  
Library User

In 1987 Chris Smeenk wrote in this journal about the libraries of the Dutch art historical institutes. In the 22 years that have since passed many changes have occurred, perhaps most notably the merging of the many autonomous institute libraries into larger ones. Has this led to a more professional approach or was it caused by a search for more efficiency? Does this really matter? The fact is that Smeenk, or any other library user familiar with Dutch art history libraries, would hardly recognise the situation at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Maybe he would complain about the disappearance of the traditional academic institute librarian, but on the other hand he might be cheered by many other developments, such as the more central role of services for the public. Let’s take a look....

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