scholarly journals Secrets, Trauma, and the Memory Market (or the return of the repressed in recent Argentine post-dictatorship cultural production)

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-71
Author(s):  
Silvia R Tandeciarz
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Global Memory ◽  
The Public ◽  
State Terrorism ◽  
Healthy Body ◽  
Do So

Since the end of the last Argentine Dictatorship (1976-1983), a number of feature-length films have engaged in the public debate over the legacies of state terrorism. El secreto de sus ojos (2009), Argentina's most recent Oscar winner, is the latest to do so, exploring the effects of more than a decade of impunity on those who lost their loved ones. Suggesting that restoration of a justice system that works can lead to the restoration of full civic engagement in a healthy body politic, the film raises important questions about citizenship and belonging in a post-national era. This essay explores the film's phenomenal success in the global memory market to illuminate what remains at stake in contemporary narratives of reconciliation.

#MirandaMustGo: Contesting a settler colonial obsession with lost-in-the-bush myths through public and socially engaged art

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-234
Author(s):  
Amy Spiers
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
General Public ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Indigenous Australians ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Attention ◽  
Central Victoria ◽  
Socially Engaged Art ◽  
Critical Methodology ◽  
Do So

In January 2017, settler Australian artist, Amy Spiers, launched a creative campaign to contest habitual associations at the site of Hanging Rock in Central Victoria with a white vanishing myth. Entitled #MirandaMustGo, the campaign’s objective was to provoke thought and unease about why the missing white schoolgirls of Joan Lindsay’s fictional novel, Picnic at Hanging Rock, prompted more attention and feeling in the general public than the actual losses of lives, land and culture experienced by Indigenous people in the region as a consequence of rapid and violent colonial occupation. The campaign incited significant media attention, substantial public debate and some reconsideration of the stories told at Hanging Rock. In this article, Spiers will describe how she conceptualized the artwork/campaign as a propositional counter-memorial action that attempted to conceive ways in which non-Indigenous Australians can acknowledge, and take responsibility for, the denial of colonization’s impact on Indigenous people. She will do so by discussing the critical methodology that underpinned this socially engaged artwork and continue by analysing the public reception and dissensus the campaign provoked. She will conclude in presenting some thoughts about what #MirandaMustGo produced: a rupture of the public secret of Australia’s violent colonial past, a marked shift to the discourse concerning Hanging Rock and an ongoing, unresolved agitation stimulated by Picnic at Hanging Rock’s persistent reproducibility.

scholarly journals In Defense of Moderate Inclusivism: Revisiting Rawls and Habermas on Religion in the Public Sphere

2018 ◽  
pp. 143-157
Author(s):  
Jonas Jakobsen ◽  
Kjersti Fjørtoft
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Public Reason ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Religious Reasons ◽  
Do So

The paper discusses Rawls’ and Habermas’ theories of deliberative democracy, focusing on the question of religious reasons in political discourse. Whereas Rawls as well as Habermas defend a fully inclusivist position on the use of religious reasons in the ‘background culture’ (Rawls) or ‘informal public sphere’ (Habermas), we defend a moderately inclusivist position. Moderate inclusivism welcomes religiously inspired contributions to public debate, but it also makes normative demands on public argumentation beyond the ‘public forum’ (Rawls) or ‘formal public sphere’ (Habermas). In particular, moderate inclusivism implies what we call a ‘conversational translation proviso’ according to which citizens have a duty to supplement religious with proper political arguments if – but only if – they are asked to do so by their co-discussants. This position, we argue, is more in line with the deeper intuitions behind Rawls’ political liberalism and Habermas’ deliberative model than is the fully inclusivist alternative. Keywords: conversational translation proviso, deliberative democracy, ethics of citizenship, Habermas, moderate inclusivism, public reason, Rawls

scholarly journals Reflexivity and Rapprochement: Explorations of a ‘Postsecular’ Public Theology

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-289
Author(s):  
Elaine Graham
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Public Square ◽  
New Models ◽  
The Common

Abstract Accounts of secularization, decline and marginalization in relation to the public position of religion in western society have failed to account for the continued vitality and relevance of religion in the global public square. It is important, however, to challenge simplistic accounts and think of the new visibility of religion (not least in Europe) in terms of complexity and multi-dimensionality. This article will ask how public theology might contribute constructively to repairing our fractured body politic and promoting new models of citizenship and civic engagement around visions of the common good.

Recent Public Opinion in the United States Toward Punishment and Corrections

1993 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTOPHER A. INNES
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Options ◽  
The Public ◽  
Generalized System ◽  
Public Opinion Surveys ◽  
Do So

This article reviews recent public opinion data concerning punishment and corrections, yielding a number of apparently contradictory viewpoints. Rather than being irrational or unrealistic, these patterns of responses, it is argued here, can be deciphered only by assuming that the public holds a complex, generalized system of beliefs about punishment and corrections. This system of beliefs, however, is organized around broader symbols and images, not a set of mutually exclusive and logically consistent policy options. The public appears to have an abstract commitment to justice, wants the criminal justice system to work properly, and is frustrated that it does not appear to do so. Although the public is decidedly punitive toward criminals, they are more lenient toward inmates because they are no longer seen as an immediate threat. Rehabilitative efforts, so long as they are conducted within prisons, receive strong support. But the public is more wary of programs that carry greater risks because of a perceived conflict with the higher priority goal of public safety. This view is speculative; no single survey or study has explored all these issues together. It is, however, consistent with the details of various public opinion surveys, and it also lends support to those current correctional practices that seek to integrate programs for inmates with the more general concerns of correctional management. There are, therefore, several ways that correctional administrators can present their mission in a manner that is sensitive to the concerns of the public and that avoids language or terms that may be misinterpreted.

Undisciplined, selfish big babies? The cultural framing of the Italian financial crisis

Modern Italy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Storti ◽  
Joselle Dagnes ◽  
Javier González Díez
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Financial Problems ◽  
Family Ties ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
The Media ◽  
Accurate Reading

In the public debate played out in the media, the financial crisis in Italy is often depicted through a culturalist frame; the country’s difficulties are traced deterministically to an ethos, supposedly widespread among Italians, of amoral familism and a limited sense of civic engagement. This paper illustrates three issues that exemplify the country’s financial problems, and which are often seen through this type of culturalist lens: i) a lack of discipline in managing public finances; ii) a lack of interest in co-operation caused by the excessive importance given to family ties; iii) a lack of agency from the people involved, symbolised by a reluctance to leave home and to adopt an intense pace of work. Considering the relevant literature and various statistics, we show that a culturalist approach helps to spread a stereotyped and misleading view of these three issues. Instead, we suggest that a more accurate reading of the situation, and more stimulating when it comes to public debate, can be obtained by observing the way individuals adapt to the limitations and opportunities of the context in which they operate.

scholarly journals Dangerous liaisons?: A feminist and restorative approach to sexual assault

Temida ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brunilda Pali ◽  
Madsen Sten
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
High Standard ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Public Realm ◽  
Gendered Violence ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Relationship

The appropriateness of restorative justice (RJ) for gendered violence offences such as domestic violence and sexual assault has always been and still is highly contested. This paper focuses on the appropriateness of RJ measures in addressing sexual assault, primarily with reference to experience of restorative dialogues as practiced at the Centre for Victims of Sexual Assault in Copenhagen, and it takes a feminist approach to the application of RJ measures to sexual assault. Within this framework, the paper tackles two issues in particular: the privacy element of RJ versus the public aspect of the criminal justice system (CJS), and the intersection of the CJS and RJ in cases of sexual assault. In relation to the relationship between CJS and RJ, the authors argue that RJ could be used for victims of sexual assault, not primarily as part of diversion programmes, but when offered apart from and/or parallel to the CJS. In relation to the private/public debate, the authors argue that while RJ encounters, by taking place in highly confidential settings, might have a negative impact on efforts by women?s movements to move violence against women out of the private and into the public realm, creating high standard alternatives for individual women who are in need of support and constantly generating public debate about gendered violence is a good feminist response to this complex issue.

scholarly journals Religious Freedom and the Idea of Establishing Islamic State

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Abu Hapsin
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The Body ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The Public

<p class="ABSTRACT"><span lang="EN">The idea of Gamwell on“religion as rational” was based on the concept that religious freedom is nothing other than a political discourse that can be figured out only through a democratic resolution. Changing paradigm from “religion as non-rational” to “religion as rational” is a necessary condition for entering a public debate. Yet, the sole public debate or public view is not enough to solve the modern political problematic. The public debate must be guided by a constitutional procedure affirmed by the body politic so that it fulfills the criteria of formal claim about justice. Applying qualitative research and literature review this research tried to reveal: Gamwell’s idea of religious freedom, the features of the Islamic State as described by Abdul Rauf and Gamwell’s concept of religious freedom and the idea of establishing the Islamic State advocated by Abdul Rauf.</span></p><p class="ABSTRAK">Gagasan Gamwell tentang "agama itu rasional" didasarkan pada konsep bahwa kebebasan beragama tidak lain adalah wacana politik yang hanya bisa diraih melalui resolusi demokratis. Mengubah paradigma dari "agama sebagai tidak rasional" menjadi "agama sebagai rasional" adalah syarat yang diperlukan sebelum memasuki debat publik. Namun, debat publik atau pandangan publik saja tidak cukup untuk memecahkan masalah politik modern. Perdebatan publik harus dipandu oleh prosedur konstitusional yang ditegaskan oleh badan politik sehingga memenuhi kriteria klaim formal tentang keadilan. Dengan menggunakan penelitian kualitatif dan kajian pustaka penelitian ini mencoba mengungkapkan: gagasan Gamwell tentang kebebasan beragama, ciri-ciri Negara Islam seperti yang dijelaskan oleh Abdul Rauf, dan konsep Gamwell tentang kebebasan beragama, serta gagasan untuk mendirikan Negara Islam yang dianjurkan oleh Abdul Rauf.</p>

scholarly journals «That’s just my opinion»: The principle of expression and the public debate

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ida Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Public Rhetoric ◽  
The Public ◽  
Informal Setting ◽  
Do So

Public debate is commonly understood as deliberation; as the weighing of arguments for and against choices of future action. A principle of deliberation entails that interlocutors approach one another through argumentation in favour and against a given point of view. In this article, I outline a competing debate ideal, the principle of expression, and demonstrate its pervasiveness in contemporary public rhetoric. According to this communicative ideal, public debate is understood not as an exchange of opinion but rather a display of opinions. The beliefs and opinions voiced in the public debate should, moreover, be seen as purely expressive: They arise out of the individual’s inviolable interiority and individuality. As such, argumentation is neither required nor legitimate. In the article, I outline the principle of expression and discuss its implications for the democratic public debate. I do so, by drawing on a case study of public debate in social media, as well as recent utterances spoken by political leaders. In moving between the utterances of ordinary people engaged in public debate in the informal setting of social media and the utterances of political leaders in formal settings, I demonstrate the pervasiveness of the principle of expression in contemporary public rhetoric.

Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 234-248
Author(s):  
Mogens Lærke
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The State ◽  
Dutch Republic ◽  
Public Speech ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

This concluding chapter offers some perspectives on Spinoza’s understanding of the freedom of philosophizing. It shows how Spinoza’s conception responded to the need for new normative theories of public debate and civic engagement in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic. It also confronts Spinoza’s conception of collective free philosophizing with Jürgen Habermas’s classic account of the bourgeois public sphere. While pointing to essential similarities between their conceptions, it also shows how Spinoza’s model of libertas philosophandi, based on democratic realignment of the structures of political counsel and sovereign command, and on a model of public speech driven by intellectual joy, offers a theoretical alternative to Habermas’s dialectical understanding of the relations between the state and the public sphere, and to his consensus-oriented conception of public debate.

scholarly journals Toward an assessment of marginality in democratic systems: The Charlie Hebdo debate in the United Kingdom

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 497-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Felicetti ◽  
Pietro Castelli Gattinara
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Analytical Data ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Maximin Principle ◽  
Democratic Systems ◽  
The Guardian ◽  
Do So ◽  
Charlie Hebdo

This article offers a theoretical and empirical investigation of marginality of actors and ideas in democratic systems. We do so with respect to the extensive public debate that ensued from the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks of January 2015. Using content analytical data retrieved from The Guardian, we assess the degree and nature of marginality as indicated by the presence of different types of intervention in the public debate. Our findings show that women have very limited visibility; religious and minority groups—particularly Muslims—are sidestepped; and actors challenging the dominant securitisation narrative are systematically neglected by those holding dominant positions. We argue for greater attention to the problem of marginality and introduce the Maximin principle of marginality as a means to address this issue in analyses of democratic systems.

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