scholarly journals A Feminist Reading of Hashtag Activism in Ghana

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (16) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Female Sexuality ◽  
Premarital Sex ◽  
Patriarchal Ideology ◽  
Feminist Movements ◽  
Religious Morality ◽  
Feminist Work

This article examines Akumaa Mama Zimbi’s activism in the Ghanaian social media landscape, specifically Twitter. I argue that while it is imperative to critique her hashtag activism for its complicity with patriarchal ideology in the repression of female sexuality, it is important to contextualize her work within conversations on gender activism and feminisms in Ghana. This article parses out the politics of and tensions in feminist movements on the continent demonstrating how certain activist labels can be depoliticized and used to undo decades of feminist work on the continent. By drawing on my lived experience as an ethnically marginalized Muslim woman born and raised in Ghana who is active in the country’s digital (activist) public sphere, I present a critical analysis of the pervasive conversations on gender activism and feminism in Ghana. I employ the conceptual framework of framing to examine the main topics that arise out of Akumaa’s #WearYourDrossNow campaign on Ghana Twitter which aims at discouraging young women from engaging in premarital sex. I assert that Akumaa’s work is inspired by her personal interpretation of gender activism and is closely tied to religious morality and conservative notions of female sexuality in Ghana.

The NGOization of Space: Dilemmas of Social Change, Planning Policy, and the Israeli Public Sphere

10.1068/d459t ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 745-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haim Yacobi
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Production Of Space ◽  
The Public ◽  
Planning Policy ◽  
Strategic Goals ◽  
The Public Sphere

This paper offers a critical analysis of the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that deal with planning policy in general and in Israel in particular. The inherent dilemmas of the different NGOs' tactics and strategies in reshaping the public sphere are examined, based on a critical reading of Habermas's conceptualization of the public sphere. The main objective of this paper is to investigate to what extent, and under which conditions, the NGOization of space—that is, the growing number of nongovernmental actors that deal with the production of space both politically and tangibly—has been able to achieve strategic goals which may lead towards social change.

On Translating Religious Reasons: Rawls, Habermas, and the Quest for a Neutral Public Sphere

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Sikka
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Religious Discourse ◽  
Religious Language ◽  
Full Inclusion ◽  
Sharp Distinction ◽  
Political Reasoning ◽  
Religious Reasons

AbstractThrough a critical analysis of the positions of Rawls and Habermas, the article argues against the proviso that religious language be “translated” into an allegedly neutral vocabulary as a condition for full inclusion within public political reasoning. Defending and expanding the analysis of Maeve Cooke, it maintains that both Habermas and Rawls mischaracterize the nature of religious reasons in relation to reasons alleged to be “freestanding,” “secular,” or “postmetaphysical.” Reflection on the origins of religious discourse and the component thought to be retained when such discourse is “translated” demonstrates the untenability of a sharp distinction between “rational” and “religious” discourse on matters pertaining to morality. The article nonetheless affirms the need for common acceptance of the justificatory language of coercive political policies, but contends that this language is best conceived as a historically evolving wide (not universal) agreement, and as a confluence of various types of agreement.

scholarly journals WHO’S LAUGHING NOW? SURVIVORS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE JOKE ABOUT RAPE

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Lise Frey
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Sexual Trauma ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
The Public ◽  
Stand Up Comedy ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Cultural Responses ◽  
Feminist Work

Survivors of sexual violence in Canada face a culture that is largely hostile to their voices and experiences. Despite this, some survivors turn to the public sphere to work through their trauma. This thesis presents interview data from seven survivors who have performed stand-up comedy about their own experiences with sexual violence. It weaves together critical and clinical trauma theories, feminist work on sexual violence, and communications theories about humour and joking to offer new insights into how cultural responses to sexual trauma can work to challenge dominant attitudes about rape. This thesis ultimately argues that the cognitive, linguistic, and affective strategies that joking encourages can guide survivors towards reconceptualising the traumatic events they’ve experienced and facilitate the integration of those traumas into their lives. By focusing on a novel aspect of survivors’ affective expressions – their fun – this analysis works to make better sense of peoples’ complex responses to trauma.

Technologies of (in)security: Masculinity and the complexity of neoliberalism

2021 ◽  
pp. 146470012110463
Author(s):  
Steve Garlick
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Complex Systems Theory ◽  
William Connolly ◽  
Critical Account ◽  
Men And Masculinities ◽  
Feminist Work

Although there is much feminist work that has examined the intersection of gender and neoliberalism, critical work on men and masculinities remains underdeveloped in this area. This article suggests that complexity theory is a crucial resource for a critical analysis of the ways in which masculinities contribute to the ongoing maintenance of neoliberal socio-economic systems. Critical work on neoliberalism and capitalist economics has recently been drawn to complex systems theory, as evidenced by the work of scholars such as Sylvia Walby, William Connolly and Brian Massumi. Their work produces important insights into neoliberalism, but does not develop a sustained reflection on the place of men and masculinities in this domain. In order to develop a critical account of the relation of masculinity to complexity, the article draws on the work of Judith Butler and Bonnie Mann. It suggests that Butler’s theorising on precariousness contains important resources for understanding how hegemonic masculinities are positioned in relation to the complexity of neoliberal systems, as illustrated in Mann’s concept of ‘sovereign masculinity’. Finally, drawing on two different examples of the enactment of masculinities in neoliberal contexts, the article argues that hegemonic forms of masculinity can be understood as technologies for the amelioration of the complexities and insecurities generated by neoliberal markets.

scholarly journals Questioning the Ideal of the Public Sphere: The Emotional Turn

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630511985217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Wahl-Jorgensen
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Letters To The Editor ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media System ◽  
Essential Resource ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Ideal

This article discusses the usefulness and limitations of Habermas concept of the public sphere, on the basis of the trajectory of the author’s work. It starts from the observation that the concept has generated a rich scholarly debate on tensions between the normative ideals and the nitty-gritty lived experience of mediated publics. While fundamental norms of interaction associated with the ideal of the public sphere remain essential to the creation of meaningful debate, it also relies on a series of unhelpful binary distinctions that may be neither normatively desirable nor attainable. Key assumptions of the public sphere model include the idea that public debate should be rational, impartial, dispassionate, and objective. This, in turn, implies the undesirability of emotionality, partiality, passion, and subjectivity. In recent years, particularly in response to the rise of digital and social media, scholars have begun to question the rigid delineation of such norms. The article draws on the author’s work to illuminate how an “emotional turn” in media studies has opened up for a more nuanced appraisal of the role of subjectivity and personal stories in the articulation of the common good, challenging Habermasian understandings of rational-critical debate. This “emotional turn” constitutes an essential resource for theorizing public debate as it unfolds within a hybrid media system, for better and for worse. The article shows how the “emotional turn” has shaped the author’s work on mediated public debate, ranging from letters to the editor and user-generated content to Twitter hashtags and the “emotional architecture” of Facebook.

Chick Noir: Surveilling Femininity and the Affects of Loss in Gone Girl

Noir Affect ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 197-221
Author(s):  
Pamela Thoma
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Young Women ◽  
First Century ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Surveillance Culture ◽  
The Public ◽  
Textual Production ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
A Site

This chapter explores a surprising shift that has occurred in postfeminist popular culture and more specifically “chick culture” in the wake of the global economic crisis. Chick noir forms itself in opposition to those two standbys of twenty-first-century U.S culture, chick lit and the chick flick. If these latter genres perform a humorous remodelling of romance as the “happy object” around which young women should orient self-making or self-improvement projects for the promise of a good life and future feelings of happiness, chick noir has emerged across popular culture to chronicle widespread economic hardship and social decline under neoliberalism. Chick noir narratives are driven by negative affect and deal in the dark side of relationships, domesticity, and the public sphere for women. The chapter takes Gone Girl as its focus. This chapter pays particular attention to ways in which both texts shine a light on modern surveillance culture to explore the textual production of empathy and coercion and the ways in which these texts imagine femininity as a site of surveillance. What emerges is a form of noir affect that dramatizes the absolute lack of a stable or noncontradictory space for the contemporary female subject.

scholarly journals Integrated mental health atlas of the Western Sydney Local Health District: gaps and recommendations

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Fernandez ◽  
James A. Gillespie ◽  
Jennifer Smith-Merry ◽  
Xiaoqi Feng ◽  
Thomas Astell-Burt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Adult Mental Health ◽  
Local Evidence ◽  
Integrated Mental Health

Objective Australian mental health care remains hospital centric and fragmented; it is riddled with gaps and does little to promote recovery. Reform must be built on better knowledge of the shape of existing services. Mental health atlases are an essential part of this knowledge base, enabling comparison with other regions and jurisdictions, but must be based on a rigorous classification of services. The main aim of this study is to create an integrated mental health atlas of the Western Sydney LHD in order to help decision makers to better plan informed by local evidence. Methods The standard classification system, namely the Description and Evaluation of Services and Directories in Europe for Long-term Care model, was used to describe and classify adult mental health services in the Western Sydney Local Health District (LHD). This information provided the foundation for accessibility maps and the analysis of the provision of care for people with a lived experience of mental illness in Western Sydney LHD. All this data was used to create the Integrated Mental Health Atlas of Western Sydney LHD. Results The atlas identified four major gaps in mental health care in Western Sydney LHD: (1) a lack of acute and sub-acute community residential care; (2) an absence of services providing acute day care and non-acute day care; (3) low availability of specific employment services for people with a lived experience of mental ill-health; and (4) a lack of comprehensive data on the availability of supported housing. Conclusions The integrated mental health atlas of the Western Sydney LHD provides a tool for evidence-informed planning and critical analysis of the pattern of adult mental health care. What is known about the topic? Several reports have highlighted that the Australian mental health system is hospital based and fragmented. However, this knowledge has had little effect on actually changing the system. What does this paper add? This paper provides a critical analysis of the pattern of adult mental health care provided within the boundaries of the Western Sydney LHD using a standard, internationally validated tool to describe and classify the services. This provides a good picture of the availability of adult mental health care at the local level that was hitherto lacking. What are the implications for practitioners? The data presented herein provide a better understanding of the context in which mental health practitioners work. Managers and planners of services providing care for people with a lived experience of mental illness can use the information herein for better planning informed by local evidence.

scholarly journals Relational Distressed and Maternal Absence: Young Women's Lived Experience of Familial Breast Cancer

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 200-222
Author(s):  
Nicole Johnson ◽  
Janice Pascal
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Familial Breast Cancer ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Loss And Grief ◽  
Permanent Loss ◽  
Cancer Experience

Young women growing up within the context of familial breast cancer are faced with significant psychosocial challenges. The most profound of these are the temporary absence, and permanent loss, of their mothers. Eighteen young women (aged 18–34) from rural Victoria (Australia), with family histories of breast cancer, were interviewed for this study. The data were analyzed using hermeneutic Heideggerian phenomenology to explore their lived experiences. Our findings reveal the long term and pervasive consequences of relational distress associated with the temporary and permanent loss of mothers. This distress is experienced through disruptions to developmental attachment and embodied and biographical identity. We highlight how familial breast cancer extends beyond genetic inheritance to encompass the relational distress of loss and grief. We conclude by highlighting the importance of considering the ways in which temporality, self-identity, and daughters' ways of seeing themselves are significantly altered by their mothers' cancer experience.

Publication ethics: stressing the positive

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Keeble
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Publication Ethics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – This paper discusses the publication “Challenges to ethical publishing in the digital era”. Design/methodology/approach – It is a critical analysis of the paper built around two main arguments: the need to stress the positive in ethical debates; the critique of apolitical professionalism; the crucial need to stress the ties between politics and ethics. Findings – No finding — it was simply argument. Research limitations/implications – Provocative challenge to dominant ethical debates. Practical implications – The need to challenge the myths of professionalism. Originality/value – The need for the academe to embrace more the work coming out of the alternative public sphere.

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