Power Struggles in the Implementation of Gender Equality Policies: The Politics of Resistance and Counter-resistance in Universities

This article develops an analytical framework to study the power struggles between status quo and gender equality actors underpinning the implementation of gender equality policies. While resistance to gender equality policies in different institutions has received considerable scholarly attention, examining this struggle in light of a multifaceted concept of power that encompasses both domination and individual and collective empowerment, we argue, offers a more accurate account of the possibilities of a feminist politics of implementation. Our analytical framework also accounts for the factors that enable resistance by dominant actors and counter-resistance by gender equality actors and the informal rules that are being upheld or challenged, respectively. Applying our framework to the study of Spanish universities, we identify both the forms and types of resistance that hinder gender reform efforts in higher education institutions and the counter-action strategies that seek to drive implementation forward and achieve institutional change.

Queerly, Hopelessly, Precariously

This paper reimagines a queer politics of globalization through three contemporary Taiwanese films. Lesbian Factory (2010) and Rainbow Popcorn (2013) were made by labor activists and focused on a landmark labor protest organized by Filipina migrant workers in Taiwan. However, during the filming process, the documentaries inadvertently turn into productions about migration, workers' protests, and new forms of queer intimacy and relationality forged among people who are on the move. Thanatos, Drunk (2015) is a feature film that centers on those who are forced to move, those without mobility, and those who have failed to move even when doing so is necessary for one's survival. Whether queer or straight in the film, everyone is on a downward spiral in life due to the neoliberal restructuring of the global economy. Drawing from queer theories of negativity, affect, and relationality, this paper rethinks queerness in regard to migration by establishing connections between queers' and migrants' negative relation to space and movement. Further, it cautions against the rhetoric of occupation in the Occupy Wall Street movement. It critiques the tendency to valorize mobility, capacity, and the logic of spatial expansion embedded in that of “occupy,” as well as the same logic that underlines contemporary Chinese nationalist and triumphalist thinking dominating large parts of Chinese and Sinophone locations. Ultimately, this paper is a critical intervention from the position of geopolitical and academic marginality. It reimagines the global politics of resistance against neoliberal economic order, the resurgence of nationalism, and imperialist ambition by placing subjects of resistance on the other side of mobility, spatial expansion, hope, and capacity—where new forms of intimacy and relationality also emerge.

Unsavory Characters

From early works such as “Ralo” (1997) to the more recent “Black Fox Valley” (2012), the acclaimed Tibetan author Tsering Döndrup has demonstrated a consistent interest in the impact of the Chinese language on Tibetan life. This article examines the techniques and implications of Tsering Döndrup's use of Chinese in his Tibetan language texts, focusing on his recent novella “Baba Baoma” (2019), the first-person account of a rural Tibetan boy who attends a Chinese school and ends up stuck between two languages. In a major departure from Tsering Döndrup's previous work on the language problem, this text directly incorporates untranslated Chinese characters, blending them with Tibetan transliterations and Hanyu Pinyin (i.e., the Latin alphabet) to create a deliberately disorienting linguistic collage. This article argues that this latest work pushes Tsering Döndrup's previous experiments to their logical conclusion: a condition of forced bilingualism, in which the author demands of his readers fluency in Chinese in order to access his Tibetan language fiction. This critique of the Sino-Tibetan linguistic crisis puts the author's work into conversation with global postcolonial literatures and the politics of resistance to language hegemony. By demonstrating the Tibetan language's capacity for literary creation, the story effectively resists the hegemony it depicts, even while it suggests that the Tibetan literary text itself is in the process of being fundamentally redefined by its unequal encounter with the Chinese language.

The Politics of Resistance From Within

Everyday racism embedded in all facets of society, coupled with ongoing injustices against racialized people globally, have reignited an urgent action to turn the gaze within social work education. There is a need to challenge and resist white supremacy that continues to institutionalize systemic racism and justify state control of social and political processes. These current realities are in direct contradiction to the neoliberal push for state withdrawal from social programming and essential services. Yet the interconnectedness between neoliberalism, white supremacy and fascist ideologies has gone undetected in social work circles resulting in a political and ideological vacuum in the profession. Within the social work curricula, there is a lack of attention and involvement to effectively dismantle white supremacy and racism that are perpetuated within and through the profession. The social work classroom has been a natural place to incubate a new wave of resistance that has the potential of changing the face of the profession. Considering the deleterious effects white supremacy has for racialized bodies within academic spaces, we assert the embodiments of resistance with a call to action for social work scholars, students, administrators and practitioners. These key actors must reject the legacy of white supremacy in our profession that acts as social control agents serving the state's interests and perpetuating its hegemony. We explore some of the ways in which we confront and disrupt white supremacy, which includes interrogating and dismantling dominant discourses, systemic and institutional academic racism (teaching, research and service), social work curriculum and priorities, and racist classroom dynamics that have been shaped by whiteness that continues to impact the interactions between racialized and white students and professors. We conclude with a call to infuse social work with practices and approaches that equip students with knowledge and tangible tools to enact change beyond academic spaces.

Seeing the Quiet Politics in Unquiet Woods: A Different Vantage Point for a Future Forest Agenda

We address two aspects of forest lives—violence and care—that are central to forest outcomes but often invisible in mainstream discussions on forests. We argue that questions of violence and care work in forests open up debates about what forests are, who defines them, and how. We draw primarily on feminist work on forestry, violence, and care to examine the gendered nature of forest conflicts and the ‘quiet politics’ of resistance to violence grounded in the everyday work of care that are crucial to understanding forests and their governance. We show how varied practices of resistance to violence and injustice are grounded in cooperative action of care and are an intrinsic part of shaping and regenerating forests. We highlight the importance of close attention to seemingly mundane actions rooted in people’s daily lives and experiences that shape forests.

Performing Deference in Ahiqar: The significance of a Politics of Resistance in the Narrative and Proverbs of Ahiqar

This article argues that subtle resistance to power was all-important in Ahiqar and this was highlighted through interpreting the narrative and poetic sections symbiotically. This resistance to power, however, was hidden in Ahiqar, embedded in ironic twists on traditionally expected roles, and in the display of obedience, deference, and loyalty that is performed in the face of the king’s power. The article suggested that Ahiqar was performed to audiences at Elephantine and that a potential way for Elephantine audiences to interpret Ahiqar was in light of Persian dominance.