Forms of Intelligence: Co-species Care in More-than-human Worlds

The project consisted of a series of collaborative online workshops between eight people from Knowle West, Bristol, Kent, and Colombia over August and September 2020 with expertise in different forms of animal and plant intelligence. These people ranged in age from 18-80 and included community activists, artists, and researchers with specialisms in spiders and ants, trees, fungi, butterflies and local wildlife, soil, coral, gardening, bees, dogs, birds, robotics, wearables, performance and visual arts. The group came together on the project to share knowledge, create principles for collaborating well across species and to begin exploring what could be made that would benefit humans, animals, plants and environments in more connected ways. The cards were inspired by, amongst other things, tarot and Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategy cards, as well as other types of card games (such as Cards Against Humanity) and creative inspiration techniques from artistic and design practices.

Relationship, Structure, Values and Social Norms of Maiyah Juguran Syafa’at Community in Banyumas (Community Study)

This research is based on a phenomenon of the Maiyah community in Banyumas, it is Juguran Syafaat who conducts recitation activities of a Sinau Bareng. This community is held 9 years ago so there are many worshipers who joint in these activities and they come from various background. Then the researcher interested in conducting research entitled the relations, structure, values and social norms of the Maiyah Juguran Syafaat community in Banyumas. The purpose of this study to reveal social relations, organizational structure, and social values and norms that exist in the Juguran Syafaat Community. This study uses a qualitative research method with a qualitative descriptive approach. This research is a community study with data using interviews, participatory observation, text review and documentation in the routine activities of Sinau with Juguran Syafaat. The purpose of this research to reveal how the relationships, structures, values and social norms that exist in the jamaah maiyah (Juguran Syafaat). This type of qualitative approach, with data analysis, data reduction and data triangulation. The population of this research is the Juguran Syafaat community (activists, administrators or sedulur from other congregations). The results of the research, are the internal structure of the activist consisting the chairman and activists, while the social structure of the Jamaah Maiyah Juguran Syafaat; includes students, political officials, businessmen, artists, and others. The results of the analysis, there is no structural distinction between the congregation, are not based on their role in work or economic strata, they discussed with "lesehan bareng". Social relations, they make relations with all elements of society they meet, during their sinau activities or, their daily activities. Values and norms have always been instilled by the maiyah community in Juguran Syafaat. Intercession is a religious value of sangkan paraning dumadi. The social value of the juguran intercession community to communicate & socialize with all levels in a society. The norms that are always instilled are the customs and norms that exist in Java and Indonesia, for example, always using courtesy and respecting everyone. Keywords: Relationships, Structure, Values and Norms, Maiyah Community, Juguran Syafaat

Resources in Relational Packages: Social Capital as a Byproduct of Relational Work

Social capital theory offers a compelling explanation as to why people are committed to making resources available to others outside of formal institutions. In this article, we build on social capital theory to explain how actors overcome two practical problems endemic to these resource transfers. We present Viviana Zelizer’s relational work theory as a complimentary framework which accounts for when an individual may act on commitments to offer resources and which commitments to act upon when they are in conflict. Drawing on our empirical work on almsgiving to social outcasts and resource transfers at mourning ceremonies in Azerbaijan, we describe how people identify and ascribe their relationships to others by relying on available cultural conventions to mark economic transactions and other media as appropriate or inappropriate. By conceptualizing social capital in this way, we also obtain a process-tracing methodology useful for social researchers and for community activists to generate ideas on how to expand social capital in their own or others’ communities.

Resources in Relational Packages: Social Capital as a Byproduct of Relational Work

Social capital theory offers a compelling explanation as to why people are committed to making resources available to others outside of formal institutions. In this paper, we build on social capital theory to explain how actors overcome two practical problems endemic to these resource transfers. We present Viviana Zelizer’s relational work theory as a complimentary framework which accounts for when an individual may act on commitments to offer resources and which commitments to act upon when they are in conflict. Drawing on our empirical work on almsgiving to social outcasts and resource transfers at mourning ceremonies in Azerbaijan, we describe how people identify and ascribe their relationships to others by relying on available cultural conventions to mark economic transactions and other media as appropriate or inappropriate. By conceptualizing social capital in this way, we also obtain a process-tracing methodology useful for social researchers and for community activists to generate ideas on how to expand social capital in their own or others’ communities.

Equitable bikeway expansion: Investigating potential links to gentrification and displacement

Many cities across the globe are developing bikeways as a key strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and foster sustainable transportation. However, planners and community activists have raised concerns that bikeway expansion may induce gentrification and displacement, disproportionately affecting low-income communities and communities of color. While scholars have explored quantitative measurements of this relationship, the metrics fail to capture the nuances and complexity of gentrification as a socioeconomic phenomenon. Our analysis in Los Angeles (LA) examines the correlation between bikeway expansion and gentrification between 2010 and 2015. The findings suggest a minimal correlation between bikeway expansion and gentrification in the surrounding area. This brief provides policy considerations and future research recommendations. These include i) collecting and maintaining detailed bicycle infrastructure data, ii) assessing the relationship between bikeways and other key variables of wellbeing (e.g., housing, accessibility to services, health, and safety) through qualitative data, and iii) implementing meaningful participatory processes with diverse communities.

Historic Preservation

Historic preservation is an idea and a practice, an academic discipline and a field of political and cultural action. For social scientists, a critical approach to historic preservation means to interrogate the underlying assumptions about history, community, and culture that drive preservation contests as well as the sociospatial outcomes: how places are made, branded, and changed as a result of historic preservation. A number of key questions can be raised about any given preservation effort: What kinds of claims are being made when mnemonic activists declare a building or a neighborhood to be “historic”? Whose vision of history is being wielded when monuments and other spaces of consecration are laid down in the urban fabric? What are the cultural frames that are mobilized to socially construct such landscapes as “historic” versus those are simply “historical”? What are the debates that ensnare all kinds of social actors—urban planners and historians, community activists and politicians—in decisions about which historical landscapes to conserve, and which to leave as unprotected commodities? Lastly, what are the spatial scales where preservation and memorialization are enacted, contested, and materialized? This entry considers historic preservation from these many angles, presenting readers with a critical overview of the topic and raising questions and presenting important readings for further consideration.

Social media for social change: Developing social media strategies to influence negative cultural assumptions

This research explores how social media can effectively be used by community activists to influence negative cultural assumptions. This study focused on challenging stereotypical attitudes towards Muslim women who wear hijab. Ten participants responded to a pre-campaign survey, which gathered their attitudes towards head coverings, specifically people in baseball caps (non-religious headgear) and hijabs (Muslim headscarf). Participants then followed a two- week social media campaign, developed with the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (Toronto chapter), that addressed common assumptions about women in hijab, and answered a post-campaign survey to assess the campaign’s impact. Seven participants said the campaign successfully challenged negative stereotypes about women who wear hijab, and five said the campaign positively influenced their ideas about this cultural group. Participants said the profiles of successful women who wear hijab were most effective, which seems to indicate that positive stories may have more impact in creating social change.

Social media for social change: Developing social media strategies to influence negative cultural assumptions

This research explores how social media can effectively be used by community activists to influence negative cultural assumptions. This study focused on challenging stereotypical attitudes towards Muslim women who wear hijab. Ten participants responded to a pre-campaign survey, which gathered their attitudes towards head coverings, specifically people in baseball caps (non-religious headgear) and hijabs (Muslim headscarf). Participants then followed a two- week social media campaign, developed with the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (Toronto chapter), that addressed common assumptions about women in hijab, and answered a post-campaign survey to assess the campaign’s impact. Seven participants said the campaign successfully challenged negative stereotypes about women who wear hijab, and five said the campaign positively influenced their ideas about this cultural group. Participants said the profiles of successful women who wear hijab were most effective, which seems to indicate that positive stories may have more impact in creating social change.

The promiscuous public? Exploring public opinion and why it matters to political actors

Political actors often cite public opinion to provide support for public policy decisions. This process is made more challenging with diverse demands and perspectives of the public. How then do political actors decide which opinion gets heard? In this article, we go beyond the assumption that the practice of political representation is indistinguishable across various levels of political actors and ask, why do political actors value public opinion and how does it then influence the way in which they apply this information? Developing a multi-level approach, we employ semi-structured interviews with a wide range of political actors, including politicians, pollsters, and community activists. We find that motivations for defining and applying public opinion differs according to the hierarchy of political actors, demonstrating that the relationship between public and political actors is more nuanced and complex than what is often depicted. In particular, we find that minority views play just an important view in policymaking.