The Phenomenology of Change: How Conflict Drives Urban Transformation

Here we propose a new methodology for learning from conflict, referred to as a 'phenomenology of change' approach. This framework can be used to ascertain how, why, and under what conditions conflicts can lead to social, spatial, and political transformations in the urban built environment. This approach builds on examination of ongoing struggles and actions undertaken by citizens and urban governing officials during conflict. It uses this evidence to document whether and how authority is renegotiated as well as the conditions under which the issues under contention and the identity positions of stakeholders will positively or negatively impact the likelihood of built environmental change. Drawing on the five case studies in the special issue, we come to four general conclusions. 1. Change is more likely when actors strategically combine one action repertoire with another. 2. Conflicts over space are particularly well suited to the formation of institutionalized engagement processes for renegotiating authority, thus making change more probable. 3. Despite the importance of negotiating with institutions during conflict, opportunities to engage in such processes are not equally distributed among all races and classes of citizen. 4. The temporality of conflict – that is, the length of struggle – has a direct bearing on both the likelihood and durability of change. The article concludes with a focus on the roles of urban professionals in mediating conflict, reflecting on their relations with both citizens and governing authorities, and discussing how insights drawn from a phenomenology of change framework can be used by professionals to enhance desired transformations in the urban built environment.

Gendered and Ecological Struggles in Southern Africa: Land and Seed

Situating feminist investigations of food in Southern Africa within a broader discussion of the ecological crisis and the appropriation of nature reveals important connections between ecological and women’s struggles. This article draws on ecofeminist scholarship regarding ecological struggles pertaining to land and seed in order to explore the politics of food and its relation to women, nature and society in Southern Africa. It highlights that inherited and assumed ideas of nature have a direct bearing on the dominant conception of food. The article emphasises that feminist agencies are often silenced in food struggles and food scholarship despite the gendered nature of foodwork and women’s defence against nature’s appropriation. In concluding, the article invites us to see food in its totality and develop a new food logic.

UBUNTU AS FOREIGN POLICY: THE AMBIGUITIES OF SOUTH AFRICA'S BRAND IMAGE AND IDENTITY

South Africa's 2011 White Paper on foreign policy, "Building a Better World", is predicated on the far-reaching ambition of how Ubuntu (humanity) and Batho Pele (putting people first) together with their underlying humanist principles will guide the country's external relations. However, while noble, this calculus is poorly conceived as an approach to global issues. The article argues that while still a relatively successful nation brand if measured by marketing indicators, South Africa's normative currency and agency in foreign policy has depreciated considerably, with a direct bearing on its nation brand and identity. These are examined with regard to the security of citizens and the personality of the state and provide a register of the branding and image deficits of the White Paper. Such deficits are then considered in terms of the cosmopolitan vision in South Africa's foreign policy and its moral and normative underpinnings. The article provides examples in both the domestic and global regimes to demonstrate the extent to which South Africa has lost its normative resilience in the conduct of its foreign policy, thus giving rise to ambiguities in its brand image and identity.

LAGOM IN THE SWEDISH CULTURE (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE GASTRONOMIC DISCOURSE)

This article is devoted to the question of the word lagom in the Swedish language and the culture of the ethnic group. The analysis revealed the etymology of the word lagom and described its role in the Swedish society, as well as presented the semantics of the word lagom with the support of its functioning at the level of the gastronomic discourse. The following research methods were used in the work: observation method, descriptive method and method of etymological analysis. The analysis of the material made it possible to conclude that the word lagom reflects the value attitudes developed by the historically developing social consciousness, the way of ethnic life, and the worldview. The word lagom , denoting the ideal amount, with the help of which the search for moderation in everything and balance in all spheres of life is carried out, has a direct bearing on gastronomy. The semantic structure of the word lagom in the Swedish gastronomic discourse is characterized by inconsistency.

Archetypal Metaphysics and the Psyworld

I address Erik Goodwyn’s insightful and nuanced critique of my work on the essence of archetypes that have direct bearing on his own investigations of archetypal origins, attractor states, the mind-body problem, and on the question of metaphysics. Goodwyn’s work is grounded in scientific naturalism while I offer an onto-phenomenological methodology that is compatible with his own positions. The questions of embodiment, ground, holism, panpsychism, and esse in anima are examined in light of offering a preliminary framework for an archetypal metaphysics where I introduce a theory of psyworld.

Relationship Between Year of Schooling and Household Income: Special Reference with Two Localities of Dibrugarh and Jorhat District of Assam

The study is based on the relationship between year of schooling of children and their parents’ income. Gary Becker, a noble prize winning economist made a preposition in 1950s that the amount of education had a direct bearing on income. This study is based on the relationship between years of schooling of children and the income of their parents and how the socio-economic condition of a family impact on the World’s Human Development. The data for the study was collected from two localities of Jorhat and Dibrugarh District of Assam, India. The data was primary and it consists of 750 people from a village and a tea tribe of 599 people. Methods used to analyse the data was Ordinary least squares.

Miscarriages of justice and expert psychiatric evidence: lessons from criminal appeals in England and Wales

SUMMARYMiscarriages of justice occur as a result of unsafe convictions and findings and inappropriate sentences. In cases involving expert psychiatric evidence it is possible that the way evidence is presented by experts or interpreted by the courts has a direct bearing on the case. Using illustrative cases from the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal, advice is offered to expert psychiatric witnesses on ways to reduce the likelihood of contributing to such miscarriages of justice and on how they may assist in rectifying such miscarriages, should they occur.LEARNING OBJECTIVESAfter reading this article you will be able to: •understand the place of criminal appeals in the criminal justice system in England and Wales•understand what may go wrong in the provision of psychiatric evidence and how expert psychiatric evidence can assist in the administration of justice•be able to reduce the risk of unsafe convictions and inappropriate sentences when providing expert psychiatric evidence, including for cases referred to the Court of Appeal and the Criminal Cases Review Commission.DECLARATION OF INTERESTNone.

The mechanical life of plants: Descartes on botany

In this article, I argue that the French philosopher René Descartes was far more involved in the study of plants than has been generally recognized. We know that he did not include a botanical section in his natural philosophy, and sometimes he differentiated between plants and living bodies. His position was, moreover, characterized by a methodological rejection of the catalogues of plants. However, this paper reveals a significant trend in Descartes's naturalistic pursuits, starting from the end of 1637, whereby he became increasingly interested in plants. I explore this shift by examining both Descartes's correspondence and several notes contained in theExcerpta anatomica. Grounded in direct observations, Descartes's work on vegetation provides a modest, though not unimportant, contribution to a natural-philosophical approach to the vegetal realm. This had a direct bearing on his lifelong ambition to explain the nature of living bodies and also fuelled the emergence of botany as a modern science.

Land as Home: Women, Life and Violence in Land Conflicts

This work analyses how women question experiences of violence in land conflicts in Pinhão, Paraná, Southern Brazil. Land conflicts strike at the very foundation of the livelihood of families and communities, having a direct bearing on houses, which are places that objectify the occupation of the land and where ties of belonging between subjects and territories are woven. Land is home; land and violence are therefore also constituted as problems for women and as matters that encompass gender relations. In women’s narratives, violence is appraised through ethical ways of family and community living, and emerges in the following concrete acts: killings, house fires, threats, ambushes, and evictions. These acts intrude on the enduring conviviality of everyday life and the relations that compose communities.