Covid-19 and research in conflict-affected contexts: distanced methods and the digitalisation of suffering

This research note explores the pressing ethical challenges associated with increased online platforming of sensitive research on conflict-affected settings since the onset of Covid-19. We argue that moving research online and the ‘digitalisation of suffering’ risks reducing complexity of social phenomena and omission of important aspects of lived experiences of violence or peace-building. Immersion, ‘contexting’ and trust-building are fundamental to research in repressive and/or conflict-affected settings and these are vitally eclipsed in online exchanges and platforms. ‘Distanced research’ thus bears very real epistemological limitations. Neither proximity not distance are in themselves liberating vectors. Nonetheless, we consider the opportunities that distancing offers in terms of its decolonial potential, principally in giving local researcher affiliates’ agency in the research process and building more equitable collaborations. This research note therefore aims to propose a series of questions and launch a debate amongst interested scholars, practitioners and other researchers working in qualitative research methods in the social sciences.

Tremendous Contribution of Dr. Shahid Ullah to Scientific Community during COVID-19 Pandemic in the Form of Scientific Research

Legends are often the leading indicators of progress, civilization, culture for society and especially for the scientific community. The world is running on such beneficent, diligent, and creative-mind people, which sacrificing their precious time of life for the aid of society. Dr. Shahid Ullah is one of those who tried day night for humanity and have provided a great platform for the scientific community as well as for local researcher in the form of S Khan Lab, which has all updated biological databases of all research area that were not been provided on such friendly finding forum. The purpose of biological databases is to store, organize and distribute data in a standardized and searchable manner to facilitate the processing and visualization of data for humans. Taken together he has collected all biological databases to one easy and friendly finding manner platform which is available at http://www.habdsk.org/ with timely updates. Further, he has also provided two databases on the Covid-19, a global challenge for the scientific community recently.

Josef Ryš (1879–1960), pedagog, mineralog, sběratel a jeho sbírka minerálů v Národním muzeu v Praze

Josef Ryš (* 1879, † 1960) was a high school professor at the Real School in Jevíčko, a prominent local researcher - mineralogist and head of the local physical education unit Sokol. Between 1909 and 1958, he published a total of 11 works on the geological and mineralogical conditions of the greater Jevíčko area. He has collaborated with important institutions, such as the Moravian Museum in Brno, Masaryk University in Brno, Charles University in Prague and the National Museum in Prague. He has built a quality collection of Czech and world minerals, of which a total of 913 pieces are stored in the collection of the National Museum in Prague. From this collection, 65 minerals were selected for the new permanent mineralogical exhibition of the National Museum.

A Local Researcher’s Experiences of the Insider–Outsider Position: An Exercise of Self-Reflexivity During Ethnographic GBV and HIV Prevention Research in South Africa

Examining the researcher’s position during the research process is important to enhance the representation of research participants and the local context where knowledge is produced. This article aims to reflect the experiences of a local researchers’ insider–outsider position during a qualitative study drawing on ethnographic methods. Familiarity with the research community can be advantageous for an insider researcher position while an outsider researcher position may be enable more observance of aspects of daily life to which insiders may be blinded during the inquiry, interpretation, and data analysis. Researchers who often strive for a balance between the two positions can find it challenging yet rewarding. In this study, research participants played a critical role in shaping the local researcher’s dual identity as the outsider position remained at the forefront of interactions with the research process despite familiarity with the local language, culture, and research setting. This view, however, shifted after the local researcher seemed to have “earned” the insider position. Local researchers need to invest in extensive self-reflexivity, acknowledge the vulnerabilities of dual positionality, and capitalize on the shared qualities and differences with research participants to enhance the representation of research participants in the process of knowledge production.

KAJIAN NILAI DIDAKTIK DALAM SASTRA BALI KLASIK: MENGGALI KEUNGGULAN KEARIFAN LOKAL SEBAGAI PENDIDIKAN MORAL GENERASI MUDA SAAT INI

ABSTRAKPengkajian sastra klasik sudah saatnya diperlukan sebagai sebuah pendekatan budaya dalam mengantisipasi tergerusnya tata nilai generasi muda sekarang ini. Asumsi mendasar yang patut menjadi urgensi pengkajian itu adalah, bahwa sastra Bali Klasik sesungguhnya sebuah cermin diri dari masyarakat Bali itu sendiri (masuluh ring sastra=bercermin pada sastra/pengetahuan). Oleh karena itu, tentu sastra mengandung tata nilai yang adhi luhung (nora na mitra mangluwihana waraguna maruhur=tidak ada sahabat yang melebihi keagungan ilmu pengetahuan yang tinggi). Penelitian ini bermaksud untuk mengungkapkan nilai-nilai didaktik yang terkandung dalam kesusastraan Bali klasik dan relevansi nilai-nilai itu dalam mengembangkan pendidikan moral generasi muda saat ini.Pengkajian ranah ini belum banyak diteliti oleh putra daerah maupun peneliti luar daerah, akan tetapi penelitian kearah itu telah dilakukan oleh para pakar sastra Bali. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode sosiologi sastra dengan menerapkan teori reseptif, dengan langkah kajian sebagai berikut :Teknik pengumpulan datanya diawali dengan pengumpulan teks yang dijadikan sumber kajian yaitu : Geguritan Putra Sasana, Geguritan Basur, Cerita Tantri, dan Cerita Bhagawan Dhomya. Analsis datanya secara deskriptif kualitatifdengan bertumpu pada teks sumber sebagai bahan analisis.Analisis data ini diawali dengan kajian nilai-nilai didaktik yang terkandung dalam cerita klasik Bali dan relevansinya bagi pendidikan moralgenerasi muda saat ini.Hasil analisis ternyata banyak sekali terkandung nilai-nilai didaktik dalam keempat sumber naskah di atas, yang dapat ditransformasikan untuk sistem pendidikan dewasa ini, antara lain:konsep pendidikan seumur hidup, pendidikan akal, tanggung jawab guru dan murid, ini diteruskan kepada anak didik, yang sesungguhnya dapat dijadikan materi pengayaan pengetahuan kearifan lokal yang mampu memberikan rambu-rambu moralitas yang baik di kalangan generasi muda saat ini, yang lebih cenderung hanya menggunakan paradigma pendidikan Barat dibandingkan membangun kepribadian berdasarkan tata nilai yang telah diwariskan oleh nenek moyang dalam bentuk sastra-sastra klasik. Untuk itu perlu diadakan pembinaan oleh intansi terkait untuk lebih mengarahkan diri pada peranan ilmu humaniora dalam rangka meningkatkan kualitas manusia dengan cara pendidikan budi pekerti dengan menggali kearifan local sebagai keunggulan budaya di mana masyarakat itu hidup dan berkembang.Kata kunci: teks dedaktik, sastra Bali klasik, kearifan localABSTRACTThe classical literary review is necessary as a cultural approach in anticipating the degradation of the values of today‟s young generation. The fundamental assumption that should be urgency of the study is that the classical Balinese literature is actually a self-reflection of the Balinese society itself (masuluh ring sastra = reflecting on the literature/knowledge). Therefore, of course the literature contains worthy value (nora na mitra mangluwihana waraguna maruhur = no friend exceed the greatness of science). The study intends to reveal the didactic values contained in classical Balinese literature and the relevance of those values in developing the moral education of the young generation today.The study of this domain has not been widely studied by the local researcher and researchers outside the region, but research in that direction has been done by experts of Balinese literature. The present study used sociology method of literature by applying receptive theory, with the following study steps: Data collection techniques began by collecting the texts that were used as the sources of the study, such as: Geguritan Putra Sasana, Geguritan Basur, Tantri story, and Bhagawan Dhomya story. Data analysis used descriptive qualitative relied on source texts as the material of analysis. Data analysis began with the study of didactic values contained in Balinese classical story and the relevance to the moral education of young generation today.Analysis result shows that many didactic values contained in the four text sources above, which can be transformed to the education system today, namely: the concept of education for life, the intellectual education, the responsibilities of teachers and students, is passed on to the students, which can actually be the material of enrichment of knowledge of local wisdom that is able to give a good sign of good morality among young people today, who are more likely to only use Western educational paradigm than building a personality based on the values that have been inherited by the ancestors in the form of classical literatures. Therefore, it needs to be guided by the relevant institution to be more directed to the role of the humanities sciences in order to improve the quality of human by way of moral education by exploring local wisdom as a cultural excellence in which the community lives and thrives.Key words: Didactic Text, Balinese Classical Literature, Local Wisdom

Reframing Diversity Management

This chapter examines the globalizing trajectory of the concept of diversity management from a decolonial perspective. This decolonial analysis is undertaken by a ‘local’ researcher from an emerging economy in Latin America (more specifically, Brazil) who also takes part into the US-led ‘global’ MOS academy. The basic argument is that diversity management is a controversial concept due to its attachment to Eurocentric narratives of modernity/coloniality, which have been transformed into ‘universal’ knowledge by mechanisms of knowledge management inaugurated when European conquerors discovered and conquered America over five centuries ago. The colonial side of diversity management is unveiled in order to open space for decolonial possibilities that have been negated and to the reframing of diversity management.