“‘It ain’t have no sort of family life for us here’”: Community and its Discontents in Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners

<div>Sam Seldon's The Lonely Londoners depicts an emergent collectivity of black immigrants who lead literally and metaphorically subterranean lives in 1950s Britain. Against the backdrop of a city undergoing an ambivalent transition from colonial metropole to postmodern cosmopolis, Seldon's "boys" remain largely inscrutable to and estranged from not only white Londoners but also one another. Critics have associate a depoliticized preoccupation with the everyday and eschewal of critical consciousness in Seldon’s work with widely critiqued features of Anglophone modernism. The present analysis suggests several reasons why political collectivity remains elusive to Seldon's black male immigrant characters. Specifically, they face discriminatory access to the labor market and social services, loci of possible solidarity with working-class white Londoners where formal political resistance might be coordinated. These systemic pressures combined with an atmospheric racism cause many of the boys to internalize the racialist, individualist, consumerist, and heterosexist attitudes and behaviors of the dominant white culture, which they adopt as survival strategies, in effect undermining black group identity and cohesion. If a note of optimism is to be sounded amid the many challenges to inter- and intraracial community the novel presents, it is in the potential undoing of black cultural nationalism that cultural theorist Paul Gilroy sees as a crucial step in the making of an egalitarian, convivial postcolonial world. The novel contests the homogenizing impulses of essentialist identity politics by portraying the heterodox, sometimes paradoxical, affinities that emerge between characters and communities.</div>

“‘It ain’t have no sort of family life for us here’”: Community and its Discontents in Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners

<div>Sam Seldon's The Lonely Londoners depicts an emergent collectivity of black immigrants who lead literally and metaphorically subterranean lives in 1950s Britain. Against the backdrop of a city undergoing an ambivalent transition from colonial metropole to postmodern cosmopolis, Seldon's "boys" remain largely inscrutable to and estranged from not only white Londoners but also one another. Critics have associate a depoliticized preoccupation with the everyday and eschewal of critical consciousness in Seldon’s work with widely critiqued features of Anglophone modernism. The present analysis suggests several reasons why political collectivity remains elusive to Seldon's black male immigrant characters. Specifically, they face discriminatory access to the labor market and social services, loci of possible solidarity with working-class white Londoners where formal political resistance might be coordinated. These systemic pressures combined with an atmospheric racism cause many of the boys to internalize the racialist, individualist, consumerist, and heterosexist attitudes and behaviors of the dominant white culture, which they adopt as survival strategies, in effect undermining black group identity and cohesion. If a note of optimism is to be sounded amid the many challenges to inter- and intraracial community the novel presents, it is in the potential undoing of black cultural nationalism that cultural theorist Paul Gilroy sees as a crucial step in the making of an egalitarian, convivial postcolonial world. The novel contests the homogenizing impulses of essentialist identity politics by portraying the heterodox, sometimes paradoxical, affinities that emerge between characters and communities.</div>

Resounding Difficult Histories

Prompt, Immediate, Now / Very Restrained and Cautious (2013), Defending Territory in a Networked World (2013) and Afgang 04.00 (2017) are three sound pieces that lean on events of historical proportions. They involve addressing the artistic challenge of letting difficult historical narratives resonate in the present. The artistic process for all three works involved finding fitting modes of reenactment and providing a present-day position on why and how these materials may be incorporated in artworks today, as well as contributing to historical revision and political resistance.

The Judge as a Negotiator: Claims Negotiating and Inequalities in China’s Judicial Mediation

I propose a three-way model of negotiation on judicial mediation: the judge as a negotiator. Primarily drawing on ethnographic observations of a civil judge in a basic-level court in hinterland China, I document Chinese judges’ tactics at the micro level. I find that the Chinese judge not only “expands” and “narrows” claims. In addition, included in her repertoire are “repression,” “conversion,” and “facilitation.” Following this, I explore the inequitable consequences of the judge’s apparent success in disposing cases. In negotiating the claims, the judge convinces or cajoles litigants who are economically vulnerable, inexperienced in the courtroom, legally bewildered, or timid in confronting the judges’ authority, into the settlement. But she often facilitates the claims of litigants who can mount credible political resistance. The interests of those who are vulnerable in one way or another, but not in a position to initiate political threats, are often dispensed. Inequalities are thus generated, reproduced, and reinforced. This three-way negotiation model provides a new perspective to study judicial mediation comparatively.

Finnish Military Officer Identities and Micro-Political Resistance

Drawing on the concept of micro-political resistance, this article presents an empirical analysis of how officers of the Finnish Defence Forces challenge, resist, and reinforce the collective military identities constructed within the prevailing organizational discourses. There is a need for identity work to meet the norms and ideals of the military, but individuals can also work as change agents. Micro-political resistance derives from feelings of otherness as well as conflict between the dominant organizational identities and individuals’ personal interests. This study presents a thematic discourse analysis based on texts written by 108 officers and 12 interviews on the theme of “the ideal soldier.” Three main discourses of micro-political resistance were identified: perceiving the profession of a military officer as a job like any other rather than a sacred calling, putting family first, and being oneself instead of embodying the traditional masculine ideal soldier.

EDUCAÇÃO E RESISTÊNCIA CAMPONESA NA AMAZÔNIA PARAENSE

EDUCATION AND PEASANT RESISTANCE IN THE PARAENSE AMAZONIAEDUCACIÓN Y RESISTENCIA CAMPESINA EN LA AMAZONIA PARAENSERESUMOEste artigo é fruto dos apontamentos da pesquisa de mestrado desenvolvida no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Agriculturas Amazônicas (PPGAA) da Universidade Federal do Pará – UFPA. Aborda os desafios da luta pela terra no Sudeste Paraense, refletindo sobre o papel da educação nesse processo. Ele aponta a educação que permeia o cotidiano das pessoas, como elemento que fortalece a resistência política dos camponeses, por isso, não está apenas relacionada à conquista da terra, mas também, à permanência na mesma e à mudança da qualidade de vida nos acampamentos e assentamentos. O artigo é resultado de um estudo de caso, desenvolvido no Acampamento Sem Terra, denominado de Dalcídio Jurandir, localizado no Sudeste Paraense e encaminhado por uma abordagem qualitativa. Entende-se que o movimento social busca uma educação que dê conta de compreender as circunstâncias vividas a partir de suas contradições sociais, tendo a mesma lógica de resistência do campesinato, porque é nele que ela tem sua raiz histórica. Trata-se de uma educação que antecede à escola e vai muito além dela.Palavras-chave: Educação; Luta pela Terra; Resistência Camponesa.ABSTRACTThis article is the result of the master's research notes developed in the Postgraduate Program in Amazon Agriculture (PPGAA) of the Federal University of Pará – UFPA. It addresses the challenges of the struggle for land in Southeast Pará, reflecting on the role of education in this process. This paper points out the education that permeates people's daily lives, as an element that strengthens the political resistance of the peasants, therefore, it is not only related to the conquest of the land, but also to the permanence in it and to the change in the quality of life in the encampments and settlements. The article is the result of a case study, developed at the agrarian reform camp, called Dalcídio Jurandir, located in Southeast Pará and guided by a qualitative approach. It is understood that the social movement seeks an education that is able to understand the circumstances experienced from its social contradictions, having the same logic of resistance as the peasantry, because it has its historical roots in it. It is an education that precedes school and goes far beyond it.Keywords: Education; Struggle for Land; Peasant Resistance.RESUMENEste artículo es el resultado de las notas de investigación de maestría desarrolladas en el Programa de Posgrado en Agricultura Amazónica (PPGAA) de la Universidad Federal de Pará – UFPA. Aborda los desafíos de la lucha por la tierra en el sureste de Pará, reflexionando sobre el papel de la educación en este proceso. Señala la educación que permea la vida cotidiana de las personas, como un elemento que fortalece la resistencia política de los campesinos, por lo tanto, no solo se relaciona con la conquista de la tierra, sino también con la permanencia en ella y con el cambio de la tierra. Calidad de vida en los campamentos y asentamientos. El artículo es el resultado de un estudio de caso, desarrollado en el Campamento Sem Terra, llamado Dalcídio Jurandir, ubicado en el sureste de Pará y guiado por un enfoque cualitativo. Se entiende que el movimiento social busca una educación que sea capaz de comprender las circunstancias vividas desde sus contradicciones sociales, teniendo la misma lógica de resistencia que el campesinado, porque tiene en ella sus raíces históricas. Es una educación que precede a la escuela y la va mucho más allá.Palabras clave: Educación; Lucha por la Tierra; Resistencia Campesina.

The dual penal empire: Emergency powers and military courts in Palestine/Israel and beyond

This article explores the duality of emergency powers and criminal law in old and new formations of empire. Set against the backdrop of the US “war on terror,” I link discussions around current articulations of empire and the treatment of “enemy combatants,” illuminating new connections between empire, emergency, and “enemy penology.” Focusing on Palestine/Israel, I explore the duality created by emergency powers and criminal law from the late British Empire to contemporary Israel/Palestine as an “imperial formation.” Through a genealogy of emergency legislation, military courts, and two case studies from the 1980s Israel, I show how emergency powers constitute a penal regime that complements ordinary criminal law through prosecutions of racialized enemy populations under a distinct exclusionary and punitive legality. Building on Markus Dubber's Dual Penal State, I demonstrate how the—openly illiberal—dual penal empire (i) suppresses political resistance (insurgency, rebellion, and terrorism) and (ii) institutionalizes enemy penology through emergency statutes and military courts. Thus, in imperial formations, such as Israel and the US—which deny their illiberal features—emergency powers are framed as preventive security and denied as part of the penal system, while enemy penology operates in plain sight.