Visual Histories of Sex

Increased access to visual archives and the proliferation of digitized images related to sexuality have led a growing number of scholars in recent years to place images and visual practices at the center of critical historical inquiries of sexual desire, subjectivity, and embodiment. At the same time, new critical histories of sexual science serve both to expand the temporal and geographical frames for investigating the historical relationships of sex and visual production, and to generate new lines of inquiry and reshape visual studies more broadly. The contributors to this issue invite us to ask: What new questions and challenges for the study of sex and sexual science are posed by critical studies of the visual? How are new visual methodologies that focus on archives changing the contours of historical knowledge about sex and sexuality? What—and where—are new methodologies still needed? “Visual Archives of Sex” aims to illuminate current research that centers visual media in the history of sexuality and that interrogates contemporary historiographies.

An Overview of IoT Infrastructure Architecture, Enabling Technologies, Issues, Integration of Cloud, and Simulation Tools

Many critical studies and research were carried out to improve the technologies of IoT. Nevertheless, several challenges need to be solved to determine the maximum value of IoT. These problems and concerns will be approached from specific IoT perspectives, such as applications, enabling technologies, issues, and so on. The key purpose of this work is to explore IoT technology in terms of technical and social aspects. The work discusses various challenges and major issues of IoT including detailed architecture and applications. The research further summarizes the recent literature of various areas of IoT and explains their importance. Moreover, the importance of integration of cloud in IoT infrastructure has been discussed. The research also mentioned and described various simulation tools through which the characteristics of the IoT environment can be analyzed empirically. This work lets the readers and the researchers grasp the IoT and its real-life applicability.

Removing the Cog in the Waqf Wheels: A Policy Formulation for Nigeria

The Nigerian state is the most populous African nation with a sizeable number of Muslims. While other countries with a significantly fewer number of Muslims benefit from the visible dividends of a thriving waqf institution, the same cannot be said of Nigeria. The institution of waqfs in the country is almost non-existent or, at best, described as comatose. Therefore, this study attempts to formulate workable prescriptions for waqf development in Nigeria. Data were gathered from relevant documents, such as related local regulations and the result of previous studies. Considering the normative characteristics for the functionality of waqf institution, the data were analysed using documentary enquiry, legal reasoning, descriptions, narratives, and critical studies on the waqf system in Nigeria. The findings indicate a dire need for dedicated legislation for waqf operations in the country that will expedite establishing a sound and well-functioning waqf system. This future law should incorporate the policy briefs contained in this paper.==================================================================================================== ABSTRAK – Menghilangkan Hambatan Perputaran Wakaf: Formulasi Kebijakan untuk Nigeria. Nigeria adalah negara di Afrika yang terpadat dengan jumlah Muslim yang cukup besar. Tidak seperti negara-negara lain yang bahkan jumlah penduduk Muslimnya jauh lebih sedikit, Nigeria hampir tidak bisa mendapatkan keuntungan apapun dari adanya sistem wakaf dalam Islam. Eksistensi lembaga wakaf hampir tidak terlihat di negara ini, atau, dapat dikatakan sedang mati suri. Oleh karena itu, kajian ini berupaya untuk menghilangkan hambatan-hambatan operasionalisasi wakaf dengan merumuskan formulasi yang dapat diimplementasikan untuk Nigeria. Data penelitian dikumpulkan dari studi dokumentasi seperti undang-undang dan peraturan terkait serta hasil-hasil kajian yang relevan. Dengan pertimbangan karakteristik normatif fungsi lembaga wakaf, analisis dokumen dilakukan dengan penalaran hukum, telaah deskriptif, naratif, dan studi kritis terhadap fungsi wakaf di Nigeria. Hasil kajian menyimpulkan bahwa ada kebutuhan mendesak bagi Nigeria untuk membentuk undang-undang khusus wakaf yang dapat mempercepat pembentukan sistem wakaf yang sehat dan fungsional. Formulasi policy brief dari kajian ini dapat digunakan sebagai bahan pembentukan aturan dimaksud.

The Poem of Experience: Term and Foundations: قصيدة التجربة: المصطلح والأسس

This research, with its cognitive tools, seeks to present its understanding of the term "poem of experience", according to a vision based on the approach between thematic poetry that is defined by themes and purposes emanating from an accident, and poetry that revolts against this stereotype, and transcends the occasion and the topic, to be concerned with their impact and effectiveness. The research attempted to draw the boundaries of the term "poem of experience" by examining the lexical significance and the deliberative context of the term. He also noted the confusion of some critical studies between the terms "experiment" and "experimentation" with regard to the sensitivity of experience and the formality of experimentation, and concluded the general foundations of the poem experience, which is reflected in the destruction of topics, transgression of purposes, diversity of significance and openness of interpretation. Hence, the research acquires its legitimacy, based on proposing a critical concept specific to the modernist poem, which is no longer bound by the stereotyped poetic controls and its functions.

The problem of modern literary criticism between tradition and renewal: The theory of receive and interpretation : إشكالية النقد الأدبي الحديث بين التقليد والتجديد "نظرية التلقي والتأويل"

Identifying the concept of a text, its analysis and interpretation are of great importance in literary critical studies among western and Arab scientists and researchers of all time. This theory was rooted in Arabic Rhetoric and interpretation of Holy Qura'n before the existence of modern linguistics and western theories. Recently, the text- reader relation has been developed in light of these grounded theories assuring that the base of the literary work in the interaction between the text construction and its readers. This interaction is mainly attained from the real interactivity between them both through receive theory as the recipient gets involved expecting something. The most important point is that reading should be productive by adding new dimensions and unlimited to the barriers of the text. The problems of reading and interpretation revolve around two main axes; first, the literary work and nature of the text, second, the interpretation and understanding of the text. Then, the issue is related to the subjectivity and objectivity of the text, and the degree of the reader's understanding and interpretation of it. So, it is a harmonized system that collects the elements of creativity; the author, the reader and the text when relating reading process to receive mechanics and interpretation. The current results confirmed that Arabic Rhetoric and critical literature have significant roles in the treatment of the text and its components.

Corona hotels in Israel: Care and abandonment under the auspices of digital medicine

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Israel established a number of ‘corona hotels’ – hybrid spaces that were neither fully treatment-oriented nor fully incarcerational, in which people known or suspected to be infected with the coronavirus were confined, sometimes for prolonged and indefinite periods. This paper describes the experience of 25 people who were confined in corona recovery and isolation hotels between March and July 2020. The corona hotels exemplify how remote medical technology and digital medicine together enable a new ‘technogeography of care’, where care and abandonment are inextricably linked. The paper adds to the growing number of critical studies on digital health by showing how the employed technologies impact the concepts of human embodiment, subjectivity and social relations, as well as how the occupants negotiated the meaning of these technologies and resisted their effects.

“I can read, I just can't see”: a disability rights-based perspective on reading by listening

PurposeThe aim of the paper is to create a greater understanding of how people who are blind or vision impaired describe their use of audio-based reading technologies, with a particular focus on how they reason about whether the use of these technologies can be understood in terms of reading.Design/methodology/approachThe study is part of the emerging research area Critical Studies of Reading and draws theoretical inspiration from Document Theory, New Literacy Studies and Critical Disability Studies. The article presents a discourse analysis of how 16 university students in Australia who are blind or vision impaired and use audio-based reading technologies describe this use in semi-structured interviews.FindingsThe participants relate to a division between ‘real' reading and reading by listening, where the latter is constructed as an exception and is connected to the subject position of being blind or vision impaired. However, resistance is also noticeable, where reading by listening is constructed as something that is normal, and as a right.Originality/valueThe article is a theoretical and empirical contribution to the ongoing discussion on the use of audio-based reading technologies. It presents perspectives from the users of these technologies and argues why a specific understanding of this use is important.

Time paradoxes of neoliberalism: How time management applications change the way we live

Time management applications aim to coordinate and tame the rhythms of social reality. It transpires, however, that in many cases, they somewhat complicate and impede this process, leading to time paradoxes. Using various theoretical tools developed in the critical studies of time and the critique of neoliberalism, I identify three time paradoxes produced by the applications: remembering to remember, planning to plan, and accelerating acceleration. These three paradoxes were brought up and thoroughly discussed in in-depth interviews with self-selected individuals who constantly face challenges related to personal time management. I highlight how managing time using various applications shapes the experience and meaning of time, makes individuals reorganize their social practices, redefines their memory, and influences their emotions. In conclusion, I reflect on how the tension between linear time and multi-temporality is intertwined with the discussed paradoxes and counter-productivity of time management applications.

Virtual Reality Life Writing and Young Adult Media Practice

This article investigates the impact of digital technologies on the production of life writing texts and media for and by young adults. Five categories in total are examined: (i) Fan Fiction, (ii) life simulator games, (iii) SNS (social networking sites), (iv) VR (virtual reality) documentaries and (v) Webtoons. The article begins by synthesising numerous critical studies on children’s and digital life writing, before analysing two IVR (immersive virtual reality) documentaries in depth. It concludes by discussing the relationship between these on-the-go, online and immersive VR modes and fantasised futures, narratives of extremity and the slice of life genre.