EXAMINING THE IDEOLOGY AND POLITICS OF NEW URBANISM

New Urbanism (NU) is an urban planning movement that values certain design principles in cities, such as walkability, mixed-use development, and accessible transit. Since its emergence and formalization as a movement in the late twentieth century, numerous North American communities have been built or renovated to adhere to New Urbanist principles, and a significant body of research studies the outcomes in these places. This essay reflects on the existing scholarship to identify recurring issues in New Urbanist communities; namely, these neighbourhoods consistently turn out to be unaffordable and economically exclusive, as well as to create tension or awkwardness between different social groups. As such, I find that rather than merely falling short of theoretical ideals like economic and social diversity, the NU physical design principles can backfire and produce the opposite outcome of their vision for optimal communities; this occurs as a function of environmental limitations like the nature of capitalist real estate markets and the complexities of integration in diverse communities. The essay moves on to interrogate the movement’s failure to advocate for policy changes that would support its social goals and, at a deeper level, their choice to refrain from any political stances. Underneath NU’s attempt at ideological impartiality, I find that their implicit ideal of “community” leads to pernicious tendencies such as embracing homogeneity and disregarding public life. Overall, I argue the movement must reorient from implicit to explicit politics and openly advocate for progressive policy in order for their theory to actually produce diverse, healthy communities.

THREATS OF THE HIJAB: HOW FRANCE’S COLONIAL FABRICATION OF THE ISLAMIC HEADSCARF AFFECTS ITS MUSLIM WOMEN

Discourse in France on the Islamic headscarf is omnipresent, even if its presence in schools is not. There are polarizing views in literature on whether Muslim women can truly integrate into French society if their religiosity and headscarf appears to go against the republic’s principles of equality, liberty, and fraternity. While this inquiry may be prevalent, there has been little interdisciplinary discussion on what invokes such negative reactions from the majority of the French population towards the Islamic headscarf. There has been even less discussion and reports on the impact of this reaction on Muslim women in France. This paper seeks to contribute to those apertures in scholarly literature. Using the French ban of 2004 as a case study, I explore how France’s colonial fabrication of the Islamic headscarf is pervasive and impacts the identity and livelihood of Muslim women in France. The term ‘hijab’ in this paper refers to Islamic headscarf Muslim women wear to meet religious requirements. I start by analyzing France’s colonial history with Algeria and its depiction of the hijab during that period. Then, I illustrate its importance in French understandings of the headscarf by highlighting parallels between arguments used for the ban on headscarves and France’s historical repackaging of the Muslim headdress. Concluding illustrations will reveal the harrowing impact of the hijab ban on the rights, identity, education and socioeconomic class of Muslim women in France.

ENHANCING GLOBAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE THROUGH REFLECTING ON CONCEPTS OF SECURITY AND CARE IN LIGHT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread like wildfire across the world, our society has been brought to a shuddering halt. In a world now characterized by extreme uncertainty and invisible threats to personal safety, people tend to respond instinctively. These responses can be productive or destructive, but in all cases, are reflective of deeply held societal beliefs of security and care that are brought to bear during a pandemic. Literary works offer a unique lens to further interrogate these notions. In particular, Barbara Gowdy’s “Disneyland” demonstrates that individual actors are tied to their communities, and neither party can achieve security while the other remains vulnerable. Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” forces its readers to realize that caring for each other must address social and familiar needs in addition to physical needs. Finally, Obasan and Beloved provide successful models of community-based care wherein communities come together to build the resilience necessary to face and overcome adversity, together. Each literary work explores themes that complicate the notions of security and care, but ultimately demonstrate the power of unity in building resilience and strength. We would do well to use these lessons to inform our emergency response as the pandemic continues and new challenges arise.

BAD BLOOD: THE CONDITIONS OF THE BLOOD BAN

In Canada, men who have sex with men (MSM) are not able to donate blood until three months after their last sexual encounter in order to protect the national blood supply from HIV. This policy has been regarded as highly homophobic and prejudicial as it unjustly discriminates against a specific population. The context that first called for the Blood Ban some 40 years ago no longer exists. As such, in this paper, I determine and critically analyze the conditions that have allowed the Blood Ban to not only survive, but thrive in Canada. The first condition is Canada’s history of homophobia and stigma towards HIV/AIDS. The Blood Ban was first introduced when HIV/AIDS was thought to be exclusive to the MSM community. Homophobia allowed the world to wrongfully stigmatize MSM as disease-ridden and impure and thus further perpetuated MSM discrimination and the Blood ban. The second condition is fear of possible HIV transmissions to the general public. In Canadian Blood Services (CBS) history, there have been some instances of HIV transmission occurring via blood donation. As a way to mitigate any more scandals and calm public outrage, CBS has kept the outdated Blood Ban in place. The last condition is the delegitimization of citizenship for MSM who wish to be altruistic. Altruism allows individuals to be good citizens and should be considered a right. By denying MSM to donate blood, their right to be altruistic and thus act as a good citizen is taken away and their citizenship is infringed upon. These three conditions are nuanced and act independently and in cooperation with each other to perpetuate the existence, survival, and longevity of the Blood Ban.

REWRITING THE HISTORY OF ‘COMFORT WOMEN’

Grievabilty, as Judith Butler outlines in Precarious Life, is when individuals are valued, loved, and respected. When they are of value, and thus when they pass, they are worthy of being grieved for. Throughout history, including the present day, we are constantly reminded of those who are ungrievable and those who have been derealized, whether that be Indigenous people, those who died in the war, those exploited by corporations, those who endured slavery, the list is endless. One group, in particular, is that of ‘comfort women’ these are women who were captured by the Japanese military during World War II and unwillingly become sex slaves for the entire army, they are among the many who were lost to this war. Therefore, this paper will be examining the history of ‘comfort women’ during World War II through the lens of Judith Butler's Precarious Life. By applying the concept of greivability, and understanding the process of derealization, this paper was able to not only critically recognize that the circumstances of war and the cruel nature of the Japanese military led to the derealization of ‘comfort women’, but that the survivors were also able to use their trauma as strength, empowering them in a new era, with the help of media and women’s rights groups, to undo their derealization and reclaim their power.

ENOVID: AMERICA’S FIRST ORAL CONTRACEPTIVE

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of involving the extended community in risk assessment of the applied sciences. To do this, the paper will be discussing the history of the first oral conceptive in America. Specifically, it discusses the Nelson Pill Hearings which was a very publicized trial intended to evaluate the safety of the oral contraceptive Enovid. The conclusion of this case study is that failing to involve the extended community (mainly, women taking the pill) resulted in a large distrust of authority. This distrust in the scientific community leads to their opinions being largely ignored and damaged the relationship between women and their doctors at the risk of women’s health. It was not until post-normal science ideals were implemented, that more women felt they could trust the safety of the product they were using. Failing to recognize the importance of involving the extended community in scientific breakthroughs created a barrier for the extended community to benefit from said scientific breakthroughs.

CUBAN URBAN AGRICULTURE AND THE CHALLENGES TO ORTHODOX WESTERN ECONOMIC DISCORSE

The orthodox way in which economics is studied and implemented follows a primarily European concept of the functioning of economies that is then applied to the various different traditions and cultures that exist all around the world. This paper explores alternative economies and alternative ways of theorizing the economy in order to destabilize the western, orthodox conception of economics. In order to accomplish this, this paper explores Cuban Urban Agriculture, a system where unused land in urban areas is re-appropriated to grow a variety of crops for the local community. Specifically, it explores the ways in which this system views its economic actors, to what extent it applies an abstracted mode of production over various contexts, and how it incorporates culture and the non-economic as key elements. By examining these facets of the Cuban urban agricultural system, this paper sheds light on the hybridity of this system, in viewing workers as both rational profit maximizers and complex subjects with ambivalent desires, in imposing a decontextualized set of objectives for agriculture across Cuba, while leaving space for adaptation to the context within this narrow set, and in embedding this economic system in the local community. Thus, the paper demonstrates, in showing that the Cuban urban agricultural system is only able to partially separate itself from the orthodox western discourse of economics, that while it is possible to find alternatives to this system of economics, even these alternatives tend to adhere to at least some of its principles.

A HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH TO FOOD INSECURITY IN INUIT NUNANGAT

The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national organization for Inuit in Canada, has voiced serious concern about the food insecurity crisis in Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homeland comprising Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut, and the Northwest Territories (Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, 2019). The widespread and disproportionate experiences of food insecurity in Inuit Nunangat requires critical examination, especially when access to adequate food has been identified as a human right (OHCHR, 2010). My research paper aims to explore this topic of food insecurity as a human rights concern in Inuit Nunangat. A human rights approach acts as both a pathway to investigate, and a tool to inform, policy development. Such an investigation is especially relevant given Canada’s international reputation and constitutional mandate to grant equal protection of rights to all citizens. In this essay, I review international and domestic human rights frameworks that intersect with Inuit food insecurity, in addition to evaluating Canada’s current interventions. I ultimately argue that, based on Canada’s commitments to uphold rights to food, health, and Indigenous self-determination, the government must increase the enforceability of food rights in domestic policy and, second, there must be strengthened collaboration between the government and Inuit partners to more appropriately conceptualize, and respond to, food needs in Inuit Nunangat.

A HAND TO THE DROWNING: ETHICAL LONELINESS, DE- PERSONALIZATION, AND THE DROWNED AND THE SAVED

This paper explores Primo Levi's account of depersonalization in the Shoah (Holocaust). It divided Levi's account into three main themes: deprivation, animalization, and loneliness. It then used William James' psychology of misery and Jill Stauffer's concept of Ethical Loneliness to interpret these themes. It determined that while one might at first conceptualize personhood, and thus depersonalization, as internal and independent, Levi's experience shows that our personhood is also affected by the perceptions of others, for better and for worse. Any understanding of depersonalization that does not account for this essentially relational nature of personhood is thus incomplete.

“YOU KANT DO THAT!”: AN ARGUMENT THAT KANT’S PRINCIPLES FOR PEACE MANDATE A FULLY SUSTAINABLE APPROACH TO THE CLIMATE CRISIS

This paper explores the work of Immanuel Kant in the context of the modern-day crisis of global climate change, to suggest principles that we should embrace as a global community to ensure a viable environment for future generations. Specifically, this paper focuses on three of Kant’s articles outlined in “Towards Perpetual Peace”, a treatise that proposes principles of conduct to ensure peaceable interactions between intrinsically opposed nations. In light of the certain trans-generational consequences of current climate inaction, this paper shifts the traditional geographical axis of Kant’s principles of coexistence, to examine their applications along a temporal axis. This method is paired with carefully researched evidence about the anticipated consequences of our present climate inaction to assert that we are not behaving peaceably towards future peoples. This paper concludes by suggesting three of Kant’s articles of peaceable conduct that can and should be embraced by the decision-makers of today to protect the autonomy and well-being of all future members of the social contract.