Issue no. 1 (2014) by The New Birmingham Review
An outline of this edition, and acknowledgements of gratitude for the foundation of the journal.
Over the past decade, public health as an issue of security has emerged through the ‘securitizati... more Over the past decade, public health as an issue of security has emerged through the ‘securitization of health’. The emergence of this recent paradigm has exclusively focused on the spread of infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS and bioterrorism. This has led some such as Elbe (2010) and McInnes and Lee (2006) to question whether the securitization of health is actually improving international health policy; in fear that the focus has been on public health as a security risk rather than how security and foreign policy can help public health. The proposals made in this essay address this critique by focusing on how security status can help obstruct the health insecurities caused by the illicit trade of fake anti-malarial drugs, an increasingly recognized transnational criminal activity. As such, this trade is introduced to the health security paradigm by setting out the case for a ‘positive securitization’, whose aims would be the protection of individual and regional health rather than the reinforcement of existing power relations. This trade is illustrated as a threat to multiple referent objects: individuals by providing unknowing malaria patients with fake treatments; nations by eroding health infrastructures; and regions by increasing treatment immunity to the last effective drugs for malaria control. Transcending a refocus on human security within health security, this research calls for the requirement of an informed debate within a security context of this global health crisis in order to advance policy changes for effective counter-measures.
With the ever-quickening development of NBICS technologies (Nano, Bio, Info, Cogno, and Synthetic... more With the ever-quickening development of NBICS technologies (Nano, Bio, Info, Cogno, and Synthetic) there is a plethora of ethical, sociological and political issues which need to be addressed in relation to how they affect our understanding of ‘the human’ and of ‘being’. Following Martin Heidegger’s thought, this paper explores the ambiguity of technology: the way in which modern technology limits humans’ potential to reveal themselves as authentic beings, with a particular focus on the impact of the cochlear implant and bionic ear on deaf people. The ‘ontological difference’ in Heidegger’s work will be laid out to enable us to focus on the ontological question, namely, what it means to be human, or a being-towards-death. Further, this paper seeks to analyse the (im)possibility that cybernetic enhancements of the ontic (the human body) can change the meaning of the ontological (of Being, [deaf-]Dasein), or the way in which one embraces death. Contrary to Heidegger’s conception of Being and death, the main focus of transhumanists is to actively engage with death and life enhancement, which, it will be seen, raises questions about their authenticity. Nonetheless, Critical Disability scholars point to ethical concerns: the bionic ear substantively alters and threatens deaf culture, Sign Languages and the meaning of ‘optimal life’ and dis/ability. There is no doubt that the cochlear implant/bionic ear is aporetic: it represents an augmentation of human ability, but it is also a threat, when used instrumentally to establish a hierarchy of abilities and an aesthetic of oppression.
Arguably we are living in a culture that continues to frame motherhood as fundamental to feminine... more Arguably we are living in a culture that continues to frame motherhood as fundamental to feminine identity. This examination understands motherhood as a social construction rather than a naturalised female state. A foucauldian analysis is used to deconstruct dominant discourses and frames of knowledge, which produce regulatory power relations surrounding motherhood. Historical processes and normalising discourses continue to interlink with, and influence, modern day conceptions of motherhood. Although particularities have shifted over time, naturalistic discourse remains, framing the married, middle class, heterosexual woman as the perfect mother. Those who fall outside of this dominant discourse, such as teen and single mothers, become stigmatised as failed mothers who have broken the codes of femininity. State rhetoric and policy maintains and reproduces this stigmatisation with notions of the single mother being an underlying cause of societal problems, particularly anti-social behaviour. However, some have argued these dominant discourses are beginning to be transcended by voluntary childlessness, in which women are seen to enact greater agency within reproductive choice. Despite this, extensive criticism of these women for their decision demonstrates the widespread embedded nature of the discourse of traditional motherhood. Consequently, the intertwined nature of motherhood and femininity is damaging for both mothers and non-mothers. This examination understands the deconstruction of this dominant discourse as essential for creating a distance between the entangled notions of femininity and motherhood, possibly enabling a more positive conception of both femininity and motherhood to ensue.
Drawing on ideas from feminist ethics and care ethics, this paper aims to demonstrate that deonto... more Drawing on ideas from feminist ethics and care ethics, this paper aims to demonstrate that deontological moral theories have traditionally excluded women by using masculine gendered terminology. It is further shown that whilst virtue ethics encounters the same issues by favouring 'masculine' virtues, it has the theoretical capability to incorporate a feminist/care approach to ethics and that moreover, these approaches ought to be combined if we are to continue to develop an adequate approach to morality.
There is no shortage of literature concerned with the transformations being experienced by the co... more There is no shortage of literature concerned with the transformations being experienced by the contemporary welfare state and the study of ‘retrenchment’ is well established. As it exists however this literature almost entirely works within narrow, reductive paradigms that uncritically present the welfare state as able to be entirely understood in terms of expenditure and explicit class struggle. This paper seeks to highlight only one of many regards in which this is problematic by exploring the relationship between the welfare state and the spatialities of labour under capitalism. This concerns the geographies and spaces that the welfare state creates for labour along with how these differ between historical accumulation regimes, but also concerns those that the welfare state functions to eliminate. The work of the likes of Lefebvre and an increasingly accepted need to ‘spatialize Marx’ are shown to have direct implications for the task of understanding welfare provision. Furthermore, in conducting this exploration this paper demonstrates how the development of the welfare state is inextricably tied to the development of accumulation regimes by its need to adapt to the changing specificities of capital’s demand for the regulation and discipline of labour. It is hoped that this demonstration will encourage scholars to question their commitment to the concept of ‘retrenchment’ in favour of pursuing a more critical understanding of the emerging post-fordist welfare state.
Dissertation Special Edition 2015 by The New Birmingham Review
The New Birmingham Review, Dissertation Special Edition (2015)
Dissertations constitute a major part of early academic work. Whether as an undergraduate or mast... more Dissertations constitute a major part of early academic work. Whether as an undergraduate or masters’ student, the completion of the dissertation stands as testament to one's development throughout university education. For many, the dissertation is the first real instance of having to grapple with completing an extended piece of research-based work, with all that this entails. Students, when confronted with the project of writing their dissertation, face the challenge of selecting a problematic to address; of developing research questions and methods for answering these; of doing research (in terms of both existing literature as well as using research methods to address novel questions); and of writing this all up and presenting it with the clarity and precision demanded by assessment criteria. It goes without saying that the dissertation is, for many, a great undertaking which entails serious engagement and immense effort. It is for these reasons and more that the dissertation’s fate is lamentable. As a piece of work it is produced as part of a broader assessment of one’s academic ability, and as such the dissertation has a very particular institutional life with all the limitations this implies. Many individuals keep their dissertations and cherish them for a long time after their completion, granted – however, engagement with student dissertations beyond this point is usually limited to the supervisor and secondary marker. When the assessment is done, the dissertation loses any movement, becomes a static artefact archived somewhere and rarely read by anybody else.
This dissertation sets out to explore the ways in which nationalism as an ideology has played a p... more This dissertation sets out to explore the ways in which nationalism as an ideology has played a part in the formation of identity in modern international relations; formations which go beyond the shaping of the nation state as we know it. It aims to place the exploration in a context which reflects the contextual origins of nationalism itself: Britain. This dissertation explains the role of nationalism in the formation of identity of the Middle Eastern Diaspora residing in Britain. This is the subject diaspora of choice considering the aforementioned role of Britain in cultivating nationalist sentiment, especially in the Arab world. Although naturally adopting a multidisciplinary approach, to transcend an empirical sociological observation it will compare the proclamations of identity by the subject diaspora with already existing definitions and constructions of British national identity. The foundational basis of this dissertation will be frameworks of nationalism as defined by Anderson (1991), Alter (1994), and Gellner (1983). The research involves the method of primary research to ensure an active intonation of political implications, as well as implications for existing grounded theories concerning nationalism and identity.
The results of the primary research reveal that Arab national sentiment is not as concretely present in the participants as per the initial anticipation. The relationship is geared towards patriotism and a strong attachment to religion, as opposed to an all encompassing nationalist sentiment. The start of this project was based on believing that nationalism was the strongest factor in the shaping of the young Middle Eastern diaspora in Britain, and this said nationalist sentiment would supersede any cultural or religious self identification. As a result, the suspected implications of this for British national identity are reflective of a deep and substantial disparity. However, the results display a remarkable shift away from a simple Arab Communitarian force or an all-encompassing global Cosmopolitan force. This opening of the debate highlights the nature of national identity as a social construct, designed by individualism which allows no real space for community, and instead advocates the growth of religion as a more powerful factor concerning identity.
Reconciliation, as a post-conflict peacebuilding activity for social reconstruction, has gained a... more Reconciliation, as a post-conflict peacebuilding activity for social reconstruction, has gained academic and policy recognition for its potential in rebuilding relationships broken during war. It has been linked with activities for establishing institutional mechanisms dealing with human rights atrocities, focusing on victims’ rights to truth, and justice, as well as long-term development strategies for divided societies. Reconciliation is a key category that receives donors’ support, seen as a precondition of peace (Fischer, 2011).
For those engaged in post-conflict reconstruction, reconciliation is a growing field for transitional justice, accountability processes and rebuilding rule of law in divided societies. All strategies have received ongoing international assistance (Sriram, 2010), as practice in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia showed (through investment in International tribunals and Judicial sector reform). Academics centred on divided societies state that reconciliation can help meet the everyday needs of those living in peacebuilding societies (Eastmond, 2010) via inter-ethnic dialogue, social empowerment, deliberative democracy (Yordán, 2003) and also on ideational, cultural and non-state factors that can foster legitimacy to peace activities.
Taking an exploration into the gendered politics of food, this dissertation interrogates the inti... more Taking an exploration into the gendered politics of food, this dissertation interrogates the intimate and complex relationship between gender and food consumption, a relationship which at first glance seems to be trivial and frivolous, but is in fact a significant embodied, political, and cultural practice. It argues that food consumption is an important, embodied practice through which masculinities are disciplined and controlled. Furthermore, it is shown that food consumption (re)produces more broadly assumptions about gender as something that is natural, and essential. It argues that what we eat not only (re)produces gendered binaries, but it is also framed by normalizing discourses of class, race, and sexuality that mask over inequalities and render particular identities invisible. Using three focus groups of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian men, I will argue that vegetarian masculinities simultaneously reinforce and destabilize discourses of normative masculinity which are entirely contextual. In doing this, this dissertation offers an original contribution and an exploration into the everyday, embodied practices in which a group of vegetarian men negotiate normative masculinity. It will consider the political salience of consuming particular foods, in particular places and raise questions about the intersections of food, gender, race, class, and sexuality. Importantly, I hope to open up a space for further discussion around the sexual politics of food, an area that until now has been given modest attention by feminist scholars.
This dissertation, informed by post-structuralist feminist theory, discusses the impact of gender... more This dissertation, informed by post-structuralist feminist theory, discusses the impact of gender upon women’s occupational ‘choices’. Specifically, it argues that women’s employment ‘choices’ are not, in truth, freely made. Rather, it asserts that gender logics -through a variety of means including the breadwinner model, occupational and domestic work segregation, the treatment of women within part-time work and normative guidelines of femininity and motherhood- shape women’s work ‘choices’ to fundamentally stabilise the gender binary and thus the subordination of women. In theorising this, this dissertation concentrates on the particular experiences of women within part-time work since, worldwide, it is significantly female-dominated. However, uniquely, this dissertation also focuses on the experiences of men within this domain as investigating both sides of the co-dependent gender binary has enabled this dissertation to, primarily, shed further light on women’s work ‘choices’. To facilitate this comparative discussion, this dissertation draws upon the research method of triangulation -comprised of questionnaires, interviews and observation- alongside qualitative interview analysis and post-structural discourse analysis. Through the combination of these methods, this dissertation answers the research question by illustrating how women’s labour ‘choices’ are constructed within an inescapable web of discursive gender logics, which mutually co-constitute the suppression of women’s power and the preservation of men’s in both the private and public spheres.
The New Birmingham Review, Dissertation Special Edition (2015)
This paper explores the debates around the framing of subversive groups and subcultures through a... more This paper explores the debates around the framing of subversive groups and subcultures through an analysis of the discursive presentation of drugs and drug users and the role played by identity, power and hegemony in this process. Through an engagement with sociological theories of deviance - moral panics and drug scares - the piece explores the discursive methods through which marginalisation occurs. The wide scope of the subject matter calls for a broad approach to analysis; an engagement with the poststructuralist philosophy of Jacques Derrida informs the dismissal of claims to reason and common sense that dominate the drug debate and marginalisation debates in general. The application of poststructuralist discourse theories leads to a critical contestation of dominant discursive formations through the formation of alternative identities acting to subvert the methods through which marginalisation occurs. The paper posits that the application of a reconceptualised ‘radical, plural democracy’ and increased engagement with the internet as an unmediated public sphere can contribute to the expansion of opportunities for marginalised groups to counter the hegemonic discourses that act to suppress them.
Across social science, far more academics adhere to the above aphorism than would be willing to a... more Across social science, far more academics adhere to the above aphorism than would be willing to admit it. Even the most adamant positivists reveal, if in nothing else then their choice of research topic, their desire to have an impact on policy and, by extension, the social order it creates. Social knowledge is rarely pursued for its own sake, however much we may protest to the contrary.
Yet, in the history of social enquiry, some have pursued this aim more explicitly and progressively than others. The desire to understand the social world, what is right and wrong about its organisation, and ultimately effect change for the better, is best embodied by the branch of social science known as ‘critical theory’ (Bohman, 2013; Horkheimer, 1982). In this wide sense, a critical theory can be defined as a research programme that ‘…has an emancipatory interest in human autonomy’ (Blaikie, 2007: 140). Necessarily, such theories require empirical, normative (roughly, ethical) and practical (in terms of how to change the social world for the better) dimensions (Bohman, 2013).
This research approaches the question of ‘Othering’ within Hollywood cinema, and the impact that ... more This research approaches the question of ‘Othering’ within Hollywood cinema, and the impact that these processes might have on the perceived legitimacy of American foreign and domestic policy in the post-9/11 ‘War on Terror’ context. Following a discussion of the literature charting the history of ‘Othering’ from the Cold War to 2007,((outlining the negative stereotypes attached to Muslims and Arabs regarding a predisposition towards terrorism and fanaticism), the research analyses seven post-2008 Hollywood films using a hegemonic discourse analysis approach that gives significance to the social, political and cultural context in which they are viewed by an audience. The conclusions drawn from this analysis indicate a continued prevalence of negative stereotyping within Hollywood cinema towards Arabs and Muslims, but increasingly towards Koreans, Iranians and domestic terrorism in order to construct a perception of emerging geopolitical threats from these groups. Such portrayals of terrorism are found to seek to legitimise a particularly hawkish foreign policy, and repressive domestic policies in many cases, though there are films found to provide a critical engagement with such policies.
This study was undertaken on three levels:
First, to locate the perceptions of disability amon... more This study was undertaken on three levels:
First, to locate the perceptions of disability among the disabled in the occupied territories of Palestine, in light of their religious affiliation. Second, to investigate the realities of the disabled within Palestine; and third, to enquire as to whether there had been any differences in the perceptions of disabilities and the realities of those who were injured in conflict, and those who were born with impairment.
The strategies used in the advancement of this study were a hybrid of qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative methods used were: semi-structured interviews, a focus group discussion, and my personal direct observation, as a disabled person within the region. The quantitative component of this study meanwhile, was in the form of purposively sampled questionnaire surveys. It was found during the course of the study that the perception of the disabled within Palestine towards their condition was one of acceptance, with the majority viewing it as the will of Allah, and a strength.
In terms of wider society implications, the position of the disabled was one which was reflective of disability on the general development agenda: a largely neglected stitch in the overall fabric of society. However, there was a perceptible and positive shift in this reality, from neglect, to inclusion - though there was still much more to be done in this regard. Above all, however, the pervading feeling of the disabled within Palestine was that the main disabling aspect of their lives was not their physical or mental conditions, but the occupation itself.
While as regards to the potential dichotomy, it was seen that there was a general agreement that the faith of the conflict-disabled was not challenged by their newly acquired conditions, though there were significant differences between the lived experiences of both groups, with the conflict-disabled enjoying a better status than those who were born with their disability.
The New Birmingham Review, Dissertation Special Edition (2015)
The opening lines of most contemporary critical theory on the erotic romance genre are about as p... more The opening lines of most contemporary critical theory on the erotic romance genre are about as predictable as erotic romance texts themselves. Critics such as Jayne Ann Krentz (1992), Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan (2009) inform us that the genre is scorned, misunderstood, and that readers of the genre are made to feel ashamed (Krentz, 1992: 1). However, three years after the release of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy[1], when millions of women now unashamedly access erotic romance on their Kindles, and popular titles make it into mainstream bestseller lists, does this over-protective defence of the genre still hold true? With more fame should come more responsibility; the genre needs to be brought up to date with its new modern readers rather than continuing to justify its well-worn narratives as being ‘subversive’ and ‘empowering’ for women. Therefore, I return to a literary critique of the genre, in particular the three texts, In Too Deep (2008) by Portia Da Costa, Seven Years to Sin (2011[a])[2] by Sylvia Day, and a collection of seventeen short stories edited by Kristina Wright called Best Erotic Romance (2011), to show that for a genre that reflects shifts is social discourses surrounding feminism and female sexuality (Sonnet, 1999, p.171), contemporary erotic romance is behind the times when it comes to modern sex-positive feminism and gender theory.
Dissertation Repository by The New Birmingham Review
The Dissertation Repository is the result of the overwhelming response to our call for dissertati... more The Dissertation Repository is the result of the overwhelming response to our call for dissertation submissions for the Special Edition of the NBR. So many dissertations contained timely and engaging arguments that we felt it necessary to create a space where these arguments could be accessed by the wider community of students and academics at all levels. Therefore, the Repository contains a number of dissertations which we received but could not include in the Special Edition. In this sense, the Repository should be seen as an extension of the Special Edition – an extension which can be regularly updated with new dissertations as they emerge. The following dissertations enter the Repository without being edited, but the goal is to establish the Repository as a space for further engagement and critique, where work can be developed, edited and stored. As such, the Repository should also be seen as a project – a process – which will expand and develop with the continued input of a diverse range of students.
This dissertation seeks to contribute to knowledge of women’s, profeminist men’s and mixed-gender... more This dissertation seeks to contribute to knowledge of women’s, profeminist men’s and mixed-gender consciousness-raising groups, demonstrating that they provide positive outcomes for their members and that the latter two are an effective means of encouraging men’s involvement in the feminist movement. It argues that many of the established positive outcomes for women group members, such as personal support and education of feminist issues would also apply in the case of profeminist men’s and mixed-gender consciousness-raising groups. This dissertation draws upon a qualitative research study of participants’ opinions and experiences of women’s, profeminist men’s and mixed-gender consciousness-raising groups via the medium of surveys and semi-structured interviews. Through the combination of these methods, the dissertation concludes that opening group membership is likely to encourage men’s participation in the feminist movement because consciousness-raising groups are an effective means of social and political development.
The United Nations Security Council’s decision to pass Resolution 1973 (2011) in March 2011 was g... more The United Nations Security Council’s decision to pass Resolution 1973 (2011) in March 2011 was greeted by many with enthusiasm. The international community had at last found common ground and was set to prevent a dictator from slaughtering his own people. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) had arrived and Libya was going to be the ultimate test. A success could help to establish R2P as an international norm whereas a failure could result in its end. This dissertation explores precisely this question; asking whether the Libya intervention is to be seen as success or failure for the principle of R2P. For this purpose, it is structured into three main parts analysing the intervention’s legitimacy, legality and wider security and stability in post-Gaddafi Libya. It thereby argues that whilst the intervention is mainly to be seen as legitimate, it has been at least partially illegal. Looking at Libya and the region today, this dissertation will also demonstrate why the intervention did more harm than good in terms of security and stability.
Sexualisation as an academic term has been used by gender scholars for a number of years. Howeve... more Sexualisation as an academic term has been used by gender scholars for a number of years. However more recently it has started to enter the public lexicon and discussions of the effects of sexualisation have become more and more frequent within the mainstream media. (Egan and Hawkes, 2008:308.) A recent campaign on the petition website “Change.org” sought to stop the Daily Mail sexualising young women which saw over thirty five thousand signatures. The Guardian declared a “fight against the sexualisation of children,” and mentioned many campaigners seeking to “put a stop to the practice [of media sexualisation].” (Cochrane, 2014.) In addition, the British government has commissioned two separate reports into sexualisation, the first a Home Office commissioned report, which was written by Linda Papadopoulos in 2010; then a year later a Department for Education report by Reg Bailey in 2011. It is a topic therefore that has had a large amount of interest within the academic, the public and the government spheres and one worthy of further investigation.
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Issue no. 1 (2014) by The New Birmingham Review
Dissertation Special Edition 2015 by The New Birmingham Review
The results of the primary research reveal that Arab national sentiment is not as concretely present in the participants as per the initial anticipation. The relationship is geared towards patriotism and a strong attachment to religion, as opposed to an all encompassing nationalist sentiment. The start of this project was based on believing that nationalism was the strongest factor in the shaping of the young Middle Eastern diaspora in Britain, and this said nationalist sentiment would supersede any cultural or religious self identification. As a result, the suspected implications of this for British national identity are reflective of a deep and substantial disparity. However, the results display a remarkable shift away from a simple Arab Communitarian force or an all-encompassing global Cosmopolitan force. This opening of the debate highlights the nature of national identity as a social construct, designed by individualism which allows no real space for community, and instead advocates the growth of religion as a more powerful factor concerning identity.
For those engaged in post-conflict reconstruction, reconciliation is a growing field for transitional justice, accountability processes and rebuilding rule of law in divided societies. All strategies have received ongoing international assistance (Sriram, 2010), as practice in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia showed (through investment in International tribunals and Judicial sector reform). Academics centred on divided societies state that reconciliation can help meet the everyday needs of those living in peacebuilding societies (Eastmond, 2010) via inter-ethnic dialogue, social empowerment, deliberative democracy (Yordán, 2003) and also on ideational, cultural and non-state factors that can foster legitimacy to peace activities.
Yet, in the history of social enquiry, some have pursued this aim more explicitly and progressively than others. The desire to understand the social world, what is right and wrong about its organisation, and ultimately effect change for the better, is best embodied by the branch of social science known as ‘critical theory’ (Bohman, 2013; Horkheimer, 1982). In this wide sense, a critical theory can be defined as a research programme that ‘…has an emancipatory interest in human autonomy’ (Blaikie, 2007: 140). Necessarily, such theories require empirical, normative (roughly, ethical) and practical (in terms of how to change the social world for the better) dimensions (Bohman, 2013).
First, to locate the perceptions of disability among the disabled in the occupied territories of Palestine, in light of their religious affiliation. Second, to investigate the realities of the disabled within Palestine; and third, to enquire as to whether there had been any differences in the perceptions of disabilities and the realities of those who were injured in conflict, and those who were born with impairment.
The strategies used in the advancement of this study were a hybrid of qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative methods used were: semi-structured interviews, a focus group discussion, and my personal direct observation, as a disabled person within the region. The quantitative component of this study meanwhile, was in the form of purposively sampled questionnaire surveys. It was found during the course of the study that the perception of the disabled within Palestine towards their condition was one of acceptance, with the majority viewing it as the will of Allah, and a strength.
In terms of wider society implications, the position of the disabled was one which was reflective of disability on the general development agenda: a largely neglected stitch in the overall fabric of society. However, there was a perceptible and positive shift in this reality, from neglect, to inclusion - though there was still much more to be done in this regard. Above all, however, the pervading feeling of the disabled within Palestine was that the main disabling aspect of their lives was not their physical or mental conditions, but the occupation itself.
While as regards to the potential dichotomy, it was seen that there was a general agreement that the faith of the conflict-disabled was not challenged by their newly acquired conditions, though there were significant differences between the lived experiences of both groups, with the conflict-disabled enjoying a better status than those who were born with their disability.
Dissertation Repository by The New Birmingham Review
The results of the primary research reveal that Arab national sentiment is not as concretely present in the participants as per the initial anticipation. The relationship is geared towards patriotism and a strong attachment to religion, as opposed to an all encompassing nationalist sentiment. The start of this project was based on believing that nationalism was the strongest factor in the shaping of the young Middle Eastern diaspora in Britain, and this said nationalist sentiment would supersede any cultural or religious self identification. As a result, the suspected implications of this for British national identity are reflective of a deep and substantial disparity. However, the results display a remarkable shift away from a simple Arab Communitarian force or an all-encompassing global Cosmopolitan force. This opening of the debate highlights the nature of national identity as a social construct, designed by individualism which allows no real space for community, and instead advocates the growth of religion as a more powerful factor concerning identity.
For those engaged in post-conflict reconstruction, reconciliation is a growing field for transitional justice, accountability processes and rebuilding rule of law in divided societies. All strategies have received ongoing international assistance (Sriram, 2010), as practice in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia showed (through investment in International tribunals and Judicial sector reform). Academics centred on divided societies state that reconciliation can help meet the everyday needs of those living in peacebuilding societies (Eastmond, 2010) via inter-ethnic dialogue, social empowerment, deliberative democracy (Yordán, 2003) and also on ideational, cultural and non-state factors that can foster legitimacy to peace activities.
Yet, in the history of social enquiry, some have pursued this aim more explicitly and progressively than others. The desire to understand the social world, what is right and wrong about its organisation, and ultimately effect change for the better, is best embodied by the branch of social science known as ‘critical theory’ (Bohman, 2013; Horkheimer, 1982). In this wide sense, a critical theory can be defined as a research programme that ‘…has an emancipatory interest in human autonomy’ (Blaikie, 2007: 140). Necessarily, such theories require empirical, normative (roughly, ethical) and practical (in terms of how to change the social world for the better) dimensions (Bohman, 2013).
First, to locate the perceptions of disability among the disabled in the occupied territories of Palestine, in light of their religious affiliation. Second, to investigate the realities of the disabled within Palestine; and third, to enquire as to whether there had been any differences in the perceptions of disabilities and the realities of those who were injured in conflict, and those who were born with impairment.
The strategies used in the advancement of this study were a hybrid of qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative methods used were: semi-structured interviews, a focus group discussion, and my personal direct observation, as a disabled person within the region. The quantitative component of this study meanwhile, was in the form of purposively sampled questionnaire surveys. It was found during the course of the study that the perception of the disabled within Palestine towards their condition was one of acceptance, with the majority viewing it as the will of Allah, and a strength.
In terms of wider society implications, the position of the disabled was one which was reflective of disability on the general development agenda: a largely neglected stitch in the overall fabric of society. However, there was a perceptible and positive shift in this reality, from neglect, to inclusion - though there was still much more to be done in this regard. Above all, however, the pervading feeling of the disabled within Palestine was that the main disabling aspect of their lives was not their physical or mental conditions, but the occupation itself.
While as regards to the potential dichotomy, it was seen that there was a general agreement that the faith of the conflict-disabled was not challenged by their newly acquired conditions, though there were significant differences between the lived experiences of both groups, with the conflict-disabled enjoying a better status than those who were born with their disability.
The findings revealed that Familias en Acción has played a key role in improving the health and school attendance of children. Increased access to employment and services in the Andean Region has helped to reduce Multidimensional Poverty. However, poor service provision and exclusion from formal employment has facilitated the perpetuation of Multidimensional Poverty in Chocó and inhibited the effectiveness of social protection in Chocó. Although Familias en Acción has helped to combat malnutrition and poor health in Quibdó, exclusion from participation in wider society and the formal employment market has prevented households from creating a stable platform and framework through which social capital can be accrued, and vulnerability addressed.
The analysis exposes that Social Protection has had limited success in improving the socio-economic status of households.
with students to develop their papers in a critical fashion through editorial dialogue.
which became prominent later on in this period necessitated more wholesale structural change which was counter-posed to the capitalist system in America. Violence in the form of self-defence was therefore commonly pursued in the early civil rights era, albeit by sections of the
black working class operating outside of formal organisations.
Furthermore, it is argued that generally understood definitions of violence – used often to condemn elements of the civil rights movement – do not adequately capture dynamics of structural violence existing through the state and class structure of American society in the 1960s. The paper therefore concludes that it is necessary to challenge this typical narrative
of the civil rights movement due to its presentation of both the legitimacy and success of non-violent and violent protest more generally which has negative implications for contemporary protest movements.
American scripted television series using Callie Torres from Grey’s Anatomy and Oberyn Martell from Game Of Thrones as case studies. These binormative representations privilege discourses of gendernormativity, coupling and family, and white supremacy over competing discourses, such as non-monogamy, gender non-conformity, and alternative relationship and family arrangements. Callie and Oberyn exemplify how current media representations of bisexuality seek to
personify, symbolise, and sustain the hegemonic position ‘the normal gay’ upholds in both scripted series and our society. As a result, binormative representations align with homonormative values of integrating gay and lesbian individuals into society without challenging its heteronormative order. Binormativity seeks the assimilation of bisexuality into society to gain acceptance; therefore, actively marginalising and erasing from our screens (and our imaginations) the possibility for bisexuality to transgress mainstream gender, sexual, and racial codes. Consequently, binormativity has two unavoidable effects. Firstly, it maintains a deceivingly unified and homogenous LGBTQ movement that only caters to the interests of homonormative gays and lesbians. Secondly, it reifies hierarchies within the LGBTQ movement where other non-normative gender and sexualities are marginalised and deemed non-existent.
collective national identity, become objects of security. This paper focuses on the securitization of migration in Malaysia. Drawing on securitization theory and critical approaches, a framework is developed for understanding how elite-driven security politics uses images of migrant threat to shape identity for political ends. Investigation of Indonesian migrant workers’ addition to, and continued inclusion in, an insecurity discourse in Malaysia progresses an understanding of the facilitating conditions, political actors involved, and humanitarian consequences. Discourse analysis is contextualized in relation to policy to demonstrate that the Malaysian case is one of (in)security politics, identity policy; the Malaysian political elite, with the Barisan Nasional at its core, have ensured perpetuation of shared identity and privilege for Malays, and regime security for itself, at the expense of the rights of migrants.
sexual services. Rather than giving a moralised argument about the essential
degradation of the act of selling sex as a commodity, this paper will instead concentrate on the sociological dilemma of prostitution as the practice is currently understood and perceived. Thus, as this paper considers it to be sociological, and the sale of sex having no intrinsic worth, it allows for the possibility of prostitution
as a form of sex work to change to a less patriarchal set of practices. Finally, this paper considers the necessity of granting sex workers access to feminist campaigns and spaces in order to grant them the moral autonomy needed to reform sex work from “the inside out,” taking into account the views of those that operate within those spaces regularly.