AbstractThis article examines how a Mexican couple envisioned an alternate Catholic approach to sexuality, called love‐communion, at the Mujeres para el Diálogo (MPD), or Women in Dialogue conference in 1979 in Puebla, Mexico. Love‐communion was based entirely on intimacy, de‐emphasising the procreative purpose the Church had preached for centuries. Surprisingly, love‐communion paid attention to questions of pleasure and same‐sex couples. Such open debate, let alone a radical vision imagined by a married Catholic couple, would be unimaginable in just a few years, especially in the face of politicisation about sex in the 1980s. While scholarship has focused on how liberation theology was a key issue at Puebla in 1979, this article argues another issue was just as central: the question of sex. This article also challenges previous scholarship on feminist mobilisation, which has primarily remembered the conference as turning point for the organising of Catholic feminists, and on family planning, which has embraced the perspectives of Catholic actors, but has neglected the perspectives of Catholic women. Historicising and analysing one of the only sources about the 1979 MPD conference reveals a story of loss – what could have been if the Church had listened to its followers, such as this couple.
Local governments around the world are exploring different strategies to become smarter: more efficient, sustainable, and highly interconnected. However, many actors outside government need to be involved too. For instance, public libraries have the potential to play a very important role in the development of smart and connected communities, due to their strong legitimacy in the eyes of citizens and the types of services and programs they are already providing, which in many cases go well beyond what could be considered traditional library services. This paper analyzes innovative practices in public libraries and argue that they already show the potential of public libraries to become catalysts for smart and connected communities. Together, these innovations represent an opportunity for governments and communities to engage and a new way to think about public libraries as very important actors in smart community initiatives.
The Dakar Metropolitan area is a vast area containing the capital city of Senegal, Dakar and the four departments or administrative zones of Dakar, Pikine, Guédiawaye and Rufisque. Dakar is the economic, cultural and political center of the country. Its location and opportunities draws migrants every year from the rural areas. Finding a high cost of living, migrants settle into the suburbs while adding pressure to a system already facing rapid urbanization and failing infrastructure. Through a mixed method analysis of primary data composed of questionnaires, interviews and observations, this case study of Pikine seeks to understand the built environment and lived experiences of residents in the "banlieue" or "suburb" of Dakar and the process by which people differentiate between Pikine and Dakar. This analysis responds to this question: Is Pikine a city that's increasingly independent and shaping its own destiny or is it still heavily defined by its identity as "une banlieue" of Dakar? The conclusion of the study is that Pikine is a suburb by urban form and functionality, which is defined by the failing built environment, an area lacking employment opportunities and one where the residents are victims of misconceptions about crime and danger. In contrast, the communities within Pikine envision themselves as a city; offering opportunities for everyone and serving as a model for other cities in Senegal.
It has been found that both preparedness for disasters and public response are significantly influenced by risk perceptions and trust in authorities and experts. Although Chile is a country with a long history of natural disasters, few studies have evaluated the risk perceptions of natural hazards or the degree of social trust. The aim of this study was to evaluate risk perception in Chile regarding various natural hazards and the degree of trust on authorities and institutions. A survey was conducted in five major cities in Chile during the year 2013 and was completed by a total sum of 2054 participants. We assessed risk perception of nine natural hazards and the level of trust in ten national institutions and authorities. According to declared levels of trust, the institutions and authorities included in this study were categorized into three groups: (1) low trust, which included governmental authorities and institutions; (2) medium trust, formed by institutions with educational and preparation roles; and (3) high trust, formed by institutions and authorities responsible for maintaining public order and conducting rescue and aid operations. Although our results show that earthquakes, tsunamis and wildfires were natural hazards of greatest concern to the national population, they also reflect that there are specific additional concerns in different cities that are coherent with their individual history of natural disasters. Implications for natural disaster risk preparedness are discussed. Keywords Author Keywords:Natural disasters; Risk preparedness; Trust; Risk perception; Risk profile
Rural homestead transfer is of considerable significance for the revitalization of rural land assets and sustainable use of land resources. "Amphibious" farmers are the most likely to transfer their homestead. As such, it is important to study their transfer behavior and influencing factors to promote homestead transfer. The study involved distributing questionnaires to 768 "amphibious" farmers in Guangdong Province, China, and 747 samples were valid. The impact of the farmers' citizenship ability and homestead utility preference on their homestead transfer behavior was analyzed using a binary logistic model. The study found that: (1) the citizenship ability of "amphibious" farmers had a significant positive impact on their willingness; the stronger the citizenship ability was, the stronger the willingness to transfer homesteads was. (2) Property and the guarantee utility of the homestead have an opposite impact on the willingness of "amphibious" farmers to transfer their homestead; if the property utility of the homestead is strong, its transfer intention is strong, but if the guarantee effect is strong, its transfer intention is weak. If the amphibious farmers are older, more educated, and have longer working years in cities, their willingness to transfer homestead will be lower. (3) The "amphibious" farmers working in cities and towns were found to have a stronger willingness to transfer homestead than those working in rural areas. Hence, the government should formulate differentiated policies for homestead transfer according to the ability endowment of farmers, improve various urban services and security infrastructure based on the urban housing of "amphibious" farmers, weaken the security utility of their rural homestead to flexibly realize their homestead property value, help them become citizens, and promote homestead transfer.
ABSTRACTThis paper explores the clothing and representation of the galli priests of Cybele in late Republican and early Imperial Rome. The galli were male‐bodied, but practiced self‐castration and wore traditionally feminine clothing and makeup, which the article argues placed them outside any expected gender binary and allowed them to inhabit a non‐binary identity. The article applies contemporary drag theory and the relationship between clothing and identity, particularly in respect of (assumed) incongruity, to explore the ways in which the galli's identity is visible in the Roman world. In the final section, a case study is made of the way the galli are represented in Lucian of Samosata's On the Syrian Goddess.