Transitioning into a sustainable energy system is becoming ever more pressing as the reality of an anthropogenic ecological crisis becomes difficult to ignore. Due to the complexity of the matter, proposed solutions often address the symptoms of the current socioeconomic configuration rather than its core. To conceptualise possible future energy systems, this Perspective focuses on the disconnect between science and technology and engineering studies. On the one hand, this disconnect leads to social science research that passively critiques rather than contributes to tackling societal issues in practice. On the other, it produces technical work limited by the incumbent conceptualisations of economic activity and organisational configurations around production without capturing the broader social and political dynamics. We thus propose a schema for bridging this divide that uses the "commons" as an umbrella concept. We apply this framework on the hardware aspect of a conceptual energy system, which builds on networked microgrids powered by open-source, lower cost, adaptable, socially responsible and sustainable technology. This Perspective is a call to engineers and social scientists alike to form genuine transdisciplinary collaborations for developing radical alternatives to the energy conundrum.
Abstract –In 2025 per capita water availability will decrease to 150 gallons per day in the best for the communities near any aquifer.The water situation will worsen as the population density and the shortage becomes acute exacerbate unsafe, leading cause of death in children with hydrotransmitted diseases.Such a scenario requires theoretical reconceptualization enabling public policies, environmental agendas, public opinion and social work.In this sense, the objective of this paper is to present water situation to conceptualize from the thought of Enrique Leff (2002, 2004, 2008) and analyze their transformation into public agenda.Understanding the relationship between water situations, public opinion, political initiatives, scientific diagnoses, technohydrological innovations and media coverage will be critical for social work professionals in the near future. Keywords –Sustainability, Access, Knowledge and Rationality Agenda. ; ESPECIFICAÇÃO DE UM MODELO PARA ESTUDO DA SUSTENTABILIDADE DO TRABALHO SOCIAL Resumo - Em 2025, a disponibilidade de água per capita diminuirá para 150 galões por dia, no melhor para as comunidades próximas a qualquer aqüífero. A situação da água vai piorar à medida que a densidade populacional e a escassez se agravam de forma aguda e insegura, principal causa de morte em crianças com doenças hidrotransmitidas. Tal cenário requer uma reconceituação teórica viabilizando políticas públicas, agendas ambientais, opinião pública e trabalho social. Nesse sentido, o objetivo deste artigo é apresentar a situação da água para conceituar a partir do pensamento de Enrique Leff (2002, 2004, 2008) e analisar sua transformação em agenda pública. Compreender a relação entre situações hídricas, opinião pública, iniciativas políticas, diagnósticos científicos, inovações tecnohidrológicas e cobertura da mídia será fundamental para os profissionais do serviço social em um futuro próximo. Palavras-chave - Agenda de Sustentabilidade, Acesso, Conhecimento e Racionalidade
Social inequalities fuel a debate about the meaning of political equality. Formal procedural equality is criticised for reproducing discriminatory outcomes against disadvantaged groups but affirmative action, particularly in the form of group quotas, is also contested. When opposing conceptions of substantive equality support divergent views about which procedural rule genuinely respects political equality, democracies cannot identify a standard or rule of procedural fairness to be widely accepted as fair. This dispute over procedural fairness can carry on indefinitely and could challenge democracy's legitimacy claim. I argue that democracies can renew their legitimacy claim by embracing this debate and by accommodating it through constitutional deliberation that must be as impartial and meaningful as possible. Impartiality ideally requires the presence of every citizen in this process because each of them has a unique and evolving experience of inequality. Meaningful deliberation is about offering periodic opportunities for constitutional reform, allowing for continuous feedback, reflection, and learning.
Social media provides ethno-racial immigrant groups—especially those who cannot vote due to factors such as lack of citizenship and limited English proficiency—the ability to mobilize and connect around collective issues. Online spaces and discussion forums have encouraged many Asian Americans to participate in public policy debates and take action on social justice issues. This form of digital group activism serves as an adaptive political empowerment strategy for the fastest-growing and largest foreign-born population in America. Asian American Connective Action in the Age of Social Media illuminates how associating online can facilitate and amplify traditional forms of political action. James Lai provides diverse case studies on contentious topics ranging from affirmative action debates to textbook controversies to emphasize the complexities, limitations, and challenges of connective action that is relevant to all racial groups. Using a detailed multi-methods approach that includes national survey data and Twitter hashtag analysis, he shows how traditional immigrants, older participants, and younger generations create online consensus and mobilize offline to foment political change. In doing so, Lai provides a nuanced glimpse into the multiple ways connective action takes shape within the Asian American community. ; https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/faculty_books/1523/thumbnail.jpg
The LEME Corpus Manual has an editorial introduction, indexes of subjects, proper names, and chronology, a primary bibliography of LEME corpus texts, as well as English language texts not included in the Corpus, a description of the XML encoding and of lemmatization and source analysis tools. The appendix includes lists of language abbreviations and of abbreviations for parts of speech. ; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada ; Canada Foundation for Innovation ; University of Toronto Libraries ; University of Toronto Press ; Information & Instructional Technology, Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Toronto
The LEME Corpus Manual has an editorial introduction, indexes of subjects, proper names, and chronology, a primary bibliography of LEME corpus texts, as well as English language texts not included in the Corpus, a description of the XML encoding and of lemmatization and source analysis tools. The appendix includes lists of language abbreviations and of abbreviations for parts of speech. ; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada ; Canada Foundation for Innovation ; University of Toronto Libraries ; University of Toronto Press ; Information & Instructional Technology, Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Toronto
Palestiinalaispakolaiset ovat eläneet pakolaisleireillä jo seitsemän vuosikymmentä. Heidän pakolaisuutensa juontuu vuodesta 1948, jolloin Israelin valtion perustamisen yhteydessä enemmistö alueen palestiinalaisesta väestöstä joutui pakenemaan kotiseuduiltaan. Vuosikymmenten aikana pakolaisleirit ovat tulleet osaksi Lähi-idän maisemaa, ja niillä on kasvanut ja elänyt jo useita palestiinalaissukupolvia. Leirien pitkästä historiasta huolimatta niitä on kuitenkin pidetty väliaikaisina; määritelmällisesti leiri on aina olemassa vain rajatun ajanjakson ja palestiinalaisten kansallisissa narratiiveissa, jotka painottavat paluuta Palestiinaan, niitä ei ole ajateltu pysyvinä asuinpaikkoina. Käytännössä leirit kuitenkin muodostavat olosuhteet, joissa palestiinalaispakolaiset elävät arkeaan ja rakentavat tulevaisuuttaan. Pitkän historiansa, ainutlaatuisen institutionaalisen viitekehyksen sekä palestiinalaisten poliittiseen kamppailuun linkittyvien merkitysten takia leirit luovat omanlaisensa puitteet niillä asuvien pakolaisten elämälle. Tässä tutkimuksessa en silti tarkastele vain leirejä itsessään vaan lähestyn niiden kautta sitä, miten niillä asuvat palestiinalaiset neuvottelevat tulevaisuudentoiveitaan. Tämä etnografiaan pohjaava tutkimus on toteutettu Libanonissa, Jordaniassa ja Länsirannalla usealla eri pakolaisleirillä. Valitsin monikenttäisen lähestymistavan sillä lähtöoletuksella, että pakolaisuuden konteksti vaikuttaa merkittävästi siihen, miten tulevaisuuksia kuvitellaan. Palestiinalaispakolaisten asemamassa onkin merkittäviä eroja näillä kolmella alueella: Libanonissa he elävät ilman kansalaisuutta ja sen tuomia oikeuksia, Jordaniassa enemmistö pakolaisista on samanaikaisesti sekä maan kansalaisia että pakolaisia ja Länsirannalla palestiinalaispakolaiset joutuvat muiden länsirantalaisten tavoin kohtaamaan Israelin väkivaltaisen miehityspolitiikan. Näiden kontekstuaalisten erojen ja niiden vaikutusten ymmärtäminen on ollut tutkimuksen keskiössä. Tutkimuksen lähtöoletuksena on lisäksi ontologisen hermeneutiikan mukaisesti se, että tulevaisuuden tarkastelu ei ole mahdollista ilman, että ymmärtää menneen, nykyisyyden ja näiden välisen suhteen. Tästä syystä käyn läpi eri kentillä asuvien palestiinalaisten historiaa ja etenen leirien nykyolosuhteiden tarkasteluun. Nämä ajallisuudet luovat pohjan pakolaisten tulevaisuudentoiveiden ymmärtämiselle. Palestiinalaispakolaisten historia on täynnä väkivaltaa, pakenemista ja jatkuvaa epävarmuutta, ja pakolaisleirit ovat tilana tiivistäneet pakolaisuuteen liittyvät vaikeudet niin historiallisesti kuin nykyäänkin. Materiaaliset olosuhteet, ahtaus, suhde ympäröivään paikkaan ja yhteisöön sekä leirin identiteetilliset ja poliittiset konnotaatiot ovat kaikki vaikuttaneet siihen, miten tähän tutkimukseen osallistuneet palestiinalaispakolaiset kokivat elinolosuhteensa. Leirien ei koettu pystyvän tarjoamaan toivottua elintasoa, mutta samanaikaisesti ne muodostivat merkityksellisen yhteisön, johon liitettiin useita positiivisia ominaisuuksia. Leirit muodostivat myös osan pakolaisten poliittista identiteettiä: ne muistuttivat niillä asuvien pakolaisuudesta ja muodostivat linkin Palestiinaan ja siten ylläpitivät vaatimusta paluuoikeudesta. Kuitenkin, näistä positiivisista puolista huolimatta, elettyinä tiloina leirit eivät pystyneet luomaan toivottuja puitteita arjelle. Tässä tutkimuksessa painottuu myös se, että Libanonissa, Jordaniassa ja Länsirannalla tarjolla olleet mahdollisuudet eivät useinkaan riittäneet toivotun tulevaisuuden saavuttamiseen. Maastamuutto olikin monelle tapa kuvitella parempaa tulevaisuutta niin itselle kuin perheelle, erityisesti Libanonissa ja Länsirannalla. Parempaa tulevaisuutta neuvoteltiin useita eri reittejä, ja tässä tutkimuksessa keskityn erityisesti koulutuksen, työn ja naimisiinmenon tarjoamiin mahdollisuuksiin. Vaikka myös kansalliset tulevaisuudet, Palestiina ja paluuoikeuden toteutuminen nousivat esiin näissä neuvotteluissa, ilmenivät ne kuitenkin abstraktimmalla tasolla ja eri aikajanalla, kuin tulevaisuudet, joilla haettiin parempia mahdollisuuksia saavuttaa henkilökohtaiset elämäntavoitteet ja helpotusta arjessa kohdattuihin vaikeuksiin. Palestiinalaispakolaisten tulevaisuuskäsitysten erityisyys on juuri henkilökohtaisen ja kansallisen tulevaisuuden välille muodostuvassa ristivedossa. Kansallisen narratiivin mukaan pakolaisten (erityisesti leireillä asuvien) oletetaan sisukkaasti odottavan paluuta, kestävän pakolaisuuden haasteet ja taistelevan kansallisten tavoitteiden puolesta. Samanaikaisesti pakolaiset kuitenkin pyrkivät parantamaan arkeaan, elinolosuhteitaan ja mahdollisuuksiaan tarjolla olevin keinoin. Etnografiassani painottui erityisesti tämä henkilökohtainen puoli ja se, että kansallisten tavoitteiden saavuttamisen ei koettu pystyvän tarjoamaan parannusta pakolaisuuden historian muovaamiin nykyolosuhteisiin riittävän nopealla aikataululla. Väitänkin, että henkilökohtaisten tulevaisuuksien ensisijaisuus heijastaa leireillä asuvien palestiinalaisten kohtaamia vaikeuksia: heidän asemansa ja tulevaisuutensa ei ole tarpeeksi turvattu, jotta he voisivat odottaa ja keskittyä kansallisten tavoitteiden ajamiseen. Sen sijaan palestiinalaispakolaiset ovat pakotettuja tarttumaan tällä hetkellä tarjolla oleviin vaihtoehtoihin ja pyrkimään niihin suuntiin, joissa mahdollisuudet parempaan elämään ovat tarjolla. ; Palestinian refugee camps have been housing Palestinians for seven decades. They were formed after 1948, when in the process of establishing Israel as a Jewish state the majority of Palestinians living in Mandatory Palestine were dispossessed. Over these decades, the camps have become a durable part of the Middle Eastern landscape, and several generations of refugees have already been born, and are living, in them. Despite the fact that Palestinian camps have also been framed as temporary, not only by definition but also in the national narratives stressing the right to return to Palestine, in practice the camps have become sites where lives are lived and futures built. Due to their long history, unique institutional framework, and strong connotation as centers of Palestinian political struggle, Palestinian refugee camps have their own specificities that affect how they frame the life of their dwellers. Yet, this dissertation is not an ethnography of the camps per se; the aim is rather to look through them in order to explore the manifold futures that are negotiated by the Palestinian refugees dwelling in them, and especially by those just reaching adulthood. This ethnographic study has been conducted in several refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and the West Bank. A multi-sited approach was adopted with the presumption that the context of refugeeness affects the ways in which futures are imagined. Palestinian refugees have been positioned differently in these places: as stateless and excluded in Lebanon, as refugee-citizens in Jordan, and as being among their own people yet enduring the difficulties of the oppressive Israeli occupation in the West Bank. Understanding these contextual specificities in the different host sovereigns has hence been central to the aims of this work. In this dissertation I argue, in line with ontological hermeneutics, that it is not possible to explore the future without first addressing the differing pasts and present conditions of the refugees. Therefore, to understand these differing experiences of Palestinian refugees living under the three host sovereigns, I start by looking at the histories that form the present realities through which Palestinians look to, have hopes for, and plan for their futures. The histories of Palestinian refugeeness have witnessed violence, multiple displacements, and enduring uncertainty. In all the fields that were included in this research it was the camp that embodied the difficulties of being a refugee. The material living conditions, crowdedness, camp community, and relations with the surrounding area and society, as well as the identificational and political connotations, have all affected how the camps have been experienced as places of dwelling by my interlocutors. In many ways they were considered inadequate in terms of providing the hoped-for standards of living, yet simultaneously they formed a significant community that was viewed from a positive perspective, though more so in the West Bank and Jordan than in Lebanon. Nevertheless, while the camps functioned as a marker of Palestinian refugeeness, and were even equated with Palestine and the right of return, as everyday spatialities they left much to be desired. Similarly, this research shows that the possibilities available to the refugees under the host sovereigns were not usually enough for my interlocutors to achieve their aspirations. Hence many – especially in Lebanon and the West Bank, though for different reasons – have come to consider that emigration could fulfil their hopes and provide better conditions for them and their families. Better futures were negotiated via different routes – education, employment, and marriage being the ones explored here. While both return and the national future of Palestine also emerged in these negotiations, they were situated in a different, more abstract timeframe, not one that could provide better possibilities or enhancements in the deprived conditions faced in everyday life. The specificity of Palestinian refugees' negotiations on the future nevertheless emerges from this discrepancy between the national and the personal. On the level of national discourse, Palestinian refugees (especially those living in camps) are people steadfastly waiting for the return, enduring life in the camp and fighting for the national cause. However, on the level of the everyday, they are – as is anyone – aiming to improve their situation with the means available and, as became evident in my ethnography, in the present situation and in light of past experiences those means direct their attention somewhere other than to the political objectives they hold as Palestinian refugees. This, I claim, reflects the difficulties that Palestinian refugees living in the camps face: they are not in a secure enough position to have the luxury of "waiting out" or to concentrate on the political in its national manifestation. Rather, they are forced to negotiate the options at hand, to reach out in those directions where possibilities are available.
Unlike almost most other studies of neoliberal universities and academic capitalism this book ethnographically explores and interprets those transformations and their contradictions empirically in the everyday practices of students, faculty members, and administrators at two public universities: NTNU in Norway and UCLA in California.Differently situated in global political economies, both are ambitious, prosperous campuses. The book refl exively examines their disturbing disputes about quality, competition, and innovation. It argues that some academic, bureaucratic, and corporate university governance practices are both unsustainable and undermining what some university students and faculty already do well: circulate interdisciplinary knowledge and its making globally across the diasporic domains of academia, society, industry, and government while addressing the world's immediate challenges: power, inequities, and sustainability.It shows the important, strategic work of domesticating, co- morphing, and meshworking at the faultlines of emerging knowledge. This book is for students, faculty, society members, and policy makers who want to engage more effectively with contemporary universities that increasingly serve as busy crossroads for sharing ideas and how to make them. It will be of interest to workers and scholars in the interdisciplinary fi elds of higher education studies, critical university studies, and critical public infrastructure studies, plus science, technology, and society studies.
Funding Information: This work was supported as part of the Strategic Research Programme of the Scottish Government Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) division, Theme 3: Food and Health (Work packages 3.2 and 3.3). ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF
The idea of hegemony, in its Gramscian sense, contributed to the renewal of several fields of social sciences in the 1970s and 1980s. This idea circulates between different geocultural spaces and different times. The approach adopted in this article starts from the contexts in which this idea is mobilized, in order to show to which theoretical and practical stakes it answers. Focusing on four authors (Antonio Gramsci, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe and Pablo Iglesias) and on the transfers from one author to another, the aim is to highlight the social conditions conducive to the deployment of this idea and to identify the (dis)continuities that punctuate its history. Throughout the socio-historical course marked out by the written productions of these four authors, one constant appears: the vitality of the concept of hegemony seems linked to periods of crisis - theoretical and / or strategic - of the left. ; Peer reviewed
L'idée d'hégémonie, dans son acception gramscienne, a contribué au renouvellement de plusieurs pans des sciences sociales au cours des années 1970-1980. Cette idée circule entre différents champs, différents espaces géoculturels et différentes époques. La démarche adoptée dans cet article part des contextes dans lequel cette idée est mobilisée, afin de montrer à quels enjeux théoriques et pratiques elle répond. En se focalisant sur quatre auteurs (Antonio Gramsci, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe et Pablo Iglesias) et sur les transferts d'un auteur à l'autre, il s'agit de mettre en exergue les conditions sociales propices au déploiement de cette idée et d'identifier les (dis)continuités qui jalonnent son histoire. A travers le parcours socio-historique jalonné par les productions écrites de ces quatre auteurs, une constante apparaît : la vitalité de l'idée d'hégémonie semble liée à des périodes de crise – théorique et/ou stratégique – de la gauche. ; Peer reviewed
Presenting an analysis of higher education in eight countries in the Arab Middle East and North Africa, Degrees of Dignity works to dismantle narratives of crisis and assert approaches to institutional reform. Drawing on policy documents, media narratives, interviews, and personal experiences, Elizabeth Buckner explores how apolitical external reform models become contested and modified by local actors in ways that are simultaneously complicated, surprising, and even inspiring. Degrees of Dignity documents how the global discourses of neoliberalism have legitimized specific policy models for higher education reform in the Arab world, including quality assurance, privatization, and internationalization. Through a multi-level and comparative analysis, this book examines how policy models are implemented, with often complex results, in countries throughout the region. Ultimately, Degrees of Dignity calls on the field of higher education development to rethink current approaches to higher education reform: rather than viewing the Arab world as a site for intervention, it argues that the Arab world can act as a source for insight on resilient higher education systems. ; This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
The pandemic COVID-19 became a challenge for both societies and governments. While most countries and citizens reacted similarly to the unknown strength of the virus at the start of the pandemic, the situation in each country began to vary more and more each month. Poland and Slovakia are interesting cases in this context. One year after the WHO declared a pandemic, these countries are experiencing one of the worst crises in history. In Poland, despite the initial social mobilisation, after a very short time, many government decisions ceased to be perceived as protecting citizens. In the first period of the pandemic, the Slovak government coped with the situation much better, which changed significantly in the autumn of 2020. The article aims to analyse how an active "rally 'round the flag" effect and the resulting natural potential for social mobilisation to fight the pandemic were wasted in Poland and Slovakia due to irresponsible political decisions undermining the citizens 'trust in the governments' good intentions.
A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. Yan'an is China's "revolutionary holy land," the heart of Mao Zedong's Communist movement from 1937 to 1947. Based on thirty years of archival and documentary research and numerous field trips to the region, Joseph W. Esherick's book examines the origins of the Communist revolution in Northwest China, from the political, social, and demographic changes of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), to the intellectual ferment of the early Republic, the guerrilla movement of the 1930s, and the replacement of the local revolutionary leadership after Mao and the Center arrived in 1935. In Accidental Holy Land, Esherick compels us to consider the Chinese Revolution not as some inevitable peasant response to poverty and oppression, but as the contingent product of local, national, and international events in a constantly changing milieu.
