Search results for: racial or ethnic politics

Authors: Chantal Maille

Abstract:

This paper is about gender-based analysis plus (GBA+), an intersectional gender policy used in Canada to assess the impact of policies and programs for men and women from different origins. It looks at Canada’s political culture to explain the nature of its gender policies. GBA+ is defined as an analysis method that makes it possible to assess the eventual effects of policies, programs, services, and other initiatives on women and men of different backgrounds because it takes account of gender and other identity factors. The ‘plus’ in the name serves to emphasize that GBA+ goes beyond gender to include an examination of a wide range of other related identity factors, such as age, education, language, geography, culture, and income. The point of departure for GBA+ is that women and men are not homogeneous populations and gender is never the only factor in defining a person’s identity; rather, it interacts with factors such as ethnic origin, age, disabilities, where the person lives, and other aspects of individual and social identity. GBA+ takes account of these factors and thus challenges notions of similarity or homogeneity within populations of women and men. Comparative analysis based on sex and gender may serve as a gateway to studying a given question, but women, men, girls, and boys do not form homogeneous populations. In the 1990s, intersectionality emerged as a new feminist framework. The popularity of the notion of intersectionality corresponds to a time when, in hindsight, the damage done to minoritized groups by state disengagement policies in concert with global intensification of neoliberalism, and vice versa, can be measured. Although GBA+ constitutes a form of intersectionalization of GBA, it must be understood that the two frameworks do not spring from a similar logic. Intersectionality first emerged as a dynamic analysis of differences between women that was oriented toward change and social justice, whereas GBA is a technique developed by state feminists in a context of analyzing governmental policies and aiming to promote equality between men and women. It can nevertheless be assumed that there might be interest in such a policy and program analysis grid that is decentred from gender and offers enough flexibility to take account of a group of inequalities. In terms of methodology, the research is supported by a qualitative analysis of governmental documents about GBA+ in Canada. Research findings identify links between Canadian gender policies and its political culture. In Canada, diversity has been taken into account as an element at the basis of gendered analysis of public policies since 1995. The GBA+ adopted by the government of Canada conveys an opening to intersectionality and a sensitivity to multiculturalism. The Canadian Multiculturalism Act, adopted 1988, proposes to recognize the fact that multiculturalism is a fundamental characteristic of the Canadian identity and heritage and constitutes an invaluable resource for the future of the country. In conclusion, Canada’s distinct political culture can be associated with the specific nature of its gender policies.

Keywords: Canada, gender-based analysis, gender policies, political culture

Procedia PDF Downloads 224

Authors: Ishrat Zakia Sultana

Abstract:

The consistent persecution, ethnic cleansing, and genocide against the Rohingya in Burma resulted four major influxes of the Rohingya people to the neighboring country Bangladesh. After the latest influx of October 2016 and August 2017, the total number of Rohingya in Bangladesh stands somewhere between 900,000 to over one million, placing Bangladesh much ahead with the number of refugees compared to Dadaab and Kakuma in Kenya, Bidibidi in Uganda and Zaatari in Jordan. While Bangladesh received recognition and appreciation for receiving a huge number of the Rohingya, one of the fundamental human rights of the Rohingya – education – has never been fulfilled in Bangladesh. The Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief of the government of Bangladesh has been looking after the Rohingya and managing various programs for the Rohingya. On its website, the Ministry claims that it provides the basic supports/services to the Rohingya, including providing education. In practice, however, education for the Rohingya include only the provisions for registered Rohingya refugees – who are a very small number of populations among the entire Rohingya hosted in Bangladesh – and that is only up to grade 7 within the registered camps at Teknaf and Ukhia of Cox’s Bazar district of the country. There is no answer of the question, ‘What’s next’? Although refugees in Canada, Sudan, Turkey and other countries have been allowed to go to mainstream schools, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are not allowed to do so legally. Due to the lack of proof of nationality of the Rohingya, the government of Bangladesh imposes restrictions on their access to Bangladeshi schools. However, despite their vulnerability and statelessness, many Rohingyas are desperate to pursue education outside the camps and find their own way not only within Cox’s Bazar but also even in the capital city of the country. But they must hide their refugee identity to accomplish this. My research aims to explore how they manage to get admission amid government restrictions on their access to education in the mainstream institutions in Bangladesh. It will reveal how Rohingya people use adopted identity to get access to education in Bangladesh, and how they apply their own techniques to achieve their goals without having government approved identity. This research examined the strategies the Rohingya applied to manage documents related to their identity to ensure their admission to Bangladeshi education institutions – in schools, colleges, and universities. The research employed a qualitative approach. It used semi structured individual interviews and Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) with 20 male and female Rohingya refugees who are 18 years old and above, and have enrolled in Bangladeshi education institutions with adopted identity. Also I interviewed 5 local community members and policy makers to understand their perceptions and roles in this process. The findings of this research will allow the policy makers to rethink the outcomes of the restrictions on Rohingya’s education in Bangladesh, the ramifications of the denial of Rohingya’s access to education, and initiate policy dialogues on how to allow Rohingya refugees to pursue education in Bangladesh in legal way.

Keywords: Rohingya, Refugee, Bangladesh, Education

Procedia PDF Downloads 64

Authors: Totok Suhardijanto, Ninie Susanti Tedjowasono

Abstract:

This paper discusses the relationship between the distribution of Ancient Malay inscriptions and Spice Trade Route, especially in the relation with material cultures that accompany them, to understand how Malay could spread out around the archipelago beyond its original native-speakers’ region. The archipelago was known as the Spice Islands from the very beginning of the first century due to mace, cloves, and nutmeg that were originally exclusively found there. According to the Indian record, since the 2nd century, there has been a contact established between Indian and Indonesian people. A Chinese document from 3rd Century has mentioned Wangka (now widely known as Bangka) an island near Sumatra where some Chinese expeditions had visited. All of these records supported the existence of a maritime trade system and route between the archipelago and other countries during the first millennium. This paper will discuss first the Ancient Malay inscription spread around the archipelago from the perspectives of language variation and writing system style. Analyzing language variations of inscriptions certainly is not as easy as studying current spoken language variations in modern sociolinguistics. A huge amount of data is available for such kind of studies. On the contrary, in language variation research with inscription texts as an object, data is insufficient. Other resources will be needed to support the linguistic analysis. For this reason, this research made use of epigraphical evidence in the surrounding areas of the inscriptions to explain the variation of language and writing style. The research next expands the analysis to figure out the relationship between language variation and inscriptions distribution to the Spice Trade Route that spreads from the Molucca Sea to Mediterranian Sea. Data in this research consists of six different inscriptions: Kedukan Bukit, Koto Kapur, Dapunta Salendra, Sang Hyang Wintang, Ligor, and Laguna from the 7th-9th Century and found in Sumatra, Jawa, and the Philippines. In addition, as a comparative resource, this research also used Hikayat Tanjung Tanah, the first-founded Ancient Malay manuscript. In language analysis, we conduct a sociolinguistic method to explore the language variation and writing style of the inscriptions. For dealing with archaeological data, we conducted a hermeneutic method to analyze the possible meaning and social uses of the data. Language variations and writing system style in this research can be classified into two main groups. The language, epigraphical, and archaeological evidence explain that Ancient Malay had been widely used in the Eastern area of Spice Trade Route because it played an important role in the region as a lingua franca between people from different ethnic groups with different languages.

Keywords: Ancient Malay, Spice trade route, language variation, writing system variation

Procedia PDF Downloads 193

Authors: Hala Barakat

Abstract:

Architecture plays a crucial role in the colonization and organization of spaces, as well as the preservation of cultures and history. As a result of 70 years of occupation, Palestinian land, culture, and history are endangered today. The government of Israel has used architecture to strangulate Palestinians out and seize their land. The occupation has managed to fragment the West Bank and cause sensible scars on the landscape by creating obstacles, barriers, watchtowers, checkpoints, walls, apartheid roads, border devices, and illegal settlements to unjustly claim land from its indigenous population. The apartheid architecture has divided the Palestinian social and urban fabric into pieces, similarly to the Bantustans. The architectural techniques and methods used by the occupation are evidence of prejudice, and while the illegal settlements remain to be condemned by the United Nations, little is being done to officially end this apartheid. Illegal settlements range in scale from individual units to established cities and house more than 60,000 Israeli settlers that immigrated from all over Europe and the United States. Often architecture by Israel is being directed towards expressing ideologies and serving as evidence of its political agenda. More than 78% of what was granted to Palestine after the development of the Green Line in 1948 is under Israeli occupation today. This project aims to map the illegal architecture as a criticism of governmental agendas in the West Bank and Historic Palestinian land. The paper will also discuss the resistance to the newly developed plan for the last Arab village in Jerusalem, Lifta. The illegal architecture has isolated Palestinians from each other and installed obstacles to control their movement. The architecture of occupation has no ethical or humane logic but rather entirely political, administrative, and it should not be left for the silenced architecture to tell the story. Architecture is not being used as a connecting device but rather a way to implement political injustice and spatial oppression. By narrating stories of the architecture of occupation, we can highlight the spatial injustice of the complex apartheid infrastructure. The Israeli government has managed to intoxicate architecture to serve as a divider between cultural groups, allowing the unlawful and unethical architecture to define its culture and values. As architects and designers, the roles we play in the development of illegal settlements must align with the spatial ethics we practice. Most importantly, our profession is not performing architecturally when we design a house with a particular roof color to ensure it would not be mistaken with a Palestinian house and be attacked accidentally.

Keywords: apartheid, illegal architecture, occupation, politics

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: Oris Tom-Lawyer, Michael Thomas

Abstract:

This paper seeks to analyse the hegemony of the English language in Western Africa through the lens of educational policies and the socio-economic functions of the language. It is based on the premise that there is a positive link between the English language and development contexts. The study aims to fill a gap in the research literature by examining the usefulness of hegemony as a concept to explain the role of English language in the region, thus countering the negative connotations that often accompany it. The study identified four main research questions: i. What are the socio-economic functions of English in Francophone/lusophone countries? ii. What factors promote the hegemony of English in anglophone countries? iii. To what extent is the hegemony of English in West Africa? iv. What are the implications of the non-hegemony of English in Western Africa? Based on a meta-analysis of the research literature between 2003 and 2018, the findings of the study revealed that in francophone/lusophone countries, English functions in the following socio-economic domains; they are peace keeping missions, regional organisations, commercial and industrial sectors, as an unofficial international language and as a foreign language. The factors that promote linguistic hegemony of English in anglophone countries are English as an official language, a medium of instruction, lingua franca, cultural language, language of politics, language of commerce, channel of development and English for media and entertainment. In addition, the extent of the hegemony of English in West Africa can be viewed from the factors that contribute to the non-hegemony of English in the region; they are French language, Portuguese language, the French culture, neo-colonialism, level of poverty, and economic ties of French to its former colonies. Finally, the implications of the non-hegemony of English language in West Africa are industrial backwardness, poverty rate, lack of social mobility, drop out of school rate, growing interest in English, access to limited internet information and lack of extensive career opportunities. The paper concludes that the hegemony of English has resulted in the development of anglophone countries in Western Africa, while in the francophone/lusophone regions of the continent, industrial backwardness and low literacy rates have been consequences of English language marginalisation. In conclusion, the paper makes several recommendations, including the need for the early introduction of English into French curricula as part of a potential solution.

Keywords: developmental tool, English language, linguistic hegemony, West Africa

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Tom Farrelly, Yvonne Kavanagh, Tony Murphy

Abstract:

The sharp rise in international students into Ireland has provided colleges with a number of opportunities but also a number of challenges, both at an institutional and individual lecturer level and of course for the incoming student. Previously, Ireland’s population, particularly its higher education student population was largely homogenous, largely drawn from its own shores and thus reflecting the ethnic, cultural and religious demographics of the day. However, over the twenty years Ireland witnessed considerable economic growth, downturn and subsequent growth all of which has resulted in an Ireland that has changed both culturally and demographically. Propelled by Ireland’s economic success up to the late 2000s, one of the defining features of this change was an unprecedented rise in the number of migrants, both academic and economic. In 2013, Ireland’s National Forum for the Enhancement for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (hereafter the National Forum) invited proposals for inter-institutional collaborative projects aimed at different student groups’ transitioning in or out of higher education. Clearly, both as a country and a higher education sector we want incoming students to have a productive and enjoyable time in Ireland. One of the ways that will help the sector help the students make a successful transition is by developing strategies and polices that are well informed and student driven. This abstract outlines the research undertaken by the five colleges Institutes of Technology: Carlow; Cork; Tralee & Waterford and University College Cork) in Ireland that constitute the Southern cluster aimed at helping international students transition into the Irish higher education system. The aim of the southern clusters’ project was to develop a series of online learning units that can be accessed by prospective incoming international students prior to coming to Ireland and by Irish based lecturing staff. However, in order to make the units as relevant and informed as possible there was a strong research element to the project. As part of the southern cluster’s research strategy a large-scale online survey using SurveyMonkey was undertaken across the five colleges drawn from their respective international student communities. In total, there were 573 responses from students coming from over twenty different countries. The results from the survey have provided some interesting insights into the way that international students interact with and understand the Irish higher education system. The research and results will act as a model for consistent practice applicable across institutional clusters, thereby allowing institutions to minimise costs and focus on the unique aspects of transitioning international students into their institution.

Keywords: digital, international, support, transitions

Procedia PDF Downloads 283

Authors: Xiaoli Tian

Abstract:

The recent growing interest in and use of complementary and alternative medicine is a global phenomenon. In many regions, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), an important type of complementary and alternative medicine, has been formally integrated into the healthcare system. Consequently, today’s doctors face increasing requests and questions from patients regarding TCM. However, studies of TCM focus either on patients’ approaches to TCM and Western medicine (WM) or on the politics involved in the institutionalization of TCM. To our knowledge, sociological studies on doctors’ attitudes toward TCM are rare. This paper compares the receptivity of WM-trained Chinese doctors to TCM in Hong Kong and mainland China, in order to evaluate the interplay between professional training and dominant medical paradigms, on the one hand, and institutional legitimacy and government and client pressures to accept TCM, on the other. Based on survey and in-depth interviews with Western-medicine doctors in Hong Kong and mainland China, this research finds that: there is major difference between Western-medicine doctors’ attitude toward traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Hong Kong and mainland China. Doctors in Hong Kong are still suspicious toward TCM, no matter if they have exposure to TCM or not. Even some doctors who have much knowledge about TCM, such as got a diploma or certificate in TCM or tried TCM themselves, are still suspicious. This is because they hold up to the ideal of 'evidence-based medicine' and emphasize the kind of evidence based on randomized controlled trial (RCT). To Western medicine doctors in Hong Kong, this is the most reliable type of evidence for any medical practice, but it is lacking in TCM. This is the major reason why they do not trust TCM and would not refer patients to TCM in clinical practices. In contrast, western medicine doctors in mainland China also know about randomized controlled trial (RCT) and believe that’s the most reliable evidence, but they tend to think experience-based evidence is also reliable. On this basis, they think TCM also has clinical effectiveness. Research findings reveal that legitimacy based on institutional arrangements is a relevant factor, but how doctors understand their professional boundaries also play an important role. Doctors in Hong Kong are more serious about a strict professional boundary between Western medicine and TCM because they benefited from it, such as a very prestigious status and high income. Doctors in mainland China tend to be flexible about professional boundaries because they never benefited from a well-defined strict professional boundary. This is related to a long history of the lack of professionalism in China but is also aggravated by the increasing state support of TCM.

Keywords: evidence-based decision-making, institutional legitimacy, professional behavior, traditional Chinese medicine

Procedia PDF Downloads 188

Authors: Wisdom Robert Duruji

Abstract:

The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 serotype infection was recorded in January 2020 in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. This study examines the concepts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications of vaccines for health security in Nigeria and Diasporas. It challenges the widely accepted assumption that the first case of coronavirus infection in Nigeria was recorded on February 27th, 2020, in Lagos. The study utilizes a range of research methods to achieve its objectives. These include the double-layered culture technique, literature review, website knowledge, Google search, news media information, academic journals, fieldwork, and on-site observations. These diverse methods allow for a comprehensive analysis of the concepts and the implications being studied. The study finds that coronavirus infection can be asymptomatic; it may be the antigenicity of the leukocytes (white blood cells), which produce immunogenic hapten or interferons (α, β and γ) that fight infectious parasites, was an immune response that prevented severe virulence in healthy individuals; the reason healthy patients of coronavirus infection in Nigeria naturally recovered after two to three weeks of on-set of infection and test negative. However, the fatality data from the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is incorrect in this study’s finding; it perused that the fatalities were primarily due to underlying ailments, hunger, and malnutrition in debilitated, comorbid, or compromised patients. This study concluded that the kits and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine currently used by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in testing and confirming COVID-19 in Nigeria is not ideal; it is programmed and negates separating the strain to its specific serotypes amongst its genera coronavirus, and family Coronaviridae; and might have confirmed patients with the symptoms of febrile caused by cough, catarrh, typhoid and malaria parasites as Covid-19 positive. Therefore, it is recommended that the coronavirus species infected in Nigeria are opportunistic parasites that thrive in human immuno-suppressed conditions like the herpesvirus; it cannot be eradicated by vaccines; the only virucides are interferons, immunoglobulins, and probably synthetic antiviral guanosine drugs like copegus or ribavirin. The findings emphasized that COVID-19 is not the primary pandemic disease in Nigeria; the lockdown was a mirage and not necessary; but rather, pandemic diseases in Nigeria are corruption, nepotism, hunger, and malnutrition caused by ineptitude in governance, religious dichotomy, and ethnic conflicts.

Keywords: coronavirus, corruption, Covid-19 pandemic, lock-down, Nigeria, vaccine

Procedia PDF Downloads 68

Authors: Mária Ildikó Farkas

Abstract:

Kokugaku of the Edo period can be seen as a key factor of defining cultural (and national) identity in the 18th and early 19th century based on Japanese cultural heritage. Kokugaku focused on Japanese classics, on exploring, studying and reviving (or even inventing) ancient Japanese language, literature, myths, history and also political ideology. ‘Japanese culture’ as such was distinguished from Chinese (and all other) cultures, ‘Japanese identity’ was thus defined. Meiji scholars used kokugaku conceptions of Japan to construct a modern national identity based on the premodern and culturalist conceptions of community. The Japanese cultural movement of the 18-19th centuries (kokugaku) of defining cultural and national identity before modernization can be compared not to the development of Western Europe (where national identity strongly attached to modern nation states) or other parts of Asia (where these emerged after the Western colonization), but rather with the ‘national awakening’ movements of the peoples of East Central Europe, a comparison which have not been dealt with in the secondary literature yet. The role of a common language, culture, history and myths in the process of defining cultural identity – following mainly Miroslav Hroch’s comparative and interdisciplinary theory of national development – can be examined compared to the movements of defining identity of the peoples of East Central Europe (18th-19th c). In the shadow of a cultural and/or political ‘monolith’ (China for Japan and Germany for Central Europe), before modernity, ethnic groups or communities started to evolve their own identities with cultural movements focusing on their own language and culture, thus creating their cultural identity, and in the end, a new sense of community, the nation. Comparing actual texts (‘narratives’) of the kokugaku scholars and Central European writers of the nation building period (18th and early 19th centuries) can reveal the similarities of the discourses of deliberate searches for identity. Similar motives of argument can be identified in these narratives: ‘language’ as the primary bearer of collective identity, the role of language in culture, ‘culture’ as the main common attribute of the community; and similar aspirations to explore, search and develop native language, ‘genuine’ culture, ‘original’ traditions. This comparative research offering ‘development patterns’ for interpretation can help us understand processes that may be ambiguously considered ‘backward’ or even ‘deleterious’ (e.g. cultural nationalism) or just ‘unique’. ‘Cultural identity’ played a very important role in the formation of national identity during modernization especially in the case of non-Western communities, who had to face the danger of losing their identities in the course of ‘Westernization’ accompanying modernization.

Keywords: cultural identity, Japanese modernization, kokugaku, national awakening

Procedia PDF Downloads 274

Authors: Elena Arquer Cuenca

Abstract:

The gypsy community has been a mistreated and rejected group since its arrival in the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century. At present, despite being the largest ethnic minority group in Spain as well as in Europe, the different legal and social initiatives in favour of equality continue to suffer discrimination by the general society. This has fostered a strengthening of the endogroup accompanied by cultural conservatism as a form of self-protection. Despite the current trend of normalization of sexual diversity in modern societies, LGB people continue to suffer discrimination, especially in more traditional environments or communities. This rejection for reasons of sexual orientation within the family or community can hinder the free development of the person and compromise peaceful coexistence. The present work is intended as an approach to the attitudes of the gypsy population towards non-heterosexual sexual orientation. The objective is none other than ‘to know the appreciation that the gypsy population has about homosexual sex-affective relationships, in order to assess whether this has any impact on family and community coexistence’. The following specific objectives are derived from this general objective: ‘To find out whether there is a relationship between the dichotomous Roma gender system and the acceptance/rejection of homosexuality’; ‘to analyse whether sexual orientation has an impact on the coexistence of the Roman family and community’; ‘to analyse whether the historical discrimination suffered by the Roman population favours the maintenance of the patriarchal heterosexual reproductive family’; and lastly ‘to explore whether ICTs have promoted the process of normalisation and/or acceptance of homosexuality within the Roma community’. In order to achieve these objectives, a bibliographical and documentary review has been used, as well as the semi-structured interview technique, in which 4 gypsy people participated (2 women and 2 men of different ages). One of the main findings was the inappropriateness of the use of the homogenising category "Gypsy People" at present, given the great diversity among the Roma communities. Moreover, the difficulty in accepting homosexuality seems to be related to the fact that the heterosexual reproductive family has been the main survival mechanism of Roma communities over centuries. However, it will be concluded that attitudes towards homosexuality will vary depending on the socio-economic and cultural context and factors such as age or professed religion. Three main contributions of this research are: firstly, the inclusion of sexual orientation as a variable to be considered when analysing peaceful coexistence; secondly socio-historical dynamics and structures of inequality have been taken into account when analysing Roma attitudes towards homosexuality; and finally, the processual nature of socio-cultural changes has also been considered.

Keywords: gender, homosexuality, ICTs, peaceful coexistence, Roma community, sexual orientation

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Swati Arun

Abstract:

The present paper argues that Balance of Power (BOP) needs to conjugate with certain contingencies like geography. It is evident that sea powers (‘insular’ for better clarity) are not balanced (if at all) in the same way as land powers. Its apparent that artificial insularity that the US has achieved reduces the chances of balancing (constant) and helps it maintain preponderance (variable). But how precise is this approach in assessing the dynamics between China’s rise and reaction of other powers and US. The ‘evolved’ theory can be validated by putting China and US in the equation. Systemic Relation between the nations was explained through the Balance of Power theory much before the systems theory was propounded. The BOP is the crux of functionality of ‘power relation’ dynamics which has played its role in the most astounding ways leading to situations of war and peace. Whimsical; but true that, the BOP has remained a complicated and indefinable concepts since Hans. Morganthau to Kenneth Waltz. A challenge of the BOP, however remains; “ that it has too many meanings”. In the recent times it has become evident that the myriad of expectations generated by BOP has not met the practicality of the current world politics. It is for this reason; the BoP has been replaced by Preponderance Theory (PT) to explain prevailing power situation. PT does provide an empirical reasoning for the success of this theory but fails in a abstract logical reasoning required for making a theory universal. Unipolarity clarifies the current system as one where balance of power has become redundant. It seems to reach beyond the contours of BoP, where a superpower does what it must to remain one. The centrality of this arguments pivots around - an exception, every time BOP fails to operate, preponderance of power emerges. PT does not sit well with the primary logic of a theory because it works on an exception. The evolution of such a pattern and system where BOP fails and preponderance emerges is absent. The puzzle here is- if BOP really has become redundant or it needs polishing. The international power structure changed from multipolar to bipolar to unipolar. BOP was looked at to provide inevitable logic behind such changes and answer the dilemma we see today- why US is unchecked, unbalanced? But why was Britain unchecked in 19th century and why China was unbalanced in 13th century? It is the insularity of the state that makes BOP reproduce “imbalance of power”, going a level up from off-shore balancer. This luxury of a state to maintain imbalance in the region of competition or threat is the causal relation between BOP’s and geography. America has applied imbalancing- meaning disequilibrium (in its favor) to maintain the regional balance so that over time the weaker does not get stronger and pose a competition. It could do that due to the significant parity present between the US and the rest.

Keywords: balance of power, china, preponderance of power, US

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Jovana Vukcevic, Sanja Pekovic, Djurdjica Perovic, Tatjana Stanovcic

Abstract:

This paper presents a critical inquiry into the role of uncomfortable heritage in nation branding with the particular focus on the specificities of the politics of memory, forgetting and revisionism in the post-communist post-Yugoslavia. It addresses legacies of unwanted, ambivalent or unacknowledged past and different strategies employed by the former-Yugoslav states and private actors in “rebranding” their heritage, ensuring its preservation, but re-contextualizing the narrative of the past through contemporary tourism practices. It questions the interplay between nostalgia, heritage and market, and the role of heritage in polishing the history of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes in the Balkans. It argues that in post-socialist Yugoslavia, the necessity to limit correlations with former ideology and the use of the commercial brush in shaping a marketable version of the past instigated the emergence of the profit-oriented heritage practices. Building on that argument, the paper addresses these issues as “commodification” and “disneyfication” of Balkans’ ambivalent heritage, contributing to the analysis of changing forms of memorialisation and heritagization practices in Europe. It questions the process of ‘coming to terms with the past’ through marketable forms of heritage tourism, fetching the boundary between market-driven nostalgia and state-imposed heritage policies. In order to analyse plurality of ways of dealing with controversial, ambivalent and unwanted heritage of dictatorships in the Balkans, the paper considers two prominent examples of heritage commodification in Serbia and Montenegro, and the re-appropriations of those narratives for the nation branding purposes. The first one is the story of the Tito’s Blue Train, the landmark of the socialist past and the symbol of Yugoslavia which has nowadays being used for birthday parties and marriage celebrations, while the second emphasises the unusual business arrangement turning the fortress Mamula, former concentration camp through the Second World War, into a luxurious Mediterranean resort. Questioning how the ‘uneasy’ past was acknowledged and embedded into the official heritage institutions and tourism practices, study examines the changing relation towards the legacies of dictatorships, inviting us to rethink the economic models of the things past. Analysis of these processes should contribute to better understanding of the new mnemonics strategies and (converging?) ways of ‘doing’ past in Europe.

Keywords: commodification, heritage tourism, totalitarianism, Serbia, Montenegro

Procedia PDF Downloads 252

Authors: Aysen Celen Ozturk, Hatice Dulger

Abstract:

University may be defined as a teaching institution consisting of faculties, institutes, colleges, and units that have undergraduate and graduate education, scientific research and publications. It has scientific autonomy and public legal personality. Today, universities are not only the institutions in which students and lecturers experience education, training and scientific work. They also offer social, cultural and artistic activities that strengthen the link with the city. This also incorporates all city users into the campus borders. Thus, universities contribute to social and individual development of the country by providing science, art, socio-cultural development, communication and socialization with people of different cultural and social backgrounds. Moreover, universities provide an active social life, where the young population is the majority. This enables the sense of belonging to the users to develop, to increase the interaction between academicians and students, and to increase the learning / producing community by continuing academic sharing environments outside the classrooms. For this reason, besides academic spaces in university campuses, the users also need closed and open spaces where they can socialize, spend time together and relax. Public open spaces are the most important social spaces that individuals meet, express themselves and share. Individuals belonging to different socio-cultural structures and ethnic groups maintain their social experiences with the physical environment they are in, the outdoors, and their actions and sharing in these spaces. While university campuses are being designed for their individual and social development roles, user needs must be determined correctly and design should be realized in this direction. While considering that requirements may change over time, user satisfaction should be questioned at certain periods and new arrangements should be made in existing applications in the direction of current demands. This study aims to determine the user requirements through the case of Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Meşelik Campus / Turkey. Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) questionnaire, cognitive mapping and deep interview methods are used in the research process. All these methods show that the students, academicians and other officials in the Meşelik Campus of Eskişehir Osmangazi University find way finding elements insufficient and are in need of efficient landscape design and social spaces. This study is important in terms of determining the needs of the users as a design input. This will help improving the quality of common space in Eskişehir Osmangazi University and in other similar universities.

Keywords: university campuses, public open space, user requirement, post occupancy evaluation

Procedia PDF Downloads 245

Authors: Fernando Nobre Cavalcante

Abstract:

In Brazil, and more recently in the city of Fortaleza, there is a new form of entrepreneurship that is focused on the information and communication technology service sector and that draws the attention of young people, investors, governments, authors and media companies: it is known as the start-up movement. Today, it is considered to be a driving force behind the creative economy. Rooted on progressive discourse, the words enterprise and innovation seduce new economic agents motivated by success stories from Silicon Valley in America along with increasing commercial activity for digital goods and services. This article assesses, from a sociological point of view, the new productive wave problematized by the light of Manuel Castells’ informational capitalism. Considering the skeptical as well as the optimistic opinions about the impact of this new entrepreneurial rearrangement, the following question is asked: How Brazilian entrepreneurs evaluate public policy incentives for startups Brazilian Federal Government? The raised hypotheses are based on employability factors as well as cultural, economical, and political matters related to innovation and technology. This study has produced a nationwide quantitative assessment with a special focus on the reality of these Ceará firms; as well as comparative qualitative interviews on Brazilian experiences lived by identified agents. This article outlines the public incentive policy of the federal government, the Start-up Brasil Program, from the perspective of these companies and provides details as to the discipline methods of the new enterprising way born in the United States. The startups are very young companies that are headed towards the economic sustainment of the productive sector services. These companies are dropping the seeds that will produce the re-enchantment of young people and bring them back to participation in political debate; they provide relief and reheats the job market; and they produce a democratization of the entrepreneurial ‘Do-It-Yourself’ culture. They capitalize the pivot of the wall street wolves and of agents being charged for new masks. There are developmental logic’s prophylaxis in the face of dreadful innovation stagnation. The lack of continuity in Brazilian governmental politics and cultural nuances related to entrepreneurship are barring the desired regional success of this ecosystem.

Keywords: creative economy, entrepreneurship, informationalism, innovation, startups, start-up brasil program

Procedia PDF Downloads 369

Authors: Demelash Kassaye

Abstract:

The Ethiopia case study reveals a unique model of community policing that has developed from a particular political context in which there is a history of violent political transition, a political structure characterized by ethnic federalism and a political ideology that straddles liberal capitalism and democracy on the one hand, and state-led development and centralized control on the other. The police see community policing as a way to reduce crime. Communities speak about community policing as an opportunity to take on policing responsibilities themselves. Both of these objectives are brought together in an overarching rhetoric of community policing as a way of ‘mobilizing for development’ – whereby the community cooperate with the police to reduce crime, which otherwise inhibits development progress. Community policing in Amhara has primarily involved the placement of Community Police Officers at the kebele level across the State. In addition, a number of structures have also been established in the community, including Advisory Councils, Conflict Resolving Committees, family police and the use of shoe shiner’s and other trade associations as police informants. In addition to these newly created structures, community policing also draws upon pre-existing customary actors, such as militia and elders. Conflict Resolving Committees, Community Police Officers and elders were reported as the most common first ports of call when community members experience a crime. The analysis highlights that the model of community policing in Amhara increased communities’ access to policing services, although this is not always attended by increased access to justice. Community members also indicate that public perceptions of the police have improved since the introduction of community policing, in part due to individual Community Police Officers who have, with limited resources, innovated some impressive strategies to improve safety in their neighborhoods. However, more broadly, community policing has provided the state with more effective surveillance of the population – a potentially oppressive function in the current political context. Ultimately, community policing in Amhara is anything but straightforward. It has been a process of attempting to demonstrate the benefits of newfound (and controversial) ‘democracy’ following years of dictatorship, drawing on generations of customary dispute resolution, providing both improved access to security for communities and an enhanced surveillance capacity for the state. For external actors looking to engage in community policing, this case study reveals the importance of close analysis in assessing potential merits, risks and entry points of programming. Factors found to be central in shaping the nature of community policing in the Amhara case include the structure of the political system, state-society relations, cultures dispute resolution and political ideology.

Keywords: community policing, community, militias, ethiopia

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Moufida Benmoussa

Abstract:

Since the escalation of the Syrian conflict in 2011, 6.9 million Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries, and 6.7 have remained displaced in Syria. Out of the 6.9 who fled Syria, over one million have crossed the Mediterranean Sea and become refugees and asylum seekers in various European countries. As a European and a member country of the EU, the Republic of Ireland was not an exception. In response to the refugee crisis caused mainly by the Syrian displacement, Ireland established the Syrian Humanitarian Admission Programme (SHAM) in 2014 and the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) in 2015, followed by its second phase in 2019. In light of these events, Irish print media played a significant role in covering the Irish government’s decisions, political stance, and public opinion on the debate on taking Syrian refugees into Ireland. Considering the tremendous impact of media on politics and public opinion, my research examined how The Irish Times and Irish Independent framed Syrian migration to Ireland. I adopted a qualitative framing analysis to identify the prominent framings in these two newspapers. The collection of newspaper articles focused on three periods. The first period is from the first of January 2014 to the end of December 2014. During this period, the media covered the launch of the Syrian Humanitarian Admission Programme (SHAP) and stories about the first arrival of the Syrian refugees to Ireland. The second period is the year 2015. During this year, various events gained the attention of the Irish media. These events include Ireland’s establishment of the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, the Paris attacks, and the publishing of Aylan Kurdi’s Photograph. The third period is from the first of December 2019 to the thirtieth of January 2020. In this period, the media covered the convention of Ireland with the UNHCR and the European Union to provide sanctuary to 2900 refugees in the years 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. The primary findings of my study indicate that The Irish Times and Irish Independent’s framing of Syrian migration to Ireland was various. My research findings indicate that The Irish Times and Irish Independent’s framing of Syrian migration to Ireland was varied and asymmetrical. The dominant frames used by these two newspapers are humanitarian, responsibility, contribution, burden, intruder, and threat. The former three frames positively perceive Syrian migration to Ireland and support the Irish government’s decisions to welcome more Syrian refugees. On the other hand, the last three frames perceive Syrian migration and refugees negatively and stand for the principle that Ireland should not take Syrian refugees.

Keywords: framing, Syrian migration, Ireland, newspaper

Procedia PDF Downloads 69

Authors: Randall E. Osborne

Abstract:

In a course on International Psychology, 8 theoretical perspectives (Critical Psychology, Liberation Psychology, Post-Modernism, Social Constructivism, Social Identity Theory, Social Reduction Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, and Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory) are used as a framework for getting students to understand the concept of and need for Globalization. One of critical psychology's main criticisms of conventional psychology is that it fails to consider or deliberately ignores the way power differences between social classes and groups can impact the mental and physical well-being of individuals or groups of people. Liberation psychology, also known as liberation social psychology or psicología social de la liberación, is an approach to psychological science that aims to understand the psychology of oppressed and impoverished communities by addressing the oppressive sociopolitical structure in which they exist. Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. It stems from a recognition that reality is not simply mirrored in human understanding of it, but rather, is constructed as the mind tries to understand its own particular and personal reality. Lev Vygotsky argued that all cognitive functions originate in, and must therefore be explained as products of social interactions and that learning was not simply the assimilation and accommodation of new knowledge by learners. Social Identity Theory discusses the implications of social identity for human interactions with and assumptions about other people. Social Identification Theory suggests people: (1) categorize—people find it helpful (humans might be perceived as having a need) to place people and objects into categories, (2) identify—people align themselves with groups and gain identity and self-esteem from it, and (3) compare—people compare self to others. Social reductionism argues that all behavior and experiences can be explained simply by the affect of groups on the individual. Symbolic interaction theory focuses attention on the way that people interact through symbols: words, gestures, rules, and roles. Meaning evolves from human their interactions in their environment and with people. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of human learning describes learning as a social process and the origination of human intelligence in society or culture. The major theme of Vygotsky’s theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. This presentation will discuss how these theoretical perspectives are incorporated into a course on International Psychology, a course on the Politics of Hate, and a course on the Psychology of Prejudice, Discrimination and Hate to promote student thinking in a more ‘global’ manner.

Keywords: globalization, international psychology, society and culture, teaching interculturally

Procedia PDF Downloads 252

Authors: Frazer G. Thompson

Abstract:

Israel is a nation of cultural and historical diversity, yet the success factors for a modern Bedouin-Arab high-tech entrepreneur seem to be different from those of other Jewish-Israeli citizens. The purpose of this descriptive narrative case study is to explore how an Arab-Israeli all Negev-Bedouin technology company has succeeded in the Israeli high-tech industry by utilizing technology and engineering career opportunities available to Bedouin youth for ‘Sadel Tech,’ at Be’er-Sheva, the Negev, Israel. Methods: The strategy of inquiry seeks to explore real-life contextual understandings, multi-level perspectives, and the cultural influences of personal, community, educational, and entrepreneurial factors. The research methodology includes in-depth one-on-one interviews, focus group sessions, and overt observation to explore the meaning and understanding of the constructs toward determining the effect all or a few of the elements may have on the overall success factors of the company. Results: Study results indicate that the state-run educational system in Israel fails to adequately integrate important aspects of Bedouin culture into the learning environment. However, Bedouin entrepreneurs are finding ways to compensate for these inadequacies by utilizing non-traditional methods of teaching, learning, and doing business. Government incentives for Bedouin start-ups are also recognized as contributors. Employees of Sadel live and work in the Negev, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, further informing the study that the traditions of tribal etiquette continue to contribute to modern Bedouin-Arab business culture. Conclusion: Bedouin's business success in Israel is a multi-dimensional concept. While cultural acumen plays a prominent and unique role for both Arab-Israelis and Jewish-Israelis in economic and entrepreneurial pursuits, the marginalization of the Bedouin continues to contribute to the lack of educational and professional opportunities for Bedouin in Israel. Although recognized as important at the government level, programs necessary to implement the infrastructure required to support Bedouin entrepreneurship in Israel remain infantile. The Israeli Government is providing opportunities through grants and other incentives for Bedouin entrepreneurial start-ups, indicating that Israel has recognized the impact of this growing demographic. However, although many Bedouin graduates from University each year with advanced degrees, opportunities for Bedouin within the Israeli high-tech sector remain scarce.

Keywords: Bedouin education, Bedouin entrepreneur, economic anthropology, ethnic business opportunities, Israeli tech, Silicon Wadi

Procedia PDF Downloads 121

Authors: Erin Hea-Jin Kim

Abstract:

This study aims to investigate scholarly communication patterns in Korean studies, which focuses on all aspects of Korea, including history, culture, literature, politics, society, economics, religion, and so on. It is called ‘national study or home study’ as the subject of the study is itself, whereas it is called ‘area study’ as the subject of the study is others, i.e., outside of Korea. Understanding of the structure of scholarly communication in Korean studies is important since the motivations, procedures, results, or outcomes of individual studies may be affected by the cooperative relationships that appear in the communication structure. To this end, we collected 1,798 articles with the (author or index) keyword ‘Korean’ published in 2018 from the Scopus database and extracted the institution and country of the authors using a text mining technique. A total of 96 countries, including South Korea, was identified. Then we constructed a co-authorship network based on the countries identified. The indicators of social network analysis (SNA), co-occurrences, and cluster analysis were used to measure the activity and connectivity of participation in collaboration in Korean studies. As a result, the highest frequency of collaboration appears in the following order: S. Korea with the United States (603), S. Korea with Japan (146), S. Korea with China (131), S. Korea with the United Kingdom (83), and China with the United States (65). This means that the most active participants are S. Korea as well as the USA. The highest rank in the role of mediator measured by betweenness centrality appears in the following order: United States (0.165), United Kingdom (0.045), China (0.043), Japan (0.037), Australia (0.026), and South Africa (0.023). These results show that these countries contribute to connecting in Korean studies. We found two major communities among the co-authorship network. Asian countries and America belong to the same community, and the United Kingdom and European countries belong to the other community. Korean studies have a long history, and the study has emerged since Japanese colonization. However, Korean studies have never been investigated by digital content analysis. The contributions of this study are an analysis of co-authorship in Korean studies with a global perspective based on digital content, which has not attempted so far to our knowledge, and to suggest ideas on how to analyze the humanities disciplines such as history, literature, or Korean studies by text mining. The limitation of this study is that the scholarly data we collected did not cover all domestic journals because we only gathered scholarly data from Scopus. There are thousands of domestic journals not indexed in Scopus that we can consider in terms of national studies, but are not possible to collect.

Keywords: co-authorship network, Korean studies, Koreanology, scholarly communication

Procedia PDF Downloads 160

Authors: Elizabeth Owusu Asiamah

Abstract:

The Ghanaian news media play a crucial role in shaping people's thinking patterns through the nature of the coverage they give to issues, events and personalities. Since the media do not work in a vacuum but within a broader spectrum, which is society, whatever stories they cover and the nature of frames used to narrate such stories go a long way to influence how citizens perceive issues in the country. Consequently, the National Media Commission and the National Communications Authority were instituted to monitor and direct the activities of the media to ensure professionalism that prioritizes society's interest over commercial interest. As the two media regulators go about their routine task of monitoring the operations of the media, they receive coverage from various media outlets (newspapers, radio, television and online). Some people believe that the kind of approach the regulators adopt depends on the nature of coverage the media give them in their reportage. This situation demands an investigation into how the media, regulated by these regulatory bodies, are representing the regulators in the public's eye and the issues arising from such coverage. Extant literature indicates that studies on media framing have centered on politics, environmental issues, public health issues, conflict and wars, etc. However, there appear to be no studies on media framing of media regulators, especially in the Ghanaian context. Since online newspapers have assumed more mainstream positions in the Ghanaian media and have attracted more audiences in recent times, this study investigates the nature of coverage given to media regulators by four purposively sampled online newspapers in Ghana. 96 news articles are extracted from the websites of the Daily Graphic, Ghanaian Times, Daily Guide and Chronicle newspapers within a five-year period to identify the prominence given to stories about the two media regulators and the frames used to narrate stories about them. Data collected are thematically analyzed through the lens of agenda-setting and media-framing theories. The findings of the study revealed that the two regulators were not given much coverage by way of frequency; however, much prominence was given to them in terms of enhancements such as images. The study further disclosed that most of the news articles framed the regulators as weak and incompetent, which is likely to affect how the public also views the regulators. The study concludes that since frames around the supportive nature of the regulators to issues of the media were not hammered by the online newspapers, the public will not perceive the regulators as playing their roles effectively. Thus, a need for more positive frames to be used to narrate stories about the National Media Commission and the National Communication Authority to promote a cordial relationship between the two institutions and a good image to the public.

Keywords: agenda setting, media framing, media regulators, online newspapers

Procedia PDF Downloads 71

Authors: Oya Isik, Filiz Yurtal, Kubilay Vursavus, Muge K. Davran, Metehan Celik, Munire Akgul, Olcay Karacan

Abstract:

In this study, to discuss the causes and problems of women by bringing together different disciplines engaged in women's studies were aimed. Also, to solve these problems, to share information and experiences in different disciplines about women, and to reach the task areas and decision mechanisms in practice were other objectives. For this purpose, proceedings presented at the Second Congress of Women's Studies held in Adana, Turkey, on 28-30 November 2018 was evaluated. The document analysis model, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the evaluation of the congress proceedings. A total of 86 papers were presented in the congress and the topic distributions of the papers were determined. At the evaluation stage, the papers were classified according to their subjects and descriptive analyses were made on the papers. According to the analysis results of the papers presented in the congress, 64 % of the total 86 papers presented in the Congress were review-based and 36 % were research-based studies. When the distribution of these reports was examined based on subject, the biggest share with the rate of 34.9% (13 reviews and 17 research-based papers) has been studied on women's issues through sociology, psychology and philosophy. This was followed by the economy, employment, organization, and non-governmental organizations with 20.9% (9 reviews and nine research-based papers), arts and literature with 17.4% (15 reviews based papers) and law with 12.8% (11 reviews based papers). The lowest share of the congress was presented in politics with one review based paper (1.2%), health with two research-based paper (2.3%), history with two reviews based papers (2.3%), religion with two reviews and one research-based papers (3.5%) and media-communication with two compilations and two researches based papers (4.7%). In the papers categorized under main headings, women were examined in terms of gender and gender roles. According to the results, it was determined that discrimination against women continued, changes in-laws were not put into practice sufficiently, education and economic independence levels of women were insufficient, and violence against women continued increasingly. To eliminate all these problems and to make the society conscious, it was decided that scientific studies should be supported. Furthermore, support policies should be realized jointly for women and men to make women visible in public life, tolerance or mitigation should not be put forward for any reason or in any group in cases of harassment and assault against women. However, it has been determined that women in Turkey should be in a better position in the social, cultural, psychological, economic and educational areas, and future studies should be carried out to improve women's rights and to create a positive perspective.

Keywords: gender, gender roles, sociology, psychology and philosophy, women studies

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: M. Joris, O. Agirdag

Abstract:

For over two decades, calls for citizenship education (CE) have been rising to the top of educational policy agendas in Europe. The main motive for the current treatment of CE as a key topic is a sense of crisis: social and political threats that go beyond the reach of nations and require action at the international and European level. On the one hand, this context has triggered abundant attention to the promotion of citizenship through education. On the other hand, the ubiquity of citizenship and education in policy language is paired with a self-evident manner of using the concepts: the more we call for citizenship in and through education, the less the concepts seem to be made explicit or be defined. Research and reflection on the normativity of the concepts of citizenship and CE in Europe are scarce. Departing from the idea that policies are always normative, this study, therefore, investigates the normativity of the current concepts of citizenship and education, in ’key’ European CE policy texts. The study consists of a content analysis of these texts, based on a normative framework developed around the different dimensions of citizenship as status, identity, virtues and agency. The framework also describes the purposes of education and its learning processes, content and practices, based on the assumption that good education always includes, next to qualification and socialisation, a purpose of emancipation: of helping young people become autonomous and independent subjects. The analysis shows how contemporary European citizenship is conceptualised around the dimension of competences. This focus on competences is also visible in the normative framing of education and its relationship to citizenship in the texts: CE should help young people learn how to become good citizens by acquiring a toolkit of competences, consisting of knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that can be predetermined, measured and evaluated. This ideal of citizenship-as-competence entails a focus on the educational purposes of socialisation and qualification. Current policy texts thus seem to leave out the educational purpose of emancipating young people, allowing them to take on citizenship as something to which they can determine their own relation and position. It is, however, this purpose of CE that seems increasingly important in our current context. Young people are stepping out of school and onto the streets by the thousands in Belgium and throughout Europe, protesting for more and better environmental policies. They are making use of existing modes of citizenship, exactly to indicate to policymakers how these are falling short and are claiming their right and entitlement to a future that established practices of politics are putting at risk. The importance of citizenship education might then lie, now more than ever, not in the fact that it would prepare young people for competent citizenship, but in offering them a possibility, an emancipatory experience of being able to do something new. It seems that this is what we might want to expect from the school if we want it to educate our truly future citizens.

Keywords: citizenship education, normativity, policy, purposes of education

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Cetin Balanuye

Abstract:

The present study aims to accomplish two tasks: First, it critically reinterprets the actual relationship between democracy and the modern state in order to show that it is responsible for most of our current political problems and dilemmas. Second, it is argued that this relationship can be reimagined for better, and Spinozistic notions such as ‘conatus’, ‘power’ and ‘virtue’ are crucial in this pursuit. The significance of the present study lies in several interrelated observations: The world has never been a more heterogeneous place than today. People from different religious, cultural and historical backgrounds do equally have 'good reasons' to hold that their world views are the best ones. We have almost no authority to be respected equally by all these different world views. We no longer have gods at once we had in our ancient times. We have three big monotheistic religions, yet the God of which is significantly different from each other. The worse is that the believers of these religions do not seem eager to perform a duet, but rather tend to fight a duel with each other. Thanks to post-modernism, neither reason nor science is any longer seen as universally value-neutral guide to be employed in our search for a common ground. In sum, the question 'how should I live?' has never generated this much diversity before in terms of answers and the answers have never been this much away from a fairly objective evaluation. Our so-called liberal democracies are supposed to perform against this heterogenous, antagonistic and self-sustained web of discursive background. It is argued that our conception of 'State' with a weak emphasis on democracy is not a solution, if not itself the source of this topsy-turvy. Weak emphasis on democracy should be understood here as a kind of liberal democracy which operates in a partisan State, one which takes sides among rivals either for this or against that world view. This conception of State rests on a misleading understanding of the concept of power, and it is argued that it can only be corrected by means of a Spinoza-informed ontology of politics. The role of State in such an ontology is no longer a partisanship of any kind, nor is it representative of all-encompassing authority to favor any world view. State in this Spinozistic ontology equally encourages world views and their discursive practices to let them increase the power of acting and have more power to affect rules and regulations. World views can enhance every medium -in the sense of nonviolence ethology- to increase their power of acting. The more active a world view is, the more powerful and the more virtuous it is in terms of its effective power on the State. Though Spinoza has provided us with a limited guideline to understand what kind of democracy, he actually had in his mind, his ontology developed in Ethics is rich enough to imagine and inspire a better democratic practice to help us sustain the modern State in our extremely pluralistic contemporary societies.

Keywords: democracy, Islam, power, Spinoza

Procedia PDF Downloads 209

Authors: Dina C. Castro, Rossana Boyd, Eugenia Papadaki

Abstract:

Immigration within and across continents is currently a global reality. The number of people leaving their communities in search for a better life for them and their families has increased dramatically during the last twenty years. Therefore, young children of the 21st century around the World are growing up in diverse communities, exposed to many languages and cultures. One consequence of these migration movements is the increased linguistic diversity in school settings. Depending on the linguistic history and the status of languages in the communities (i.e., minority-majority; majority-majority) the instructional approaches will differ. This session will discuss how bilingualism is addressed in early education programs in both minority-majority and majority-majority language communities, analyzing experiences in three countries with very distinct societal and demographic characteristics: Peru (South America), the United States (North America), and Italy (European Union). The ultimate goal is to identify commonalities and differences across the three experiences that could lead to a discussion of bilingualism in early education from a global perspective. From Peru, we will discuss current national language and educational policies that have lead to the design and implementation of bilingual and intercultural education for children in indigenous communities. We will also discuss how those practices are being implemented in preschool programs, the progress made and challenges encountered. From the United States, we will discuss the early education of Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers, including the national policy environment, as well as variations in language of instruction approaches currently being used with these children. From Italy, we will describe early education practices in the Bilingual School of Monza, in northern Italy, a school that has 20 years promoting bilingualism and multilingualism in education. While the presentations from Peru and the United States will discuss bilingualism in a majority-minority language environment, this presentation will lead to a discussion on the opportunities and challenges of promoting bilingualism in a majority-majority language environment. It is evident that innovative models and policies are necessary to prevent inequality of opportunities for bilingual children beginning in their earliest years. The cross-cultural examination of bilingual education experiences for young children in three part of the World will allow us to learn from our success and challenges. The session will end with a discussion of the following question: To what extent are early care and education programs being effective in promoting positive development and learning among all children, including those from diverse language, ethnic and cultural backgrounds? We expect to identify, with participants to our session, a set of recommendations for policy and program development that could ensure access to high quality early education for all bilingual children.

Keywords: early education for bilingual children, global perspectives in early education, cross-cultural, language policies

Procedia PDF Downloads 299

Authors: Ling Yu Debbie Tsoi

Abstract:

After China has just exceeded the USA as the top Hollywood film market in 2018, Hollywood studios have been adapting the taste, preference, casting and even film title translation to resonate with the Chinese audience. Due to the huge foreign demands, Hollywood film directors are paying closer attention to the translation of their products, as film titles are entry gates to the film and serve advertising, informative, aesthetic functions. Other than film directors and studios, comments over quality film title translation also appear on various online clip viewing platforms, online media, and magazines. In particular, netizens in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan seems to defend film titles in their own region while despising the other two regions. In view of the endless debates and lack of systematic analysis on film title translation in Greater China, the study aims at investigating the translation of Hollywood film titles (from English to Chinese) across Greater China based on Venuti’s (1991; 1995; 1998; 2001) concept of domestication and foreignization. To offer a comparison over time, a mini-corpus was built comprised of the top 70 most popular Hollywood film titles in 1987- 1988, 1997- 1998, 2007- 2008 and 2017- 2018 of Greater China respectively. Altogether, 560 source texts and 1680 target texts of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan were compared against each other. The three regions are found to have a distinctive style and patterns of translation. For instance, a sizable number of film titles are foreignized in mainland China by adopting literal translation and transliteration, whereas Hong Kong and Taiwan prefer domestication. Hong Kong tends to adopt a more vulgar style by using colloquial Cantonese slangs and even swear words, associating characters with negative connotations. Also, English is used as a form of domestication in Hong Kong from 1987 till 2018. Use of English as a strategy of domestication was never found in mainland nor Taiwan. On the contrary, Taiwanese target texts tend to adopt a cute and child-like style by using repetitive words and positive connotations. Even if English was used, it was used as foreignization. As film titles represent cultural products of popular culture, it is suspected that Hongkongers would like to develop cultural identity via adopting style distinctive from mainland China by vulgarization and negativity. Hongkongers also identify themselves as international cosmopolitan, leading to their identification with English. It is also suspected that due to former colonial rule of Japan, Taiwan adopts a popular culture similar to Japan, with cute and childlike expressions.

Keywords: cultural identification, ethnic identification, Greater China, film title translation

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: Bernard Tan

Abstract:

The paper presents a conceptual framework which serves as an art model of Singapore artistic identity. Specifically, the study examines Singapore's artistic identity through the artworks of the country’s significant artists covering the period 1950s to the present. Literature review will discuss the challenges of favouring or choosing one artist over the other. Methodology provides an overview of the perspectives of local artists and surveys Singapore’s artistic histories through qualitative interviews and case studies. Analysis from qualitative data reveals that producing works of accrued visual significance for the country which captures it zeitgeist further strengthens artist’s artistic identity, and consequently, their works remembered by future generations. The paper presents a conceptual framework for Singapore’s artistic identity by categorising it into distinctive categories or Periods: Colonial Period (pre-1965); Nation Building Period (1965-1988); Globalisation Period (1989-2000); Paternal Production Period (2001-2015); and A New Era (2015-present). Godalisation, coined from God and Globalisation – by artist and art collector, Teng Jee Hum – is a direct reference to the godlike influence on Singapore by its founding Father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the country’s first Prime Minister who steered the city state “from Third World to First” for close to half a century, from 1965 to his passing in 2015. A detailed schema showing important factors in different art categories: key global geopolitics, key local social-politics, and significant events will be analysed in depth. Main artist groups or artist initiatives which evolved in Singapore during the different Periods from pre-1965 to the present will be categorized and discussed. Taken as a whole, all these periods collectively add up to the Godalisation Era; impacted by the social-political events and historical period of the nation, and captured through the visual representation of the country’s significant artists in their attempt at either visualizing or mythologizing the Singapore Story. The author posits a co-relation between a nation’s economic success and the value or price appreciation of the country’s artist of significance artworks. The paper posed a rhetorical question: “Which Singapore’s artist will historian of the future – and by extension, the people of the country from future generations – remember? Who will remain popular? Whilst which artists will be forgotten.” The searching question: “Who will survive, be remembered in the annals of history and, above all, how to ensure the survival of one’s nation artistic identity? The art that last will probably be determined by the future, in the future, where art historians pontificate from a later vantage point.

Keywords: artistic identity, art collection, godalisation, singapore

Procedia PDF Downloads 39

Authors: Y. Z. Gad

Abstract:

Disorders of Sex Development (DSD) are defined as congenital conditions in which development of chromosomal, gonadal or anatomical sex is atypical. The DSD are relatively prevalent in Egypt. In spite of that, the relative rarity of the individual disease types or their molecular pathologies frequently resulted in reporting on single or few cases. This augmented the challenging nature of phenotype-genotype correlation in this disease group and its utilization in the management of such medical emergency. Through critical assessment of the published DSD reports, the current review aims at analyzing the clinical characteristics of the various DSD forms in relation to the underlying molecular pathologies. A systematic literature search was done in Pubmed, using relevant keywords (Egypt versus DSD, genital ambiguity or ambiguous genitalia, the old terms of 'intersex, hermaphroditism and pseudohermaphroditism', and a list of the DSD entities and their related genes). The search yielded 24 reports of molecular data in Egyptian patients presenting with ambiguous genitalia. However, only 21 publications fulfilled the criteria of inclusion of detailed clinical descriptions and definitive molecular diagnoses of individual patients. Curation of the data yielded a total of 53 cases that were ascertained from 40 families. Fifty-one patients present with ambiguous genitalia only while 2 had multiple congenital anomalies. Parental consanguinity was noted in 60% of cases. Sex of rearing at initial presentation was female in 75% and 60% in 46,XY and 46,XX DSD cases, respectively. The external genital phenotype in 2/3 of the 46,XY DSD cases showed moderate undermasculinization [Quigley scores 3 & 4] and 1/3 had severe presentations [scores 5 & 6]. For 46,XX subjects, 1 had severe virilization of the external genitalia while 8 had moderate phenotype. Hormonal data were inconclusive or contradictory to final diagnosis in a forth of cases. Collectively, 31 families [31/40, 77.5%] with 46,XY DSD had molecular defects in the genes, 5 alpha reductase 2 (SRD5A2) [12/31], 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 3 [8/31], androgen receptor [7/31], Steroidogenic factor 1 [2/31], luteinizing hormone receptor [1/31], and fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 [1/31]. In a multiethnic study, 9 families afflicted with 46,XX DSD due to 11 beta hydroxylase (CYP11B1) deficiency were documented. Two recurrent mutations, G34R and N160D, in SRD5A2 were present, respectively, in 42 and 17% of cases. Similarly, 4 recurrent mutations resulted in 89% of the CYP11B1 presentations. In conclusion, this analysis highlights the importance of autosomal recessive inheritance and inbreeding among DSD presentations, the importance of founder effect in at least 2 disorders, the difficulties in relating the genotype with the indeterminate genital phenotype, the under-reporting of some DSD subtypes, and the notion that the reported mutational profiles among Egyptian DSD cases are relatively different from those reported in other ethnic groups.

Keywords: disorders of sex development, genital ambiguity, mutation, molecular diagnosis, Egypt

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Raya Sulaiman

Abstract:

Critical discourse analysis investigates how discourse is used to abuse power relationships. Political debates constitute discourses which mirror aspects of ideologies. The Arab world has been one of the most unsettled zones in the world and has dominated global politics due to the Arab revolutions which started in 2010. This study aimed at uncovering the ideological intentions in the formulation and circulation of hegemonic political ideology in the TV political debates of the 2011 to 2012 Yemen revolution, how ideology was used as a tool of hegemony. The study specifically examined the ideologies associated with the use of protesters as a social actor. Data of the study consisted of four debates (17350 words) from four live debate programs: The Opposite Direction, In Depth, Behind the News and the Revolution Talk that were staged at Al Jazeera TV channel between 2011 and 2012. Data was readily transcribed by Al Jazeera online. Al Jazeera was selected for the study because it is the most popular TV network in the Arab world and has a strong presence, especially during the Arab revolutions. Al Jazeera has also been accused of inciting protests across the Arab region. Two debate sites were identified in the data: government and anti-government. The government side represented the president Ali Abdullah Saleh and his regime while the anti-government side represented the gathering squares who demanded the president to ‘step down’. The study analysed verbal discourse aspects of the debates using critical discourse analysis: aspects from the Social Actor Network model of van Leeuwen. This framework provides a step-by-step analysis model, and analyses discourse from specific grammatical processes into broader semantic issues. It also provides representative findings since it considers discourse as representative and reconstructed in social practice. Study findings indicated that Al Jazeera and the anti-government had similarities in terms of the ideological intentions related to the protesters. Al Jazeera victimized and incited the protesters which were similar to the anti-government. Al Jazeera used assimilation, nominalization, and active role allocation as the linguistic aspects in order to reach its ideological intentions related to the protesters. Government speakers did not share the same ideological intentions with Al Jazeera. Study findings indicated that Al Jazeera had excluded the government from its debates causing a violation to its slogan, the opinion, and the other opinion. This study implies the powerful role of discourse in shaping ideological media intentions and influencing the media audience.

Keywords: Al Jazeera network, critical discourse analysis, ideology, Yemeni revolution

Procedia PDF Downloads 224

Authors: Sunaina Sunaina

Abstract:

The emergence of Thailand as a modern nation was amalgamation of several minority groups. Eventually, the nation tried to mitigate these diversities in the name of nationalism in the backdrop of colonial powers presence in neighboring nations. However, the continued imposition of modern nation building processes (which is a western concept) in the post-colonial era deepen the feelings of alienation among the minority groups and leads to separatist conflicts. It is significant that whatever form these conflicts take, will impact the security of nation as well as the region of Southeast Asia. This paper tries to explore the possible factors behind the state policies adopted by the government of Thailand to manage the insurgency in Southern provinces in the south. The protracted insurgency in the South has historical roots as Pattani kingdom had glorious period whether it was trade or commerce or education and its assimilation was never accepted by the leaders of these areas. But after assimilation of southern provinces in the state, it has been the state policy as an important factor in promoting or mitigating the insurgency. Initial protests from the elite class of southern provinces inflated into a more organized and violent uprising after Second World War. It was only the decade of 1990s that a relative peace could prevail for some time. The violence reemerged in 2004 with more intensity and till today this area is suffering with violence. Period of different Prime Ministers dealt this insurgency in different ways sometimes very hard line approach had been adopted especially under Primeminstership of Thaksin Shinawatra. Recently, the peace talks which were started during the period of Yinglunck Shinawatra and were carried forward by Junta government also halted. And again, the region stays in a very volatile state. Violence in these provinces not only questions the capability of government to provide political solution to the problem, but also emerges as a major threat to the internal security of the state. The current era where global terrorism is spreading fast, such vulnerable areas may work as a new ground for its proliferation in Southeast Asia. The paper attempts to understand how Thailand’s historical experience of security determines a different approach to national unity which limits the prospects for autonomy in the South. In conjunction with this experience it is nature of national politics and leadership that influences the nature of policies on the ground in Southern Thailand. The paper also tries to bring out conflict between state sovereignty and self-determination as demanded by many in the southern provinces.

Keywords: insurgency, southern Thailand, security, nation building

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Chineduum Okpala

Abstract:

Nigeria, since her independence, has been engulfed in financial crimes of different forms. From embezzlement and conversion of public funds by public servants to stealing, contract inflation, and money laundering. Money laundering in Nigeria, particularly by political exposed persons, has been an issue of concern since independence. Corruption has been endemic, and Nigeria needs to integrate pro-active measures to show to the international community that it is ready to move against this vice. This paper discusses the negative effect of corruption and its effect on prosecutorial discretion. It also takes cognisance of the policy and aims of the anti-money laundering (AML) policy as enacted in Nigeria. It also takes as valid the assumption that the effective application of the rule of law will improve the efficacy of the Nigerian regime. In this regard, the perspective is internal to the Nigerian regime and its internal policy discourse which also reflect its policy discourse at international level. This paper takes notice of the typology of money laundering (ML) offences that most affect Nigeria, which hinges on corruption and abuse of office by a specific type of person, politically exposed persons (PEP). This typology of money laundering offence appears to be the most prevalent in developing nations like Nigeria. The application of essential principles of law provides an opportunity for the internalisation of the rule of law in the anti-money laundering regime in Nigeria, which could aid the successful prosecution of politically exposed persons on money laundering offences. The rule of law and how well the Nigerian legal system manages to deal with the interface between high level politics and the criminal justice system in Nigeria cannot be understood from internal sources but must be developed as a genuine but critical account informed by perspectives external to the Nigerian regime. If the efficacy of the regime is to be assessed in view of notorious failures of the regime, an external assessment is needed. Hence the paper discusses the need to integrate the essential principles of law in the application of prosecutorial discretion in the anti-money laundering regime in Nigeria, particularly with politically exposed persons. The paper highlights jurisdiction where prosecutorial discretion is integrated into the anti-money laundering regime in accordance to the rule of law which forms a basis for comparative analysis of the success of the anti-money laundering regime in Nigeria. This paper discusses why the application of prosecutorial discretion should not be used as a tool to extricate or avail the rich and powerful in the society from justice. The paper aims to argue that the successful prosecution of politically exposed persons, will raise the confidence of the citizens and the international community in the anti-money laundering regime in Nigeria.

Keywords: money laundering, politically exposed persons, corruption, Nigeria

Procedia PDF Downloads 132