Streaming feminism? South Asian TV series by/about women

Films and TV series by and/or about women are among the most widely circulated content within South Asia. This is not a coincidence. The global expansion of VOD since the 2010s has coincided with the rise of a new global wave of militant feminism. Drawing on a long history of regional and intersectional alliances, in India and other South Asian countries the new feminist generation has been one of the most vociferous opponents of increasingly repressive forms of state power and socio-political control. ‘What a woman can and cannot do’ continues to be one of the most threaded discursive terrains over which national and regional politics are debated. And VOD-circulated TV series by and/or about women today fuel those debates. And yet within the film industries of South Asia the rate of creative positions held by women barely reaches 10 percent. Corporate VOD platforms like Netflix, Amazon and Zee5 claim to promote women's access to the industry, but these claims remain unsubstantiated. To date no research exists on the impact of VOD on women’s access to creative roles or the percentage of content by women in VODs' libraries. Taking off from the findings of the AHRC-funded South Asian Cinema and VOD Research Network (http://southasiavod.com/), this chapter asks: are the new forms of cultural exchange enabled by VOD entirely mediated by VOD companies? Can they be channels of transnational feminist dialogue, exchanges that are taking place across the region, below the radar of corporate interests and state control? By examining the circulation and aesthetics of a range of women-centred South Asian VOD series, the author considers how women filmmakers are moving within this new landscape, and how the pressures and opportunities that characterise it shape the VOD content they make

Leveraging diaspora finance for inclusive and sustainable rural entrepreneurship in the Indian Punjab

Diaspora finance has been studied extensively for fostering inclusive economic participation, supporting innovation and value addition. The extent and seminal literature indirectly present diaspora finance as an informal source of finance for the families and relatives of the diasporan population. There is extensive research on the flow of diaspora remittances to the home country, but less is known about the utilisation of diaspora funds as a formally organised alternative financing source for promoting entrepreneurship, especially rural entrepreneurship and farming. However, the use of diaspora finance in rural entrepreneurship in the Indian Punjab is amiss. Therefore, this chapter reaches out to explores the linkages between diaspora finance and rural entrepreneurship by analysing the challenges and opportunities of utilising formally organised diaspora finance to promote rural entrepreneurship in the Indian Punjab. Using the qualitative approach, the findings suggest that remittances and transnational philanthropy provide critical financial resources that supplement inadequate domestic funding, especially in rural areas where formal financial services are limited. An innovative conceptual framework has been developed to conceptualise the utilisation of diaspora finance for empowering rural entrepreneurship to foster economic growth. The conceptual framework provides the context and explains the factors that inhibit the Punjabi diaspora's large-scale engagement in rural entrepreneurship and farming specifically. This study advances the understanding of the underutilisation of diaspora finance for rural entrepreneurship in the Indian Punjab. It emphasises the need for a supportive policy framework to leverage diaspora finance for sustainable rural entrepreneurship, inclusive growth and reducing rural-urban disparities

Urban Shakespeare: Civic and Public Art in England's Second City

Widely regarded as England’s second city, Birmingham is just thirty miles north of William Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon. As one enters the ceremonial county of Warwickshire in the West Midlands region where Birmingham lies, the road sign welcomes people to “Shakespeare’s county.” Yet, beyond the small market town of Stratford-upon-Avon, the industrial city of Birmingham boasts a long, fascinating, and often overlooked history with Shakespeare

What are the functions of daily prayers?

Ṣalāt, the daily obligatory prayers, according to Muslims, is the most regular form of worship and a highly praised pillar of faith leading to salvation

Forensic expert evidence: research approaches to judicial, juror, and lawyer decision-making

In the United States, forensic experts routinely testify in legal proceedings to help solve crime. In doing so, forensic experts interact with key legal actors. Judges will determine the admissibility of the expert’s evidence, deliver jury instructions, and decide appeals. Lawyers will present and challenge the expert evidence, and jurors will weigh the evidence as part of determining a verdict. In this space, advances in DNA testing have led to concerns about the reliability of expert opinions concerning forensic comparison techniques like fingerprint and firearm analysis, which have served the criminal justice system for decades. The National Academy of Sciences has reported on these concerns, including the limitations of judges, lawyers, and jurors when it comes to understanding forensic science evidence. Against this backdrop, this chapter shares three research approaches developed by the authors to deepen understanding of judicial, juror, and lawyer decision-making about forensic science in context. It concludes with ideas for future research, including the relevance of these approaches to legal debates in England and Wales, Canada, and Australia

Exploring the interplay between mindful eating and self-compassion: insights from three empirical studies and future directions for research

Background Literature on mindful eating explores both mindful eating behaviour and decision-making for mindful eating jointly, which may not necessarily reflect the accurate nature of what mindful eating truly represents. The present research conducted three studies to explore the relationship between BMI, mindful eating behaviour, decision-making for mindful eating, and self-compassion. Method and results Using 150 participants, Study 1 examined the correlations between the Mindful Eating Behaviour Scale (MEBS), the Sussex-Oxford Compassion for Self-Scale (SOCS), and their subscales with BMI. Significant positive associations were found between BMI and focused eating, as well as focused eating and hunger and satiety (MEBS subscales) and various facets of self-compassion, but the findings were conflicting, suggested by several measurement limitations. Study 2 aimed to address limitations in the measurement of mindful eating by investigating its association with self-compassion using an alternative scale, the Mindful Eating Behaviour Scale-Trait (MEBS-T) using 152 participants. The findings suggested only BMI was negatively associated with recognising suffering and tolerating uncomfortable feelings (SOCS subscales), but no other significant relationships were found. Study 3 further explored the interplay between self-compassion and mindful eating with 235 participants, utilising the MEBS-T and the original Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), revealing significant positive relationships between sensory attention and non-judgemental awareness (MEBS-T subscales) with common humanity, and mindfulness (alongside non-judgemental awareness and self-kindness), and significant negative relationships between sensory attention and isolation, and non-judgemental awareness and isolation and over-identification. Conclusion These findings indicate that associations between mindful eating and self-compassion exist, and specific components of mindful eating, particularly sensory attention and non-judgemental awareness, may play a critical role in fostering a compassionate relationship with oneself—which, for example, in a context of emotional eating and obesity-related stigma propose clear future directions for research and practice but as described in the original Self-Compassion Scale. A critical interpretation of the combined impact and underlying mechanisms in promoting positive eating behaviour change is discussed

A Multi-objective Optimization Approach for Feature Selection in Gentelligent Systems

The integration of advanced technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), into manufacturing processes is attracting significant attention, paving the way for the development of intelligent systems that enhance efficiency and automation. This paper uses the term ”Gentelligent system” to refer to systems that incorporate inherent component information (akin to genes in bioinformatics—where manufacturing operations are likened to chromosomes in this study) and automated mechanisms. By implementing reliable fault detection methods, manufacturers can achieve several benefits, including improved product quality, increased yield, and reduced production costs. To support these objectives, we propose a hybrid framework with a dominance-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm. This mechanism enables simultaneous optimization of feature selection and classification performance by exploring Pareto-optimal solutions in a single run. This solution helps monitor various manufacturing operations, addressing a range of conflicting objectives that need to be minimized together. Manufacturers can leverage such predictive methods and better adapt to emerging trends. To strengthen the validation of our model, we incorporate two real-world datasets from different industrial domains. The results on both datasets demonstrate the generalizability and effectiveness of our approach

Fixed Identities, Zero-Sum Games and Oppression Hierarchies: The Impasses of Current Debates About Race and Their Consequences for Contemporary Politics

This article examines the persistence of common-sense conceptions of race and ethnic identity and the role they play within contemporary politics in the UK. Drawing on the work of Claire Alexander and Rogers Brubaker, the article reflects on why we continue to see ethnic identity as something fixed and static, and why this persists despite theoretical developments which have drawn attention to identity’s fluidity and contingency. Using a conjunctural analysis, the article examines how such conceptions of ethnic identity intersect with two other aspects of the current conjuncture: firstly, neoliberal individualism; and secondly, culture war politics. Consistent with neoliberal individualism, it is assumed that groups compete with each other for recognition and success, mostly within the framework of nation states. Within the divisive politics of culture wars, competition and fixed identities harden into a zero-sum game: greater recognition and rights for one group becomes, by definition, a loss of rights and recognition for another. Solidarity and collectivity become inconceivable, and international politics—particularly international solidarity—becomes unrecognisable within this framework. Ethnic disparity reports are considered, and how these draw attention to how racism is experienced by different groups, but in ways that make it difficult to consider what might be shared. The article then considers two examples from contemporary politics. First of these is a recent controversy surrounding Diane Abbott MP and her claims that racism experienced by those racialised as Black is different from those who can pass for white. Secondly, the article explores reactions to independent candidates in the 2024 election who called for a ceasefire in Gaza. These reactions framed the situation as sectarian politics relating to the ‘Muslim vote’. In both examples, where fixed identities, competitive individualism and zero-sum games are mobilised to narrow the scope of debate, misrepresent people and situations and exclude important political questions from discussion, especially international politics. The article ends by reflecting on the continued appeal of fixed identities, and also what narrow discussions about race can exclude. It calls for a reconsideration of anti-racism to move beyond these impasses and categories