R.A.Fisher, design theory, and the Indian connection

Design Theory, a branch of mathematics, was born out of the experimental statistics research of the population geneticist R. A. Fisher and of Indian mathematical statisticians in the 1930s. The field combines elements of combinatorics, finite projective geometries, Latin squares, and a variety of further mathematical structures, brought together in surprising ways. This essay will present these structures and ideas as well as how the field came together, in itself an interesting story.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Liberated for Mission: Theology of the Cross Informing a Fresh Missional Imagination

“How might an action research intervention cultivate a hermeneutic of missio Dei as it relates to baptismal vocation?” This study used mixed methods action research including interventions, questionnaires, Dwelling in the Word, and interviews. Biblical and theological lenses were God’s liberating nature, baptismal vocation, theology of the cross, missio Dei and more. Theoretical lenses were leadership theories, strengths, assets, hospitality, and imaginative interaction. Interventions were a sermon series, dwelling in the word, and contextual leadership. Through these the congregation gained understanding of the liberating nature of God through prophecy, reconciliation, being known, and their own place in missio Dei

Resistindo ao desenvolvimento neocolonial: a luta do povo de Andalgalá contra projetos megamineiros

A América Latina vem experimentando uma nova era de declarada fé dos governos no mito do desenvolvimento, em articulação com a expansão de políticas extrativistas exportadoras em um contexto de renovada dependência. A face mais dramática do extrativismo na região tem sido a crescente presença de corporações mineiras transnacionais apoiadas por governos nacionais e regionais e por instituições internacionais financeiras e de apoio ao desenvolvimento, e intensamente resistidas por movimentos sociais populares. Neste artigo apresentamos o caso de Andalgalá (uma pequena cidade na Província de Catamarca, na Argentina) e as lutas do povo contra corporações mineiras transnacionais e seus aliados. Na tradição da Filosofia da Libertação e do método ana-dialético de Dussel, nos engajamos com o que tem sido denominado "comunidades argentinas do NÃO", expressando sua oposição a formas neocoloniais de desenvolvimento e gestão. Neste artigo estamos especificamente interessados em compreender como dois dispositivos gerencialistas usados pelas corporações mineiras, responsabilidade social corporativa (RSC) e pactos de governança, impactam a luta do povo. Acima de tudo, este artigo oferece instantâneos de batalhas na linha de frente do extrativismo. Esperamos ter dado voz àquelas pessoas que normalmente não são ouvidas, criando um espaço para suas visões sobre um tipo diferente de desenvolvimento.</jats:p

Power Relations: Mario Vargas LIosa’s The Feast of the Goat

The notion of ‘power’ is one of the most debatable notions in sociological studies, and this is because of its inevitable presence in social relations and interactions. In all his relations within the society, man can feel the influence of power, either as the one in power or as the powerless one. Power does not exist in vacuum and it should be considered in relation with other social concepts such as class, race, gender, space, etc. Along with these concepts, different embodiments of power in the society can be revealed and different models of exercising of power will be formed. One of the most directly related notions to power is the notion of ‘politics’. What allows politicians to use different policies is power and what gives them power to fulfill their will and impose their own desire and interests on the other is politics. The other concept which serves these two notions is ‘discourse’. It is obvious that without ‘discourse’ and ‘language’ the existence of ‘power’ and ‘politics’ is only a probability, because ‘discourse’ is the means of exercising the power and applying the politics. Thus, here is a triangle of ‘power’, ‘politics’, and ‘discourse’. In this regard, a very brief historical overview of power is given. The base of discussion and analysis in this article is the different forms of power according to S. Westwood’s Power and the Social. This article explores the relation between the three angles of the mentioned triangle in Liosa’s The Feast of The Goat, a dictator–historical novel set in Dominican Republic. This study investigates various shapes of power exercised by Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo through politics and discourse.Key words: Power; Race; Class; Gender; Space; Vision; S. Westwood; Mario Vargas LIosa; The Feast of the Goa

Media and communicative practices in the quest for the commons: Chile’s 2011 student movement

This thesis is an in depth analysis of the communicative and media practices displayed by the Chilean students movement, in 2011, and the way these practices contributed to the building of a commons with capacity for the political to exist in Chilean neoliberal democracy. The thesis interrogates the concept of the commons and in the process questions literature on democracy, social movements, and media and communication studies. I argue that in the context of the Chilean student movement the concept of voice should be seen as a political commons that has been expropriated from people in three ways: as a resource that is no longer relevant for the way neoliberal democracies are run; as a relationship curtailed by flawed space of mediation; and ultimately as a form of entitlement. Under these conditions, this thesis investigates the ways in which the commons of voice can be rendered from below and the political can be opened up in spite of the hollowing out of democracies in (neo)liberal times. Embracing a qualitative approach involving interviews and focus groups to approach participants and thematic analysis and grounded theory to analyse data, the research presents four communicative and media practices: the knitting of trust in the intimacy of households and walled spaces; the displaying and representing of bodies in the urban realm; the construction of an imagined commons and the confronting of adversaries in mainstream media; the diffusing of information on the Internet and the failings of communicative exchanges on the web. These practices show the construction of a momentary commons based on practices of affection, presence, ideological dispute and collective identification that subverted neoliberal logics of coexistence, albeit for only a short period of time. The thesis hopes to provide insights that point towards the overcoming of the limitations of the communicative ecology of neoliberal democracies for a more lasting political imprint as well as imagining how politics might be done better from daily life landscapes and beyond outdated liberal frameworks

Conceptualism - intersectional readings, international framings: situating 'Black Artists & Modernism' in Europe

‘Conceptualism: Intersectional Readings, International Framings’ was an international conference presented by the AHRC research project, Black Artists and Modernism, in collaboration with Van Abbemuseum. The conference was organised and co-convened by susan pui san lok, Sophie Orlando and Nick Aikens. The edited conference proceedings were published as an ebook by Van Abbemuseum in December 2019

Read my QR: Quilla Constance and the conceptualist promise of intelligibility

This essay contributes to the ongoing questioning of the definitions and boundaries of conceptualism from intersectional feminist psychoanalytic perspectives, and specifically through the practice of Quilla Constance, aka QC or #QC, the post-punk, neo-glam, gender-questioning performance persona of Jennifer Allen. A songwriter and musician, painter and visual performer in costumes designed and made by Jennifer Allen, #QC’s performance practice occasionally incorporates fragments of musical performances on cello and always includes some crypto-linguistic vocal improvisation, a verbal automatism that references trance states and ‘speaking in tongues’ as well as scat singing in jazz

Beyond the paint and ink: ASAR Oaxaca resistance and getting up Arte Pal Pueblo

This thesis aims to address the ways in Oaxacan street artists frame alternative realities within art and interviews about their art. Asamblea de Artistas Revolucionarios de Oaxaca or ASARO, is a revolutionary artist collective that currently works in Oaxaca Mexico. They place their art in publically accessible areas and comment on local, national and international social issues. Through ethnographic interviews and participant observation with members of ASARO along with critical discourse analysis of their images, I explore the ways getting up is accomplished. The combination of ethnographic field work paired with a critical approach deepens an understanding of what influences modern communication production through art in a marginalized area of Mexicos periphery. In this thesis ideas of art as transformative, legible, accessible are explored. Also Mexican local and global issues such as immigration, iconography, collective action, women\u27s and human rights, exploitation of workers and natural resources are also analyzed within images created by ASARO