Imagining Action in/Against the Anthropocene: Narrative Impasse and the Necessity of Alternatives to Effect Resistance

The Anthropocene has emerged as the dominant conception of the contemporary moment, centering the human individual as both responsible for and bearing the responsibility to counteract its numerous interrelated socioeconomic, political, and environmental issues including the staggering loss of biodiversity across the globe and the reality of anthropogenic climate change. This constitutes a significant psychological impasse that disempowers and disenfranchises humans living in this epoch, discouraging any substantive individual effort. Drawing on the posthuman feminist philosophy of theorists such as Rosi Braidotti and Stacy Alaimo together with a reflection of the power of science fiction as a literature of cognitive estrangement highlighting social issues, this paper reads “The Boston Hearth Project” by T.X. Watson as a short story demonstrative of an ethos of community and hope that resists the negative affects and oppressive social structures of the Anthropocene. I argue in the course of this paper that theorists and activists alike must turn to alternative narratives, such as those modelled in the emergent science fiction genre of solarpunk, in order to reject essentializing and individualizing forces and think multiply in order to realize meaningful resistance in a time of increasing fragmentation in society and destruction of the more-than-human world

Theorizing surveillance in the UK crime control field

Drawing upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Loic Wacquant, this paper argues that the demise of the Keynesian Welfare State (KWS) and the rise of neo-liberal economic policies in the UK has placed new surveillance technologies at the centre of a reconfigured “crime control field” (Garland, 2001) designed to control the problem populations created by neo-liberal economic policies (Wacquant, 2009a). The paper also suggests that field theory could be usefully deployed in future research to explore how wider global trends or social forces, such as neo-liberalism or bio-power, are refracted through the crime control field in different national jurisdictions. We conclude by showing how this approach provides a bridge between society-wide analysis and micro-sociology by exploring how the operation of new surveillance technologies is mediated by the “habitus” of surveillance agents working in the crime control field and contested by surveillance subjects

The City as an Arena for the Expression of Multiple Identities in the Age of Globalisation and Migration

This paper discusses the concept of toleration as it has been manifested in modern society through two contrasting processes—the prevalence of group identity, and the prevalence of identity defined according to citizenship and individual rights. Referring primarily to the work of political theorist Michael Walzer, the paper describes the historical development of toleration in the U.S., insofar as it is an immigrant nation which has passed through several phases of intolerance and toleration that continue to characterise the dynamics of American society, particularly in the city. Special reference is made to the city of Chicago, the largest city in the Midwest, where immigrants from all over settled, establishing ethnic neighbourhoods. Globalisation and migration have made diversity a defining feature of contemporary society, and cities in particular. The multiplication of identities is being experienced on an individual level as well, giving rise to the recognition of the increasingly ‘hybrid’ nature of social and personal identification. The paper concludes by calling into question the implications of this post-modern model on the conceptualisation of toleration as well as its manifestations. Keywords: Toleration, Multiculturalism, Migration, Cultural pluralism, Ethnic self-assertion

Spartan Daily, September 7, 1990

Volume 95, Issue 6https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/8006/thumbnail.jp

The Uprooted People of the Land: An Ethical/Theological Reflection on the Protection of Adivasi Land and Human Dignity in the “New and Shining India”

The uprooting of Adivasis from their land raises theological, anthropological, and ethical questions regarding the intrinsic dignity of Adivasis as human persons, created in the image of God. This thesis argues that the looting of Adivasi land on the part of the multinational corporations (MNCs) is an unethical and sinful reality. It proposes a paradigm of prophetic dialogue and critical pedagogy that joins the effort to conscientize Adivasis about their own oppression, the power of the political dynamics, and to empower them in their struggle for freedom and liberation. In this project I analyze and critique the issue of displacement caused by neo-liberalism, economic growth and unjust societal structures through the lens of a rights-based ethics, which advocates the protection of the rights of Adivasis and other vulnerable people who cry out for rootedness in their land. This study is located within the broader area of Christian theological ethics, with a particular focus on the issue of land rights of Adivasis, whose survival and way of life are being severely threatened by the mass development projects of the MNCs in India today. The fundamental question this thesis explores is how best to address the injustice of the uprooting of Adivasis from their ancestral lands. The study first analyzes the current anthropological, socio-cultural, political, and spiritual reality of Adivasi uprootedness and suffering in light of the historical background of land grab and alienation in India. Second, through the lens of a rights-based ethics, the study looks at the issue of Adivasi displacement and alienation induced by the MNCs. Third, it considers how land can be a ground or revelatory text to assess the theological, moral, economic, anthropological, and ecological significance of human dignity, drawing resources from the natural law theory of Thomas Aquinas and key papal encyclicals to show how human dignity has been the first principle of social justice. I treat this issue by employing a deontological approach and a social inter-connection model to forge a constructive proposal which exerts a moral claim on the Brahmin culture and the MNCs. Here, my effort is to include every Indian citizen, urging them to say no to any kind of development that is not humanizing and yes to those projects which protect bio-diversity, promote bio-centrism and enshrine ecoegalitarian culture. Finally, it discusses the problem of the caste system and critiques the collusion of the Brahmin class and the MNCs, which amplifies the land grab from Adivasis, threatening their survival and way of life

Adult education and social movements : perspectives from Freire and beyond

The disenchantment with leftist, especially social democratic, parties in the West and elsewhere can easily lead to faith in social movements as organizations which apply pressure, combat co-optation (though not always) and are often perceived to provide the freedom and non-hierarchical mode of operation not found in political parties, although there is often a great divide between the rhetoric and reality in this regard. The purported attributes of social movements might very well be «talked up». One wonders whether social movements have been perceived to constitute an alternative to the «defeated left» as a result of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Is the invocation of social movements an appeal to a deus ex machina? Are they the present day political prophets that need to be invoked, just like those other prophets that Max Weber (2001) invoked, in a different context, at the end of The Protestant Ethic when he sought a way out of the «iron cage»? In this paper we explore issue surrounding the relationship between adult education and social movements.peer-reviewe

GGWP (Good Game, Well Played): How Free Labour and Exploitation is established within videogames

The aim of this thesis is to explore the way in which free labour of and user – generated content are part of the current structure and business model of the e-Sports industry. Specifically the competitive industry of League of Legends helps us to understand the nature and growth of e-Sports as well as the way in which business that are founded by models of the free to play variety have continuously subjected gamers to exploitation. Through the fantasy of professionalisation, the gamer is propelled into a market in which such exploitation is necessary to the potential of becoming a celebrity within the wider gaming community. To make it so that gamers are more willing to participate in such a culture of free labour, professional and competitive league play is had, as well as actual money. Using an archival method, this thesis will seek to explore the way in which the labour that is given by the gaming community is further exploited by Riot. Through the analysis of build sites, live streaming and the process of the Tribunal, the contributions of the community toward the production and maintenance of the cultural significance of League is significant and worthy of investigation. With my own experience within the gaming field of League of Legends guided general knowledge on how the game was structured and played as well as how the meta worked, my knowledge allows me to further investigate the ways in which the community interacts with Riot and amongst themselves. The outcome of such research helps establish and understanding of how such an understanding of the professionalisation of videogames can increase ou

Anti-Capitalist Objections to the Postcolonial: Some Conciliatory Remarks on Žižek and Context.

The article has three parts. First of all, it considers a series of overlaps between the postcolonial and Žižek’s own work. Then, it examines three objections of Žižek against the postcolonial – that it reduces issues of political-economic struggle to cultural/psychological analysis, that it involves a ‘prettification’ or detraumatization of the Other, and that its notion of ‘alternative modernities’ ultimately embodies a collusion with global capital to provide a facade of diversity – and considers some of the problems these create not merely for the postcolonial theorist, but also for Žižek’s own project. In particular, it argues Žižek’s frequent lumping together of postcolonialism with political correctness overlooks what really drives the postcolonial critique of Western-centered discourse – a desire to restore, as fully as possible, the dimensions of the Real to both sympathetic as well as hostile versions of the non-Western Other, a re-introduction of ontological complexity to idealisations/demonizations which, whilst not synonymous with Žižek’s own notion of an “ethical stance”, certainly come a lot closer than he is willing to admit. Finally, the article examines the possibility that Žižek’s selective indifference to historical context, particularly in his treatment of the non-Western world, ironically reflects the late capitalist evaporation of history he has critiqued elsewhere. Ending with the late Marx’s turn to ethnography, the essay argues that Žižek and the postcolonial have things to learn from one another, and that a more historically –inflected critique of hegemony on Žižek’s part would supply a much-needed concretization of the universal in his work

Imagining Action in/Against the Anthropocene: Narrative Impasse and the Necessity of Alternatives to Effect Resistance

The Anthropocene has emerged as the dominant conception of the contemporary moment, centering the human individual as both responsible for and bearing the responsibility to counteract its numerous interrelated socioeconomic, political, and environmental issues including the staggering loss of biodiversity across the globe and the reality of anthropogenic climate change. This constitutes a significant psychological impasse that disempowers and disenfranchises humans living in this epoch, discouraging any substantive individual effort. Drawing on the posthuman feminist philosophy of theorists such as Rosi Braidotti and Stacy Alaimo together with a reflection of the power of science fiction as a literature of cognitive estrangement highlighting social issues, this paper reads “The Boston Hearth Project” by T.X. Watson as a short story demonstrative of an ethos of community and hope that resists the negative affects and oppressive social structures of the Anthropocene. I argue in the course of this paper that theorists and activists alike must turn to alternative narratives, such as those modelled in the emergent science fiction genre of solarpunk, in order to reject essentializing and individualizing forces and think multiply in order to realize meaningful resistance in a time of increasing fragmentation in society and destruction of the more-than-human world