3,495 research outputs found

    From Aspiration to Actuality under Xi Jinping: Reinterpreting the Outcome-driven Debate towards the Role of Historical Materialism in China’s Rise, 1949–2021

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    DOES THE REVOLUTIONARY IDEOLOGY of socialist rising powers influence their rise to power? If so, how, when, and why? The literature on rising powers works on a set of historical assumptions which, when applied to China’s rise, predict an inevitable rise to power. In this literature, a new world order is imagined with China as a new kind of leading great power. For some, this development represents the correction of imperial China’s historical position in the world. This thesis disagrees with this outcome-based analytical approach to China’s rise. It instead posits another argument: in understanding the dynamics of a socialist rising power, the role of ideology matters more than the rising power literature suggests. In the Chinese context, this means bringing the Communist Party of China back into the story of its rise. This Party- state builds on a genuine belief in historical materialism and a teleology of success which it, presumably, represents. Treating the Xi Jinping era (2012 to the present) as a pivotal moment, this thesis understands the Chinese Dream of Great Rejuvenation as promethean. While it fits within the Chinese tradition of organising China in its own image, as a political actor it is entirely new. China’s rise, then, becomes much more than simply ensuring the Party’s self- perpetuation of its political rule. It is a grand historical narrative which may only be understood, and problema

    Climate Change and Critical Agrarian Studies

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    Climate change is perhaps the greatest threat to humanity today and plays out as a cruel engine of myriad forms of injustice, violence and destruction. The effects of climate change from human-made emissions of greenhouse gases are devastating and accelerating; yet are uncertain and uneven both in terms of geography and socio-economic impacts. Emerging from the dynamics of capitalism since the industrial revolution — as well as industrialisation under state-led socialism — the consequences of climate change are especially profound for the countryside and its inhabitants. The book interrogates the narratives and strategies that frame climate change and examines the institutionalised responses in agrarian settings, highlighting what exclusions and inclusions result. It explores how different people — in relation to class and other co-constituted axes of social difference such as gender, race, ethnicity, age and occupation — are affected by climate change, as well as the climate adaptation and mitigation responses being implemented in rural areas. The book in turn explores how climate change – and the responses to it - affect processes of social differentiation, trajectories of accumulation and in turn agrarian politics. Finally, the book examines what strategies are required to confront climate change, and the underlying political-economic dynamics that cause it, reflecting on what this means for agrarian struggles across the world. The 26 chapters in this volume explore how the relationship between capitalism and climate change plays out in the rural world and, in particular, the way agrarian struggles connect with the huge challenge of climate change. Through a huge variety of case studies alongside more conceptual chapters, the book makes the often-missing connection between climate change and critical agrarian studies. The book argues that making the connection between climate and agrarian justice is crucial

    Deterrence Gap: Avoiding War in the Taiwan Strait

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    The likelihood China will attack Taiwan in the next decade is high and will continue to be so, unless Taipei and Washington take urgent steps to restore deterrence across the Taiwan Strait. This monograph introduces the concept of interlocking deterrents, explains why deterrents lose their potency with the passage of time, and provides concrete recommendations for how Taiwan, the United States, and other regional powers can develop multiple, interlocking deterrents that will ensure Taiwanese security in the short and longer terms. By joining deterrence theory with an empirical analysis of Taiwanese, Chinese, and US policies, the monograph provides US military and policy practitioners new insights into ways to deter the People’s Republic of China from invading Taiwan without relying exclusively on the threat of great-power war.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1960/thumbnail.jp

    ”Before the boy became the man” : Hegemonisk maskulinitet i ungdomsromanserierna Young Sherlock Holmes och Young Bond

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    Den hĂ€r avhandlingen undersöker hegemonisk maskulinitet i Andrew Lanes Young Sherlock Holmes-serie (2010–2015) och Charlie Higsons och Steve Coles Young Bond-serie (2005–2017). Young Sherlock Holmes och Young Bond Ă€r prequel-berĂ€ttelser, som följer tonĂ„riga versioner av James Bond och Sherlock Holmes. Analysen strĂ€var efter att undersöka hur hegemonisk maskulinitet konstrueras i bokseriernas huvudpersoner och hur de uttryck som maskulinitetsskildringen tar kan förstĂ„s i relation till originalkaraktĂ€rerna. Avhandlingens teoretiska perspektiv utgörs av maskulinitetsforskning, och har sin utgĂ„ngspunkt i R. W. Connells begrepp hegemonisk maskulinitet. Teorin inbegriper Ă€ven koncepten toxisk maskulinitet, hypermaskulinitet och pojkstudier. Vidare beaktas pojkbokens, Ă€ventyrsberĂ€ttelsens och hjĂ€ltegestaltens pĂ„verkan pĂ„ maskulinitetskonstruktionen. I analysen behandlas sĂ€ttet som en hegemonisk maskulinitet konstrueras genom kĂ€nslokontroll, förnuft, sjĂ€lvstĂ€ndighet och ensamhet, kroppslighet, aktörskap och vĂ„ldsanvĂ€ndning, samt lidande och uppoffring. Vidare undersöks hur de hĂ€r kategorierna fungerar i relation till andra karaktĂ€rer. De kvinnliga karaktĂ€rerna nĂ€rmas ur perspektiv av heterosexualitet, sexism och anti-femininitet, medan de manliga karaktĂ€rerna konstrueras antingen som ideala förebilder och som negativa mottyper. Lanes Young Sherlock Holmes strĂ€var efter att ta avstĂ„nd frĂ„n original-Holmes passiva kroppslighet, asexualitet och tvetydiga maskulinitet, och konstruerar en aktivare manlighet med mer fysiskt aktörskap, samt en entydig heterosexualitet. Higsons och Coles Young Bond strĂ€var dĂ€remot efter att tona ner den ursprungliga Bonds aggressiva hypermaskulinitet, och gör det hĂ€r genom att dĂ€mpa hans heterosexualitet

    Nice Food, Good People : Technologies of subjectivity and class distinction in media texts about the right kind of food

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    MinkĂ€lainen ruoka mÀÀrittyy kulttuurissamme hyvĂ€ksi? Ruoka mÀÀritellÀÀn useimmiten hyvĂ€ksi koska se maistuu hyvĂ€ltĂ€, mutta ruoka voi olla hyvÀÀ myös muilla tavoin. Ruokaan liittyvĂ€t arvomÀÀritykset kiinnittyvĂ€t muodostamiimme moraalisiin arvostelmiin: siihen, millainen ruoka ansaitsee huomiomme tai hyvĂ€ksyntĂ€mme, minkĂ€laista ruokaa pidĂ€mme sosiaalisesti ja kulttuurisesti arvokkaana ja ennen kaikkea siihen, mÀÀritymmekö me itse hyviksi, arvokkaiksi ja legitiimeiksi kuluttamamme ruuan kautta. TĂ€ssĂ€ vĂ€itöskirjassa esitĂ€n, ettĂ€ ruuan kulttuurista diskurssia asuttavan subjektin arvo kietoutuu yhtÀÀltĂ€ kulttuuriseen erottautumiseen ja toisaalta itsen hallinnointiin. Tutkimuksessa pohdin, kuinka arvottaminen ja se liike, jonka kautta kuulumme jonnekin ja etÀÀnnymme jo(i)stakin muotoutuu ruuan kuluttamiseen kiinnittyvien merkitysten kautta. TĂ€mĂ€ vĂ€itöskirja lĂ€hestyy hyvÀÀ ruokaa eettisen syömisen ja terveellisen syömisen perspektiiveistĂ€. Eettiseen ja terveelliseen ruokaan kiinnittyy muun muassa luonnollisuuteen, puhtauteen ja elinkelpoisuuteen (fitness) viittaavia kulttuurisia arvostelmia, ja siten joitakin keskeisiĂ€ (ruoka)kulttuurisia kysymyksiĂ€ voi lĂ€hestyĂ€ niiden analyysin kautta. VĂ€itöskirjassa perehdyn eettisen syömisen merkityksiin luomua ja lĂ€hiruokaa kĂ€sitteleviĂ€ journalistisia tekstejĂ€ tarkastelemalla, ja analysoin ruokaa ja terveellisyyttĂ€ digitaalisten mediasisĂ€ltöjen wellness ruokaan keskittyvien aineistojen avulla. VĂ€itöskirjan neljĂ€ osajulkaisua avaavat monipuolisia nĂ€kökulmia mediavĂ€litteiseen ruokakulttuuriin ja sen tarjoamiin subjektiasemiin. EnsimmĂ€isessĂ€ tutkimusartikkelissa tutkin luomu- ja lĂ€hiruokaan Helsingin Sanomissa kiinnittyviĂ€ merkityksiĂ€ ja selvitĂ€n, minkĂ€laisin diskursiivisin keinoin ruoka mÀÀritellÀÀn luomuja lĂ€hiruokateksteissĂ€ kulttuurista arvostusta ansaitsevaksi, ja miten erityisesti autenttisuuden ja nostalgian diskurssit kietoutuvat aineiston teksteissĂ€ kulttuuriseen pÀÀomaan. Toinen artikkeli keskittyy Helsingin Sanomien uutisartikkeleihin ja niissĂ€ muodostuviin luokkamerkityksiin: artikkelissa tutkin, minkĂ€laisia kulttuurisia erontekoja luomu- ja lĂ€hiruokateksteissĂ€ tuotetaan, millaisiin luokkakulttuureihin eettisen ruoan kuluttaminen lehden diskursseissa kiinnittyy ja minkĂ€laisiin diskursiivisiin keinoihin nĂ€mĂ€ kĂ€ytĂ€nnöt nojaavat. Kolmas artikkeli uppoutuu wellness-ilmiöön liittyviin merkityksiin, ja analysoin artikkelissa wellness-kulttuuriin yhdistyviĂ€ ruokablogeja kiinnittĂ€en huomiota niihin minĂ€tekniikoihin, joiden keinoin ’ideaali wellness-yksilö’ blogiteksteissĂ€ rakentuu. NeljĂ€s ja viimeinen tutkimusartikkeli pureutuu digitaaliseen wellness-kulttuuriin analysoimalla Instagramin #womenswellness (pseudo)yhteisöÀ ja sen sisĂ€llöissĂ€ kierrĂ€tettyjĂ€ tunnesÀÀntöjĂ€ ja neuvoteltua naiseutta. Artikkeli kysyy, minkĂ€laisten tunteiden nĂ€yttĂ€miseen yhteisön tunnesÀÀnnöt kannustavat, ja miten nĂ€mĂ€ affektiiviset kĂ€ytĂ€nnöt kietoutuvat yhteen populaarimedian feminististen muodostelmien kanssa. NĂ€iden neljĂ€n tutkimusartikkelin puitteissa lĂ€hestyn aineistojani 1) sosiaalisen luokan (erityisesti keskiluokan) ja kulttuurisen erottautumisen sekĂ€ 2) hallinnallisuuden ja (sukupuolittuneisiin) subjektiviteetteihin liittyvien terveysaatteen (healthism) ja uusliberalismin kĂ€sitteiden kautta. Tarkoituksenani on tuoda työn yhteenvedossa yhteen edellĂ€ mainittuja teoreettisia nĂ€kökulmia ja niihin liittyviĂ€ tutkimusongelmia, ja siksi vĂ€itöskirjan yhteenvedossa lĂ€hestyn osatutkimuksia ja niissĂ€ tĂ€rkeĂ€ssĂ€ osassa olleita teoreettisia kehyksiĂ€ hyvĂ€n elĂ€mĂ€n kĂ€sitteen kautta. Tavoitteenani on vastata yhteenvedossa kysymykseen, jota voi pitÀÀ erÀÀnlaisena hyvÀÀ subjektia painottavana koosteena vĂ€itöskirjan analyyseista ja osatutkimusten monista tutkimuskysymyksistĂ€. Keskityn siten yhteenvedossa hyviin ihmisiin hyvĂ€n ruuan konteksteissa, kysyen: minkĂ€laisia arvokkaita subjekteja nykykulttuurin ruokadiskurssit tuottavat? Yhteenvedon lopussa esitĂ€n, ettĂ€ ruuan diskurssit kiinnittyvĂ€t hyvĂ€n elĂ€mĂ€n ideaaleihin ensinnĂ€kin tavoitellen jotakin, kurkottaen kohti edessĂ€ siintĂ€vÀÀ tĂ€ydellisyyttĂ€ (tĂ€ydellistĂ€ terveyttĂ€, kehoa, tasapainoa), ja toiseksi pyrkimĂ€llĂ€ turvaamaan hyvĂ€n ja huonon sekĂ€ hyvien ja huonojen ihmisten vĂ€liset etĂ€isyydet, jĂ€hmettĂ€en asemiinsa tiettyjen ruokien tai elĂ€mĂ€ntyylien kulttuurisen legitiimiyden ja toisenlaisten ruokien tai elĂ€mĂ€ntyylien epĂ€legitiimiyden. Hahmottelen yhteenvedossa neljĂ€ erilaista kulttuurista subjektiasemaa, joita analysoidut mediatekstit lukijalleen tarjoavat. NimeĂ€n nĂ€mĂ€ subjektiasemat hyvĂ€n maun subjektiksi, moraaliseksi subjektiksi, tasapainoiseksi subjektiksi sekĂ€ resilientiksi subjektiksi, ja pohdin sitĂ€, miten kulttuurinen erottautuminen, luokka ja sukupuoli kytkeytyvĂ€t subjektiasemiin aineistoissa erilaisin tavoin. VĂ€itöskirja tuo esiin, kuinka ruokaan kiinnittyvĂ€t makuarvostelmat ja subjektiasemat eivĂ€t mÀÀrity ensisijaisesti esimerkiksi valinnanvapauden tai itsen kehittĂ€misen kautta, ja kuinka ruuan diskursiiviset neuvottelut tuovat nĂ€kyviksi toimijoiden eriarvoisuuden suhteessa kulttuuriseen statukseen tai itsen toteuttamiseen. Analyysien perusteella voidaan todeta, ettĂ€ luokka ja sukupuoli mÀÀrittĂ€vĂ€t vahvasti sitĂ€, miten ja minkĂ€laisista lĂ€htökohdista hyvĂ€n elĂ€mĂ€n ideaalia yhteiskunnassamme tavoitellaan.What kind of food might be categorised as good in our contemporary society? Describing food as good most often means that it tastes good, however, food is evaluated as good in other ways as well. These evaluations touch upon the moral judgements we make: what kind of food is worthy of our attention and approval, what kind of food is deemed as socially and culturally legitimate, and, most importantly, whether the food we eat and the culinary lifestyles we aspire towards make us good, worthy or legitimate. I argue that evaluating the subject of mediated food discourse – be it ourselves or ‘the other’ – is entangled, firstly, with cultural distinction and secondly, with governing the self. In this dissertation, I ponder how evaluation, the movement through which we belong somewhere or turn away from something else is done through mediated meanings connected with food consumption. This dissertation approaches good food from the perspectives of ethical eating and healthy eating. Ethical and healthy food incorporate cultural evaluations connected with, for example, naturalness, pureness, cleanliness and fitness, and thus some of the central food-related judgements of goodness and legitimacy can be addressed through mediated meanings connected with ethicality and healthiness. In this dissertation, ethical eating is examined in terms of how organic and locally grown food (i.e., sustainable food) are framed in journalistic texts, and healthy eating is viewed through the wellness food culture of digital media. The four publications open multiple perspectives on the contemporary mediated food culture and the legitimate subjectivities inhabiting it. The first publication analyses the meanings connected with organic and local food in Helsingin Sanomat through an examination of texts that can be categorised as ‘lifestyle journalism’, asking how organic and local food are legitimised in the data, and how authenticity and nostalgia are deployed in connection with sustainable lifestyle. The second publication centres on Helsingin Sanomat news articles and the class-related meanings created there in connection with organic and local food. The paper asks what kind of cultural distinctions are produced in these journalistic texts, and through which discursive strategies ethical consumption becomes associated with and attached to different class cultures. The third publication delves into the cultural field of wellness, analysing the ways in which subjectivity is discursively produced in the blog content of three wellness food blogs run by women. The article seeks answers to the question of how, and through what kind of technologies of the self the ‘ideal wellness subject’ is created in the blog texts. Finally, the fourth publication examines digital wellness culture through an analysis of the #womenswellness intimate public of Instagram, concentrating on the affective practices observable in the food-related content of this intimate public and how gendered existence and popular feminism factor into the displays of feeling in that space. The paper asks what emotions are encouraged in the #womenswellness public of Instagram, and how these affective practices intertwine with contemporary configurations of feminism in popular media. In these four research articles I approach my data predominantly through theoretical discussions on 1) social class (especially the middle class) and cultural distinction as well as 2) governmentality and the (gendered) subjectivities related to healthist and neoliberal ‘sensibilities’. With the intention of bringing these scholarly discussions together, the introductory part of this dissertation reflects on the research articles and on their theoretical frameworks through the concept of ‘the good life’. As I endeavour to answer an overarching research question focusing on the good people behind the good food, this dissertation asks: What kind of a valuable subject is being produced in contemporary food discourses? I propose that mediated, everyday food discourses adhere to the good life through, firstly, aspiring towards something (a lifestyle or a state of being for example): reaching for a beacon glimmering in the distance, promising perfection and happiness if we only stretch our reach far enough. Secondly, these food discourses work to secure the symbolic distance between good and bad, solidifying and reaffirming the legitimacy of certain foodstuffs, practices and eaters and the illegitimate status of others. In the concluding section of this dissertation, I formulate four different subject positions that seem to be offered to the (right kind of) recipient in food-related media texts. These are the tasteful subject, the morally-righteous subject, the balanced subject and the resilient subject, all of which attach to cultural distinction, class and gender in different ways. This dissertation shows that the judgements and subject positions related to good food are not a matter of free choice or self-improvement, as the discursive negotiations relating to food depict how subjects are on unequal footing with regard to cultural status or possibilities for ‘selfactualisation’. On the basis of the analyses, what is evident is that formations of class and gender have a crucial bearing on from which positions and with what kind of stakes the good life is pursued to begin with

    Doing Research. Wissenschaftspraktiken zwischen Positionierung und Suchanfrage

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    Forschung wird zunehmend aus Sicht ihrer Ergebnisse gedacht - nicht zuletzt aufgrund der UmwĂ€lzungen im System Wissensschaft. Der Band lenkt den Fokus jedoch auf diejenigen Prozesse, die Forschungsergebnisse erst ermöglichen und Wissenschaft konturieren. Dabei ist der Titel Doing Research als Verweis darauf zu verstehen, dass forschendes Handeln von spezifischen Positionierungen, partiellen Perspektiven und Suchbewegungen geformt ist. So knĂŒpfen alle Beitragenden auf reflexive Weise an ihre jeweiligen Forschungspraktiken an. Ausgangspunkt sind AbkĂŒrzungen - die vermeintlich kleinsten Einheiten wissenschaftlicher Aushandlung und VerstĂ€ndigung. Der in den Erziehungs-, Sozial-, Medien- und Kunstwissenschaften verankerte Band zeichnet ein vieldimensionales Bild gegenwĂ€rtigen Forschens mit transdisziplinĂ€ren AnknĂŒpfungspunkten zwischen DigitalitĂ€t und Bildung. (DIPF/Orig.

    Revolution Beyond the Event

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    Revolution Beyond the Event brings together leading international anthropologists alongside emerging scholars to examine revolutionary legacies from the MENA region, Latin America and the Caribbean. It explores the idea that revolutions have varied afterlives that complicate the assumptions about their duration, pace and progression, and argues that a renewed focus on the temporality of radical politics is essential to our understanding of revolution. Approaching revolution through its relationship to time, the book is a critical intervention into attempts to define revolutions as bounded events that act as sequential transitions from one political system to another. It pursues an ethnographically driven rethinking of the temporal horizons that are at stake in revolutionary processes, arguing that linear views of revolution are inextricably tied to notions of progress and modernity. Through a careful selection of case studies, the book provides a critical perspective on the lived realities of revolutionary afterlives, challenging the liberal humanist assumptions implicit in the ‘modern’ idea of revolution, and reappraising the political agency of people caught up in revolutionary situations across a variety of ethnographic contexts

    Automated and foundational verification of low-level programs

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    Formal verification is a promising technique to ensure the reliability of low-level programs like operating systems and hypervisors, since it can show the absence of whole classes of bugs and prevent critical vulnerabilities. However, to realize the full potential of formal verification for real-world low-level programs one has to overcome several challenges, including: (1) dealing with the complexities of realistic models of real-world programming languages; (2) ensuring the trustworthiness of the verification, ideally by providing foundational proofs (i.e., proofs that can be checked by a general-purpose proof assistant); and (3) minimizing the manual effort required for verification by providing a high degree of automation. This dissertation presents multiple projects that advance formal verification along these three axes: RefinedC provides the first approach for verifying C code that combines foundational proofs with a high degree of automation via a novel refinement and ownership type system. Islaris shows how to scale verification of assembly code to realistic models of modern instruction set architectures-in particular, Armv8-A and RISC-V. DimSum develops a decentralized approach for reasoning about programs that consist of components written in multiple different languages (e.g., assembly and C), as is common for low-level programs. RefinedC and Islaris rest on Lithium, a novel proof engine for separation logic that combines automation with foundational proofs.Formale Verifikation ist eine vielversprechende Technik, um die VerlĂ€sslichkeit von grundlegenden Programmen wie Betriebssystemen sicherzustellen. Um das volle Potenzial formaler Verifikation zu realisieren, mĂŒssen jedoch mehrere Herausforderungen gemeistert werden: Erstens muss die KomplexitĂ€t von realistischen Modellen von Programmiersprachen wie C oder Assembler gehandhabt werden. Zweitens muss die VertrauenswĂŒrdigkeit der Verifikation sichergestellt werden, idealerweise durch maschinenĂŒberprĂŒfbare Beweise. Drittens muss die Verifikation automatisiert werden, um den manuellen Aufwand zu minimieren. Diese Dissertation prĂ€sentiert mehrere Projekte, die formale Verifikation entlang dieser Achsen weiterentwickeln: RefinedC ist der erste Ansatz fĂŒr die Verifikation von C Code, der maschinenĂŒberprĂŒfbare Beweise mit einem hohen Grad an Automatisierung vereint. Islaris zeigt, wie die Verifikation von Assembler zu realistischen Modellen von modernen Befehlssatzarchitekturen wie Armv8-A oder RISC-V skaliert werden kann. DimSum entwickelt einen neuen Ansatz fĂŒr die Verifizierung von Programmen, die aus Komponenten in mehreren Programmiersprachen bestehen (z.B., C und Assembler), wie es oft bei grundlegenden Programmen wie Betriebssystemen der Fall ist. RefinedC und Islaris basieren auf Lithium, eine neue Automatisierungstechnik fĂŒr Separationslogik, die maschinenĂŒberprĂŒfbare Beweise und Automatisierung verbindet.This research was supported in part by a Google PhD Fellowship, in part by awards from Android Security's ASPIRE program and from Google Research, and in part by a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant for the project "RustBelt", funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (grant agreement no. 683289)

    2017 GREAT Day Program

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    SUNY Geneseo’s Eleventh Annual GREAT Day.https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/program-2007/1011/thumbnail.jp
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