Emergent and divergent spaces in the Women’s March: the challenges of intersectionality and inclusion

This piece introduces the set of articles assembled from our call for Rapid Responses to the Women’s March on Washington circulated in February, 2017. Each addresses issues arising through collective expressions of protest. The Women’s March on Washington, organized on the twin principles of intersectionality and inclusion, acted as a flashpoint for the generation of emergent spaces to do politics differently. In the search for solidarity, tensions within groups and among individuals shaped the way in which resistance and protests were responded to and organized. The authors in this collection take up themes of intersectionality and inclusion/exclusion via politicizing the personal, contesting the state, and challenging simplistic notions of unity in solidarity

Aesthetics of Resistance in Western Sahara

In reaction to neo-liberal globalization policies that were spearheaded in the 1980s by Reagan-economics and Thatcherism, indignant movements ignited globally in distinct places, spaces, and territories, using diverse resistance strategies, both violent and nonviolent. Today, two years into the new social media revolutions, with the “Arab Spring” (in Tunisia known as Sidi Bouzid Revolt, in Libya as the Revolution of February 17th, and in Egypt as Revolution of January 25th), the “indignado/a” movement in Spain, and “Occupy Wall Street” in the United States, what does it mean to be “indignant”?Within an interdisciplinary Peace Studies and Research context, how do we begin to talk about and theorize this (inter)subjective move from being a “victim” to being “indignant?” And, how do we do so in a way that captures the complex and multi-layered dimensions of liberation struggles? We begin with a theoretical overview in order to frame the discussion. We then specifically examine the “Sahrawi Spring” in order to see theory in practice. As Africa’s last colony,Western Sahara provides an interesting look into the aesthetics of resistance

Unconscious bias in the suppressive policing of Black and Latino men and boys: neuroscience, Borderlands theory, and the policymaking quest for just policing

his article applies neuroscience and Borderlands theory to reveal how unconscious bias currently stabilizes suppressive policing practices in America despite new efforts at reform. Illustrative cases are offered from Oakland and Santa Barbara, California, with a focus on civil gang injunctions (CGIs) and youth gang suppression. Theoretical analysis of these cases reveals how the unconscious biases of validity illusions and framing effects operate despite the best intentions of law enforcement personnel. Such unconscious or implicit biases create contradictions between the stated beliefs and actions of law enforcement. In turn, these unintended self-contradictions then work to the detriment of Latino and Black boys. The analysis here also extends to how unconscious biases and unintended self-contradictions can influence municipal policymaking in favor of suppressive police tactics such as CGIs, thereby displacing evidence-based policies that are proven to be far more effective. The article concludes with brief discussion of some of the means by which the unconscious biases – effects to which everyone is involuntarily prone – can be disrupted

Por que o mineral sofre? Teorias mestiças fronteriças e ontologias do real com relação ao extrativismo minerador em San Juan, Argentina

Objetivo/contexto: este artículo tiene como objetivo presentar aspectos de un trabajo etnográfico referido a las teorías mestizas fronterizas que circulan en comunidades del norte de San Juan, Argentina, con relación al extractivismo minero, poniendo el acento en la comprensión de las ontologías de lo real que las constituyen a partir de experiencias históricas y modos de relacionalidad local. Metodología: el trabajo se apoya en el estudio etnográfico de las relaciones conflictivas existentes entre las praxis cotidianas y las narrativas pluriversales locales en comunidades del norte de San Juan, al expresar otras ontologías de “lo real” disidentes a los proyectos políticos de incorporación-exclusión estatal y de mercado en estas comunidades, conformadas tanto por seres humanos, como por seres no humanos, que cohabitan estos lugares y agencian territorios en su actuar político. Conclusiones: se plantea que la discusión política pública, en torno a la presencia de los proyectos mega-mineros en las nacientes de agua cordillerana (glaciares) en San Juan, excluye a la ontología política y relacional expresada en las teorías mestizas fronterizas locales. Originalidad: el artículo propone reflexiones sobre las ontologías de los conflictos neoextractivistas en Argentina, abriendo cuestionamientos con derivaciones teóricas y metodológicas no exploradas en la bibliografía referida al caso de la provincia de San Juan.Objective/context: The purpose of this article is to present aspects of an 76 ethnographic work concerning the borderlands mestizo theories that circulate in communities in the north of San Juan, Argentina, related to mineral extractivism, emphasizing the understanding of ontologies of the real that are constituted from historical experiences and modes of local relationality. Methodology: The work is based on the ethnographic study of the existing conflictive relations between the daily praxis and the local pluriverse narratives in communities of the north of San Juan, when expressing other ontologies of “the real” that disagree with the political projects of state and market incorporation-exclusion in these communities, conformed by humans, as much as by nonhumans, that cohabit these places and manage territories in their political act. Conclusions: It is proposed that the public political discussion, around the presence of mega-mining projects in the mountain water springs (glaciers) in San Juan, excludes the political and relational ontology expressed in the local borderlands mestizo theories. Originality: T he article proposes reflections on the ontologies of neo-extractivist conflicts in Argentina, by opening questions with theoretical and methodological derivations not explored in the bibliography referring to the case of the province of San Juan.Objetivo/contexto: este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar aspectos de um trabalho etnográfico referente às teorias mestiças fronteiriças que circulam em comunidades no norte de San Juan, Argentina, relacionadas com o extrativismo minerador, com ênfase na compreensão das ontologias do real que são constituídas a partir de experiências históricas e dos modos de relacionamento local. Metodologia: este trabalho está apoiado no estudo etnográfico das relações conflitivas existentes entre as práticas cotidianas e as narrativas pluriversais locais em comunidades do norte de San Juan, ao expressar outras ontologias do “real” dissidentes dos projetos políticos de incorporação-exclusão estatal e de mercado nessas comunidades conformadas tanto por seres humanos quanto por não humanos, que coabitam esses lugares e agenciam territórios em seu agir político. Conclusões: propõe-se que a discussão política pública sobre a presença dos projetos megamineradores nas nascentes de água da Cordilheira (glaciares) em San Juan exclui a ontologia política e relacional expressa nas teorias mestiças fronteiriças locais. Originalidade: este artigo reflete acerca das ontologias dos conflitos neoextrativistas na Argentina ao abrir questionamentos com derivações teóricas e metodológicas não exploradas na literatura referida ao caso da província de San Juan.Fil: Jofre, Ivana Carina. Universidad Nacional de San Juan; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan; Argentin

Queer Asian Subjects: Transgressive Sexualities and Heteronormative Meanings

This special issue of Asian Studies Review explores comparatively the production and transformation of gender and sexual subjectivities across and beyond South and Southeast Asia. More specifically, papers in this special issue disclose the complex intersections of ethnicity, race, class, gender, religion and nationality through which sexual subjectivities are formed and subject positions inhabited within and across these regions. By tracing the transnational movement of people and the circulation of images and ideas, their appropriations and effects, the papers in this volume reveal mutable and multiple sexual subjectivities that are no longer fixed in place, even as state discourses, hegemonic meanings and individual actors work to attach specific meanings to particular bodies. In this special issue we ask, what are the effects of migration, forced and chosen, on forms and formulations of gender and sexuality for people's embodied and discursive entanglements? How do spatial and temporal, as well as religious, economic and political changes alter and foreclose some kinds of intimacies and subjectivities even as they open and enable others? What are the social and cultural processes through which heteronormativity is articulated, enforced, transgressed and challenged

A África, o Sul e as ciências sociais brasileiras : descolonização e abertura

O texto introduz questões recentes sobre a relação entre as ciências sociais na África e no Brasil, inserindo-as no debate sobre as sociologias do Sul e a geopolítica do conhecimento na produção de teoria social. A partir da noção de sociologia não exemplar são apresentados alguns dos possíveis caminhos teórico-metodológicos que possibilitariam um posicionamento mais simétrico para a produção de conhecimento localizada fora da Euro-América.The paper introduces the contemporary debates on the relation of social sciences in Africa and Brazil by framing them both under the current discussion about the "sociologies of the south" and the ones on "the geopolitics of knowledge". Deploying the notion of a "non-exemplary sociology", I seek to present some possible theoretical and methodological ways that would enable a more symmetric positioning of the knowledge produced outside the Euro-America

Border Insecurity: Reading Transnational Environments in Jim Lynch’s Border Songs

This article applies an eco-critical approach to contemporary American fiction about the Canada-US border, examining Jim Lynch’s portrayal of the British Columbia-Washington borderlands in his 2009 novel Border Songs. It argues that studying transnational environmental actors in border texts—in this case, marijuana, human migrants, and migratory birds—helps illuminate the contingency of political boundaries, problems of scale, and discourses of risk and security in cross-border regions after 9/11. Further, it suggests that widening the analysis of trans-border activity to include environmental phenomena productively troubles concepts of nature and regional belonging in an era of climate change and economic globalization. Cet article propose une lecture écocritique de la fiction étatsunienne contemporaine portant sur la frontière entre le Canada et les États-Unis, en étudiant le portrait donné par Jim Lynch de la région frontalière entre la Colombie-Britannique et Washington dans son roman Border Songs, paru en 2009. L’article soutient que l’étude, dans les textes sur la frontière, des acteurs environnementaux transnationaux – dans ce cas-ci, la marijuana, les migrants humains et les oiseaux migratoires – jette un jour nouveau sur la contingence des limites territoriales politiques, des problèmes d’échelle et des discours sur le risque et la sécurité des régions transfrontalières après les évènements du 11 septembre 2001. Il suggère également qu’en élargissant l’analyse de l’activité transfrontalière pour y inclure les phénomènes environnementaux, on brouille de façon productive les concepts de nature et d’appartenance régionale d’une époque marquée par les changements climatiques et la mondialisation de l’économie