Colonial Legacies, Postcolonial Biologies: Gender and the Promises of Biotechnology

Three decades of work in the feminist studies of science and technology have shaped our evolving understandings of the relationships between sex, gender, and biotechnology. Sex, and gender are most often reduced to binary categories, severely limiting our conceptions not only of human diversity, but those of science and technology. Using two case study set in India, transnational surrogacy and the Indian Genome Variation Project, this paper explores how popular positions around biotechnology are reduced to binary positions promoting and opposing biotechnology as the solution for the economic and social development of India. By locating surrogacy and genomics within the larger geopolitical, historical, economic and cultural transformations of postcolonial India, the paper argues that both technologies are far more complex in their impact on women and gender. Why does technology become the major site of hope for the future? Why does genomics become the site for the promises of good health? Why has India become a site for reproductive tourism, and transnational surrogacy in particular? Drawing on the social studies of science, the paper argues that technology and human bodies are never neutral but always prefigured with a gender, race, caste and sexuality. Surrogacy and genomics should be understood within these colonial and postcolonial histories of science and technology

EFEK PENAMBAHAN SERAT POLYPROPYLENE TERHADAP KUAT TARIK BELAH SELF COMPACTING MORTAR

Mortar menurut perkiraan kasar, nilai kuat tariknya berkisar antara 9%-15% dari kuat tekanya, hal ini menyebabkan dinding akan retak setelah terjadinya gempa. Untuk itu diperlukanlah suatu inovasi untuk memperbaiki kelemahan dari sifat tersebut agar dinding lebih kuat dalam menahan gaya aksial tarik yang diakibatkan oleh gempa. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji efek penambahan serat polypropylene terhadap tarik belah dengan metode self compacting mortard. Digunakanya metode (SCM) karena sempitnya ruang gerak pada pembuatan dinding precast akibat terhalangi oleh bekisting, SCM dapat memadat sendiri tanpa memerlukan pemadatan tambahan sehingga akan mengisi seluruh ruang pada bekisting. Penelitian ini termasuk penelitian eksperimen. Dengan menggunakan benda uji mortar berbentuk silinder dengan (diameter 15 cm dan tinggi 30 cm). Dalam penelitian ini perbandingan komposisi campuran bahan yang di gunakan 1 semen : 5 pasir : 0,9 air. Sedangkan sikament yang digunakan sebesar 1,2 % dari berat semen. Sedang serat polypropyelene yang digunakan sebesar 0,5 kg/m3, 1kg/m3, 1,5kg/m3. Menggunakan 3 benda uji dalam setiap varian. Pengambilan data atau pengujian kuat tarik belah beton menggunakan mesin uji tekan merek ELE. Hasil pengujian di analisis menggunakan metode diskriptif kuantitatif. Hasil pengujian menunjukan serat polypropyelene tidak berpengaruh terhadap kuat tarik belah, hal ini terbukti benda uji dengan tanpa penambahan serat mempunyai kuat tarik belah rata-rata sebesar 1,53 MPa, lebih besar dari rata-rata kuat tarik belah benda uji yang menggunakan penambahan serat 0,5 kg/m3 yaitu sebesar 1,28 MPa, Benda uji yang menggunakan penambahan serat sebesar 1,5 kg/m3 yaitu sebesar 1,08 MPa, dan benda uji yang menggunakan penambahan serat sebesar 1 kg/m3 yaitu sebesar 1,40 MPa

Images delegitimized and discouraged: explicitly political art and the arbitrariness of the unspeakable

While the increasing interest in contemporary art from Turkey has centered on explicitly political works, discussions on the limitations of the freedom of expression have likewise come under the spotlight, not least with regard to Turkey's EU candidacy. In contrast to the attempts of complete suppression marking the 1980 coup d'etat and its aftermath, current censorship mechanisms aim to delegitimize and discourage artistic expressions (and their circulation) that can be construed as threatening the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Turkish state, and to turn their producers into targets. This article investigates selected images produced in the contemporary art world between 2005 and 2008, which were taken to transcend the limits of what constitutes tolerable depictions of Turkey's socio-political realities. It examines current modalities of censorship in the visual arts and the different actors involved in silencing efforts. The cases show that within these fields of delimitation there are considerable contingencies: The domain of the unspeakable remains unclearly mapped. I argue that it is because, not despite, this arbitrariness that delegitimizing interventions are successful, in that they (a) create incentives for self-censorship, and (b) produce defenses of artistic freedom that, by highlighting the autonomy of art, to some extent consolidate a conceptual separation of art from politics

The writer-reader relationship in academic writing

In the past, we were taught to think that writing and reading were two separate skills and the writer was more important than the reader because he or she was seen as an active composer of messages while the reader was seen only as a passive receiver of these messages This has changed because in academic writing, the focus is on the active writer-reader relationship. Both the writer and reader will bring their world views to write and read the text respectively. The aim of this paper is to examine and understand how the writer (ESL student) and the reader (lecturer) relationship in academic writing can be improved if their shared knowledge of the assigned text increases. This concept is essential for good writing and ultimately this will help ESL students improve their grades in their writing assignments. This paper will also discuss how English instructors can play an important role in helping ESL students demonstrate, summarize and synthesize ideas in their written discourse