Bringing out the gimp: fashioning the SM imaginary

The intention of this article is to investigate the cultural power associated with the gimp and the gimp mask. The gimp is a clothed or costumed SM body, frequently a submissive that often wears a leather or rubber costume that covers and effectuates the entire body including the face. The gimp is also a representation of SM that circulates throughout fashion and film and other forms of popular culture. Since the gimp’s first outing and naming in the film Pulp Fiction it has become the byword for the head-to-toe leather SM look that has been appropriated by a number of designers as way of exploring and exploiting the relationship between fashion, fetishism, and transgression. As a counterpoint to the popular image of SM in fashion and film, this article also explores how the artists Catherine Opie and Robert Mapplethorpe have represented the gimp, not as an index of horror or transgressive style rather as an affirmative image of their own SM communities that, while still intended to shock, is an defiant attempt to rescue or reclaim the gimp from its negative associations

Invisibility in billiards

The question of invisibility for bodies with mirror surface is studied in the framework of geometrical optics. We construct bodies that are invisible/have zero resistance in two mutually orthogonal directions, and prove that there do not exist bodies which are invisible/have zero resistance in all possible directions of incidence

Saving and reproducing the nation: Struggles around right-wing politics of social reproduction, gender and race in austerity Europe

This article suggests the analytic lens of cultural, social and national reproduction to understand the centrality of gendered and ethnic relations, in particular a focus on family life in contemporary UK. Proposing a theoretical focus on reproduction, the article then provides some contextualisation with wider European experiences to show connections between the political articulations across the far-right and mainstream right-wing. It argues that there is much overlap between the far-right and mainstream rightwing, conservative gender and family ideologies, where contradictory aspects of their gender and family ideals (simultaneously progressive and traditional) are articulated as care for the nation's future. Care is then articulated for the purpose of racist activism and constructing governmental belonging. The racialized migrant family plays a central role in these debates, marking the boundaries of the nation. The article explores these issues in depth through the example of material and symbolic constructions of the racialized migrant family as undeserving of care, exemplified through the UK policy of No Recourse to Public Funding

Measuring the capability to raise revenue process and output dimensions and their application to the Zambia revenue authority

The worldwide diffusion of the good governance agenda and new public management has triggered a renewed focus on state capability and, more specifically, on the capability to raise revenue in developing countries. However, the analytical tools for a comprehensive understanding of the capability to raise revenue remain underdeveloped. This article aims at filling this gap and presents a model consisting of the three process dimensions ‘information collection and processing’, ‘merit orientation’ and ‘administrative accountability’. ‘Revenue performance’ constitutes the fourth capability dimension which assesses tax administration’s output. This model is applied to the case of the Zambia Revenue Authority. The dimensions prove to be valuable not only for assessing the how much but also the how of collecting taxes. They can be a useful tool for future comparative analyses of tax administrations’ capabilities in developing countries.Die weltweite Verbreitung der Good-Governance- und New-Public-Management-Konzepte hat zu einer zunehmenden Konzentration auf staatliche Leistungsfähigkeit und, im Besonderen, auf die Leistungsfähigkeit der Steuererhebung in Entwicklungsländern geführt. Allerdings bleiben die analytischen Werkzeuge für ein umfassendes Verständnis von Leistungsfähigkeit unterentwickelt. Dieser Artikel stellt hierfür ein Modell vor, das die drei Prozess-Dimensionen „Sammeln und Verarbeiten von Informationen“, „Leistungsorientierung der Mitarbeiter“ und „Verantwortlichkeit der Verwaltung“ beinhaltet. „Einnahmeperformanz“ ist die vierte Dimension und erfasst den Output der Steuerverwaltung. Das mehrdimensionale Modell wird für die Analyse der Leistungsfähigkeit der Steuerbehörde Zambias (Zambia Revenue Authority) genutzt. Es erweist sich nicht nur für die Untersuchung des Wieviel, sondern auch des Wie des Erhebens von Steuern als wertvoll. Die vier Dimensionen können in Zukunft zur umfassenden und vergleichenden Analyse der Leistungsfähigkeit verschiedener Steuerverwaltungen in Entwicklungsländern genutzt werden

Café nation? Exploring the growth of the UK café industry

The UK café industry has experienced significant growth over the last decade. With over 18 800 outlets, and a turnover of £7.2 billion recorded in 2014, the industry represents an important component of the retail sector. Industry commentators forecast that the industry will continue to grow and that there will be 27 000 outlets by 2020. This article provides an overview of the UK café industry and highlights the key drivers of it's rapid growth. It explores the ways that a new economic geography is quietly made as the café industry refashions our high streets. The article culminates by presenting an illustrative typology of café types which comprise the café industry in the UK, highlighting the need for greater research into the landscape of the café industry as it develops, and the roles that café spaces play in different communities.Publisher Statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Ferreira, J 2016, 'Café nation? Exploring the growth of the UK café industry' Area, vol 49, no. 1, pp. 69-76, which has been published in final form at https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/area.12285 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.<br/

Dansk udenrigs- og sikkerhedspolitisk aktivisme i en stadig mere multipolær verdensorden. Danmarks håndtering af den nye stormagt Kina

Dansk udenrigs- og sikkerhedspolitik med dets fokus på at fremme dansk sikkerhed, danske interesser og danske værdier står over for nye betingelser. Det centrale spørgsmål er, hvordan dansk udenrigs- og sikkerhedspolitisk aktivisme skal operere i en stadig mere multipolær verdensorden. I artiklen anvendes en neoklassisk realistisk analyseramme, som muliggør analyse af, hvordan igangværende udviklinger i systemiske og indenrigspolitiske betingelser påvirker dansk udenrigs- og sikkerhedspolitik. Analysen viser, hvordan handlerummet for den danske værdipolitiske udenrigs- og sikkerhedspolitiske aktivisme mindskes særligt som følge af USA's svækkende stormagtsposition og dermed et øget pres på liberale værdier som universelle værdier. Handlerummet mindskes yderligere som følge af øget indenrigspolitisk fokus på varetagelsen af danske økonomiske og kommercielle interesser, som i stigende grad afhænger af stærke og stabile relationer til nye økonomiske og politiske magtcentre, som ikke deler værdier med Danmark. Den ændrede linje i dansk udenrigs- og sikkerhedspolitisk aktivisme viser sig tydeligst i forhold til Danmarks håndtering af den nye stormagt Kina, hvor 1990ernes danske megafondiplomati på det værdipolitiske felt er slut

Promissory identities: sociotechnical representations & innovation in regenerative medicine

The field of regenerative medicine (RM) is championed as a potential source of curative treatments and economic wealth, and initiatives have been launched in several countries to facilitate innovation within the field. As a way of examining the social dimensions of innovation within regenerative medicine, this paper explores the sociotechnical representations of RM technologies in the UK, and the tensions, affordances and complexities these representations present for actors within the field. Specifically, the paper uses the Science and Technology Studies-inspired notions of ‘technology identity’ and ‘development space’ to examine how particular technologies are framed and positioned by actors, and how these positionings subsequently shape innovation pathways. Four developing RM technologies are used as case studies: bioengineered tracheas; autologous chondrocyte implantation; T-cell therapies; and a ‘point-of-care’ cell preparation device. Using these case studies we argue that there are particular identity aspects that have powerful performative effects and provide momentum to innovation projects, and we argue that there are particular stakeholders in the UK RM landscape who appear to have considerable power in shaping these technology identities and thus innovation pathways