Diaspora: (post)colonial visions

The exhibition 'Diaspora: (Post)colonial Visions’ is part of the project ‘Memory Matters’, a partnership between the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (University of Kent) and CORECOG, a Congolese community group based in East London. The exhibition documents the ways in which project participants, mostly British Congolese young people, engaged discursively and visually with the urban and socio-historical spaces of (post)colonial memories. Through a series of heritage workshops organised in London and a 3-day visit to Brussels, several aspects of (post)colonial material representations and legacies were explored. In Brussels, the young people participated in an urban tour of the city’s colonial monuments and a visit to the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) a ‘Little Versailles’, dreamt by the Belgian king Leopold II to stage the grandeur of its colonial rule. Between 1885 and 1908 Leopold II was the sole owner of the ‘Congo Free State’, almost 80 times the size of Belgium. He implemented a harsh forced labour regime in the Congo to extract principally rubber as well as other natural riches. Coined the ‘only colonial museum left in the world’, and still bearing the ubiquitous mark of Leopold II, the RCMA is now undergoing major refurbishment and renovation. The museum exhibits unique ethnographic collections but also showcases a whole universe of colonial fantasies. Civilising desires and animalised aesthetics of a ‘primitive Other’ are conveyed through decontextualized and a-temporal visions of an imagined ‘Africa’ - a ‘Heart of Darkness’ turned ‘art of darkness’. ‘Diaspora: (Post)colonial Visions’ is also a witness to the struggle of Congolese activists in London, engaged in long-distance transnational politics and opposing the current Congolese government. Organising flashmobs, protests and demonstrations some of these activists denounce the exploitation of peoples and the plunder of mineral resources by a host of national and international actors, including multinational companies. Their public presence in the centre of London, at the heart of the ‘global city’ and former imperial capital, suggests the extent to which appropriating urban spaces and reclaiming visibility also serves to reconnect colonial past(s) and postcolonial present(s)

Sacred remittances: money, migration and the moral economy of development in a transnational African church

While remittances have come to play an important part in debates about migration and development, the link between religion, migration and transnational financial flows has yet to be understood in its full complexity. Drawing upon a multi-sited ethnography of a transnational African church, this article addresses this overlooked dimension of migrant transnationalism by analysing how religious donations converted into ‘sacred remittances’ produce a moral economy of religious life shaped by a politics of belongings at various scales. The article discusses the social meaning that diasporic actors attach to religious donations sent to the homeland (the Congo) and how this compares to the practice of sending remittances to family members. The article also argues that transnational circulation of sacralised money operates within a field of meanings and practices associated with moral expectations, entitlements and differentiated regimes of value. Sacred remittances, as ‘global money’, may generate a diversity of transnational linkages between donors and recipients but they remain embedded in landscapes of status and power

« Bideshi Taka »

La construction indigène des représentations liées à la visibilité du « miracle migratoire » révèle la puissance symbolique du bideshi taka, « l’argent de l’ailleurs », au sein des populations villageoises de Sylhet, une région d’émigration située au nord‑est du Bangladesh. Une étude de l’inscription des envois d’argent dans le cycle de développement domestique permet d’identifier un ensemble de stratégies inhérentes à la gestion internationale des ressources foncières et économiques des lignages de migrants. La recherche de terrain effectuée à la fois à Sylhet et parmi la communauté bangladeshie de Londres (dans l’arrondissement de Tower Hamlets) montre aussi que l’articulation entre argent et logiques de pouvoir reste en grande partie dépendante de la maîtrise des flux diasporiques qui traversent les frontières d’un espace migratoire global. Les stratégies d’investissements économiques au Bangladesh s’élaborent depuis le « Banglatown » de l’East End de Londres en mobilisant des réseaux politiques complexes. Leur agencement repose sur des différentiations d’échelles produites par une hiérarchisation du risque dans les représentations. A l’entrecroisement du développement « communautaire » et de l’économie migratoire en réseaux, le bideshi taka cristallise des enjeux de statut et de pouvoir à l’intérieur de l’espace politique transnational.The indigenous construction of representations linked to the visibility of the « miracle of migration » sheds light on the symbolic power of the bideshi taka, « the money from abroad », within village communities of Sylhet, an emigration area situated in the North‑East of Bangladesh. A study of the embeddedness of remittances in the household development cycle allows the identification of a set of strategies inherent in the international management of economic and land resources of migrant lineages. Fieldwork research conducted both in Sylhet and among the Bangladeshi community in London (in the borough of Tower Hamlets) also highlights how the articulation between money and power logics remains greatly dependent on the management of diasporic flows crossing the boundaries of a global migratory space. Economic investments strategies in Bangladesh are elaborated from « Banglatown » in the East End of London and they mobilise complex political networks. Their arrangement is based on differentiations of scales produced by a hierarchisation of risk in the representations. At the intersection of « community » development and the migrant network economy, the bideshi taka crystallises status and power dynamics within a transnational political space

Neo‐Pentecostal urban infrastructures in Lagos, Nigeria: ontology, politics, poetics

This article examines how the urban fabric of Lagos is being transformed by neo‐Pentecostal forms of Christian religiosity—a transformation not only of inner, ‘private’ lives but also of urban infrastructures and their provision. Neo‐Pentecostal churches in Lagos now provide a range of infrastructures such as roads, bridges, electricity, water, healthcare, plus banking and educational facilities as well as a range of residential options. Church emblems are common features of the Lagos streetscape and can be found on buildings, vehicles and advertisement hoardings. In addition to their symbolic, moral and aesthetic register, Pentecostal urban infrastructures can be understood as a response to the crisis of social reproduction in Lagos, within the context of a postcolonial state that has adopted a position of entrenched neoliberalism. Critical questions remain, however, regarding whose interests are served by this arrangement. The article aims to understand (1) the ontological status of neo‐Pentecostal infrastructures, taking seriously the production and delivery of material infrastructures that are understood by some users to also be spiritual; and (2) the novel relations between church, state, market and citizen articulated by these infrastructures. Our arguments are based on qualitative data collected in Lagos between 2018 and 2022

Nrf2 deficiency influences susceptibility to steroid resistance via HDAC2 reduction

Abnormal lung inflammation and oxidant burden are associated with a significant reduction in histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) abundance and steroid resistance. We hypothesized that Nrf2 regulates steroid sensitivity via HDAC2 in response to inflammation in mouse lung. Furthermore, HDAC2 deficiency leads to steroid resistance in attenuating lung inflammatory response, which may be due to oxidant/antioxidant imbalance. Loss of antioxidant transcription factor Nrf2 resulted in decreased HDAC2 in lung, and increased inflammatory lung response which was not reversed by steroid. Thus, steroid resistance or inability of steroids to control lung inflammatory response is dependent on Nrf2-HDAC2 axis. These findings have implications in steroid resistance, particularly during the conditions of oxidative stress when the lungs are more susceptible to inflammatory response, which is seen in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease

Competências para a formação docente : metodologia de uso de ambientes virtuais para o ensino das competências

Os ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem podem ser compreendidos como espaços técnicos e pedagógicos de trabalho educativo. Possuem ferramentas que são utilizadas e substituem as interações do ensino presencial. Além dessa perspectiva nosso objetivo neste artigo é analisar os ambientes de aprendizagem identificando quais os elementos técnicos e pedagógicos de uma metodologia de uso desse espaço virtual, especificamente para facilitar o desenvolvimento de competências e habilidades docentes. A metodologia de pesquisa utilizada sob o enfoque qualitativo foi puramente descritiva e nos possibilitaram chegar a resultados de grande valor para o uso dos ambientes de aprendizagem, delineando uma sequência metodológica e didática de uso.Virtual environments of learning can be understood as pedagogical and technical spaces of educational work. They have tools that are used and substitute the interactions of presential education. Beyond this perspective our aim in this article is to analyze learning environments identifying which are the technical and pedagogical elements of a methodology of use of such virtual space, specifically to make the development of competences and teaching abilities easier. The methodology of research used under the qualitative approach was purely descriptive and made possible to reach valuable results for the use of learning environments, in which was delineated a methodological and didactic sequence of use

Glomerular Hyperfiltration: A Marker of Fibrosis Severity in Metabolic Associated Steatotic Liver Disease in an Adult Population

Glomerular hyperfiltration (GH) is an increase in the glomerular filtration rate, possibly progressing to chronic kidney disease (CKD). Metabolic-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is linked to an increased risk of CKD, especially if fibrosis is present; however, the association between GH and MASLD has not been explored. To evaluate GH prevalence in MASLD and its possible correlation with liver fibrosis. 772 consecutive patients with ultrasound MASLD (mean age 47.3 ± 8.9 years, 67.1% males) were enrolled. GH was defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) greater than the upper quartile of values in the cohort. Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) by FibroScan ≥ 7.2 kPa suggested liver fibrosis. GH was present in 20% of patients, liver fibrosis in 30%. In total, 53.4% of the cohort was obese, 40.9% hypertensive, 36.3% diabetic and 70.8% dyslipidaemic. GH patients compared to non-GH were significantly younger (38.4 ± 8.3 vs. 49.5 ± 7.7, p < 0.001), with higher prevalence of LSM > 7.2 kPa (35.5% vs. 29%, p < 0.001), without any difference in metabolic comorbidities. In multivariate analysis, age (OR 0.85, CI 95% 0.82–0.87) and significant fibrosis (OR 1.83; CI 95%1.10–3.03) remained independently associated with GH, regardless of the presence of metabolic alterations and nephrotoxic drugs. GH, an early marker of renal damage, is highly prevalent in MASLD and is associated with hepatic fibrosis. GH may be considered an early marker of both liver and renal disease and its recognition could prompt the management of risk factors aimed at preventing the progression of both hepatic and renal disease

‘Central London under siege’: Diaspora, ‘race’ and the right to the (global) city

Drawing upon an ethnography of recent Congolese diasporic protests in central London, this article pays attention to the traversal histories of ‘race’ and the postcolonial dynamics that precede the emergence of a contemporary diasporic ‘right to the city’ movement. The authors critically engage with Henri Lefebvre’s ‘right to the city’ as a way of explaining how the urban is not only the site but also, increasingly, a stake in urban protests. In doing so the authors relocate urban centrality – its meaning, symbolic power and heuristic status in protests – in a context where activists’ claims are not restricted to one city or, simply, the political present. Rather, protestors talk about making geopolitical connections between local and global scales and contemporary and historical injustices. Drawing upon Simone’s notion of ‘black urbanism’, the authors claim to enrich Lefebvre’s original formulation by unpacking the complex performative dimensions of protest as they intersect with race and, more specifically, blackness and postcolonialism. It is concluded that activists’ experience is fundamentally ambivalent; they are at once enchanted and disenchanted with protest in central London