'We are all Chavez'. Charisma as an embodied experience

The current chaotic post-Chávez political and economic scenario affords a little certainty: Chávez is still very present in the everyday life of contemporary Venezuelans. Chávez as a martyr, as the second Bolívar, as a saint, as a spirit, is becoming part of the religious and social life of a great number of people. Despite being dead, he continues to shape Venezuelan revolutionary selves. An examination of Chávez’s legacy through the lens of divine kinship provides important clues to understanding how charisma is embodied in people and things and circulates through networks of kinship (and fictive kinship) from gods, spirits, and ancestors to democratically appointed leaders and their ordinary followers. El caos que permea el panorama político y económico post-Chávez ofrece cierta certeza: Chávez todavía está muy presente en la vida cotidiana de los venezolanos. Chávez se está convirtiendo en parte de la vida religiosa y social de un gran número de personas: Chávez como mártir, como el segundo Bolívar, como santo, como espíritu. A pesar de que está muerto, Chávez sigue moldeando la personalidad revolucionaria venezolana. Un examen del legado de Chávez a través del prisma del parentesco divino nos ofrece claves importantes para entender cómo el carisma se encarna en la gente y en los objetos y circula a través de redes de parentesco (y parentesco ficticio) de los dioses, espíritus y ancestros a los líderes elegidos democráticamente y sus seguidores

Electoral manipulation and impunity: ethnographic notes from Uttar Pradesh

This article explores how electoral manipulation intersects with issues of impunity in a constituency in Western Uttar Pradesh, North India. By casting electoral manipulation as a tool to obtain, maintain and enhance impunity this article argues that there is often more at stake in manipulating elections than simply winning. More specifically it shows how an holistic ethnography of ‘electoral seasons’ sheds light on the kinds of authority and legitimacy produced by the visible non-punishment of electoral manipulations and in so doing offers new insights into ongoing debates in the anthropology of power, leadership and the law

Comparing the Mental Health Care Policies and Economic Effects in Australia and the United States: Implementing the “headspace” Centre Model

The prevalence of mental and behavioral health problems is currently high in most, if not all, countries. In the U.S. and elsewhere we have seen the impact of an increasingly stressful time, as we live through the pandemic, social unrest, war, and divisive politics. Costs of mental health problems include not only the direct expense of treatment but also indirect costs of loss of productivity and the impacts on society, including substance abuse, family dysfunction, homelessness, crime, etc. The headspace model, which originated in Australia, is a new approach for addressing mental health issues for adolescents and young adults. After almost two decades in operation, this model has demonstrated an encouraging degree of success. Because of the positive results from Australia, several other countries have tried (or are trying) to adopt the same model, typically focused on the youth. This paper aims at exploring how the new Australian approach to mental health care might be applied more broadly across the population, and specifically, how the headspace model might be an example for designing services for adults in the U.S. Why focus on adults? Because their disorders are more likely to be more deeply embedded, they have more direct impacts on the economy and the community, and they do not have a safety net of a school system or parental influence

Sustainable construction and construction of the sustainability: an experience in rural communities of El Salvador

La experiencia que se analiza en este trabajo representa un acercamiento al concepto de sostenibilidad en los países en vías de desarrollo. Se trata de un proceso de autoconstrucción comunitaria de viviendas bioclimáticas en tres asentamientos rurales de El Salvador, donde la noción de sostenibilidad contempla dos aspectos distintos pero interdependientes. Por un lado, la satisfacción de la necesidad de vivienda se lleva a cabo con un modelo de construcción sostenible que utiliza los elementos naturales al alcance las poblaciones más desfavorecidas del ámbito rural salvadoreño. Por otro lado, en torno a los procesos constructivos se articulan acciones transversales que desarrollan los principales aspectos de la sostenibilidad en la comunidad, fortaleciéndola, tanto en sus dimensiones sociales, económicas, institucionales como medioambientales.The experience analyzed in this work represents an approach to the concept of Sustainability in developing countries. It is a process of communal construction of bioclimatic housing in three Salvadorian rural settlings, where the Sustainability notion is centered on two different and interrelated aspects. On the one hand, satisfying the housing needs by means of a sustainable building process, which employs the natural resources available to the poorest rural Salvadorian people. On the other hand, the building process articulates the main sustainability aspects within the community. These social, economic, institutional and environmental dimensions reinforce a sustainable community

Capturing the Essence of Speed Skating and the Skate Technique in Cross-Country Skiing

Speed skating and the skate technique in cross-country skiing are activities in which ski/skate positioning governs the propulsive impulse and the direction of travel. Although it is known anecdotally that the ski/skate placement becomes more aligned with the direction of travel as speed increases, the optimal placement is not known. The aim of this study was to develop a theoretical model that gives the ski/skate placement that maximizes the average speed. The dilemma occurs because the direction of the ski/skate determines the path of travel, while propulsion can only be produced perpendicular to the skate/ski. The theoretical model was based on the impulse-momentum relationship, air resistance was ignored, and gliding resistance was assumed constant and along the direction of the skate/ski. Only steady state gliding was considered, meaning that the average speed in the direction of desired travel was constant. The velocity of a new stride is influenced by the gliding velocity of the previous stride and the velocity generated by the impulse in the transition from one skate/ski to the other. Based on these assumptions, two equations were derived for the average forward velocity: one for speed skating and skiing without propulsion from the poles, and a second for skiing with propulsion from the poles. The model was used to predict the optimal skate/ski angles relative to the desired direction of travel that maximize the average forward speed given an athlete’s mass, impulse from the legs, and impulse from the arms. In agreement with experimental observations, the model predicts that the orientation of ski/skates becomes more aligned with increasing speed of travel and becomes parallel to the direction of travel when the entire forward propulsion is derived from the poles. The detailed predictions now need testing against careful experimental measurements in the field

Educación para el desarrollo y para la sostenibilidad. Acercando propuestas en el marco del EEES

L a s i nt e rre l a c i one s e nt re l a E duc a c i ón pa ra e l D e s a rrol l o, l a E duc a c i ón pa ra l a S os t e ni bi l i da d y pa ra e l D e s a rrol l o S os t e ni bl e ha n c ons t i t ui do un punt o c l a ve pa ra l a de fi ni c i ón de l os c urs os de pos t gra do de l a U ni ve rs i da d P ol i t e c ni c a de Ca t a l uña (U P C) a da pt a dos a l nue vo E s pa c i o E urope o de E duc a c i ón S upe ri or. L os e nfoque s m á s c e rc a nos a l a c oope ra c i ón pa ra e l de s a rrol l o y l os m á s propi os de l a s os t e ni bi l i da d c ont ri buye n de m a ne ra c om pl e m e nt a ri a y de c i s i va e n l a form a c i ón de l os profe s i ona l e s l l a m a dos a t ra ba j a r e n t a re a s de de s a rrol l o, ya s e a e n pa í s e s de l S ur o de l N ort e , y a a c t ua r re s pons a bl e m e nt e de s de l a s pos i c i one s t é c ni c a s que de ba n a s um i r. E n l a U P C e l i m pa c t o de l os di s t i nt os e nfoque s e n l a c onfi gura c i ón de l os c urs os de pos t gra do e s e l re s ul t a do de un proc e s o pa rt i c i pa t i vo que ha i nvol uc ra do t a nt o l a ofe rt a form a t i va de gra do e xi s t e nt e (funda m e nt a l m e nt e a t ra vé s de a s i gna t ura s de l i bre e l e c c i ón) c om o l a ofe rt a form a t i va de pos t gra do y de i ni c i a c i ón a l a i nve s t i ga c i ón (a t ra vé s de l os progra m a s de doc t ora do e xi s t e nt e s ). E l a ná l i s i s que a quí s e pre s e nt a i nt e nt a , por un l a do, pone r de m a ni fi e s t o l a s ra í c e s e duc a t i va s e n l a s que s e ba s a e l proc e s o, que s e e nc ue nt ra n e n l a s di fe re nt e s pe rs pe c t i va s de l a s “ e duc a c i ón pa ra ” , y, por ot ro l a do, pre s e nt a r bre ve m e nt e c om o e s t os funda m e nt os s e a rt i c ul a n e n l a c onfi gura c i ón de l os c urs os de pos t gra do ofi c i a l e s de fi ni dos por l a U P C ha s t a l a fe c ha (di c i e m bre 2006)Postprint (published version

Educación para el desarrollo sostenible entre educación para el desarrollo y educación ambiental: apuntes para un debate

La ponencia se coloca en el área de “Innovación de la docencia”, intentando de definir interrelaciones entre Educación para el Desarrollo (EpD), Educación Ambiental (EA) y para el Desarrollo Sostenible (EpDS). El rol de esta ultima está tomando una posición siempre central en los actuales procesos de cambio de los cursos de grado y postgrado hacia el cumplimento de las directrices del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES.Peer Reviewe

The bandit and his myths the collective production of violent charisma [Introduction]

From Pablo Escobar to Phoolan Devi, myths featuring bandits (more or less socially-responsible) have grown in popularity and reach and are disseminated through digital media. Constructed through processes of transcultural bricolage, these myths celebrate bandits, gangsters and mafia politicians, dead or alive, as effective weapons in the present. At the same time, they project an uncertain posthumous future for the bandit. In these myths, fact and fiction are fused to give birth to powerful fictional realities that exceed the life of these figures, giving them sometimes unexpected post-mortem careers. This introduction reveals how these fictional realities are elaborated through a process of ‘myth scripting’ that becomes constitutive of bandits’ authority. This concept is also our ethnographic object: we explore an everyday fabrication of seduction, fascination and terror indissociable from the bandits’ capacity to spur others to action that is essential to the criminal political economy

Educación para el desarrollo sostenible e ingeniería: debates y procesos en la UPC

El artículo presenta una reflexión sobre el papel de la Educación para el Desarrollo Sostenible (EDS) en la formación de ingeniería, con especial referencia a la situación de la UPC. El actual proceso de cambio que está caracterizando la universidad española y europea, debido a la creación del nuevo Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES), pone de relieve la necesidad de una redefinición del concepto de sostenibilidad, de EDS y de sus relaciones con la enseñanza de ingeniería. El debate presente en la literatura y entre los actores educativos todavía deja abiertas las cuestiones relativas al carácter de la EDS. Se puede en todo caso subrayar la presencia de dos tradiciones principales que van a definir la EDS: por un lado, la influencia de la Educación para el Desarrollo y por otro lado, el aporte de la Educación Ambiental. Desde de esta relación-tensión se van definiendo las estructuras formativas en el EEES. En el caso de la UPC, la propuesta de un nuevo Master oficial en Sostenibilidad en el que participan diversos centros docentes, entre ellos la escuela de Ingeniería de Caminos, es un claro ejemplo de cómo las disciplinas inherentes la cooperación, el desarrollo y la sostenibilidad se pueden articular conjuntamente como propuesta de formación especializada a nivel de postgrado. La articulación de propuestas para los nuevos grados en ingeniería está aun pendiente de discusión.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version