Addressing the ‘citizenship assumption’ in critical pedagogy : exploring the case of rejected female sub-Saharan African asylum seekers in Malta

The degree to which an individual can or cannot confront domination is determined by his or her place within the social relations of production, the hegemony of ideological beliefs, including patriarchy and other cultural constructions, and institutional rules, regulations, and practices. These interactions are also shaped by the ways in which members of specific social groups understand, perceive, and act in, through, and on, their reality. This article considers the Maltese context, and the case of sub-Saharan African (SSA) female asylum seekers whose request for asylum has been rejected. The article aims to provoke a critical re-evaluation of the adult education and critical pedagogy literature, and calls for an epistemological shift in the way we theorise the non-citizen within the nation state. The article argues that the ‘rejected’ status limits the possibilities to speak unto power and to mobilise for transformative change. It concludes that a ‘statist’ hegemony is ubiquitous within critical pedagogy literature, wherein ‘citizenship’ is assumed.peer-reviewe

"We are going to fix your vagina, just the way we like it." Some reflections on the construction of [Sub-Suharan] African female asylum seekers in Malta and their efforts to speak back

This paper will draw attention to the way by which social relations structure knowledge to privilege particular ways of knowing and silences and subjugates others, namely that of asylum seekers. It is intended to illustrate how such epistemic violence, to echo Spivak, can result in surgical interventions that violate the rights, and dignity, of female asylum seekers, and reproduce the docile body.peer-reviewe

The asylum process and possibilities for a transformative pedagogy : exploring the case of Sub-Saharan African female asylum seekers in Malta

Whilst EU legislation and policy has focused on the importance of the asylum process, and the need for asylum seekers to understand the process, academic literature has, to date, failed to recognize this procedure as a learning process. In this paper I interrogate the asylum process as a contested site representing different gendered and racialised practices, grounded in specific gendered and historical sociopolitical contexts. Moving beyond the ‘banking’ notion of education, the asylum process is positioned as a potentially transformative pedagogical site wherein the lawyer - as educator - can engage in a dialogical relationship with the asylum seeker. I posit that the proposed educational journey, which is grounded in dialogue, mutual learning, and developing trust, can provide the possibility for developing self determination, working towards protection and social justice. This paper explores asylum in Malta, more specifically, the conditions and processes experienced by sub-Saharan African female asylum seekers.peer-reviewe

Migrating borders, bordering lives : everyday geographies of ontological security and insecurity in Malta

In this article, we seek to challenge some of these ways in which the ‘2015 Mediterranean migration crisis’ has been scripted by elites. Situated within – and contributing to – a flourishing research agenda on everyday geographies and ontologies of personal (in)security, we aim to bring non-elite knowledge and experience to the foreground. We do so by examining the diverse grounded perspectives of those on the move who are arguably the key dramatis personae in the so-called ‘crisis’ and yet whose voices are often absent in dominant representations of it. Specifically, we take as our analytical focus the dynamic interplay between contemporary EU border security apparatuses and mobile subjects who encounter, negotiate, and challenge these apparatuses. Drawing upon 37 in-depth qualitative interviews with recent arrivals as part of a multi-sited research project across the Mediterranean region, we offer a historicised and geographically situated analysis of the contested politics of ‘irregularity’ on the island of Malta. A geopolitically significant site along the central Mediterranean route, the changes in migratory dynamics witnessed in Malta over the past two decades offers an instructive lens through which the ‘crisis’ narrative can be usefully problematized and disaggregated

Early Days of Brutalist Architecture in São Paulo: Vila Madalena Church

[EN] This paper explores the path of Saint Maria Madalena Church, in Vila Madalena, a district in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The church was one of the city’s first reinforced concrete brutalist buildings and the paper analyses the preliminary drawings, the way it was materialized, some aspects of the interventions it underwent during its lifetime, and its current situation. The methodological procedures were implemented either simultaneously or successively. They included bibliographic and field surveys, iconographic listings, and researches in two collections – the church’s and architect Joaquim Guedes’s, designer of the church. The stages that culminated in the building of this church – innovative in terms of shape and distribution of spaces and entirely built-in reinforced concrete – are presented, and the main changes the building underwent are pointed out. The results can help preserve the memory of modern architecture in São Paulo and enhance future studies about the design and construction of this unique and precious example of exposed reinforced concrete construction.[ES] Este artículo explora el proceso de la Iglesia de Santa María Magdalena, en Vila Madalena, un barrio de la ciudad de São Paulo, Brasil. La iglesia es importante porque fue uno de los primeros edificios brutalistas de hormigón armado de la ciudad; es por ello que el texto analiza los planos preliminares, cómo se materializó y algunos aspectos de las intervenciones que sufrió durante su vida y su situación actual. Los procedimientos metodológicos se implementaron o de forma simultánea o sucesiva. Incluyeron estudios bibliográficos y de campo, listados iconográficos e la investigación en dos archivos: el de la iglesia y el del arquitecto Joaquim Guedes, proyectista de la iglesia. Se presentan las etapas que culminaron en la construcción de esta iglesia, innovadora en cuanto a forma y distribución de los espacios, y construida íntegramente en hormigón armado, y se señalan los principales cambios que sufrió el edificio. Los resultados pueden ayudar a preservar la memoria de la arquitectura moderna en São Paulo y mejorar los estudios futuros sobre el diseño y la construcción de este ejemplo único y precioso de construcción de hormigón armado visto.Perrone, R.; Pisani, M.; Schimidt, R. (2022). Early Days of Brutalist Architecture in São Paulo: Vila Madalena Church. En CIAB 10. X Congreso internacional arquitectura blanca. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 362-369. https://doi.org/10.4995/CIAB10.2022.13938OCS36236

Projetos sustentáveis na urbanização de favela em São Paulo: os conjuntos do arquiteto Edson Elito em Paraisópolis

Peer Reviewe

The Oca Building: Structural Design and Architecture - Designs by Oscar Niemeyer and Figueiredo Ferraz

[EN] This article establishes associations between the structure and the architecture designs of the Oca building (Arts Pavilion) located at Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, and considered one of the most significant works carried out by architect Oscar Niemeyer. Designed in the early 1950s by Oscar Niemeyer and his team, with structural calculations done by engineer José Carlos de Figueiredo Ferraz, the shell of the building was the first designed by the architect and became a widely used reference in Niemeyer’s later works. This research salvaged part of the design drawings that made it possible to relate architecture and structure. The method used several parallel and hybrid phases: a search for iconographic material and documents in public and private archives, recognizing that the designs presented here have never before been published in the historiography of the subject; a field verification, analysis of documents, and re-drawings that represent a dissection of the structure of this case study. The technical and scientific contributions of the various branches of engineering constitute the solid foundations for building cities, edifices, and the relations that shape human life. The results obtained reveal knowledge of construction techniques and the associations between the intention of the architectural design and its materiality. This article will focus on the work of these professionals and their experience in the 1950s, also helping to understand advances in modern Brazilian architecture.[ES] Este artículo establece relaciones entre el proyecto de arquitectura y el de estructura del edificio Oca, situado en el Parque Ibirapuera de São Paulo, una de las obras más importantes del arquitecto Oscar Niemeyer. Proyectado a principios de la década de 1950 por Niemeyer y su equipo, con cálculo estructural del ingeniero José Carlos de Figueiredo Ferraz, el casquete del edificio fue el primer domo – de los construidos en el conjunto de obras del arquitecto – a convertir en referencia por él utilizada en obras posteriores. Esta investigación rescató algunas de las plantas diseñadas que permitieron compreender la relación entre arquitectura y estructura. Considerando que los proyectos presentados son inéditos en la historiografía sobre el tema, el método empleó pasos paralelos e híbridos, incluyendo la búsqueda iconográfica y de documentación, verificación y análisis, documentos y rediseños que exponen una disección de la estructura del objeto de estudio Las contribuciones del conocimiento técnico y científico de la ingeniería constituyen los cimientos sólidos sobre los que se erigen los espacios que habitamos, construyendo edificios y las ciudades por las cuales se forma la vida humana. Los resultados obtenidos revelan el conocimiento de las técnicas constructivas y las relaciones entre la intención del proyecto arquitectónico y su materialidad, comprendiendo los avances que la arquitectura moderna brasileña registró de estos dos reconocidos profesionales.Perrone, R.; Schimidt, R.; Pisani, MA. (2020). El edificio Oca – Concepción estructural y arquitectura – Proyecto de Oscar Niemeyer y José Carlos de Figueiredo Ferraz. En IX Congreso Internacional Arquitectura Blanca. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 01-13. https://doi.org/10.4995/CIAB9.2020.10608011

Modelling of electrochemistry and mass transport in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, PEMFC

In this paper we present a modified version of the well know model of Bernardi and Verbrugge which was developed to simulate the behavior of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell. The modified version is based on a different treatment of the electrokinetic model equations, the Butler-Volmer equations. Such equations are analytically integrated in the reactive regions of the electrodes, eliminating the main non-linear terms in the full mathematical model. It is shown that the modified Bernardi-Verbrugge is as accurate as the original model, that it allows an extension of the cell current density over which it is possible to find solutions, that the full numerical procedure is very stable, and that the simulations are up to three order of magnitude faster than those performed with the original model

Sviluppo di un codice per la previsione delle proprietà di fouling e slagging di carboni: parte seconda

Questo documento descrive il secondo modulo del codice per la predizione delle proprietà di Fouling di carboni. Le polveri di carbone "virtuale" ottenute con il primo modulo del codice, vengono "virtualmente" bruciate per ottenere ceneri "virtuali". Queste saranno utilizzate dal modulo successivo del codice all’interno di un modello di impatto delle ceneri sui tubi scambiatori e di accrescimento dei depositi per valutare la tendenza al fouling/slagging del carbone. In questo documento viene inizialmente descritto il modello fisico-matematico su cui è basato l’algoritmo per la descrizione delle caratteristiche delle ceneri volatili ottenute dalla combustione di particelle di una data specie di carbone. Nella seconda parte del documento viene presentata una descrizione dettagliata del codice numerico, delle strutture dei dati di input e output, e del suo utilizzo. Di ogni Subroutine viene data un’esplicita descrizione del suo ruolo con frequenti richiami alla parte modellistica, e del suo flusso di dati in input/output. Nella sezione dei risultati sono presentati alcuni degli output che è possibile ottenere dall’esecuzione del codice CARBCO. Sono riportati esempi di risultati ottenuti a partire da input sperimentali caratterizzanti il carbone Ashland. Un’interpretazione critica dei risultati è anch’essa presentata. Nella sezione finale sono riportate le conclusioni e un breve sommario