Using Rights to Counter “Gender-Specific” Wrongs

One popular strategy of opposition to practices of female genital cutting (FCG) is rooted in the global feminist movement. Arguing that women’s rights are human rights, global feminists contend that practices of FGC are a culturally specific manifestation of gender-based oppression that violates a number of rights. Many African feminists resist a women’s rights approach. They argue that by focusing on gender as the primary axis of oppression affecting the African communities where FGC occurs, a women’s rights approach has misrepresented African women as passive victims who need to be rescued from African men and has obscured the role of certain international institutions that have perpetuated the oppression of African women. In this paper, I defend these critiques by arguing that the use of a women’s rights framework to combat practices of female genital cutting among African communities has often been practically ineffective and morally inappropriate

On Their Own Ground: Strategies of Resistance for Sunni Muslim Women

Drawing from work in feminist moral philosophy, Tobin argues that the most common methodology used in practical ethics is a questionable methodology for addressing practical problems across diverse cultural contexts because the kind of impartiality it requires is neither feasible nor desirable. She then defends an alternative methodology for practical ethics in a global context and uses her proposed methodology to evaluate a problem that confronts many Sunni Muslim women around the world

The Non-Modularity of Moral Knowledge: Implications for the Universality of Human Rights

Many contemporary human rights theorists argue that we can establish the normative universality of human rights despite extensive cultural and moral diversity by appealing to the notion of overlapping consensus. In this paper I argue that proposals to ground the universality of human rights in overlapping consensus on the list of rights are unsuccessful. I consider an example from Islamic comprehensive doctrine in order to demonstrate that apparent consensus on the list of rights may not in fact constitute meaningful agreement and may not be sufficient to ground the universality of human rights. I conclude with some general suggestions for establishing the universality of human rights. Instead of presuming the universality of human rights based on apparent overlapping consensus we need to construct universality through actual dialogue both within and between communities

Storytelling Approaches to Program Evaluation: An Introductory Guide

Publication provides nonprofit health organizations with information and suggestions on how to collect and share stories as part of a program evaluation. Sections cover gathering stories, getting creative, digital storytelling, and how to incorporate stories into evaluation reports. Includes sample consent form

Archidamus Revisited: The Case for an Alternate Narrative of the King of Sparta

Of all the figures who took part in the Peloponnesian War, perhaps no single person contributed so much to the outcome of the war as Archidamus II. However, if you scour the ancient primary sources, you will be hard-pressed to find a good, objective biography of this Spartan king. Plutarch mentions him only in passing in his Parallel Lives when writing of Agesilaus II, his son. In Xenophon’s Hellenica, Archidamus receives no mention at all, even though his descendants, one of whom bears the same name, feature prominently. Scholars must rely on Thucydides, therefore, to construct a rendering of Archidamus, son of Zeuxidamus. However, this presents a natural problem, for, as classicists have rightly pointed out for decades, Archidamus is not presented in a vacuum and often figures as a mouthpiece for Thucydides. In spite of this, the speeches of Archidamus that are recorded in the Peloponnesian War are significant, and must be intently studied to do him justice and bring out an accurate profile. This paper will seek to discredit the traditional portrait of Archidamus as dragged out of Thucydides by classicists and settle on a fairer, more realistic one, deduced by his appearances in the Peloponnesian War of Thucydides

Flow control of agricultural spraying machines : a thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Mechatronics, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

New Zealand relies heavily on its agricultural industry. A large portion of this industry is pastoral farming, where livestock are raised to graze on pasture. This includes beef, sheep and dairy farming. An important aspect of this style of farming is maintaining pasture quality. In order to increase growth fertilisers are often applied to the pastures. This increases yields in both meat and milk production. However, the increased application of fertiliser is linked with diminishing water quality. While the effects of nitrogen leaching and the best ways to manage fertiliser use are still being investigated, it is clear that control over the application will become more and more important. The Tow and Fert is a range of fertiliser machines designed and built in New Zealand by Metalform Dannevirke. The Tow and Fert range is capable of spraying a wide range of fertilisers including both soluble and non-soluble fertilisers. The Tow and Fert is unique in its ability to spray fertiliser slurries consisting of mixture ratios of up to three-parts fine particle fertiliser to one-part water. This is achieved by the use of a recirculating system. Currently there is next to no control on the flow rate of the machines and the application rate is determined by the speed the operator maintains. The purpose of this thesis is to design and build a flow control system for the Tow and Fert product range and investigate the effect of the changing flow rate on the spray characteristics. The ability to spray such a wide range of fluids with drastically different properties presents many challenges. Many flow meters were considered and a low cost ultrasonic sensor (TUF2000M) was installed and investigated. After limited success of the ultrasonic sensor, a simple turbine flowmeter was installed. A flow controller was developed and tuned. Based off a PID control loop, the controller was able to maintain flowrate well between 10 L/min and 25 L/min depending on the installed nozzle. After flow control had been achieved, methods for assessing the impact of flow rate on spray characteristics and specifically spray distribution were investigated. Several prototypes were created and tested. A stationary patternator capable of continuous measurement was developed and tested. The patternator does not correctly measure the flowrates in low flow sections. Only half of the flow being applied to the platform is being measured. This causes highly nonlinear results in spray distribution measurement. The testing did show an increase of spray area with increasing flowrate. However, the true distribution can be improved when the low flow issues have been resolved

Egypt in January 2011: Social Media as a Tool and not a Cause of the Revolution

Overview: On January 28th, 2011 Al Jazeera English broadcasted an image of hundreds of Egyptian citizens massed on the Nile Bridge facing armed police forces (“Police attack praying Egyptians”). In order to prevent the citizens’ advance, the police arrived in tanks and pelted them with water cannons and tear gas. However, these deterrents did not dampen the Egyptians’ drive. They continued to advance by organizing themselves in rows in order to endure the obstacles as one. Ultimately, the Egyptians forced the drastically more equipped police forces to withdraw and gained access to the other side of the bridge. Their noble demonstration was among countless others whose participants risked imprisonment, torture and even death to challenge a rooted authoritarian regime. They all partook in Egypt’s January 2011 revolution against authoritarian figure Hosni Mubarak. Egypt’s uprisings and consequently, the successful overthrow of Mubarak, came as an inspiring shock to most individuals (“Hosni Mubarak Resigns as President”). Previously, many possessed a fatalist attitude towards authoritarian governments in the Middle East, and specifically in Egypt, which oppressed and afflicted people for decades. Understanding the tools used to topple such a well established and debauched leadership provides useful information for future revolutions and campaigns for human rights. Further, Egypt, as a leader in cultural and media growth in the Middle East, has the potential to provoke others to follow its example. The country boasts the second largest economy in the region due to assets such as the Suez Canal and developments such as increased privatization. This combined with the diversification of the media by previous presidents and open policies with the West modernized Egypt and positioned the nation in its place of leadership (BBC Egypt Country Profile). Egypt could potentially set a precedent for the region and the findings of this research thus have important consequences for the broader domain of Middle Eastern political structure and stability. Because of the unprecedented nature of this revolution, it immediately generated abundant commercial discussion, particularly in regard to social media’s contribution to the events. History proves media an effectual tool and affirms the value of this discussion. From 15th century Europe, when the invention of the printing press lead to an unheard-of dissemination of ideas (Kreis), all the way to Barack Obama’s utilization of the Internet to obtain equally unparalleled campaign donations in 2008 (Vargas), the media has powerfully influenced culture, politics and public opinion. Modernly, the Internet and social media devices dominate the media scene and integrate further into society each year, as does their potential impact on world order

Toward an epistemology of mysticism: Knowing God as mystery

While some philosophers suggest that mystical experience may provide evidence for belief in God, skeptics doubt that there is adequate warrant for even accepting the claim of a mystical experience as evidence for anything, except perhaps for some kind of mental instability. Drawing from the work of Gabriel Marcel, I argue that the pervasive philosophical skepticism about the evidential status of mystical experiences is misguided because it rests on too narrow a view about ways of knowing and about what can count as evidence for belief in the divine. I illustrate the advantages of Marcel\u27s approach by applying it to the respective spiritual journeys of Augustine of Hippo and Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali. I then argue that Marcel\u27s framework improves on contemporary analytic approaches because it captures more accurately the kind of knowledge that mystical experiences convey as reported by the subjects who claim to have them