In-between nationanlism and colonialism: Constructing Hong Kong-Chinese identities in the development of China

grantor: University of TorontoThis study is about Hong Kongers' engagement in the social development of mainland China. I show that China-development is a discursive space in-between colonialism and nationalism, colonizer and colonized, and Self and Other. In this in-between space, Hong Kong-Chinese identities are articulated and contested. The study begins with the question: What is invested in Hong Kongers' will to China-development? I look at the historical context with which China-development is associated and which sustains its existence, and how individuals as subjects become invested in the discourse. I argue that China-development creates a discursive space where Hong Kongers' ambivalent identification with and alienation from China are reconciled. I show how Hong Kongers, the former British colonized, assume colonial agency in developing China in the name of nationalism. What organizes the discourse is the liberalizing mission of opening China to the "outside." This colonial subjectivity, however, is articulated as a redefined Chinese subjecthood in resistance to the authoritarian regime of their ancestral country. This convoluted postcolonial Hong Kong situation challenges existing theories of development and postcoloniality. I also discuss how Hong Kongers engaged in the liberatory politics of alternative China-development are implicated in colonial domination even as they seek to subvert it. For constitutive of the alternative China-development discourse are the construction of the Chinese state as oppressive and mainland people as victims. In particular, mainland Chinese women are taken as metaphors of what China does not have and as signs of resistance to the dominant Chinese state. The research methodology is grounded in taking China-development as discursive practices. Taking the approach of localizing discourses of colonialism, nationalism, and development, I ground my analysis in geo-social space where discourses are materially and practically mediated. Through local inquiry we witness how subjects relate to the discourses, make meanings of their experiences, and perpetuate, rupture, and transform colonial and nationalist domination. Moreover, through local inquiry we observe how colonial discourses can produce the Hong Kong colonized as agents who "speak." Therefore, alongside my analysis of the public discourse of China-development, I give much weight to the personal narratives of Hong Kongers who participate in China-development.Ph.D

Knowing Through Discomfort: A Mindfulness-based Critical Social Work Pedogogy

Critical social work education has largely focused on engaging students in the conceptual and cognitive processes of learning and reflection. Other forms of knowing and transformation through the body, emotions, and spirit have been submerged under the “discursive rationality” paradigm. Proposing an integrated mind-body-spirit pedagogy in critical social work education, this paper introduces the practice of mindfulness and discusses its transformative potential for critical social work education. In particular, the author discusses how the practice of mindfulness was integrated in a course on identity and diversity in critical social work practice to facilitate students to learn through their feeling of discomfort

Sharing breath: embodied learning and decolonization

Comprend des références bibliographiquesTreating bodies as more than discursive in social research can feel out of place in academia. As a result, embodiment studies remain on the outside of academic knowledge construction and critical scholarship. However, embodiment scholars suggest that investigations into the profound division created by privileging the mind-intellect over the body-spirit are integral to the project of decolonization. The field of embodiment theorizes bodies as knowledgeable in ways that include but are not solely cognitive. The contributors to this collection suggest developing embodied ways of teaching, learning, and knowing through embodied experiences such as yoga, mindfulness, illness, and trauma. Although the contributors challenge Western educational frameworks from within and beyond academic settings, they also acknowledge and draw attention to the incommensurability between decolonization and aspects of social justice projects in education. By addressing this tension ethically and deliberately, the contributors engage thoughtfully with decolonization and make a substantial, and sometimes unsettling, contribution to critical studies in education.Decolonizing teaching and learning through embodied learning : toward an integrated approach, Roxana Ng ; Embodying Indigenous resurgence : "all our relations" pedagogy, Alannah Young Leon and Denise Nadeau ; The journey to you, Baba, Devi Dee Mucina ; Being moved to action : micropolitics, affect, and embodied understanding, Randelle Nixon and Katie MacDonald ; Volatile bodies and vulnerable researchers : ethical risks of embodiment research, Carla Rice ; Resistance and remedy through embodied learning : yoga cultural appropriation and culturally appropriate services, Sheila Batacharya ; From subjugation to embodies self-in-relation: an indigenous pedagogy for decolonization, Candace Brunette-Debassige ; Integrating body, mind, and spirit through the yoruba concept of Ori : critical contributions to a decolonizing pedagogy, Temitope Adefarakan ; "Please call me by my true names" : a decolonizing pedagogy of mindfulness in critical social work education, Yuk-Lin Renita Wong ; Poetry: learning through embodied language, Sheila Stewart ; Patient stories : Renarrating illness and valuing the rejected body, Wendy Peters ; Embodied writing and the social production of pain, Susan Ferguson ; Class and embodiment : making space for complex capacity, Stephanie Moynagh ; Fighting out : fractious bodies and rebel streets, Jamie Lynn Magnusson

Homeworking: home office or home sweatshop?

By examining the working conditions of women who sew garments at home (heretofore homeworkers) in the Greater Toronto Area, this study challenges the view painted by the media and encouraged by governments and employers that homeworking is a positive and viable alternative for everyone who does home work. Although homeworking seems to provide both the homeworker and the employer/client more flexibility, and certainly reduces overhead costs for the employer, specific conditions of homeworking vary across occupational sectors and from individual to individual. They are shaped by factors such as the occupational strata, education, class, gender, and above all family responsibilities of the homeworker. Using in-depth and telephone interviews with thirty (30) homeworkers who are immigrant women from Asia (Hong Kong, China, and Vietnam), this study adds to present knowledge on the conditions of homeworkers in Toronto and raises questions about the popular image of homeworking as the desired alternative to full-time, stable and office- or factory-based employment. Although the study had a relatively unique and small sample due to the difficulty of identifying homeworkers, its findings are fairly consistent with previous studies conducted by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) in 1991 and 1993. The report is therefore a starting point for further investigation into the organization of the changing garment industry, and the impact of these changes on workers in Canada and abroadNational Research Network on New Approaches to Lifelong Learning (NALL) founded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Grant No. 818-96-103

Sharing Breath: Embodied Learning and Decolonization

Treating bodies as more than discursive in social research can feel out of place in academia. As a result, embodiment studies remain on the outside of academic knowledge construction and critical scholarship. However, embodiment scholars suggest that investigations into the profound division created by privileging the mind-intellect over the body-spirit are integral to the project of decolonization. The field of embodiment theorizes bodies as knowledgeable in ways that include but are not solely cognitive. The contributors to this collection suggest developing embodied ways of teaching, learning, and knowing through embodied experiences such as yoga, mindfulness, illness, and trauma. Although the contributors challenge Western educational frameworks from within and beyond academic settings, they also acknowledge and draw attention to the incommensurability between decolonization and aspects of social justice projects in education. By addressing this tension ethically and deliberately, the contributors engage thoughtfully with decolonization and make a substantial, and sometimes unsettling, contribution to critical studies in education

Time Bound: The Timescape of Secondary Trauma of the Surviving Teachers of the Wenchuan Earthquake

This article introduces a timescape perspective to enrich our understanding of postdisaster secondary trauma and social capital. Drawing upon a 2-year ethnographic study in 20082010 of a high school most devastated by the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan, China, this article discusses how the national future-oriented timescape of recovery produced the secondary trauma among the surviving teachers. In particular, this article elucidates the pervasiveness of the industrial linear and mechanical calendar and clock time in the state and societal response. This article proposes that human connectednessthe key component of social capital crucial to the restoration of self and community efficacy in postdisaster recoveryrequires a temporal frame that allows multiple levels and rhythms of grieving and reconnecting with existing social relations. This article also highlights the critical role of teachers in the collective healing of students and the community efficacy of the school