Translocality and a Duality Principle in Generally Covariant Quantum Field Theory

It is argued that the formal rules of correspondence between local observation procedures and observables do not exhaust the entire physical content of generally covariant quantum field theory. This result is obtained by expressing the distinguishing features of the local kinematical structure of quantum field theory in the generally covariant context in terms of a translocal structure which carries the totality of the nonlocal kinematical informations in a local region. This gives rise to a duality principle at the dynamical level which emphasizes the significance of the underlying translocal structure for modelling a minimal algebra around a given point. We discuss the emergence of classical properties from this point of view.Comment: 12 pages. To appear in Classical Quantum Gravit

Nordic universities at the crossroads : Societal responsibility, language perceptions, and policies

This chapter focuses on questions surrounding universities’ societal responsibility in connection to language use, going beyond the national language(s) versus English dichotomy. As a result of university internationalisation and increased migration, both student and faculty populations at Nordic universities have diversified. Nordic universities are currently facing multiple challenges: to maintain academic autonomy and freedom of thought, to protect democratic ideals, to prove the validity of scientific findings, and to conduct most of their activities with the support of digital media. Drawing on findings from recent research conducted in Sweden and Finland and the latest Nordic language policy document (Gregersen et al. 2018), our chapter critically discusses how researchers and students with transnational trajectories perceive their language use. In particular, we consider the role of English vis-à-vis the national language(s) and other languages for purposes of research outreach and widening participation. We argue that there is a mismatch between university policies assuming that societal responsibility concerning language use is largely limited to local national and (to a lesser extent) minority languages, and the translocal experience of university stakeholders who often deal with a range of linguistic resources on a daily basis.Peer reviewe

“Book review: Translocal Geographies: Spaces, places, connections” (eds. Katherine Brickell and Ayona Datta)

This item is under embargo for a period of 18 months from the date of publication, in accordance with the publisher's policy

Translocal resource governance, social relations and aspirations: Linking translocality and feminist political ecology to explore farmer-managed irrigation systems and migration in Nepal

Widespread male out-migration presents major challenges to the sustainability of existing collective irrigation systems. However, the effects of socio-spatial changes on collective resource governance systems remain unknown. This paper addresses this gap by building a synthesis of translocality and Feminist Political Ecology (FPE). Translocality examines the socio-spatial interconnectedness of rural societies in the context of out-migration. FPE explores how changing gender and social relations shape resource governance. A translocal Feminist Political Ecology framework (tFPE) contextualizes resource governance within translocal social flows, and captures (i) translocal resource governance, (ii) translocal social relations, and (iii) translocal aspirations. Drawing from qualitative interviews and participatory methods on two farmer-managed irrigation systems in Far Western Nepal, I illustrate the complexity, intersectionality and ambiguity of translocal social relations in collective resource governance. Translocal resource governance is shaped by changing household and labor relations marked by remittances, and translocal flows of social and human resources, ideas and knowledge, e.g. migrants’ advice via phone on when and how to irrigate. Translocal social relations entail marginalized groups, i. e., women and elderly people, providing increased labor contributions and possibly receiving migrants’ support in the form of advice and networks. However, authority and power relations are sustained in resource governance by mostly upper caste men. Translocal aspirations to the home village by both migrants and non-migrants is ambivalent and leads them to hope for frequent visits home, while aspirations and shame turn them away from agriculture towards earning higher incomes through migration. The tFPE framework emphasizes important but understudied translocal social relations and aspirations in collective resource governance, water, irrigation and migration research. By linking translocality and FPE, I show how translocal resource governance, social relations and aspirations change everyday practices and gender, caste and labor relations in irrigation, and how we may understand the water-migration nexus

Islam Jawa in Diaspora and Questions on Locality

This article examines the translocal Islam Jawa (Javanese Islam) that characterises the deterritorialisation of culture through space and time. Contrary to mainstream approaches to Islam Jawa that tends substantially picture Islam and Muslim in Java as a mere “localised form of Islam”, it sees Islam Jawa as a “translocal” practices. In addition, it sees that the idea of Islam Jawa travels, deterritorialises, and reterritorialises in different times and places. Therefore, what is imagined by scholars as “local Islam” is not local in traditional and geographical senses because Islam Jawa is formed, shaped and influenced by the mobility, entanglement, connectivity across oceans, regions, and borders. The Islam Jawa also travels to a different place, transcending the modern limits of nation-states\u27 boundaries. Islam Jawa is a product and a consequence of the efforts to establish between “imagined” spatial and temporal congruence

Reflections on hermeneutics and translocality

"This paper reflects on the issues that were brought to the Roundtable on Hermeneutics and Translocality held at the ZMO in 2006. I review the successive ways in which I have drawn on the hermeneutic philosophical tradition as an anthropologist, emphasing the ethical dimension. Translocality heightens the hermeneutic problem but does not radically change it; it may entail recognizing that everything is always already pretranslated. In reflecting on the task and means of anthropology, I briefly juxtapose Gadamer’s admirable deference or modesty to Ricoeur’s dialectic of appropriation and distanciation and to what Cavell calls the arrogation of voice." [author´s abstract

Introduction: Transnational Processes and Practices in the Everyday Lives of Migrants and Non-Migrants in Europe

ntemporary migration research and public de- bate in Europe have concentrated primarily on migration from outside Europe, especially from Asian and African countries to Europe (Castro- Martin & Cortina 2015). Tis is especially notice- able  when  they  concern  transnational  families and family reunifications (including marriage mi- gration), and issues related to refugees and asy- lum seekers. Particular migrant groups and their descendants (e.g. Turks, Moroccans, Pakistanis, Somalis,  Kurds),  and  especially  Muslims,  have attracted much of the attention, partly because they form a considerably visible and one of the largest migrant communities in many European countries.1  However,  issues  such  as  migrants’ integration into countries of settlement, experi- enced racism and discrimination, conceived and supposed  cultural  differences  (e.g.  in  religion, marriage practices, gender roles etc.), and a po- litical climate that supports more restrictive mi- gration policies in many European countries seem to  direct  migration  research  towards  a  concen- tration on certain migrant groups and especially problem-  and  conflict-centered  themes.  Tis  is not to say that the aforementioned approaches and issues are irrelevant and not worthy of re- search. Te point here is that when research fo- cuses merely on migration from other parts of the world to Europe, it may also simplify our under- standing of the complexity of experiences of mi- gration and issues of integration and belonging.   &nbsp