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Recolonising debates or perpetuated coloniality? Decentring the spaces of disability, development and community in the global South
International Journal of Inclusive Education
Abstract
The World Health Organisation estimates that around 600 million people or 10% of the world's population is disabled, with more than 80% concentrated in the global South. In spite of this, majority world disability remains stranded on the peripheries of development policy, research and programmes, and virtually excluded from the Western‐centric disability studies. Notwithstanding this disengagement, the views and tenets of the Western disability studies are exported to the majority world backed by a discourse of inferences, generalisations and myths. Critical issues related to society, politics, economics, cultures and the histories of the contexts in which Western concepts and theories are deployed, and the implications for disabled people remain confined to epistemological silence. Communities in the majority world are often bypassed or repositioned to accommodate the neoliberal development project, the history and practices of which remain largely unquestioned. This paper seeks to elucidate and engage with some of these complex issues surrounding disability, development and community in the majority world; critique development, its historical foundations and implications for disabled people; and challenge the exportation of epistemologies and strategies from North to South in an effort to push for a grounded and global disability studies.
... The interventions often start from a theoretical framework of human rights, stigma, exclusion, and discrimination and aim to improve the medical, rehabilitative, and socio-economic situation of persons with disabilities. Whilst there is a general consensus that these conventions are designed to benefit persons with disabilities, several researchers have questioned whether theoretical disability models are transferrable across cultures (Grech, 2011;Haang'andu, 2018;Miles, 2003;Soldatic & Grech, 2014). Without questioning the dominance of theories and power from the Global North in the disability field, generalised and simplified descriptions of disability experiences are created (Grech, 2011;Haang'andu, 2018;Ingstad & Whyte, 1995;. ...
... Whilst there is a general consensus that these conventions are designed to benefit persons with disabilities, several researchers have questioned whether theoretical disability models are transferrable across cultures (Grech, 2011;Haang'andu, 2018;Miles, 2003;Soldatic & Grech, 2014). Without questioning the dominance of theories and power from the Global North in the disability field, generalised and simplified descriptions of disability experiences are created (Grech, 2011;Haang'andu, 2018;Ingstad & Whyte, 1995;. ...
... The interventions often start from a theoretical framework of human rights, stigma, exclusion, and discrimination and aim to improve the medical, rehabilitative, and socio-economic situation of persons with disabilities. Whilst there is a general consensus that these conventions are designed to benefit persons with disabilities, several researchers have questioned whether theoretical disability models are transferrable across cultures (Grech, 2011;Haang'andu, 2018;Miles, 2003;Soldatic & Grech, 2014). Without questioning the dominance of theories and power from the Global North in the disability field, generalised and simplified descriptions of disability experiences are created (Grech, 2011;Haang'andu, 2018;Ingstad & Whyte, 1995;. ...
... Whilst there is a general consensus that these conventions are designed to benefit persons with disabilities, several researchers have questioned whether theoretical disability models are transferrable across cultures (Grech, 2011;Haang'andu, 2018;Miles, 2003;Soldatic & Grech, 2014). Without questioning the dominance of theories and power from the Global North in the disability field, generalised and simplified descriptions of disability experiences are created (Grech, 2011;Haang'andu, 2018;Ingstad & Whyte, 1995;. ...
Disability inclusion remains a pressing challenge across Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. The physical, social, and attitudinal barriers that prevent people with disabilities from fully participating in society must be addressed to build a truly inclusive and equitable society for all individuals. Chapter 11 tackles this challenge by exploring the potential of the Ubuntu philosophy to foster disability inclusion. Drawing on the previous chapters, the chapter stresses the significance of promoting a culture of respect, communitarianism, and valuing the distinct contributions of people with disabilities. But building a comprehensive approach to disability inclusion requires going beyond such general principles. It demands specific, actionable recommendations for addressing barriers on multiple fronts. The chapter provides such recommendations for practice, research, and policy. Previous chapters highlighted barriers such as inaccessible infrastructure, stigmatising attitudes, and limited implementation of supportive policies. The chapter offers some concrete steps for advancing disability inclusion. Integrating the Ubuntu principles into research, policies, and practices can create more equitable and just societies for all individuals, including those with disabilities. The Ubuntu philosophy promotes inclusion, acceptance, and collective responsibility in addressing disability-related challenges. In conclusion, applying the Ubuntu philosophy can foster a culture of respect and understanding that values diversity and advances disability inclusion. By adopting the recommendations set forth in this chapter, sub-Saharan African societies in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond can begin to break down the barriers that prevent full participation and inclusion for people with disabilities.
Keywords: Ubuntu, Sub-Saharan Africa, inclusion, disability
... However, evidence showed that a short-lived slowdown in real GDP growth took place during the COVID-19-induced lockdown and massive quarantines of large cities and intraregional travel [39]. Post-Cold War decades have witnessed accelerated real GDP growth across many low-and middle-income countries and emerging countries of the Global South [40]. Health financing mechanisms and the political economy of health spending continue to evolve rapidly in these vast regions [40]. ...
... Post-Cold War decades have witnessed accelerated real GDP growth across many low-and middle-income countries and emerging countries of the Global South [40]. Health financing mechanisms and the political economy of health spending continue to evolve rapidly in these vast regions [40]. ...
Background
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted lives across all countries and communities. It significantly reduced the global economic output and dealt health systems across the world a serious blow. There is growing evidence showing the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it has on health systems, which should help to draw lessons for further consolidating and realizing universal health coverage (UHC) in all countries, complemented by more substantial government commitment and good governance, and continued full implementation of crucial policies and plans to avert COVID-19 and similar pandemic threats in the future. Therefore, the objective of the study was to assess the impact of good governance, economic growth and UHC on the COVID-19 infection rate and case fatality rate (CFR) among African countries.
Methods
We employed an analytical ecological study design to assess the association between COVID-19 CFR and infection rate as dependent variables, and governance, economic development and UHC as independent variables. We extracted data from publicly available databases (i.e., Worldometer, Worldwide Governance Indicators, Our World in Data and WHO Global Health Observatory Repository). We employed a multivariable linear regression model to examine the association between the dependent variables and the set of explanatory variables. STATA version 14 software was used for data analysis.
Results
All 54 African countries were covered by this study. The median observed COVID-19 CFR and infection rate were 1.65% and 233.46%, respectively. Results of multiple regression analysis for predicting COVID-19 infection rate indicated that COVID-19 government response stringency index (β = 0.038; 95% CI 0.001, 0.076; P = 0.046), per capita gross domestic product (GDP) (β = 0.514; 95% CI 0.158, 0.87; P = 0.006) and infectious disease components of UHC (β = 0.025; 95% CI 0.005, 0.045; P = 0.016) were associated with COVID-19 infection rates, while noncommunicable disease components of UHC (β = −0.064; 95% CI −0.114; −0.015; P = 0.012), prevalence of obesity among adults (β = 0.112; 95% CI 0.044; 0.18; P = 0.002) and per capita GDP (β = −0.918; 95% CI −1.583; −0.254; P = 0.008) were associated with COVID-19 CFR.
Conclusions
The findings indicate that good governance practices, favourable economic indicators and UHC have a bearing on COVID-19 infection rate and CFR. Effective health system response through a primary healthcare approach and progressively taking measures to grow their economy and increase funding to the health sector to mitigate the risk of similar future pandemics would require African countries to move towards UHC, improve governance practices and ensure economic growth in order to reduce the impact of pandemics on populations.
... and conflicts inherent in implementing inclusive education, particularly in contexts influenced by global South narratives (Grech 2011;Miles and Singal 2010). Göransson and Nilholm (2014) critically dissect the various conceptual understandings and empirical limitations in inclusive education research, signposting areas of concern and potential improvement. . ...
... Interaction between different subjects in creating the 'research outcome' was a chaotic, and complex process, influenced by colonial paradigms, the historicity of society, and power relations (Grech, 2011;Meekosha, 2011;Owusu-Ansah & Mji, 2013). When conducting 'participatory research' there is a need to reflect on these factors critically and accept that methods, including film, have an element of ethnocentrism (Ogunyemi, 2014;Owusu-Ansah & Mji, 2013), and power dynamics must carefully be navigated (Kuper et al., 2021). ...
In the Global South children with disabilities have often been left out of research projects. A method which has the potential to increase inclusion of children with disabilities in research is participatory photography and video.
In this participatory research project 32 children with disabilities and their peers aged 8 to 14 living in Central Uganda, were asked to describe their daily life experiences through drawings, photos, and films. The project was nested within a larger intervention study which aims to improve inclusion, which used an African childhood disability studies framework with Afrocentric methods, involving the children’s family and community networks. In five participatory workshops, each followed by home and school follow up visits, children co-created 3 short films and 1 documentary film together with their peers, family members, teachers, and communities.
The short films and documentary were shared with stakeholders and have been utilized by civil society organizations and organizations of persons with disabilities in advocacy and training initiatives on disability inclusion in Uganda and abroad. Participants felt positive about the outcomes, going forward they suggested making more short films featuring the experiences of children with different types of impairments to build the confidence of children with disabilities, reduce stigma and advocate for family and community support.
Participatory film is a feasible and meaningful way of including children with disabilities in research in the Global South when we acknowledge the importance of interdependence, step away from predefined ideas, reflect on voice and hierarchy, make ethical considerations, and allow space and time for a nonlinear and complex process.
... For instance, some studies (Alkire & Pinilla-Roncancio, 2021;Banks et al., 2017;Eide & Ingstad, 2013) portray people with disabilities in the Global South as vulnerable, overshadowing their agency and diversity. Critical scholars such as Grech (2011), Mutanga (2023), and Mbazzi et al. (2020) are challenging the global dominance of Western frameworks and proposing alternative, context-specific philosophical foundations. These foundations are crucial for guiding support systems that are culturally and traditionally inclusive, as emphasised by Marovah and Mutanga (2023) and Mpofu (2023). ...
Despite global efforts towards the inclusion of people with disabilities, exclusion practices persist. This paper investigates the lived experiences of individuals with disabilities within two ethnic communities in Namibia – the Ovambo and Damara. Commissioned by the government through the Division of Disability Affairs, the paper is based on a qualitative study that is part of a broader initiative to develop national disability policies and resources in Namibia. Using ethnographic methods across seven of Namibia’s fourteen regions, the paper presents participants’ narratives to reveal the persistent challenges faced by people with disabilities. These challenges persist even though the communities are influenced by Ubuntu philosophy, which inherently supports communal relations and harmony. The paper argues that the exclusion experienced by individuals with disabilities stems not from Ubuntu philosophy itself, but rather from its absence, coupled with other social and cultural factors including historical colonisation, land dispossession, and genocide. The study concludes by advocating for culturally sensitive and historically informed reparative policies, suggesting that advocating for Ubuntu philosophy could offer a framework for restorative justice and inclusivity.
... Higher educational institutions can also tackle this problem by changing attitudes, by promoting a culture of respect via policies and training. From this and other research it is also clear that in a culture where genderbased harassment and violence are tolerated, those in power need to take this as seriously as they do fraud or plagiarism (National Academies of Sciences, 2018).People are embedded in and conditioned by social expectations, ideology, culture, customs, and beliefs(Grech, 2011). These havean impact on the shape of policies, measures and procedures enacted in higher educational institutions. ...
Higher educational institutions are considered by Reedy (2019) as misogynistic institutions created by men for men (Deveaux, 1994). With women's increased participation in higher educational institutions, the structures, policies, and measures have been tweaked to facilitate women's and other minority groups' entry, retention, and progression. However, this is not enough since there is a trend to undermine the efficacy of written and codified rules which prescribe and proscribe 'acceptable forms of behaviour'. This paper will do this by analysing sexual harassment at the University of Malta. Feminist institutional ethnography will be used to find out where sexual harassment occurs at the University of Malta, when this occurs, who the targets are, and whether incidents were reported. In this paper, the focus will be on finding out how effective staff and students perceive the university's sexual harassment policy to be, what changes they want to see enacted for them to feel 'safe', and where. Feminist institutional, post-colonial and de-colonial theory together with an intersectional approach will be used as ontological tools to help deconstruct the
... On the other, they focus their attention on indigenous, moral-spiritual ideas, practices and discourses about disability: for example, in Māori and Native American sociocultural groups and networks (1,19) as well as Ubuntu perspectives from South Africa and other indigenous conceptualizations from the African continent at large (20)(21)(22)(23)(24). Further methodological and theoretical entanglements include those between CDS and post-and decolonial theories, in which matters of coloniality, decoloniality and neocolonialism have been explored and connected to the (re)production and (re)shape of disability (10,17,(25)(26)(27) and beyond Global North epistemics (2,9,28,29). Over the years, CDS scholars have also critiqued the global disability movement and the "social model of disability" for their close alignment with dominant Global North representations of disability (30)(31)(32)(33). ...
"Critical disability studies" (CDS) is an interdisciplinary field of research that examines social, political, economic, racial, gendered and historical constructions of bodily non-normativity across different geopolitical areas and scales. Despite its diverse and multiple contributions and objectives, current research in critical disability studies has been described as mainly focusing on disability issues in the Global North and as having universalizing tendencies. In this context, intersubjective perspectives and empirical data offered by ethnographic works in medical and disability anthropology and related disciplines have been either in accord or tension with the broader field of CDS. On the one hand, this review article illustrates the many ways anthropologists have adopted various research perspectives to explore bodily non-normativity outside settings in the Global North. On the other, it shows the importance of research by anthropologists working on topics related to disability, as well as their recent fruitful collaborations with CDS scholars and approaches. By exploring these epistemological and empirical entanglements, this paper concludes that deeper engagements between CDS and anthropology, as well as a more thorough focus on the ethnographic analysis of bodily non-normativity, can open new creative routes for the analysis of disability in various world contexts.
... Universalising the human rights discourse is contested for a grand narrative from the Global North, which does not consider the context of the Global South (Mutua 2005 The scholars' argument is that when human rights are considered only from the universalised conception of the Western standpoint and overlooking the Global South context, they won't have the relevance and applicability that is expected (Grech 2011). In other words, despite the human rights discourse, those with disabilities continue to be excluded because of the way power is unequally distributed in the Global South ...
By virtue of many countries’ existence within neoliberal and capitalist systems, in which education is commodified, students with economic disadvantage find themselves in a precarious position in terms of funding, resulting in limited access to education in higher education. While many of disadvantaged students confront challenges of funding resulting in continuous indebtedness in higher education in South Africa, the situation is exacerbated for the disabled ones, who have extra economic needs when it comes to their education. The empirical study, informed by specific concepts from Decolonial Theory and Critical Disability Studies informed understanding of funding for disabled students at one university in South Africa. The finding was that while a specific funding model for disability was available, it was inadequate for learning of those with disabilities resulting in their continued indebtedness and exclusion from the system. The study sought to engage in the debate of inadequate funding in the Global South, which keeps students from economic disadvantage, including the disabled ones in debt, thereby disempowering them and making it difficult for them to contribute meaningfully to the decolonisation project in higher education largely, and making change.
... Across the literature, it is evident that the application of a UDL framework has generally failed to recognise the unequal power relations between the Global North and Global South (Fovet, 2020;Grech, 2011;Miles & Singal, 2010;Song, 2017). In low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), there has been a limited amount of scholarship on UDL, and UDL experts and authors could be criticised for disregarding this geopolitical aspect of education (Benton Kearney, 2022). ...
After decades of turbulence and acute crises in recent years, how can we build a better future for Higher Education?
Thoughtfully edited by Laura Czerniewicz and Catherine Cronin, this rich and diverse collection by academics and professionals from across 17 countries and many disciplines offers a variety of answers to this question. It addresses the need to set new values for universities, trapped today in narratives dominated by financial incentives and performance indicators, and examines those “wicked” problems which need multiple solutions, resolutions, experiments, and imaginaries.
This mix of new and well-established voices provides hopeful new ways of thinking about Higher Education across a range of contexts, and how to concretise initiatives to deal with local and global challenges. In an unusual and refreshing way, the contributors provide insights about resilience tactics and collective actions across different levels of higher education using an array of styles and formats including essays, poetry, and speculative fiction.
With its interdisciplinary appeal, this book presents itself as a provocative and inspiring resource for universities, students, and scholars. Higher Education for Good courageously offers critique, hope, and purpose for the practice and the trajectory of Higher Education.
... In this section, we explore inclusive education as Third Space, transgressing the borders of the global North context and the African context, and the new realities that it forms. Although there might be a multiplicity of voices in the global North on the discourse of inclusive education, we observe that voices from the global South, including Africa, are hardly part of those debates (Grech, 2011a). This means that the views from the global South regarding inclusive education are often left behind; there is no mutual exchange of knowledge between the two contexts but the global North imposing its views on inclusive education on the global South. ...
... In this section, we explore inclusive education as Third Space, transgressing the borders of the global North context and the African context, and the new realities that it forms. Although there might be a multiplicity of voices in the global North on the discourse of inclusive education, we observe that voices from the global South, including Africa, are hardly part of those debates (Grech, 2011a). This means that the views from the global South regarding inclusive education are often left behind; there is no mutual exchange of knowledge between the two contexts but the global North imposing its views on inclusive education on the global South. ...
Efforts to provide education for learners with disabilities have mostly focused on moving learners from the special school into the mainstream school. African countries have been pursuing the goal of including children with disabilities in the mainstream school for a significant time now, but inclusive education remains elusive. This chapter merges perspectives of space theory and postcolonial theory to dissect the rhetoric that obfuscates the pursuit of inclusive education in Africa. Drawing on literature and our insights as Disability Studies scholars in Africa, we muddle the binary of inclusion and exclusion in education by critically examining the complex nature of inclusive education as Third Space. We explore inclusive education as Third Space transgressing the borders of the western context and the African world, and as Third Space transgressing the borders of the special school and the mainstream school. This space creates new possibilities and realities, that are not always positive. Appreciating Third Space as the zone of creativity, exploration and contestation, we call for adopting a critical stance when considering inclusive education, in order not to replicate some of the marginalisations that have happened before and to foreground the contributions of indigenous knowledge systems that can support the education of children with disabilities. The goal is to reshape inclusive education to embrace dynamism that is accountable to the lived realities of Africa.
... The anti-colonial narrative of the growing right-wing populism in CEE echoes an approach in the academic research on disability that has become increasingly prominent since the 2000s -the critique of the Western epistemic framework and its political implications. This attempt at epistemic resistance, initiated by the Global South perspective in disability studies, has been identified as a decolonising gesture and a 'fundamental change in thinking in disability studies that amounts to a paradigm shift' (Meekosha, 2011: 668; see also Grech, 2009Grech, , 2011Grech, , 2015Grech and Soldatic, 2016;Meekosha and Soldatic, 2011;Soldatic, 2013). ...
This paper explores the relevance of the decolonial approach for analyses of postsocialist disablement, taking as its test case the analytical tool of the 'postsocialist disability matrix' (Mladenov, 2018). The question we pose is how much decolonial critique can the analyses of postsocialist disablement embrace without becoming reactionary amidst growing illiberalism and social abandonment in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)? We provide an overview of postsocialist illiberalism, assess critically some central arguments in decolonial disability studies, and outline the production of 'southern bodies/minds' as a key feature of social abandonment in CEE. We conclude that decolonising disability in the postsocialist region needs to go beyond the North vs. South binary to account for the specific experiences of disabled people inhabiting the 'poor North'. Given these considerations, the double-edged critique implied in the original formulation of the 'postsocialist disability matrix' as scepticism towards both the state and the market could also help embrace the decolonising imperative while remaining sceptical towards both Northern and Southern theory production in disability studies.
... The possibilities of multimodality in action, illustrated here, serve to extend a radical understanding of the concerted conditions of disadvantage that can permeate research conducted with disabled children and their families (Gaze, 2002;Grech, 2011;Roddy, 2022). Thus, the aim of this paper is to offer an understanding of the affective, social, and physical interactions between bodies and materials in research rooted in recognition and affirmative ways of being. ...
In this paper I examine creative autonomy in research with children, as both complex and relational, and reflect on its role in countering the deceptive dualisms, such as researcher/ participant, adult/child, knowledge/embodiment, that can predetermine how participation is imagined. This reflection is a process of recalling memories, extending the analysis, and simultaneously offering new and evolving questions and affective connections through responses to photographs from a cross-cultural study with disabled children.
... Researchers who have explored why rural children in Colombia have poorer academic outcomes than their urban counterparts have identified several factors. These include a combination of rural poverty, rural school infrastructure, the effects of 50 years of conflict and the intersection of race (Gómez et al., 2021). Afro-Colombians and indigenous people represent 11% and 3% of the population respectively, and are more likely to live in remote, rural areas (DANE, 2018). ...
With the aim of addressing the low learning outcomes of children living in poverty in rural areas of Colombia, the Escuela Nueva (EN) approach has been used to successfully educate children since its inception in the 1970s. Its design also has elements which have the potential to deliver inclusive education for children with disabilities: children learn in multigrade classes at their own pace, working in groups through the provision of self-instructional learner guides. The role of the teacher is that of facilitator, freeing up time for those who need more support and using formative assessment methods to assess children's progress. However, there has been no research on children's views on how it addresses their needs. Using visual participatory methods, this study explored the views of 26 rural Colombian children with disabilities on their understanding of disability and difference, and the ways in which EN addressed their needs. The findings suggested that there were many elements of the EN approach that children liked and supported their learning, but that the design of the model could not overcome all barriers that children with disabilities faced. Children's understanding of difference focused upon skin tone rather than disability, gender or socioeconomic status. This demonstrated that when researching the topic of disability, it is imperative that one gains a deep, rich understanding of not only the ways in which disability and difference are understood, but also the ways in which intersecting aspects of the context impact upon children.
... Karen's experience with the 'typical' exercise class demonstrates rehabilitation's purpose to improve discrete areas of the physical body, often without consideration for both the utility of the exercise 'out in the world' and the meaningfulness of the process itself. from the Global North may be complicit in neocolonialism and the often-inappropriate displacement of ideas about disability and non-disability existing in the global South is not addressed in the education of helping professionals (Grech, 2011;Meekosha, 2011;Razak, 2009;. The underlying facets of colonialism often remain hidden behind ideals of 'good intentions' ...
This paper describes how four ‘helping’ professionals came to embrace and teach critical disability studies (CDS) perspectives rather than biomedical approaches to impairment and disability that traditionally inform those professions (occupational therapy, physiotherapy, social work, and speech-language pathology). Sharing examples from our experiences, we describe how we came to question the normative, ableist assumptions of our professional disciplines. We then briefly outline literature demonstrating how critical approaches have been incorporated into professional research and practice and discuss possible obstacles and tensions in adopting more widespread critical approaches into professional spaces. We conclude by suggesting that continued development of connections among scholars and activists within CDS, rehabilitation and social work, and the community, is necessary to ensure that intersectional critical perspectives in relation to disability become a core component of professional training programs.
In critical disability studies and crip theory, a key intervention has been to challenge Cartesian dualism by using terms such as bodyminds, body-minds, mind/bodies, and other hybrids. While the concept of ‘bodyminds’ integrates physical and cognitive experiences and challenges dualistic thinking, it has been criticized by scholars for prioritizing Eurocentric notions of the mind and subjectivity over other understandings of bodily normality and difference. Drawing on ten years of ethnographic research in Tanzania, this article argues that the concept of ‘bodyminds’ remains rooted in a Eurocentric framework that overlooks the relational and communal understandings of disability prevalent in Tanzania. We build on Sylvia Wynter’s critique of “the figure of Man” to show how dominant disability discourses and practices often overemphasize secular and biological definitions of disability, marginalizing alternative ways of being human. Our ethnographic research highlights the diverse and relational experiences of disability among our Tanzanian interlocutors by thinking with Swahili concepts like “mitandao ya jamii” (social relationships), utofauti (difference), and kawaida (normality). We conclude by urging scholars to expand frameworks of bodily non-normativity beyond Eurocentric models and toward a more inclusive comprehension of ideas and experiences of normality and difference.
This article assesses how the logic of refugee education affects the inclusion of refugees with disabilities. It draws on academic literature, sociological and ethnographic research in Lebanon with refugees with disabilities and refugee education practitioners, and conversations between the authors on practices they witnessed out in the field. They highlight four tensions between how refugee education is conceptualised on the one hand, and the prerequisite logics for disability-inclusive education on the other. First, they historicise the emergence of refugee education, highlighting how the logic of securitisation facilitates the exclusion of refugees with disabilities who fall outside constructs of the “threatening migrant”. Second, they highlight the neoliberal logics shaping funding structures and educational assumptions within refugee education. Ideals of cost–benefit analyses and future employability interact with ableist assumptions to construe refugees with disabilities as less valuable to include. Third, the reliance on vulnerability frameworks leads to disempowering perceptions of disability that conflict with more equitable narratives of diversity and inclusion. Fourth, conflicting temporal pressures are at play between ideas of “emergency” education, which have a temporary and present-oriented focus, and disability-inclusive education, which is developmental and future-oriented. The tensions between the dominant lexicon of refugee education and the philosophy underlying inclusive education contribute to marginalisation, disempowerment and exclusion. This article calls for the refugee education community of scholars and practitioners to engage in critical reflection on how the frameworks within which we work might better support the recognition, inclusion and dignified treatment of refugees with disabilities.
This chapter produces accounts that address question 3—How has this representation of the ‘problem’ come about? I present briefly, a historical context of development agencies and discourses of ‘anti-discrimination’ in response to question 3—which urges researchers to develop genealogies of the ‘problem’. I argue that an intersection of caste-based subjectivities with postcolonial subjects is produced through anti-SHW policies (and allied policies and discussions). Within this narrative, I observed a legal, academic and policy aversion to conceptualize postcolonial and neoliberal governmentalities as projects of caste-based subjugation (Kaul N. Ind Politics Policy 2(1):3–30, 2019).
In this article, we engage in a critical conversation with scholars of neurodiversity. We emphasize the transformative role neurodiversity has in creating a crucial space for scholarship to emerge within the academy centering autistic voices. Despite this advancement, research addressing neurodiversity has overlooked and failed to engage with important issues of geography (Global South) and intersectionality (racialized neurodivergent other in the Global North). The first issue of geography relates to the marginalization of Global Southern epistemologies in the neurodiversity scholarship. We ask, why has neurodiversity failed to acknowledge Indigenous and Southern epistemologies and consider the evolution of relatively new Northern scholarship as the epicenter of knowledge production? Second, we highlight how intersectional experiences of the racialized other within the Global North are underrepresented and excluded from the neurodiversity scholarship. Homogenization of neurodiversity as “White Neurodiversity Movement” destabilizes the social justice and emancipatory goals of the movement. In highlighting these issues, we call attention toward knowledge systems that exist within the Global South, marginalization of scholarship and voices within neurodiversity scholarship and accentuate the need for the academic community to commit to a serious scholarship rooted in the intersectional experiences of racialized neurodivergent individuals.
This study explores Latin American perspectives on heterodox economic development by analyzing 23 development economics syllabi and conducting 37 semi-structured interviews with educators and students. Using a Foucauldian framework and an Archaeology of Knowledge approach, this research uncovers regional viewpoints and variations in course content. Results highlight the dominance of the neoclassical paradigm in syllabi and diverse opinions on development. This study provides nuanced insights into the coexistence of orthodox and heterodox paradigms in Latin America, revealing complex dynamics and power relations within economic education and the broader discourse on development in the region.
In this article, we engage in a critical conversation with scholars of neurodiversity. We emphasize the transformative role neurodiversity has in creating a crucial space for scholarship to emerge within the academy centering autistic voices. Despite this advancement, research addressing neurodiversity has overlooked and failed to engage with important issues of geography (Global South) and intersectionality (racialized neurodivergent other in the Global North). The first issue of geography relates to the marginalization of Global Southern epistemologies in the neurodiversity scholarship. We ask, why has neurodiversity failed to acknowledge Indigenous and Southern epistemologies and consider the evolution of relatively new Northern scholarship as the epicenter of knowledge production? Second, we highlight how intersectional experiences of the racialized other within the Global North are underrepresented and excluded from the neurodiversity scholarship. Homogenization of neurodiversity as “White Neurodiversity Movement” destabilizes the social justice and emancipatory goals of the movement. In highlighting these issues, we call attention toward knowledge systems that exist within the Global South, marginalization of scholarship and voices within neurodiversity scholarship and accentuate the need for this academic community to commit to a serious scholarship rooted and the intersectional experiences of racialized neurodivergent individuals.
Lay Abstract
Scholarship addressing neurodiversity has made enormous progress in challenging and providing alternative narratives to the dominant frameworks of medical model. Although this is a necessary and important development, scholars need to think and act beyond the immediate local context of theory generation (Global North—mainly the United Kingdom and the United States) and examine its impact on the racialized neurodivergent individuals of the Global Majority. This article will provide a decolonial framework that has been missing in the neurodiversity scholarship. The arguments presented in the article aligns well with the goals of critical autism studies and will further inform the knowledge in this area. Through a decolonial lens, this article brings the crucial issue of knowledge production outside of Global Northern countries, specifically, knowledge systems from the Global South that have parallels with neurodiversity. The article frames neurodiversity as part of an interconnected knowledge continuum rather than considering Global North alone as the only loci of knowledge production. Furthermore, it highlights the lack of focus on the intersections between racialisation and neurodivergence and the implications of this for the racialized neurodivergent individuals of the global majority. The article provides new avenues for theoretical discourses to emerge within the academy. It will have important research implications in relation to how neurodiversity will be viewed and framed outside Global Northern countries. The article highlights the importance of engaging in intersectional and interdisciplinary research and establishing a critical link with the scholars of neurodiversity, critical autism studies, and disability critical race studies.
The Critical Disability Theory was developed in the 2000s in response to the critiques of the Social Model of Disability. This study aims to make a theoretical contribution to the Critical Disability Theory as a field of disability studies in the Global South, with Thailand as the target region. The first objective is to use the Critical Disability Theory to understand the social and political aspects of disability, such as oppression and discrimination, through disabled people’s experiences. The second is to show that people with disabilities can be the main agents in changing the society to realise equal rights, using the Critical Disability Theory.
This study consists of a literature review and field research. The literature review was conducted in Japan while the field research was conducted in seven provinces of Thailand – Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom, Nonthaburi, Bangkok, and Chonburi – from April 2022 to July 2023. All the interviews for qualitative research were in-depth, with 61 respondents – 33 disabled and 28 non-disabled.
The interviews revealed the social constructions of impairment and disability. Further more, they showed that people with disabilities accept themselves positively, support each other, and try to change society with their peers. Buddhist meditation is useful for people with disabilities to understand their situation. Disabled people’s organisations are service providers for people with disabilities in the current public health system. People with disabilities expressed their political opinions and identities on social media platforms. In Thailand, people with disabilities alternate between gaining self-confidence and participating in society, thereby improving their capabilities for practical reasons and affiliations. In Thailand, empathy for the experiences and practices of people with disabilities is increasing as Thai society is facing rapid ageing, leading to a growing population of older adults with disabilities.
In conclusion, changing the conceptual understanding of the disability of people will
promote independent living and reform the discriminatory structure against people with disabilities.
One of the main tenets of subaltern studies is studying the general attribute of subordination
expressed through axes such as class, caste, gender and age, to which we can add disability.
How does then the disabled person write herself? This chapter shows how the western disability
studies theories of inclusion can be unpacked and informed through simple notions of
innovations through informality. Various traditional Indian children’s games are analysed to
show how they teach us ways of including the disabled child in innovative ways. The chapter
identifies two conditions of postcoloniality and the ways to decolonise them through reviving
and renewing the pre-colonial scene.
In this chapter, we present the scope and aims of the manuscript. We offer an overview of our positionality and our personal and professional journey toward more critical and intersectional understandings of inclusive education. We start by tracing the origins of inclusive education, through an archeological analysis of the 1994 Salamanca Statement by UNESCO and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities.html, 2006). We then scrutinize these pillar inclusive policies through the lenses of DisCrit (Annamma et al., DisCrit: Disability studies and critical race theory in education. Teachers College Press, 2016) and CDS frameworks. Lastly, we provide the organization of the book, and a brief description of each chapter.
Utilizing Deaf Studies, Disability Studies, and DisCrit frameworks, Brent centers the stories of Deaf New American refugees’ experiences accessing United States education systems. Through these personal narratives, Brent highlights the tensions multiply marginalized refugees’ experience when they attempt to educate themselves in order to find dignified employment, as well as their efforts to ensure their children receive access to equitable and high-quality education. The stories Brent presents in this chapter spotlights the barriers Deaf refugees encounter when they are mandated to take language courses in order to receive benefits and employment, as well as the struggles they experience when they are not approached as equal partners when supporting their children’s education. Through this chapter, Brent attempts to amplify the stories of this historically omitted population of Americans who have compelling potential solutions to the barriers they face when attempting to educate themselves and their families in the United States.
Through this chapter, Brent explores how CDS, DisCrit, and CBPR intersect in Kenya, and describes the contexts of inclusive education in both Kenya and globally. Subsequently, Brent connects the promising inclusive practices in Kenya and how they inform and are linked to his domestic work in public schools in the United States. In this chapter, Brent also offers potential ways forward related to teacher education and school-university partnerships. Lastly, Brent discusses the implications of applying some lessons learned from Kenya in the United States and globally.
Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is another name for dyspraxia. It is a motor ability condition characterized by a significant deficiency in the development of motor coordination skills that significantly impairs everyday activities and/or academic achievement. Dyspraxia is often referred to as a “hidden disorder,” because it can manifest itself in children who seem normal on the outside but have many challenges and difficulties. As a result, it is difficult to describe in African languages. The concepts of apraxia, symptoms, and how we can support learners and caregivers will all be discussed in this chapter. Other learning disorders such as dyslexia, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), Asperger syndrome, or dysgraphia can all be linked to dyspraxia. Anxiety and depression can result because of this. A case study is included so that students can actively participate in deducing the concepts from the example.
This paper discusses the institutional change in higher education to accommodate inclusive hybrid learning environments. Based on the empirical example of the usage of Telepresence device to enable access to on-site learning space for nontraditional disabled international students, this paper draws on the experiences of the learner and the learning facilitator to reveal the extent to which a socially just learning environment was created and where it fell short. The paper contributes to growing understanding of barriers in promoting inclusive hybrid learning in higher education institutions with strong culture of internationalisation by highlighting at least three dimensions of “othering” that online learners may be subjected to in such occasions. By pointing out how each dimension, especially simultaneous exclusion according to those, impacts the quality of learning experience we argue these may contribute to fail the learner—unless carefully considered when designing such new learning environments with the aim to promote inclusive learning and secure social and Disability Justice.
The article explored discourses of disability support in terms of practices of becoming.
Ad hoc practices of disability support by local elites in the global south is constantly applauded for its poverty alleviation potentials, yet it conceals the pressures disabled persons face to access support. By embedding with network of Disabled People Organisation (DPO), attending disability support events, and conversing with policy makers, we gathered qualitative data to conduct assemblage analysis of disability support in Southeast Nigeria. Adapting Deleuze and Guattari’s (2004) ontology, complemented by Tim Ingold’s (2011) “world of materials,” we map out the entities that constitute disability support, and how these entities work together to structure the experience and discourses of disability support in the region. The results indicate that practices of disability support are not altruistic. At the scene of disability support events, the path of benefactors and beneficiaries constantly intersect as part of an assemblage in their ongoing flows of becoming. To conceptualise disability support as a disinterested pre-occupation of a philanthropist aiming to elevate the quality-of-life disabled people is a dominant narrative that is yet to receive a critical re-evaluation. We conclude that it is more productive to re-frame disability support in terms of assemblage of disparate forces, and practices of becoming.
This book uses Ubuntu philosophy to illuminate the voices of people with disabilities from Sub-Saharan Africa. Disability literature is dominated mainly by scholars and studies from the Global North, and Global North theories and concepts primarily inform these studies. Although Disability literature in the Global South is fast growing, most studies continue to utilise conceptual, theoretical, and philosophical frameworks framed within Global North contexts. This presents two significant challenges: Firstly, the voices of people with disabilities in the Global South remain on the fringes of disability discourses. Secondly, when their voices are heard, their realities are distorted.
This edited book, consisting of 11 chapters, provides case studies from Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Uganda, and South Africa to explore disability in various fields: inclusive education, higher education, environment, Open Distance Learning, and Technical and Vocational Education and Technical Colleges.
By challenging the global hegemonic discourses on disability by contributing to how Global South disability is understood, this book will interest all scholars and students of disability studies, development studies, medical sociology, and African studies.
For decades international bodies and agencies have worked collaboratively to improve the lives and well-being of people living with disabilities by mainly ensuring that they have access to the same educational opportunities that other members of society have. The recognition and acknowledgement of people with disabilities more especially children as vulnerable and marginalized groups gave rise to the need for laws and policies to minimise their exclusion. International treaties and protocols on inclusive education which are discussed in detail in this chapter have ensured increased access to quality inclusive education for them. This includes the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Optional Protocol which has been hailed as the most comprehensive treaty intended to ensure that the dignity and rights of learners living with disabilities are protected. A detailed analysis of the effectiveness of these instruments well as their shortcomings are discussed. Access to inclusive education for children living with disabilities, with special reference to South Africa and the progress made in realising their rights. Challenges hindering the country from fully realising these rights and freedoms are also explored.KeywordsAfricaLearners with disabilitiesInternational conventionsInclusive education
The concept of inclusive education was initiated in western countries in the 1980s. Inclusive education is perceived to be the best mode of enhancing access and improving the quality of education for all learners. The Education for All agenda transfers the concept of inclusive education to the goals and requirements of developing countries. However, research has shown that inclusive education was transferred to the Global South uncritically, without reflection on the actual needs of these contexts. This chapter evaluates the idea of Western epistemologies as universal norm to explain inclusive education, with the intention of establishing their implications for the countries to the South. The chapter has argued that for inclusive education to be meaningful to countries of the South like South Africa, it must be sensitive to the existing cultures, traditions, practices and structures of the specific setting.KeywordsAfricaEducationInclusive educationWestern epistemologies
The prominent disability rights slogan 'nothing for us without us' which was adopted from the 16th-century Polish revolution 'nihil de nobis, sine nobis', means that persons with disabilities, should be involved in anything that concerns their welfare so that they speak for themselves as people with a lived experience of disabilities. This empirical paper explores the participation of students with disabilities in the review of an institutional disability policy in a single institution of higher education in South Africa. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with twelve students with disabilities and seven disability unit staff members. Informed by critical disability theory, the finding was that there was limited participation by students with disabilities in the formulation of institutional disability policy meant for their welfare. While contemporary scholarship on disability seeks to address the exclusion of historically disadvantaged social groups such as those with disabilities but without privileging the voice of those with a lived experience of disability in policy issues, the 'nothing for us without us' slogan will remain elusive, fragile and cliché merely chanted. The paper thus aims to contribute to the understanding that limited participation in policy formulation could negatively affect the learning of students with disabilities and consequently their timeous graduation. For genuine inclusion, all students, including those with disabilities will fully participate in higher learning.
This chapter aims to establish the lines of critical production of Latin American decolonial thinking on disability. Although there is a strong tradition of decolonial thought in Latin America, its contribution to the understanding of disability is not systematised. The article starts with an approach to the Latin American decolonial thought and subsequently delves into its contributions to the field of critical disability. From a systematic review, four lines of critical production are identified: the constitution of subjects with disabilities and the construction of differences from the normalising colonial pattern; the coloniality of ability as a critical device and normality as an oppressive framework; the need for other pedagogies: depatriarchalise, denormalise, transgress, liberate; approach an understanding
of disability from the point of view and realities of the communities of Our America or Abya Yala. This decolonial knowledge has an emergent, novel, and progressive character. Although critical production lines can be recognised, this proposal could adopt new nuances in future research.
The aim of this special issue was to bring together researchers, academics, practitioners, advocates and activists and to open up a safe space for critical reflection. In putting this special issue together, we wanted to share examples of critical thinking about and from the South to a global audience. The articles selected focus on contexts seldom discussed in the dominant literature, namely, Afghanistan, Argentina, Colombia, Kenya, Uganda, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). More importantly, they are the products of equitable South-North research collaborations and ethical co-productions of research with local participants, including in-depth reflections on researcher positionality and consideration of each local context’s particular characteristics. As a result, this special issue provides a rich and much needed snapshot of inclusion in and exclusion from education in the Global South, grounded on the experiences of those living in it, whose voices are often ignored or silenced in mainstream IE narratives and research.
There is a pressing need to address racism within healthcare education; however, occupational therapy educators lack a compilation of discipline-specific knowledge of anti-racist actions. The objective of this study was to examine anti-racist instructional practices for educators to employ in occupational therapy education. We conducted a scoping review and systematically searched six electronic databases to identify and synthesize anti-racist educational practices within the occupational therapy literature. The 20 included articles identified that educators should: use collaborative, anti-racist teaching strategies throughout the curriculum; engage in reflexivity including how intersecting identities impact occupational engagement; decolonize curricula through including Indigenous content and non-Western practice frameworks; increase representation of Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color students and faculty; and strengthen educators’ capacity to engage in anti-racist actions. To address systemic injustices to educational inclusion and prepare students to address health care inequities, occupational educators must engage in anti-racist actions across curriculum, programs, and universities.
Knowledge equity is a broad concept. Although it is linked to the goals of Open Science, it is rarely discussed in the scientific community. The term refers to a variety of aspects such as epistemology, research methods, data analysis, inclusive education, equal representation, participation, and science communication. It is reflected on individual, institutional, and structural levels.
In this article, we attempt to outline the field theoretically against the background of a power-theoretical perspective and discuss what knowledge is in the first place. In a second step, we explore the question of what is hidden behind the terms equality and equity and to what extent these concepts can be linked to the underlying concept of knowledge. When can we speak of equity, why, and to what extent? Finally, the article links the overall social development of increasing sensitivity to diversity, which is discussed in conjunction with inclusive education and inclusion in general. Herein we refer to concepts of intersectional feminist research, the principles of Open Science, and a critical perspective on the concept of diversity.
For illustration, exemplary projects associated with the Open Science Fellow Program, which address the issue of marginalized groups in the research process, are described. Among others, these relate to the following focal points: Data collection of non-binary gender, awareness of adultism, collaborative interpretation with interviewees, queer narratives, diversity in editorial boards, research in the context of North-South relations, participatory science communication using art, and exclusion factors of science communication.
The overarching question we ask in this article is the extent to which knowledge equity is relevant to marginalized groups and exclusive dynamics in terms of an inclusive rationale and how those dynamics can be identified by using critical perspectives and self-reflexive considerations.
Notwithstanding its noble orientations and social justice foundations, inclusion has been contested, interrogated, and subjected to multiple interpretations and enactments. Inclusive education has been, inter alia, characterized as a neo-colonial project that is embroiled in and reinforces geopolitical power asymmetries and oppressive regimes. The article suggests that the enduring legacy of colonial perspectives needs to be problematized and challenged through a trauma-responsive lens that captures the traumatizing effects of colonialism/ty on the ‘lived’ realities of disabled and other disenfranchised groups of students. Trauma is a constituent element of intersectional oppression stemming from and imbricated in conditions of colonial structures of power that conceal and legitimize social inequalities, extreme poverty, malnutrition, violence, substandard childcare, racism, and other ‘cultural’ traumas. This is an issue that highlights the imperative of developing theories of inclusion that acknowledge and address the intersections of colonialism/ty, disability and trauma and their impact on educational accessibility, participation, and achievement.
Despite numerous policies and statements regarding disability and poverty reduction, it is still estimated that 50,000 people, including 10,000 disabled people, die every day as a result of extreme poverty. This is not an abstract theory, but a disastrous crisis. It would be deceptive to claim that this injustice is anybody’s conscious intention. However, it can be argued that it is the inevitable and logical result of existing global relations. Earlier in 2005, many thousands of people took to the streets to protest against this injustice.
Disabled people are among the most disadvantaged people in the world and are over-represented among the poorest of the poor. The relationship between disability and poverty has often been referred to as a vicious circle. This paper argues that this representation may obscure the similarities between the processes of marginalisation experienced by disabled people and poor people.
There appears to be a widespread assumption in the disability sector that inclusion is necessarily good, with little assessment of the wider context. This leads to the bizarre situation where many community organisations are campaigning against, for example, the World Bank’s poverty reduction strategies, claiming that the Bank’s approach perpetuates poverty, while the disability sector fights for inclusion within the Bank’s strategies. If the existing system is the cause of the problem, then inclusion within it cannot be the answer. Wider assessment of the context is urgently required and alliances need to be built between marginalised people, if there is to be any real chance of creating a more humane and just society.
This article argues that contemporary interest in social capital by community development theorists, funders, and practitioners is misguided and needs to be thoroughly rethought. It argues that social capital, as understood by Robert Putnam and people influenced by his work, is a fundamentally flawed concept because it fails to understand issues of power in the production of communities and because it is divorced from economic capital. Therefore, community development practice based on this understanding of social capital is, and will continue to be, similarly flawed.The article further argues that instead of Putnam's understanding of social capital, community development practice would be better served by returning to the way the concept was used by Glenn Loury and Pierre Bourdieu and concludes with a discussion of how these alternative theories of social capital can be realized in community development practice.
Ben Fine assesses the utility of the term 'social capital' — what it is, where it has come from, where it is going and what light, if any, it sheds on an understanding of the African condition.
Post-development theories have been accused of not having a future programme, and a number of authors has concluded that we are better off pursuing development as we know it. But the lack of instrumentality is not in itself a weighty argument against the analysis. At its best, 'post-development' offers an explanation of why so many development projects seem to fail. Two contributions are emphasised here: that transformation through development is linked to the agencies of elites, and that technical constraints imposed on developers shape the way in which they construct the problem. There is a need for extending the analysis, however. Including how development interventions are transformed in encounters with target populations gives a less rigid picture of the power of development, and can expose some of the problematic premises on which development interventions are based. In this way, post-development can offer a contribution to the practitioners of development.
This working paper argues that disabled people are disproportionately amongst the poorest of the poor in all parts of the world, and that international development targets are unlikely to be met without including disabled people. Due to the severe exclusion of disabled people from all areas of society, there is a serious lack of comparable or reliable data on incidence, distribution and trends of disability, let alone the extent of disabled people's poverty; the paper begins with a review of what is known about disability in the developing world. Based on an investigation of the causes and consequences of impairment, disability and poverty, the author sketches out a 'vicious cycle of chronic poverty and disability'. The paper moves on to a review of the approaches undertaken by international organisations, governments, NGOs, donors, the private sector, and disabled people's organisations to mitigate or reduce chronic poverty among disabled people. Case studies of the Ugandan and Indian contexts are provided. It is suggested that while there has recently been a shift by some NGOs, donors and governments towards considering the issues of disability rights in their rhetoric, disabled people in many parts of the world have seen little change in terms of concrete action. A proposal for a research agenda on disability and chronic poverty issues concludes the paper, which also includes a glossary and explanation of terms.
There are few issues more urgently in need of intelligent analysis both in the UK and elsewhere than those relating to displacement, asylum, and migration. In this volume, based on the 2004 Oxford Amnesty Lectures, major figures in philosophy, political science, law, psychoanalysis, sociology, and literature address the challenges that displacement, asylum, and migration pose to our notions of human rights. Each lecture is accompanied by a critical response from another leading thinker in the field. The volume contains lectures by Slavoj Zizek, Bhikhu Parekh, Ali A.Mazrui, Matthew J. Gibney, Saskia Sassen, Harold Hongju Koh, Caryl Phillips, and Jacqueline Rose, with critical responses from Michael Ignatieff, Seyla Benhabib, Iftikhar Malik, Melissa Lane, Christian Joppke, Rey Koslowski, Elleke Boehmer, and Ali Abunimah. This is the twelfth volume of Oxford Amnesty Lectures to be published since 1992. ‘All good citizens should probably want to buy them … simply because they are published in support of such a good cause. It turns out, though, that no self-sacrifice is involved. [These] are immensely rich, challenging, stimulating volumes … The contributors’ lists are star-studded … and each book has a clear, coherent, overarching theme, despite the extreme diversity of the individual lectures’ (The Independent, April 10, 2003).
Beyond rough estimates, little is known about disability in the majority world and complexities related to context and poverty are too often unacknowledged in the quest to simplify, generalise and export disability discourse, models and strategies. Disability remains peripheral to the larger development agenda and the disability studies debate maintains an almost exclusive focus on western settings, loaded with associated historical, social and cultural assumptions. In the light of this, this paper seeks to elucidate and engage with complex issues surrounding the disability and majority world debate, critique and challenge the exportation of western focused disability models and discourse and engage with possible avenues for bridging the gap between disability and development.
■ This article explores the experiences of some Mayan youths as they are increasingly drawn into circuits of the world economy as wage workers in rural maquilas. It explores how fundamental restructuring of the world economy and the new international division of labor in the last quarter of the 20th century has directly impacted some households in rural Guatemala. The article sheds light on how maquila factories in rural Guatemala operate as new sites of exploitation by reinforcing and intensifying existing inequalities, intergenerational tensions and for manufacturing powerlessness among rural Mayan adolescents, while simultaneously seducing them with modernity's desires.
This article examines the content and process of imperialist discourse on the ‘Indian woman’ in the writings of two North American women, one writing at the time of ‘first wave’ feminism, the other a key exponent of the ‘second wave’ of the movement. By analysing these writings, it demonstrates how the content of the discourse was reproduced over time ith different but parallel effects in the changed political circumstances, in the first case producing the Western imperial powers as superior on the scale of civilisation, and in the second case producing Western women as the leaders of global feminism. It also identifies how the process of creating written images occurred within the context of each author's social relations with the subject, the reader and the other authors, showing how an orientalist discourse can be produced through the author's representation of the human subjects of whom she writes; how this discourse can be reproduced through the author's uncritical use of earlier writers; and how the discourse can be activated in the audience through the author's failure to challenge established cognitive structures in the reader.
A general dearth of theoretical engagements with the embodied, historical, and especially the religious dimensions of disablement pervades the social sciences. Paradoxically, the religious heritage of the West is commonly identified as the implicit catalyst of many disabling attitudinal barriers impinging on impaired bodies. Addressing this inconsistency, this article extends dominant disability conceptualizations through combining embodiment theories and humanities perspectives. Ultimately the article seeks to demonstrate how interdisciplinary investigation can produce fresh insights into the relationships between attitudes towards physical impairment and Christianized forms of Western sociality. First, the radicalization of the definition of disability in the field of disability studies is briefly discussed. Second, aspects of the sociology of the body are examined in order to illustrate how the concepts of ‘effervescent’ and ‘emergent’ embodiment, through highlighting the persistence of the sacred in ‘somatic society’, can assist in the formulation of an analytical framework, suitable for analysing the religio-cultural dimensions of impairment. Finally, the dynamism of Christian attitudes towards physical impairment is illustrated through a survey of historical and contemporaneous theological examples. The confluence of these fields, it is argued, enables the interconnected terrain between impairment, embodiment and the sacred to be mapped.
Since the economies of mature industrial societies are fairly well regulated by fiscal and monetary policies, it stands to reason that investment and wage policies, if correctly applied, can encourage growth. The assumption is that if a region is made more economically productive then all the benefits of modern society will flow into it, while it, in turn, will make an equal contribution to the national product. This assumption can be applied to regions which have not shared the rise in prosperity characteristic of the nation generally. It is argued, however, that this assumption (1) grossly underestimates the social change required of a depressed region and (2) entirely overlooks concomitant changes required in the prosperous regions and the nation generally.
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the IDF (Intrahousehold Disadvantages Framework) which provides researchers with a set of practical tools to analyse intra-household differentiation. We feel that this is necessary if researchers are to be able to present more accurate findings. Numerous culturally, temporally and spatially specific dimensions of social difference affect intra-household decision-making and resource allocation. To date, development research has tended to focus on gender. A strong literature and a wealth of approaches have been developed to assess the impact of socially determined gender roles and subordination on the individual and on development interventions. This provides a strong starting point in the development of tools to help in the systematic analysis of other forms of social difference, for example, age, birth order, physical and mental disability, illness, and relationship to household head. Until now most research into these areas has relied on inductive research which has focused on the problems of a specific group (e.g. older people). This has tended to generate descriptive findings which have rarely contextualised individuals from these groups within their households or sufficiently acknowledged either the differentiation within groups or the overlaps between groups. The focus on individual forms of disadvantage has tended to result in the 'bidding up' the problems faced by a particular group vis a vis another, rather than building an holistic understanding of social difference. The frameworks we present in section 4 of this paper are intended to provide the starting point for such holistic analysis.
Video-based media spaces are designed to support casual interaction between intimate collaborators. Yet transmitting video is fraught with privacy concerns. Some researchers suggest that the video stream be filtered to mask out potentially sensitive ...
In recent years a group of researchers at Cambridge (UK) have (re)introduced conceptions of open and closed systems into economics. In doing so they have employed these categories in ways that, in my assessment, both facilitate a significant critique of current disciplinary practices and also point to more fruitful ways of proceeding. In an issue of this journal, Andrew Mearman has advanced three criticisms of the Cambridge position which, if valid, would seriously undermine this assessment. Below I defend the Cambridge position against Mearman's criticisms.
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