Liquid Modernity
... Днешното е просто фазов апокалипсис, преход от Маркс до Христа, по думите на видния български интелектуалец Владимир Свинтила. 164 Предизвикателство към човеците и особено интелектуалците сред тях, да проумеят, че не Бог крие метода на любовта -Той ни го разкрива, дава ни го, завещава ни го, ние сме слаби да го разберем, приложим, предадем на следващите след нас. Задачата е преди всичко духовна и интелектуална. ...
... Цит. съч.164 Свинтила, Владимир. ...
Какво е да си интелектуалец?
Социологията свързва интелектуалеца с идея, истина, Слово, ценност, общество. Следователно, интелектуалец е някой, при който е дошла идея как чрез Словото да достигне до ценността на истината. Интелектуалец е бил Ганди. Не само, защото сам той е достигнал до истината, но и защото е увлякъл по нея и други хиляди. А и нещо повече – осмислил е и ни е разказал как се извървява пътя към истината – „самата същност на душата“, както той я определя.
Стигне ли до истината, интелектуалецът се изправя пред отговорността да я предаде на обществото си. Истината е дар. Който получава дар, следва да го върне. Задържи ли го за себе си, сам той го губи или дарът него погубва.
Образованите и умни хора често стигат до истина и бързо я забравят, отдалечават се от нея, не приемат дара. Човешко, твърде човешко. Сред тях интелектуалци няма. Хората с висок интелект, следвайки логичната нишка на мисълта или още известна като нишката на Ариадна, излизат от лабиринта на незнанието, фейка и постистината и стигат до истина. Приемат я в мислите, чувствата и действията си. Благодарение на нея постигат по-високо ниво в стълбицата на собственото си израстване. Но дали съумяват да я предадат обратно на хората и обществото си – това не е съвсем сигурно. Само мъдрите и разумни успяват до истината да се качат и благото й да свалят обратно при хората, за да съзрява, да се движи напред обществото човешко. Тези са интелектуалците. Усамотени по стъпалата на лествицата, дълбоко гмурнали се в дълбините на познанието, алиенирани от света докато достигнат дара. Достигнат ли го – харизматично интервениращи колективното съзнание, вдъхващи вяра, танцуващи валс с общностната енергия за промяна. За промяна, а не за подмяна!
... The concept of world risk society represents the conundrum of the era in which we live: a highly industrialised society since around the 1980s, which sociologists variously refer to as 'late modern' (Giddens), 22 'second modern' (Beck), 23 or 'liquid modern' (Bauman). 24 This era is distinguished from the earlier, 'first' or 'solid' modern in that in the late/second/liquid modernity individualisation of social institutions advances, and social bonds, which connected individuals to modern institutions such as the (predominantly nuclear) family, (reasonably stable) workplace and, and in the case of the West, (still influential) church, weaken. Instead, living one's own life, and pursuing individual life projects has become the common denominator of the late/second/liquid modern in the advanced industrial countries. ...
German sociologist Ulrich Beck writes that Japan has become part of the ‘World Risk Society’ as a result of the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima. By World Risk Society he means a society threatened by such things as nuclear accidents, climate change, and the global financial crisis, presenting a catastrophic risk beyond geographical, temporal, national and social boundaries. According to Beck, such risk is an unfortunate by-product of modernity, and poses entirely new challenges to our existing institutions, which attempt to control it using current, known means. As Gavan McCormack points out, ‘Japan, as one of the most successful capitalist countries in history, represents in concentrated form problems facing contemporary industrial civilization as a whole’. The nuclear, social, and institutional predicaments it now faces epitomise the negative consequences of intensive modernisation.
... The concept of world risk society represents the conundrum of the era in which we live: a highly industrialised society since around the 1980s, which sociologists variously refer to as 'late modern' (Giddens), 22 'second modern' (Beck), 23 or 'liquid modern' (Bauman). 24 This era is distinguished from the earlier, 'first' or 'solid' modern in that in the late/second/liquid modernity individualisation of social institutions advances, and social bonds, which connected individuals to modern institutions such as the (predominantly nuclear) family, (reasonably stable) workplace and, and in the case of the West, (still influential) church, weaken. Instead, living one's own life, and pursuing individual life projects has become the common denominator of the late/second/liquid modern in the advanced industrial countries. ...
The 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster at Fukushima has encouraged comparisons in many quarters with the tragic experience of Minamata more than 55 years earlier, when mercury-poisoned industrial runoff caused widespread illness and death in the human and animal populations. Rather than viewing these disasters as the unfortunate side effects of modern industrial capitalism (to be addressed, in the capitalist view, with financial compensation) Yoneyama Shoko draws on Minamata victim's advocate Ogata Masato to imagine a more humane and life-affirming vision of our obligations to one another. In crafting his response to the Chisso Corporation and the Japanese government, Ogata (who eschewed financial compensation) drew on elements of the popular Japanese religious heritage to affirm an ethos of interdependence and the responsibility that follows. This can be seen, for example, in Ogata's use of the term tsumi, an indigenous Japanese category of ritual impurity that encompasses both physical pollution and moral transgression. Combining notions of “defilement” and of “sin,” tsumi is a principle that (as Brian Victoria notes) has justified some in shunning the victims of chemical or radioactive contamination. Ogata, however, employs the traditional imagery of tsumi to describe, not the victims of pollution but its perpetrators, thereby presenting ecological damage as a profoundly moral matter, one that cannot be reduced to economic impacts or financial compensation.
... The concept of world risk society represents the conundrum of the era in which we live: a highly industrialised society since around the 1980s, which sociologists variously refer to as 'late modern' (Giddens), 22 'second modern' (Beck), 23 or 'liquid modern' (Bauman). 24 This era is distinguished from the earlier, 'first' or 'solid' modern in that in the late/second/liquid modernity individualisation of social institutions advances, and social bonds, which connected individuals to modern institutions such as the (predominantly nuclear) family, (reasonably stable) workplace and, and in the case of the West, (still influential) church, weaken. Instead, living one's own life, and pursuing individual life projects has become the common denominator of the late/second/liquid modern in the advanced industrial countries. ...
Yoneyama analyzes the Fukushima and Minamata tragedies in the context of the “life-world,” a concept coined by OGATA Masato. Ogata is a Minamata fisherman who has written and spoken on philosophical matters, drawing experience from his experience growing up in the wake of Japan's worst pollution disaster. Yoneyama recounts the struggle victims of Minamata disease, including most of Ogata's immediate family, have faced in receiving compensation.
... The transformations of the last few decades, often labeled as postmodern, have brought significant changes to society's spatial structure and have profoundly impacted the social forms of religiosity. Perhaps the most decisive change has been the dissolution of society's stable spatial structure and the emergence of fluid spaces (Giddens 1985;Bauman 2000;Löw 2016), which have replaced the previously distinct sacred and secular spaces with a system of diffuse spaces (Hervieu-Léger 2002;Schroer 2019, 199-216). This is mainly manifested in the emergence of sacred content in previously clearly secular spaces, as if freeing them from their former confinement. ...
Drawing on insights from the spatial turn, this analysis examines the role of spirituality in religious experience, particularly focusing on how the body becomes central to transcendent experience in relation to spatial structural changes. It investigates how the emergence of hybrid social spaces contributes to the decline of institutionalised religiosity and how new forms of religiosity amplify the role of individual meaning-making. The paper focuses on how changes in the spatial structure of religious spaces are transforming the perception of the body among religious persons and how body-centred spiritualism is becoming central to religious experience. In this context, the paper discusses both the secular sources of spiritual bodily experience and the new features of sacred experience associated with the changed spatial structure. The analysis interprets this complex phenomenon in terms of body-focused spiritualism. The theoretical novelty of the analysis lies in the fact that, while interpreting spirituality and embodied transcendental experience, it not only relies on classical authors of spatial theory, but also draws on insights from phenomenological analysis in its interpretation of social spaces, the conceptual (spatial) domains of reality, and the body.
... O mundo contemporâneo das mudanças climáticas e do Antropoceno, e o da transformação global em geral, não escapou à atenção dos acadêmicos, embora esteja claro que o trabalho de remodelar os regimes de conhecimento sobre o mundo apenas começou. Na teoria social geral, Zygmunt Bauman e Ulrich Beck escreveram trabalhos importantes e relevantes sobre imprevisibilidade na virada do milênio, enquanto seu colega mais jovem Hartmut Rosa dedicou sua pesquisa à aceleração social e seu contraste, ressonância (Bauman 2000). O cientista que propôs o termo Antropoceno em primeiro lugar foi o químico atmosférico Paul Crutzen (junto com Eugene Stoermer), que também é coautor de um artigo muito citado, com seu colega Will Steffen e o historiador John McNeill (2007) sobre os aspectos sociais das mudanças climáticas, enquanto o arqueólogo Joseph Tainter produziu análises importantes sobre as causas do colapso civilizacional no passado. ...
O mundo está sobreaquecido, a civilização global entrou num beco sem saída e negocia um duplo vínculo desconfortável entre os imperativos do crescimento e a necessidade urgente de encontrar soluções sustentáveis. Hoje existe um amplo consenso sobre a necessidade urgente de levar a sério estes desafios na investigação, na mobilização política e na elaboração de políticas. A questão é que tipo de conhecimento é necessário para tomar as medidas apropriadas. A resposta curta é: vários tipos de conhecimento. Para uma resposta mais elaborada, é necessária uma pergunta adicional: que conhecimento? Tomando o conceito e a metáfora do superaquecimento para explicar a estagnação contemporânea, esta contribuição mostra a importância da interdisciplinaridade e questiona até que ponto o conhecimento gerado no campo da antropologia pode contribuir para o tipo de esclarecimento necessário. Devemos aprender com os erros e acertos do passado, buscar o conhecimento necessário nas sociedades de pequena escala que ainda existem, ou insiste que a modernidade tem de resolver as suas contradições pelos seus próprios meios, seja através de algum tipo de governo mundial ou através de soluções tecnológicas?
... Cette représentation réticulaire du fait criminel peut être renvoyée, pour une part, aux travaux de Manuel Castells sur l'avènement de la « société en réseaux ». Mais Siti articule surtout sa figuration du fonctionnement du capitalisme financier aux analyses de la « modernité liquide » de Zygmunt Bauman, notion qui désigne la disparition de repères sociaux stables et leur substitution par des modes d'organisation et de cohabitation lâches, au sein d'une société en perpétuel mouvement 66 Siti semble aussi puiser chez Guy Debord la critique de l'économie du secret qui régirait la société du « spectaculaire intégré », selon les Commentaires sur la société du spectacle : ...
This article argues that contemporary fictions of organized crime reinscribe, in many ways, the imaginary of conspiracy in narrative structures rooted in immediate history, while aiming to critique new ramified and diffuse systems of power. Which procedures are used to uncover the secrecy surrounding these organizations? How do these works reformulate concerns about the localization of power in today’s “network society” that has emerged with economic globalization? Using examples from contemporary Italian literature, I will examine the ways in which authors write about mafia practices, accompanying the social sciences’ reclassification of organized crime as a phenomenon of power. I will also ponder the effects generated by these narratives, in which the distancing of conspiracy theories does not exclude certain reformulations of them with other terms.
... In the time of Western postwar industrial society, partitioning representation worked through class-based party affiliations and through regional identities in territorial constituencies. Poverty inhibiting group-overarching contact, the functional differentiation in the fixed occupations of 'heavy modernity' (Bauman 2000), and supporting cultural norms made Western postwar industrial societies group-based societies. Nevertheless, some mediations were institutionalized, representing voting citizens through one mark on the ballot but doing so in more than one instance, with the idea that politicians elected in different procedures or at different times would bring differing information into final decision making. ...
Polarization within Western societies escalates, as citizens increasingly distrust their governments and disagree with one another in an increasingly emotional way. Departing from a literature devoid of ideas to break this destructive trend, this paper presents a novel approach: While societies have evolved—becoming more diverse, individualized, and interconnected—democratic systems have remained unchanged, hence rooted in outdated structures. This misalignment drives the rise of political polarization. Through a comprehensive review of literature and data across OECD countries, this paper states the generality of the polarization problem, with the U.S. only as severest example. It introduces the concept of ‘partitioning representation’ of representing individuals as parts of non‐overlapping subsets of society, a form that fitted a bygone era of geographically and socially partitioned communities. The paper identifies three mechanisms through which the disjunction between this traditional form of representation and contemporary individualization leads to polarization: disconnection of voters from the political process, intra‐party dynamics that favor radicalization, and perverse incentives for political and media actors. Ultimately, breaking this destructive cycle requires rethinking how representation can work in a world that no longer conforms to the partitioned societies of the Western past. This calls for new forms of doing politics, empowering citizens to engage meaningfully with the political process and restoring the capacity for collective problem‐solving that is essential for democratic resilience in a new approach usefully called a ‘civil democracy’.
... This means that I might be considered a champion of good conduct one day and cast as an perpetrator the next with the invention of a new form of harm, the expansion of the meaning of an older form of harm, or a different interpretation of my actions. As I can't Society trust my or others' orientation toward harm (indeed, I might believe my colleague to be a person who promotes psychic safety only to be told by another colleague that she is harmful), we live in what we might call a grossly unstable cultural marketplace (see Bauman 2000). ...
Sensitivity to harm has become a crisis, and the reasons for this remain unexplained. Across organizations, individuals express psychic damage from trauma to microaggressions. Some call this rise in harm-oriented claims a loss of resilience due to an excess of “coddling.” Although harm is innately social, sociologists have seldom studied the deeper sources of this crisis. I advance a theoretical model to explain how psychic harm functions. The article considers why an eagerness to be perceived as socially marginalized has become commonplace. With in-depth interviews, I illustrate micro-level mechanisms that explain the individual advantages to asserting such claims. These psychic harm mechanisms reveal that social science has fundamentally shifted how individuals understand the self, others, and interaction. New disciplinary discourses—comprising a new epistemology—have contributed to rewiring how younger educated generations understand themselves and others, and these generations tend to spread the new ways of knowing across society. Ferreting out different forms of harm begets demands for ever-more diverse forms of safety, which has profound implications for free speech. I suggest that social science’s pronounced efforts to diminish inequality through a conjoined moral and political epistemology ultimately create a new system of stratification.
... Gender-inclusive language is represented by Dani, who relies on translanguaging, as an "experiment", as a "game", and as dynamic ("progress", "new") rather than static. In a discussion of the conceptual metaphors employed in Language Making, Jakobs & Hüning (2022) have focused on "liquefying language", which takes as a point of reference Bauman's concept of "liquid modernity" (Bauman 2000), and which they define as "a counter-metaphor to essentialist conceptions of language understood as bounded identities" (Jakobs & Hüning 2022: 43). At another point in the podcast, Dani states that "language is a living thing, which will somehow change" (Prisacariu 2021: 28.16-28.18), ...
Taking as a point of reference research which deconstructs the language myths underlying language ideology (Watts 2011) and underlining the role of language ideology in “Language Making” (Krämer, Vogl, & Kolehmainen 2022), this chapter examines current metalinguistic reflections regarding gender-inclusive language in Romania. The analysis centres upon the attitudes of activists raising awareness about the usage of non-binary forms in Romanian and it lays emphasis on Gender Talk (2020–2021), a Romanian podcast focusing on gender and language, created by Romanian gender activists.
The chapter gives a detailed discussion of the metalinguistic commentary in Gender Talk (2020–2021) regarding non-binary forms in Romanian, with a focus on the conceptual metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson 1980) at the basis of the language myths (Watts 2011) underlying the representation of gender-inclusive language. Language myths such as the myth of linguistic homogeneity, the myth of the educated language or the myth of the polite language (see Watts 2011) are identified as playing a significant role in the representation of gender-inclusive Romanian.
Particular stress is given to the impact of translation and of global English on the way in which non-binary identities are expressed in Romanian, and to the abundant use of English loanwords and “translanguaging” (Garcia & Li 2014) by members of the LGBTQI+ community. It is argued that, while expressing a negative view of standard Romanian as unfriendly to non-binary identities, in contrast with a positive view of global English as a model of gender inclusivity, Romanian gender activists nevertheless rely on “standard language ideology” (Milroy and Milroy 1999), and on the myth of homogeneity (Watts 2011) in their current representation of gender-inclusive Romanian. Emphasizing the complex negotiation between homogeneity and heterogeneity (Watts 2011, Motschenbacher 2016), between linguistic autonomy and fluidity (Makoni & Pennycook 2007, Jaspers & Madsen 2019, Jakobs & Hüning 2022), between structuralist and post-structuralist conceptualizations of language (Motschenbacher 2014), the chapter further argues that the current representation of gender-inclusive Romanian by gender activists is correlated with the representation of the nation-state.
... Pitts' personal cultural experiences, which are rooted in the different nationalities of his parents -his father is from England, his mother from Iran -but also in his various places of residence in cities such as Paris, London or Tehran, shape his cinematic work. His film figures can be seen as a product of liquid modernity as described by Zygmunt Bauman (see Bauman 2000). However, the focus of his films is neither the refugee experience nor migration, but always the question of identity and belonging. ...
... Recognition of ambivalence as a fundamental aspect of precarity in academia diverges from theorisations advanced in prior studies related to more general labour market conditions, that nevertheless should remind us that the more imaginative aspects are re-enforced by actual contractual situations and ambiguities related to the breakdown of boundaries between personal and professional spheres (Fuchs Epstein and Kalleberg 2004). This relates not only to inferior working conditions, including the ability to access to adequate welfare, but also harder to quantify feelings of self-worth, with job insecurity undermining well-being as well as economic integrity, implying a deconstruction of 'ontological insecurity' (Giddens 1991), increased risk (Beck 1992), uncertainty (Bauman 2000) and vulnerability (Butler 2004). ...
This article explores an important aspect of academic precarity: the use of fixed-term contract researchers as factotums within universities. The practice can be defined as the taking-on of tasks that are outside of core research activities, including substantial amounts of time spent teaching , supervising students and preparing research proposals, often at the behest of tenured staff members, reflecting existing power dynamics within the organisation. At a theoretical level, it is argued that this aspect of academic precarity reflects various forms of ambivalence in research-ers' lives, creating tensions in addition to expanding their workloads. Using evidence from 54 interviews with researchers of at least five years' experience and based at research units in Portugal, conducted during 2022 and 2023, it is possible to illustrate various aspects of academic precarity and ambivalence, with different responses from researchers including acceptance of and resistance towards the factotum role.
... Peraltro, tale necessità non trova semplicemente vigore nel dibattito astratto di stampo accademico ma viene rinforzata dalla crescente importanza di evidenze empiriche che ridisegnano la società contemporaneo secondo nuovi paradigmi di mobilità globale, interconnessione, flusso, connettività e liquidità, per citarne alcuni. (Bauman, 2000;Castells, 1996;Urry, 2000). ...
Rethinking Ocean Governance. The management of the Maritime Spaces from a «Blue Sociology» perspective
This article discusses the challenges in ocean governance, viewing the contemporary notion of the ocean as a political-legal construct serving capitalism and neoliberal resource appropriation. It emphasizes that the ocean is a socially constructed entity, shaped by social relations and it challenges the traditional land/sea binary, by highlighting the fluidity between these dimensions, and the role of symbolic exchanges and semantic shifts. The text advocates for a "blue sociology" perspective, connecting macro and micro levels, focusing on social relations, symbolic production, and social innovation. It suggests a Durkheimian interpretation of the sacred in the ocean-society relationship, revealing its generative and ambivalent nature. This "blue sociology" also paves the way for a sacred ecology as opposed to the techno-capitalistic logic, which is critiqued for its profane treatment of the ocean. Finally, the article proposes integrating a sociological perspective that reimagines ocean space in terms of sacredness, emphasizing social relations "with" the sea. It delves into interdisciplinary discussions of blue sociology, the land/sea distinction, and the challenges of ocean governance, highlighting the potential for innovative contributions from a relational perspective.
Autore incaricato delle comunicazioni relative all'articolo, ecocco@unite.it.
... To illustrate our perspective on identity formation, we adopt the metaphor of the 'liquid crystal', as introduced by Dervin and Jackson (2018). This metaphor, influenced by Bauman (2000), aptly captures our view of identity formation as an equilibrium that undergoes transformations, exhibiting both solid and liquid qualities. Thus, drawing upon the tradition of identity-related research in applied linguistics, we aimed to employ a phenomenological approach for contemporary critical self/identity research. ...
In a world with existential issues, inequalities/injustice are (re)emerging in varying degrees around the globe, and yet, each of us strives to sustain our life with our own disappointments/griefs and desires/hopes. Then, identity formation research should elucidate how a human being makes sense of multifaceted voices/dimensions (‘selves’ and ‘(social) identities’) and what propels each to sustain/envision one’s desires/hopes in the future. Thus, based upon the legacy of identity-related research in applied linguistics, we present longitudinal research by a phenomenological approach focusing on ‘international students’ in Japan. In developing the approach, we utilized translanguaging as a holistic conceptualization of human communication and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis as methodology (interview analysis contextualized with observation and on/off line correspondence data). As a result, the first author interpreted that each student’s life theme/moral aspiration served as a pivot around which various categories/features revolved (solidified/loosened). In such dynamic relationalities, perceptions/ideologies towards named language(s)/identity categories transformed. We argue it is important to interpret why and how each uses/creates categories/labels/binaries as reference points in expressing oneself—not as objective/scientific but as (inter)subjective evidence.
... For example, the term 'liquid' is understood in academic circles in terms of flexibility. I particularly draw on Zygmunt Bauman's (2000) ideas of the analytical concept of liquidity in relation to social identities and human inter-relationships. In the perspective of Bauman (2000, p. 2), and in relation to the idea of 'liquidity', '. . ...
Dominant theoretical discussions on insider/outsider, co-ethnic/co-national migrant researcher positionalities have focused on the ideas of group identities such as nationality and ethnicity and how they shape and inform insider/outsider researchers’ positionalities. While some migration researchers argue that shared nationality and ethnicity make co-national or co-ethnic researchers insiders, others contend that the insiderness/outsiderness of co-national or co-ethnic researchers tends to be shaped and informed by multiple, fluid and changing situational factors. This paper draws on ‘fluid identity theory’ and secondary literature to argue that in migration research, insider/outsider positionalities tend to be fluid formations that change, shift and become unstable during research encounters with study participants. I develop an analytical concept that I term ‘liquid insider/outsider positionalities’ to contribute to the literature on insider/outsider researcher positionalities in migration research. By way of introducing this analytical concept, I critique presuppositions, conceptualizations and categorizations of migrant/migration researchers as either insiders or outsiders based on predetermined and rigid social identity markers such as ethnicity or nationality. Migration scholars and researchers may employ the concept of ‘liquid insider/outsider positionalities’ as a tool to frame the dynamic, changing and situational character of researcher positionalities in migration research during field research encounters.
... The idea of destandardization, as a counter-point of standardization, has been already discussed by sociolinguists. Researchers have already explored the connection between the death of a standard and "liquid modernity" (Bauman 2000), and Urban Dictionary can be seen, certainly, in terms of what Makoni and Pennycoock 2007 call "the disinvention of the standard". Nevertheless, it is useful to quote Ana Deumert who, following Beck 2002, sees a standard language as a zombie, the living dead that still haunts "the minds of speakers (and linguists who believe in languages as unitary, well-defined, countable objects) and thus shapes and organizes the language ideological field (inside and outside academia)" (2010:258). ...
The present paper focuses on Urban Dictionary (urbandictionary.com), a popular online resource, whose role in lexicography has already been explored by previous linguists (see Coleman and Peckham 2014). The aim of this article, which centers upon language ideologies, is to examine the way in which Urban Dictionary (thus, implicitly, the way in which Urban Dictionary is perceived by its users/authors) reflects a tension between the myths underlying the ideology of standardization (see Milroy and Milroy 1999, Watts 2011) and the more fluid perspective (see Bauman 2000 concerning “liquid modernity”) that accompanies a global, digital age. While previous researchers see Urban Dictionary as “challenging traditional lexicography and participating in a paradigm shift” (Smith 2011:47), we argue that Urban Dictionary is still partly tributary to the ideology of standardization.
Cynan Jones’s Everything I Found on the Beach (2011) is
a sinister portrait of human life, showing how ambition and
the search for better opportunities crash against the brutal
reality of our contemporary times. Jones’s second novel is
a profound meditation on how certain human beings dwell
on the borders of our developed societies, while the pernicious
consequences of neoliberal economy and globalisation
cause unbearable marginalisation and injustice, thereby
recalling Zygmunt Bauman’s notion of “wasted lives.” In my
essay, I will discuss how Jones’s characters epitomise the
growing volumes of human waste as an inevitable outcome
of modernisation and globalisation, while the nonhuman
acts as a witness to this sense of human waste and precarity.
I will first address how the excluded and the economic
migrants carry the stigma of their wasted lives, incarnating
Bauman’s wasted humanity. I will then engage with how
nonhuman matter infiltrates the narrative texture of Jones’s
novel. By juxtaposing human voices with nonhuman matter,
Everything I Found on the Beach allows all voices to be equally
heard, thus showing how the struggle to survive brings
together human beings, animals and inanimate objects
through a polyphonic assemblage.
The article examines the life and career choices of contemporary Russian youth in the context of uncertainty, and analyzes the transformation of wage labor and its significance for social identity. The study is based on a qualitative analysis of 47 in-depth interviews with young employees from St. Petersburg, which allows for a deeper understanding of their motivations and strategies. We demonstrate that under precarization, young people strive for flexibility and adaptability, moving away from traditional career paths. Wage labor remains relevant, but gains new features, requiring young people to actively participate in shaping their careers. For a contemporary employee, work becomes a space for implementing a life-long self-entrepreneurial project and embodying inhabitation, as it is a source of stability and resilience in an era of uncertainty.
Jones’ novella Where We Land belongs to the CLI-FI genre and envisages what might happen in New Zealand if a mass of climate refugees from Asia or Oceania should illegally arrive. The author describes a situation similar to the so-called “journeys of hope” occurring in the Mediterranean Sea. The refugees’ boat is attacked by the NZ Navy frigate torpedoes and the few survivals who succeed in landing have to confront armed shore patrols of citizens defending their own territories from the ‘invaders’. Official government propaganda, sense of the ‘nation’ and hate for foreign immigrants intertwine in the story to depict a society with no sense of solidarity or positive affect. The book catches the spirit of ‘negative solidarity’ rising in neoliberal countries, characterized by isolated competitive relations within populist political projects. By analysing Jones’ story, the article shows how neoliberalism destroys the conditions for collective action and collective decision.
This paper is based on the thesis that there is a ‘sea change’ in the Faroe Islands (Faroes) of the twenty-first century, and that this multi-layered transformation in more than a symbolic understanding is brought about by the sea. Submarine space is being appropriated in futuristic infrastructure projects continentalising the Nordic Atlantic society. The relationship between the world above and the world below the sea is reconfigured, and the new vertical landscape gives us the opportunity to reassess images of island communities and ask the question: what is an island? The resurgence of the aquatic space in the lives of the islanders, soaking their cultural identities, is explored through the landscape of roads and tunnels in the Faroe Islands, with special focus on the subsea roundabout between the islands of Eysturoy and Streymoy. The paper argues that the tunnels not only connect previously separated islands, and centre with periphery, but also represent an avenue to a new water-land symbiosis in society. Life might be dryer than it was in the old days, but water continues to be the main source of cultural imagination, wealth, health, and futurity among island dwellers. Drawing on anthropological island studies, this paper represents an island perspective on what it means to conquer the sea-land frontier and to build a future through underground passageways.
Free online from 3rd December 2024 - 31st December 2024: https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/hypertranslation/701B513FE1F0DFEC6EF9E0F93C4789FA
Hypertranslation refers to a vast and virtual field of mobile relations comprising the interplay of signs across languages, modes, and media. In hypertranslation, the notions of source/target, directionality, and authenticity are set in perpetual flow and flux, resulting in a many-to-many interactive dynamic. Using illustrations drawn from a wide range of literary and artistic experiments, this Element proposes hypertranslation as a theoretical lens on the heterogeneous, remediational, extrapolative, and networked nature of cultural and knowledge production, particularly in cyberspace. It considers how developments in artificial intelligence have led to an expansion in intersemiotic potentialities and the liquidation of imagined boundaries. Exploring the translational aspects of our altered semiotic ecology, where the production, circulation, consumption, and recycling of memes extend beyond human intellect and creativity, this Element positions hypertranslation as a fundamental condition of contemporary posthuman communication in Web 5.0 and beyond.
International schools are somewhat ‘place-less’ in that their denationalised educational systems and nationally diverse student bodies are typically removed from the physical context in which each school is located. However, this placeless internationalism is complicated by international schools that also affiliate themselves with a national system or enrol a significant number of students who aspire to remain in the ‘host’ country. This paper develops the example of the Global Indian International School in Singapore to illustrate how the feeling of place is impacted by its dual orientations as both ‘Global’ and ‘Indian.’ The school attempts to (re)create an Indian schooling environment in Singapore, cultivate a sense of Indian identity, and prepare students for internationally mobile futures. Drawing on qualitative interviews conducted with students and teachers at the Global Indian International School in Singapore, we explore placemaking practices in educational spaces and consider how they are impacted by the potentially conflicting goals of grounding students in their ethnic or cultural identities whilst simultaneously equipping them for internationally-oriented futures.
The chapter outlines the theoretical foundations and methods of autobiographical pedagogy and its importance in the current context. The centrality of the narrative method for care settings in general and specifically for the care of the elderly is highlighted. With reference then to the medical humanities, the importance of the community dimension among individuals is underlined, also in order to recover a global perspective able to counteract the current fragmentation of knowledge. The fundamental contribution comes from the humanistic tradition, from arts to literature, that gives great weight to the 'story' and to the process of writing of them.
Achieving a transition to green energy requires the government to adopt new policies on green industrial products and energy. Throughout this process, rural residents often face various challenges due to economic and other factors. However, some rural residents are motivated to participate in this transition due to the economic benefits of energy usage and rooftop photovoltaic (PV). This study takes a rural community in the outskirts of Nanjing, China, as an example and applies Granovetter's embeddedness theory and a threshold model to analyze the factors influencing rural residents' engagement in a fair transition to green energy. Research hypotheses are proposed accordingly. The results indicate that rural residents are influenced by multiple factors in the adoption process of rooftop PV projects, primarily encompassing economic and trust-related aspects. From an economic perspective, rural residents evaluate the viability of rooftop PV systems by considering the marketing strategies employed by PV enterprises and the governmental pressure to reduce carbon emissions. They make rational calculations to determine the return on investment, and only when the economic threshold is surpassed will they reach the anticipated level of participation. From the perspective of trust, rural residents' participation in rooftop PV projects is also influenced by trust factors. The level of trust that rural residents have in rooftop PV enterprises, governments, and community organizations plays an important role in their willingness to participate in the green energy transition. Based on these findings, the research paper concludes that local government should continue providing tailored public information and services to facilitate the progress of rooftop PV projects.
Physically mobile international students undergo a complex experience and practice responsibilities as global citizens. In this context, numerous studies have expressed the importance of discovering their ways of sensing and engaging with mobile lives in the host society. Following a qualitative research approach , this chapter discusses the experiences of 18 physically mobile Bangladeshi international students in Australian society as global citizens. It portrays young students' economic and moral uncertainties, hopes, and inclusion and exclusion tensions in a neoliberal globalized society that shape their decisions for the present and future mobilities. Universities and other socio-spatial organizations in Australian society and their linkage with others overseas help develop young Bangladeshi students as global citizens as they face the challenges of homesickness, social exclusion, and the cultural and moral issues related to the Australian labor market. Their new identity as global citizens best fits the privatized, individualized, and fast-globalizing world.
Due to the challenges of implementing environmental responsibility, sustainable development is often criticized for its promise to “square the circle”. This paper incorporates sociological theories into operational research to enhance our understanding of the issue. It proposes a framework for evaluating eco-efficiency that captures the decision-making process from a macro perspective rather than focusing on a single technique or employing a multimethodology. By utilizing 272 Chinese cities as case studies, the evaluation process is effectively implemented. From three perspectives - region, city size, and policy - we draw some interesting conclusions. Finally, a vision for future research is presented in the concluding section.
Paratopia is a constitutive principle of literature and other discourses, but its modalities vary according to time and society. Our traditional model of paratopia is linked to a civilization centred on printed texts and a society where individuals belong to relatively stable groups. Digital technologies are profoundly transforming the way literature is created and consumed. These changes go hand in hand with changes in society, where individuals are increasingly searching for their identity. In such a world, literary paratopia is bound to take on new forms.
The civil society is experiencing a new phase of secularisation. The Author describes in the article the following issues: 1) the digital world is the result of epochal changes, which cannot be separated from a system of values; 2) the digital world as the site of a new relationship between Church and civil society; 3) the search for new rules of coexistence in the use of digital tools; 4) the legal dimension of digital communication.
The Balkan Corridor is undergoing changes that reflect the direct impact of macropolitical structures and policies. The main purpose of the conducted analysis of social network public posts is to examine the dominant narratives at the local and EU-levels, as well as the narratives that challenge official exclusionary measures in migration policies. This analysis focuses on how these narratives recognize and present place-based inclusion and exclusion practices through „talking to friends“. Particular attention is given to narratives about safety, security, cleanliness, community. The study, therefore, explored the intersection between spatial and discursive practices. Two simultaneous processes can be observed: openings for new frameworks and new forms of inclusive solidarity; and on the other hand, processes of redefining borders and dividing lines, often accompanied by militarization supported by international funds, help and support programs. These two narratives remain parallel and separate.
Vingt ans après sa sortie officielle, le Cadre européen de référence se renouvelle. Cet outil, qui a eu une grande influence sur tous les acteurs impliqués dans l’éducation aux langues aux différents niveaux en Europe et dans bien des contextes extra européens, a fait l’objet d’un travail profond de renouvellement et d’expansion. En particulier, un de ses concepts les plus novateurs, celui de médiation, a trouvé enfin l’espace et l’articulation qu’il méritait, parvenant ainsi à donner toute son épaisseur au schéma descriptif, vraie colonne vertébrale conceptuelle du CECR. Le passage des quatre compétences aux quatre modes de communication que le CECR proposait il y a deux décennies montre maintenant tout son potentiel dans le domaine de la didactique des langues. À l’occasion du lancement de la version française du nouveau CECR (Conseil de l’Europe 2021), il est important de s’interroger sur la portée de la médiation et sur le rôle fondamental qu’elle détient par rapport aux autres concepts clés du CECR, notamment le plurilinguisme/pluriculturalisme et l’approche actionnelle. Après avoir présenté comment la notion de médiation a été développée et a informé le nouveau CECR, l’article interroge l’articulation des différents concepts clés et la façon dont ils peuvent être considérés comme des leviers d’innovation.
Northeastern Pennsylvania was home to the anthracite coal industry for about two centuries. The area was originally settled by various waves of immigrants, first from western then southern and eastern Europe. The new immigrant miners faced many forms of prejudice and were exploited in a system of unchecked capitalism. They were racialized and placed at the bottom of the job hierarchy. Some capitalists did not consider them human, and therefore not deserving of safe working conditions, descent housing and equal pay. At the turn of the twenty‐first century, a new wave of Hispanic immigrants from the Caribbean, Mexico, and South and Central America entered the region to work mainly in low‐paying fulfillment center jobs. Their arrival is being met with various forms of xenophobia, much like the immigrant miners faced over a century ago. The online exhibition “We Are Anthracite,” hosted by the Anthracite Heritage Museum, addresses the call from the American Alliance of Museums for museums to be civically engaged, build social capital and connecting new populations to place. The exhibition bridges the experiences between the past coal mining communities and new Hispanic immigrants. The state‐operated museum hosting this exhibition lends validity to the new immigrants' place in this region, creating a narrative that their experiences are similar to the region's inhabitants' ancestors. By connecting common experiences, past and present, we are creating a form of bridging social capital that connects these different populations. While the northeastern Pennsylvania immigrant story is not well‐known, it is rich and complex like many Rust Belt communities undergoing similar major demographic shifts.
This article investigates the role of localization in the representation of different gender and sexuality profiles in video games. Using Sara Ahmed’s queer phenomenology as a methodological framework, it analyzes the ideological and cultural limitations that restrict the rewriting of minority sexualities and genders when the original versions are transferred to other languages. The article begins by considering the generative capacities of translation as an agent that can discursively construct the subject, before focusing on the implications of localization for the shaping of identities from a phenomenological perspective to describe what conditions may lead to the appearance of translated queer paradigms in video games. The theoretical approach is applied to selected examples and conclusions for the practice of localization and its academic study are drawn.
A wide range of studies in sociology consider the theorisation of Bauman in exploring lived experiences and future imaginations of young people in the globalised society. Based on the literature review and empirical data, this chapter establishes the relevance of Bauman’s key arguments in theorising young Bangladeshi students’ mobility in pursuing higher education in Australia. However, the question of politics of knowledge raised by Raewyn Connell is relevant to the process of investigation of the lived and imagined mobilities of the Southern (Bangladeshi) students within the theoretical lens of the Northern theorist (Bauman). In this context, the chapter considers Appadurai, a theorist from the global South. In this process, this chapter unpacks the relationship between Bauman and Appadurai in key ideas related to globalised mobility. Thus, it contributes to Connell’s proposed democratic purposes of social science on a world scale by setting up an example of global sociology of education by illustrating the relationship in theories between the global North and South.
The theoretical analysis of the article focuses on understanding the topology of modern socio-cultural space, the peculiarities of which (re)configuration can be explained by the dynamic construction of the «in-between». The configurative format «in-between» means the ontological quality that most vividly embodies the experience of hybrid existence in the modern «multimedia environment», the zone of dynamic multiplicity of real and virtual, public and private, the main feature of which is mobility. It is shown that under the conditions of the new mobility, life becomes more variable, fluid, multilayered, that is, it corresponds to a reality that cannot be reduced to an either/or alternative. Therefore, the heuristic possibility of essentialist binary dichotomies, which excessively narrow the pragmatics of modern human existence, is questioned. It is noted that in the context of the social and existential challenges of the digital culture, the configuration of human life-space is no longer contained within modern ontological binary oppositions such as public/private, outside/inside, closedness/openness, stable/turbulent, own/other. It is proved that, in contrast to the binary world order of the «first»/organized modernity, the topological position of the «in-between» is made possible by a completely different logic, the fundamental points of which are the processes of constant transfers of public/private, performativity and situationality, procedurality, (de)localization, flexibility, transparency, topological multiplicity. It is argue changes in the nature of subjectivity (here: the ability to act). In particular, under the conditions of a multimedia, networked reality, the ability to «live in motion», i.e., to be mobile, tuned to constant movement, the endless search for new places, relationships, impressions, identities, locations, are the sought-after qualities of human subjectivity. It has been established that together with new opportunities, digital network structures also dictate a new life imperative, which enables appropriate behavioral practices marked by a frank orientation towards the public performance of private roles: any (in)action must be recorded in the media. The result of deprivation processes is the transformation of the social order of society into an intimate space of collective life (privatization). rresponding
In Italia, il blocco delle attività produttive per contrastare la diffusione del virus Covid-19 ha prodotto una significativa diminuzione del numero di ore lavorate così come dei redditi da lavoro.
Questo contributo mira ad analizzare le dinamiche reddituali delle famiglie italiane in tre diversi periodi del 2020, anno dello scoppio della pandemia. Il principale intento è capire se, durante il primo periodo pandemico, le disparità tra gruppi economicamente deboli e non si siano livellate o se la pandemia abbia invece acuito la marginalizzazione economica di alcuni segmenti della popolazione. A tal fine, vengono presentati i risultati di analisi multivariate a partire dai dati dell’Indagine Straordinaria sulle Famiglie Italiane della Banca d’Italia. Questi risultati mostrano che le famiglie economicamente più vulnerabili prima della pandemia hanno subìto un’ulteriore marginalizzazione economica durante il 2020. Le analisi evidenziano come una reale politica di contrasto alla disuguaglianza economica dovrebbe promuovere interventi mirati verso quei soggetti già economicamente vulnerabili e marginalizzati prima dello scoppio della crisi pandemica.
Limited resources, multiple crises, socio-political tensions, development imbalances, and other challenges encourage cities to search for new development resources, especially intangible ones, and policies to tap into their potential. The research considers the creative potential of the city as an intangible development resource of this kind. The study aims to analyze the significant aspects and identify the mechanisms that are promising for cities to develop their creative potential in the context of digital transformations. The author analyzes several cases, numerous program and strategic documents, reports, and publications, paying particular attention to the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The global crisis demonstrated that organizations in the creative sector are highly vulnerable and need substantial government support. However, it also contributed to the creation of innovative products, gave impetus to the emergence of new forms of self-organization, and tailored support measures coined by the city administrations. The crisis also highlighted the crucial role of ICT tools and digital strategies in the survival and competitiveness of many organizations from the cultural and creative sectors. In this context, and considering the key industry trends, the article discusses possible points of growth and promising formats of interaction between the industry and the city administrations. In conclusion, the author suggests specific tools significant for the development of the industry, such as digital development strategies, as well as organizational practices that can contribute to the realization of the creative potential of the city.
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