Transformative Action Research Articles

Tawhiti nui, tawhiti roa: tawhiti tūāuriuri, tawhiti tūāhekeheke: a Māori lifecourse framework and its application to longitudinal research

ABSTRACT Māori hold unique views on the lifecourse but there has been limited Māori-led longitudinal research to date. There is a particular need for kaupapa Māori and interface longitudinal research that generates mātauranga Māori and enables Māori-initiated transformative action. In this paper, we identify key features of a Māori lifecourse framework and its application to longitudinal research at the interface of mātauranga Māori and Western science. We describe how these features are applied in the Taranaki Māori-led longitudinal research programme Te Kura Mai i Tawhiti. Māori will benefit from a regionally-focussed Māori approach to lifecourse research at the interface. This approach can be applied directly in future localised research led by Māori and other Indigenous peoples. Māori-led longitudinal research will inform effective interventions to lift Māori wellbeing and prospects throughout all stages of life and strengthen Māori contributions to wider society. Māori approaches to longitudinal research will help shape new futures for Māori and a brighter future for all peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand. Glossary of Māori words: ao Māori: Māori world; Aotearoa: Māori name for New Zealand; hāngī: an earth oven or food cooked in such an oven; hapū: subtribe (also meaning to be pregnant); iwi: tribe, people; kaitiaki: guardian (also meaning teacher); kaupapa Māori: Māori paradigm; based within a Māori worldview; Māori: indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand; mātauranga Māori: Māori knowledge; mokopuna: grandchildren; ōhākī: parting wishes before death; Pākehā: primarily referring to New Zealand Europeans; reo Māori: Māori language; tamariki: children; Tangi te Kawekaweā: study title (the call of the kawekaweā, long-tailed cuckoo, heralds spring and the opportunity for growth); Taranaki: a tribal nation and region of Aotearoa New Zealand; Te Kura mai I Tawhiti: research programme title (sacred legacy of an ancient era); tauiwi: outsider, commonly referring to non-Māori; tuakiri: identity; wānanga: forum for sharing knowledge/learning; whakapapa: genealogy; whanau: extended family.

European Union Climate Policy — the Local Dimension

This paper aims to provide an insight into the opportunities and shortcomings with regard to the implementation of the European Green Deal (EGD) at the local level. Based on the example of Poland, the article centres around the main points, objectives, as well as financing sources of the EGD. Furthermore, the article assesses the possibilities of employing existing and new local planning instruments, with particular emphasis on municipal climate change adaptation plans. In order to elucidate the implementation of the EGD, the paper also indicates some practical transformation actions in the local economy in the field of energy and urban transport.

Indigenous learning lab as prefigurative political action to dismantle settler-colonial system of exclusion

ABSTRACT American Indian students continue to experience marginalization in settler-colonial school systems in the United States. American Indian students receive disciplinary punishment more frequently and harshly than white peers. Overrepresentation of American Indian students in school discipline is a byproduct of a long history of oppressive settler-colonial schooling. To address racial disproportionality in school discipline, the Indigenous Learning Lab was enacted through building a university-school-family-community partnership at a rural high school. Learning Lab is a community-driven problem-solving process through which multiple school stakeholders take transformative actions, including identification of systemic challenges entrenched in the settler-colonial school system and design of a new, culturally responsive support system. White administrators and teachers, along with students, family, and community members from the local tribal nation, engaged in prefigurative political action as they participated in the collective design process of the new system. Prefiguration is a present embodiment of new social relations, allowing participants to try new decision-making structures that may lead to what can be considered possible futures. The purpose of this paper is to examine how school stakeholders exerted their collective agency to unpack systemic contradictions in the settler-colonial school system and design a new culturally responsive support system.

Evangelizing the Church: Soteriology, Liberation, and Transformative Action in Graham Greene’s The Honorary Consul

ABSTRACT Scholarship on Graham Greene has extensively examined the expression of his religious concerns in his work, labelling him a “Catholic writer” but also a schismatic author, due to his paradoxical departures from the catholic orthodoxy. Not until recently, scholars such as Mark Bosco (2005) and Michael G. Brennan (2016) have challenged these cliches and drawn attention to the importance of Vatican II and liberation theology discourses in shaping Greene's literary imagination. Given the diverse developments fostered by liberation theologians, further studies are needed to widen the scope of critical dialogue on sociological, epistemological and ontological dimensions in Greene's work. This article places Greene's The Honorary Consul in dialogue with Ignacio Ellacuría's theological articulation, focusing on the concepts of liberation, freedom and soteriology. In addition, it examines kerygmatic forms of announcement and denunciation and the conflictive relationship between the word and ways of transformative action involving violence in Greene's novel.

Climate emergency and securitization politics: towards a climate politics of the extraordinary

ABSTRACT There is an ongoing debate among climate activists and scholars on the merits of ‘climate emergency’ frames, which mirrors debates in critical security studies on the benefits and risks of ‘securitization’. Climate emergency advocates demonstrate that rapid transformative action beyond ‘normal’ politics is needed to meet the Paris agreement targets. Critics, on the other hand, highlight the risks of deploying emergency frames to galvanize climate action, which may simply result in failed securitizations or even in emergency suspensions of democratic norms that advance climate action at the expense of climate justice. This paper will engage this debate by exploring the question: could climate emergency mobilizations be compatible with climate justice? I will argue, following Andreas Kalyvas, that the climate emergency can be framed as an opportunity for an ‘extraordinary politics’ of democratic constituent power, though this would involve risks and trade-offs that must be negotiated in practice.

Time reversal and CP invariance in Calabi-Yau compactifications

We revisit the question of time reversal and CP invariance in Calabi-Yau compactifications. We show that time reversal invariance is respected by quantum corrections to the prepotential. In particular, field independent θ angles whose presence is dictated by requiring integrality of relevant monodromy transformations can take precisely the quantized values compatible with time reversal invariance. Furthermore, monodromy symmetry enlarges the region on moduli space on which time reversal is not spontaneously broken. We define the action of the CP transformation for multi-parameter models and argue that on the slice of moduli space where it is defined, CP is trivially a symmetry of the theory. For supersymmetric vacua that lie in this slice, we derive a condition on the third cohomology of the compactification manifold which determines whether CP preserving fluxes exist that stabilize the moduli to such points. In the case of one-parameter models, the condition is always satisfied.

Co-producing transformative visions for Europe in 2100: A multi-scale approach to orientate transformations under climate change

Achieving sustainability and resilience transformations under climate change requires transformative and multi-scale visions to stimulate coherent thinking and action towards radically alternative futures. We present our approach to co-produce transformative visions contextualised in different regions across Europe, while exploring emergent ‘pan-European’ vision elements to guide transformative climate action across scales. We co-produced visions with stakeholders in four case studies: European, national (Scotland), transboundary river basin (Iberia) and two municipalities (Hungary). All visions share core aspirations for good living, justice and social and environmental wellbeing in Europe, while allowing contextualised interpretation to remain meaningful in view of context-specific needs, priorities, cultural perceptions and aspirations. The visions point to areas where deep transformations are required: in service provisioning from critical infrastructures like energy, food, health and education, and in lifestyles and governance. We discuss two key methodological considerations for the co-production of transformative visions across multiple scales. Firstly, the application of a systematic and comprehensive framework across all scales provided a guide to compare and ensure coherence between visions across multiple scales. Secondly, the creation of transformative spaces to co-produce the visions with stakeholders supported critical reflections and learning about the radical and multi-dimensional changes necessary in different regions in Europe.

Gettingrealabout consumer poverty: Deep processes for transformative action

AbstractTo uncover pathways for understanding and alleviating poverty, this paper offers an alternative approach for examining the real and unseen processes ofdestitutionandin‐work povertywhich shape the lives of consumers. We apply a critical realist paradigm structured around three core tenets—stratified realities,complex causationsandgenerative structures—to surface the nuanced complexities of these issues. A critical realist lens encourages impact by focusing on the deep causes of enduring social problems and provides transformative consumer research scholars with an integrative way to work toward transformative policy action.

When mindful consumption meets short food supply chains: Empirical evidence on how higher-level motivations influence consumers

Consumers have begun questioning the global agri-food system, seeking more sustainable alternatives to the conventional mode of food supply. Alternative food networks have been spreading globally, the predominant form of which is known as short food supply chains (SFSCs). The goal of this article is to advance our understanding of the motivations affecting consumer behavior towards SFSCs. To reach this goal, we drew from the mindful and sustainable consumption literature, and conceptualized an integrative framework of three higher-level motivations (i.e., health consciousness, ethical identity, and environmental consciousness) to determine what drives current (i.e., self-reported purchase behavior at the present time) and intended future SFSC purchases (i.e., self-reported intended behavior in the near future). We supplemented our model with the concept of domestic provenance importance, which reflects the importance consumers attach to familiar sources and adjacent spatial conditions of production, as well as with consumers' attitude change towards SFSCs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a survey sample of 1299 food consumers in three European countries (i.e., Germany, Hungary, Spain), we found that environmental consciousness had a strong effect on current purchase behavior. In contrast, ethical identity significantly influenced intended future purchase behavior. Health consciousness appeared to have only weak effects. Moreover, domestic provenance importance and attitude change towards SFSCs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic exhibited a somewhat robust effect overall. Our study contributes to the burgeoning SFSC literature by documenting the differential influence of higher-level motivations on current and future purchase behavior, offering valuable insights to food policymakers and practitioners in quest of stimulating transformative action in food production and consumption.

Tēvāram: Worshipping Gods on Stage

Abstract Building on the idea of “ritual quotation,” this article offers a new perspective on rituals enacted within contemporary theatrical performances in South India. Drawing from an existing corpus and reproduced in a different framework, the ritual tēvāram is embedded in a broad web of intertextual relationships comprised not only of items of repertoire and prescriptive manuals, but also of elements of ritual practices, shared beliefs, claims of social status, and ongoing negotiations between individual imagination and collective expectations. Usually a Nampūtiri domestic ritual, tēvāram is also carried out within Kūṭiyāṭṭam performances. Through a detailed analysis, I argue that the enactment of tēvāram on stage is not merely the stylized reproduction of a religious service, but it is rather an integral part of the narrative and aesthetic body of the theater practice. The performative and textual milieu of tēvāram creates scope for variations that modify both the plot and the tēvāram ritual itself. Kūṭiyāṭṭam-tēvāram thus becomes a transformative action and a tool of negotiation in the positioning of individuals within the social matrix.

Assessing Arabic Speaking Skills: A Critical Study for Implementation of Final Examination in Indonesia

Assessment is one of the basic processes in the educational process after determining goals and teaching students. The national school final examination, in Indonesia called UAMBN, is one of the programs for conducting Arabic language tests, and focuses on assessing four skills of students. In fact, speaking skills test is not in the program. The purpose of this research is to criticize the lack of implementation of speaking skills assessment at UAMBN. Researcher used a critical methodology to analyze the data by configuration of four analytically distinguished but intertwined dimensions: (1) critical understanding and in-depth examination, (2) critical explanation and comparative generalization, (3) open discourse and transformative redefinition or action, and (4) reflexive–dialectic argumentation. The results of the study are the absence of an Arabic speaking skill test in the national madrasah final exam/UAMBN cannot be tolerated. Distributing the assessment process in national school final exams/USBN is not the right solution. UAMBN should still hold Arabic speaking skills tests in special sessions. The solution in the form of an assessment implementation design is available in this study. Further research related to the application of this design is highly recommended to improve the quality of learning Arabic speaking skills.

Quality culture boosts agile transformation—Action research in a business‐to‐business software business

AbstractAgile methodologies are sometimes adopted, with the assumption that benefits can be attained by only using a set of best practices, which can sometimes work to a degree. In this paper, a case is discussed where a software‐producing organization of seven teams achieved significant improvements. The goal of the research was to answer two questions: how an already agile organization could improve its performance further and what is the impact of promoting quality aspects? The questions were answered by implementing interventions based on prior literature and data emerging from semi‐structured interviews. The context was an established business with a complex revenue stream structure, meaning the mix of various project/service/product based work rendered the adoption of agile methods a challenge. Action research comprising three rounds of interventions was conducted to improve the organization and its quality culture while enforcing code review practices. Interventions resulted in a significant improvement in quality, as measured by reported defects. Therefore, it is suggested that agile methods are not sufficient on their own to take software business forward unless a quality‐focused culture is simultaneously achieved through a mindset change and organizational structures to enforce quality practices. The paper contributes to research on the managerial practices of software business and agile transformation by providing empirical support to introducing formal quality improvement to the agile mix as a method for practitioners to improve organizations with complex business models and multiple teams.

Critical Literacy in Canada: A Systematic Review of Curricula and Literature

Critical literacy is a pedagogy that serves to mediate social justice issues and educate for transformative social action. We present a systematic review of how critical literacy has been incorporated in Canada’s provincial/territorial curriculum documents since the late 1990s and integrated in K-12 classrooms in the last decade. Our analysis shows that critical literacy has been addressed with varying degrees of explicitness in curricula, and there is an imbalance of studies on critical literacies among provinces and territories. We discuss implications and encourage stakeholders in education to explicitly embed critical literacy into curricula and promote critical literacy practices in the classroom.

Live longer and better without aortic valve stenosis

Live longer and better without aortic valve stenosis

지속 가능한 교양으로의 전환

Objectives This article explores a German university case that integrates the principles and values of sustainable development principles into all aspects of the German higher education system. The study sets out to provide practical implications for the development strategies from a sustainable development perspective to support general education in South Korea. Methods This paper gives an overview of the higher education system for implementation while the significance of this study lie in the practice and possibilities of general education. Theses are examined to probe how Germany adapts and applies a whole-institution approach to embed the value of sustainable development. A German university case of adapting the whole-institutional approach towards sustainability is then provided. Priority action areas are reviewed for the analysis of sustainable development in action through the approach to Education for Sustainable Development in the illustrative case. Results The characteristics of the German higher education system that realizes the value of sustainable development are as follows. A concept of sustainable development builds upon the global framework for implementation of sustainable development such as the Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development(ESD): Towards achieving the Sustainable Developing Goals(SDG). A joint research project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research(BMBF) is to establish guidelines for higher education for sustainable development. Based on the guideline each university develops a common concept of sustainability and transformative action program that promote the whole-institution approach. Conclusions Main findings of this research provide insights for general higher education in South Korea. This approach will prove useful in expanding our understanding of how apply to the whole-institution approach to general education in South Korea.

Can Neo-Rural Initiatives Bolster Community Resilience in Depopulated Coupled Human and Natural System?: Insights From Stakeholder Perceptions in Central Spain

Preindustrial era agro-sylvopastoral land uses have influenced structure, function and disturbance in Mediterranean type mountainous landscapes for millennia. In this study we analyze through semi-structured interviews, stakeholder perceptions of coupled human and natural system (CHANS) community resilience in one such landscape; the municipality of Puebla de la Sierra, Madrid. The municipality is part of the Biosphere Reserve of the Sierra del Rincon and the Natura 2000 network and as such is subject to various conservationist regulations emanating from multiple levels of governance. In the preindustrial past most municipal lands formed an oak “dehesa” or open forest CHANS that made biomass extraction through pollarding compatible with pastoralism and shifting agriculture. After a period of rapid land-use change in the early 20th century—marked by the state led plantation of coniferous forests, the final decades of the last century were characterized by rural abandonment and the collapse of traditional forms of land use as well as the gradual transformation of the municipality into an eco-touristic, exurban destination for Madrid residents. More recently, the municipality has experienced an influx of neo-rural settlers in the area wishing to connect traditional knowledge and management with modern agro-environmental practices. In our study, we identify two limiting factors to community resilience in Puebla de la Sierra; governance and financing. The current governance model is perceived by respondents to be contrary to their reality and needs, which translates into environmental, urban and health regulations that, in their views, penalizes agroecological and small-scale economic activities. In addition, respondents believe there is a dearth of material and financial resources to initiate these transformative local actions which further weakens community resilience. Stakeholders however also identified other factors that reinforce community resilience such as a collective willingness to revive key traditional ecosystem management practices such as pollarding, the networks of trust existing between the people participating in these new initiatives and the capacity for deliberating between different visions of future development pathways amongst local stakeholders.

From denial to delay: Climate change discourses in Ireland

Abstract Climate change is acknowledged as a pressing – even existential – problem for societies around the world. Despite the growing body of scientific evidence concerning the extent and impacts of climate change, meaningful policy responses have not been forthcoming. Actors and organisations intent on preventing or diluting policies around climate action have adapted their discursive strategies, moving from outright denial of the reality of climate change to focus on discourses of distraction and delay. Taking the case of parliamentary debates and media coverage of the 2021 Climate Action Bill, this research examines the extent to which these discourses are prevalent in Ireland. We find that discourses of delay were present, both in Dáil debates and in the media. We discuss the influence of these discourses on later interventions which affected the implementation of provisions of the Bill and may delay transformative climate action.

The pursuit of net-positive sustainability for industrial decarbonization with hybrid energy systems

Signatories of the Paris Agreement are set to miss their climate targets. The net-zero pledges announced to date across many countries and private industries are insufficient to achieve carbon neutrality, which requires implementation of far-reaching and significantly scaled-up climate-positive actions. All technology options that pertain to deep decarbonization and carbon removal must be part of the mitigation portfolio. Transformative action plans must be established in which every individual/organization around the globe is an actor of changes in relation to net-zero goals. Such plans must involve governmental policy support but also encourage voluntary efforts to boost innovations, investments, initiatives, and behavioral changes. Recognition of these efforts is made quantifiable with the concepts of carbon handprint and net positivity. This paper presents a carbon handprint perspective on characterizing the environmental benefits of hybrid energy systems (HESs)—a widely applicable solution to cleaner production leveraging the capabilities of a portfolio of low-carbon energy sources—that provide heat and electricity to industrial processes. First, the carbon handprint and net positivity concepts and their calculation approach are introduced. The state of the art of HES-enabled industrial cogeneration is then surveyed, and the greenhouse gas emission intensities of different energy sources that power HESs are compared. Next, drawing on a case study about a US chemical facility's voluntary initiative to explore replacing its fossil fuel–based cogeneration infrastructure with a clean energy–generated HES, several technically viable scenarios are evaluated—especially those with small modular nuclear reactors—to illustrate how the positive-thinking handprint approach helps encourage and inform the search for widespread influence pathways in pursuit of net-positive sustainability . Finally, current knowledge gaps in the case study are identified, and opportunities to scale up the proposed handprint-based analysis are outlined with consideration of an expanded role of HESs in fulfilling climate objectives. It is envisioned that like-minded decision makers in the industry sector and beyond will adopt this perspective and act synergistically to enhance their environmental stewardship through voluntary actions and make greater contributions to the planet's climate future. • Environmental benefits of hybrid energy systems are assessed using carbon handprint. • Hybrid energy systems produce cleaner heat and power for industrial processes. • Carbon handprint measures impacts of voluntary climate-positive actions. • Exemplary handprint-based net-positivity analysis is performed on a case study. • Opportunities for nuclear and renewable energy are highlighted in the case study.

Reorienting Ecological Paradigm for Harmonization of Humans and Nature: A Christian Perspective

The ecological crisis that is very alarming at the moment is caused by, among others, the “poor” ethics in the relationship between humans and the universe. Humans tend to see themselves as high and mighty, also the most decisive (superior). Conversely, nature is perceived as less important, of lower class, not human (inferior). Inequality in the relationship between humans and nature has further wosened the “ethical poverty” and the relationship is increasingly immoral. Thus, ethical poverty forms paradigm disorientation, dysfunction of action and disintegration of relations. Therefore, this article aims to reorient the paradigm, and to encourage the creation of harmonious relations based on a paradigm shift in favor of life. Everything begins with a search for social ethics that observes the events of the ecological crisis, investigates in-depth and hears various calls for a paradigm shift, identifies ethical-ecological principles and seeks a hermeneutical-biblical ethics as a religious interpretation that goes beyond the anthropocentrism of interpreting the holy scriptures. The method used in this research is a literature study. Data related to the issue of the ecological crisis was collected and then an in-depth analysis was carried out and finally conclusions were made. The issue of ecological crisis used as a reference in this research is the case of mining on Romang Island. This case is analyzed with a social ethics and a religious ethics approaches. The results of the analysis serve as a reference for transformative actions.

The exposure to hexachlorocyclohexane in the human organism and in the environment: transformative actions

Introduction: According to Ministry of Health reports produced between 2001 and 2002, the presence of Hexachlorocyclohexane isomers was detected in the blood serum of the population of Cidade dos Meninos. After two decades, there is still no definitive solution to the problem, about 2,000 people continue to live in the region, exposed to the toxic substances. The objective of this study is to analyze the environmental impact of contamination by Hexachlorocyclohexane, with emphasis on the health of the population of this region. Methodology: Literature review, carried out in a non-systematic way in the period from September 2021 to March 2022. Studies were searched in scientific databases: Portal regional da BVS, Medline, Lilacs, Scielo, Pubmed using the descriptors: HCH, Drill Dust, Hexachlorocyclohexane, Pesticide, Organochlorine Compound, Cidade dos Meninos. The data were complemented with the analysis of the list of references of the selected articles. This research was conducted according to the principles established in resolution 466/12 of the National Health Council. The study protocol was submitted and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Iguaçu. Results: The persistence of contamination by Hexachlorocyclohexane and the difficulties of access to health care of the affected population were observed.Discussion: The results of the various research analyzed, are decisive indicators of the need to develop agro-environmental measures to deal with the residues of Hexachlorocyclohexane in the contaminated area seeking an option to decontaminate the site. It is also necessary to provide monitoring in the area of health, in parallel with a process of awareness-raising of the residents in relation to the risks to which they are exposed. Conclusion: The City of Boys has been suffering the consequences of environmental and human contamination by Hexachlorocyclohexane for half a century. An interdisciplinary approach is needed in the areas of education, health and environment, strengthening efforts to reduce the impact of contamination on the environment and on the lives of this population.