Challenging Power Structures Research Articles

A modus operandi for sustainable-tourism transformations

ABSTRACT In this article, we identify and discuss unifying principles to co-design transformational sustainable-tourism interventions through participatory methodologies. We conduct a meta-ethnographic synthesis of the emerging relevant tourism literature (14 articles), and we propose five methodological requirements that underpin effective interventions for sustainable tourism transformations. The requirements are (1) co-creating actionable knowledge, (2) establishing safe spaces, (3) challenging power structures and managing emerging tensions, (4) shaping systemic synergies and (5) blurring the lines. Together, these requirements constitute a modus operandi – that is, a way of thinking and acting collectively that provides a unified foundation for impact-led, practice-oriented research on transformational sustainability in tourism. This modus operandi is a meta-perspective containing a cohesive set of guiding principles that integrate and elevate transformational methods, approaches and techniques, and represents our contribution to accelerating the field’s expansion.

Development of a culturally safe recovery-oriented mental health practice

ABSTRACT This paper provides a comprehensive perspective on recovery, highlighting the significance of cultural awareness and the use of intersectionality theory to further the understanding of the influence of diverse identities on the recovery journey. A conceptual model is being introduced for culturally safe recovery-oriented practices, encompassing key domains: ways of knowing, presence, doing, and operating. Social workers are urged to lead the adoption of these practices, addressing service delivery gaps and promoting cultural safety for mental health service users. The model encourages mental health practitioners to engage in self-reflexivity, challenge power structures, and dismantle social inequities that hinder mental health recovery. The holistic embrace of all four practice domains can enhance service delivery and foster cultural safety for service users in recovery.

Constructing Ethnolinguistic Identities: A Critical Examination of Language and Power Dynamics in Diasporic Communities

This research investigates the complex interplay between language and power in the formation of ethnolinguistic identities within diasporic communities. As globalization accelerates, diasporic groups navigate a complex landscape where traditional linguistic practices intersect with new socio-political realities. This study aims to critically examine how language functions as a tool for negotiating identity and power within these communities, emphasizing the role of language ideologies and practices in shaping social dynamics. The primary objectives are to explore how language serves as a medium for the construction and negotiation of ethnolinguistic identities and to understand the influence of power relations on these processes. Specifically, the study seeks to identify the ways in which language practices reflect and challenge power structures within diasporic contexts and how these practices contribute to the formation of collective and individual identities. This research is a multi-sited ethnographic approach,and integrates discourse analysis across several diasporic communities. Findings reveal that language serves as a strategic resource for negotiating social status and ethnic belonging. Diasporic individuals employ code-switching, language reclamation, and multilingualism to assert identity and resist assimilation pressures. The study highlights how language ideologies both reinforce and contest existing power structures, demonstrating the dynamic role of language in shaping ethnolinguistic identities amidst shifting socio-political landscapes.

Is this really Empowerment? Enhancing our understanding of empowerment in patient and public involvement within clinical research

BackgroundThere has been a growing push to involve patients in clinical research, shifting from conducting research on, about, or for them to conducting it with them. Two arguments advocate for this approach, known as Patient and Public Involvement (PPI): to improve research quality, appropriateness, relevance, and credibility by including patients’ diverse perspectives, and to use PPI to empower patients and democratize research for more equity in research and healthcare. However, while empowerment is a core objective, it is often not clear what is meant by empowerment in the context of PPI in clinical research. This vacancy can lead to insecurities for both patients and researchers and a disconnect between the rhetoric of empowerment in PPI and the reality of its practice in clinical trials. Thus, clarifying the understanding of empowerment within PPI in clinical research is essential to ensure that involvement does not become tokenistic and depletes patients’ capacity to advocate for their rights and needs.MethodsWe explored the historical roots of empowerment, primarily emerging from mid-20th century social movements like feminism and civil rights and reflected the conceptual roots of empowerment from diverse fields to better understand the (potential) role of empowerment in PPI in clinical research including its possibilities and limitations.ResultsCommon themes of empowerment in PPI and other fields are participation, challenging power structures, valuing diverse perspectives, and promoting collaboration. On the other hand, themes such as contextual differences in the empowerment objectives, the relationship between empowerment and scientific demands, research expertise, and power asymmetries mark a clear distinction from empowerment in other fields.ConclusionPPI offers potential for patient empowerment in clinical trials, even when its primary goal may be research quality. Elements like participation, sharing opinions, and active engagement can contribute to patient empowerment. Nonetheless, some expectations tied to empowerment might not be met within the constraints of clinical research. To empower patients, stakeholders must be explicit about what empowerment means in their research, engage in transparent communication about its realistic scope, and continuously reflect on how empowerment can be fostered and sustained within the research process.

Pathways to transformative adaptation in southern African cities: A criteria-based assessment in Harare and Durban

Transformative adaptation (TA) places emphasis on changing the underlying causes of climate risk. Little is known about how TA can be achieved in practice in southern African cities. This paper reports on a set of criteria, derived from the literature and transdisciplinary engagements, for taking TA from theory into practice. These are: fundamental/sustainable changes in thinking and doing; inclusivity; challenging power asymmetries; demonstrability; responsive and flexible; and holistic, complex systems thinking. These criteria were explored through five water-related projects in Durban (South Africa) and Harare (Zimbabwe), which were identified by actors as having transformative potential to reduce urban climate risks. The study suggests that trade-offs might need to be made between several of these criteria, with strong synergies between others. Challenging power asymmetries is important in southern African cities where adaptation should change the structures of society that give rise to highly differential climate vulnerabilities. Challenging power structures largely requires true inclusivity and an equal stake in shaping decisions as opposed to tokenistic participation. While TA is needed in southern African cities, the complexity of these contexts and the scale of TA ambition introduces practical challenges when compared with incremental adaptation, i.e. small changes to existing practices to reduce climate impacts within the current development paradigm. Given such practical limitations, the paper concludes that TA in southern African cities might pragmatically be attempted as part of a process of ongoing learning to identify opportunities for gradual restructuring and expanding, in scale and ambition towards transformation.

Hypocritical Management Studies

The assertion "critical management studies is dead. It died a long time ago" (O'Doherty and Jones, 2005, p. 6) has aged poorly. Critical Management Studies lives on, stronger than ever. The term itself even gets title case capitalization. Responding to the call to "investigate the production of theories that pose as radical without challenging the status quo", I offer my critique of Critical Management Studies. Critical Management Studies provides critical perspectives on established management theories and practices. It aims to encourage micro-emancipations and propose radical alternatives for organizational life. However, I argue that, in the current backdrop of neoliberal academia, Critical Management Studies finds itself entangled in the web of capitalist knowledge production systems that it criticizes. Critical scholars, instead of fearlessly challenging power structures, seem to cling to the status quo knowledge production—a bitter irony not lost on observers. I dub this ironic situation as Hypocritical Management Studies.

Rethinking Critical Sociology, Transcending the Transcendental

This article calls for a rethinking of critical sociology. Representing classical critical sociology, the Bourdieusian paradigm illustrated domination, but its negative foundation removed actors’ power, privileging sociological knowledge as capable of identifying (social) transcendental categories of thought. Latour’s constructivism challenged this privilege, giving actors the political power of aggregating collectives around their common concerns at the cost of emphasizing domination and critique. We propose a critical approach that evades a transcendental perspective reliant on pure negation, producing a more positive critical sociology founded on processualist phenomenological and pragmatic perspectives, principally Merleau-Ponty and Dewey. Actors and researchers can collectively ruminate on their perspectives and concerns to challenge power structures and transform their worlds. At the center of this is the social-mien, a creative reimagination of habitus. A brief discussion of the protests and scholarship surrounding the Notre-Dame-des-Landes activists’ practice of democracy highlights the utility of the approach and serves as a model for future application.

The unaccounted effects of digital transformation: participatory accountability in a humanitarian organisation

PurposeThis study explores the evolving dynamics of participatory accountability within humanitarian contexts, where digitally connected crisis-affected populations demand better accountability from aid organisations, and as a result, shift traditional hierarchies and relationships between humanitarian agencies and beneficiaries.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a case study approach, focussing on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to investigate how participatory accountability manifests outside formal practices and re-emerges in social media spaces. The study analyses internal organisational challenges and explores the implications of digital platforms on humanitarian practices. The authors employ Chouliaraki and Georgiou's (2015, 2019, 2022) networks of mediation, particularly intermediation and transmediation, to understand how digital expressions translate to offline contexts and reshape meanings and actions.FindingsThe study reveals that social media platforms enable beneficiaries to demand participatory accountability beyond traditional practices, democratising humanitarian response and challenging power structures. These effects are multifaceted, introducing enhanced democratic and inclusive humanitarian aid as well as new vulnerabilities. Digital intermediaries and gatekeepers play pivotal roles in curating and disseminating crisis-affected voices, which, when transmediated, result in nuanced meanings and understandings. Positive effects include capturing the potential of digital networks for democratic aid, while negative effects give rise to moral responsibilities, necessitating proactive measures from the ICRC.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by highlighting the impact of digital technology, particularly social media, on participatory accountability. It expands the understanding of the evolving landscape of accountability within the humanitarian sector and offers critical insights into the complexities and dual purposes of participatory accountability in contexts of resistance. Employing Chouliaraki and Georgiou's networks of mediation adds depth to the understanding of digital technology's role in shaping participatory practices and introduces the concept of transmediation as a bridge between digital expressions and tangible actions.

Decolonising Classroom Management and Its Political Hegemony in Universities

This theoretical opinion paper responds to the existing colonial hegemony in university classrooms. The study is underpinned by decoloniality with objectives to conceptualise decoloniality as a theoretical lens for classroom management and to present the assumptions of decoloniality as an effective classroom management system in universities. The study is located within a transformative worldview, and the argument was analysed using conceptual analysis as a tool to make sense of the argument deductively. The study argued that knowledge production through dialogue, advocating for the weaker voices in the classroom, and challenging power structures are dimensions needed to decolonise classroom management in the university system. The study concludes with the need to promote an atmosphere that encourages discussion, provides opportunities for underrepresented groups to take centre stage, and facilitates bravery from its members towards oppressive systems within the classroom.

Leaving no one behind: unveiling gaps in inclusive architecture at the UIA World Congress of architects 2023

PurposeThis article aims to provide an insightful analysis of the UIA World Congress of Architects held in Copenhagen in 2023. The Congress adopted the aspirational motto “Leave no one behind,” prompting debates on how to realize this vision. Six major congress tracks centered on architecture's function in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Each track focused on a particular design challenge: climate adaptation, circular design strategies, community resilience, public health, inclusive built environments and challenging power structures. There were 250 scholarly papers and pre-and-post-events for further debate on the tracks.Design/methodology/approachThis paper provides an insightful overview of the major panels, analyzes the events' content and analyzes the efficiency of the final ten principles underlining the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, community participation and new design approaches in achieving the SDGs.FindingsOrganizing an inclusive global event is a multifaceted challenge, demanding a careful representation of diverse participants. The selection of an appropriate venue, effective exhibition curation and thoughtful scientific representation play pivotal roles. The exhibition successfully engaged a broad spectrum of attendees. While the structure of six distinct tracks focusing on climate adaptation, resource reevaluation, resilient communities, public health, inclusivity and partnership for change was commendable, an excess of parallel sessions impeded the potential for robust discussions. A more cohesive approach with integrated sessions and flexible timeframes could foster meaningful exchanges, aligning with the essence of the motto “Leave no one behind.” It is suggested to prioritize in-depth engagement over breadth, enabling profound dialogues among stakeholders in shaping the agenda for future congresses.Originality/valueThis paper offers originality through its analysis of the UIA 2023 Congress's major events spotlighting architecture's significance within the UN SDGs. Enriched by the author's active engagement and reflective insights from the event, this paper adds value to the academic dialogue surrounding architecture and sustainable development. Additionally, the insights garnered from this analysis can inform the planning of future congresses and the refinement of guiding principles.

Towards the Post-Modern Art Week: Anthropophagic Reflexes in the Brazilian Larp Scenes

The Brazilian Modern Art Week of 1922, a milestone in the Brazilian artistic avant-garde, completed its centenary last year. The intention of this text is to reflect on larp using the concept of anthropophagy: a cultural metaphor created by Oswald de Andrade, one of the members of the Art Week. Anthropophagy is characterized by the de-hierarchization of the hegemonic places of culture and by the critical digestion of the Other. Andrade’s reflections crossed time: they influenced literature, theater, painting, cinema and music, to name a few. Applied to larps, the concept of anthropophagy is discussed from the point of view of the communicology of Vilém Flusser, who was also influenced by Andrade’s thought. Finally, this essay seeks to reveal larp’s resonance with the Theatre of the Oppressed, proposed by Augusto Boal – also one of those influenced by anthropophagic thinking. With this resonance, I seek to highlight the transformative potential of anthropophagy, here considered inherent to larps, interpreting one Brazilian larp as a case study. Although this essay does not commit the naivety of treating larp as a panacea, its ultimate intention is to highlight the dialogical and social character of larps, as well as their potential to challenge power structures.

Identity investment in stand-up comedy and online sketches

The article focuses on identity investment in stand-up comedy and online sketches performed by Romanian (or of Romanian descent) comedians acting abroad (France and United Kingdom). It aims at highlighting various humorous strategies that could be construed around a shared feature: the importance of the performer’s stage identity (persona). The analysis is based on a theoretical framework which combines stance(taking) studies and discourse approaches to humour. Immigrant’s (as marginal performers) humour reveals subversive humour: a means of coping with reality, aimed to expose and challenge power structures. The comedians explore stereotypes regarding Romanian or Eastern European immigrants in France and the UK. The differences in staging the stereotypes depend on the comedian’s identity investment in the persona he creates during the humorous performance, as well as on the degree of marginality he assumes for that persona.

Community‐driven science and science education: Living in and navigating the edges of equity, justice, and science learning

Community‐driven science and science education: Living in and navigating the edges of equity, justice, and science learning

Achieving gender equality through challenging social norms: BRAC’s Polli Shomaj program

ABSTRACT Can NGOs implement rights-based gender equality programs when donor focus on the area is shrinking? This paper explores how one development program has made strategic choices incorporating the interests of multiple stakeholders, addressing donor interests while simultaneously addressing the needs of local communities. It examines the evolution of BRAC’s Polli Shomaj, a rural women’s civil society organisation designed to challenge power structures through collective action in rural Bangladesh. It draws on interviews with program staff and existing program literature to find that over time, BRAC leadership has narrowed its program focus to shed its broad transformative agenda to focus solely on gender equality through a combination of service delivery and rights-based approaches. The paper suggests that while it is possible for NGOs to promote gender equality through a combination of rights-based and service-delivery approaches, greater focus is needed on challenging power structures to bring about lasting structural change.

Critical Accounting Theory: Unveiling Power Dynamics and Enhancing Accountability - An Empirical Study on Existing Literature

This article reconnoiters the critical accounting theory, focusing on its ability to unveil power dynamics and enhance accountability within organizations. Through an empirical study of existing literature, we examine the theoretical framework of critical accounting theory and its practical implications for understanding the complex interplay between power dynamics and accounting practices. The study aims to shed light on how accounting systems and practices can reinforce or challenge power structures within organizations and their broader societal implications. Drawing upon a comprehensive review of scholarly articles, case studies, and empirical research, we identify key themes and concepts within critical accounting theory. The empirical analysis provides insights into how critical accounting theory has been applied in various contexts, such as corporate governance, financial reporting, and sustainability accounting. The findings reveal that critical accounting theory offers a valuable lens for understanding the underlying power dynamics that influence accounting practices. Furthermore, the article discusses the implications of critical accounting theory for policymakers, regulators, and practitioners. It emphasizes the importance of considering power dynamics and social contexts in designing accounting standards, regulations, and corporate governance mechanisms. In conclusion, this article contributes to the growing body of literature on critical accounting theory by providing an empirical analysis of its application and implications. It underscores the need for a critical perspective in accounting research and practice, acknowledging the power dynamics at play and their potential consequences. By unveiling these dynamics and promoting accountability, critical accounting theory can drive positive change and foster a more just and responsible business environment.

Global Health and Decolonisation in Higher Education: Examining the Attitudes, Perceptions and Possibilities of Educators

Abstract Globally, there have been numerous calls to decolonise Global Health, most of them focusing on research-related practices while less attention has been given to Global Health education. The aim of this paper is to explore the perceptions and the meanings attributed to the decolonisation of Global Health education by Global Health educators from higher education institutions in both the Global North and Global South. To do so, we used a descriptive cross-sectional study using a mixed-method design approach. An online structured questionnaire was sent out in the second half of 2022 to 18 Global Health educators from both the Global South and the Global North to understand what the decolonisation of Global Health education means to practising educators, and what pedagogical practices should be recommended. In total, sixteen respondents filled out the survey. We used thematic analysis for the first question and found four sub-themes that we divided into the epistemic level (knowledge and its validation) and the ontological level (the nature of being). At the ontological level, we found that while the concept of decolonising Global Health was perceived as valuable and relevant; it was also seen as new and evolving, and lacking common direction. We found respondents saw the decolonisation of Global Health in education as a means of challenging power structures and colonial legacies, as well as a means of attaining innovation through reciprocity and equity. We end the discussion with recommendations for the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of Global Health educators.

What subnational imaginaries for solar PV? The case of the Swiss energy transition

Growing attention is being paid to imaginaries of energy futures that originate from actors at subnational levels who engage directly with energy transitions, and how these imaginaries compare with national imaginaries. We focus on collectives (e.g., cooperatives, energy utilities or public administrations) that engage with solar PV in Switzerland, a technology that is seen as central to the future of the Swiss energy system. To uncover sociotechnical imaginaries, we undertook 21 semi-structured interviews, complemented with a media analysis to ascertain the degree of formation and stabilization of these imaginaries. A dominant imaginary exists at the national level, which is institutionally stabilized, manifested in the Swiss Energy Strategy 2050; and two emerging sub-imaginaries were uncovered, termed adaptive and transformative. The adaptive sub-imaginary, which shows early signs of stabilization, is based on adapting current structures of power and business models, and embracing more techno-economic approaches. The transformative sub-imaginary, in an early formation stage, encompasses broader societal transformations, towards challenging power structures as well as technological solutions. Engaging with the diversity of subnational imaginaries and their phases preceding institutional stability has clear policy implications, notably in providing insights into how national imaginaries are interpreted and reproduced, and how sub-imaginaries may gain momentum over time.

What Can a Critical Cybersecurity Do?

AbstractCybersecurity has attracted significant political, social, and technological attention as contemporary societies have become increasingly reliant on computation. Today, at least within the Global North, there is an ever-pressing and omnipresent threat of the next “cyber-attack” or the emergence of a new vulnerability in highly interconnected supply chains. However, such discursive positioning of threat and its resolution has typically reinforced, and perpetuated, dominant power structures and forms of violence as well as universalist protocols of protection. In this collective discussion, in contrast, six scholars from different disciplines discuss what it means to “do” “critical” research into what many of us uncomfortably refer to as “cybersecurity.” In a series of provocations and reflections, we argue that, as much as cybersecurity may be a dominant discursive mode with associated funding and institutional “benefits,” it is crucial to look outward, in conversation with other moves to consider our technological moment. That is, we question who and what cybersecurity is for, how to engage as academics, and what it could mean to undo cybersecurity in ways that can reassess and challenge power structures in the twenty-first century.

Minions, masters, and migration: Challenging power structures in Gavin Bishop's Cook's cook: The cook who cooked for Captain Cook

Arguably New Zealand’s best loved picturebook author/illustrator, Gavin Bishop invariably challenges populist power structures in his fiction and non-fiction. As such, his books are ideal vehicles for teaching children about such broad topics as race relations, colonisation, migration, class conflicts, gender relationships, environmental issues and spiritual beliefs. The fact that Bishop often addresses several of these simultaneously, and draws on found texts to do so, paves the way for the teacher to encourage the child to read not only the lines and images but between and beyond these in order to construct a fuller meaning.
 This article will discuss Bishop’s (2018a) picturebook, Cook’s Cook: The Cook Who Cooked for Captain Cook, which qualifies as “faction”, a genre that mixes fact and fiction, with Bishop reproducing historical events and characters whilst investing them with an imaginative dimension. Most obviously, the selected book portrays migration, including the colonisation of New Zealand and the Pacific, and its longer-term effects. Hence, it focuses on the subjugation of the indigenous people, culture, flora and fauna to those that are imported, as well as the domination of the working class by the upper class. However, Bishop is too skilful an author/artist to suggest that everything is black and white. Rather, through paralleling and fusing the aforementioned foci, and in the ways in which the print and pictures work separately, together, sometimes against each other, and in interaction with fore texts, he suggests that dichotomies are mixed. 
 The article will examine those portrayed as minions and masters (whether human or non-human), their conflicts and conflations, and Bishop’s use of verbal and visual techniques and fore texts to challenge dominant power structures. It will also argue that, while emphasising dichotomies, Bishop, the master storyteller and artist, creates structures that ensure his picturebook is balanced and whole and that, rather than treating the reader as a minion, allow him or her to become a master of meaning making.

Historical Continuities and Changes in the Ethnic Politics of Hmong-Miao Millenarianism

ABSTRACT Millenarian movements used to be regarded as native reactions to enormous social disruptions caused by colonial intrusion, doomed to failure and at best a step on the way to more “modern” forms of collective social resistance. In fact, they have both pre-dated and outlasted colonialism, featuring in ethnic politics across Asia and beyond to this day. Nevertheless, its encounter with modernity has not left millenarianism unchanged, as is shown in this article’s historical case study. A comprehensive timeline and mapping of past and present Hmong-Miao millenarian activity highlights several enduring features including a context of economic and political crisis, their transnational nature, the prevalence of manipulation and/or coercion, and specific cultural symbols within supernatural predictions. Equally important are the historical developments, from pan-ethnic to mono-ethnic and from violent to peaceful (but still threatening to political and religious authorities), reflecting historical trends of ethnicisation and territorialisation. The mechanics of such reproductions and transformations are then unpacked, before the Hmong-Miao experience is compared with millenarian activity from other groups of upland Southeast Asia. Millenarianism continues to play a role in voicing social discontent, challenging power structures and moulding ethnic relations, but needs to be examined and understood within evolving socio-political contexts.