Critical Debate Research Articles

MERITOCRACY AND EGALITARIANISM: adherence of university students from public and private institutions

When assuming the form of norms within a society, meritocracy and egalitarianism may initially appear to bring numerous benefits. However, subtly within this social dynamic, they can normalize inequality and emphasize various mechanisms of prejudice within the social fabric. Given the above, this article aims to measure the adherence of university students to the social norms of meritocracy and egalitarianism through practical, descriptive, and survey-based research. The study employed a sociodemographic questionnaire and a scale of social norms, consisting of adherence to egalitarianism and meritocratic individualism principles. The survey results revealed that university students exhibited moderate to low levels of adherence, with significant differences observed in the variables of gender, age, and income, indicating higher levels of adherence among males, younger individuals, and those with lower income. These findings indicate an ideological bias that is less prevalent in the academic environment but deeply ingrained in the social fabric since the early stages of individual formation. Thus, this highlights the need for critical debates on the denaturalization of this perception of reality, providing new perspectives to individuals in confronting reality and addressing inequalities in their respective contexts.

Does an emotional connection to art really require a human artist? Emotion and intentionality responses to AI- versus human-created art and impact on aesthetic experience

AI has captured the artworld, and, and, progressively, is reshaping the way humans interact with various forms of media. Computer-generated art sells for millions at auctions; artists routinely use algorithms to generate aesthetic materials. However, to capture the impact of such works and our relationships with them, we need to better understand the kinds of responses we make to AI/computer-generated images. Here, we consider whether and, if so, to what extent humans report feeling emotions when engaging computer-generated art, or even ascribe intentionality behind those feelings. These are emerging—and also long-standing—points of controversy, with critical arguments that this should not occur, thus marking potential distinctions between artificial and ‘real’ human productions. We tested this by employing visually similar abstract, black-and-white artworks, made by a computer (RNG) or by human artists intentionally aiming at transmitting emotions. In a 2 × 2 design, participants (N = 48) viewed the art, preceded by primes about human/computer provenance (true, 50% of cases). Contrary to critical suggestions, participants almost always not only reported emotions but also ascribed intentionality, independent of the prime given. Interestingly, they did report stronger emotions when the work actually was made by a human. We discuss implications for our understanding of art engagements and future developments regarding computer-generated digital interactions.

The right to the smart city in the Global South: A research agenda

Urban research has increasingly embraced the Global South, as recent critical scholarship continues opening to Southern cities, scholars and ideas generated from the South. Here, we (the authors, two women of the Global South) think strategically about ‘the Southern urban critique’, ‘the right to the city’ and ‘smart cities’– as well as some limitations of doing so. Intrigued by the fast pace of smart city development across the Global South, and informed by the ongoing critical debates and increasing empirical work focused on the unfolding of ‘smart’ in the Southern cities, we put forward a research agenda ‘the right to the smart city in the Global South’. Through three lenses of expose, propose and politicise this research agenda articulates the smart city shortcomings from a Southern critical perspective to elevate the ongoing empirical studies on the subject, to shed light on the gaps in knowledge, and to produce a normative alternative vision for ‘just smart city’. Our challenge to readers is to help create such smart cities, to engage with and reflect on the arguments in this positioning piece, and then complement them with further normative, future-oriented work – informed by empirical knowledge – to fully map out the particularities of an alternative Southern smart city, to inform planning and policymaking for just smart cities, and to enact the right to the smart city in the Global South.

Seeing Green: Lifecycles of an Arctic Agricultural Frontier☆

AbstractImaginaries of empty, verdant lands have long motivated agricultural frontier expansion. Today, climate change, food insecurity, and economic promise are invigorating new agricultural frontiers across the circumpolar north. In this article, I draw on extensive archival and ethnographic evidence to analyze mid‐twentieth‐century and recent twenty‐first‐century narratives of agricultural development in the Northwest Territories, Canada. I argue that the early frontier imaginary is relatively intact in its present lifecycle. It is not simply climactic forces that are driving an emergent northern agricultural frontier, but rather the more diffuse and structural forces of capitalism, governmental power, settler colonialism, and resistance to those forces. I also show how social, political, and infrastructural limits continue to impede agricultural development in the Northwest Territories and discuss how smallholder farmers and Indigenous communities differently situate agricultural production within their local food systems. This paper contributes to critical debates in frontiers and northern agriculture literature by foregrounding the contested space between the state‐driven and dominant public narratives underpinning frontier imaginaries, and the social, cultural, and material realities that constrain them on a Northwest Territories agricultural frontier.

Listening to the language of the context: problematizing researcher positionality in cross-cultural sport for development ethnographies

ABSTRACT Despite the significant progress in critical debates around sport for development (SfD) research throughout the last decade, there is still a tendency for researchers to utilise traditional dichotomies such as ‘insider/outsider’, ‘foreign/native’, and ‘Global North/South’ when it comes to reflections on ethnographic positionality. This paper aims to go beyond these by introducing the concept of ‘listening to the language of the context’, which involves a continuous reflection of the power structures involved in the relationships between the researcher and the research site. The development and application of this concept is explained through the use of two examples from SfD ethnographic studies; one located in the Northwest of England and the other in the Southeast of Brazil. Despite their geographical differences, we found that we encountered similar issues when it came to understanding our positionality within the research site, which centred around issues of ‘language’ and ‘power’. Through our reflections, we discuss how we strove to become immersed within the research site by attempting to listen to the ‘language of the context’, which involved both familiarisation of the context beyond the immediate research setting and acknowledging the privileges associated with being granted ‘access’ to settings through NGOs and formal educational institutions. Conclusions are provided regarding how this cross-contextual comparison has highlighted the need to continue the pursuit of reflexive methodologies which amplify unheard voices in SfD, as well as the importance of ‘listening to the language of the context’ at all stages of the research process.

Specifying a principle of cryptographic justice as a response to the problem of going dark

Over the past decade, the Five Eyes Intelligence community has argued cryptosystems with end-to-end encryption (E2EE) are disrupting the acquisition and analysis of digital evidence. They have labelled this phenomenon the ‘problem of going dark’. Consequently, several jurisdictions have passed ‘responsible encryption’ laws that limit access to E2EE. Based upon a rhetorical analysis (Cunningham in Understanding rhetoric: a guide to critical reading and argumentation, BrownWalker Press, Boca Raton, 2018) of official statements about ‘going dark’, it is argued there is a need for a domain-specific principle of cryptographic justice to reorient the debate away from competing technocratic claims about the necessity, proportionality, and accountability of digital surveillance programs. This article therefore specifies a principle of cryptographic justice by adapting more general norms of information justice to decision-making about encryption law and policy. The resulting principle is that encryption laws and policies should be designed to empower the comparatively powerless to protect themselves from domination (i.e., morally arbitrary forms of surveillance). It is argued this principle can reorient decision-making about encryption law and policy towards consideration of how cryptography impacts systems-level power dynamics within information societies.

‘Nous sommes tous nés nomades.’ The Pictorial Compasses of Fromentin’s Dominique and Flaubert’s Salammbô of 1862

ABSTRACT This article takes its lead from Barbara Wright’s simple yet profound literary-critical imperative, ‘“Only Connect” … ’ (2010), to reflect Fromentin’s Dominique critically in Flaubert’s Salammbô – and vice versa – by means of the aesthetic compasses of critical reader response in 1862, and their authors’ earlier travel writing. In therefore arguing by example for renewed examination of important works in word and image in Second Empire France that appear the same year, the article reorientates twenty-first-century critical debate concerning the status and aesthetic perspectives of mature, representative, enduring and canonical works in nineteenth-century French and Francophone Studies.

‘Typical characters under typical circumstances’: The Slum Fiction of Dorothy Hewett and Ruth Park

In this article I compare the representation of working people in two novels, Ruth Park’s The Harp in the South (1948) and Dorothy Hewett’s Bobbin Up (1959), as well as the ensuing critical debate about realism in their depictions of slum life in Sydney. I show that while Hewett’s work is more class-conscious and agitational, Park’s novel comes alive in deeper intersectional ways through her awareness of the interwoven structures of gender, class and race. Although Hewett’s novel culminates in a strike by women mill workers, Park reveals more of the individual strategies of survival that form part of the working-class lives she portrays. Thus, using Friedrich Engels’ critical point about ‘typical characters under typical circumstances’, I argue that while both writers try to capture the fundamental experience of working-class people, this is more successfully done in Park’s novel, both in terms of its literary realism and implicit radical politics.

On the ‘Greats’ and Peace: Part Two: The Internal and External Challenges to the Embryonic International Peace Architecture in Modernity

ABSTRACT Part II of this article develops the argument that in a century of industrialised warfare, the international peace architecture (IPA) was caught in a series of contradictions. It was drawn into a delicate balancing act of expanding rights and decolonizing former empires, building law and international institutions, making peace and managing war. Critical arguments emerged about appropriate responses to these issues, drawing on, but also heavily constrained by, their genesis in the ‘Greats’. Part II of this article examines this contradictory process in greater detail.

Peer Review Declaration

All papers published in this volume of Special Issue of IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science have been peer reviewed through process administered by the organizers and the proceedings editors in the 2nd ASEAN International Conference on Energy and Environment (AICEE). Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing.The procedures follow the dates as below:1. Full paper submission due date: Oct 15, 20222. Full paper peer review (1st round): November 30, 20223. Author full paper revision: Dec 30, 20224. Full paper peer review (2nd round): Dec 30, 2022- January 31, 20235. Author full paper revision (2nd round): January 10, 2023–Feb 25, 20236. Final confirmation and check by reviewer and editors for some special case: June 30, 2023The details of papers review settings are shown as below:1. Type of peer review: Double Anonymous.2. Number of extended abstracts received: 144 abstracts.3. Number of extended abstracts accepted: 119 abstracts.4. Number of full paper submissions received: 116 papers.5. Number of full paper submissions sent for review: 116 papers.6. Number of full paper submissions accepted: 38 papers.7. Acceptance rate (Number of Submissions Accepted/Number of Submissions Received × 100): 33%8. Average number of reviews per paper: 29. Total number of reviewers involved: 6 reviewers.The full paper peer review criteria are shown as below:1. Background and objective Do the background and objective have coherence and clarity with the content of full paper? 2. Methodology 2.1 Does the methodology part clearly state data sources, data collection procedures, and analytical approach? 2.2 Are they in-line with research objectives (questions) stated in the paper? 3. Results and discussion Do the results and discussion present the clear flow, critical argument, and the relevance with the current issues? 4. References lists and total words 4.1 Are the reference lists relevant and have a minimum of 10 references? 4.2. Are the total words used in the paper 6,000- 10,000 words? The authors were responsible for making modifications to their papers based on suggestions made by the reviewers during the revision periods. Otherwise, the papers that were not resubmitted, or submitted on time have been rejected and excluded from proceeding to the next procedure.Overall, a total of 38 full papers were accepted by the 2nd ASEAN International Conference on Energy and Environment (AICEE) Committee and will be published in IOP: Earth and Environmental Series. The Acceptance Rate (Number of Submissions Accepted/Number of Submissions Received X 100) of the process is 33%. The contact person for queries is Dr. Ambiyah Abdullah, ASEAN Centre for Energy. For further inquiries, please send email to aiceeinfo@aseanenergy.org; aabdullah@aseanenergy.org.

Reassembling more-than-human sustainability: Relations with snow

This article illuminates the importance of reassembling sustainability from a relational, more-than-human perspective in response to critical debates regarding sustainable development and its underlying managerial paradigms. Theoretically, the study develops the concept of more-than-human sustainability by building upon relational ontologies and feminist, new materialist work. Empirically, the study draws upon ethnographic fieldwork of shadowing snow in ski areas in the Tyrolean Alps. Integrating more-than-human relations in winter tourism through speculative storytelling, the findings uncover the hidden relations of waiting-for, connecting-to, and thriving-with snow, examining how these perspectives disrupt capitalist modes of operation and open alternative approaches to sustainability in future winter tourism. The study concludes by examining alternative approaches to sustainable world-making by critically engaging with more-than-human relations in tourism.

Defining Dialogues: Tracing the Evolution of Human-Machine Communication

This introduction to the volume discusses the evolving field of Human-Machine Communication (HMC), drawing on insights from the philosophy of science. We explore critical debates in the field, underscoring the importance of challenging assumptions, embracing interfield work, and fostering dialogue in shaping our understanding of HMC. Moreover, we celebrate the vibrant collaboration between disciplines that drives progress in HMC. This piece serves as an invitation to join the exploration of this collection and contribute to shaping the future of HMC.

DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIA LITERACY AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS BY MEANS OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING IN JAPAN

The research substantiates Japanese experience of media literacy and oral communication skills development by digital storytelling (DST); reveals theoretical background and current practical application of DST in higher education of Japan. DST has significant advantages as an individual- and situation-oriented tool of oral communication as well as the instrument of psychological and learning influence on society. It is continuously implemented into Japanese educational and social practice. Famous universities of Japan initiate and realize scientific and academic projects, extending communication connections of Japanese population, improving their skills of critical thinking and argumentation, developing desires and abilities to communicate freely, fluently, confidently and persuasively. At present DST shows a positive growing tendency as a teaching and learning tool in higher education of both Japan and Ukraine. This is primarily linked with the global processes of social digitalization, computerization of education and urgent transferring to distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Evidence-based studies prove the efficacy of DST as the learning and evaluation instrument of oral communication skills, i. e. in English. Moreover, the technology can be applied in different specialties, i. e. medical one. The healthcare branch was drastically influenced by quarantine restrictions, having resulted in fundamental transformations of teaching and learning approaches, implementation of e-learning and telemedicine. DST has a confirmed positive influence on public health and medical knowledge development. In higher medical education it can be used as a new type of virtual patients. DST can improve physician-patient communication skills, professional qualities, tolerance and empathy. Our research confirms the potential of DST as a powerful developmental tool of media literacy and oral communication skills, and proves the requirement for the implementation of Japanese experience into higher education of Ukraine.

Interpreting the mental health and wellbeing agenda in adult community learning

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to engage critically with debates surrounding the mental health and wellbeing agenda for adult community learning (ACL), with particular consideration of creative arts provision. It draws on a qualitative research project involving five creative arts ACL groups in the English West Midlands and two mental health participatory arts organisations based in London. Of the ACL groups, one was targeted for mental health recovery, two were targeted for wellbeing, and two were mainstream. Fieldwork involved participant observation, interviews and group discussions with attendees, and interviews with volunteers, ACL and art therapy practitioners, ACL project organisers, and managers working in the organisations taking part in the research and other adult learning settings. The article outlines key critical debates. It then interrogates three related themes, drawing on a range of evidence from the study: (1.) the discourse of confidence and self-esteem; (2.) interactions between educational and mental health and wellbeing-related goals and outcomes; and (3) the role of creative arts subjects in the mental health and wellbeing agenda for ACL. Implications for policy and practice are set out in conclusion, including consideration of ACL curricula and pedagogical approaches in the area of mental health and wellbeing.

Classifying Sexes

In the political discourse regarding gender identity, the concept of biological sex has been weaponised by gender critical commentators to oppose gender affirmation for trans people. Recently, these commentators have appealed to an essentialist model of sex based on anisogamy, or relative gamete size, to argue that one’s sex is an immutable characteristic. I argue that the gender critical argument is unsound. The diverse purposes of sex classification and the complex variability of people’s sexual characteristics show that an essentialist model is untenable. I then consider how a more adequate theoretical framework from the philosophy of biology can accommodate this complexity and capture how sex is classified in relevant contexts. Further implications of the framework are explored which concern the vagueness, polysemy, and mutability of sex. These undercut the gender critical argument and show that the appeal to biological sex fails to undermine gender affirmation for trans people.

Delineating the concept of (digital) slow journalism and its future through an international Delphi study

ABSTRACT This study seeks to evaluate the current status of journalism and digital slow journalism and identify its future challenges. A Delphi method has been used, with international experts responding to a qualitative questionnaire. This methodological technique is used to analyze experts’ perceptions regarding one subject of study and detect future tendencies. In this particular case, an iterative process was conducted in two waves, with 28 professionals and academics from different continents (North America, South America, Europe and Australia), to stimulate a critical debate about digital slow journalism. The most prominent result of the study is that slow journalism is understood as more critical, contrasted and contextualized than fast journalism. The participants of the study believe there is a need for the truthful and quality information offered by slow journalism and narrative journalistic genres. Additionally, the findings indicate that the future of slow journalism involves the incorporation of new multimedia content and formats into its practice. This is particularly important if slow journalism is to be adapted to digital consumption demands. In this direction, future audience investigations will be key to offer readers better experiences and narrative styles.

Shared Brains, Proprioceptiveness, and Critically Approaching the Animal as the Animal in Artworks

The animal and being animal is a proposition and position that invites observational and critical debate. Yet, the presence of the non-human animal is usually and normatively confined to representational artworks rather than the animal itself in the gallery or museum, which is, potentially, problematically anthropocentric. Using diverse methods, processes, and materials, and curious to a myriad of opening potentialities, Bartram + Deigaard, in contrast to this problem, explore working as humans from an animal-centric perspective through artistic research. They bring sensitivities to their handling of the animal, as both artistic subject and collaborator, to observe and engage with empathy and openness to animal insight and revelation and behaviour. Their works in performance, video, drawing, and printmaking foreground animal proximity and behaviour, inter-species proprioception, reciprocal caretaking, synchronised respiration, and companionate movement. This article explores the socialised and familiar in close observation, directly and indirectly, in their individual yet companion practices, illuminating the benefits of a radically enlarged sentiocentrism. It reflects on the allowing and embracing of other species within their artworks, and of being mindful and sensible with balancing sympathies and empathies as humans within an often unbalanced system of agency. Specifically, it gleans patterns and insights from their exhibition at Tippetts and Eccles Galleries at Utah State University in 2021, where they invited a canine collaborator into their thinking through praxis and the interventions and residual outcomes this created. This essay discusses two individual video artworks from each artist, which document their invitations to non-human animals into the gallery or museum, and two durational artworks curated within this exhibition.

Teaching students to R3eason, not merely to solve problem sets: The role of philosophy and visual data communication in accessible data science education.

Much guidance on statistical training in STEM fields has been focused largely on the undergraduate cohort, with graduate education often being absent from the equation. Training in quantitative methods and reasoning is critical for graduate students in biomedical and science programs to foster reproducible and responsible research practices. We argue that graduate student education should more center around fundamental reasoning and integration skills rather than mainly on listing 1 statistical test method after the other without conveying the bigger context picture or critical argumentation skills that will enable student to improve research integrity through rigorous practice. Herein, we describe the approach we take in a quantitative reasoning course in the R3 program at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with an error-focused lens, based on visualization and communication competencies. Specifically, we take this perspective stemming from the discussed causes of irreproducibility and apply it specifically to the many aspects of good statistical practice in science, ranging from experimental design to data collection and analysis, and conclusions drawn from the data. We also provide tips and guidelines for the implementation and adaptation of our course material to various graduate biomedical and STEM science programs.

A Peripheral Movement?

Abstract This study analyzes the interplay between the public image and the self-image of the German Querdenken movement during the covid-19 pandemic. First, we reconstruct the public image of Querdenken with data from the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. Our findings reveal a multifaceted network of critical arguments against the government's public health measures during the crisis. Querdenken remained at the periphery of this newspaper discourse because it was mostly perceived as anti-democratic, particularistic, and irrational. Next, we compare this public image with Querdenken's self-image using the movement's press releases. Our analysis shows that Querdenken's supporters responded to public criticism by counter-labeling their critics as untrustworthy, conspiratorial, and corrupt. Our conclusion finds that due to its highly contentious “anti-science” and “anti-elite” approach, Querdenken failed to produce a positive “resonance” within the public sphere and developed only limited civil power.

Discuss to learn: a student-focused learning strategy

PurposeTraditional teaching strategies are making way for a more collaborative learning style, where students play active roles in their learning process. This work focuses on the discussant role activity in the market research subject in a business administration bachelor's degree as a way of empowering students' role. The discussant activity fosters critical thinking and debate between classmates while also encouraging communication and relational skills.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on expectation-disconfirmation theory, this study analysed students' expectations and perceptions before and after the discussant activity. Data were collected through two surveys carried out in class at the beginning and at the end of the course.FindingsThe empirical findings show that interactions in the classroom during the activity contribute to students' final evaluation of the activity and positively affect cross-curricular and subjective learning performance.Originality/valueActivities that recreate real-life experiences help students in the acquisition of certain key competencies related to their future inclusion in the labour market.