Empty Gesture Research Articles

How to Think About State Sponsorship of Terrorism

States usually support terrorist groups to weaken their rivals, silence their opponents and give themselves options they otherwise lack. By providing weapons, training, a sanctuary and other support, states can make terrorist groups more deadly, increasing their skill and survivability. At the same time, states often impose constraints on their proxies, creating many difficulties for the terrorists. Iran and other enemies of the United States and its allies have long supported terrorists, and state sponsorship is likely to play a role in any continued confrontation with Russia, which may double down on existing ties to extremists given its humiliation in Ukraine and desire for revenge on its enemies. Confronting state sponsors of terrorism is difficult, however. For democracies, applying a ‘state sponsor’ label can be a powerful rhetorical, legal and policy tool. At the same time, it can often be misused, become an empty political gesture or even backfire. The ‘state sponsor’ label is highly politicised, and long-standing sponsors like Pakistan have avoided it. Clarifying what state sponsorship is, increasing the flexibility of the designation, giving policymakers more leeway on when to impose sanctions, and otherwise knowing how to better combat a state sponsor is vital.

Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018: Effective deterrent or empty gesture?

In 2018, following a significant increase in violence against NHS staff and others serving the public, the UK Parliament passed a piece of legislation which included the creation of a new offence category, ‘Assault against an Emergency Worker’. The intention was to codify the aggravating nature of assaults against emergency workers as a reflection of the moral outrage such behaviour should attract. However, the actual implementation of this law has been criticised as adding very little to the lofty promises of promoting a “zero tolerance” culture. In this paper we review the new legal framework and attempt to highlight potential effects arising from its implementation.

Performativity, Possibility, and Land Acknowledgments in Academia: Community-Engaged Work as Decolonial Praxis in the COVID-19 Context

At the intersection of dance, performance, and Indigenous studies, this essay reflects on how an assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles—with the support of a graduate student researcher—has aimed to put an Indigenous land acknowledgment into praxis through community-engaged work. In academic settings, land acknowledgments are often given prior to an event and may circulate on written materials, such as event programs, syllabi, letterhead, departmental and research centre websites, and email signatures. Based on Indigenous protocols, these statements typically identify the original Indigenous peoples whose land the university currently occupies; they should also be created in collaboration with Indigenous leaders from the tribe(s). Indigenous land acknowledgments can be important because they directly combat the injustice of settler-capitalist, mainstream discourses that often obscure Indigenous peoples and practices or relegate them to the historical past. Yet, Indigenous people and Indigenous studies scholars have critiqued non-Native land acknowledgments as “performative.” Without direct material benefits to Indigenous peoples, land acknowledgments can serve as empty gestures that “perform” university commitments to anti-racism, equity, diversity, and inclusion. In contrast to the “performative” as an empty gesture, the fields of performance and dance studies frequently theorize “performativity” as a material action that can function both hegemonically and subversively. This essay argues that community-engaged research, teaching, and service—which the authors view holistically—are key ways to begin or further the process of putting a university’s land acknowledgment into action.

Eye Brother Horn by Bridget Pitt

Reviewed by: Eye Brother Horn by Bridget Pitt Daniel Bokemper BRIDGET PITT Eye Brother Horn Minneapolis, Minnesota. Catalyst Press. 2023. 278 pages. BRIDGET PITT'S Eye Brother Horn could have been a saga of empty gestures, unearned revelations, and inconsequential atonement. In other words, it could've been just another white-savior tale. Yet Pitt does so much more with cultural sincerity and this heartwarming—and wrenching—tale of brothers forced to exist at odds. Eye Brother Horn is a creation myth in of itself, not for any religion or group, but of harmony. Two boys, Moses and Daniel, are raised by white missionaries in nineteenth-century South Africa. Daniel, the missionaries' biological child, possesses a magically real connection to animals after miraculously surviving a rhino [End Page 69] attack as an infant. Moses, who was rescued as a newborn, desperately tries to find his identity lodged somewhere between an adoptive white community and his Zulu roots. As the two grow, the reality of racism and classism tries to tear them apart. The novel alternates between Moses's and Daniel's perspectives, offering smaller passages within larger movements separated by years at a time. Their tales are rarely redundant, and neither is boiled down to a simple reaction. Pitt doesn't overexpose or underrepresent either character, bolstering the reader's investment in both. The dual narrative also frames the friction between the colonizer's Christianity and South Africa's native, ancestral spirituality. Through the divide, the boys' ideas begin to meld. Despite Daniel's privilege—his "birthright"—he's afflicted by debilitating episodes whenever his family hunts the local wildlife. Conversely, Moses distances himself from weapons of any kind, instead finding comfort in the stars and science. As young adults, the dreams they share are quelled, but their bond ties their hope tighter. Pitt's prose is tight and clear. While not overly simple, her consistency keeps the boys' transition to their twenties seamless. Their vernacular and experiences just click, as if we're privy to all the formative years the story doesn't explore. The novel begins to compromise its balance near its climax, but not without cause. Even so, there's a sense that Moses could have had a bit more of presence as he and Daniel butt heads with the latter's wealthy uncle, Roland. It's a minor setback to an otherwise powerful finale. Eye Brother Horn is a testament to the strength of kinship. It illustrates the connection we share while dissecting the constructs that separate us. Pitt has a gift for weaving modern turmoil into historic figures. The novel is a reminder that no consequence is harsh enough to extinguish hope. Daniel Bokemper Oklahoma City Copyright © 2023 World Literature Today and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

Deflective Cooperation: Social Pressure and Forum Management in Cold War Conventional Arms Control

AbstractWhy do states create weak international institutions? Frustrated with proliferating but disappointing international environmental institutions, scholars increasingly bemoan agreements which, rather than solving problems, appear to exist “for show.” This article offers an explanation of this phenomenon. I theorize a dynamic of deflective cooperation to explain the creation of compromise face-saving institutions. I argue that when international social pressure to create an institution clashes with enduring disagreements among states about the merits of creating it, states may adopt cooperative arrangements that are ill-designed to produce their purported practical effects. Rather than negotiation failures or empty gestures, I contend that face-saving institutions represent interstate efforts to manage intractable disagreement through suboptimal institutionalized cooperation. I formulate this argument inductively through a new multi-archival study of conventional weapons regulation during the Cold War, which resulted in the oft-maligned 1980 UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. A careful reconsideration of the negotiation process extends and nuances existing IR theorizing and retrieves its historical significance as a critical juncture and complex product of contesting diplomatic practices.

Comparison of oocyte vitrification using a semi-automated or a manual closed system in human siblings: survival and transcriptomic analyses

BackgroundIndications of oocyte vitrification increased substantially over the last decades for clinical and ethical reasons. A semi-automated vitrification system was recently developed making each act of vitrification reproducible. In this study, we evaluated the efficiency of the semi-automated technique of oocyte vitrification by survival rate, morphometric assessment and resistance to empty micro-injection gesture as compared with a manual method. Additionally, we intended to evaluate transcriptomic consequences of both techniques using single-cell RNA-seq technology.ResultsPost-warming survival rate, oocyte surfaces and resistance to empty micro-injection were comparable between semi-automated and manual vitrification groups. Both oocyte vitrification techniques showed limited differences in the resulting transcriptomic profile of sibling oocytes since only 5 differentially expressed genes were identified. Additionally, there was no difference in median transcript integrity number or percentage of mitochondrial DNA between the two groups. However, a total of 108 genes were differentially expressed between fresh and vitrified oocytes (FDR < 0.05) and showed over-represented of genes related to important cellular process.ConclusionsOur results provide reassurance about the influence of semi-automation as compared with the manual vitrification method. Concerning oocyte vitrification itself, no tight common transcriptomic signature associated has been observed across studies.Trial registrationNCT03570073.

The UnAmerican

The UnAmerican

Creating Value Through Social Issues: Short-Term vs. Long-Term Strategy

The level of social responsibility expected by society has risen significantly in recent years. Some companies used to pursue corporate social opportunity (CSO) thinking about how companies engage with significant social shocks over the short-term. These actions are symbolic and empty gestures. We offer 6 strategies for moving forward and for turning short-term social opportunities into long-term strategic value creations. Going beyond corporate social opportunity is about authenticity, impact and long-term strategy. This is a conceptual study aimed to help business leaders better understand their role in the decision-making process and what they need to do to ensure their business can survive in the short-term and thrive in the long-term. Doing so requires their business offering products, services and relationships that help their stakeholders improve their lives.

White Skin and the Black Mask™

White Skin and the Black Mask™

No gimmicks or empty gestures: The well-being support staff really need

Tea tents are no use if you can’t take a tea break; initiatives should start with the essentials

Beware performative reproducibility.

Well-meant changes to improve science could become empty gestures unless underlying values change. Well-meant changes to improve science could become empty gestures unless underlying values change.

Empty Gestures: Performative Utterances and Allyship

Empty Gestures: Performative Utterances and Allyship

VERMITTLUNG UND VERMITTELTHEIT

This essay starts with the observation that the practice of mediation in cultural institutions can become outmoded and -detached from its institutional context -an empty gesture. The process of mediation itself -so the assumption -must be mediated if it is to have any effect. I am interested in sketching an analytical design that can be used to study the mediating structures of mediation. Mediating structures are defined as institutionalorder. Its guiding idea and criteria of rationality, together with social, cultural or political expectations, shape the conditions under which the mediation practice of cultural institutions develops. Historical Institutionalism serves as a theoretical framework. Central concepts will be explained looking at the successful establishment of libraries at Danish hospitals around 1930 and at their abrupt closure, which started around 1985. The essay refers to a methodological point of view, which says that the content of a concept is developed and specified by its use.

Gesture as part of Second Language Acquisition for Turkish Learners (A Cross-cultural Repertoire of Gestures from Turkish, Russian, Spanish and Brazilian Cultures)

The purpose of this study is to determine, classify and compare the diverse emblematic gestures characteristic of Turkish culture for use in the Turkish as a foreign language class. In order to determine the specific gestures used and recognised in Turkish society, a questionnaire was administered to 54 informants. The findings of the research revealed that there are emblematic gestures covering the 151 most common communicative functions of the language, of which nine are potentially unique to Turkish culture. Afterwards, with the aim of determining if there are gestures characteristic of Turkish culture, that is, empty gestures, we compare them with Spanish, Brazilian and Russian gestures. The resulting glossary of these gestures demonstrates the necessity of including non-verbal communication issues during the acquisition process of Turkish as a foreign language.

Tocqueville i problemy z naturą demokracji

CEL NAUKOWY: Celem naukowym jest ukazanie cech specyficznych demokracji oraz ich wpływu na kondycję współczesnej jednostki i społeczeństwa z perspektywy historii idei. Na podstawie analizy tekstów Alexisa de Tocqueville’a i jego wybitnych interpretatorów, takich jak: Pierre Manent, Michael Oakeshott.&#x0D; PROBLEM I METODY BADAWCZE: Ukazanie z perspektywy historii idei istoty pojęcia demokracji zarówno w jego teoretycznym, jak i praktycznym wymiarze. Znakomita analiza demokracji poczyniona przez A. de Tocqueville’a w książce O demokracji w Ameryce od swojej premiery we Francji w latach 1835 (I tom) i 1840 (II tom) absolutnie nie straciła na znaczeniu i aktualności. Wprost przeciwnie. Ponowne odkrycie Tocqueville’a w latach pięćdziesiątych dwudziestego wieku było zasługą Raymonda Arona. Pracę nad interpretacją myśli Tocqueville’a kontynuował P. Manent – jego najwybitniejszy uczeń. Zasługi tych dwóch intelektualistów dla popularyzacji myśli A. de Tocqueville’a są bezsporne. To dzięki nim autor O demokracji w Ameryce trafił najpierw do europejskiego, później światowego obiegu intelektualnego. Zatem analiza demokracji opartych na opracowaniach Tocqueville’a i jego interpretatorów jest niezwykle użyteczna do badania kondycji współczesnej demokracji.&#x0D; PROCES WYWODU: Tekst zaczyna się od analizy rewolucyjnych przemian społeczeństw zachodnich – głównie Francji i USA – oraz wpływu na ich kondycję polityczną, społeczną i ekonomiczną. Później autor skupia się na omówieniu skutków, jakie niesie ze sobą demokratyczna transformacja. Chodzi przede wszystkim o zasadę suwerenności ludu, nową regułę legitymizacji władzy, która zastąpiła wcześniejszą zasadę suwerenności króla. Reguła ta budzi liczne kontrowersje, jest nieprecyzyjna, a współcześnie stała się pustym gestem, niewiele znaczącym rytuałem. Dalej zostaje przedstawiony swoisty paradoks demokracji, która będąc z natury zjawiskiem społecznym mającym pogłębiać więzi społeczne, prowadzi do odwrotnego skutku, ich rozluźnienia, a nawet rozpadu. Z kolei w demokracji (a właściwie jej współczesnej odmianie – demokracji liberalnej) krucha równowaga pomiędzy równością i wolnością skutkuje jej licznymi de‑ formacjami. Zatem krótka konkluzja brzmi – wolność przegrywa rywalizację z równością. Następnie autor pokazuje skutki, jakie wywołuje triumf równości. Konsekwencją tego zjawiska jest pojawienie się „człowieka masowego” z jego wszystkimi wadami. Na koniec zostaje zaprezentowane pojęcie „łagodnego despotyzmu” jako ilustracja procesu „ubezwłasnowolnienia” nowoczesnych społeczeństw i jednostek przez wszędobylskie, rozbudowane w bardzo wielu wymiarach współczesne państwo.&#x0D; WYNIKI ANALIZY NAUKOWEJ: Głównym wynikiem analizy naukowej jest ukazanie przez pryzmat dzieła A. de Tocqueville’, jak również jego współczesnych interpretatorów, wpływu rewolucji demokratycznej, która miała miejsce w ostatnich dwustu latach na jednostkę, społeczeństwo, państwo. Powyższe rozważania dotyczą funkcjonowania człowieka w obszarze polityki, ekonomii i kultury. Wniosek, jaki płynie z obserwacji zawartych w niniejszym artykule, jest pesymistyczny. Demokracja ma cały szereg wad, które przy pojawieniu się niesprzyjających okoliczności społeczno­-ekonomicznych mogą prowadzić do deformacji, a nawet rozpadu społeczeństwa.&#x0D; WNIOSKI, INNOWACJE, REKOMENDACJE: We wnioskach autor skupia się na konsekwencjach, jakie niesie ze sobą równość w demokracji. Zarówno ta, którą P. Manent określa jako „naturalną” oraz ta, którą określa, jako „wy‑ obrażoną”. W demokracji, a w demokracji liberalnej w szczególności, napięcie pomiędzy wolnością a równością prowadzi do jej rozchwiania, w ostatecznym rozrachunku do głębokiego kryzysu. W tym modelu ustrojowym – na poziomie idei, jak również praktyki politycznej – nie można tej sprzeczności ani złagodzić, ani wyeliminować. To twórcze napięcie, szczególnie przez kilka dekad po II wojnie światowej na Zachodzie przyniosło pokój, dobrobyt oraz społeczną i polityczną stabilizację. Druga dekada XXI wieku podważa ten stan rzeczy. Demokracja liberalna pod naporem negatywnych zjawisk, chociażby takich jak rozwarstwienie społeczne, ulega poważnemu kryzysowi, wskutek którego mogą wyłonić się dwa nowe modele ustrojowe: „demokracji nieliberalnej” czy też „liberalizmu niedemokratycznego”.

Taxing for inequalities: gender budgeting in the Western Balkans

This article seeks to illuminate structural limits of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) by analysing the interplay between economic and fiscal reforms, promoted by International Financial Institutions (IFIs), and gender budgeting initiatives in the Western Balkans. GRB is the core concept bridging revenue mobilization and gender equality in the work of IFIs. However, as the Western Balkans experience demonstrates, GRB initiatives are best characterized as “empty gestures” towards gender equality as they cannot compensate for the continued adverse effects of IFIs overall policies.

The political motivations for the reform of urban policy during the rapid economic growth period in Japan: a closer look

AbstractUrban policy in Japan gained greater significance in the late 1960s. In 1968, a new City Planning Law was enacted, and urban policy was a prominent issue in that year's House of Councillors election. Scholars have regarded the ruling conservative party's fear of a threat to its hegemony as the primary force driving this increased attention to urban policy. This article examines the political factors surrounding the reforms enacted, concluding that politicians actually underestimated the degree of public interest in urban policy and made largely empty political gestures to appease urban dwellers while responding more readily to agricultural interests.

The influence of conversation parameters on gesture production in aphasia

ABSTRACT Conversation is important in everyday life and this importance is not diminished in aphasia. Context parameters such as topic and partner are known to influence the linguistic content of conversations. With gesture being closely linked to language, these parameters may influence gestures used in conversations. This has not been investigated in previous studies. This study explored the spontaneous use of gestures in the conversations of participants with aphasia (PWA) and neurologically healthy participants (NHP). It aimed to examine the influence of conversation topic and partner on gesture production overall and on the production of semantically rich and empty gestures. Twenty PWA and 21 NHP were filmed during conversations with different topics (narrative & procedural) and different partners (familiar & unfamiliar). Analysis 1 investigated the influence of the conversation topic on gesture production overall and on the production of semantically rich and empty gestures. In Analysis 2, the influence of the conversation partner on gesture production was investigated. Both groups produced significantly more gestures in procedural than in narrative conversations. Moreover, PWA and NHP produced significantly more semantically rich gestures in procedural conversations. In terms of the conversation partner, both groups produced significantly more gestures in the conversations with the unfamiliar than in those with the familiar conversation partner. For all findings, there were no group differences and no interactions between group and context parameters. These findings shed light on factors that influence gesture production and suggest that both modalities should be viewed together as a communicative resource for PWA.

Notes Toward a Postmodern Principle

The current approach to statutory interpretation in Canada, viz., the ubiquitous “modern principle,” is an empty rhetorical gesture that masks the contingent, subjective nature of language and naturalizes institutionally sanctioned definitions. Since the late-nineties, virtually every relevant decision cites the same passage as methodology, positing the discoverability of objective textual meaning by looking to things like the “ordinary sense” and “intention of Parliament.” This is theoretically incoherent and incompatible with most credible understandings of language and interpretive subjecthood. This paper begins with a critical reading of each directive in the “modern principle” to demonstrate the normative force of its outdated approach. After discussing the legitimizing function of an ostensibly consistent method that elides the difficulties of linguistic meaning, I conclude with a preliminary discussion on the possibility of progress—or the idea of (literally) a postmodern principle of statutory interpretation.

Empty Gestures: Mimesis and Subjection in the Cinema of Yorgos Lanthimos

Man kann ohne Ubertreibung sagen, dass Yorgos Lanthimos’ Filmwelt durch die Geste definiert werden kann. Ganze Sequenzen seiner Filme portratieren die Charaktere dabei, wie sie komplexe und arbitrare Gesten ausfuhren, oder wie sie – auf Anweisung – durch eine Reihe von inszenierten Bewegungen einen Text verkorpern, mit dem Ziel, den Fantasien oder verlorenen geliebten Menschen eines Anderen Gestalt zu geben. Sprache selbst wird oft zu einer Geste reduziert – zu einer obsessiven und leeren Darstellung, einer Bewegung, der nicht nur der Sinn, sondern auch die Emotion geraubt wird. Diese eigenartige Welt ist ferner von Automatismen und Wiederholungen gekennzeichnet, welche die Idee von der Geste als etwas entweder rein asthetisches oder an sich befreiendes in Frage stellen, und stattdessen ihre Verflechtung mit Macht und Unterwerfung bestatigen. Die Charaktere scheinen die Ablaufe des Lebens, der Liebe und der Trauer zu durchlaufen, ohne tatsachlich zu leben oder den eigenen Gefuhlen Ausdruck zu verleihen. In diesem Sinne wirken ihre Gesten oft nicht mimetisch, sondern automatisch; sie sind nicht nur frei von Ziel und Bedeutung, sondern auch ohne Intention: Die Charaktere scheinen nicht nur lediglich der Beruhrung wegen zu beruhren, des Sprechens wegen zu sprechen und sich der Bewegung willens zu bewegen, ohne jeglichen unmittelbaren Zweck, sondern oft auch nur deshalb zu beruhren, weil sie dazu gezwungen worden sind; nur deshalb zu sprechen, weil ihnen befohlen wurde zu sprechen; und sich nicht aus eigenem Willen zu bewegen, sondern weil sie sich dem Willen eines Anderen unterworfen haben. Diese Gesten sind also nicht expressiv, sondern werden vielmehr als reiner Akt der Unterwerfung ausgefuhrt. Dieser Artikel erortert den performativen Charakter eines Handlungsspielraums, der mit der reinen Geste ubereinstimmt, indem Lanthimos Werk mit Giorgio Agambens Theorie der Geste gelesen wird.