Interdisciplinary Debate Research Articles

Microvascular Reconstructions in Elderly Patients With Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma - Too Old for Surgical Treatment?

Retrospective cohort study. A major risk factor for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is advanced age. Ablative surgery combined with microvascular reconstruction has become routine for OSCC. Nevertheless, there is an interdisciplinary debate about the appropriateness of surgery combined with prolonged general anesthesia in the elderly. In the present study, the ablative and microvascular strategies in OSCC were evaluated in terms of oncologic safety and surgical morbidity in relation to age. A total of 345 patients with primary OSCC who underwent ablative tumor surgery and neck dissection according to the German national guideline for OSCC together with microvascular reconstruction from September 2010 to October 2017 were examined. General clinical data was analyzed descriptively with a special focus on perioperative morbidity of an elderly (≥70y) subgroup of 56 patients. Oncological outcome was estimated using Log Rank testing and Kaplan Meier plotting. Estimated 5year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) was 69.6% (≥70y) vs. 76.7% (<70y) and 62.9% (≥70y) vs. 78.2% (<70y) respectively with no significant difference between the 2 age groups. In multivariate cox regression, only initial stage of disease revealed significant impact on OS. Analysis of perioperative death/complications, flap loss, operation time, dependence on tracheostomy and hospitalization revealed no significant differences between the 2 groups. Tumor surgery including neck dissection in combination with primary microvascular reconstruction is a safe therapy in patients of advanced age. This results in excellent oncological outcome with no significant disadvantages in terms of perioperative morbidity, hospitalization or flap failure.

THE NEW ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY AND TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH

This article investigates the intersection between economic theory and sociology through a qualitative methodology, aiming to deepen the interdisciplinary debate between economics and the New Economic Sociology (NES). The analysis focuses on the contributions of Granovetter, Fligstein, and DiMaggio, highlighting how NES concepts can enrich the understanding of territorial development, especially regarding the role of social relations in territories. Sociologists, in turn, demonstrate diligence and creativity in addressing cultural and political issues concerning collective representations and social coercion, fundamental concepts that define institutions. Based on a robust set of authors and bibliographic references, the article seeks to complement the debate on NES. The research reveals that NES offers valuable insights for analyzing territorial dynamics and reinforces the importance of a territorial approach in formulating development strategies. In the end, the article demonstrates that the themes discussed by NES confirm the need for a more integrated territorial perspective in constructing sustainable development projects.

China in Africa: companies as enablers and beneficiaries? An empirical evaluation of state-business relations in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation

Abstract China’s strong economic presence in Africa has resulted in an increased interdisciplinary debate. Our contribution is the incorporation of a business perspective by uncovering the prominence and role of business in China’s diplomatic Africa engagement. Our theoretical contribution by applying the state-business relations (SBR) literature is to examine whether established frameworks can be expanded by an international dimension through intergovernmental initiatives like the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The paper conducts a document analysis of all declarations and Action Plans of all FOCAC conferences in the period 2000–2021, combining both a content and a thematic analysis based on an explorative and iterative coding process. Our data suggests that the prominence of businesses has increased while the scope of their activities and the number of focus sectors (especially infrastructure) has risen particularly since 2012. Companies are considered as enablers for political and economic goals in the state-driven FOCAC. We find that SBR frameworks are applicable to international contexts and propose an expanded SBR approach integrating transnational intermediary institutions like the intergovernmental FOCAC and transnational business platforms which facilitate positive state-business relations across countries and a conducive business environment.

Healthy musical identities and new virtuosities: a humble manifesto for music education research

This paper presents a new conceptualisation of musicality via a framework called New Musical Virtuosities for Healthy Musical Identities. The development of healthy musical identities is proposed as a key aim for music education. Musicking for healthy musical identities is approached as holistic and inclusive, highlighting the integration of social and creative interactions in the concept of musical virtuosity. Implications and examples of the new virtuosity framework for research and practice are discussed, including perspectives on diversification, decolonisation, and widening participation. The paper emphasises “humble” to foreground a fluid interdisciplinary debate, while also stressing the importance of these proposals in the form of a manifesto.

Socio-environmental balance: How environmental conflicts can support the climate-security nexus

This article relies on interdisciplinary debates in geography, political ecology and political sciences in order to explore how interpretative analyses of environmental conflict can support the climate and security nexus debate. It analyses mining and environmental conflicts in Burkina Faso and mobilises a framework highlighting the co-constitutive relationship between the environment and human societies. From this perspective, environmental alterations are considered a central and multicausal factor that can lead to a profound change in social and political structures and thus lead to conflicts. This article will first contextualise mining development, environmental conservation and armed conflict in Burkina Faso before reviewing the literature on climate change, environment and conflicts and describing the conceptual and methodological framework. Then, it addresses the case study of four large-scale mining sites in Burkina Faso. Finally, the last subsection explains how this case study can enrich the climate and security debate with an interpretative understanding.

Philosophy Moves

ABSTRACT In this paper, I introduce the notion of ‘philosophy moves’: prominent tropes featured in contemporary academic philosophy. Moves are more than patterns—they are tools for advancing and enriching philosophical debates. By recognizing these patterns in the philosophical literature, we collect an ensemble of moves for deployment in novel contexts, each with the potential to forge new paths of philosophical investigation through a given topic. The moves featured in this paper are constructive and progressive, with the potential to push past stalemates and open a wider conceptual landscape. Following a presentation of five exemplars taken from the philosophy of biology literature, I show how different moves could be made within a current interdisciplinary debate. Overall, I aim to demonstrate that recognizing these patterns is insightful pedagogically and potentially useful when used as part of one’s philosophical methodology.

Introducing the Journal of Health Equity : a new space for interprofessional and interdisciplinary debates to advance health equity

Introducing the <i>Journal of Health Equity</i> : a new space for interprofessional and interdisciplinary debates to advance health equity

Collecting, assembling, ordering: Border politics and the invisible data work of asylum

This article proposes to understand the ‘invisible data work’ that asylum seekers must do to put together a ‘credible’ asylum application. While the intersections between asylum and work have typically been analysed in relation to access to employment and labour conditions, we attend to the work of collecting, assembling, and ordering different forms of analogue and digital data inherent to the asylum process. Building on feminist interdisciplinary debates on work and drawing on a selection of asylum appeals from Italy and the UK, we argue that seeking asylum entails extensive and continual invisible work that requires significant resources, effort, skills and time. Attending to these forms of invisible work is crucial to understanding the challenges of seeking asylum beyond the migration journey and the implications of performing ‘invisible data work’ unaided and unequipped. It also counters problematic depictions of asylum seekers as passive subjects who are ‘just waiting’ for a decision to be made. Finally, rendering the collection and assemblage of data as ‘invisible work’ rather than just ‘doings’ has political implications for understanding the resources, responsibilities and resistance to the border politics of making precarious subjects.

CULTURAL AND ARTS CONSUMPTION AS A SOURCE OF SOCIAL SOLIDARITY: THE CASE OF THE LATVIAN CENTENARY PROGRAMME

In 2017–2021, Latvia celebrated its centenary with a wide-ranging cultural programme. The Centenary programme was announced as “the biggest event in the history of modern Latvia” providing 22.3 million euros over three years for more than 800 festive events “to strengthen the spirit of nationhood and a sense of belonging amongst the people of Latvia, and to promote collaboration and self-organization within the community” [Ministry of Culture 2020]. In this paper, we explore the ways in which this cultural policy initiative worked as a form of social solidarity building in the Latvian society, where there is a large Russian-speaking community. We are interested in examining the public’s participation and perceptions of the Centenary cultural programme, focusing specifically on the differing patterns and effects in the Latvian and Russian-speaking communities. The analysis draws primarily on a representative survey, designed and conducted in the autumn of 2021 by the authors as part of a larger research project. The survey was designed to enable analysis of the perceptions of the Centenary programme, participation and consumption patterns among different social groups and cultural communities, and experiences and perceptions of social solidarity (or lack thereof) in the context of the Centenary programme. The survey has provided new data on the links between cultural and arts consumption practices in an ethnically diverse society, as well as on the perceptions of effects of arts consumption on social solidarity and sense of belonging. On the basis of quantitative analysis of the survey data, we study the patterns of cultural consumption and its social impact, given the ethnic diversity of the society in question. We explore, firstly, how cultural and arts consumption is influenced by ethnic belonging and, secondly, how the effects of this consumption differ among ethnic groups. Based on this empirical analysis, the paper contributes to the wider, ongoing interdisciplinary debates on cultural and arts consumption, societal diversity and inclusion. Furthermore, the paper offers a novel approach to exploring, both theoretically and empirically, the effects of cultural and arts consumption on social solidarity.

Geographies of supplementary education: Private tuition, classed and racialised parenting cultures, and the neoliberal educational playing field

AbstractThis paper makes two contributions to knowledge. First, it broadens geographies of education's focal reach by concentrating attention on the consumption of supplementary education. Supplementary education markets are booming as parents seek to ensure their children have the qualifications required to succeed in knowledge economies. The paper elucidates how consumption of such commercially provided tuition—which is delivered outside of school boundaries but designed to improve performance in school—is shaped by place‐specific, classed and racialised parenting cultures. This shines an important light on shadow education market mechanics that have hitherto been hidden from geographical view, and foregrounds the significant role parenting cultures play in shaping children's educational experiences. Future research in geographies of education must attend to these parenting cultures, as interactions between the home and diverse formal, informal, alternative and supplementary education settings play an increasingly crucial role in confronting and reproducing educational inequality. Second, the paper advances the conceptual contribution of geographies of education to interdisciplinary debates about parents and education. It demonstrates that multi‐scalar geographical research makes a unique contribution to interdisciplinary theorisations of home–school links, including those utilising Bourdieu's notion of cultural reproduction, and Lareau's model of concerted cultivation. Specifically, multi‐scalar analysis demonstrates that: (i) place‐sensitive research is vital as it contextualises parenting cultures, reattaching analyses of parental habitus and capital to the field, highlighting how intersecting global, national and local processes shape parents' educational practices; (ii) previously overlooked racial differences in concerted cultivation must be analysed without being naturalised, by exploring how racialised dispositions towards education are shaped in/across place, and reproduced through global/local racialised social capital; and (iii) inter‐class differences that have dominated parenting debates remain important, but attention to inter‐class similarity and intra‐class variation, as it emerges through intersections with race and in place, is equally vital.

Cultural challenges to competition law enforcement in Latin America

Abstract The internationalization of competition law in recent decades has been very successful. A very large number of jurisdictions have now adopted competition laws and apply them in marked similarity. And yet, at times, these laws, despite the similarity in wording and theory, lead to substantial differences when enforced. Differences in the meaning attributed to various concepts, to the goals of competition laws and to the methods of implementation, may result in inconsistency in the enforcement. The Latin American experience reveals a certain level of mutation process from the model laws through the flexibilization in their competition law enforcement, influenced by their own social values and beliefs, as well as their economic, political, institutional, and legal cultures. These cultural challenges need to be solved internally in each jurisdiction to allow competition law enforcement to further develop. Those jurisdictions where competition law enforcement has evolved the most are those that have adapted their competition laws to their cultural realities, while at the same time learning from the international experience. An interdisciplinary debate, at the local and regional levels, has showed to be an essential tool to help find possible solutions to the different challenges Latin American enforcers face.

Rethinking the Role of Technology for Citizens’ Engagement and Sustainable Development in Smart Cities

Recognizing the interdisciplinary debate about the digital devices and infrastructure needed to support the emergence and viability of smart cities, the latter can be considered one of the most challenging topics within recent decades due to its relevant role in supporting and enhancing citizens’ participation in public management. Using a deductive approach, in this paper, we propose a sustainability-based conceptual framework to support both policymakers and managers in better understanding at which level to act to improve citizens’ engagement as a way to ensure sustainable development in smart cities. The purpose of this paper is to explore how citizens’ involvement in smart cities can be steered toward positive attitudes and behaviors within the context of sustainable development. Drawing on a managerial perspective, we aim to provide preliminary reflections about the key role that digital technologies on which smart cities are based can play in promoting effective sustainable development for all.

Cities/active children

This contribution, written by an urban designer and an educationist, aims at (re)focusing the attention of the interdisciplinary debate on the active role of children within the public urban realm or – as we could rephrase it – on the potential influences that the city, its structure, regulations and spaces has on children intended as a vulnerable population group. In order to do so, some reflections on the relationship between “the child and the city” are presented, also supported by an original walk-to-school research conducted in the Italian city of Cassino, investigating children's active and independent mobility, and by a conceptual model based on the classification of children's physical activity as either “independent” or “non-independent”. Finally, a discussion on the pivotal role of public spaces is developed, briefly presenting some virtuous project examples.

Thinking Sideways: A Plea for “Weak Theory”

This essay examines the implications of interdisciplinary debates on the power of “weak theory” for planning practice. Focusing on the North American planning context, I argue that the concept of “weak theory” – with its emphasis on specificity and mid-level generalizations and its openness to doubt and contingency – has long been a source of discussion about social interventions, but the significance of this approach for understanding cities and informing city planning practice remains largely unappreciated. This essay critically reflects on the concept of “weak theory” and examines how it can promote intellectual diversity and enhance planning practice by making theory less dogmatic and more accessible.

“Digital Taylorism” for some, “digital self-determination” for others? Inequality in job autonomy across different task domains

Abstract In interdisciplinary debates, it is often assumed that changes in job autonomy in the course of digitalisation will be similar for all employees, even across task domains. Some authors postulate the emergence of a “digital Taylorism”, while others suggest that the digital transformation enables more “digital self-determination”. Based on a large-scale survey of employees in Germany, this article quantitatively examines both assumptions, with a particular focus on possible differences across job tasks. The results point to a systematic inequality between the task domains considered: Knowledge-related tasks seem to be associated with increased “digital self-determination”, while the results for manufacturing and service tasks tend towards a pattern of “digital Taylorism”. Overall, the debate needs to go beyond discussing possible future scenarios and address the complex links between job quality, digital technologies and tasks that are already changing the world of work today.

“We Can Manage This Corona Disaster”: Psycho-Social Experiences of a Diverse Suburban Middle-Class Community in South Africa: Interview-Based Study

The study concerns psycho-social domains experienced in a diverse suburban middle-class community, reporting the most positive cases and the deepest suffering, and interactions towards adaptation in stressful situations, such as the Coronavirus pandemic. This qualitative investigation used a descriptive design, with a strengths-based perspective directing a two-phased method. Through non-probability convenience sampling, 80 participants completed a web-based qualitative questionnaire (phase one). From those, 20 purposely selected volunteers participated in individual, face-to-face, open-ended, and unstructured interviews (phase 2). Themes, interpreted as one set, show how strengths and resilience appear, despite extreme shock and uncertainty. Transitional processes in psycho-social spheres reveal conscious decisions towards dynamic engagement, embracing change, reflecting on life’s value, and regarding novel meaningful priorities in contrast with “before”. Most prominent relational spaces have human connections in the inner (close) and outer (community) circles. Personal, meaningful relationships strengthen social bonds. Appreciative inquiry (AI) assisted in the transitional process to co-construct awareness of the positive core, emotional agility, and pride in embracing and expanding on newly developed strengths. Interpreted inductively, meaning described in abstracted knowledge can be transferred to and integrated with other contexts, identifying new initiatives and trans-, multi-, and inter-disciplinary debates mitigating psycho-social consequences and fostering resilience during disasters.

Rite and Stone: Religious Belonging and Urban Space in Global Perspective

Over long periods, interdisciplinary debates in urban studies on the relationships between religion and urban space were influenced by mainstream versions of modernization theory. These were based on the binary of urban modernity and nonurban (religious) tradition. However, historical urban research has shown that cities were also more often sites of religious innovation. Inspired by Jennifer Robinson’s understanding of cities as “ordinary” sites of sociality, with this special issue we contribute to this vibrant debate on religion and urbanism. The articles in it examine the role of places of worship as spatial and urban projects and address the following questions: How do religious actors become spatial entrepreneurs whose spatial projects shape cities? Which religiously motivated social and material forms emerge in cities? What are the practices and regimes that contribute to the spatialization of religion? How does the nature of places of worship alter and adapt to rapidly changing urban environments? And what are the consequences of religious buildings and other material forms for the social reality of cities? We argue that in contrast to former periods, when religious buildings were considered and constructed as authoritative buildings, these buildings are now much more fluid. Broad social transformations profoundly changed the roles played by and the social meanings attributed to them. Religious buildings and informal religious sites are not mere static architectural structures but bring with them a wide variety of spatial, economic, political, affective, and spiritual investments which make their construction, presence, and transformation a slippery object for urban planning logics and experts.

A disenchanted world: Max Weber on magic and modernity

Despite its great popularity in both the scientific and non-scientific fields, Max Weber’s concept of “disenchantment” remains mostly obscure and in recent years it has become the center of an interdisciplinary debate on modernity involving both Weberian specialists and non-specialists. The aim of the article is to return to Weber’s text and analyze Weber’s use of the term and the meaning of what he calls the “disenchantment of the world.” To do so I follow Taylor’s and Schluchter’s insight and investigate how Weber would picture an initial condition of enchantment. However, while these interpreters did not explore the Weberian perspective on magic, I instead show that not only Weber had a precise and original conception of magic as the primitive attitude toward the world, but also that this conception may clarify the meaning and dynamics of the process of disenchantment in both the spheres of religion and of science.

Prohibited artificial intelligence practices in the proposed EU artificial intelligence act (AIA)

Artificial intelligence (AI) now forms a more and more important part of human lives. After years focussed on the development of AI, the initial hype about its many expected benefits has gradually given way to rising ethical concerns about its inherent risks and dangers. Efforts to confront and contain the most serious risks related to AI have now prompted a number of legislative or regulatory proposals at the national, regional and global level. One of the most comprehensive regulatory initiatives is the European Union's proposal for an Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA), which was released in April 2021 with a view towards establishing a legal framework for trustworthy AI. To this end, the draft AIA pursues a proportionate horizontal and risk-based regulatory approach to AI, broadly classifying AI into the categories of unacceptable risks, high risks and low or minimal risks. The unacceptable risks are those that are deemed to contravene European Union values, and therefore, they are considered to be ‘prohibited AI practices’ by Article 5 AIA. The prohibited AI practices are classified into four categories, namely 1) AI systems deploying subliminal techniques; 2) AI practices exploiting vulnerabilities; 3) social scoring systems; and 4) ‘real-time’ remote biometric identification systems. The proposed regulatory approach, however, appears problematic given the four categories’ inherent interrelatedness and the numerous possibilities for their mutual combination and entwinement. It is also problematic from the perspective of the human mind, as each of the four categories alone allows for the manipulation of human thought and behaviour, thereby endangering freedom of thought and other fundamental rights. In the context of the proposed AIA, both aspects give rise to unknown and unsolved conundrums that create difficult regulatory challenges that raise the necessity to also look at the wider implications of these technologies for the entire legal system. As these conundrums often find their expression in paradoxes and oxymora, this article calls for a wider interdisciplinary debate and advocates a different regulatory strategy using these concepts to transcend the limitations inherent in dualistic or dichotomous modes of legal thinking.

Seeking Information with a More Knowledgeable Other

This forum provides a space to engage with the challenges of designing for intelligent algorithmic experiences. We invite articles that tackle the tensions between research and practice when integrating AI and UX design. We welcome interdisciplinary debate, artful critique, forward-looking research, case studies of AI in practice, and speculative design explorations. --- Juho Kim and Henriette Cramer, Editors