Active Actors Research Articles

A Feminist Stylistic Analysis of Umm-e-Rumman Syed’s Selected Poems in Beautiful Inadequacies

This research attempts to analyze Umm-e-Rumman Syed's Poetry collection from a feminist stylistic perspective to investigate various stylistic elements used for male and female characters. This anthology of poetry book Beautiful Inadequacies is written by an emerging Pakistani poetess, Umm-e-Rumman Syed, and was published in August 2020. This collection of poetry is divided into two parts, "Reminiscence of Adolescence" and "Reminiscence of Adolescence and Beyond," which portray life from age 13 to 17 and from 17 to 20, respectively, in a total of 130 poems (35-95). The present study aims to examine the cruel and unjust attitude of society toward women. The study employs Sara Mills's Feminist Stylistic theory (1995) to examine how women are presented in a text. This study uses textual analysis as a methodology to examine words, phrases/sentences, discourses, and themes of different selected poems from the proposed text. Moreover, the writer has used generic nouns, women as the marked form, endearment and diminutives at the level of the word, metaphors, transitivity choices, presupposition and inferences at the level of phrase/sentence, and fragmentation at the discourse level. The study concluded that different terms are used for women, which shows the lower, passive, dependent nature of women in society and also shows some hope, bravery, resistance, and self-realization. Meanwhile, men are shown as active actors in all their actions.

Key Aspects of Implementation of Participatory Budgeting Model in Georgian Municipalities

The article, based on the latest literary sources and factual materials, consistently studies such an important issue of financial theory and economic practice as the key aspects of implementing participatory budgeting in Georgian municipalities. The factors affecting the effectiveness of the implementation of the participatory budgeting model are discussed: the urban structure of the municipality, the size of the budget of the municipality, and the development of civil society. It is determined that any model of participatory budgeting should adhere to the following principles: model design and implementation procedures should be based on good management principles; The selected procedures should take into account the specific context of a particular municipality, including urban structure, budget size, and population participation; At the planning stage, active actors of the model, interested parties should be identified and their rights and duties defined; The model should fully comply with the legislation of Georgia and the established forms of citizen participation. Based on the international experience and the reality of Georgia, the factors affecting the effectiveness of the implementation of the participatory budgeting model are discussed: the urban structure of the municipality, the size of the municipality’s budget, and the development of civil society. It stands to reason that any participatory budgeting model should have, as a minimum, the following working procedures: population group meetings, information campaigns, development and submission of project proposals, voting, and final decision, and Evaluation of participatory budgeting process and work procedures.

FROM THE HISTORY OF THE GOLDEN HORDE BASED ON THE DATA OF "TAWARIHI GUZIDAYI NUSRAT-NAME"

Introduction. The article provides translation and analysis of the fragment of manuscript No. 3222 "Tavarikhi guzidayi nusrat-name", stored in the collections of the British Museum in Great Britain. The manuscript contains valuable data on the origin, life and work of such key historical figures as Oghuz Khan and Genghis Khan. At the same time, the source includes information on the history of the formation of the Turkic and Mongol tribes, which subsequently formed the Mongolian nation. The goal and objectives are to translate and comprehensively analyze the previously unpublished part of the studied London copy, analysis and comparison with the data of the historical monument "Jami at-tavarikh". The methods of the study are translation and source analysis of the manuscript "Tavarikhi guzidayi nusrat-name" by an unknown author and a comparative analysis with the manuscript "Jami at-tavarikh" by Rashid ad-Din. Research Results. The chronicle has an absolute value, thanks to it, it became possible to learn the origin of Oguz Khan from Noah, and the tribes that supported his faith in the Almighty were the Uighurs, Karluks, Kipchaks, Kalachi. Since Oguz Khan lived long before Genghis Khan, he could not influence the course of events in the Golden Horde. Active actors in the history of the All-Mongolian state were the Mongol tribes of Merkits, Taijiuts, Saljiut, Bayaut and others. Conclusions. In the process of studying the history of the Golden Horde according to the chronicle, it became possible to understand the significance of Oguz Khan and Genghis Khan in the process of forming the Nirun Mongols (truly Mongol tribes) and Darlekin Mongols (Turkic tribes). Which became a key moment in the formation of modern Mongolian and Kazakh identity.

Structure, Agency, and Persian Gulf security: Continuity amid change

The Persian Gulf’s security architecture is in a period of transition, caused by the interplay of two sets of dynamics, one related to structural factors, and the other a product of agency. Structurally, competition among the region’s two middle powers, Iran and Saudi Arabia, along with those of a small state that views itself as a middle power and behaves as such, the UAE, is both transforming the Persian Gulf’s security architecture and also keeping regional tensions high. Moreover, elite political priorities within some of the most active actors in the region are changing in favor of tension reductions.

Blockchain in Agroecological Certifications: Innovation and the Challenges of Socio-Environmental Autonomy in the Face of Technological Colonization

Objective: This article explores the application of blockchain in agroecological certifications, through the theoretical framework of Socially Disruptive Technologies (SDTs), focusing particularly on technosocial disruption, examining how these innovations transform technical processes and the social and cultural dynamics involved. Theoretical Framework: The theoretical foundation relies on Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network Theory (ANT), which considers technology as an active actor in socio-technical networks. In this context, blockchain is analyzed as a tool that can modify interactions among farmers, consumers, and certifiers. This perspective incorporates discussions proposed by Jürgen Habermas and Herbert Marcuse to explain the risks of technological colonization and instrumental rationality, which may occur when technologies like blockchain are implemented without regard for traditional knowledge and local practices. Method: Using a qualitative approach and integrative literature review, the research addresses local governance and the risks of technological colonization through observation in rural communities. Results and Discussion: The results suggest that the disruptive blockchain technology can promote greater transparency and traceability, yet it also presents challenges to the socio-environmental autonomy of rural communities. The social and cultural context of these communities needs to be respected, and blockchain implementation should promote participatory governance that values local knowledge. Research Implications: This study discusses how the results may be applied or influence practices in the field of agroecology, highlighting the consequences for governance and local autonomy. These implications span areas such as participatory governance, the management of disruptive technologies in agricultural practices, and the preservation of socio-environmental autonomy in certification systems. The research proposes a hybrid governance model for the implementation of socially disruptive technologies, ensuring that they are used as support tools rather than as replacements for local practices. Originality/Value: This study contributes to essential reflections on transformations occurring in agroecology by exploring the interaction between socially disruptive technologies (SDTs) and their interconnections with environmental autonomy. The research takes a critical perspective on the impacts of SDTs on the traditional practices and knowledge of rural communities. Additionally, it offers an approach that balances technological innovation and the preservation of sustainable practices, thereby promoting the ethical and inclusive use of emerging technologies in agroecological certification and production, serving as a reference for future policies and sustainability practices.

Quiet Resonances of an Emergent Indigeneity: Sound, Silence, and Igorot Protest Performances in the Philippines

Soundscapes of piercing gangsa (flat gong) rhythmic patterns, political speeches blared on loudspeakers, and call-and-response chants that envelop renditions of traditional celebratory dances characterise street protests led by Igorot left-wing activists. Upholding militant activism as foundational to Igorot identity, these spectacular displays signify an Igorot sense of value for collectivism, sovereignty, and territorial defense, echoing long-established practices that have sounded community resistance to corporate aggression since the 1970s. Despite this history, many Igorots reject the practice. Performances by leftist Igorots in 2017 aggravated internal debates about politicising Igorot identity. This troubled many Igorot activists, particularly an elder who, since his teenage years, had witnessed Igorots confront corporate intrusion into their ancestral lands through deployments of traditional practices. In an existential crisis, he distanced himself from the normative “noise” of protests, staging a solo act that reaffirmed his identity as an Igorot activist yet also promised his acceptance by the broader Igorot public. Drawing from ethnographic evidence and adaptations of Abe’s (2016) insights on sound-silence relationalities and Tsing’s (2007) notion of “friction”—the traction and slippage of divergent indigeneities—I examine this duality, amplifying the weighty “silence” of the said activist’s militancy and its emergent meanings. Through this exercise of individual creativity, Indigeneity manifests as a contradictory phenomenon that transcends conventional associations about identity and its expression. This paper seeks to disrupt the tendency to homogenise Indigenous experience by unveiling its radical possibilities. I voice often-ignored musical lives that forge new trajectories of identity.

Who’s Active Actor? The Analysis of Moderating Impact of Opportunity and Cost on Personal Energy Saving Behavior and Public Policy Participation

Who’s Active Actor? The Analysis of Moderating Impact of Opportunity and Cost on Personal Energy Saving Behavior and Public Policy Participation

The Decay-Life of Things

AbstractExamining the graveside tributes left at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, this article considers the meaning-making work of decay. Green-Wood is a polysemous place, existing as a historical and active cemetery, an arboretum, an arts and performance space, a space of mourning, and a place of leisurely strolling and birdwatching. Through a site-specific analysis of the cemetery, I approach decay as an active and durational phase of material life and explore different decay-temporalities through the tributes left graveside. I argue that orienting ourselves to the decay-life of things necessarily entangles us in a larger ecological ethic and relational ontology of self, land, weather, animals (human and non-human), and time. While advocating for material attention to decay-life, I consider how the aesthetics and taboos of decay shape the cemetery’s relationship to visible and invisible rot and ruin. The cemetery staff, wildlife, visitors, ecology, climate, and the dead create a complex network of active actors experiencing and altering the material decay-life of the left-behind natural and artificial material tributes. Together, this active and entangled decay-life of the site forms a network of temporalities of decay that co-construct the affective and environmental space of the cemetery.

Of heroes and villains – How coalitions shape their narratives and what the public conservation debate is actually about?

Policy narrative analyses provide important insight to understand mechanisms and dynamic of policy change but also to explore how narratives shape or bind coalitions in a policy subsystem. The overall aim of our analysis was to check what are the dominant narratives about nature conservation manifested in public debate and who generates them. We applied a Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) that allowed for a systematic analysis of narratives generated in public debate on conservation in Poland. We collected and analyzed over 1200 sources of policy narratives published in the most popular nationwide newspapers in Poland between 2004 and 2020.Our results illustrate that the public discussion on conservation is focused on policy actors and their actions and beliefs rather than on scientific evidence. While wild nature itself is barely discussed, it is often positioned as an important, active actor in generated narratives. We identified two main coalitions that present different beliefs on nature and human role in natural systems maintenance. Both mutualists coalition and the coalition of traditionalists describe themselves as heroes, knowing the right solutions for conservation challenges, and their opponents as villains - impeding the effective conservation actions.The study illustrates the applicability of the NPF to explore beliefs and values expressed in policy narratives. The results highlight a polarization of conservation debate in a country in transition.

Islamic Religious Brand Community Support Practices in Encouraging Creativity Values in The Religiocentric Market of Thailand

The practice of supporting the Islamic Religious Brand Community in Encouraging Creativity Values in Thailand's Religiocentric Market is one effort that is worth considering in online transactions considering that in the conditions of virtual transactions there are many product choices so that consumers will find it easy to get goods according to religious criteria, especially halal and non-halal products so that consumers can compare the type and value of products with others. Through this religious brand community, consumers create a bond based on shared values. For the religiocentric market, especially in Thailand, shared religious values become a strong glue and influence consumer purchasing decisions. Support from the religious community which can be in the form of Religious Support, Emotional Support and Informational Support is an antecedent variable that is considered to form Customer Ethical Perceptions and trust which ultimately leads to their willingness to be involved in creativity in the Thai Religious Market. The concept above is value co-creation, namely value creation that involves customers as active actors in creating the value of the goods themselves. This research uses explanatory research with a quantitative approach to analyze data and test it. The research aims to determine the relationship between two or more variables regarding Islamic Religious Brand Community Support Practices in Encouraging Creativity Values in Thailand's Religious Market. The results of this research show that there is a close relationship that is mutually sustainable and influences each other between Islamic Religious Brand Community Support Practices in Encouraging Creativity Values in the Thai Religious Market which causes an increase in the economic level and welfare of the community, both producers and consumers, especially seen from the perspective of the religious community in Thailand.

Revolutionary women, body, and the limits of nationalist ideology in colonial Bengal: re-reading the memoirs of Bina Das and Kamala Dasgupta

ABSTRACT This paper deals with the memoirs of two Bengali revolutionary women, Bina Das’ Srinkhal Jhankar published in 1948, translated as Bina Das: A Memoir, and Kamala Dasgupta’s Rakter Akshare (Written in Blood) in 1954 to argue how their subjective desire and experience dismantle the gendered rhetoric of nationalism in colonial Bengal. The accounts of Bina and Kamala present their involvement in militant activism and subsequent imprisonment. Notably, there is an inherent urge in their writings to sacrifice life for the nation and a determination not to retreat from the torturous conditions of the colonial prison. The paper contends that the rhetoric of nationalism in colonial Bengal is embedded in hegemonic masculinity that initially confined women to the spiritual and domestic realm and later allowed them to be educated and modern without acknowledging their subjectivity. Activities of these political women thus destabilise the gender discourse prevalent in the private and public sphere of colonial society, which calls for a revision of the nationalist historiography. So, this essay will examine how tropes of the body, self-sacrifice, and penal experience, as produced in these memoirs, negotiate the nationalist ideology, subvert the binary of masculine and feminine, and establish their political subjectivity.

A research on the Turkish shipyards in the Arctic: Opportunities and challenges

The Arctic region has been experiencing an extensive transformation and several economic opportunities have emerged due to the shrinking sea ice. While the Arctic Ocean has become more convenient for navigation, both Arctic and non-Arctic states have updated their Arctic policies according to recent developments. There has been a substantial increase in the number of studies studying three main Arctic sea routes: Northwest Passage (NWP), Northeast Passage (NEP), and Trans-Polar Sea Route (TSR). Albeit the existence of contradictory results, the interest in Arctic shipping presents a growing trend. The Turkish shipyards increasingly participate in tenders as well. While Çelik Tekne Shipyard stands out as the first Turkish shipyard to win the shipbuilding tender in accordance with polar conditions, a significant increase has been observed in the number of shipyards within the Arctic shipping tenders since 2018. In addition to Atlas and Akdeniz Shipyards, producing ice-class vehicles in accordance with the requirements of the Polar Code, it is possible to multiply examples from Beşiktaş Shipyard, which built ice class fuel ships, Sanmar Shipyard, which won the icebreaker tugboat tender, and Sefine and Kuzey Star Shipyards, which participated in the icebreaker tenders. Besides, the participation of Turkish shipyards as sole contractors in the Russian Arctic as of 2021 indicates their determination to become active actors in the Arctic shipping industry. Accordingly, this paper discusses the opportunities and challenges of Arctic shipping based on the Turkish case.

Boosting Influence: Türkiye’s New Military Activism In The Balkans

Boosting Influence: Türkiye’s New Military Activism In The Balkans

Preliminary Notes toward a Destituent Art

This article argues that, by looking to the generalization of a certain kind of artistic or creative character in paradigms of work, there is a view onto a different kind of relationship between culture and militant action and fugitivity. Here, the term destituent art is proposed to sketch out a form of cultural production that does or might lay waste not only to institutional targets of critique but also to the structurally immanent belief in institutional reform that underlies the aesthetics of that critique. It is an invitation to reconsider some key myths that structure art discourse (even if they appear as objects of critique) and an appeal to read that discursivity as not just productive but potentially destituent. To do so, the author reads operaismo's rereading of Marx against Marxism alongside theorizations of destituent insurrection through the subject of the artist. Some recent social movements in New York City targeting art institutions are analyzed to consider this connection. Like Colectivo Situaciones’ discussion of destituent insurrection as a grammar that unifies surplus populations through their expressions of refusal (the riot, the strike, the commune) that are simultaneously modes of reorganizing forms of life, a destituent art would not signal a turn to a productive pessimism—that all creative work is already subsumed—but that the cultivation of destituent power actualizes and is actualized by the aesthetic production of places of action.

Ad Hoc Tools for Urban Renewal: The San Borja Remodeling in Santiago, Chile, 1967-1976

Conceived, developed, and built in Santiago de Chile between 1967 and 1976, the San Borja Remodeling project was the flagship of the first years of the Urban Improvement Corporation (Corporación de Mejoramiento Urbano, CORMU), a State agency created in 1966 that would become an active actor in the renovation of Chilean cities. Despite the project's significance, not only in terms of its scale and location in the centre of the Chilean capital city but also for having pushed the capacities of both the State and private companies, previous research has not addressed the full variety of tools brought together to carry out a project of this magnitude and ambition. This article describes the complexities of the San Borja project in its development. It argues that the ambition to renovate a central area in the capital city led its designers to shape and rely on ad hoc design and legal tools to make it possible. Rather than imposing a totalizing design for the city, there was a pragmatic approach aimed at developing an incremental urban renewal plan led by the State, far from both centralized planning and neoliberal urbanism.

Multiple Criteria Stakeholder’s Roles in Ensuring the Sustainability of Gringsing Weaving

Bali is known to have the most types of wastra (traditional cloth) in Indonesia and is full of local wisdom values, one of which is Gringsing Weaving. This cloth is the only woven cloth in Indonesia that uses a double ikat weaving technique that takes a long time. The motifs and coloring are still traditional and use natural materials. Gringsing weaving has not only aesthetic value but also social and economic value. However, the departure of gringsing weaving is threatened due to the regeneration of craftsmen and competition with other relatively cheap fabric products. This research aims to analyze stakeholders' role in ensuring Tenun Gringsing's wishes, including convergence and divergence between actors. This research uses prospective analysis with MACTOR as tool analysis, where the data collection process is carried out through FGD. The respondents in the FGD are craftsmen, local figures, and the government. The identification results show that three internal and six external stakeholders are related and have an interest. Meanwhile, the objectives in context include economic, environmental, social, and cultural aspects. The results of the MACTOR analysis show that the most active actors in Gringsing Weaving tourism are traditional leaders. Tourists are stakeholders who have a value of disapproval of the goals of developing the human resources of craftsmen. Traditional leaders converge most with the Tenganan Village community and craftsmen related to Gringsing weaving. Traditional leaders have substantial differences with tourists. This further emphasizes the importance of the role of traditional leaders. This research contributes to the stakeholder scenario regarding the sustainability of Gringsing Weaving.

Harlem, Addis, and Johannesburg: African Solidarity and African American Internationalism in Harlem from the 1960s to the 1990s

Abstract This 2021 ASA Presidential Lecture combines sociopolitical history with personal reflections on Black Harlem during African decolonization. It begins at the turn of the twentieth century and traces Harlem’s transformation into an international center of pan-Africanist activism and cultural production. Brown explores solidarities that grew as Harlem politicians, grassroots leaders, and residents encountered political exiles and cultural leaders from the continent, the diaspora, and aligned political movements worldwide. These alliances and modes of protest facilitated a hardening of militant activist traditions and cultural cohesion that shaped an anti-imperialist pan-African movement and ultimately a multinational Black political movement in the 1960’s to 1990s.

Влияние региональных игроков на политический статус афганского движения «Талибан»

This article examines the role of the countries of the Arab region and Asia in shaping the political status of the Taliban movement (prohibited in the Russian Federation) after its return to power in Afghanistan in 2021. The reaction of regional actors to regime change in the country is described. A comparative analysis of the relationship of these states with the first (1996–2001) and second (2021 – present) Tali-ban regimes is presented. The article highlights Afghanistan's interaction with other countries in the economic, financial and humanitarian fields, as well as in the field of infrastructure projects. Common interests that contribute to intensifying partnerships between Afghanistan and regional powers are as-sessed. At the same time, risks associated with the terrorist activities of militants stationed in the coun-try have been identified. Measures of supporting and counteracting the domestic and foreign policies of the Taliban movement by other countries are analyzed.

Tapping on Collective National Trauma

Tapping on Collective National Trauma

Through the eyes of a child: the meaning and negotiation of integration from the perspective of pupils in Vienna

Scholars have pointed out that the dominant discourse on integration in Austria is characterized by an assimilationist view. This is particularly evident in various education policy measures – e.g., German support classes (Deutschförderklassen) – which illustrate that the well-being of migrants is not sufficiently taken into account. Against this backdrop, it is interesting to elaborate to what extent the prevailing discourse shapes young people’s understanding of integration. Applying a child-centered approach, we conducted 87 interviews and 13 focus groups with pupils at six secondary schools in Vienna. Not only did we find many different understandings of integration but also contradictions, ambiguities and ambivalences with regard to the concept of integration. Our findings suggest that it is vital for society to perceive young people as active actors in the integration discourse and to take into account the meaning and negotiation of integration as well as the needs and well-being of migrants from the perspective of pupils in order to sustain the integration process of migrant children.