Dominant Notions Research Articles

Measuring dominance certainty and assessing its impact on individual and societal health in a nonhuman primate model: a network approach.

The notion of dominance is ubiquitous across the animal kingdom, wherein some species/groups such relationships are strictly hierarchical and others are not. Modern approaches for measuring dominance have emerged in recent years taking advantage of increased computational power. One such technique, named Percolation and Conductance (Perc), uses both direct and indirect information about the flow of dominance relationships to generate hierarchical rank order that makes no assumptions about the linearity of these relationships. It also provides a new metric, known as ‘dominance certainty’, which is a complimentary measure to dominance rank that assesses the degree of ambiguity of rank relationships at the individual, dyadic and group levels. In this focused review, we will (i) describe how Perc measures dominance rank while accounting for both nonlinear hierarchical structure as well as sparsity in data—here we also provide a metric of dominance certainty estimated by Perc, which can be used to compliment the information dominance rank supplies; (ii) summarize a series of studies by our research team reflecting the importance of ‘dominance certainty’ on individual and societal health in large captive rhesus macaque breeding groups; and (iii) provide some concluding remarks and suggestions for future directions for dominance hierarchy research.This article is part of the theme issue ‘The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies’.

For a 'beautiful' religion without 'buzz': Hinduism, Facebook, gender, and status in La Reunion

ABSTRACT The ways in which some Hindu women use Facebook in the French overseas department of La Reunion suggest an intrinsic relationship between religion and media, not only in the sense of religious mediation, but also as mediation between their aspirations and achievements in terms of religious knowledge, gender roles, and social status. While their Facebook interactions need to be considered in continuation with their offline aspirations, the young women reported in this article use Facebook to create an alternative space to claim positions of authority. In contrast to the temple context and its strictly gendered access and tasks, they can, to a certain extent, bypass notions of ritual (im)purity and male domination on Facebook and take important roles in the selected dissemination and display of religious knowledge.

On isolate domination in hypergraphs

In this paper we introduced the notion of an isolate domination in hypergraphs. A set $D \subseteq V$ is called a dominating set of $\mathcal{H}$ if for every $v \in V \setminus D$ there exists $u \in D$ such that $u$ and $v$ are adjacent. A dominating set $I$ of a hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ is called an isolate dominating set of $\mathcal{H}$ if it contains at least one vertex $v \in I$ such that $v$ is not adjacent to any vertex of $I$. The minimum cardinality of an isolate dominating set of $\mathcal{H}$ is called the isolate domination number $\gamma_{0}$ of $\mathcal{H}$. We determine the isolate domination number for some hypergraphs while the study on this parameter has been initiated. Furthermore, the effects of the removal of a vertex or an edge from the hypergraph upon the isolate domination number are examined.

Editorial Commentary

Editorial Commentary

Review of Television and the Afghan Culture Wars Brought to You by Foreigners, Warlords, and Activists by Wazhmah Osman (University of Illinois Press)

This review examines Wazhmah Osman’s book 'Television and the Afghan Culture Wars,' an ethnographic study of television media in Afghanistan. The book explores the Afghan mediascape through richly detailed interviews with media industry professionals and local Afghans, which provide a realist portrayal of the perils and triumphs of media houses in Afghanistan, local cultural contestations, changing gender norms, and the role and reception of television in the nation’s rather tumultuous political and cultural life. Osman deflates the dominant notion in Western discourses of Afghanistan as a "hopeless landscape of powerless people," (2) arguing that there is a thriving, internationally backed media infrastructure and a hopeful, culturally conscious citizenry in the nation. She argues that despite Afghanistan's history of violence, ethnic tensions, atrocities against women, and imperialistic agendas by foreign powers, the Afghan media sector is a widely accessible platform for retribution against years of underdevelopment and war, with "the potential to underwrite democracy, national integration, and peace" (3).

Towards a living agriculture: extension of the notion of agriculture among rural extension agents based on a comprehensive approach to indigenous knowledge in Caldas, Colombia

Abstract: Agriculture as a business remains the dominant notion among agronomists that work as rural extension agents. Following this vision, their main contribution is to transfer the technical–scientific knowledge for manipulating natural environments to maximize the yield of the communities of cultivated plants. However, it is considered that contrasting one's ideas with those of others -in this case native communities- allows us to recognize, reflexively, the preconceptions themselves. In this framework, the objective of the investigation was to determine how the dominant point of view among agronomists educated within the technical–scientific paradigm changes upon comprehensive interaction with the traditional knowledge. Results derive from analyzing the interviews of rural extension agents who offer their services to native communities in Caldas, Colombia. From the analyses, it can be concluded that, nowadays, agronomists more easily understand that in the local context, agriculture, rather than a business, is a life-producing activity; that elements of nature are subjects that interact and coexist around the reproduction of life rather than objects to manipulate and appropriate; that, in practice, the scientific knowledge adopted is blended with traditional and mystic knowledge, thereby creating a multicultural conservationist practice.

Globalisation Paradoxes in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Social Reality in Eclipse

This paper challenges the dominant notion that globalisation has a neutral “win-win” outlook and the generalisation of “equal gains” and “equal pains” for all countries. The paper provides the dominant narrative on dimensions of globalisation but also dwells more on the global dichotomy approach in understanding this phenomenon. Drawing on analysis of secondary information, this paper examines the paradoxical problem of contested framing of the phenomenon and how it affects sub-Saharan African society. It distinguishes between the Western-oriented and sub-Saharan African perspectives in framing globalisation, which is a departure from the three other dominant narratives. Through a synthesis of available information and the author’s lived experience, this paper confirms that globalisation is not a neutral “win-win” phenomenon but a being that brings disproportionate gain and pain to the detriment of sub-Saharan Africa in numerous social spheres, as demonstrated in this paper. Based on the realities, mitigating approaches are proffered for African future development and social progress.

The Transformation of the Idea of Internet Freedom in the XXIst Century

The article analyzes the theoretical approaches that have developed in relation to the issues of control and freedom of the Internet space, including copyright regulation and its gradual transformation as the digital environment develops and changes. Special attention is given to the values underpinning the principles of regulation are determined. If initially the dominant notion was that the Internet would ensure humanity a new free world, then later the discourse shifted to much less optimistic views and topics the issue of network regulation, technical and legal restrictions, censorship and data protection. Most recent academic literature is devoted to the practical side of the issue, and the issue of values has faded into the background. As a result, the discussion has lost significant context: issues of freedom and human rights in the Internet environment, discussion of what is really important for society - security or the absence of restrictions, the problem of users trust in the state and platforms.

(Ab)use of Social Capital: An Indelible Negative Impression on Nigerian Socio-Political and Institutional Outfits

Social capital in sociology, economics, psychology and allied disciplines had been explored mostly, in the direction of its positive utility values in the society. However, the phenomenon has more negative impacts on the public institutions of the developing nations, especially with regard to the roles of these institutions to the sustainable development agenda. While bureaucracy especially its impersonal principle has helped the developed nations to control the vulnerability of public institutions to social capital, inability of the developing nations to objectively follow bureaucratic principle has made their public institutions vulnerable to the abuse of social capital driven by ethnic/religious affiliations. Hence, this adverse social capital scenario, has generated a public service environment, where people are employed or appointed based on their proximity to powerful ethnic and religious groups. By extension, this has had far-reaching negative consequences on the development and sustainability in these nations as mediocre manpower continues to undermine efficiency and promote the culture of perpetual underdevelopment. In this paper, we expanded on the above notion using available secondary data in Nigeria and linking the dominant notions of social capital to bridge the gap in literature on social capital and public institutions in Nigeria.

Iconographies of the everyday: Mediated whiteness and food hospitality activism

The category of the ‘everyday’ has been relatively un-theorised in studies of digital food culture. Drawing on theories that the everyday is not just a backdrop but through which race, class and gender are constituted, and the cultural production of whiteness, I analyse digital photographs from the Welcome Dinner Project’s webpages and social media. The Welcome Dinner Project is an Australian food hospitality activism charity, which organises and facilitates one-off dinners to bring ‘newly arrived’ and ‘established Australians’ together over potluck hospitality to address isolation and racism. My overall argument is that Welcome Dinner Project representations and media representations of Welcome Dinner Project are underscored by conflicting representations of race, diversity and privilege. Despite the good intentions of the Welcome Dinner Project, the formal images it disseminates work to service the status quo by enacting and reinforcing dominant notions of middle-class whiteness in Australia, moderating the transgressive potential of its activism. However, these processes are subverted by less formal and unruly images depicting people outside, in mess, in non-hierarchical groups and migrant hosting. Such imagery can be understood as a form of visual activism which challenges the iconographies of whiteness in digital food culture and normative ideals of race-neutral domesticity and everydayness.

Lesbian Community and Activism in Britain 1940s–1970s: An Interview with Cynthia Reid

ABSTRACT In this article, I provide a micro(oral)history of Cynthia Reid, one of only five women who founded the Minorities Research group—the first known lesbian organization in Britain, in 1963. Such activism paved the way for further lesbian liberatory action and the group did a great deal to combat the isolation experienced by many queer women across the country. They provided social opportunities as well as advice, and made more public calls for greater social acceptance. The group has been central to the interests of 20th-century queer historians, especially as the Minorities Research Group also produced the first lesbian magazine in Britain Arena Three. As a microhistory Cynthia’s story informs many threads within queer history, including conceptualizations of masculinities, community, and change; while also challenging dominant notions that families and medical professionals were consistently unsupportive of queer people in the 1940s–1970s. In doing so, this article amplifies Cynthia’s story in a way that means not only does it contribute nuance as a micro(oral)history to the broader field of queer scholarship but it also acts as a resource to stimulate further research.

Unravelling Resistance: Data Activism Configurations in Latin American Civil Society

This work examines the evolution of Latin American Civil Society Organizations’ (CSOs) resistance practices in the context of datafication and how these relate with the overall notions of symbolic domination denounced by the Latin American School of Communication. Although CSOs in Latin America are still exploring the problems surrounding datafication, signs of vitality are already showing in broader debates around human rights, community development, and media policies. The study identifies the main themes underlying datafication work by Latin American CSOs and assesses how they shape resistance practices and CSOs’ perceptions of asymmetrical power relations. While some patterns can fall into existing conceptualisations surrounding resistance practices and data activism, this paper identifies new conceptual and empirical approaches to face the challenges posed by a datafied society.

Digital youth work: a systematic review with a proposal

ABSTRACT This article examines the relationship between three areas: (1) youth digital participation practices aimed at fostering digital citizenship; (2) the competencies (skills and knowledge) required for critical digital literacy; and (3) the role of digital media in social work education to foster social inclusion. The purpose of this examination is to develop the notion of digital youth work, specified as a proposal for critical digital literacy that guides young people toward digital participation with social impact. We conducted a systematic review of academic articles published from 2015 to 2019 to obtain an overview of these issues. The results were used to address the following aspects of digital youth work: the main scholar approaches on digital citizenship and how they relate to the dominant notions of youth; debates on youth digital participation and tensions arising from the use of digital media in social work education; and the characteristics of a critical digital literacy whose competencies are geared towards social inclusion of young people.

Dispossession as depotentiation

This paper proposes a theory of urban dispossession as depotentiation. ‘Depotentiation’, as I employ the term, indicates the diminishment of imminent capacities, affects and potentialities. I propose this formulation to both complement and critique Harvey’s dominant notion of accumulation by dispossession as the commodification of the urban commons and to contribute to conceptual developments on the stratified and affective dimensions of eviction. The evictions in my study operate in liminal urban spaces where there are no ‘commons’, but rather incomplete and fragile processes of ‘commoning’ and high levels of mobility and precarity. This paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2011 and 2019 in inner-city Johannesburg in unlawful and other informal occupations, frequently termed ‘bad buildings’, ‘hijacked buildings’ or ‘dark buildings’ and other low-income accommodation. These are sites of extreme precarity and liminality, endurance and potentiality, where tens of thousands of inner-city residents, South African and foreign-national, live without essential services and subject to the constant threat of eviction or deportation. Dispossession of their residents operates not only through the commodification of an urban commons but also through the diminishment of urban potentiality.

Gastropolitics: Speaking in Tongues

Gastropolitics: Speaking in Tongues

Female perpetrated domestic violence against men and the case for Bangladesh

ABSTRACT Whilst domestic violence against women receives significant international attention and prominence within the scholarly, media and policy discourses, much silence and reservation is evident in the case of domestic violence against men by women. The dominant societal notion portrays women as the natural victims and men as perpetrators, making it challenging to contextualize men’s experiences of domestic violence in the intimate relationship. Against this backdrop, using Bangladesh as a case study, this article highlights key factors contributing to the silences, subjugations and controversies associated with domestic violence against men in order to present the state of current knowledge for such violence. Currently, there is a paucity of scholarly information on domestic violence against men and policy, legal and social supports available for these victims require attention. It is thus, suggested to break the social prejudice associated with such violence and adopt appropriate policy and legal interventions including gender-neutral laws to protect men at home from violence perpetrated by women.

Gender Representations of Females in Batswana Music: “Cultural” Sexism, Aesthetic Principles and Conflict of Social Values in Musical Performance Costuming

This article discusses the outcome of a study that investigated a Batswana cultural practice in the musical arts through performance costuming for females. The study focused on the musical practice and showed how it could be understood to promote sexism and patriarchal notions. The Batswana people, or Tswana for short, are located in the North West province of South Africa. The discourse in the article is presented against the backdrop of benevolent sexism (BS) and patriarchal theories. Sexism constructions in cultural and musical costume practices in the music of the Batswana people have not received any known research attention. The extant research centres on issues other than the subtle use of costumes as a cultural weapon of sexism against females in patriarchal communities. These issues include gender responsibilities and dominations, sexual dominations, patriarchal control, and so on. The current article illuminates the aesthetic principles of musical performance costuming as well as what the authors describe as “cultural” sexism underlying the musical practice, to assess its connection to BS and patriarchal practices of Batswana people. The authors also argue a possible connection of the cultural practice to notions which conflict with the intentions of the musical arts practice. Using field and participant observations, interviews, secondary sources and descriptive content analysis methods, the authors reveal notions of cultural sexism and patriarchal domination through the costumes worn by females in the Batswana music culture.

Who May Be Competent? Mothering Young Children of Color with Disabilities and the Politics of Care

ABSTRACT In this critical, qualitative study, we utilized Disability Critical Race Theory and revolutionary mothering to understand how Mothers of Color who have young children with disabilities made meaning of underlying constitutions of competence within schools, and how they conceptualized possibility for justice in early childhood. Findings reveal how Mothers enacted political clarity regarding ableism and racism as they mothered for respect and care. Specifically, Mothers challenged dominant notions of competence in early childhood and strategically resisted early educational practices that positioned their children as unworthy of childhood. Simultaneously, Mothers dreamed beyond the status quo, imagining early childhood systems that decentered educator expertise, and recentered multiply-marginalized children’s (and their families’) agency. We conclude with implications for teaching and learning in early childhood.

A Bridge that Divides: Hostile Infrastructures. Coloniality and Watchfulness in San Diego, California

Abstract The construction of the Coronado Bridge, completed in 1969, over Barrio Logan in San Diego in the US-Mexico borderlands physically manifests relations of coloniality that ­those in the neighbourhood experience on a daily basis. Drawing on anthropological approaches and the philosophy of Jacques Rancière, this article examines the unintended consequences of infrastructure construction. We reveal how political subjectivity develops through actions contesting the inequality that the infrastructure represents by focusing on residents’ creation of a community park below the bridge. We argue that a shared watchfulness over the park by its local guardians is central to the formation of their subjectivity and that the aesthetics of the park challenge dominant notions of belonging and temporality within the United States.

"In this damn country, which we hate and love”: The Pakistani-British Diaspora During the Thatcher Years in My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

Set in Britain during the years of Margaret Thatcher’s government, Stephen Frears and Hanif Kureishi’s My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) depicts the complex formation of Pakistani-British diasporic identities in a time of rising migration levels and anti-immigrant sentiment. Thatcher and her government famously celebrated Britain’s colonial past and its legacies in an attempt to produce fixed definitions of what being British meant as a cultural and national identity marker. As such distinctions of Britishness and non-Britishness determined who was believed to belong and who was not, Britain exercised what Jacques Derrida calls ‘conditional hospitality’ (2000): creating an environment which accepts those who it considers ‘British’ enough and rejects those who do not fulfil the dominant notion of Britishness. Due to this political climate, the Pakistani characters’ relationships with ‘Britishness’ are represented as fraught, ambivalent, and in some cases, characters reject Thatcherite ideas of Britishness all together. In the film, the experiences of Pakistani characters — Nasser, Hussain, and Omar — demonstrate that to obtain agency in Britain, some Pakistani subjects had no choice but to work within the system that oppressed them. This paper examines how the three characters individually resist imperial discourse and explores the ways in which My Beautiful Laundrette shows the impact of Thatcher’s speeches on Britishness on the Pakistani-British diaspora during her premiership.