Oppressed Groups Research Articles

Beyond A New World in Space: Critical Astral Frontiers in Octavia Butler and Adam Garnet Jones

This paper explores two contemporary literary visions of space settlement to gauge their potential within an emancipatory feminist and antiracist imaginary of the future. In doing so, it engages with the broader question of whether literary interplanetary dreams are necessarily tied up in a colonial rhetoric of violent expansion, or if they can also be organized to serve the interests of oppressed and underserved groups in an Anthropocene context. The text examines and compares two recent narratives of space settlement, the one found in Octavia Butler’s ‘Earthseed’ series and Adam Garnet Jones’ short story ‘History of the New World.’ Based on a comparative close reading of both, this paper argues that both stories frame the project of resettling in space as a hopeful alternative to life within a collapsed natural world and the precarious socio-political framework that has arisen from it, albeit with distinctly different outcomes. This comparison focuses specifically on the organization of such utopian extraplanetary societies and the roles they fulfill in the present. Crucially, this paper considers how both stories evaluate the possibility of choosing not to leave for the astral frontier.

Adolescents and sexual assault: A critical integrative review.

Adolescents are sexually assaulted at remarkably high rates. Adolescents are also unique given the specific dynamics of adolescent sexual assault, their current stage in human development, their limited legal standing and rights, and their experiences navigating postassault services and resources. While literature exists within each of these domains, it is somewhat disconnected and overlooks how adolescents are often relegated to the margins in research and practice. The purpose of this integrative review is to (1) provide a more complete understanding of adolescent sexual assault and survivors'nuanced needs; (2) frame adolescent survivors as a too-often-overlooked oppressed group that researchers and responders must consider and center in their work, lest contribute to their further marginalization; and (3) inspire and orient social justice-minded scholar activists to various action steps to take to center and prioritize adolescents in research and practice. Through our intersectional feminist approach, we offer specific action steps for social justice-minded scholar activists to recenter adolescents in their research and practice.

Rebels with Shackles: The Role and Representation of Claude Cahun in Surrealism Movement

The significant change of women role in surrealism movement has been noticed by many researchers. They argue that the female role is no longer considered as femme-enfant, muse or spouses and lovers (bodies of desires, and as irrational and inferior creatures), their roles have instead become multi-faceted. Claude Cahun displays the complex and multiple roles of a woman as a surreal artist. She has multiple identities (a transgender, hyper-femininity, an androgyne and a lesbian). Meanwhile, her role is not confined by gender contexts, but she goes further, and she realizes and challenges the shackles of the broader social contexts, like the oppression of minority groups, homophobia and political upheaval. By focusing on Cahun, this essay has analyzed three questions, including what restrictions these male counterparts placed on women in the surrealist group, how Cahun’s artwork rebels against the male-dominated surrealist movement, and how her work challenges broader social conventions on the role and representation of women. The essay thus contributes to understanding the significant value of the role and representation of women in surrealism. Meanwhile, they are of great significance in understanding the value and contribution of women to society, as the subjective and individual equal to men.

What is an ally?

ABSTRACT For all the recent talk of people failing or succeeding as allies to oppressed groups, a well worked out philosophical theory of what it is for someone to be an ally is conspicuously absent. This makes it difficult to evaluate the claims of people failing or succeeding as allies, and consequently diminishes the concept’s usefulness to disadvantaged groups by making it difficult to identify who will genuinely help to further their interests. We aim to rectify this absence by answering the following question: what is an ally? On the view that we develop, allyship is a regrettably hierarchical relationship that holds between a privileged individual and an oppressed group, and is formed through a series of actions taken by the privileged individual in a bid to contribute towards bringing that hierarchy to an end.

Acting as if: the utopian political thought and actions of the US disability rights movement

This article studies the response of the US disability community to the prevalent assumption that disabled people do not have a future, in the form of the disability rights movement. It provides an exploratory discussion of the key role played by utopianism in the response. In doing so, the article adds to critical theorizing on the importance of utopia to the oppression of non-dominant groups and to transcending that oppression. I use utopian studies scholarship to interpret the activities leading up to the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 as a minor utopia, characterized by an ambiguous, grounded, and provisional effort to imagine alternative ways of being. I articulate the central role played by a positive vision of disability and disabled people for this inversion of the historically negative relationship between utopia and disability. The article turns to disability activists to show that the movement countered exclusionary utopian approaches by acting as if it had a right to envision and enact a different, better future for all from the perspective of disability and disabled people.

Characterizing Life Stress Exposure Among Sexual Minority Adolescents: Temporality, Content, And Mediating Role in Mental Health Disparities.

Though sexual minority adolescents face a wide array of deleterious stressors, few studies have examined the role of specific types of stress exposure (i.e., chronic vs. episodic, interpersonal vs. non-interpersonal) on mental health disparities. This study utilizes a contextual threat-based assessment to (a) compare levels of stress exposure types between sexual minority and non-sexual minority adolescents, and (b) examine stress type as a mediator between sexual orientation and two outcomes: depressive symptoms and emotion dysregulation. Data comes from a longitudinal sample (14-17years-old, N = 241; 17.6% sexual minority; 54% assigned female at birth; 73.9% White), with two time-points (T1 and T2) utilized. Sexual minority adolescents reported higher chronic interpersonal stress, but no differences in non-interpersonal chronic or episodic stress, relative to non-sexual minority adolescents. Chronic interpersonal stress exposure mediated the link between membership in an oppressed group (i.e., sexual minority teens) and the primary outcomes (emotion dysregulation and depressive symptoms) at both T1 and T2. Findings demonstrate the utility of contextual threat-based assessments within sexual minority research.

Menganalisis Pembelajaran Multikultural Pada Paud

The concept of education must be able to meet the urgent needs of the Indonesian people today to reconstruct Indonesia's national culture which consists of ethnic and cultural diversity. In this context, the concept of multicultural education could be an alternative considering that multicultural education looks at society at large in terms of its differences. The multicultural education paradigm includes subjects regarding injustice, poverty, oppression and underdevelopment of minority groups in various social, cultural, economic and educational fields.

Testimony of Oppression and the Limits of Empathy

Testimony of oppression is testimony that something constitutes or contributes to a form of oppression, such as, for example, “The stranger’s comment was sexist.” Testimony of oppression that is given by members of the relevant oppressed group has the potential to play an important role in fostering a shared understanding of oppression. Yet, it is frequently dismissed out of hand. Against the background of a recent debate on moral testimony, this paper discusses the following question: How should privileged hearers approach testimony of oppression if they aim to do so in an ethically and epistemically sound way? Should they defer or try to understand? Both strategies constitute ways of learning from testimony of oppression. However, they differ in important respects and exclude each other. Because testimony of oppression is often based on personal experience, empathizing with the speaker can play an important role in trying to understand testimony of oppression. While the fact that empathy can change your mind and the advantages of understanding over knowledge support trying to understand as the right approach to testimony of oppression, considerations of the “limits of empathy” and the value of deference support deferring. I argue that, on balance, these contrasting arguments allow for a limited defense of the role of empathy in learning from testimony of oppression. We should try to understand testimony of oppression by empathizing with the speaker, but not treat our ability to understand as a condition on accepting a speaker’s claim.

АКТУАЛЬНІ ПІДХОДИ ДО ВИЗНАЧЕННЯ ПОНЯТТЯ "КУЛЬТУРНИЙ ГЕНОЦИД"

Background. In the context of increasing the amount and range of cultural genocide crimes and the absence of a legitimate international policy for its prevention and punishment, require of its research, as well as the rethinking of the concept of "genocide" in general, is being actualized. Accordingly, the purpose of the research is to analyze current approaches to "cultural genocide" conceptualization based on the primary socio-cultural concept of "genocide." Methods. The research employs theoretical methods of analysis, synthesis, comparison, and generalization, along with structural-logical and contextual methods. Results. The main reasons for the world community's attention to the study of the "cultural genocide" phenomenon are analyzed. The vectors of contemporary research into practices of cultural genocide are considered. It is clarified that the basis of such recent studies of genocidal practices has already been outlined in Raphael Lemkin's theory. The development of his theory is examined, from the proposal of the "act of barbarism" and "act of vandalism" terms to the introduction of the novel concept of "genocide." The characteristic features of genocide as a campaign aimed at the destruction of a national group are considered, as well as its key phases: the destruction of the national pattern of the oppressed group and the imposition of the national pattern of the oppressor. According to Raphael Lemkin's theory, the techniques of genocide are identified, among which particular attention is paid to the cultural ones. The newest approaches to expanding the meaning of the "genocide" concept considering contemporary cultural practices of genocide (biological, physical, and cultural components) and the introduction of a new legal term "cultural genocide" are analyzed. Conclusions. The definition of "genocide" by international legal documents, particularly the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, does not represent all the components and manifestations of genocide defined by Raphael Lemkin's original socio-cultural concept. Since this inconsistency creates new cultural and legal collisions within the international space, relevant options for understanding and interpreting the "genocide" and "cultural genocide" concepts need to be found.

Engaged Documentary Cinema in Independent Slovenia

The essay discusses engaged documentary cinema in independent Slovenia. It focuses on the aspects of political engagement that address the deprived, underprivileged or oppressed communities and groups in contemporary Slovenian society. In the most unenviable position among them are members of the Roma community, the administratively erased inhabitants stripped of all their civil rights, exploited seasonal workers, representatives of the LGBTQIA+ community and the like. The discussion devotes its main attention to the operation of the informal collective Newsreel Front and its latest project “If the Forests Could Talk, They Would Dry Up with Sadness”, which documents the tragic situation of the refugees on the so-called “Balkan route” and their attempts at crossing the border between Croatia and Slovenia, fenced off with a razor wire.

Social Structure and Epistemic Privilege

Lukács is widely recognized as being the first critical theorist to have explicitly developed the idea of a “standpoint theory”. According to such a theory, members of oppressed groups enjoy an epistemic privilege regarding the nature of their oppression. However, there is no agreement regarding what precise argument Lukács offers for his claims regarding the alleged epistemic privilege of the working class. Additionally, it remains unclear whether later feminist standpoint theories share any continuity with Lukács’s argument. In this analysis, I identify four arguments for the epistemic privilege of oppressed groups that could be attributed to Lukács. I argue that, although Lukács does not consistently endorse any specific argument, the most promising interpretation suggests that epistemic privilege arises from a contradiction between the norms that guide the self-understanding of such groups and the effects of the social practices they are socially obligated to engage in.

Caste and comics: an interview with Samarth

ABSTRACT Indian graphic narratives of the post-millennial era have increasingly addressed pressing social issues such as casteism, environmental degradation, and urbanisation among others. Comics about caste typically showcase the remarkable lives of anti-caste icons in the form of graphic biographies, such as Bhimayana: Incidents in the Life of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Vyam et al. 2011) and A Gardener in the Wasteland: Jotiba Phule’s Fight for Liberty (Natarajan 2011). Published in 2022, Samarth’s Suit continues a post-millennial trend by depicting safai karamcharis (transl. sanitation workers in India), who have been historically forced to engage in manual scavenging, as salaried employees in a futuristic setting with protective suits while also confronting the persisting social issue of casteism. In particular, Suit expands the conversation about caste and comics by boldly depicting the inhumane treatment and illegal practice of manual scavenging (which is rampant in Mumbai) and its entanglements with casteism. In this context, Samarth in an email interview shares his views on caste and comics in India, emphasising the need for greater representation and discussion of marginalised communities, and highlighting the importance of shedding light on issues like manual scavenging, which continue to affect Dalits and other oppressed groups in India.

Margaret Archer (1943-2023) on Critical Realism and Morphogenesis: Linking Critical Realist Research Models from East and West

Critical Realism (CR) is a philosophical approach to social science research, social action, and social change activism. It provides a framework for social scientists whose value commitments leads them to view the construction of social phenomenon in critical ways, which identify the often hidden oppressive elements in social structures. This understanding of a ‘new’ reality underlies the advocacy of change strategies, and the initiation of dialogue between members of disadvantaged and oppressed groups through the process of ‘morphogenesis’ This model of dialogues enabling change and the ‘unmasking of alienation’ stem from the work of Roy Bhaskar, and has been developed by Margaret Archer and other European scholars. An important feature of CR has been the application by the emergence of shared understanding, by social scientists from different value traditions (e.g. Christianity, Secular Humanism, and Islam). The JOCRISE in taking CR understandings of oppressive social forces into new fields, and with fresh CR models, is welcomed. In appraising the new model from JOCRISE, we offer both Cartesian dualism, and Popper’s World 3 model as elements of a new, dynamic focus on social change advocacy.

A Concept Analysis of the Social Responsibility of Nursing Organizations Based on Walker and Avant's Method.

The concept analysis process reported by Walker and Avant was used to clarify the meaning of social responsibility in nursing organizations. Defining the attributes of the social responsibility of nursing organizations included accessing, educating, and practicing as approaches for strategizing the social and structural change in inequity, caring for oppressed groups suffering socially from those with privilege and power, and taking action for health policy changes in social and political unequal contexts. The antecedents of social responsibility in nursing organizations included recognizing personal characteristics, the perspective of vulnerable populations, and the social and environmental status quo, as well as educating public services on the ethical and moral reasoning of social issues. The consequences of the social responsibility of nursing organizations were achieving social justice as equal access to basic human health needed at a societal level, equal access to effective nursing practices, and the development of health promotion policies for world health administrative practices in nursing. This study provides guidance to direct future studies by identifying conceptual attributes in the context of the social responsibility of nursing organizations.

Oppressed Groups Engender Implicit Positivity: Seven Demonstrations Using Novel and Familiar Targets.

Across seven preregistered studies in online adult volunteer samples (N = 5,323), we measured implicit evaluations of social groups following exposure to historical narratives about their oppression. Although the valence of such information is highly negative and its interpretation was left up to participants, implicit evaluations of oppressed groups shifted toward positivity, including in designs involving fictitious, well-known, and even self-relevant targets. The sole deviation from this pattern was observed in an experiment using a vignette about slavery in the United States, in response to which neither White nor Black Americans exhibited any change in implicit race attitudes. In line with propositional perspectives, these findings suggest that implicit evaluations (including, notably, implicit evaluations of well-known and self-relevant social groups) tend to change toward positivity in response to extremely negative information involving past oppression. However, macro-level phenomena, such as public awareness of histories of oppression, can modulate such updating processes.

Reproductive Justice in the U.S. Immigration Detention System.

Reproductive coercion extends from a historical context in which the obstetrics and gynecology profession has interfered with the reproductive and bodily autonomy of immigrants. We provide illustrative examples of historical and contemporary immigration policies that allow mechanisms of reproductive control to persist within the immigration detention system. We end by compelling obstetrician-gynecologists to act as agents of change by leveraging their social, economic, and political power to resist and eliminate structures and norms that enable reproductive oppression of immigrant groups in detention.

Indigenous LGBTIQA+ Existences, Safety, & Wellbeing as a Critical Component of Truth and Justice Commissions in Australia.

Transitional justice processes and mechanisms are undertaken to examine, interrogate, and respond to the legacies of massive and serious human right abuses (International Center for Transitional Justice [ICTJ], 2022), with the aim of societal transformation and reconciliation, particularly as this relates to racial and colonial violence (OHCHR, 2022). Globally, gender and sexual minorities are some of the most oppressed groups, enduring significant and overwhelming human rights violations under colonising regimes (Ashe, 2019), yet have been predominantly excluded from these processes. In the past thirty years, there have been more than thirty-five truth commissions in different countries with a past of conflict and violence (Fobear, 2014), yet almost all have failed to embrace the participation and testimony of the LGBTIQA+ community. In Australia, states and territories are progressing truth and justice processes as fundamental mechanisms supporting treaties between these jurisdictions and First Nations Peoples. Colonisation, from first contact to current day, has embedded and enforced strict social constructs of gender and sexuality. Indigenous LGBTIQA+ people have experienced significant historical and continual harms specifically targeting non-compliant genders and/or sexualities. The inclusion of Indigenous LGBTQIA+ communities in Australian truth-telling and transitional justice processes, including the guaranteeing of robust Indigenous LGBTIQA+ voice and testimony, is critical to ensure that truth-telling is accurate and comprehensive. As psychosocial risks are associated with individuals and communities being involved in these processes, Indigenous LGBTIQA+ cultural safety, health, social and emotional wellbeing supports, must be prioritised. This paper proposes direct guidelines and actions for supporting Indigenous LGBTQIA+ safety and wellbeing in truth and justice processes.

Women's sport and everyday resistance.

This paper presents a conceptual model to understand the relationship between everyday resistance and women's sport. Everyday resistance refers to when members of an oppressed group engage in mundane actions (i.e., playing sports) to resist dominant power structures and social norms. After reviewing resistance literature, we identify two levels of everyday resistance for women's sport: women's sport as everyday resistance and everyday resistance within women's sport. The former refers to when women participate in sport, thereby challenging social norms that marginalize women in society and exclude them from sport. The latter refers to how women athletes with intersecting marginalized identities resist the norms of who participates in women's sport and how, given the norms of sport that privilege whiteness, heteronormativity, and higher social classes among others. The model we introduce advances both sport scholarship and everyday resistance literature and can help scholars conceptualize how women create change in sport and in society-as well as how women athletes create change within women's sport, specifically.

‘I Am a Man’: Countering Oppression through Appeal to Kind Membership

ABSTRACTAll too often, social kinds function as sites of oppression. To be a woman, to be Black, to be trans – each, in its own way, situates someone at the lower end of a social hierarchy. Membership in such groups thus constitutes a liability: notwithstanding the goods people draw from sharing in these identities, they also stand at perpetual risk of those same identities exposing them to significant harm. What, if anything, can members of oppressed groups do to counter that oppression? In this article I explore one possible strategy: people can – and do – strategically invoke their membership in what I call ‘anti‐oppressive kinds’, in order to contest the oppression they face qua members of oppressed groups. Focusing on one particularly salient anti‐oppressive kind, the human, I first offer an explanation as to how and why its invocation might be politically effective, before considering some hazards with its use.

A Politics of Recognition: A Reflection on the Sami Minority in Norway and Rohingya Minority in Myanmar

The politics of identity is central to the current socio-political discourses. People, who have been left behind and oppressed historically by the majority culture, are struggling for their rights and recognition. Non-recognition or misrecognition is the denial of ‘existence’ in a sociological sense. The idea of identity emerged from the concept of authentic self; however, the collective sense of being has driven the wheel of politics of identity giving rise to multiculturalism. This article draws upon the theoretical insight of ‘politics of recognition’ developed by Charles Taylor and ‘intercultural dialogue’ propounded by Bhikhu Parekh in order to analyze how Sami and Rohingya communities engage in their endeavor for recognition and self-determination. The article argues that a collective sense of identity and intercultural dialogue are the remedies for historically oppressed group identity.