Oppressive Environment Research Articles

Exit, Voice, Loyalty … or Deliberate Obstruction? Non-Collective Everyday Resistance under Oppression.

In highly oppressive environments, collective resistance is very costly. Non-collective resistance constitutes a less risky alternative. Focusing on a particular oppressed setting, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, I identify everyday forms of non-collective resistance: signaling, persevering, eschewing, and coping. Characterized by low visibility and targeting political goals indirectly, these activities have not yet been recognized as forms of resistance. However, they constitute important resistance efforts that deliberately obstruct oppressive regimes. These efforts show that individuals who are not visibly resisting their rulers cannot be assumed to be loyal or to suffer from a barrier of fear, as often suggested by theories in politics. They also offer an important addition to theories that identify violence as a common response to oppression, suggesting that peaceful non-collective activities constitute an everyday alternative.

Children of the palms: growing plants and growing people in a Papuan Plantationocene

AbstractThis article explores how ecological change transforms children and child‐rearing among Indigenous Marind in West Papua. Marind children become ‘anim' (persons) by immersing themselves within the ecology of sago palms and their suckers, or ‘sago children’. Conversely, deforestation and oil palm expansion – the defining traits of the place, period, and production mode I term ‘Papuan Plantationocene’ – subvert the mutual maturation of humans and sago by confining children to the oppressive environment of the village and preventing them from supporting sago's growth through sago transplanting and felling. Meanwhile, oil palm itself is alternately characterized by Marind as a vulnerable child subjected to totalizing human control and as a figure of hope for future Marind generations. The article provides a deeper and broader consideration of ‘childhood’ beyond the human in understanding how monocrop capitalist production reconfigures the form and possibility of multispecies social reproduction for people and plants.

Ethnic Discrimination in The Bluest Eye

Ethnicity is one of the most debatable topics in contemporary times. Human culture is divided along ethnic and national lines. Ethnicity and Race function as most powerful language of human difference and human community. An ethnic group that is dominant often tends to make its own culture specific traits normative in that society. The Bluest Eye is one of the landmark novels of Toni Morrison in which the markings of ethnicity play a great role. The aim of this paper is to explore the traces of ethnic discrimination of the African Americans at the hands of dominant White Americans in the novel The Bluest Eye. It illustrates how ethnic stereotypes propagated by White Americans for their selfish purposes victimised the black people at that time. Particular emphasis is given on the psychological effects of the oppressive environment on the protagonist Pecola. Morrison portrays Pecola as a marginalized and oppressed character who yearns to have blue eyes to have a respectable position in the community.

Standard-Bearers of Equality: America's First Abolition Movement by Paul J. Polgar

Reviewed by: Standard-Bearers of Equality: America's First Abolition Movement by Paul J. Polgar Richard Newman (bio) Abolitionism, Black abolishionists, Slavery, Antislavery, African American history Standard-Bearers of Equality: America's First Abolition Movement. By Paul J. Polgar. (Chapel Hill: The Omohundro Institute and the University of North Carolina Press, 2019. Pp. 342. Cloth, $39.95; ebook $29.99.) In Standard Bearers of Equality, Paul Polgar challenges scholars to reframe their very understanding of early abolitionism in the United States. Focusing on "first movement" activists between the 1770s and 1820s, he argues that Black as well as white reformers shaped an egalitarian vision of American society that remains powerful centuries later. Indeed, as he concludes, while early activists failed to slay slavery nationally and end white prejudice in the North, "the most enduring legacy of America's first abolition movement was its abiding faith that a world free from black oppression and inequality was possible" (325). Full of insightful analysis and bracingly written, this is a bold book to reckon with. Yet Polgar also pushes early abolitionist radicalism too far, raising key questions about the first movement's ultimate impact on American and Atlantic society. Polgar's study comes at a key moment for abolitionist historiography. On the one hand, much recent work focuses on African American struggles for justice before the Civil War. Books by Martha Jones, Christopher Bonner, and Kellie Carter Jackson have pictured Black activists as the center of a decades-long movement for immediate abolition, birthright citizenship, and civic equality. On the other hand, the Caribbean turn in Atlantic studies—including seminal work by Laurent Dubois, Vincent [End Page 299] Brown, and Ed Rugemer, among others—has focused increasing attention on the impact of slave rebellion on emancipation movements and laws between the 1760s and 1830s. In both cases, early American abolitionists have been pushed to the margins of Atlantic reform. Even the legendary David Brion Davis, whose early work focused on the power of Anglo American abolitionism before 1820, later saw Caribbean slave rebellion—which resulted in immediate freedom for hundreds of thousands of enslaved people—and the advent of the Black republic of Haiti as the keys to understanding Atlantic society's "first emancipations" (see The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation, 45). So just what did early abolitionists do? Polgar takes on this question with gusto and verve. As he puts it, while "the racially progressive origins of American abolitionism" have been "buried" by recent scholars, it is clear that early activists offered a "reform blueprint" that made universal freedom and racial equality essential goals of modern democratic society (7–8). First movement reformers sought to strip slavery of its legal, constitutional, and political protections where they could, especially in the U.S. North. "In so doing, they built a reform agenda" that was also "premised on the eventual overturning of Black degradation" as an organizing principle across American society (7). For Polgar, the long march to Black freedom begins with first movement abolitionists. Idealists as well pragmatists, early abolitionists argued that changing African Americans' circumstances would shift racial destinies in the United States. Deploying new understandings of societal environmentalism, early abolitionists "pinned Black inequality on the circumstances of slavery"—their oppressive environment—and "not [on] the inner character of people of color," as many anti-abolitionists did (133). By rejecting the concept of innate Black inferiority, early abolitionists imagined a world defined by human equality rather than slavery. The first steps toward building that world occurred in the U.S. North, where early abolitionists secured gradual emancipation laws that would take effect over several decades. But first movement activists also vigorously prosecuted masters who violated these laws, often winning outright freedom for some African Americans. Polgar shows that white abolitionists in Pennsylvania and New York brought forth 520 cases of illegal enslavement over the span of a decade, enjoying an 84 percent success rate. In Pennsylvania abolitionist complaints also persuaded the state government to close slave-trading loopholes in the gradual abolition act of 1780. By enforcing and even expanding statutory abolition, first movement [End Page 300] activists made clear to slaveholders and others that they would remain vigilant...

The artistic interpretation of the image of the “rebel woman” in the works of george sand

In this article given a brief overview of the life and work of the famous French writer Georges Sand. The plot and composition of his works, artistic and ideological, social problems are analyzed.Her two most famous novels, “Indiana ” and “Consuelo ”, analyze and explore the use of female protagonists in the revolt against the oppressive environment and disgusting image of the time.

ANGER AND HOPE

ABSTRACT This essay deals with two concepts that are central to Paulo Freire’s work: anger and hope. He juxtaposes them with the equally eschatological concepts of “denúncia” and “anúncio”. The former, indictment, is interpreted as the result of studying an oppressive environment—a productive expression of anger. The latter, the hope for a different kind of world, gives Freire a confidence rooted in his Christian faith in the potential for a human- centred approach to education and society. The author begins his exegesis of this topic by presenting materials that may reconcile anger and hope, cracks in the education system make appear possibilities for resistance. The essay concludes with normative guidelines for a more liberated approach to education in our society.

Boarding Schools as Colonizing and Oppressive Spaces: Towards Understanding Student Protest and Violence in Kenyan Secondary Schools

<p style="text-align:justify">Goffman’s theory of total institutions and Fanon’s theory of violence were used to explain student protests and violence in Kenyan secondary schools. Youth violence around the world is not a new phenomenon. However, the persistence, frequency, and intensity of violence, and their consequences beg for logical explanations and remedies. This study was part of a three-year project facilitated through the Networked Improvement Community partnership for self-study and intervention. Although a holistic approach to research was applied, data for this study were gathered through narrative inquiry. Participants (teachers, principals, and members of the school community) were identified purposively using the snowball process. Data were analyzed through deductive and inductive reasoning. Findings indicate a preponderance of student protest and violence among students in boarding schools. Student violence was a response to the devaluing and oppressive environment in boarding schools which resembled total institutions, and students exercising democratic rights to protest. The paper argues that school authorities could mitigate violent protests by providing formal political means of representation and democratic decision-making; creating new spaces for negotiation and peaceful protest; listening to the voices of students; and engaging in dialogue to create a common vision and mission.</p>

A narrative review examining intersections of identity in older adult suicidality

The burgeoning older adult population requires a shift in focus in health prevention efforts to encompass those in later life. Within the broader older adult community, diverse older adults comprise an increasingly larger segment of the older adult population. One area of ongoing concern for the health and well-being of older adults is suicide. Risk and protective factors for older adults have been well documented. However, thorough examination of risk or protective factors for suicide within elders who experience ethic, linguistic, or cultural gerodiversity and elders whose intersections of identity includes multiple stigmatized identities, remains underexplored. Consequently, the aims of this narrative review are to: (1) provide prevalence rates for death by suicide in US older adults across different identity statuses, (2) describe identity status differences in risk and protective factors for late life suicide, and (3) provide examples of culturally responsive suicide prevention and intervention. Literature reviewed suggests that the current understanding of late life suicide is most representative of suicide-related outcomes in White, non-Hispanic elders. To represent the growing heterogeneity of the older adult population in the United States, there is a need to incorporate the unique risk and protective factors of diverse intersecting identities and to expand our conceptualization of suicide in late life to encompass the role of oppressive environments and systemic inequalities.

Being Mindful About Mindfulness: Exploring the Dark Side

In this paper, I acknowledge the rising popularity of mindfulness and analyze research into its positive, and less-researched negative, outcomes. I examine concerns about the training, quality, and supervision of mindfulness teachers. I address the roots of mindfulness in Buddhism and the consequences of its secularization, reduction, and commercialization. I argue that the mindfulness intervention works well as a standalone modality, predominantly as a means to manage symptoms and with relatively well clients, but that it is contraindicated with those who have experienced significant life or developmental trauma. I discuss the potential for the abuse of mindfulness in terms of its use in military conflict, recruitment of people into cults, and the purpose of influencing people to accept and tolerate oppressive environments. I make a case for combining psychotherapy and psychoeducation with mindfulness to create a safer and more effective therapeutic process that can support clients, including former members, with more complex trauma issues. Being Mindful About Mindfulness: Exploring the Dark Side There is currently great enthusiasm in the United Kingdom for mindfulness, a psychological intervention garnered from Buddhism, and numerous applications are being rolled out by the state and private enterprises. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends mindfulness, and it is the focus of a Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group (MAPPG) and the subject of a major parliamentary report, The Mindfulness Initiative (2015). This alliance reported having been “impressed by the quality and range of evidence for the benefits of mindfulness and believe it has the potential to help many people to better health and flourishing” (MAPPG, 2015, p. 4) and is advocating mindfulness as a cost-effective route to tackling the country’s mental health crisis (MAPPG, 2015).

Editor’s Note: Feelings about the Black Mamba Kobe Bryant and COVID-19

Editor’s NoteFeelings about the Black Mamba Kobe Bryant and COVID-19 James C. Wadley, PhD The first few months of 2020 have been challenging for our community due to the unexpected losses of some of our brothers and sisters. The deaths of Kobe and Gianna Bryant in January caught many of us off-guard as the legendary basketball player and his daughter were killed in a helicopter crash outside of Los Angeles. What was tragic about this event was that basketball fans watched Kobe Bryant grow up in the league as young phenom; mismanaged the allegations of sexual assault in 2003; and atone for his transgressions by becoming active in his community and in his relationship with his family. He became one the greatest basketball players ever as well as become a man who was an extraordinary husband and father. My best friend, Michael Courts, and I used to joke around about Kobe Bryant all the time. I would chide him about Kobe shooting the ball too damn much while he would routinely show me video highlights by comparing him to the GOAT, Michael Jordan. What was compelling is that I never thought I would miss him and the truth is, I do. I miss him as a person, his transition to becoming a man, and maybe most important, his fallibility and rise as a human. After his death, our community and our nation struggled to figure out its feelings about what his legacy would be. Many people were unapologetic fans who celebrated every move Kobe made until his death. There were others who felt tremendous sorrow about the loss of him in his role as a father, husband, player, Olympian, and brother. And finally, there were a number of people who maintained blunted feelings because Kobe was allegedly involved in a sexual assault case. Whatever your feelings may be about Kobe as a person, basketball player, or a man, you are entitled to have those complex emotions in that you don’t have to declare one stance over another. Our feelings and beliefs are complex and sometimes difficult to process. I had a terrible time making sense over it and it took me awhile to acknowledge my [End Page vii] sadness of his untimely departure and what he represented to our community and the game of basketball. As a transcendent figure, he is missed. I think it is important that sex educators, counselors, therapists and activists be prepared and comfortable with helping their clients, students, and constituents to process their feelings about Kobe Bryant. Leading discussions about toxic masculinity, sexual assault, healthy communication and conflict resolution, consent, parenting, negotiating safe sex, social status, the influence that sports has on sexual expression, courage, race, racism, privilege, death and bereavement, trust and predictability, community engagement, and determination could be of great benefit to our youth and families. Curricula and lesson plans could be created that could help teens process responsible sexual decision making, cultural expectations, peer pressure, and forgiveness. In addition to the loss of Kobe Bryant, many of us have already lost a number of our brothers and sisters to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shaken by the unexpected and stealth manner in which the virus moves, we recently learned that Black folks are more likely to contract the coronavirus and die from it. The disproportionate death rate is due to health disparities and socioeconomic challenges that contribute to the ease of transmission and almost immediate physical complications. What’s unfortunate is that the enemy, in this case, is invisible and more often than not, we struggle to make sure that our families remain safe. Because of COVID-19, many of our family members have lost their jobs and are having a difficult time making ends meet in a systemically oppressive environment. Each day becomes more challenging as many governmental resources that are made available for the masses will not trickle down to those who have been traditionally marginalized or underrepresented. Even my institution of higher education is struggling right now as we are trying to navigate significant debt and a lack of preparedness for handling a crisis that did not exist a few months ago. I would...

Academic Deprofessionalization: A Case Study of the Effects of Privatization on Academic Profession in Private Indian Universities

This article explores the consequences of privatization on academic profession in the Indian universities. Drawing upon the Marxist framework, the subjective work experiences of academics in the capitalist universities are analyzed through a critical lens. Based on 37 qualitative interviews with academics from five universities in northern India, the article argues that a process of deprofessionalization of academics is underway in the privately owned universities that work on the logic of capital. Using a qualitative methodology, the article concludes that the professional status of the academics, the status of their profession, and their professional autonomy have significantly declined in such universities. This has led to oppressive work environments where some academics resort to subterranean strategies to maneuver their repressive workplaces. The Indian case provides insights into how capitalist relationships intersect with traditional hierarchies inside these universities, thus intensifying the academic oppression of a particular kind.

Finding Calm in the Storm-Cultivating Mindfulness to Cope with Stress in the Legal Profession

Torrential rainstorms, tremendous snowstorms, and terrifying hurricanes are weather patterns diagrammed with twists, turns, and periods of calm. We cannot control the weather; we can examine its ebb and flow to determine how to respond to the forecast with rain gear, warm clothes, and warning systems. You may be wondering how stormy weather patterns relate to cultivating lawyers’ wellness—they provide a compelling metaphor for exploring the inevitable internal storms in life. The legal profession is by its nature frequented by adverse internal weather patterns. For lawyers, those may include an aggressive opposing counsel, a demanding client, and an oppressive work environment. The list varies, but everyone has one. Many lawyers suffer internal storms of the deadliest nature: stress. Thoughts of impending doom; feelings of fear and anger; and bodily sensations that may include a racing heart, clenched jaw, or upset stomach are all symptoms of internal stormy conditions and are how we generally experience stress. And when it lingers, serious health issues can take hold. Chronically stressed lawyers can develop significant physical and mental health issues. The legal profession ranks near the top of career fields for depression, substance abuse, and suicide. Lawyers need additional gear to better protect them from professional stormy weather. However, we generally cannot control conditions anymore than we can determine the weather. In fact, the catalyst for an internal storm is often another person’s conduct. So, perhaps just as we attend to the weather forecast, we should be aware of the dynamics that may trigger an internal storm. Awareness allows for the use of mindful “protective gear” to avoid the unnecessary impact of human nature’s harsher elements.

리앙(李昻)의 『화장한 피의 위령제(彩妝血祭)』를 통해 본 애도의 정치

“A Powdered Bloody Sacrifice for Departed Souls,” Li Ang’s novella published in 1997, is a narrative of mourning for the victims killed in the February 28th Incident of 1947 and by the subsequent white terror. At the same time, it is a narrative of consolation and hope for the survivors burdened to mourn the departed. We find two axes in the story. A family memorial service for consoling the souls is one axis, and the pain and discord surrounding the family history of Mother Wang who leads the opposition is the other. The juxtaposition of a “private” family memorial service and a “public” sacrifice for the departed souls of the “February 28th” victims is related to the narrative structure that employs two narrators: the main narrator and a co-narrator. It is also related to the “death photos” that exist only as hearsay. The truthfulness of the photos is emphasized more by not turning up, and that leads to a realization that the truth remains placed in an oppressive environment. This helps foster the spirit of resistance and solidarity. The suicide of Mother Wang in “A Powdered Bloody Sacrifice for Departed Souls” can be seen as the result of the remorsefulness for not having protected her son from the violence of the powerful, and of the double guilty conscience about her husband and her son. She casts her body as an expression of her wishes that the lamp that bears three names, those of her diseased uncle died in the February 28th, of her husband and her son killed in the white terror, may drift afar. This demonstrates her wishes for the realization of justice and the revelation of historical truth. “A Powdered Bloody Sacrifice for Departed Souls” by Li Ang is consistent with Judith Butler’s idea for transforming the sorrow of a community into the power of political activity. Mourning for the departed in a world of violent oppression is bound to be postponed indefinitely. It might even be said that the mourner becomes the object of the mourning. The sorrow that can be expressed only by suicide calls for a clearer, louder voice of the community. “A Powdered Bloody Sacrifice for Departed Souls” is a response to such a calling.

Toward a Cross-Cultural Training Model for Migrants Entering Oppressive Work Environments

This paper examines Indonesian migrant domestic workers’ contentment with their sojourn in Hong Kong and factors that inhibit contentment. These factors largely consist of inadequate pre-departure training in Indonesia or training that emphasizes subservience rather than assertiveness, as well as oppressive work environments, underpayment and employer behavior designed to psychologically or physically demean migrants in Hong Kong. The paper proposes a training model with module content based on needs identified during interviews with migrants. Training modules may be presented in Indonesia or Hong Kong by NGO groups and should be process driven and experiential with an emphasis on assertiveness aimed at migrant perspective transformation. Although designed with the Indonesia-Hong Kong situation in mind, this model along with the accompanying modules may be adapted for a variety of situations where migrant workers find themselves in oppressive work environments.

Challenging the oppressive social context by redesigning learning space. The case of a business ethics class in Russia

The traditional management educational methods like in class group activities derive from Western democratic principles and work well in tolerant and pluralistic climate. However, in dogmatic and oppressive social environment, they just reinforce the dominant culture and create obstacles to develop students' critical reflexive thinking. Learning space becomes constrained by different overwhelming contextual factors: from group pressure to an authoritarian political background. On the case of the Russian business ethics classroom, this paper examines the influence of an oppressive context on the learning space and offers an approach to weakening this influence by intensifying students' critical reflexivity using writing assignments and supportive teacher's feedback based on a narrative therapy approach.

“The Whole Weight of the World on My Shoulders”: Power, Identity, and Student Activism

Using a critical framework and narrative inquiry, we highlight the experiences of 26 student activists engaged in identity-based activism and resistance. Specifically, we sought to examine the role of power and identity in activists’ efforts to address inequities in campus environments. Identity-based activism and resistance includes efforts to interrupt oppressive environments related to one or more of a students’ minoritized identities. Themes from this study include existence as resistance as a form of activism, nuanced understandings of the label activist, and activism as a response to hostile campus environments. We conclude with recommendations for educators and administrators, specifically challenging them to consider their roles in perpetuating power and dominance that requires students to engage in activism on their campuses.

It is not what I planned for my life . Occupations of live-in domestic workers

Introduction: In Brazil, nearly 20% of women in the country are domestic workers. Domestic work has a restrictive nature that can lead to occupational deprivation and occupational marginalization. This may be the case of live-in domestic workers in Brazil. Objective: Our research question was: What are Brazilian domestic workers’ experiences in participating in their occupations in everyday life? Method: A qualitative phenomenological was carried out and thought purposive sampling 5 participants were selected in the Plano Piloto region, Brasilia, DF, Brazil. Data was collected through face-face interviews and analyzed using Systematic Text Condensation. Results: The data analysis yielded one theme and two categories. The theme, Grappling with being a domestic worker, described the domestic workers ongoing confrontations and tensions experienced in their daily lives. This experience of wresting with the influence of being a domestic worker was constituted through two categories, namely a sense of ‘Belonging to the labor role’ and ‘Exceptionalism: a employers’ negotiation tactic’. Conclusion: Our work contributes to a critical perspective of occupation. We focus on how historical, social and political factors contribute to creating oppressive environments that influences domestic workers as people who are part of a marginalized group. This occurs in the way that their occupations are constructed in their doing in every-day life.

Unlocking Doors: Decolonizing the Design of an Art Exhibition in Zimbabwe

Participatory event design opens up opportunities for the sustainable transformation of a community and can therefore make a valuable contribution to the field of critical event studies. This article discusses the findings from a participatory action research project developed with a community of visual artists in Zimbabwe. The project explored how participatory event design processes could be applied to the cocreation of an art exhibition that would be used as a platform to challenge the oppressive environment Zimbabwean visual artists are working in. The design of special events in the third sector is usually reliant on the voice of the specialist event designer or organizer who is commissioned by the funding or lead agency to develop an event intervention using risk-averse and time-efficient methods. Unfortunately, this can result in in the community of interest having a marginalized role in the proceedings and thus they lose a much-needed connection with the event intervention and are not committed to sustaining the desired change. We argue that there is an opportunity for events professionals to increase their skills and develop emancipatory approaches that will decolonize established event design processes and contribute to the sustainable transformation of marginalized communities.

Commercial surrogacy in India: The presumption of adaptive preference formation, the possibility of autonomy and the persistence of exploitation

India’s proposed 2016 Bill on the regulation of surrogacy is its latest attempt to respond to criticism regarding the lack of protection given to those entering into a commercial surrogacy arrangement. Adaptive preference theorists presume that a decision made in an oppressive environment, which is inconsistent with the woman’s well-being, is not autonomous and that she is therefore exploited. This article challenges this presumption, arguing that some decisions may be suspected as adaptive preferences but they may nevertheless be autonomous. However, it is contended that even if the choice is autonomous, there may still be exploitation given the imbalance of bargaining power and the nature of the service. Rather than a blanket ban on commercial surrogacy, it would be better to reduce exploitative conditions by establishing adequate protection and safeguards for the commercial surrogate and others who are party to the arrangement.

Symposium on The Price

Symposium on <i>The Price</i>