Passive Victims Research Articles

‘Saving the youth’: Children and young people as moral subjects in the Philippines’ punitive drug regime

Background The Philippines has one of the must punitive drug regimes in the world, as evidenced not just by Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war but previous anti-drug campaigns. This article examines the place of ‘the youth’ in the longstanding moral panic around drugs and drug policy in the Philippines. Methods This article uses critical discourse analysis to analyze figurations of young people across three distinct periods in the Philippines’ contemporary history: Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s early dictatorship (1972–1975), Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s presidency (2001–2010), and Rodrigo Duterte’s administration (2016–2022). Results In all three periods, young people were simultaneously invoked as a group that needs saving) and as a group that needs surveillance and discipline. Further, across the three periods, both the youth and drug use were enfolded into larger socio-political discourses (e.g. Martial Law; corruption and poverty; anti-elite politics). Conclusion The ambivalence in the ways in which young people are treated in drug policy reflects and reinforces their societal construction as passive victims. Interrogating and challenging the ways in which young people figure in ‘morality politics’ can pave the way for meaningful youth engagement in drug policies and programs.

Chinese American College Students’ Self-Meaning Making Through the Lens of Critical Whiteness Studies

Chinese Americans are historically perceived as perpetual foreigners and honorary whites in American political, cultural, and racial discourses. Utilizing Critical Whiteness Studies as a theoretical framework and Critical Race Hermeneutics as an analytic tool, this article examines how Chinese American young adults construct who they are against whiteness as the norm, the epistemology of ignorance, and white emotionality. Instead of passive victims, Chinese American college students actively challenge this hegemony, privilege, and oppression in unique ways.

Entangled histories of Architecture and Dispossession in The Pruitt-Igoe Myth (2011)

This paper addresses how documentary film may attend to, mediate, and negotiate the histories of the entanglement between housing and dispossession. For this purpose, it focuses on Chad Freidrichs’ 2011 documentary film The Pruitt-Igoe Myth that centers the accounts of Pruitt-Igoe’s African American residents. As it is well-known, the media images as well as the initial scholarly accounts of the demolishment of the housing complex have largely served as an icon of reactions against modernist architecture. The majority of later accounts, while steering the conversation away from a sole focus on architecture, singled out one or two aspects of this intricate tangle and approached the residents of the complex as passive victims rather than active agents. Here, The Pruitt-Igoe Myth constitutes a unique case not only within the popularized and highly mediatized conceptions of but also the extensive scholarship on the building complex. The paper argues that, in its centering of the first-hand accounts as well as documents of lives that unfolded in the building complex, this documentary offers us a more open mode of architectural historiography that centers the complex intersections of structural racism, dispossession, and built environment.

Working "With" Not "On" Disabled People: The Role of Hate Crime Research within the Community.

For many disabled people, violence can become an unwanted, yet ordinary part of everyday life. Often, these crimes are attributed to understandings of disabled people as vulnerable and largely, passive victims. Attending to the aims of this special issue, this paper aims to dismantle these stereotypes and attend to the unique ways that disabled people can resist and respond to hate crime through creative and collaborative research practices. Building upon this, I argue that there is a pressing need for hate studies researchers to work "with" and not "on" those who have experienced targeted violence. Working in this way builds upon long-standing efforts of disabled activists and disabilities studies researchers to challenge reductive research practices by working in more collective and inclusive ways. To demonstrate this, I reflect upon a project working in partnership with disabled people to create a disability hate crime toolkit. The toolkit, now published, shares accessible and informative resources that can be used to raise awareness about disability hate crime. While the focus of this paper is disability, I consider methods of collaboration, co-production and participation that can be drawn upon by researchers to respond to hate crime and interpersonal violence more broadly.

REVISITING PRIBUMI – NONPRIBUMI DISCOURSES IN THE POST-SUHARTO INDONESIA

This study explores the ideological shifts surrounding the terms pribumi (native Indonesian) and nonpribumi (non-indigenous people) in the post-Suharto era (1998-2020). The data source are 173 news articles from the Indonesian press containing the term ‘pribumi.’ By employing Van Dijk’s ‘Ideological Square’ Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) the study portrays groups in terms of dominance, inequality, difference, and victimization to understand power dynamics and ideological constructions in the language. The findings reveal that pribumi are portrayed positively as rooted in ethnic origin, cultural heritage, and mainly Muslim identity in recent periods, but also as economically disadvantaged landowners. Conversely, nonpribumi are depicted negatively as foreign, racially distinct, and economically dominant. Negative representations of pribumi as oppressors and politically dominant are de-emphasized, while positive portrayals of nonpribumi as passive victims are mitigated. The study suggests that evolving nuances stem from democratic transitions and heightened identity politics tensions. Economic perceptions linked to these terms persist across periods. These insights might help scholars and policymakers understand mobilization patterns and potential identity-related conflicts, prompting further research into using dichotomous terms within specific social and cultural contexts.

Centenary Paper: Living Hell: The Chinese Coolie Trade in Nineteenth-Century Cuba

Between 1847 and 1874, approximately 150,000 Chinese were brought to Cuba under termed contracts to fulfil a labour shortage on sugar cane plantations. Known as ‘coolies’, they suffered harsh conditions and were treated severely. Coolies were generally viewed as dutiful and submissive and their voices have largely been confined to the margins of literature and history. However, the nineteenth-century testimonies and illustrations of Chinese coolies denounce the savagery and cruelty of the Spanish overseers, while simultaneously revealing that coolies were not passive victims. The coolies demonstrated agency, courage and strategic resistance in the act of migrating, in their words, and rebellions. Coolie labour played a major role in reshaping Cuba’s sugar economy and its existing systems of production. In addition, the amplified presence of the Chinese in Cuba challenged existing paradigms of race and nation. Cuban society was no longer Black and white. The growing Chinese population forced a reconsideration of this traditional binary vision of society and, in the formation of a new Chinese–Cuban identity, complicated notions of what constituted cubanidad.

Extracellular vesicles derived from stressed beta cells mediate monocyte activation and contribute to islet inflammation.

Beta cell destruction in type 1 diabetes (T1D) results from the combined effect of inflammation and recurrent autoimmunity. In recent years, the role played by beta cells in the development of T1D has evolved from passive victims of the immune system to active contributors in their own destruction. We and others have demonstrated that perturbations in the islet microenvironment promote endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in beta cells, leading to enhanced immunogenicity. Among the underlying mechanisms, secretion of extracellular vesicles (EVs) by beta cells has been suggested to mediate the crosstalk with the immune cell compartment. To study the role of cellular stress in the early events of T1D development, we generated a novel cellular model for constitutive ER stress by modulating the expression of HSPA5, which encodes BiP/GRP78, in EndoC-βH1 cells. To investigate the role of EVs in the interaction between beta cells and the immune system, we characterized the EV miRNA cargo and evaluated their effect on innate immune cells. Analysis of the transcriptome showed that HSPA5 knockdown resulted in the upregulation of signaling pathways involved in the unfolded protein response (UPR) and changes the miRNA content of EVs, including reduced levels of miRNAs involved in IL-1β signaling. Treatment of primary human monocytes with EVs from stressed beta cells resulted in increased surface expression of CD11b, HLA-DR, CD40 and CD86 and upregulation of IL-1β and IL-6. These findings indicate that the content of EVs derived from stressed beta cells can be a mediator of islet inflammation.

Coping within the interstices of the neoliberal sports market: Using de Certeau to analyse the migration of African mixed martial arts fighters in South Africa

This paper focuses on African migrant mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters enrolled in the Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC), a leading MMA organization established in 2009 in South Africa. It highlights their precarious work and living conditions, which are counterbalanced by the promise of real but rare career possibilities. Drawing from Michel de Certeau’s conceptual framework – notably his concepts of strategies, tactics and lieu propre (proper place) – we analyse what it is to struggle, cope and sometimes thrive, as a migrant fighter in South Africa. We rely on 61 semi-structured interviews with 35 professional EFC fighters from four Sub-Saharan countries who migrated to South Africa. Our results highlight the various tactics – which rely on social networks, their bodily stature, fighting skills and EFC media presence – that fighters mobilize to cope with the hardships of migratory status and unstable work conditions. We thus reveal the dialectic power relations that tie fighters to promoters and contribute to understanding migrants’ work conditions in the neoliberal sports market. Our research highlights the need to move away from migrant athletes’ caricatured representations as silent and passive victims unaware of the mechanisms of oppression to a more dynamic understanding of power relations that takes coping mechanisms and career trajectories into account.

Come West, Young Woman: Jane Smiley’s Trailing Wives

ABSTRACT Jane Smiley’s regional novels offer more than the contemplation of an American landscape, enhanced by the labor of settlers and farmers. Instead, her novels critique both the hidden politics of settlement as well as the destructive legacy of “family” farms. In The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton and Private Life, the acquisition of a wife is essential to a man’s Western quest. However, Smiley portrays these wives less as passive victims than as accomplices to their husbands’ misdeeds, holding them responsible for the consequences of their union. Smiley’s wives may ultimately achieve an awareness of their choices and their roles in history, but it is a pyrrhic achievement as they realize they cannot make amends for the harm their marriages caused others. This essay examines how The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton and Private Life build on A Thousand Acres, forming Smiley’s critique of the foundational American myths of Western settlement. While her novels may fall within the literary traditions of domestic realism, Smiley’s female protagonists are more aware of the privilege embedded within their landscape and homes, fully acknowledging the harm their marriages caused others, deliberately revealing the ideologies entwined in marriage vows.

Women and the economic field: cooperatives and capital in Turkey

ABSTRACT This article aims to analytically dissect the interrelated reasons behind the gender gap in wealth accumulation. To do so, it examines how the accumulation of different forms of capital by women in the course of their lives affects women’s prospects in the economic field, thereby shaping women’s potential for wealth accumulation. Focusing on women’s cooperatives in Turkey through a Bourdieusian lens, the article shows that the patriarchal roles assigned to women result in asymmetries of not only economic but also social and cultural capital that lead to structural impediments against women’s endeavors in the economic field. We show, however, that despite these structural impediments, women are not only passive victims of these conditions byt instead develop strategies to cope with these disadvantages and cooperatives play a crucial role in that regard. Finally, through our case study, we demonstrate that both the constraints faced and strategies developed by women are informed by class and occupational background.

‘You're not good’: inequalities experienced by women in physical education during their childhood and adolescence

ABSTRACT Background Physical Education (PE) is a space for both the reproduction and change of power relations, due to its close relationship with physical activities and sports (PAS) and its masculine tradition. It is still deeply rooted in the perpetuation of hegemonic masculinity and its consequent behaviors. These behaviors, typically exhibited by boys, contribute to the discrimination experienced by many students whose characteristics do not align with the traits of hegemonic masculinity. Poststructuralist feminism recognizes all individuals as active participants in the negotiations of gender power relations, and therefore does not consider girls as passive victims of oppression. In other words, although it might appear that they are being passive in their actions, these attitudes indicate a resistance to engaging in a technical and traditional PE which perpetuates hegemonic masculinity. Purpose The objective of this study was to analyze the experiences of inequality experienced by women in PE during their childhood and adolescence. Method The participants were 17 women aged from 18 to 46 years old from the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (Spain). Four in-depth interviews and four focus groups were conducted. The transcripts were analyzed inductively, and a category system was constructed. Findings The participants highlighted how their experiences were negatively affected by the following consequences of hegemonic masculinity and power relations: PE Teachers in the spotlight – Authoritarian, contemptuous, and passive attitudes of teachers toward girls and their traditional approach were a relevant factor for many of them to lose interest in PE. Gender issues – The attitude of most boys caused many girls to stay on the sidelines due to the reproduction of qualities such as superiority, violence, aggressiveness, or competitiveness, as well as behaviors of ridicule and humiliation toward students who did not meet the expectations of motor abilities. Learned (in)ability – Since childhood, they believed that they were not good at PAS due to the messages received from society. Additionally, they felt intimidated in competitive contexts, which made it very difficult for them to successfully participate in a performance-focused PE. Discussion: Participants viewed PE as a hostile environment, where the majority of girls, as well as other students who did not conform to hegemonic masculinity, faced discrimination. However, the students' decision to stay on the sidelines was an attitude of resistance, refusing to participate in the reproduction of toxic masculinity and patriarchy. Conclusion It is crucial to recognize the reproduction of hegemonic masculinity and the exertion of power that discriminates and oppresses others in PE. This can serve as an initial step to encourage positive, inclusive experiences and meaningful learning, counteracting the reproduction of traditional models. Likewise, it is important to empower girls and transmit to them their ability to transgress and transform the dominant roles of society.

High-life in a high-rise: Governing urban marginality during COVID-19 in Colombo, Sri Lanka

This research study discusses urban regeneration projects and the impact of COVID-19 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The study population constitutes urban watta communities relocated to government owned, high-rise housing projects. This study investigates the state response during COVID-19 and the governance of marginality. The research methodology includes participant observation, a household survey, in-depth interviews, and community based participatory methods carried out between September 2019 to January 2021. The study examines formation and perpetuation of discourses regarding urban working-classes who are perceived as 'urban underclasses'. Despite relocation in high-rise housing projects and attempts to create modern, and upgraded living, the residents in high-rise housing projects constantly experienced marginality. Marginality stemmed from socio-historical, structural factors such as dehumanising discourses, the impact of urban development projects, differential determinants that characterised communities and methods of state control. This study uses difference as an important perspective through which urban subaltern communities and everyday life can be studied. Whereas this study demonstrates that the state exerts excessive control in governing subaltern classes, they were not passive victims resigning themselves to a marginal status. They also exerted agency and engaged in resistance against the state within the post-relocation setting.

Resilience and Domination: Resonances of Racial Slavery in Refugee Exclusion

Abstract We are encouraged to think of refugees as resilient people with agency and capacity for flourishing, rather than passive victims needing help. This framing purports to uphold and celebrate refugees’ humanity. But some scholars worry that it problematically serves to demand resilience from refugees, normalize their displacement, and legitimate state bordering practices. This article builds on this critique by examining how powerful actors have long attributed resilience to vulnerable others to legitimate domination and control. I focus on the deployment of resilience-talk by white enslavers and their supporters to justify Black enslavement in the American South. Their philosophical, climatological, and epidemiological arguments about the resilient Black slave were supplemented with a claim that Black people could not survive liberation in the American North. I probe the resonances of this resilience-talk with contemporary invocations of the resilience of refugees in the Global South, and their supposed non-resilience in the Global North.

Rethinking child aggression beyond traditional labels: A ‘shared victimhood’ approach to child-to-child violence in Nigeria

Child-to-child violence is a pervasive problem in schools and communities worldwide. Traditional models for understanding this violence often present a clear dichotomy between aggressive children and passive victims. However, this binary approach has proven largely inadequate in recognizing the power dynamics and potential victimization of both parties involved, resulting in interventions that have little to no success in rehabilitation. Alternatively, this paper proposes a "shared victimhood" approach, arguing that violent behavior may result from a cycle of negative experiences in which both the aggressor and the victim are positioned as products of their environment. In essence, the paper explores the limitations of binary labeling and the potential of the shared victimhood framework. It reviews relevant research on the ecological factors influencing child aggression, highlighting the impact of family background, early childhood experiences, and social learning. Drawing on ecological theory, the paper emphasizes the importance of early intervention and prevention strategies that address the root causes of aggression while fostering empathy and resilience in children. It also recommends that states in Nigeria establish LGA-specific child counseling centers and rehabilitation facilities attached to the health care system that cater exclusively to the needs of abused children. Finally, the paper suggests areas for future research to further develop and refine the shared victimhood perspective.

The street begging economy: investigating the economic strategies of street beggars in Ghana

PurposeThis study investigates the economic strategies street beggars (SBs) employ in Ghana to gain a competitive advantage within the contested urban spaces they occupy. By conceptualising SBs as economic actors, the research shifts the focus from perceiving them as passive recipients of charity to recognising their intentional decision-making and strategic behaviour to maximise financial benefits.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts a qualitative case study approach, using non-participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 40 SBs in Kumasi, Ghana. Thematic analysis was used to identify the economic strategies used by SBs to gain a competitive advantage.FindingsThe study reveals three main strategies adopted by SBs: child advertisement, body marketing, and narrative marketing. These strategies emerge from the SBs' contextual understanding of the public’s social protection needs and are used to develop strategies that give them an advantage over other SBs within contested urban streets.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research could explore the effectiveness of different economic strategies employed by street beggars and compare their financial outcomes. Investigating the public’s perceptions and attitudes towards these strategies could provide valuable insights.Practical implicationsPolicymakers and city authorities should acknowledge some street begging as an economic activity and develop regulations, designate begging areas, and establish guidelines for acceptable practices. Creating targeted skill training, entrepreneurship programs, and access to microfinance can facilitate the transition of street beggars from begging to more sustainable forms of livelihood.Social implicationsThis study challenges the perception of street beggars as passive victims, highlighting their agency and strategic decision-making. Recognizing their economic strategies can inform policies that regulate begging as an economic activity, create alternative opportunities, and prevent exploitation of vulnerable groups, ultimately promoting more sustainable and dignified livelihoods for street beggars.Originality/valueThis study seeks to enrich the current literature and bridge the research gap by investigating the phenomenon of street begging and the diverse economic strategies street beggars employ to gain a competitive advantage within urban areas. This research moves beyond computing financial income and regulating begging by conceptualizing SBs as economic actors and begging as an economic activity. It explores how SBs use conscious efforts and rational strategies to maximize financial benefits from passers-by and outperform other SBs, providing novel insights into the complex dynamics of street begging.

Refugee women in the media – prevalence, representation and framing in international media coverage

ABSTRACT Are refugee women invisible in the media? Extant media portrayals often make use of stereotypical representations, in that women are represented as vulnerable and passive victims. Within the theoretical frameworks of agenda setting and framing, vulnerability and agency, digital emotion contagion and distant suffering, this study investigates media coverage on refugee women by four popular international news outlets on the basis of their YouTube presence from 2011 to 2021. We applied automated data gathering to extract relevant videos which were manually coded and analyzed. In addition, we applied an automated topic modeling and sentiment analysis. The results are ambiguous but in general reflect existing findings: refugee women are marginalized in media coverage, and their portrayal is often stereotypical presenting them as vulnerable victims. The results highlight the need to sensitize journalists for a non-stereotypical reporting and the broader public for a more critical stance towards media coverage of refugee women.

Navigating the city: gendered work experiences in urban spaces

ABSTRACT Women around the world experience much higher levels of fear of crime, profoundly impacting their perceptions of safety and influencing their interactions with public spaces. This fear prompts women to alter their behaviour, such as avoiding specific urban areas and public transport, especially after dark. While many amend their habits and limit their exposure to public spaces due to the fear of crime, what happens to those women for whom the urban space is also their workplace and whose work occurs solely in public spaces? This article focuses on women whose work demands engagement with public spaces, exploring the experiences of women drivers in male-dominated sectors such as taxi and platform-based (Uber and Cabify) services in the city of Malaga, Spain. Drawing on 35 semi-structured interviews, the article explores their experiences as mobile workers navigating urban spaces and their dual role in the dynamics of violence: as the receiver of violence and sexual harassment from clients and colleagues, and simultaneously acting as protectors for their women clients, ensuring their safety in public spaces. Rather than understanding women as passive victims, the article explores how women deploy a sense of agency in creating strategies that help them navigate these challenges. While some responses involve self-censorship to mitigate potential dangers, others defy gender by not conforming to the cultural norms of traditional femininity. Through these processes, women survive, challenge, and resist violence, and move from the sense that ‘this city is not for me’ to developing a higher sense of power.

Weathering the Storm

Abstract Over the last two decades, red umbrellas have increasingly appeared in campaigns to end violence against sex workers, oppose harmful legislation, advocate for decriminalization, commemorate lost community members, and broadly express sex worker pride. Originating with the work of the artist/activist Tadej Pogačar and the P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Museum of Contemporary Art’s contribution to the 2001 Venice Biennale (“The Prostitute Pavilion”), red umbrellas were originally presented as a visual symbol of self-help, organization, and protection for sex workers. Since then the red umbrella has been adopted and adapted to a broader range of meanings related to sex worker activism, including decriminalization, opposition to antitrafficking discourse, and more. The umbrella has also come to convey the “big tent” concept—that all sex workers are together under its canopy, unified as one coalition. But like any symbol, the red umbrella’s use has limitations. The red umbrella risks amplifying negative rhetoric employed by the antitrafficking movement, which casts sex workers as passive victims in need of salvation, or of oversimplifying a complex, multifaceted political movement. The Curated Spaces section of this issue presents a brief history of the red umbrella as a symbol for sex workers’ rights and images that demonstrate its varied uses.

Nationalism, Italy and the Exhibition of the Holocaust: Findings of a Study on the Recently built Museums of Campagna and San Donato

Abstract In recent years, Italy has seen a proliferation of Holocaust Museums and Memorials. This article focuses on two recent additions: the Museum of the Twentieth Century and the Shoah in San Donato Val di Comino (Frosinone), and the Memory and Peace Museum Giovanni Palatucci Study Center in Campagna (Salerno). It uses qualitative methods including in-depth interviews, direct observation, analysis of information panels, other audio and visual elements, and is guided by a theoretical framework rooted in theories of nationalism. The research findings show that these museums present an overly positive narrative of Italy’s role in the Holocaust lacking critical examination and perpetuating the myth of the “good Italian” already identified by other scholars. The museums emphasize favourable conditions for Jewish internees without considering factual evidence that could have provided a more balanced perspective. Additionally, they fail to acknowledge Italian collaboration with Nazi Germany, both, at the exhibition sites and elsewhere. Both museums highlight a Christian salvific narrative, stressing the role of Christian Italians saving Jews, and perpetuating stereotypes of Jews as passive victims. Additionally, Jews are excluded from the notion of “Italianness” and portrayed as “others.” Also, fascism is excluded, deemed incompatible with the idealized Italian Christian civilization proposed by the museums.

‘Tangled times’: Central American refugee perspectives on the long Cold War*

ABSTRACT Between the 1970s and 1990s, state-led violence drove one-quarter of El Salvador’s population—most of them peasants—into exile. Studies of this phenomenon often adopt a bureaucratic, top-down approach, treating it as an anomaly, a problem to be solved by international leaders. Adopting a transnational social historical approach allows us to see this Cold War-era ‘refugee crisis’ as the peasants saw it—as part of much longer historical patterns of dispossession and resistance. This article traces their displacement narratives over thirty years. Drawing from two decades of work with displaced Salvadorans, public and private archives, and oral histories, it first brings to light how Salvadorans threaded together Spanish colonialists, Salvadoran oligarchs, US imperialists, and international humanitarian organizations into a noose of destructive outside interests. It then explores how, rather than submit to conventional portrayals of refugees as pawns or passive victims, Salvadorans identified as citizen-activists who harnessed displacement as an opportunity to continue progressing toward long-standing goals of building a more just and equitable world. Finally, the article moves to the present, as former refugees purposefully excavate the 1980s crisis to expose the roots of current mass migrations. The street gang wars that trigger today’s flights are nothing new, peasants argue; they are a living legacy of the Cold War. By emphasizing the past/present and local/global nexuses, these narratives recast the Cold War in terms of actors, causes, consequences, and chronology, while also demonstrating the value of looking beyond violence to consider the dreams of—and movements toward—a better tomorrow.