Political Emancipation Research Articles

Queer Angels in Post-1945 American Literature and Culture: Bad Beatitudes

Queer Angels in Post-1945 American Literature and Culture: Bad Beatitudes

Performing an ethos of a dominant Black woman in Paris through body and language: passing at the intersection of race, gender, and class

This article aims to illuminate the social meanings of passing experiences through the practice of whitization (or whitening, i.e. speaking and behaving like a White person) among upper-class African Black women in postcolonial France at the intersection of race, gender, and class. I analyze the role of body and language in the process of political emancipation in a Cameroonian female activist, who is a consultant in the field of African fashion and luxury in Paris. After defining whitization as a form of passing, the article analyzes the phonetic and bodily markers of whitening processes among the Black female subject in three interactions in front of different audiences. I show how multiple semiotic forms are used by the doubly minoritized subject to perform simultaneously a dominant Black woman ethos and a cosmopolitan Black beauty, which partially conforms to Western canons of beauty so as to subvert race, gender, and class power structures.

Implementation of Educational Policy for Socio – Economic and Political Emancipation in Nigeria

: The study examined the influence of the implementation of Nigerian Educational Policy on socio – economic and political emancipation in Nigeria. It specifically examined how the implementation of the policy could socially, economically and politically assist in the emancipation of people i.e. the Nigerian citizens. The study revealed that educational policies in Nigeria are capable of making an average Nigerian, self – reliant economically and socially. It further revealed that proper implementation of the policy could improve the political awareness and participation of the citizens. It was concluded that Nigerian educational policy paved way for socio-economic and political emancipation; however, effective and proper implementation brings development to Nigeria. Educational policies in Nigeria should be tailored to suit the social, economic and political aspirations of Nigerians. The problems militating against effective implementation of educational policies were highlighted. Based on the conclusions of the study, it was recommended that the challenges facing the effective implementation of educational policies should be addressed by government and all stakeholders. Since teachers are the implementers of educational policies, qualified teachers should be employed, trained and retrained on how to implement national educational policy in such a way that socio – economic and political emancipation would be achieved. Policy makers and educational experts need to work together to design national policies that would give way to economically self – reliant citizens, they need to work as partners in progress with teachers to ensure that the policy is implemented accordingly, also the cultural backgrounds of all ethnic groups in Nigeria should be taken into consideration whenever educational policies are reviewed.

‘Heroes to anonymous pensioners’: Francisco Franco's ‘mutilated gentlemen’ and the erosion of veteran privilege in Spain's transition to democracy

This article explores how during Spain's transition to democracy in the 1970s and 1980s, Francoist disabled veterans of the Spanish Civil War navigated the disappearance of formerly hegemonic historical narratives which had hitherto defined their relationship with the state. While for Republican disabled veterans of the Civil War, the transition brought a degree of legitimisation, political emancipation and financial recognition, for Franco's Caballeros Mutilados or ‘Mutilated Gentlemen’ the advent of democracy prompted a re-evaluation of their wounds, their legitimacy and the privileges they had hitherto enjoyed. In the post-dictatorship era, Francoist disabled veterans – who unlike Republican veterans, had enjoyed uncontested legitimacy under the regime – were viewed as inconvenient symbols of Francoism, and faced the challenge of preserving the legitimacy of their veteranhood in the age of democracy. In this sense, the case of the Francoist war disabled of the Spanish Civil War underscores the close link between historical memory and the well-being of the veterans of civil wars. While post-civil war governments often privilege certain disabled bodies over others, this is a precarious privilege that remains vulnerable to political fluctuations over time, as well as the shifting relationship between army, nation and state. In such cases, the ability of disabled veterans’ groups to adapt to changing perceptions of their right to support is crucial to the preservation of their veteranhood, as well as their ability to advocate for improved circumstances more broadly.

IMPACT OF ELECTORAL LAWS IN REDUCING GENDER GAP IN THE VOTERS’ LISTS

This topic is an effort to assess political emancipation of women in Pakistan in different socio-cultural aspects. It has been strived to find out whether the electoral legal framework of the country accelerates or impedes the political empowerment of women. Moreover, this study might be helpful to find out whether women are registered as voters at par to men or otherwise. Hence, registration figures of all districts by the time of promulgation of The Elections Act, 2017 and at the eve of general elections-2018 have been. Researchers have followed the mixed-method research strategy and descriptive research design for the current research. The Elections Act, 2017 and secondary data, primarily published by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), has been used in this study. This research highlights that more efforts are required from ECP, NADRA and the development sector to enhance female registration. FATA still has to travel a long journey for political empowerment of women. The most backward districts like Kohlu, Dera Bugti, North Waziristan, South Waziristan and Mohmand Agency have a disparity of male and female registration up to 30% and substantial efforts are required to reduce such disparity. Keywords: Pakistan, Voting Lists, Election, Electoral Laws, Gender Gap.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF FEMALE VOTING DECISIONS IN AUSTRALIA AND PAKISTAN

Voting patterns are the reflection of democratic traditions that are imbibed within the societal fabric. Pakistan and Australia are far off in case of developmental comparison but there seems to be similar barriers in the societies of both states in relation to women participation and role in politics. This article highlights the patterns which are prevalent in both societies in regards to voting decisions of female diaspora by empirical analysis and identify the similarities and contrasts in voting behaviour of two asymmetrically developed states facing the similar problems of limited role of women in politics. Based on the quantitative data analysis, this article focuses on the comparative analysis of the voting behavior of the two societies and indicates the criteria of rational decision making of the two developmentally different diaspora while advocating the basic notion of women political emancipation in the political sphere of life. Keywords: Voting behaviour, Pakistan, Australia, Women political Participation, Political Interest.

Theory of Modernization and Political Emancipation of Women in Pakistan: An Analysis

The theory of modernization by Inglehart describes that economic development is directly proportional to cultural modernization which affects women's participation in politics. The main focus of this article is to evaluate the relevance of modernization to explain the global differences that exist in women's political participation and, on this basis; to evaluate the situation in Pakistan regarding the political participation of women. Modernization, through changing values in society, has a very positive impact and it brings gender equality to politics. The modernization theory of Inglehart throws light that modernization in society carries positive changes and it also changes the lives of the citizens which is ultimately reflected through gender equality in politics. But along with modernization, certain other issues undermine women's participation in politics and these issues still exist in developing countries like Pakistan.

The aesthetic politics of fighting for black economic freedom: between militant socialism, fascism and bling-bling

ABSTRACT In its nine-year existence, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) consolidated itself as South Africa’s third-largest party, despite continuous, damaging denunciations of some of its key aspects. I argue that a highly aestheticised politics is key to understanding this persistence, necessitating a political-aesthetic reading. I especially focus on the EFF’s adoption of a militarised party aesthetic in its self-stylisation as a contemporary black liberation army, identifying six ways in which it serves to differentiate the party ideologically from its adversaries and manage its organisational challenges. I further examine how the EFF’s highly aestheticised and militarised politics might confirm recurrent criticisms of fascist tendencies. Based on Walter Benjamin’s interpretation of fascism, I consider the functioning of aestheticisation and militarisation as diversions from the EFF’s duplicitous commitment to revolutionary socialism. Being found too limited in engaging the aesthetic as a relatively autonomous dimension of politics, the Benjaminian reading is supplemented with one that takes the EFF leaders’ conspicuous display of material wealth to function as an important, unofficial party aesthetic rooted in black emancipatory politics. The EFF’s political aesthetics is thus conceptualised as a contradictory and perplexing, yet not ineffective mixture of a socialist-revolutionary and bling-bling aesthetic.

Woman, War, and the Politics of Emancipation in Afghanistan

During the twenty years of war in Afghanistan much attention was focussed on the issue of female human rights. The emancipation of women from the rule and legacies of the Taliban was a core objective of Western states. This article traces the resistance within communities and regions to these liberal endeavours and highlights the challenges of imposing rather than embedding values. We note that the Afghan state has always struggled to provide basic human rights for its population, especially for its women. Until those needs are addressed, full emancipation through education and representation of women in society is unlikely. As a case study the country provides an understanding of feminism from a female Afghan perspective as well as an opportunity to explore the human rights context for women generally. Hence, we explain how this war allowed females in Western military forces to operate with greater gender equality on the frontline. Further research has the potential to reveal useful lessons in how female emancipation may be facilitated through an improved understanding of cultural contexts and an appreciation of how basic human rights such as the right to life and security are a prerequisite for female emancipation.

Geopolitics, Culture, and the Scientific Imaginary in Latin America ed. by Maria del Pilar Blanco and Joanna Page

Reviewed by: Geopolitics, Culture, and the Scientific Imaginary in Latin America ed. by Maria del Pilar Blanco and Joanna Page Gregory Knapp Maria del Pilar Blanco and Joanna Page (Eds.) Geopolitics, Culture, and the Scientific Imaginary in Latin America. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2020. 339 pp., maps, diagrams., photos, notes, bibliographies, list of contributors, and index. $95.00 hardcover (ISBN 978-1-6834-0148-3). This edited, collaborative volume draws attention to the role of Latin Americans in contributing to scientific knowledge and methods worldwide. It also deals with the role of science in shaping Latin American discourse and perceptions. With fifteen contributing authors from North America, Latin America, and Europe, the volume grew out of series of conferences. While this volume addresses a variety of scientific approaches in the sciences and social sciences, the authors all take humanistic approaches in the discussions. The humanities, including language, literature, and history, have increasingly provided valuable insights on the relationships between science, society, and creative work. This book adds significantly to our appreciation of these connections in the Latin American context, including multiple countries and time periods. The first section of the volume deals with Latin America’s “scientific landscapes,” including studies of dinosaur narratives in Patagonia and science writing in Mexico from 1868 to 1876. For example, as discussed in Gabriela Nouzeilles’ essay in this book, Argentina’s Ameghino argued that modern mammals originated in South America and spread northward from there, inverting conventional discourses which saw mammals as spreading to South America from the north. The Museum of Natural Sciences of La Plata made a point of emphasizing the scale of the local megafauna and was inter-nationally recognized for its grandeur. This approach to the paleontological past has continued to the present in Argentina, with the physical size of specimens providing the opportunity to embody national pride and postcolonial resentment. The second section considers Latin America as a site of knowledge production. Local medical writings from both the sixteenth century and twentieth century exhibit respect for indigenous science and health treatment methods. Colonial miners in the Andes used rich networks of experience and participation to forge understandings of minerals and their distribution. The third section deals with science and modern nations, including early republican innovations in the social sciences, the role of science in political emancipation, and aspects of the popular technological imagination. Lina del Castillo’s essay on social science in post-colonial Spanish America highlights how local intellectuals such as José María Samper saw themselves as being in the vanguard of promoting modernization in society and science and providing exemplary models for intellectuals in Europe to follow. Their contributions have been obscured by more recent postcolonial approaches that have failed to appreciate the radical and constructive nature of early republican scientists and social scientists. For example, the Colombian land surveyor Lorenzo María Lleras promoted techniques [End Page 211] that took into account Indigenous histories and land claims, as well as microclimate and family structure to provide surveys and titles suitable for empowering indigenous actors as members of a liberal republic. This was in striking contrast to survey methodologies in the United States that were developed in tandem with dispossessing Indigenous people as a prerequisite for ethnic replacement. Del Castillo argues that Samper can be credited with inventing comparative sociology before Durkheim, through contrasting social change in Europe and the United States and what he called Hispano-Colombia. He argued that Hispanic America (outside Brazil) was far more progressive than other regions in overturning the old regime, abolishing slavery, promoting racial equality, promoting free trade, and extending suffrage. Samper anticipated Franz Boas in arguing against racial determinism and for the influence of social institutions; indeed, Samper argued against the concept of race itself as lacking objective reality. Samper also placed himself in opposition to imperialism as exemplified by the US-Mexican war, which he saw as the expansion of a pro-slavery state imposing a violent absorption of other societies. Del Castillo ends her essay by arguing that the radical contributions of post-independence scholars such as Samper have been obscured not only by modern US-based hegemonic and contemptuous, stereotyping and “orientalizing” social...

Urban uprisings between revolutionary openings and reactionary outcomes: making sense of the 2013 “June Days” in Brazil

ABSTRACT Through a Rancièrian reading of the political as a performative staging of egalitarian dissent, this article conducts an event analysis of the 2013 Brazilian “June Days” uprisings. It identifies and challenges two broad narratives on these uprisings’ emergence and significance: a narrative of June’s “Revolutionary Openings” that views June as a sociopolitical opening that brought new actors and imaginaries into being, and a narrative of June’s “Reactionary Outcomes” that foregrounds June as paving the way for the rise of a revived, authoritarian right in Brazilian politics. Through an in-depth case study of one demonstration originating in Rio’s largest favela, the article provides much-needed empirical depth to interpretations of the June uprisings. It shows how these events fruitfully can continue to be framed as an open source of emancipatory politics, even in current political circumstances marked by an authoritarian, right-wing leadership. The article introduces three main lessons with relevance for broader debates in the urban studies literature: (i) a Rancièrian lens is fruitful for capturing the political dynamics of urban uprisings, however, (ii) a contextually embedded analysis of his abstract political logics is necessary, and (iii) the temporal dimension must be considered when assessing the transformative political potential of urban uprisings.

Alienation and action in the young Marx, Aristotle, and Arendt

Alienation and action in the young Marx, Aristotle, and Arendt

Iraqi Jews in the twentieth century: an essay about emancipation

ABSTRACT One of the most Arabized Jewish communities in the Middle East, the Jews of Iraq emigrated virtually en masse from the country they had called home for millennia. Jews benefitted from the political emancipation, educational opportunities, and prospects for economic expansion offered by the Ottoman and Young Turk regimes, and, initially, by the post-World War I state of Iraq. Gradually, they were marginalized as a consequence of those same liberal reforms.

Agrarian crises and producerist populism in French rural unions: limits and potential for an emancipatory rural politics

The article examines the reactions of two important agricultural trade unions in France, the ?Confédération Paysanne and the Coordination Rurale, to the liberalisation and financialisation of the ?European Common Agricultural Policy. It highlights the adoption of a "producerist populism" approach ?focused on the role of transnational economic and financial elites in co-opting the state, reducing ?public aid and as the main driver of the economic crises experienced by French farmers. The article ?traces the manifestations of this approach in the claims and analyses of the two unions in the face of ?recent economic developments in the wheat and dairy sectors in France. It argues that the producerist understanding of the crises in agriculture leads these two farmers unions, from opposite political backgrounds, to develop common arguments, opening to strategic alliances. Finally, based on the current ?debate on authoritarian populism in rural areas, the article discusses the interest in overcoming these ?narratives in favour of a more emancipatory rural perspective.?

Left in the Dark: Regimes of Affect and Political Passivity in Kazuo Ishiguro’s the Remains of the Day

ABSTRACT In one of the latest commentaries on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel The Remains of the Day (1989), it is explained that the novel’s protagonist Stevens is a true monster who “has embraced antisemitism and fascism throughout his career” and it is also underlined that although “there is no question about Stevens’s emotional repression … this trait has little to do with his racism and refusal to intervene morally in Darlington’s household.” The present paper aims to offer an alternative reading of the political agency and passivity of the novel’s protagonist Stevens with the help of affect theory. This paper will read The Remains of the Day and its protagonist primarily by looking at their relationship with sense reception, motion, and emotion, and show that the apathy and affective restraint experienced by Stevens as an English butler underlies his political passivity. Such a reading will also enable the readers to perceive Ishiguro’s work as a hopeful narrative affirming the power of affect in the matters of political emancipation and agency.

Entering the Contact Zone? Between Colonialism, Neoliberal Resilience and the Possibility of Emancipatory Politics in Puerto Rico’s Post-Maria

Undoubtedly, the colonial and neoliberal regime in Puerto Rico precedes the scourge of Hurricane Maria on September 20, 2017. Therefore, when evaluating the “responses” that followed this atmospheric disaster, it is important to consider that the political, legal and economic base for such “answers” have been articulated from a long-standing colonial-neoliberal complex in the island. In this article, the author identifies this complex with what he calls the degenerative evolution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, established in 1952.

Transnational hashtag protest movements and emancipatory politics in Africa: A three country study

Transnational hashtag protest movements and emancipatory politics in Africa: A three country study

„Der Mensch soll nicht allein sein“

For Hegel’s German-Jewish disciples, the French Revolution marked the starting point of a history of freedom, which was to include legal and political emancipation. In many cases, however, the experiences of German-Jewish migrants in Paris were disappointing. The philosophical idea of “France” was not to be confused with its political reality. Nevertheless, the image of France served as a critical antithesis to the political situation in Germany throughout the 1820 and 1830s. The article discusses the impact of France on the political concepts of Jewish Hegelians with a focus on the jurist and political philosopher Eduard Gans.

Cinematic empire and nostalgia in Viceroy’s House and Victoria and Abdul

The commercial viability of Gurinder Chadha’s Viceroy’s House (2017) and Stephen Frears’ Victoria and Abdul (2017) can be attributed to their effective use of heritage film elements to offer romanticized versions of British rule. Decoding the teleological intent behind these romanticized versions, this article contends that the chosen films promote nostalgia in response to the postimperial melancholia that Britain is experiencing in the contemporary period. Exploring the cinematic recreation of nostalgia, this article analyses the spatial, material, and racial aspects of Victoria and Abdul and Viceroy’s House. The spatial analysis highlights the cinematography used to depict heritage space to commemorate British tradition, the material examination focuses on colonial gifts of economic mobility and political emancipation bestowed on the colonized, and the racial analysis focuses on Muslim stereotyping through exoticism and animalization to reinforce British pride in civilizing the “inferior race”. An explication of these cinematic and narrative elements highlights the films’ invocation of nostalgia for an idealized past through a return to a closed epoch of empire that uncritically and dangerously reproduces ideologies of British cultural and racial superiority. Furthermore, this invocation of nostalgia works to glorify British historical origins and strengthen national cohesion in order to allay collective anxieties about the abject loss of the empire’s global recognition in the wake of Brexit.

The Checkpost State in Pakistan’s War of Terror: Centres, Peripheries, and the Politics of the Universal

AbstractPakistan is one of the most militarised and unevenly developed political economies in the post‐colonial world. Already acute extractive logics in long‐suffering ethnic peripheries have intensified alongside state repression after the regime of the so‐called “war on terror” was initiated in 2001. In this paper, I contrast the brutalising effects of securitised infrastructure, or what I call the “checkpost state”, with the “politics of the universal” espoused by various popular movements across uneven historical‐geographical terrain. On the basis of personal experience as a political organiser, I highlight difficulties and modest successes in cultivating what Frantz Fanon termed “universalising values” in the building of an emancipatory politics bridging centres and peripheries. I argue that the challenge posed by Fanon during the heyday of revolutionary internationalism is today even more urgent as hitherto spatially insulated peripheries stretch into metropolitan settings.