Privileged Position Research Articles

Can the University Speak?

The problematic nature of higher education and knowledge production has been a subject of debate within the academy. University students have protested against values that evoke colonial history and Western hegemony, as seen in the #RhodesMustFall protests in South Africa. This debate has highlighted the historically one-sided and interest-driven manner in which knowledge has been produced and disseminated, especially within the contemporary academy, where neoliberal practices are deeply intertwined. In this context, I provide a concise summary of these discussions while integrating the perspectives of two influential figures in postcolonial theory, Homi Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak. Homi Bhabha's 'Theory of Mimicry' offers a plausible explanation for the imitation of the Global North's university culture and structure by peripheral countries. It suggests that the privileged position of the West as a pioneer in this regard dates back to the colonial period when non-Western societies believed they could achieve a semblance of civilization by adopting these imitative practices. However, the current state of higher education is deeply flawed and biased due to this imitation of Western models by non-Western universities. This subordination of higher education to Western ideals has made it a tool of neoliberalism, which underscores that knowledge production, and consequently higher education, lacks its own agency and is rendered subaltern. Nevertheless, Latin America provides examples of subversity and pluriversity that challenge the conventional university model in the pursuit of decolonization.

Az emberi élet határai Kosztolányi Dezső Tengerszem című kötetében

‚The last collection of short stories by Dezső Kosztolányi, Tengerszem (Mountain Lake, 1936), repeatedly raises the question of where the boundaries of human life are and how human beings can be defined. In the context of natural affects and mechanical existence, the book questions the privileged position commonly attributed to humanity. As human and nonhuman actors o†en intertwine in the narratives, life can only be understood as part of a complex constellation. Consequently, the structure of the short stories involves different perspectives, which also serves to develop a critical approach to the homogeneous interpretations of human dignity.

Experience: Data Management for Delivering COVID-19 Relief in Panama

A data-driven public sector recognizes data as a key element for implementing policies based on evidence. The open data movement has been a major catalyst for elevating data to a privileged position in many governments around the globe. In Panama, open data has enabled the improvement of data management in each institution. However, it is required to go further to create an integrated data-driven government with a common objective. Public institutions collect a huge amount of data that may never be used, and some others do not contain enough quality to provide trustworthy results. The state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 showed the necessity of establishing a common digital government vision for planning, delivering, and monitoring public services, as well as strengthening the technical foundation in the public sector to improve the data value cycle: acquisition, storage, and exploitation. This paper reports from a data custodian perspective how the state of emergency worked as a catalyst to boost government data management, specifically for the Vale Digital program, a social relief program linked to the identity card implemented by the Panamanian government during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may possibly be the greatest government data integration to date in terms of impact, data volume, rapid implementation, and institutions involved.

초국적 문화 시장 속 내셔널 시네마 재점검하기

The purpose of this paper is to problematize the critical and research landscape that anchor Edward Yang's films within the framework of national cinema, based on a post-colonial Marxist perspective. The success of the Taiwanese New Wave was influenced not only by the anti-colonial movement but also by marketing strategies within the postmodern art market. Furthermore, there was a process of responding to the new nation's desire for profit through the export of goods in the international market. Therefore, this paper aims to explore a new perspective in interpreting Edward Yang's films as national cinema, while also revealing aspects that have been concealed by the logic of criticism and the market surrounding his films. To achieve this, the paper focuses on new character types in his films since the 1990s, suggesting that his films may reproduce the culture of patriarchal bourgeois families. Thus, this paper aims to indicate that the concept of national cinema can solidify its privileged position within the nation and suppress diversity, when studying national cinema in the era of transnational capitalism.

Preanesthesia evaluation of oncological patients requiring palliative procedures

Palliative surgery in cancer patients are surgical procedures that do not aim to cure a patient but to improve their quality of life by providing relief from symptoms caused by an existing tumor. In addition to a patient´s higher risks, due to an increased number of related comorbidities, as well as the degenerative process caused by the pathology itself and its treatments, there are several other elements that may influence the decision-making process regarding the care to be provided. The needed solicitude for cancer patients with no prospect of cure should be of interest for both the patient and the health system in the management of welfare and epidemiological strategies. The objective of this review is to gather knowledge regarding the preparation of cancer patients requiring palliative surgical procedures in order to improve their quality of life, highlighting the important role of the anesthesiologist for optimizing the postoperative outcomes. In Brazil, performing an outpatient preanesthesia evaluation is recommended by the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) under resolution number 2174/2017, since each preparation for an elective anesthetic procedure informs the anesthesiologist about the patient’s clinical conditions, as well as the possible risks that can be alleviated during the period prior to surgery and on planning special care in the pre, intra and postoperative periods, thus reducing the morbidity and mortality. These professionals are in a privileged position to alleviate suffering, as they have the necessary tools to deal with many symptoms that frequently occur in patients undergoing palliative care.

Being intentional about intersectionality and positionality

ABSTRACT This paper describes how a familiar exercise, known as the ‘Privilege Walk’, or Step Forward or Back line activity, could be used to develop s understanding of the skills and knowledge needed, prior to their first placement. Specifically, the activity puts particular emphasis on the need to apply ethical principles, values and anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive principles into professional practices, as well as applying, and advancing human rights and promoting social justice and economic wellbeing. Encouraging a deeper understanding of students’ motivations to become social workers, particularly exploring Carl Jung’s 1951 ‘wounded healer’. The activity, used in the training of foster carers and adopters, will be described as a teaching technique to provide an opportunity to understand the intricacies of privilege, and to explore how membership of specific social identity groups endows individuals with privilege and power. Social work courses can help students recognize ways that they can use their privileges, both collectively and individually, to work for social justice. The purpose is not to imply culpability, provoke shame or guilt due to being in a position of relative power or privilege. Instead by raising awareness of the obstacles and benefits experienced, students gain an understanding of the significance of identity in order that they become better social work professionals.

Recentering the human in the continuums of in/mobility and in/security: Perceptions from two emblematic borders

This paper argues for a need to decenter the state and (re)center the human when exploring mobilities within international relations scholarship. To make this argument we bring together feminist and critical security studies, as well as multidisciplinary insights, to address the encounter between the person on the move and the enforcement of national sovereignty. This allows us to highlight the continuums of in/security and im/mobility entwined in this encounter. In so doing, we challenge the discipline’s understanding of security that is often conceptualized from the perspective of state security only, despite critiques of such understandings that emanate from and build on different critical approaches. Furthermore, feminist international relations scholarship and feminist security studies in particular have stressed the necessity to examine security and violence as continuums that traverse across sites ranging from the corporeal and intimate to the global and transnational, and which span over time. Combined with mobility studies that focus on migrant trajectories across countries, regions, and continents with periods of chosen or unwanted immobility in between, this body of scholarship helps us understand how border enforcement impacts diversely positioned persons’ lives. Such an exercise is also useful for making visible the intended and unintended consequences of policymaking that is based on state interests only, and one that refuses to acknowledge the human beings who are caught up in these consequences. Methodologically, the paper draws on long-term ethnographic research conducted at the Mexican side of the Mexico-US border and in Morocco. We have brought together insights from our respective research projects to address border externalization and its impact in two different parts of the world, enacted by two different states (the US) and supranational entities (the EU) on their neighbors to the South, likely to be economically and politically less powerful but supposedly similarly sovereign states. The paper is organized as follows: we begin the first section by discussing the key notion of state sovereignty which is enacted at the border and demonstrate how borders of certain states extend far beyond their demarcated territories. This process, conceptualized as externalization of migration management and border control, can be perceived as contradicting the sovereignty of those states subjected to these externalization practices. We then move on to the notion of security and ask the question of whose security is at stake. Here we demonstrate how the enforcement of state security jeopardizes the safety and security of those people on the move who are located in less privileged positions in the global hierarchies of mobility. In the second section, we discuss how the perspectives outlined in the previous section manifest in our two research sites. This section focuses on the continuums of mobility and immobility and those of security and insecurity, and proposes how we could begin addressing the diversely positioned human as a manifold yet full subject. We argue that International Relations scholarship usually ignores the human altogether or, at best, acknowledges the human in high-level politics drawing on the model based on the theory on rational actorness. Moreover, the analysis of insights gained at our research sites sheds light on the ways in which mobility is unevenly distributed, and how the enactment of mobility is gendered and racialized in complex ways. We conclude the paper by reflecting what these concerns might mean for international relations scholarship at the conjuncture of human im/mobility and security, and for contributing towards mobility justice.

The Powers of the Presidency of the Council of the EU to Shape the Rule of Law Enforcement Agenda: The Article 7 Case

AbstractResearch on enforcing compliance with the European Union's (EU's) rule of law value has focused on the roles of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Court of Justice of the EU. However, the Council of the EU has attracted less attention. Existing scholarship has convincingly established that the rotating Presidency can crucially influence the functioning of the Council, and, accordingly, this paper examines the discretionary impact the Presidencies have towards Art.7 procedures. Drawing on official documents and statements, this paper compares how the various Presidencies from 2018 to 2022 have used their privileged position on the Council's agenda to decide whether to move forward with hearings. In doing so, they selected appropriate agenda‐shaping strategies, shaped the Commission's perceived opportunities to exercise its agenda prerogatives, avoided compromises on the trios' agendas and, sometimes, benefited from not dealing with Art.7 to pursue other agenda priorities. The Presidency's wide room for manoeuvre hinders the Council's activity in scrutinising backsliding governments.

Geographies of collective responsibility: decolonising universities through place-based praxis

ABSTRACT This paper asks how can we as geographers, occupying positions of relative privilege but also beholden to institutions entangled with legacies of colonialism and ongoing colonization, find and embody our responsibilities to Indigenous people and nations and contribute to decolonization within and beyond the academy? We begin by reflecting on Doreen Massey’s (2004) theorization of geographies of responsibility and critiques of it in the intervening years. We then engage with important considerations including the politics of recognition, relational grammars of settler colonialism and Indigenous notions of relationality. To avoid the traps of recognition politics, which often foreclose the more transformative possibilities of responsibility, we propose ways of taking of decolonial responsibility in our teaching, research and professional service. While we cannot provide simple solutions to the difficult challenge of pursuing decolonization in the academy, we believe that centralizing and prioritizing relationships of responsibility to and through place in support of resurgent Indigenous nationhood is required to avoid the denuding, individualizing process of colonial recognition and superficial performative decolonisation.

Unpacking the unequal privileges within transnational lifestyle relocation: Swedish lifestyle migrants' advantages and challenges in the Spanish housing market

AbstractLifestyle relocation is a highly privileged form of mobility. However, the extent of such privilege needs to be addressed theoretically and empirically in countries such as Spain where lifestyle migration is rising. This article dissects the extent of such privilege by analyzing the economic advantages and challenges that different social groups have when acquiring properties for lifestyle reasons. By lifestyle reasons we understand here a mix of economic, leisure and life change motivations underlying lifestyle migrants' property acquisition.To explore the unequal advantages and challenges faced by lifestyle migrants, we explore the variegated economic strategies conducted by Swedish lifestyle migrants in the property markets in the coastal areas of Majorca, Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca in Spain. Such trajectories that illustrate the extent of the privilege of lifestyle migrants are analyzed by (i) dissecting the privileged position of lifestyle migrants in what Wright labelled as the ‘relations of production’; by (ii) exploring how the position in the relations of production intersect with other social structures and particularly age, gender and civil status; and by (iii) categorizing the trajectories of Swedish lifestyle migrants in the Spanish housing market according to three main positions of privilege: less advantaged, advantaged and super advantaged.

Reflex to turn: the rise of turn-talk in International Relations

The field of International Relations (IR) is being spun around by a seemingly endless number of ‘turns’. Existing analyses of turning are few in number and predominantly concerned with the most prominent recent turns. By excavating the forgotten history of IR’s earliest turns from the 1980s and tracing the evolution of turn-talk over time, this article reveals a crucial yet overlooked internalist driver behind the phenomenon: the rise of reflexivity. Rather than emerging in the 21st century, turn-talk began at the end of the 1980s as a series of turns away from positivism and towards reflexivity. Cumulatively, this first wave of turns would denaturalise IR’s state-centric ontology while enshrining reflexivity as a canonical good among critical scholars. By the mid-1990s, however, these metatheoretical critiques of positivism had produced a substantial backlash. Charged with fostering an esoteric deconstructivism, a new generation of reflexivists set out to demonstrate the feasibility of post-positivist empirical research. As a result, IR’s turning also took on a different form from the 2000s: whereas the first wave of turns had mounted an epistemological and methodological attack against the positivist mainstream, the second wave set about bringing new ontological objects under the scrutiny of reflexivist scholars. This shift from anti-positivist to mostly intra-reflexivist turning was facilitated by the institutionalisation of critical IR as a major subfield of the discipline. It is the privileged position of reflexivity among critical IR scholars that is the condition of possibility for endless turning, accentuated by mounting pressures to demonstrate novelty in an increasingly competitive environment.

Unveiling power, or why social science's task is explanation.

This short essay contends that sociology should devote attention to causal explanation in order to expose lies. It argues that lies about causes are common in society and social science is in a unique privileged position to offer social knowledge that can dispel such lies. Offering causal explanations is a vital task of this project.

Может ли существовать «эффективная методология»?

This paper is a response to the article by V.I. Razumov “Effective Methodology and Its Place in Intellectual Culture”. According to Razumov, cognition can be viewed as a control system, within which the methodology plays the role of the structure of the management subsystem, while the available empirical material is the manageable subsystem. Philosophers and methodologists occupy a place in the control subsystem, playing a crucial role within the framework of the processes of collective cognition. However, modern trends in the development of technology have led to an unexpected loss by methodologists of their privileged positions. This article raises doubts both about the validity of Razumov’s argumentation and about the very premise of the existence of an effective methodology. It is demonstrated that the search for a ‘family’ of such technologies is possible within the framework of Cartesianism, which separates the subject and objects of cognition. Such a philosophy is enshrined in domestic scientific social practices, including the examination of the results obtained by the All-Russian Attestation Commission. Thus, the task of finding an effective methodology becomes legitimate. And such a methodology, in contrast to formal logic, is dialectical logic, which makes it possible to identify contradictions and construct conclusions necessary for the subject. Razumov is mistaken in believing that it is formal and dialectical logic that coincide; formal logic, in contrast to dialectical logic, often does not allow achieving the predetermined results desired by the subject. However, a no less effective methodology is the usual numerology, which allows the subject to find the cyclical patterns of behavior of social objects. All of these are variants of philosophical realism. Within the framework of nominalism, where the separation of subject and object is denied, the search for an “effective methodology” becomes impossible.

Captain Botsis’ Odyssey: On the Biography of the Russian Naval Commander

Referring to archival data of the RGADA (Relations with Venice Fund), this article provides new information about the little-known period of life (1700–1703) of Ivan Botsis related to his transition to the Russian service and directly preceding it. Until now, there is no full-fledged biography of the outstanding associate of Peter the Great, and this study supplements the information about his life full of dangers. Botsis played a significant role in Russia’s success in the Baltic Sea during the Northern War, so filling the gap in his biography is of particular interest. Based on the information introduced into scholarly circulation, the author draws information about his activities immediately after the Morean War (1684–1699). Although he is primarily known as a Russian naval commander, based on the data studied, one may conclude that in his homeland, he proved himself to be a loyal subject of his new homeland, the Venetian Republic, in military affairs. And after the end of the conflict and the conquest of the Peloponnese by Venice, showered with honors, he tried to succeed in a peaceful profession, trading business, and not so much as a merchant but as a coordinator of the commercial activity of his compatriots for private and public benefit. At the peak of his career, the enterprising and even adventurous nature of the Greek captain led him to a conflict with the Venetian and Ottoman authorities, and the hope for the Russian tsar as the deliverer of the Greeks from Turkish rule and sympathy for his military enterprises during the Northern War made him abandon a privileged position in his homeland and embark on a perilous journey to Russia to serve Peter I. The details of his risky escape, described in a petition addressed to the tsar, resemble an excerpt from an adventure novel. The appendix of the article contains previously unpublished documents, i. e. a petition of Captain Botsis and an excerpt of a decree of Tsar Peter on the allocation of his salary.

Decision-makers’ interactions that co-determine Positive youth development through sport: a critical realist examination

ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study was to examine Portuguese coaches, coach developers, and sport administrators’ (i.e. decision-makers) interactions that co-determine positive youth development through sport. A critical realist approach was adopted using Elder-Vass’s framework on the causal power of social structures. A total of 47 Portuguese decision-makers from provincial and national sport organisations were interviewed, leading to 2350 minutes of interview data. The findings provide insights into how participants varied in their perspectives on the place of performance and positive youth development in the youth sport system. Coaches and sport administrators believed performance was the main priority and their discourses were shaped by (inter)actions with norm circles influencing their dispositions and beliefs about the purpose of youth sport. Conversely, coach developers challenged the status quo and were much more deliberate in wanting to change the priorities of the youth sport system. Coach developers were in a privileged position to ‘broker’ change by using their individual agency to work to further include positive youth development. Considering the pressures imposed by norm circles and the active role of individual agency, practical and theoretical implications are offered to develop a youth sport system where positive youth development can become a legitimate and worthwhile pursuit.

Do Parliamentary Roles Affect Lobbying Activities? Evidence from the Canadian House of Commons

ABSTRACT In parliamentary systems, private members (i.e. backbenchers) with formal titles and roles can affect the institutional system in which politicians, civil servants and interest groups are embedded. Packing legislative institutions with backbenchers who act as agents of the government but who are not in Cabinet puts certain Members of Parliament in a privileged position with the core executive. We hypothesize that influential positions in Canada’s House of Commons, notably a parliamentary secretary tasked with supporting a minister or a chair of a parliamentary committee, bring increased external pressure from interest group lobbyists. We test these assumptions with data on communications between MPs and interest group lobbyists gathered from the federal Registry of Lobbyists and open data lists found on the website of the Parliament of Canada. Our results show that a parliamentary secretary position or a seat on a standard committee exposes MPs to higher lobbying volumes.

Protecting children from the harmful impact of food marketing.

A healthy and balanced diet should be promoted already in childhood, a crucial period for the psychophysical development of the individual. In particular, the consumption of free sugars and soft drinks in children and adolescents should not exceed the current WHO recommendations. This trend is very difficult to counter as the preference for sweet flavours is innate and often further reinforced by pre- and post-natal exposure and aggressive marketing. Unfortunately, sugar consumption continues to grow alarmingly due in part to the easy availability of foods and drinks rich in added sugars from vending machines, supermarkets and fast-food restaurants. Recently, the WHO (with the recommendations included in the QR Code below and in the following link: WHO recommends stronger policies to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing) pointed out how exposure to food marketing affects children's health, eating behaviours and beliefs about food, thus becoming a real threat to public health. Among the proposals made, it is interesting to note the need for national governments to "curb the persuasive power of food marketing" by limiting the use of cartoons and other techniques that appeal to children, such as the inclusion of toys in packaging or advertisements with songs and celebrity endorsements. It is already evident in the literature that an excessive intake of sugar predisposes children to a number of pathological conditions that in the long term may favour the onset not only of carious disease but also obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, liver disease, cardiovascular and dysmetabolic diseases. As paediatric dentists, sugar-related dietary excesses are already very obvious to us since it is mainly these that drive young patients to our clinics. In our privileged position, we should therefore increasingly promote knowledge on the possible correlations between excessive sugar consumption and the onset of these diseases, drawing the attention of parents of young patients to all foods that are harmful to their growing children. Therefore, let us welcome these new guidelines promoted by the WHO to protect children and adolescents from the harmful impact of food marketing; and may we not miss the opportunity to share and promote this important battle for future generations!

Dynamic Nature of Positionality: How my Positionality has Changed Through Experience

As an individual of mixed Métis and European descent, growing up and working/studying in a colonial system, I often reflect on how my biases, perspectives, and identity impact my research in Indigenous health promotion. I am aware that my position of privilege may unintentionally marginalize and disempower others. However, I also acknowledge that my connection to my Métis family and community has given me insights into the perceptions and worldview of Indigenous communities in Canada. In this paper, I explore the dual nature of my position and how it is challenged and shaped through my work with the Kahnawà:ke School Diabetes Prevention Program, Indigenous health promotion leaders, and interactions with Indigenous community members. I discuss how my cultural and personal backgrounds, influenced by my Métis and European heritage, are both questioned and reinforced in these experiences, leading to a deeper connection with my family and community. By considering my positionality, I discuss how it both contributes and poses challenges to the research process in Indigenous health promotion contexts.

Censorship and autocensorship: Some considerations on the editorial history of the <i>Parhaego</i>

In this article, we have examined some aspects of the editing of the <i>Parhaego</i> (<i>Reflections on Parhae</i>). First of all, we have tried to contextualize the work within the panorama of late Chosŏn historiography. In this sense, we have remarked that the work is part of a gradual reshaping of the story of Parhae, rearticulated within the narrative of Chosŏn history. Yu Tŭkkong’s major contribution was not to revolutionize the historical narrative of Korea nor the perception of the Parhae kingdom, but rather to collect all the sources then available for reconstructing the history of the kingdom, enjoying his privileged position within the Kyujanggak (the Royal Library). In considering this, we have observed that despite the apparent liberalism of the Chŏngjo reign, publishing and scholarship were actually under strict surveillance. During this period, the king imposed a ban on the import of books from the Qing Empire and also forced several scholars to correct their literary style. Amid this climate of control and censorship, the editing of the <i>Parhaego</i> took place－a work that had a rather unusual and troubled genesis, being subjected to numerous alterations and corrections since its publication in 1784. Reconstructing the genesis of this book, albeit only partially, may also provide a starting point for further reflections on authorship during this crucial phase of the Chosŏn period, when the book was exposed to possible corrections, rewritings, and expansions, even without the full consent of the original author. This process is particularly evident in the Parhaego, which was not merely historical work, but also highly political as a manifesto giving voice to the policy of reconquering the Northern Territories that was in vogue in those years.

Erőszakos radikalizmus kockázatbecslése – elméleti háttér és kutatási eredmények

Összefoglalás. A tanulmány a terrorveszély felismerésének és kezelésének elméleti és technikai összefoglalását nyújtja. Kiemelten foglalkozik a kockázatbecslés technikájával, és bemutat egy új, mesterséges intelligencián alapuló eljárást, amelynek segítségével 90%-os sikereséllyel lehet azonosítani azokat, akik terrortámadásokat hajthatnak végre. E mellett, az eljárás által szolgáltatott adatok felhasználásával sikerült leírni a radikálisok két típusát, amelyeket megközelítőleg az „alárendelt/erőszakos” és a „vezető/nem-erőszakos” szavakkal jellemezhetnénk. A két csoport között jelentős különbségek voltak a családi háttér, iskolázottság, radikalizálódási folyamat, állampolgársági múlt, bűnözői előélet, és szerepvállalási jellegzetességek tekintetében. Summary. Although Hungary is in a privileged position regarding the threat of terrorism, the history of other countries suggests that similar good positions can be temporary. The threat of terrorism can be investigated by several scientific approaches. After reviewing these, we analyze the theoretical and technical background of risk assessment, and present the results of our recently concluded research. In this we examined the US database PIRUS, which contained 112 types of personal data of 2,148 radicals. About half of them did carry out terrorist attacks the other half did not. Based on the individual characteristics of the radicals, the XGBoost machine learning algorithm correctly identified the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks with a probability of 87%. By using the data provided by the software, it was also possible to describe two types of radicals, which could be roughly characterized by the words “subordinate/violent” and “leader/non-violent”. The former usually had a criminal but not a radical background. They converted late in life (if their radicalization was of a religious nature) and adopted radical ideas as adults (if their radicalization was nonreligious in nature). They played a subordinate role in terrorist groups, required training and were largely influenced by social media. They also belonged to low social classes and had many personal problems. In contrast, non-violent extremists were characterized by a family tradition of radicalism, mostly had no criminal past, belonged to higher social strata, and played leading roles in terrorist organizations. Instead of committing attacks, they engaged in illegal activity by supporting terrorist organizations. The two main types probably consist of subtypes. Compared to violent extremists who were radicalized in prison, for example, those who were not radicalized in prison were mostly foreigners, were often unemployed despite their higher education, and compared to those radicalized in prison, they committed lesser crimes before radicalization. Similar subgroups occurred in both main groups, but their detailed characterization requires further research. Our findings suggest that artificial intelligence can become a good tool for the risk assessment of radicals concerning their proneness to perform terrorist attacks. Moreover, the risk assessment tool employed here may be useful in typifying radicals, and studying their radicalization routes.