Shifting Power Relations Research Articles

Co-Learning Scenarios with the Community: Democratic Practices In and Out of the Design Studio

Design education is characterised by its experiential and practice-oriented approach, emphasising active engagement with projects. The pedagogical focus is on developing individual styles, professional stances, and a receptive attitude towards novel experiences, aligning with the evolving landscape of the design profession. This study explores community engagement in student projects as a means to establish a co-deciding and co-learning infrastructure in the design studio. This participative and democratic approach challenges traditional hierarchies in higher education, transforms the student-instructor relationship, and aligns educational practices with the evolving requirements of the design profession. The study investigates students' insights into co-learning with the community through scenario-building. A workshop conducted with twelve fourth-year undergraduate industrial design students and the thematic analysis of the findings revealed that educational community engagement projects employing inclusionary methods motivate students and foster a positive attitude towards shifting power relations within a democratic design studio structure. The findings also highlight the need for a clear focus, a set of principles for successful engagement, and conflict resolution in the co-learning process, as well as the generative potential of scenario-building as a method for inclusive practices.

Fair Games—Curating New Music

The authors of “Defragmentation: Curating Contemporary Music,” a special issue of the Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik published in 2019, considered all aspects of any given artistic event as fair game for curation. They suggested that not only could the choice of pieces, soloists, conductors, and ensembles be (re)tooled (including even site-specific aspects), but the roles of the musicians and audience and even value regimes could be instrumentalized to accord with the artistic demands of the curator. In her introduction to the special issue, Dorothee Richter argued that curation should be a “practice that is deeply involved in the politics of display, politics of site, politics of transfer and translation, and regimes of visibility.” If we understand politics with Jacques Rancière as “giving form to the social,” then Richter suggests that every thinkable manner in which people relate can, and should, be weighed when programming a concert. Curators need to reflect and act upon the way relationships in our world are displayed, the interplay involved on site, the participation or lack thereof of an audience, the participants’ ability to understand, enjoy, and be entertained, and even the audience’s and presenter’s perceived positions in society and how they play out in concert. Writing as a performer-researcher, a cultural-sociologist, and a musicologist, and drawing on previous research in the visual arts, we discuss the impact of the curator within the European new music world. We question the curator’s central role and probe shifts in power relations between festival directors, receptive venues, and performing ensembles. In our view, the rise of the curator in the new music world leads us in at least two distinct directions. First, as in the visual arts world, the individual curator may assume the role of the new protagonist, displacing the performing artists from their throne. When this occurs, curating takes place in a game of mutual competition, distinction, and exploitation, in which illustration of an abstract idea or concept prevails over musical experience. Alternatively, curating may become a collective affair and responsibility along the lines of commoning principles, in which curating returns to its etymological roots as a form of caring for each other and for both the tradition and the future of music.

Commercial determinants of health and cancer prevention in South Africa

Aim Commercial determinants, encompassing marketing strategies, corporate social responsibility, and lobbying, significantly contribute to avoidable cancer deaths globally. In South Africa, 30-50% of cancers are preventable, but SA focuses mainly on tobacco control, ignoring major causes of cancer such as alcohol, obesity, and ultra-processed foods. This paper highlights the role of these commercial determinants in contributing to cancer in SA. It outlines strategies and barriers in addressing these determinants. Approach While conventional approaches focus on individual responsibility relating to risk factors like tobacco, alcohol, and unhealthy diets, the role of industries in promoting these risk factors remains inadequately addressed. The paper explores the marketing and non-marketing methods employed by industries, such as tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed products, to maximise profits while neglecting public health consequences. Findings The article sheds light on industry tactics, including strategic partnerships, sponsorship, and diversionary narratives during crises, aimed at safeguarding profits. It emphasises the less-explored realm of non-marketing strategies, such as political lobbying, industry-funded research, and the ‘revolving door’ phenomenon where industry insiders become policymakers. Conclusions The article advocates for a paradigm shift in cancer prevention policies, urging the government to implement a comprehensive suite of measures that include increased taxation on harmful products, strict restrictions on marketing, enhanced product labelling, and eliminating conflict of interest in health research and policies. Addressing the commercial determinants necessitates not only recognising their impact but also adopting a multi-level governance approach that prioritises public health over corporate profits. The paper concludes by emphasising the urgency of recognising the links between alcohol, food regulation, and cancer prevention. The overarching goal is to shift power relations, fostering governance for the collective good and ensuring equitable access to preventive measures, especially for vulnerable populations.

Informal participation in digital planning: How can third parties use social media to shift power relations in planning?

In recent years, social media has become an influential tool for engaging various participants and facilitating inclusivity in digital planning. While many studies highlight local governments' use of social media for formal participation, limited research assesses its impact on power dynamics in informal participation. This study aims to fill the gap by identifying key features of social media that facilitate informal participation and applying Castells' four forms of network power to understand power dynamics among civil society, journalism, citizens, and governments in planning processes. It also develops a novel mixed-methods approach that combines social media scraping, social network analysis (SNA), semi-structured interviews, and field observation. This approach is applied to investigate the Enning Road regeneration project in Guangzhou as a case study. Analyzing data from China's Weibo, the study reveals network disputes across three dimensions: graph, community, and network statistics. Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search (HITS) and community detection results suggest that civil society and journalism have substantial networked power as they strategically utilize social media to promote collaboration, mobilize citizens, and foster communities. They also excise network-making power by switching online and offline networks, thereby transmitting online debate to a wide range of audiences and compelling local governments to shift planning priorities from demolitions to preservation.

Shift in intelligence issue ownership: conceptualizing CITINT—intelligence conducted by citizens

This article elaborates on the conceptualization of CITINT, i.e., the intelligence activities conducted by citizens and NGOs. This article is a preliminary attempt to establish foundation and perspectives for future research and to provide for initial conceptualization of CITINT. Moreover, this article elucidates CITINT’s implications from legislative perspective within the Finnish context. A semi-systematic, limited literature review incorporating academic literature, governmental outlets, and news was executed to explore the contexts and definitions regarding CITINT. Interviews with a journalist, an active CITINT individual, and a detective superintendent of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation were conducted to clarify and provide backrest for conceptualization. The key contributions of this article are further elucidation of CITINT as a concept and its implications. Moreover, this article discusses the shift in power relations from centralized issue ownership of intelligence activities toward a more fragmented scene in which individuals and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have more relevance, possibilities, and weight. Within CITINT, this article points out the differentiation between governmentally facilitated CITINT and the bottom-up CITINT conducted by individuals and NGOs on their own terms and tools. One key contribution of this article is connecting CITINT to societal participation through the CCSCM framework. Although the interviews comprise an empirical component, support contextualization, and provide tangible examples, this article’s focus is on the theoretical and conceptual aspects of CITINT. The article concludes with a discussion on the outlook, possibilities, and challenges of CITINT and provokes questions for further discussion on the matter.

Deconstructing the Politics of Linguistic Mutation in Tom Stoppard’s Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth

Tom Stoppard’s theatrical works, Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth, serve as a significant exemplification of linguistic and political power dynamics. These plays represent a transformative shift that depicts the workings of hegemony in Czechoslovakia during the Cold War era. Stoppard, a Czechoslovakian native, crafted these satirical works in response to the brutal persecution of critical intellectuals and censorship of their dissident works. The plays voice the intellectual restlessness of the time, resisting the status quo, and illustrating the tensions that led to the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Stoppard’s innovative linguistic experimentation transforms Shakespeare’s plays, Hamlet and Macbeth, into an entirely novel linguistic system, named “Doggspeak,” which derives inspiration from Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations. This new linguistic transformation acts as a catalyst for social and political change, resisting surveillance and censorship of free speech. Stoppard’s plays, therefore, use language to alter power relations, creating space for political defiance. This paper delves into two key questions: How does Stoppard modify language in the dramatic setting, and how does this linguistic transformation shift power relations within the plays? By creating a new linguistic system, Stoppard outmanoeuvres oppressors and wittingly turns language into an instrument for political rebellion. He stages a truncated, mutant version of Shakespeare’s plays where they are banned, giving voice to the intellectual restlessness of Czechoslovakia in the 1970s. Stoppard’s plays posit that language is not merely a tool for communication, but also a vehicle for social and political transformation. Through linguistic mutation, Stoppard subverts the existing power structures and challenges the hegemony of the oppressors. This essay argues that Stoppard’s plays showcase the crucial significance of language in the struggle for political and social change, emphasizing the crucial role that language plays in shaping our perceptions and understanding of the world.

Power, position and social relations: Is the espoused absence of hierarchy in Open Dialogue naïve?

Open Dialogue practitioners aim to reduce social hierarchies by not privileging any one voice in social network conversations, and thus creating space for a polyphony of voices. This sits in contrast to the traditional privileging of those voices credited with more knowledge or power because of social position or professional expertise. Using qualitative interviews, the aim of this current study was to explore Open Dialogue practitioners' descriptions of challenges in implementing Open Dialogue at a women's health clinic in Australia. Findings revealed how attempts to rhetorically flatten hierarchies among practitioners created challenges and a lack of clarity regarding roles and responsibilities. As the practitioners tried to adjust to new ways of working, they reverted to taking up engrained positions and power aligned with more conventional social and professional roles for leading therapy and decision-making. The findings raise questions about equity-oriented ways of working, such as Open Dialogue, where intentions of creating a flattened hierarchy may allow power structures and their effects to be minimised or ignored, rather than actively acknowledged and addressed. Further research is needed to consider the implications that shifting power relations might have on the roles and responsibilities of practitioners in the move to equity-oriented services.

Shifting power relations in innovative learning environments: implications for initial teacher education and practicum

ABSTRACT Internationally, a dearth of literature exists on how preservice teachers (PSTs) should be prepared to engage in Innovative Learning Environments (ILE) while on practicum. These environments progress open physical designs, and particular pedagogies and discourses favouring student agency and teacher collaboration. Differing conceptions of power coalesce in these new designs. This case study research in Aotearoa|New Zealand illustrates a set of power dynamics produced in ILE practicum and the pedagogical practices PSTs deploy to respond. Our findings suggest that, despite progressive ideals, student agency, a key pedagogical commitment of ILE, remains mired in zero-sum notions of power, and visions of autonomous teachers linger in collaborative teaching arrangements, setting up considerable tension within practicum. We examine power relations in our case study through Foucault’s mechanisms of power. This framework lets us see how practicum requirements, images of the student/teacher relationship and changes in views of teaching are associated with ILE but are responded to in both contradictory and productive ways by PSTs. Our findings will be of interest to teacher educators and to teachers who supervise PSTs in practicum contexts to maximise the potential of ILE for learning and teaching.

Keeping It Political and Powerful: Defining the Structural Determinants of Health.

Policy Points The structural determinants of health are 1) the written and unwritten rules that create, maintain, or eliminate durable and hierarchical patterns of advantage among socially constructed groups in the conditions that affect health, and 2) the manifestation of power relations in that people and groups with more power based on current social structures work-implicitly and explicitly-to maintain their advantage by reinforcing or modifying these rules. This theoretically grounded definition of structural determinants can support a shared analysis of the root causes of health inequities and an embrace of public health's role in shifting power relations and engaging politically, especially in its policy work. Shifting the balance of power relations between socially constructed groups differentiates interventions in the structural determinants of health from those in the social determinants of health.

Interrelated transformative process dynamics in the face of resource nexus challenges: an invitation towards cross case analysis

ABSTRACT The need for more attention to the social and human dimensions in global change sciences and natural resources management requires in-depth understandings of transformative approaches and processes. More inclusive and systemic approaches are needed that embrace complexity and support transformative learning, shifts in power relations, collective and relational agency and structural transformations for adaptive and innovative governance. Scientific understanding of how such change can be brought about is still limited. In this paper, which sets the scene for this Special Issue, we develop a conceptual framework for analyzing transformative processes across a range of diverse cases. Aspects of the conceptual framework are applied, tested and elaborated in three following papers in the Special Issue, deepening understanding of how transformative change in complex social-ecological systems may originate at nexus boundary zones such as that portrayed by the water-food-energy nexus. Specifically, the paper conceptually elaborates four iteratively related dynamics of transformative learning, transforming power relations, transformative agency and transforming structures which intersect in transformation processes. The perspectives offer tools for cross case analysis in the longer term, but also tools for supporting co-engaged, generative research processes.

Unpacking the Linkages Between Structural Violence and the Climate Crisis

The connections between structural violence and the climate crisis have received scant attention in the literature, despite their significant implications. Structural violence is deeply entrenched in our social, cultural, and economic systems, to the extent ordinary individuals, engaged in legal and routine activities, can become indirect participants in harming others. The climate crisis is not only an expression of structural violence but also deepens structural violence, creating a vicious cycle through multi-directional and self-reinforcing linkages. To address violent outcomes and resolve the climate crisis, we need to shift power relations at the heart of our social and cultural arrangements. Taking a structural lens has the power to radically change how we tackle the problem of climate change. Rather than focusing solely on state-level goals and ambitions, this lens highlights the moral gravity of the climate crisis, pressing for urgent action to address the violence exerted among ourselves as human beings and to the environment on which we depend.

Spinning Circle at the Mill

Spinning Circle at the Mill

Promiscuous Technologies: Shifting Notions of Gender and Sexuality in Nigeria’s Digital Public Sphere

This paper critically examines the emergence of sexual technologies in Nigeria's digital public sphere. In particular, it explores how the use of sexual technologies like vibrators and dildos in public spaces is viewed as transgressive, and how cultural, social, and religious factors shape Nigerians' perceptions. The paper adopts the concept of transgressive publics to describe how social media enables minoritized groups to challenge dominant norms around sexuality. Two recent cases are analyzed – one involving a Nollywood actress publicly distributing dildos at an event, and another with a blogger recording Nigerian women using vibrators. To examine public discourse around these events, social media comments on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were collected and analyzed thematically. Key findings show sexual technologies are condemned as immoral, demonic, disrespectful to cultural values, and a threat to masculinity. Criticism relies heavily on moral and religious beliefs that cast non-normative sexual expressions as sinful. Reactions also expose gender anxieties related to female autonomy and shifting power relations. However, some pragmatic comments defend women's actions given Nigeria's difficult economic climate. While stigmatized, the public emergence of sexual technologies constitutes a transgressive public for asserting women's sexual agency and pushing boundaries. The study demonstrates how cultural narratives regulating sexuality are negotiated through technology, highlighting tensions between tradition and modernity.

A Relational Approach to the Drivers of Child Acute Malnutrition.

This article presents a new analytical approach to acute malnutrition causal analysis that is different from the orthodox approach in 2 respects. First, it engages with basic causes, that is, beyond the usual focus on individuals and households. Second, it uses a relational view in the causal analysis. The orthodox approach identifies the malnourished and their individual and household characteristics. In contrast, a relational approach explores the ways in which the relationships between people, their livelihoods, and the environment, mediated by systems and institutions, create the underlying drivers associated with acute malnutrition for some, while simultaneously creating better conditions for others. The article draws on 2 case study communities in West Darfur, Sudan, first considering the Darfur context and the inequitable policies and weakened institutions that have led to ethnic polarization, multilayered conflict, and humanitarian crises. The article explores how this context has played out differently in each community, contrasting their livelihood specializations, conflict-related losses, and livelihood diversification over time. This analysis shows how the relative vulnerability of some people versus others is strongly influenced by their social, economic, and political relationships, as reflected in their shifting power relations and uneven control over livelihood resources. Shifting the focus to the basic drivers, especially the institutional structures, processes, and relationships, will deepen the causal analysis of child acute malnutrition, make it more meaningful, and provide a new direction for engagement, learning, and action to address the deepening problem of child acute malnutrition.

Unveiling the power of critical multimodal literacy: exploring cultural difference in children’s literature through ‘The Proudest Blue — a Story of Hijab and Family’

At a time when difference is being actively diluted in the service of standardisation and conservative views of nationhood, stories about difference, and their semiotic and multimodal elements, provide rich grounds for critical engagement. This is especially the case with stories about highly visible cultural symbols, such as the hijab, worn in many school classrooms in countries like Australia. In this paper, we explore the use of critical analysis of multimodal elements as matters with which to think about cultural difference, through the picture book, The Proudest Blue — a story of Hijab and family by Ibtihaj Muhammad with art by Hatem Aly, 2020. This story presents to young people the notion of being strong in cultural difference via the symbol of the hijab. Our analysis draws on Cappello et al.’s 2019) Critical Multimodal Literacy approach to explore four dimensions: communicating with multimodal tools; re-storying, representing and redesigning; acknowledging and shifting power relationships and leveraging multimodal resources to critique and transform socio-political realities. We identify the range of multimodal tools the author and illustrator put to use to re-story and critique common misconceptions about the wearing of the hijab as a religious symbol. Making links between multimodal composition and critical analysis is a powerful way to affirm the significance of children’s literature that addresses difference, a term often conflated with diversity which references dominant norms. It can also inspire children to story their own matters in ways that critique notions of cultural homogeneity.

Shifting power relations in disability sport and social activism research: an emancipatory approach

ABSTRACT In answer to appeals for more participatory frameworks to advance qualitative methodologies, this article shows how a novel emancipatory approach to disability research produced significant impact and learnings. We (academics and non-academics) explain how ethical problems experienced in traditional qualitative research designed to understand how grassroots disabled activists in the UK were reacting to the International Paralympic Committee’s WeThe15 campaign, led to the emergence of an ‘emancipatory approach to research’. We discuss how a small group of creative non-academic disabled activists, artists and athletes formed a foundational project called Project Group Spirit to unpick concerns about the WeThe15 campaign and formulate activist interventions in the context of Paralympic sport. Three sets of action-orientated activist findings that arose from the project are described: ‘Disabled Athletes and Artists, and their Activism’, ‘Engaging with WeThe15’ and ‘The Moral High Ground’. These themes, we show, provided the groundwork for the group to organise themselves into a wider principled project called the Disability Knowledge Exchange and Impact Group (KEI Group). The article ends by discussing a) the potential impact of the KEI Group b) academic barriers to emancipatory approaches and c) ways to evaluate emancipatory disability research. This article is an example of emancipatory research in action to help foster high-quality participatory frameworks going forward.

What Do ‘We’ Do With ‘Them’?: A Response

AbstractThis response discusses the commentaries provided by Sarah hall and Jason Luger. It outlines future work regrading diversity amongst Beyond Opposition participants; the dangers of doing this work; the multiplicities and shifting power relations that the paper reveals and what these might imply more broadly. We note that 'the struggle continues' and considerations of defence/attack are one way of engaging this, there may be others.

Netflix’s effects on the Korean Wave: power relations between local cultural industries and global OTT platforms

ABSTRACT This article discusses how Netflix has influenced the local cultural industries in terms of the shift of cultural genres and the industry structure. By employing the convergence of critical political economy and sociocultural approach, it articulates whether Netflix has inroaded Korea due to the Korean Wave. It discusses whether local cultural industries firms change their norms in production to comply with Netflix's orientation and argues the ways in which the shift in the standard of cultural production has changed the cultural text in genres to determine whether global platforms arguably destroy local specificities and identities. Finally, it interrogates shifting power relationships between a global OTT platform and local players, including cultural creators and platform users, and its implications in the Korean cultural industries.

Reduction of adverse events in a psychiatric inpatient eating disorder unit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the health care delivery including inpatient psychiatric facilities. Within psychiatric settings, life of inpatients was profoundly altered. This paper aimed to understand if pandemic-related changes within an inpatient Eating Disorder Unit in a specialized psychiatric hospital in Ontario, Canada impacted incidence of aggression and use of coercive methods among adolescents. An exploratory study design was used to examine incidence of aggression, self-harm, code whites, staff assist, restraints and seclusion, and nasogastric feeding (NGF) among adolescents with eating disorders before and after the modified service delivery within the inpatient unit. Descriptive analyses were conducted. Analyses revealed a complete reduction in episodes of self-harm, aggression, staff assists, use of restraint and seclusion as well as an 80.14% reduction on average use of NGF. Authors speculate that the change in environment and program delivery method, peer influence, and shift in power relations between patient and staff may have resulted in improved experiences. This report provides insights to adopt a recovery-oriented service delivery for adolescents with eating disorders in inpatient settings.

Impact of the CARE Tipping Point Program in Nepal on adolescent girls’ agency and risk of child, early, or forced marriage: Results from a cluster-randomized controlled trial

BackgroundGirl child, early, and forced marriage (CEFM) persists in South Asia, with long-term effects on well-being. CARE's Tipping Point Initiative (TPI) sought to address the gender norms and inequalities underlying CEFM by engaging participant groups on programmatic topics and supporting community dialogue to build girls' agency, shift power relations, and change norms. We assessed impacts of the CARE TPI on girls' multifaceted agency and risk of CEFM in Nepal. MethodsThe quantitative evaluation was a three-arm, cluster-randomized controlled trial (control; Tipping Point Program [TPP]; Tipping Point Plus Program [TPP+] with emphasized social-norms change). Fifty-four clusters of ∼200 households each were selected from two districts (27:27) with probability proportional to size and randomized evenly to study arms. A pre-baseline census identified unmarried girls 12–16 years (1,242) and adults 25 years or older (540). Questionnaires covered marriage; agency; social networks/norms; and discrimination/violence. Baseline participation was 1,140 girls and 540 adults. Retention was 1,124 girls and 531 adults. Regression-based difference-in-difference models assessed program effects on 15 agency-related secondary outcomes. Cox-proportional hazard models assessed program effects on time to marriage. Sensitivity analyses assessed the robustness of findings. ResultsAt follow-up, marriage was rare for girls (<6.05%), and 10 secondary outcomes had increased. Except for sexual/reproductive health knowledge (coef.=.71, p=.036) and group membership (coef.=.48, p=.026) for TPP + versus control, adjusted difference-in-difference models showed no program effects on secondary outcomes. Results were mostly unmoderated by community mean: gender norms, household poverty, or women's schooling attainment. Cox proportional hazard models showed no program effect on time-to-marriage. Findings were robust. DiscussionNull findings of the Nepal TPI may be attributable to low CEFM rates at follow-up, poor socio-economic conditions, COVID-19-related disruptions, and concurrent programming in control areas. As COVID-19 abates, impacts of TPP/TPP + on girls’ agency and marriage, alone and with complementary programming, should be assessed. Trial registration numberNCT04015856.