Social Disciplines Research Articles

Populism versus constitutionalism in South Africa: Engaging public theology through dialogue

South African politics has taken a different turn since the dawn of the democratic era in 1994. After 28 years of democracy, there has been some populists’ and constitutionalists’ tension in democratic South Africa. The Mandela and Mbeki presidencies are marked for constitutionalism, while the Zuma tenure of nine years is marked as the era of populism. The constitutional republic already experiences the tension between the politics of the populists and of the constitutionalists. This article aims to identify and analyse the concepts of populism and constitutionalism and invites public theology to dialogue with these political ideologies in order to bring harmonious coexistence in democratic South Africa. Through the literature study and latest press release statements, incidents and concepts were discovered to give definitions and the analyses of populism, constitutionalism, and public theology. Public theology is chosen against political theology, due to the emphasis of dialogue as a manner of making theological statements. It is realised that populists are full of charisma, and they use this to charm the masses, offering them promises of prosperity and peace, while in fact they regard themselves as the masses, as they are the sole representatives of the people. They carry the agenda of entitlement. On the other hand, the research finds that constitutionalists apply rationality to constitutional dictates in order to govern for democratic stability in society. They would like to see the state where the rule of law guarantees citizens’ safety and security and economic prosperity. By reading this article one finds that this research emphasises that public theology through its dialogical nature, prophetic calling, anthropological centricity, engaging methodology, is inherently missional in the politically chaotic world. As a discipline, public theology is intradisciplinary, therefore engages other theological fields, including natural and social disciplines in order to reinforce its missional character. The conclusion is that public theology should be at the forefront, inviting politicians from different spectrums and convictions to the table of dialogue. Dialogue paves the way towards understanding, synergy, and trust. Theo-political interactions are crucial towards justice formation, which builds societal harmony and peaceful coexistence. Political tensions in South Africa offer public theology a golden opportunity to assert itself in civil affairs, and makes its voice audible in the marketplace.Contribution: The interdisciplinary approach in this article contributes towards the importance of a relationship between the political studies and theology. Legal studies, history, and current affairs enrich the theological role in public affairs. Populism and constitutionalism are political ideologies in tension, and public theology through dialogue, contributes towards peaceful life in a democratic state.

Holocene and Upper Pleistocene stratigraphy of Xochimilco lake, central Mexico

The lacustrine system developed in the basin of Mexico has been of great interest in studies of various geological and social disciplines. Its sediments preserve the history of the environmental changes that occurred during the late Quaternary. Between 2016 and 2018, a set of lacustrine sediment cores were collected in the Xochimilco sub-basin, located south of the basin of Mexico. From these sedimentary sequences, a master sequence was constructed that represents the upper 66.5 m of the lacustrine deposits. For the establishment of its stratigraphic column, 15 lithotypes were defined from their sedimentary components in which the clastic components made up of silicates dominate, mostly silt and clay in size. The most abundant biogenic fraction is diatoms that frequently form oozes, and ostracods are a common component in most of the sequence, which locally form hashes. Interbedded with the clastic and biogenic lithotypes are volcaniclastic deposits. Eight lithological units were defined based on their dominant lithotypes. The time scale of the sequence is still uncertain for the oldest sediments; however, it is estimated that it covers the last 300000 to 350000 years. From this temporality, environmental oscillations of millennial scales are inferred. Diatom-rich laminated sediments represent the deepest phases in the lake. The deposits with higher biogenic and authigenic calcareous components indicate the phases of higher ionic concentration during which the lake was shallower. The detailed analysis of the stratigraphy and the description of the sedimentary components in Xochimilco allows to establish an initial interpretation of the variations in the depositional environments, and provides the base from which the detailed studies of paleoclimatic indicators will be supported.

“‘Cause Even Though Perfect It’s Not/ It’s the Best Thing This World’s Got” – or Not?

Abstract This short reply considers and rejects from the point of view of Religious Studies, proposals that something of “religious literacy” should be salvaged, either for pedagogical or for other pragmatic purposes. It further rejects suggestions that the critique of religious literacy entails an obligation on the part of the critic to find an alternative raison d’être for Religious Studies. The resonance of religious literacy clearly derives from a powerful legacy of institutional social discipline spanning nearly 500 years; yet only very recently has the concept been re-purposed as core academic mission. Therefore, the costs of abandoning religious literacy now are minimal (except for those institutions who rashly bet everything on the paradigm); by comparison, the costs of pursuing it seem high and include a possible re-assimilation of academic to other historical institutions of social discipline such as penitentiaries (with “residential” and other “reformatory” schools representing significant hybrid or transitional formations).

Interprofessional education in a New Zealand Community Polytechnic: A mixed-method pilot study

INTRODUCTION: Interprofessional collaboration leads to better patient care, enhanced teamwork skills, better communication, and enhanced understandings of each other’s professional roles. METHODS: The objective of the study was to trial an interprofessional education (IPE) simulation activity with students (nine) from three health and social service disciplines in one community polytechnic. A pre-test/post-test design was used to gather data on the students’ perspectives of the IPE simulation and what the students learned from it. A simple Likert Scale questionnaire and two focus groups (with five and four participants, respectively) were conducted. A thematic analysis of the focus group data was undertaken while survey responses are presented in percentages for ease of readability. FINDINGS: The participants enjoyed the simulation, had greater confidence with interprofessional communication post-participation and increased knowledge of each other’s scope of practice. The participants welcomed the opportunity to practise handover, which was an area of concern for all. IMPLICATIONS: IPE is an invaluable tool for preparing students for their future careers as members of an interdisciplinary health team.

EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF PEDAGOGICAL CONDITIONS EFFICIENCY FOR PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY FORMATION IN STUDENTS OF TECHNICAL SPECIALTIES DURING SOCIAL DISCIPLINES STUDYING

In todayʼs technogenic world, technology plays a special role, improving the quality of life and creating living environment for future generations. The question of the responsibility of technical specialists for the results of scientific and technological progress becomes extremely important. Higher technical education responds to public demand, defining responsibility as one of the key generic competencies of a specialist, a sign of their professional maturity. The article grounds the pedagogical conditions of formation of professional responsibility of students of technical specialties in the course of studying social disciplines. This is done on the basis of the notion of phronesis, i.e. the use of interdisciplinary connections of social disciplines for formation of ability to correlate own responsible behaviour with socially significant ideals; application of contextual learning; systematic monitoring of the process of formation of professional responsibility by means of information and communication technologies. The method of diagnostics of formation of professional responsibility of future specialists of technical profile is offered. The results of the experimental study of the effectiveness of the introduction into educational practice of the proposed pedagogical conditions for the formation of professional responsibility, which was conducted with students of Ternopil Ivan Puluj National Technical University (Ukraine) have been presented. The experimental study confirmed the effectiveness of pedagogical conditions for the formation of professional responsibility of students of technical specialties in the process of studying social disciplines and the feasibility of their introduction into vocational training in higher education institutions.

Rspatialdata: a collection of data sources and tutorials on downloading and visualising spatial data using R.

Spatial and spatio-temporal data are used in a wide range of fields including environmental, health and social disciplines. Several packages in the statistical software R have been recently developed as clients for various databases to meet the growing demands for easily accessible and reliable spatial data. While documentation on how to use many of these packages exist, there is an increasing need for a one stop repository for tutorials on this information. In this paper, we present rspatialdataa website that provides a collection of data sources and tutorials on downloading and visualising spatial data using R. The website includes a wide range of datasets including administrative boundaries of countries, Open Street Map data, population, temperature, vegetation, air pollution, and malaria data.The goal of the website is to equip researchers and communities with the tools to engage in spatial data analysis and visualisation so that they can address important local issues, such as estimating air pollution, quantifying disease burdens, and evaluating and monitoring the United Nation's sustainable development goals.

Mapping of Research in the Field of Forest Therapy-Related Issues: A Bibliometric Analysis for 2007-2021.

Exposure to forest environments promotes human health. The number of relevant studies in this area has increased rapidly. However, an overall review of relevant analyses from the perspectives of bibliometrics and visualization is lacking. A scientometric analysis of 2,545 publications from 2007 to 2021 via the Web of Science database was conducted to identify the knowledge structure and frontiers objectively. The publications were subsequently analyzed in terms of the distribution of journals and countries, citation bursts, major subject areas, and evolutionary stages. The findings showed that the knowledge foundation of forest therapy was multidisciplinary with most published in the fields of environmental sciences and ecology but lacking input from social disciplines. The research hotspots evolved from the early focus on individual benefits obtained from nature to increasing attention on human well-being at the social-ecological scale. More rigorous experiments with strict randomized controlled trials and blinding are needed to accommodate the trend of forest therapy toward non-pharmacological treatments. According to Shneider’s four-stage theory, forest therapy research is in the third stage of the scientific research process. More future studies utilizing novel technologies and decision-making frameworks to solve practical issues are needed for introducing health into policies and promoting human well-being.

The essential role of environmental accounting in Colombia in the face of the public accountant profession

The objective of this article is to analyze the essential role of environmental accounting in Colombia, in relation to the public accounting profession, due to the environmental crisis caused by the dynamics of globalization. In this way, it is based on some definitions of environmental accounting as a discipline that is in charge of recording the impacts generated on the environment. The methodology developed a qualitative approach, where a descriptive analysis is carried out, to present the practice of the accounting profession with a differentiating value, when facing the conservation of the environment through environmental accounting. As a result, it was evidenced the boom of environmental accounting in the professionals of Public Accounting, which is a social discipline that seeks to fulfill the mission of being a guarantor of the socio-environmental heritage, shaping opportunities for green jobs with the purpose of contributing to the accounting exercise to a social, economic and environmental balance.
 Keywords: Environmental Accounting, accounting exercise, legislation, sustainability.

An assessment of the impact of demographic variables on students’ economic performance

Economics as a subject is regarded as the bedrock of all management and social science-based disciplines. The persistently low level of students’ achievement in Economics in senior secondary school (SSS II) examinations has become a thing of great concern to all stakeholders. This study examined students’ performance in the SSS II Economics qualifying examination in Kano State and the influence of gender and schools’ nature on their performances in Economics. An ex-post-facto design of descriptive research was adopted for the study. A proforma was used to collect data from a sample of 300 students, selected using a stratified random sampling procedure from the secondary schools in Kano State, Nigeria. The data collected were the students’ performances in the Economics achievement test. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and an independent sample t-test. Overall, the results showed that students performed above average and a significant gender difference exists in Economics performance. Keywords: Economics, qualifying examination, students’ performance;

Perkembangan Pendidikan IPS di Indonesia pada Tingkat Sekolah Dasar

Social Sciences Education is a study of the social sciences and humanities that aims to improve citizens' abilities. The social studies disciplines in Indonesia are aimed at helping students gain information, awareness, and analytical skills regarding a society's social conditions as they prepare to enter a dynamic society. The foundation of social studies is reality and social phenomena, which are achieved through an interdisciplinary approach from many social science areas. Over time, social studies education in elementary schools has undergone various developments and curriculum changes. In Indonesia, social science education was introduced in 1975 and used the 1975–2006 curriculum. With the materials separately, the development and renewal of the curriculum took place so as to create the 2013 curriculum, which packs social studies education materials in an integrated manner. These changes and developments aim to improve the quality of Indonesian education and create students who can think critically in order to meet the challenges of the times so that they can compete globally. The author collects data through a literature review in order to write this scientific essay. It is intended that by writing this article, the author will be able to describe the evolution of social studies education in Indonesia at the primary school level, as well as the advantages of the many curricula utilized.

Strategies for Democratization of Supercomputing: Availability, Accessibility and Usability of High Performance Computing for Education and Practice of Big Data Analytics

There has been an increasing interest in and growing need for high performance computing (HPC), popularly known as supercomputing, in domains such as textual analytics, business domains analytics, forecasting and natural language processing (NLP), in addition to the relatively mature supercomputing domains of quantum physics and biology. HPC has been widely used in computer science (CS) and other traditionally computation intensive disciplines, but has remained largely siloed away from the vast array of social, behavioral, business and economics disciplines. However, with ubiquitous big data, there is a compelling need to make HPC technologically and economically accessible, easy to use, and operationally democratized. 
 Therefore, this research focuses on making two key contributions, the first is the articulation of strategies based on availability, accessibility and usability for the demystification and democratization of HPC, based on an analytical review of Caliburn, a notable supercomputer at its inception. The second contribution is a set of principles for HPC adoption based on an experiential narrative of HPC usage for textual analytics and NLP of social media data from a first-time user perspective. Both, the HPC usage process and the output of the early stage analytics are summarized. This research study synthesizes expert input on HPC democratization strategies, and chronicles the challenges and opportunities from a multidisciplinary perspective, of a case of rapid adoption of supercomputing for textual analytics and NLP. Deductive logic is used to identify strategies which can lead to efficacious engagement, adoption, production and sustained usage for research, teaching, application and innovation by researchers, faculty, professionals and students across a broad range of disciplines.

Future of Healthcare

In the current editorial, I delineate the factors that must constitute a recipient rights-based health care system, at least a future health care system. As a reflection on what transpired in the two years of the pandemic, the considerations offered are to assist in rebuilding a realistic allied health care perspective that would not only meet the demands of the future but is able to cope should some other crisis-hit humanity. The conception here calls for more dominant roles for human services professionals involved in social care from various persuasions, such as social work, psychology and several other disciplines that are sector-specific to children and the frail aged.

Mykhailo Rudnytskyi and the struggle against the «Hrushevskyi school» in Lviv

The campaign launched by the Soviet power against the «Hrushevskyi School» in post-war Lviv was not so much an ideological campaign directed only against Ukrainian historians. Rather, it was a broader campaign of pressure and persecution, which clearly illustrates the Soviet government’s attempts to implement social discipline to establish total control over various groups of the Ukrainian intelligentsia. Consideration of various aspects of this campaign shows how discursive practices and relevant social «rituals» in the Soviet era were subordinated to the unification and Sovietization of Western Ukrainian public space in the postwar period. In contexts of this process, the case of Galician publicist and writer Mykhailo Rudnytskyi was significant. The study of his biography in this period allows us to analyze at the micro-level great processes that took place in Soviet Ukraine at this time.In addition to Moscow and Kyiv, local Soviet activists played an important role, primarily among the «pro-communist» professors of LSU. The Soviet government used the old principle of «divide et impera» by dividing intelligentsia into several groups, first criticizing one and then using them to criticize another one. Party documents show that Mykhailo Rudnytskyi remained a «stranger» to the Soviet government, a fragment of the «old world». Rudnytskyi also did not perceive the Soviet government as «his» but resorted to self-censorship for survival. Choosing survival strategies in postwar Lviv, he tried to balance between ostentatious loyalty to the Soviet regime and maintaining his own moral and ideological position.

Sustainable Development Goals and social work in the migration context – a higher education dialogue between Germany, Jordan, and Lebanon

ABSTRACT Germany, Jordan, and Lebanon’s social, political, and socio-economic structures are influenced by a long history of them receiving refugees and migrants. This was a starting point for the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg (Germany), the German Jordanian University, Yarmouk University (Jordan), and the Lebanese University to engage in an intercultural and professional exchange project on social work in the field of (forced) migration. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) served as a conceptual framework to examine the lives of refugees, community development and social cohesion in receiving societies, and the role of social work in this context. The project concept focused on engaging in cultural dialogue, linking theory to practice, and fostering academic exchange through research projects. The paper provides practical insights into and reflections on the international dialogue project that proved to be an insightful learning experience for students and staff even in exceptional times of crises, exploring the relevance of SDGs for a profiled social work profession and scientific discipline.

Media Hot and Cold. By Nicole Starosielski

To walk into the world of Nicole Starosielski’s Media Hot and Cold is to see familiar shapes with new intensities. From the opening pages, as Starosielski recounts dictating the book in furtive moments on her smartphone as she built a farm, noticing all around her how the environment swayed to temperature, the reader has the sense of being initiated into an experience that the author continues to undergo. Issues of heat and cold appear unbounded, and Starosielski sets the stakes high from the outset: “The most influential messages of the twenty-first century will be sent not through words and images but through heat and cold” (1). Contestations over temperature, coalescing into broad social configurations of thermopolitics and thermopower, will define global geopolitical orders for the coming centuries. Their effects will reach down to the daily lives of all the world’s inhabitants, though unevenly and unequally. Some are already well-known: the slow and uneven violence of climate change; the routine social discipline of temperature scans at airports, schools, and doctors’ offices; and the increasing use of smart thermostats. Some are more covert. Starosielski first and foremost works against the concealments of the nearly unquestioned faith in thermal objectivity, or the notion that temperature is an impartial measure. Temperature is cultural and political, less a standard than a means of standardizing: devices and technologies, to be sure, but also human bodies, as in medical practice. To trace the cultural dimensions of temperature, Starosielski combines a book-level metallurgical approach, which brings together disparate cases from the already excavated historical record into new composites, with a chapter-level genealogical approach to a series of thermal media. The first three chapters focus on specific thermal techniques—the thermostat, which became a site of negotiation over standard temperatures; coldsploitation, which sold the pleasures of feeling cold; and the violent slave-era and post-slavery practice of sweatboxing, in which bodies were subjected to inhuman temperatures with their murders ascribed to “natural causes” (119). While the first half of the book takes a media-theoretical approach to thermal practices, the second half concerns more commonly understood media, such as the heat ray as a form of communications transmission, the infrared camera as a means of subvisual imaging, and the internet as subtended by massive infrastructures of cooling. Established across the chapters is a formal theory of thermal media. Convective media, such as air and water employed in home heating systems, supplant the central role of the wood furnace and are the subject of the book’s opening chapter. Conductive media, involving the direct contact of bodies to thermal sensations or devices to signals of heat, have been revived in recent years for personal comfort devices. Radiant media, lastly, work with electromagnetic waves, such as shortwave radio or infrared radiation, to generate or intensify heat. This last form opens up to one of the book’s most memorable lines about temperature and living bodies: “We are all radiant; we radiate” (139). And indeed, the book itself radiates, with human warmth and scholarly insight.

Restoration as world-making and repair: A pragmatist agenda

The UN’s Decade of Ecosystem Restoration commenced in June 2021, with the expectation that ecological restoration will be vastly scaled-up internationally. Millions of hectares of the earth’s surface is projected to be restored, from forests and peatland to rivers, reefs and grasslands. This will transform restoration from a predominantly localized, community-driven field to a highly capitalized, professional activity. As the renowned biologist E. O. Wilson proposed, the twenty-first century certainly does look likely to be characterized by restoration. And yet, thus far, the still emerging field of ecological restoration has been dominated by the natural sciences, in both theory and practice, neglecting broader questions of how to live in and with restored landscapes. This paper contends that if restoration is to be significantly expanded over the next decade, the social sciences and humanities must be involved to ensure its purpose is given adequate scrutiny, by engaging wider publics of interest in scheme planning, design and implementation. This is crucial given the dominance of natural capital accounting in restoration, which privileges economic reasoning over alternative, more radical forms. Pragmatism, which has a substantive philosophical interest in the relationship between humans and their environment, can offer a distinctive orientation to inquiry conducive to collaboration between the natural and social disciplines. Focusing on waterway restoration in the United Kingdom, and drawing on social and natural science literature, this paper outlines a pragmatist research agenda that recognizes multiplicity in nature, advocates experimentation in human-environment relations, and foregrounds community in democratic renewal. The paper considers not only ways that pragmatism can inform restoration but how restoration can advance a pragmatist agenda for invigorating public life. This encourages scholars to think with not only against restoration, attending to composition as well as critique, as part of a political urban ecology.

Relevance of Yama in Modern Times

General perception of yoga is practice of Asana, Pranayama or meditation technique for therapeutic purposes. The foundational ethical principles of yoga are not considered in the modern time practices. Yama and niyama are not widely known and are not even taught in the yoga classes. This paper discusses the concept of ethical principles of yoga and its importance in modern times. Increasing crimes, family disputes for money, unethical behavior in public places and not to forget fight for the religions, whose aim is to bring peace and harmony in the society. So Purpose of this study is to understand how world can be a better place, if in every school ethical principles are taught, kids are molded in such a way and every individual follows it. Through hermeneutics and intertextual approaches it is seen that the impact of yama (social discipline) helps to move beyond one's natural tendencies of anger, frustration and disappointment. By bringing change in each self, their emotions will bring change in the energy in the body and change in behavior and thoughts. Society will be crime free and more peaceful.

Performing Plainness in Sarah Stickney Ellis’s Friends at Their Own Fireside: Or, Pictures of the Private Life of the People Called Quakers

Abstract While Quaker plainness has encapsulated multiple positive meanings such as piety, worldliness and even human equality, many were attentive to its rootedness in social discipline and surveillance. Drawing on nineteenth-century assessments of Quaker plainness, both in journals and fiction, this article explores the dynamics of self-fashioning and performance that are exposed to be an important part of these bodily experiences of Quaker plainness. Plainness is not only self-disciplining but also controls the social and visual dynamics of displaying, seeing, and interpreting the body. Sarah Stickney Ellis’s Friends at Their Own Fireside: Or, Pictures of the Private Life of the People Called Quakers (1858) provides an intriguing account of the private experiences of plain Quaker women and their resistance to forms of social control and scrutiny. I use the context of this novel to examine the subjective experience of Quaker women as wearers of plain dress in ways that expose their agency and involvement in observing and adhering to these codes rather than completely or obliviously succumbing to social authority and control. The exploration of female plainness in this novel, as I will argue, confounds the notions of discipline attached to Quaker plainness, and instead brings to light women’s agency in navigating their identity and personal space in such a context.

Pandemic preparedness means policy makers need to work with social scientists

A multidisciplinary approach is required to understand, address, and recover from pandemics, and social scientific disciplines are central to this. Specialists in anthropology, human geography, and sociology, among other disciplines, generate, interpret, and problematise data about the social world, often directly supporting decision making for public health policies. Importantly, social scientists also challenge and critique policy—practices which are essential for its refinement.

Satriya culture and Srimanta Sankardeva's contributions to education

In most parts of Assam, the Satriya culture is prevalent. Assamese culture is incomplete without this feature. To get to where it is now, the Satriya culture has undergone a major transition. In the 15th century, Srimanta Sankardeva and Sri Sri Madhabdeva founded this practice. Srimanta Sankardeva possessed a wide range of qualities. He was an Assamese poet, playwright, painter, and sculptor who contributed significantly to Assamese culture. He pushed for a pure, honest work culture, social discipline, humanized love, and universal religion acceptance. Education was a privilege reserved for a select few from society's top crust during Sankardeva's time. The mass people were still mired in a pit of illiteracy and ignorance. We shall study about the satriya culture, its evolution, importance, and Srimanta Sankardeva's contribution to society, culture, and education in this article.