Society Opposition Research Articles

Gender and Animals in Elif Şafak’s 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World Novel

This article examines the representation of the 20th-century Turkish patriarchal system in Elif Șafak’s 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World (2019) novel. It also evaluates how the novel describes the sufferings and the resistance towards oppression through the portrayal of animals subtly linked to gender issues. The approach used in this research is qualitative and presented in descriptive form. The data is collected through phrases referring to animals supporting or resisting the patriarchal authority. This study was framed by the animal metaphor theory and theory of the patriarchal structures proposed by Sylvia Walby (1990). The result of the study discovered that Elif Șafak uses five animal expressions to represent women's sufferings, powerlessness, and lack of freedom, such as wild animal, ram and lamb, pigeon, duck, and rabbits. Contrary, the superior position of men is represented by the mosquito. On the other hand, the wolf is the only animal metaphor that expresses society's opposition to patriarchal power. Meanwhile, bird and butterfly serve as symbols of freedom. However, this study also discovered that there are six animal metaphors formulated against the system that are also subject to oppression and exploitation, such as cat, deer, blue betta fish, horse, turtle, and spider. All in all, almost all the characters depicted as animals in the novel are victims of the 20th-century Turkish patriarchal system and gender issues covering all six aspects of Walby's theory.

Ecotechnological solutions to satisfy current demands of forest products, a glance beyond the trees

A significant increase in the demand for wood products, including timber, pulp and biofuels has exerted considerable pressure on the world's remaining natural forests. To expand the forest area by establishing forest plantations has been proposed as a way out to satisfy current and future demands, as well as to mitigate expected increases in atmospheric carbon. Specialized scientists in forestry and tree biotechnology advocate that humanity should rely on biotechnological solutions, particularly GM tree plantations, to achieve sustainable and more productive forest plantations. During the last decade, significant advances have occurred in both molecular methodologies and basic understanding of biotechnological processes associated with timber production. However, important sectors of civil society have showed reticence, even open opposition, towards these eco-technological solutions. This article explores on the one hand the rationale of the academic sector in promoting biotechnological solutions to satisfy current demands of forest products and biofuels, and on the other, analyzes society's opposition towards these solutions. The academic sector needs to understand where the resistance towards the development and establishment of these highly innovative technologies stems. Scientists need to become better at framing the importance of scientific research to citizens, at eliciting public participation and fostering public dialogue about science.

Then and Now: Haitian Journalism as Resistance to US Occupation and US-Led Reconstruction

During the US occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934, Haiti’s Fourth Estate, the Haitian press, stood in solidarity with ordinary Haitians and became a fixed feature of the resistance in Haiti to foreign occupation for nineteen years. The alliance featured conservative publications like Le Matin , traditional commercial papers like Le Nouvelliste , and radical antioccupation ones like Haïti-Intégrale and La Presse . Despite their differing political persuasions, owners of the dozens of newspapers in Haiti challenged the Haitian state and the United States for the loss of Haitian sovereignty, and many went to jail for it. In 2015, an alliance between Haiti’s leading media organizations, the ANMH and AMIH, has emerged in the face of a new US-led interference, this time in the country’s reconstruction. The threat to the country’s sovereignty by the international aid community has come at a time when political and economic institutions remain weak. Haiti’s press stands out as an institution willing to hold an open debate about Haiti’s recovery and development. This role is significant given the country’s fledgling democracy and persistent socioeconomic crises brought on by two decades of political upheavals and natural disasters culminating with the 2010 earthquake. The narrative in Haitian newsrooms and radio programs on the ground echoes the narratives of 1915. The strategies employed by Haiti’s alliance of media organizations today, both mainstream and alternative, harkens back to the solidarity on display between Haiti’s radical and conservative press when Haiti faced occupation in 1915. The censorship and repression of the Haitian press is evident today, but when faced with an external threat to national self-determination, Haiti’s media continues to act as an advocate for the Haitian people.

History as Animated Metaphor in the Maximus Poems

C HARLES OLSON has been shoved aside in the recent critical rush to Lowell and Ginsberg. Yet, George Garrett, discussing contemporary radical poets, calls grand pooh-bah of the lodge, the big daddy,' and Hayden Carruth in his anthology of twentieth-century American verse says: Olson exerted, through his poems, criticism, and personal connections with younger poets, a more profound influence than anyone else on the course of poetry in America during the fifteen years past.2 Olson's reputation as a poet depends upon critical attitudes toward his major work, the Maximus Poems, a long open sequence left unfinished at his death in 197o. It works by cumulative effect, moving like Song of Myself, either backing up or going forward, but always and insistently in motion. Like the Cantos, Maximus attempts to destroy historical time.3 And like Paterson, Maximus grounds itself firmly in a place, Gloucester, Massachusetts, where spent most of his life. explores this town and its history, not for nostalgia, but for metaphor. The historical people, places, and events become ideas-in-motion, animated metaphors, or in Robert Creeley's words, tokens for a particular kind of activity and its apparent value.4 This historical material, usually connected with Gloucester's settlement and growth, is the chief figurative language of Maximus, individually and cumulatively adding depth and scope to the poem as each character, place, and incident suggests some aspect of the Maximus life or mu-sick society's opposition to it.