Struggle For Recognition Research Articles

Community aqueducts in Colombia and their struggle for legal recognition

In Colombia there are thousands of community aqueducts that supply water to remote rural communities and peripheral urban settlements. These community aqueducts have united in a National Network to fight for legal recognition and support, since Colombia’s neoliberal policies don’t acknowledge their communitarian nature and have imposed legal requirements that push them towards privatization. Departing from a Latin American political ecology perspective, the paper discusses how this struggle is part of a broader regional movement in which a different rationality between humans and nature, not mediated by economic interests, is fighting to survive and advance in contestation to the hegemonic capitalist model. I argue that community aqueducts put in practice the defense of water as a common in an autonomous exercise of governance that contributes to the construction of territories in Latin America.

Struggle for recognition, rights, and redistribution: Understanding the identity of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder in China.

The number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) worldwide has increased rapidly in the past decade and China is no exception. Yet the identity development of Chinese parents of children with ASD is little understood. This study employed an ethics of care perspective to explore the identity of parents of children with ASD as shaped in their social-cultural context in mainland China. Qualitatively driven mixed-method design was adopted. Qualitative data about their experiences were obtained from in-depth interviews with 20 parents from 17 families of children with ASD in Beijing and participant observation of 9 participants' daily parenting experience. A complex and dynamic parenting identity was revealed. With limited recognition within and external to the family, parents experienced constant challenges toward their sense of self. The parents used strategies to assert their rights as carers and develop positive self-perceptions. Yet because of the unjust distribution of care work within families and with the state, the parents retained a sense of insecurity throughout the process of parenting. The parents' sense of inferiority due to devaluing children with disabilities was accentuated by traditional Chinese cultural values about good parenting. They were intensely worried about the lack of policy for support as they and their children grew older. The findings reinforce the need for recognition of parents' dignity, capacity, and efforts in caring.

Embodied others and the ethics of difference. Deterritorialising intercultural learning

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the embodied character of the relationship self-other in intercultural communication. I review Levinasian characterisations of the face of the other that are adopted in intercultural ethics to counteract cultural essentialism and I argue that these do not fully address the embodied relationality underpinning intercultural encounters. Employing the notion of a carnal hermeneutics, I look at the relation self-other to consider the implications of the epistemic erasure of ‘othered’ bodies and their struggles for recognition. In doing this, I interrogate the effects of positioning the body at the centre of intercultural learning space to deterritorialise intercultural education and to problematise the separation between body and mind, self and other, and intercultural communication understood primarily through the medium of English language learning.

Homing in on Adoption: Dreaming, Drawing, and Telling Stories in Relational Psychotherapy

ABSTRACT Adoptees and their families long for a relational home in which they can feel safe and accepted. Parents’ and children’s divergent histories, experiences, and visions of the future can make that vision a challenging one to achieve. As an adoptive mother and a clinical psychologist, the author is deeply familiar with seldom considered aspects of the adoption experience, including mismatched rhythms, struggles for recognition, loss aversion, and uncertainty borne of absences in family stories. This article presents a relational model for treating adoptees and their families that highlights parent engagement and employs both nonverbal and narrative modalities so that a joint vocabulary can develop, leading to new stories that are co-created, coherent, and sustaining despite the gaps they inevitably contain. Adoption thus construed becomes not just a loss, but also an opportunity for growth for all three of the parties to the adoption triangle. The article outlines key developmental dilemmas, presents a repertoire of techniques for drawing out nascent self-experience, and employs illustrative clinical vignettes to assist clinicians in encountering the often overwhelming affects and impasses common in working with these families.

Modos de vida, experiências trans e enfrentamentos: considerações para a ação técnica em terapia ocupacional social

Abstract This article stems from a doctoral dissertation whose main objective was to understand how transgender people build strategies to cope with conditions of marginalization throughout their life histories. To this end, the oral history of life was employed as a data collection methodology; ethnographic tools, such as observation, were also used. The data were organized from the concept of ways of life in the light of Isabel Guerra’s perspective and arranged in three central axes: the system and social actors; history and everyday life; the objective and the subjective in the perception of reality. In addition, the analyses were carried out from an intersectional perspective, and the results indicated that the impositions of the sex-gender-desire system operate from the first stages of life, in a mechanism that connects various actors and social institutions, as well as access to concrete conditions of life operationalization. How these impositions and limits are perceived mediates the main coping strategies, which include the reconfiguration of the support network and the struggle for recognition, which, in the case of the interlocutors in the aforementioned research, occurred through education and the social movement spaces. The analysis supported by the concept of ways of life offered a powerful lens to identify this population’s demands, and it is a theoretical-methodological possibility for social occupational therapy practice.

India's foreign policy: main strategic directions

The article deals with the problem of the formation of strategic directions of India's foreign policy, since the modern foreign policy of India is determined precisely by the need to overcome geographical and geopolitical isolation. It is concluded that the emphasis on the economic component in the modern system of international relations contributes to the solution of two basic tasks – creating conditions for the economic security of the country and strengthening its competitiveness at the macroeconomic level. The next conclusion is that the degree of rivalry between India and China for regional influence will increase, and the struggle for recognition by the world community will become essential for both Asian powers. In this context, India will rely on two factors: "Indian democracy" as opposed to "Chinese socialism" and Indian support for the United States in the issue of "containing China".

Homo Barbaricus in the “Imaginary Frontier” between Barbarity and Civilization

The article considers the peculiarities of the ethno-social model of human behavior in the historical context of transition from one state to another. Based on the Greek and Roman and early medieval narrative tradition, the frontier is interpreted as a mental phenomenon, as a boundary of the exit from the state of barbarism. It is shown how homo barbaricus, being in a borderline situation, in frontier conditions, marks the limit of barbarism and the beginning of civilization. It is noted that the barbaric existence of man is in the state between paradoxical and contradictory. The article presents the dynamics of transformation of barbaric “frontier status” of Alarich and Stilicho in their struggle for recognition and claim to significance in the civilized Greek and Roman Mediterranean world.

Jeretici i disidenti - vernici prigovarači savesti i jugoslovensko vojno krivično pravo od 1945. do 1991

The paper presents results of a research focusing on a four decades' struggle for legal recognition of the right to conscientious objection in Socialist Yugoslavia. Without a pretense to evaluate it, the paper aspires to describe and explain the evolution of Yugoslav Military Criminal Law by examining its distinctive historical causes and inner logic. Methodologically, the study relies on normative analysis of relevant legal sources that have been either understudied or simply disregarded. It analyzes especially the 1989 Amendment to the Military Service Obligation Act that introduced the right to conscientious objection into the Yugoslav socialist legal system , as well as related archival materials, newspaper reports and other written accounts depicting the political background of the 1989 legal reform. The study sheds light on socialist secularism and questions the common perception of the Yugoslav People's Army as a conservative institution unwilling to compromise. It also contributes to a broader theoretical discussion on the ambiguous nature of conscientious objection as a right and/or a privilege.

Bulgarian community in Chicago: A model of development

<abstract> <p>This paper presents the first comprehensive model of development of the Bulgarian settlement in the Chicago area from its earliest traces to the present day, from historical and anthropological perspectives. In the process, we distinguish five periods of Bulgarian presence spanning more than a century and discuss the patterns of Bulgarian settlement, economic profiles and community life for each of those periods. The paper highlights the struggle for survival and recognition of early Bulgarian migrants during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the political rivalry of the Cold War Bulgarian refugees preventing their consolidation and the contemporary, post-1989, Bulgarian economic mass migration which becomes increasingly visible and emancipated, claiming Chicago as the <italic>Bulgarian City</italic>. In the process, we seek to explain why this long history of Bulgarian immigration has not resulted in the community's overt visibility, either in the literature and studies of Chicago's ethnic landscape or through the creation of an ethnic enclave with vernacular urban centralized space distinct from other ethnic migrant groups and their neighborhoods such as Little Italy, Ukrainian Village, Greek Town and Chinatown.</p> </abstract>

Expansive and extractive networks of Web3

The self-proclaimed usurper of Web 2.0, Web3 quickly became the center of attention. Not long ago, the public discourse was saturated with projects, promises, and peculiarities of Web3. Now the spotlight has swung around to focus on the many faults, failures, and frauds of Web3. The cycles of technological trends and investment bubbles seem to be accelerating in such a way as to escape any attempt at observing them in motion before they crash, and then everybody moves on to the next thing. Importantly, Web3 was not an anomaly or curiosity in the broader tech industry. It articulates patterns that existed before Web3 and will exist after. Web3 should be understood as a case study of innovation within the dominant model of Silicon Valley venture capitalism. Our focus in this article is on understanding how the movement around Web3 formed through an interplay between (1) normative concepts and contestations related to ideas of “decentralization” and (2) political economic interests and operations related to the dynamics of fictitious capital. By offering a critical analysis of Web3, our goal is also to show how any even potentially progressive (or as we call them “expansive”) forms of Web3 development struggle for success, recognition, and attention due to the wild excesses of hype and investment devoted to “extractive” forms of Web3. In the process, they provide us a better view of how different arrangements of technopolitics can exist at the same time, side-by-side, in complicated ways.

The Influences of Institutional Theory in the Development and Operationalization of Small and Medium Enterprises in Bangladesh

The study aims to explore the influence of institutional theory in the development and operationalization of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Bangladesh. The study employed a qualitative case study method to attain the research objective. Data has been collected through semi-structured interviews from ten respondents. The study finds that various dimensions play a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of these enterprises. Isomorphism, operating through coercive, memetic, and normative mechanisms, further underscores the complex interplay of institutional forces. Coercive isomorphism introduces challenges such as financial stringency, complex loan structures, non-banking support, and mandatory restrictions. Memetic isomorphism, rooted in community support, cultural development, and tradition, shapes the identity of SMEs, influencing their operational choices. Normative isomorphism drives struggle for industry recognition, financial independence from bank loans, and collaborative efforts within the SME ecosystem. Institutional norms, emanating from the broader institutional environment, intricately shape the behaviors and decisions of SMEs. This comprehensive analysis sheds light on the nuanced dynamics that SMEs encounter in their developmental journey in Bangladesh. Recognizing and adapting to these institutional nuances will empower SMEs to navigate challenges and leverage opportunities, fostering a more robust and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country. The concept of legitimacy, spanning financial, loan, government support, operational, and certification aspects, emerges as a cornerstone for SMEs to establish credibility and acceptance. Understanding and navigating this multifaceted legitimacy landscape are critical for SMEs to secure the necessary resources for growth.

The Politics of Subalternity: A Postcolonial Analysis of the Subalternised Other through Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide

This research paper delves into the post-colonial narrative presented in Amitav Ghosh's novel, The Hungry Tide, published in 2004. Through a post-colonial lens, the paper examines how Ghosh's narration captures the intricate interplay between identity, representation, and power dynamics in the Sundarbans region shared by India and Bangladesh. The novel portrays the 'Subalternised Other', individuals and communities which are marginalised and silenced by dominant forces; it sheds light on their struggles for agency, voice, and recognition. Drawing upon the works of M.H. Abrams, Antonio Gramsci, Homi Bhabha, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, the paper explores the significance of the terms "Subaltern" and "Other" in the context of postcolonial studies through this text. It analyses how Ghosh's characters, including Piya, Kanai, Nirmal, Fokir, Kusum, Moyna, and the Morichjhapi refugees, represent the diverse manifestations of subordination based on class, caste, age, gender, and ethnicity. Overall, this article is a vivid academic demonstration of how The Hungry Tide offers a compelling exploration of the 'Subalternised Other', inviting readers to critically reflect on representation, identity, and the urgency of embracing diversity and harmonious coexistence within societies in a post-colonial context.

Sexual work in Brazil: An approach to the protagonism of prostitutes in their struggle for recognition of the right to exercise the profession

RESUMO O presente ensaio teve como objeto de estudo a luta das prostitutas brasileiras pelo reconhecimento do trabalho sexual como profissão. Utilizando revisão bibliográfica, apresenta a formação do Movimento das Prostitutas no Brasil e suas reivindicações, busca definir o que é trabalho sexual e, ao final, discorre sobre o percurso dessas reivindicações no Poder Legislativo. Conclui-se que os entraves ao reconhecimento da profissão pelo Estado brasileiro estão relacionados com o estigma que marca as trabalhadoras do sexo.

To talk as if they had a manifesto in their mouth

The act of writing and/or reading a manifesto is inherently political: bearing the weight of historical struggles and contemporary aspirations. Situating the camera inside my mouth, this video art piece reclaims the manifesto as an intimate, visceral experience, grounding it in the physicality of the body. This artistic approach invites the viewer to traverse the blurred boundaries between reader and performer, queerness and academia, provoking contemplation on the deeply personal and subjective nature of the inside of my mouth. My body is a manifestation of queer activism and activity, highlighting that it’s not merely about the words spoken but the understanding rooted in life experiences and embodied knowledge. As I read my The Southern Butthole Manifesto with a dildo camera inside my mouth, the words become unintelligible, mirroring the material, historical, and experiential complexities inherent in the manifesto’s message. This deliberate refusal to be clearly understood underscores the challenge of understanding, akin to the difficulty of comprehending the manifold layers of my queer experience as someone from the global south based in the global north (where interpretations of my body differ significantly.) Reflecting on the expectations such as “learn German to get a better job”, or “if you don’t speak English, you won’t be part of the international art market”, or “if you don’t change your voice, you will never have a partner”, or “you need to change the way you speak to stay here” (it was at the end of my first semester in Social Sciences, in 1998), reinforces the disparities in how my body and voice are perceived in these two contrasting worlds. The division between South and North transcends mere geopolitics; it extends into the realm of discourse, influencing our experiences, freedoms, movements, and ways of being. These discourses shape our possibilities, our accesses, and our ways to be understood. Consequently, when my southern language is not comprehended by northern ears, I grapple with the question: What should I do? In response to Gayatri Spivak’s query about whether the subaltern can speak, I affirm yes, the subaltern can speak. The issue lies in the unwillingness of those in power to listen. To maintain this lack of receptivity, they have devised tools that are intentionally inscrutable, elusive, and inaccessible. While some embrace so-called “science” with its narratives and empirical evidence, others rely on whispers, prayers, and dreams to understand the world beyond its surface. The question here is what holds more significance: what is said, what is heard, who is speaking, within or outside the confines of the mouth, what is sense, or what the eyes perceive. This multifaceted work challenges conventional perceptions of language and communication, inviting viewers to delve into the intricacies of embodied knowledge and the relentless struggle for recognition in the face of linguistic, political and geographical disparities.

Утверждение онтологии “международного” на основе радикального конструктивизма

The “International Relations” (“IR”) discipline is going through a double-disciplinary crisis. Once again, there is a general feeling of increasingly fragmenting common ground within the discipline (the first crisis) and the acknowledgment that the “IR” only imports concepts and methods from other disciplines but does not export any (the second crisis). Both crises share the same origin. The subject matter – “international” – has not been rooted in any social ontology. The discipline is now searching for the social ontology of “international.” The most discussed candidate for such a role is “societal multiplicity”, a product of “uneven and combined development”. The article offers an alternative variant of the social ontology for “international,” which is based on Niklas Luhmann’s system theory and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s social theory. It argues that “international” is rooted in the segmentary systemic differentiation between inside and outside and in the struggle for recognition of these segments. The semantic marker for this ontology is “sovereignty.” In this way, “sovereignty” turns into a systemic program (in Luhmann’s terms) of international politics (as a subsystem of the world society political system), designating the common ground for the discipline and marking social processes and phenomena, which can be studied within the “IR”. This will allow the “International Relations” to export some of its concepts and methods to other social science disciplines. The article critically engages with the Theory of World Politics by Mathias Albert, reconstructing it to meet the challenge of the double-disciplinary crisis. The “balance of power” is criticized with the help of Michel Foucault, who showed: that among European powers in 19th-century Europe, the balance of power, responsible for producing international order, was linked with the police inside states, responsible for producing domestic order. Nevertheless, to keep the balance of power and to secure the domestic order, states and police used the same technique of observation – statistics, making the “balance of power” a non-autopoietic system program incapable of producing an autopoietic system of international relations. “Sovereignty” also spans both realms of the inside/outside divide but is observed mainly through external recognition and is rooted in the social ontology of “international.” The article argues that “sovereignty” is better suited for the system program of international politics than the “balance of power”.

Nursing in India: Clinging to the Relics of a Bygone Age?

Throughout its history, nursing has been engaged in a constant struggle for status, acceptance and recognition. A shift from apprenticeship to university-level programmes saw nursing’s entry into the professional arena leaving behind the metaphorical gutter and stereotypes. Even in the 21st century, nurses are far behind their medical counterparts in terms of societal status. Unlike the western countries where this disparity is not strikingly evident, it is one of the most glaring realities of India’s healthcare system. While nurses are counted among the five most valued professionals in the United Kingdom, United States of America and Australia, nursing is among the least preferred career choices in India. This article discusses the historical development of nursing in India from a gender and social perspective to understand why nursing is where it is today.

Power and culture in Peru: A sociological study from the perspective of representatives of the Frankfurt School

Today, political, social and economic norms constantly strive to reduce poverty, boost economic growth, achieve demographic improvements and promote equality and security within a population. However, the urban centralism observed in Peru does not meet these objectives at all levels. Despite the fact that rural communities represent about a third of the population, for many years and as the basis of a historical cultural agreement, they have been little talked about and their potential for development has been underestimated. The exploitation of indigenous labour was normalised under capitalism, making the population identify with this reality as a social norm. Thus, people began to identify with the lifestyle imposed by the culture industry. In the case of the urban population, they came to identify with the associated social factors, such as social status. And in the case of the rural population, they were indoctrinated by being passive recipients of a world that apparently cannot change. This study analyses this problem from an economic, political and cultural perspective under the thinking of the representatives of the Frankfurt School from the perspective of power and culture issues. It seeks to make Peruvian society aware of the need to create a continuing and adult education proposal that stimulates and transforms learning processes in vulnerable populations, as is the case in rural Peru, thus optimising their development as a community for the struggle for social recognition on a cultural and legal level, reducing oppression and achieving reconciliation between the urban and rural areas.

Passés troublés, rétro-utopies et mobilisations guerrières en Europe contemporaine

"After the horrific experiences of ex-Yugoslavia, the tragedy of Ukraine reveals the terrible consequences of the memory conflicts radicalization. Anticipated by a constant mnemonic war led by the Russia particularly against its Eastern neighbors, it proves “what happens when memory wars turn into real wars”. Since the end of Cold War, in the context of the re-nationalization of ideologies, the remythologization of national histories, and the reshaping of memory politics, the European memory games, as part of the struggle for recognition, have often became memory wars. This article provides some relevant insights about the political instrumentation of the “restorative nostalgia”/“retrotopia” in the (post-)Cold War illiberal memory games/wars, against the background of the growing crises connected to the rise of neo-nationalism. Keywords: memory wars, memory games, (re)mythologization of history, restorative nostalgia, populist neo-nationalism."

Glanz und Elend des Sozialen

Abstract This article retraces and discusses the philosophical itinerary of Axel Honneth, from the groundbreaking book Struggle for Recognition up to the recent essays Freedom’s Right and The Idea of Socialism. In the first section, I examine Honneth’s programmatic concept of social pathology in relation to Ernst Cassirer’s idea of the secularisation of theodicy (i. e. the attribution of responsibility for human suffering to society) and to the enlightenment legacy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In the second section, after assessing Honneth’s position in the tradition of critical theory, I analyse his philosophical views. I identify two different theoretical frameworks in Honneth’s work: on the one hand, the theory of the struggle for recognition; on the other hand, the recent theory of social freedom. While the first is grounded in a formal and allegedly universal anthropology, the second draws on the Hegelian doctrine of the ethical life and develops a historicist and internalist model of reconstructive social criticism. Finally, in the third section, I critically address the “divinisation of the social” entailed in Honneth’s project of social pathologies’ critique, and argue that Honneth’s trust in the normative power of intersubjectivity might be excessive.

Southern Illinois University at 150 Years: Growth, Accomplishments, and Challenges

What has happened to Illinois's public colleges and universities? After decades of spectacular growth in the aftermath of the Second World War marked by surging enrollments, proliferation of new programs, and the creation of new campuses, suddenly came crises with shrinking student bodies, fewer teachers, and the dismantling of entire programs, indeed, entire departments. Southern Illinois University at 150 Years lays a foundation for understanding this story of accomplishments and challenges not just for one institution but for the condition of public education at large.Accounting for one institution is a formidable, multifaceted project perhaps best accomplished by a team of experts. John S. Jackson brings five decades of experience as emeritus professor of political science, dean of his college and of the graduate school, and interim chancellor to the task of assembling contributors to this study. Several chapters if read together render essential perspective: Jackson's overview introduction to these years, John Haller's eyewitness account of the Board of Higher Education, David Wilson's history of the graduate school, and Judith Marshall's concise explanation of the budget. Together these chapters illuminate the complex interplay of university-community relations, shifting balances of state politics, the role of the Illinois Board of Education, rivalries with other universities, and concomitant budget priorities. Other chapters on student affairs, the alumni association, buildings and grounds, the library, the schools of law and of medicine, athletics, and special programs, such as archaeological investigations and honors programs, fill in the details. Readers will gain appreciation of this institution's search for identity—in particular its problematic relations with the region and the relationship between teaching and research.This story, while focused on Southern Illinois University Carbondale, begins to answer questions regarding public higher education throughout the state and beyond. The vision that guided policymakers in the wake of the Second World War to open wide the doors of opportunity remains faint memory. Today that investment in the rising generation's welfare seems illusory. Readers who recall that fading dream will find answers here.Another book waits to be written as a companion to Southern Illinois University at 150—this devoted to the generations of students and teachers who made this institution their own. There were, for example, the starry-eyed idealists who arrived to study with Buckminster Fuller and his colleagues in the departments of design and community development. Black students were wrestling with Carbondale's deeply embedded habits of segregation—in the 1930s by joining the college chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in the 1940s by publicly protesting segregation, in the 1960s by organizing sit-in demonstrations at a lunch counter and by campaigning successfully for the introduction of Black history in the curriculum (a step toward the creation of an Africana Studies program). Students like Dick Gregory were encouraged to come by older Black graduates; three of the nine students who had bravely defied Little Rock's segregated school system chose to come to campus.This rich story of student life is multifaceted. Protests against the Vietnam War focused on the Vietnam Studies Center and eventually led to confrontation with the police and the closing of the university. The university created a department of rehabilitation and led the nation in making the campus available to wheelchairs. Curbs on sidewalks both on and off campus were broken down thus opening opportunity to countless otherwise disadvantaged young people. International students came from such faraway places as Nigeria and Nepal. Many students were the first in their families to enter a university.And there was the faculty. Graduates remember cramming into large lecture halls to join the legendary “Mr. G” (Harold Grosowsky, professor of design) as he invited them to nurture their own creative imaginations. The struggle for union recognition has yet to be told. And perhaps above all, dedicated faculty members persevered through years of grim budget cuts to meet their responsibilities as both researchers and teachers. This too is part of the story that awaits telling.