Troubled Times Research Articles

How does the novel create life? Thinking the impossible in Elizabeth Costello

ABSTRACT What is happening in literary culture that critics and scholars believe the way we read novels today is troubled? Writer-critics like Zadie Smith have argued that the value of the novel be reconsidered according to an earlier tradition of realism, which evokes an increasingly complex world by which readers can be roused to ethical knowledge of other people. Smith’s formulation tells a story about the way we connect the reality of the novel and our own reality, a story of which literary scholars have begun to question the very possibility. This essay engages a debate between Dorothy Hale (2020) and Timothy Bewes (2022) that has significant consequences for reading, if Bewes is correct to question critical approaches that treat literature as an object of analysis and to theorise, instead, that the contemporary novel has its own, unapprehendable ‘thought’. But if thought is unapprehendable, how can criticism survive? Answering this question, I read J.M. Coetzee’s Elizabeth Costello (2003) as a novel that foregrounds thought, not, I argue, as in Bewes’s negative formulation but necessarily as a positive power that manifests a life. In this case, realism and criticism survive as precisely the nonsubjective thinking of impossibility required for less troubling times.

Comparative Religious Studies: A Pedagogy for Troubled Times?

ABSTRACTIn this article, the authors explore their motivations for conceiving of and assembling the current issue on comparative religious studies as a viable pedagogical orientation for our troubled times. Situated in both the history of comparison as a method and scholarship on effective pedagogy, it argues that disciplined, scholarly, sound comparative thinking (whether at the level of textbook authorship, course design, or selection of classroom activities) can help us to respond to our students dynamically, reflexively, and, most importantly, humanely.

Russian historical themes in computer games. Action RPG "Time of Troubles"

There is an interest in historical themes on the Russian computer games market. Particular attention should be paid to the growing popularity of games based on Slavic mythology, folklore, and alternative history. The developers — mostly domestic companies from all over Russia — off er to immerse yourselves in the Slavic epic, change the course of history, and simply become witnesses and participants in historical events. A computer game can be considered as an educational material allowing to learn in a game form about a diffi cult period of Russian history — the Time of Troubles of the early 17th century, marked by external intervention, cases of imposture, civil Russian-Polish and Russian-Swedish wars, and state crises. The game is an example of a novel educational methodology that combines the processes of teaching and education.

United Albany Brethren benefit society

In the last century friendly "societies" offered men a form of insurance by the establishment of common funds from which payments could be made to members in time of sickness or other troubles; they also offered convivial activity and good fellowship at meetings. The United Albany Brethren Benefit Society was a Grahamstown example of these societies. It was founded by British settlers in 1828, and came to occupy a special position in the city and surrounding areas as one of the earliest local institutions and one closely identified with the history of Grahamstown and the Albany settlement. Skilled artisans made up the bulk of the membership, though some went on to positions of considerable importance. The Society survived all the problems of the 19th century but seems to have succumbed finally to the upheavals of the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902.

Addressing Democratic Issues in an Era of Education Capitalism

Abstract The economic agenda assigned to education on the basis of human capital contributes to the de-socialization and deterritorialization of educational action, and leads to a weakening rather than a strengthening of schools in their function as institutions of society. Yet, successive crisis contexts, whether they concern climate, security or health, contribute to a collective awareness of the importance of education and the transmission of democratic values in the construction of societies that are both more inclusive and more enlightened about the major challenges of the time. Our purpose is to explore and stress the global and decisive function of a democratic and humanistic education in accordance to these principles, to take the lead, in the troubled times we face, in the global promotion of a humanistic, inclusive and cosmopolitan ideal of cultures, education and societies.

Queering the ballot: the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer vote in troubled times and contexts

The literature on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer (LGBTQ+) vote has established the constitutive role of sexuality and gender identity in vote choice. However, knowledge about how LGBTQ+ people vote in troubled times and contexts and how their voting choices and rationales relate to and affect conceptualisations and enactments of LGBTQ+ politics remains limited. This article addresses these questions based on Cypriot LGBTQ+ participants’ perspectives. The analysis of material from interviews with and questionnaires completed by LGBTQ+ participants identifies two approaches to voting among participants: voting abstention and LGBTQ+ intersectional voting. I argue that these two approaches to voting show that LGBTQ+ people understand and enact themselves as agents of intersectional social justice and radical political change. Therefore, beyond contributing to discussions about the LGBTQ+ vote, the article demonstrates the importance of LGBTQ+ individuals’ perspectives and intersectionality considerations for a well-rounded understanding of the LGBTQ+ vote and the LGBTQ+ community’s political power potential.

Hazardous Hope

This special section seeks to reconsider our troubled times and their histories of irreversible toxic pollution through the lens of hopeful yet critical ways of engaging with this unprecedented condition of life. Thinking with “hazardous hope” as a tool of analysis, the five contributions—combining perspectives from ecocriticism, environmental philosophy, film studies, visual arts, and history—showcase alternative presents and futures of living responsibly with a permanently polluted planet. Writing from the perspective of hazardous hope, the section’s editors argue, includes a plethora of conceptual and methodological repositionings to embrace the ambiguity that comes with living responsibly on a permanently polluted planet. Among them is a shift in focus on the acts and modes of hazardous hope as a relational practice that is focused on reorganizing established processes in radically different ways rather than wishing to achieve a predefined outcome, while at the same time remaining mindful of the polluted status quo. Contributions in this special section are situated across the entire troubled planet, from Chernobyl’s exclusion zone to Brazilian oil fields and from Canada’s tar sands to British asbestos-loaded homes.

Is the United States Exceptional? Inviting Students to Consider American Democracy, Liberty, Opportunity, and Optimism During Troubled Times

This article invites middle and high school social studies teachers and students to address the question, “Is the United States Exceptional?” We define American exceptionalism as the belief that the United States is qualitatively different from other nations based upon having some special virtue, ideology, or mission that makes it an outlier. We identify four themes or components of American exceptionalism: democracy, individual liberty, opportunity, optimism. We then call for letting students decide for themselves whether, when, and how the United States has been an exceptional nation while studying U.S. and world history. We close considering the advantages of allowing students to explore America as an exceptional nation in the current moment. Inquiring into American exceptionalism positions students studying U.S. and world history to construct their own nuanced understandings, to see from multiple perspectives, and to consider the United States in a global context.

Totemic Tradition and Identity of Korku Tribe: An Anthropological Perspective

Tribal totemism is a cultural phenomenon that is deeply rooted in their societies. It encompasses complex symbolic systems where specific animals, plants, or natural elements serve as emblems representing ancestral connection, identity, and spiritual beliefs. Totems are revered as spiritual entities, representing a connection to ancestry, tradition, and the natural world. The choice of totem is typically rooted in mythological stories or historical events, and it serves as a symbol of identity, kinship, and shared values within the tribal communities. Totem is given special importance in the Korku tribe. Korku always remains alert and devoted to their totems. The Korku tribe believes that their origin is based on a particular totem, so they think that totem has a wonderful power that protects and warns them in times of trouble. Even a specific message associated with a totem may be a premonition of some event. The Korku people consider that the totem is inhabited by a supernatural power that controls their social life. In Korku society, women often have totem symbols tattooed on different parts of their body, especially on their hands. Korku follows all the rules and prohibitions related to his totem very sincerely. Like many other tribes, Korku also has beliefs related to the origin of the totem.

Torments of Being Other

I am bipolar. Writing has helped me during very troubled times. These are just some of the extracts written between 2013 and 2016, expressing despair, agony, loneliness, and desperation. My brother died when I was 7 years old and my father 2 years later. Fifty years later, it is the loss of my wonderful Jungian therapist that opened deep scars and mangled wounds. In the poem—the Dead came upon Me—I have tried to turn each expression of despair into one of hope. As the struggle of being bipolar continues, I am deeply aware of an affinity to so many others who suffer through being “other,” “troubled,” “isolated”—perhaps if this resonates with a few of the readers it has done some good. I am so grateful to those who have helped me along the way—and continue to do so. Particularly, thank you to Paul Ashton for showing me (in The Dead came upon Me) that words matter and that it is possible to accept “difference” or “otherness,” to use poetry or images to transform pain into something more meaningful and perhaps, with time, even into something of beauty

On some current aspects and new approaches to scientific understanding of the national characteristics of Russian statehood formation and evolution

The object of the study is the process of Russian statehood formation and historical transformation. The subject of the study is the analysis of existing in the Russian scientific and public thought (pre-revolutionary and modern) different approaches to the interpretation of national features of Russian statehood foundations origin and evolution. The authors emphasize a number of fundamental problems of Russian statehood development, which today require creative comprehension by scientific community. The article substantiates the position on the enduring significance of domestic researchers’ and thinkers’ conclusions about the uniqueness of the process of Russian statehood foundations origin in the Old Russian state, which was fundamentally different from similar processes in Western states, the Tsardom of Muscovy political system specificity, which consisted in the cathedral structure of the state and received ideological justification in the “autocratic sobornost” doctrine. Special attention has been paid to the conclusions related to assessing significance of the long coexistence in the Russian state of two parallel beginnings such as the monarchical vertical of power and the rich veche tradition, which compensated for the relative weakness of the monarchy in technical and political sense. For the first time the issue of what place in Russian statehood transformation was occupied by the Time of Troubles of the early 17th century has been investigated in detail. Attention has been drawn to the conclusions of pre-revolutionary scientists and thinkers about the determining role of the Time of Troubles, which it played in the new attitudes’ formation to the state and state power in Russian society, including in the context of modern interpretations. The determining role of zemstvo bodies in the years of the Time of Troubles in the collapsing state preservation and revival has been pointed out. The conclusion has been made about the similarity of the Russian system of power with the Byzantine model, traditionally characterized by a combination of a rigid monarchical vertical and horizontal of developed self-government. The role of the state idea uniting society in preserving stability and sustainability of any state has been emphasized.

Tyshawn Gardner, Social Crisis Preaching: Biblical Proclamation for Troubled Times

Tyshawn Gardner, Social Crisis Preaching: Biblical Proclamation for Troubled Times

Good governance in troubled times: What we know and what experts say

While mankind has been subject to disasters since the beginning of civilization, economic development has brought about new types of crises like economic and financial crises and pandemics. Not all crises are the same, and neither are their effects. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the literature, discussing the asymmetric effects of various crises focusing on the role of governance and institutions. Specifically, we discuss the role of institutions in predicting crises and dealing with them, and how crises shape citizens’ trust in and the quality of institutions. Besides individual contributions to the special issue on the topic which are also summarized here, we provide insightful expert comments from scholars like Nejat Anbarci, Kaushik Basu, Utteeyo Dasgupta, Justin Esary, Robert Gillanders, Ajit Mishra, and Shang-Jin Wei on these topics. This piece is intended for scholars as well as practitioners and policymakers working in the area.

Troubled times and seeds of hope: some reflections on teacher professional learning as praxis development

ABSTRACT This short reflection explores both the challenges and potentials of teacher professional learning in contemporary times. It argues that the neoliberal logics of professional development as deployed in many contexts around the world limit and curtail the potential for teachers to engage in generative professional learning that fosters growth and renewal. It suggests that understanding professional learning as praxis development, as advanced in the papers in this Special Issue provides a source of hope and a critical way forward for educators in these troubled times.

ТЕМА «РУССКОГО МИРА» В ПАМЯТНИКАХ СМУТНОГО ВРЕМЕНИ

The era of the Time of Troubles influenced the special character of literature and exacerbated the theme of the “Russian worldˮ, which by the XVI century had become stable. Two journalistic monuments ‘The New Tale of the Glorious Russian Kingdom’ and ‘The Lament of the Captivity and the Final Ruin of the Moscow state’ reflect the authors' concerns about the current situation of Russia: the absence of a legitimate ruler, the Polish-Swedish intervention, the possibility of ascension to the throne of a foreigner. The theme of the “Russian worldˮ, which is viewed through the prism of the author's calls not to allow the destruction of the foundations that make up the Russian civilizational code, also turns out to be related to these issues. Key words: Russian world, the Time of the Troubles, civilizational code, Orthodox Christianity, governor Acknowledgments: The publication was prepared as part of the implementation of the SO of the Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, project no. 122020100347-2.

Mundane Joy as Emergent Strategy: Community Storytellers on “Happiness,” “Resilience,” and the “Good Life”

This essay traces how community-based activist storytellers make room for emergent strategies in perilous times. It was sparked by the authors’ experience of working between two distinct communities that are both deeply invested in understanding the function of story-and-art-making in troubled and troubling times. For brevity’s sake, we will refer to the first community as the collective of “arts-based community-making” groups with whom we work under the auspices of the Centre for Community-Engaged Narrative Arts in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Our second community is the Spain-based RESHAP international group of literary and cultural studies scholars who are studying the theme of “Narrativas de la felicidad y la resiliencia / Narratives of Happiness and Resilience.” In the context of “risk society”—the widespread perception of life on earth as dangerous, vulnerable, and fraught with complex hazards—popular media, governments, and corporations, in addition to school systems, public think tanks, and the self-help industry often urge people to generate what Sara Ahmed has called “happiness scripts,” to keep positive and be resilient. These “scripts” become directive, insofar as stories of happiness, the good life, or resilience become mechanisms of discipline or coercive governance that can elicit what Lauren Berlant has called “cruel optimism.” Our essay teases out the emergent possibilities, the creative potential, that we see arising from community-based story-makers’ navigation of the tension between these (required) stories of the “good life” and the everyday, emergent strategies they invent in the midst of challenging times.

THE COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF SHARIA AND CONVENTIONAL BANKS DURING THE PANDEMIC: ANALYSIS OF INDONESIAN BANKS

The banking industry serves a crucial role in the economy. Unpredictable conditions, such as the COVID-19 outbreak, have had a widespread effect on global health and banking. The study examines the performance differences between conventional and Sharia banks in the pre-pandemic and during the pandemic. In addition, the study also assesses whether conventional banks are more resilient during times of crisis compared to Sharia banks or vice versa. This quantitative study uses a paired sample T-test as the research method. Secondary data from Indonesian Banking Statistics were used in this study. Data was collected two years before the COVID-19 pandemic (2018-2019) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021). Regarding ROA and NPL, the results show that Sharia banks did better than conventional banks during the crisis. Conventional banks suffered a deteriorating CAR and NIM during 2020-2021. Even though this study shows that the financial performance ratios of both types of banks go up and down in different ways, the overall financial performance ratios are still within the limits set by Bank Indonesia. This study supports the central bank and financial service authority's strategy and measures in sustaining the financial service industry during a troubled time like the pandemic in 2020-2021 based on these notions. In conclusion, we emphasize the importance of bank management exercising greater caution in allocating funds to corporations and effectively monitoring their debtors to mitigate the risk of a rising non-performing loan ratio.

Girls on the Move

As we write these words to introduce this Special Issue, scores of girls and young women around the world are facing a myriad of challenges as they are forced to flee their homes, leaving behind friends, family, communities, and being propelled into uncertain and very often precarious migratory journeys. Without a doubt, we live in deeply troubling times. While numbers provide a mere glimpse into the devastating humanitarian crisis of forced displacement, they are shocking. Forced displacement, migration, and (re)settlement following conflict, violence, human rights violations, persecution, disasters, and the impacts of climate change, both in nations and across borders, is an ever-escalating crisis affecting tens of millions of people worldwide. Acknowledging that these numbers are unprecedented, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2023a) reported that by the end of June 2023, over 110 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide and projected that this number would increase to 130 million by the end of 2024. This projected increase takes into account the mass displacement caused by the war between Israel and Hamas as well as ongoing and escalating conflicts in Sudan, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. While current headlines focus principally on the continuing crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, we cannot lose sight of the millions of forcibly displaced persons elsewhere in the world, including those in Eritrea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Syria, Türkiye, Myanmar, India, Venezuela, and Haiti. Recognizing regional diversity in the staggering numbers serves to underscore forced displacement as a transnational issue that requires urgent global attention.

Историософские аспекты отечественного народовластия: раннее и развитое государство: статья 2

The article presents the second part of the work on the historiosophical vision of Russian democracy. Based on the concept of stages of state genesis by L. Grinin, the authors analyze domestic manifestations of democracy at the stages of an early and developed state. Despite the fact that in the conditions of the early state the high-est authority had very superficial control over social processes, already in the Kievan period there was a clear tendency for the leading political subjectivity to transition to princely power. In subjective terms, the popular consciousness preferred the figure of a charismatic and militarily successful prince. Expressions of the peo-ple’s will often had an ochlocratic meaning, taking the form of a mass emotional outburst with ambiguous final results. At the stage of a developed state, internal political centralization adjusted the tasks of the highest au-thorities, giving them a mobilization meaning. At the same time, the general trend is that expanding state struc-tures are conducting a successful attack on the autonomy of stable institutions of democracy, at first widely us-ing tactics of maneuvering and compromise, and then preferring harsh suppression. At the same time, a num-ber of phenomena of democracy turned out to be a reaction either to the complete vacuum of the central gov-ernment (the Time of Troubles), or, conversely, to the growing pressure of the latter. At the same time, grass-roots expression of will could occur spontaneously, acquiring an ochlocratic meaning (urban riots); and acquire more organized forms of socio-political movements.

Intimacy in a violent context: photographs from Mbouda (Cameroon) in a time of troubles

AbstractAll archives have silences, which may come to resonate, even if they may never speak. What is unsaid or unsayable may be understood and appreciated even if never enunciated and never heard. The photographs of the Cameroonian photographer Jacques Toussele from 1960 to 1980 were taken against a background of violence: the uprising of the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), which started before Cameroonian independence and continued for the next decade. The fight against UPC ‘terrorists’ by the Cameroonian state and the French military was marked by violence on all sides. There is no evidence of this in the Toussele archive, which consists of administrative ID portraits and recreational shots depicting friends and family and various displays of intimacy. The Toussele photographic archive shows young people in Mbouda exhibiting the global tropes of modernity. Soon after independence in Ouest Cameroon, both the violence and the promises of 1960s modernity were challenges to traditional sociality. A local reading makes it clear that the violence was ever present in its absence and denial: to perform an event was no small achievement and, like the birth of a child, was to be celebrated and marked by photography. Intimacy was achieved against a background of violence and celebrated for this very reason.