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Camp Time: Heterochronies in ‘Other Spaces’
No full textContemporary global apartheid is built upon temporal discord, with refugee camps playing a central role. Yet camp studies have largely neglected the temporal dimensions of displacement, leading to reductive notions of time in the camp as a paradox of permanent temporariness. This article examines two types of 21st century campscapes based on ethnographic research in archetypal humanitarian-run camps in Jordan and privatized city shelter camps in the US to illustrate the temporal work that camps do in caring for and controlling people on the move. Mapping camp timescapes through Foucault's heterochronies, it argues that camp time is not merely a protraction of temporariness but a collection of futureless temporalities not meant to converge with national time outside the heterotopia. This article contributes to critical camp studies an analytical framework of camp time that exposes an intentional wasting of camp residents' time in a global project of temporal Othering.</p
Two visions of hooker liberation: sex worker feminism in the UK Prostitutes’ Movement, 1975-2025 or choke: a revenge fantasy
No full textEMBARGOED – expected end date 18.02.2028</p
Inclusive financial policies and bank lending
No full textFollowing the global financial crisis, many developing countries adopted a range of inclusive financial policies (IFPs). We develop a hand-collected index of IFPs for a sample of 46 countries to examine their impact on bank lending using a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach. We find a positive impact of IFPs on bank loan supply. Specifically, increased adoption of IFPs is shown to reduce the gender credit gap, thereby enhancing women's access to bank loans. Moreover, a mediation analysis indicates that IFPs expand bank lending both directly and indirectly through deposit mobilisation and the reduction of information asymmetry. These findings are robust to a variety of checks, including a Bartik-type shift–share instrument. The findings underscore the role of IFPs as a policy lever for expanding financial inclusion and promoting sustainable economic growth.</p
Building (and breaking) ties: explaining local relationships in grassroots place-making
No full textThis paper explores the factors that shape relationships between grassroots innovation initiatives and other actors in local sustainability transitions contexts. Building such ties with wider communities is crucial to the local effectiveness of grassroots innovation, yet in practice these relationships can be distant and strained. Despite its importance, reasons for this practical problem are insufficiently understood in the literature on grassroots innovation. Developing and using a theoretical framework for explaining relationships in GI place-making, this paper thus addresses the research question: How do the actions and goals of grassroots innovation actors shape relationships with other actors in co-creating local places? Accordingly, we conducted a qualitative single-case study of a German grassroots initiative in the context of rural solidarity-based provisioning. We identify five factors related to the initiative’s approaches that influence such relationships: production of visible outputs, radicalism in self-portrayal, pluralist approach, outreach activities and outward orientation, and awareness of current standing in their region. We discuss these findings against our theoretical framework, which links grassroots place-making with three other theories: the pathways approach, intermediacy, and boundary work. Our data not only confirm that grassroots initiatives are marginalised by powerful incumbent institutions and actors – as has been suggested previously – but also show that such initiatives themselves can close down and neglect divergent pathways of local actors, thereby hindering relationship-building. The paper extends the theoretical understanding of the barriers and opportunities for grassroots innovation initiatives to induce local transitions and offers practical lessons.</p
[Editorial] A case for speculative non-ideal theory in medical ethics
No full textNo description supplied</p
Three essays on education reform and academic performance in Lesotho
No full textThis thesis examines how recent educational reforms, school conditions, and gender differences shape learning outcomes in Lesotho. Using evidence from secondary and tertiary education, the three studies demonstrate that reforms do not work in the same way across all schools and students. Their success depends on how well teachers are prepared, how schools operate, and how students adapt during major disruptions such as the Covid-19 pandemic.The first empirical study evaluates the teacher-training pilot scheme that supported the introduction of the most recent Curriculum and Assessment Policy (CAP) reform. Using secondary school-level data and national examination results from 2017 to 2023, the study finds that the reform initially led to an n average reduction student academic performance. However, schools that participated in the pilot scheme experienced smaller performance declines. This suggests that training and early exposure helped teachers understand and apply the new curriculum more effectively through ‘learning by doing’. The second study focuses on how secondary schools head teachers view the CAP reform’s goal of promoting student-centred learning. Using online survey responses, face-to-face interviews, and matched student performance data, the findings reveal that most head teachers believe the reform has not fully achieved this objective. Female head teachers tended to give more positive assessments than their male counterparts. Schools with high pupil-teacher ratios were more likely to report negative perceptions, while improvements in English and Sesotho performance were linked to more favourable perceptions. The last chapter uses the National University of Lesotho (NUL) administrative records from 2016 to 2023 to examine gender differences in academic performance during the Covid-19 period. The results suggest that female students performed better than male students during the pandemic, especially in the early years of study. Outside the Covid-19 period, there is no systematic evidence of gender differences in academic performance. Together, the three studies show that teacher preparedness, school conditions, and gendered responses play an important role in shaping how reforms and disruptions affect learning. The evidence suggests that strengthening teacher skills and school support systems should be central to improving education outcomes in Lesotho.</p
Entrepreneurship and Suicide
No full textPurposeThis study explores the complex relationship between entrepreneurship and suicide, addressing a critical gap in the existing literature. While entrepreneurship has traditionally been linked to various advantages, such as autonomy, self-fulfilment, and economic opportunities, it also entails significant psychological risks that can contribute to severe mental health issues, including suicidal thoughts and behaviours.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs an inductive research design, analysing web-scraped media sources on the link between entrepreneurship and suicide, including media articles from newspapers, digital news platforms, and professional and entrepreneurship websites, to create an initial understanding of the relationship between entrepreneurship and suicide.FindingsThe analysis reveals elevated risks among entrepreneurs and identifies key risk factors for entrepreneurial suicide: financial pressure, stress and burnout, mental health issues and their associated stigma, social isolation and loneliness, entrepreneurial identity struggles, personal traits and dispositions, and contextual challenges. The findings also suggest potential prevention and intervention strategies, including self-care, emotional and cognitive skills, destigmatising entrepreneurial mental health, increasing institutional support, and entrepreneurial support networks.Originality/valueThis study sheds first light on how entrepreneurship relates to suicidal risks, including suicidal thoughts, intentions and behaviours.</p
‘Managing down’: 'pioneering’ practice and professional discretion in the South-West of England care homes during the Pandemic
No full textThis qualitative study investigates how care homes in South-West England managed and responded to the everyday challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. While many studies explore the impact of the pandemic on care home staff, residents, and families, limited research addresses care homes’ experiences with filtering top-down rules and guidelines during ‘uncertain times’. Drawing on the concept of street-level bureaucracy, this study examines how professionalism operates under crisis conditions and how it impacts discretion and organizational response within care homes. Based on fourteen semi-structured interviews with care home staff, including managers, analysis highlights care homes engaged in effective response mechanisms and developed innovative practices in response to the needs of staff, residents and their families by moving beyond the scope of established guidelines. The mobilization of professional discretion under crisis conditions by both care workers and managers centre around four key categories: strengthening infection control and prevention, promoting socialisation, enhanced communication and fostering intra- and inter-professional teamwork. Pioneering, which emerges as a common element across these categories, shapes care home workers and managers professional discretionary responses in relation to policy mediation and implementation during the pandemic. This study, thus, emphasises the ability of care home staff to take action and their resilience in facing pandemic-induced challenges.</p