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Shifting Shapes: Transnational Tactics of the Authoritarian Right in Brazil and Russia
Get PDFGlobal right-wing anti-gender movements have developed a transnational pattern in their uses of language as a means of subjugation and of control, and this article examines manifestations of this pattern in two specific states: Brazil and Russia. By exploring the anti-gender languaging, rhetoric, and legislation advanced by Jair Bolsonaro (President of Brazil 2019–2022) and Vladimir Putin (President of Russia 2000–2008 and 2012 to the present) and their supporters, we find that, in both contexts, anti-gender campaigns are reactions to and also drivers for increasingly dramatic political and social conflicts, and in each case, anti-gender ideologies are embedded in larger right-wing authoritarian aims. The anti-gender discourse advanced by these leaders and their pivotal supporters arises not from simple personal feelings but are, instead, targeted political strategies, similar aims embedded in different languages. Our examination begins by contextualizing Bolsonaro’s Brazil and Putin’s Russia within the larger landscape of anti-gender campaigns and the global growth of right-wing authoritarianism. We then move to the two case studies and their respective enactments of anti-gender languaging and rhetoric within their specific political, social, and discursive landscapes, demonstrating the transnational nature of such projects despite differences in local contexts. Finally, we synthesize these case studies and consider the roles of Feminist Translation Studies and transnational feminist exchange in responding to the rise of such right-wing anti-gender movements in both local and global manifestations
Belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) create facial displays during social interactions by changing the shape of their melons
Get PDFBeluga whales are considered unique among odontocetes in their ability to visibly alter the appearance of their head by changing the shape of the melon, but only anecdotal observations are available to evaluate the use or potential function of these melon shapes. This study of belugas in professionally managed care aimed to establish an ethogram for the repertoire of categorizable melon shapes and then evaluate their potential function as intentional communication signals by determining if they were produced and elaborated during social interactions of varying behavioral contexts while in the line of sight of a recipient. Five different melon shapes were reliably identified in video observations of the primary study population (n = 4) and externally validated in a second aquarium population (n = 51). Among the 2570 melon shapes observed from the primary study subjects, melon shapes occurred 34 × more frequently during social interactions (1.72 per minute) than outside of social interactions (0.05 per minute). Melon shapes occurring during social interactions were performed within the line of sight of a recipient 93.6% of the time. The frequency of occurrence of the different melon shapes varied across behavioral contexts. Elaboration of melon shapes through extended duration and the occurrence of concurrent open mouth displays varied by shape type and across behavioral contexts. Melon shapes seem to function as visual displays, with some characteristics of intentional communication. This ability could yield adaptive benefits to belugas, given their complex social structure and hypothesized mating system that emphasizes pre-copulatory female mate choice
In Donald Sutherland’s 1970s career, the personal and political met in European ‘auteur’ films
No full textSocial media microinterventions: Testing information activism as a media and information literacy tool
Get PDFSeveral studies have shown the effect of information activism and microinterventions, such as I Am Here International, the Elves and #NAFO to combat information disorder and hate online. Nevertheless, microinterventions have yet to be conceptualised in promoting media and information literacy (MIL) and informational resilience. This study positions microinterventions as information activism tools and empirically tests microinterventions in the context of higher education. Using an action research approach at a university MIL training course, we aim to understand what types of information activism are used and how the collective interventions affected the participants\u27 MIL-s. We construct a typology of information activism roles and corresponding study tasks: the Worker Bees (focused on microprotections), the Meerkats (microaffirmations) and Lions (microchallenges). These different types surfaced in each participant over a cycle of exhaustion, disappointment, group support, feedback and encouragement that we dubbed the phoenixing cycle