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Combating Consumer Food Waste – An Exploration of Information Communication Technology Approach
Get PDFExisting food production and consumption rate especially from consumer’s point of view cannot be measured as viable due to varieties of social economic factors involved in the food supply chain. Combating food waste contributes extensively to food security measures and easing conservational burden thus improving justifiable consumption of food. Food waste emanating from consumers especially individual households is huge. A systematic approach to mitigate this is to creatively enlighten consumers as alertness and campaigns. However, literature reveals that complimentary initiatives are required to confront the problem of consumer waste. Information technology is comparatively new approach to lead consumers carefully using technical platforms and solutions in the right direction towards reducing food waste. This study tackles this research gap by conducting comprehensive reviews of articles pointing to food wastage prevention, weaknesses and potential usage of ICT tools for positive impacts on consumers to reduce food wastages. The study focuses on the use of ICT tools and techniques as a means to reduce food wastage. The reviews covered existing food wastage saving measures and applications (e.g. smart kitchen appliances, smart packaging and mobile applications). It further proposed a broad ICT driven food wastage avoidance framework that deals with the problem holistically. The framework shows how various levels of food supply chain can be integrated to tackle wastages from top to bottom in avoiding consumer wastage. However, future research is required to validate and build on this framework
Using aerial survey to record new sites in the Keimoes kite landscape of South Africa
Get PDFThe recent identification of kite sites on the Keimoes landscape, in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, has shed light on how past populations built and utilised low stone structures to funnel and capture game. By strategically identifying and using certain aspects of the surrounding landscape, in conjunction with key design aspects, local groups maximised hunting proficiency. With this contribution, we revisit the Keimoes landscape to continue our search for more funnel sites and to establish whether there is consistency in some of their key design aspects, as identified in earlier publications. We introduce three more kite sites and provide their morphological and landscape details. For the first time, we also demonstrate that some of the kites were purposefully located near rocky outcrops from which construction material could be collected
Increased child labor in Brazil in the pandemic: myth or reality?
Get PDFThis article aimed to analyze the reality and changes in child labor in Brazil during the period of the pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus and how the State dealt with this fact led to an increase in inequality and social difficulties in the country, resulting in the current situation, as well as understanding what are the possible ways to reduce this practice, increasing the rights of these children and adolescents and improving their experience. According to UNICEF (United Nations Emergency Fund for Children), globally, 8.9 million children and adolescents are at risk of being pushed into child labor by the end of 2022, thus, the ways to fight the virus used by the government may have failed with this class, since the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988 places it as the duty of the State, society and the family, to ensure health, education, and freedom, in addition, to protect them from any form of exploitation, cruelty, neglect, and oppression, therefore, this type of work should be decreasing rather than increasing. That being said, the research used the qualitative methodology in its development, presenting information that explains the subject, through primary and secondary sources, such as laws, articles, and news, presenting numbers and measurable information to exemplify the reality and arguments discussed in the process
Lesser Than Equal? A Feminist Analysis of Hindu Family Law in India
Get PDFIn India, Hindu family law is often touted as a progressive and gender-just law that ought to be emulated and extended to minority religious communities through a common civil code. Against this backdrop, the present article examines the question of whether Hindu family law in India adequately protects women’s rights and, if law reform is required, what should be the factors guiding it. The article further analyses the status of women within Hindu family law in India from the time of the country’s independence and the law reform measures that have led to advancement in women’s equality rights in recent decades as well as discriminatory provisions that continue to persist through a historical, legal and feminist lens. It argues that further reforms to Hindu family law must be undertaken to realize women’s equality rights, albeit within the larger framework of constitutional norms and international human rights standards, rather than an interpretation/re-interpretation of Hindu religious texts based on dubious claims of a “glorious past.” This includes recognition of trans* and queer relationships within the folds of Hindu law. Moreover, the article argues in favor of applying feminist discourses on formal and substantive equality to the Uniform Civil Code debate to ensure plural family laws are gender-just
This is Improper and Irreligious: Navigation of Queer Sexuality, Religion, and Practice in Marwan Hamed’s Film Imarat Yácubyan and Abdellah Taïa’s Novel Une Mélancolie Arabe
Get PDFThis article examines the negotiation of queer sexuality in Arab-Muslim societies of North Africa. Through close analysis and reading of the film Imarat Yácubyan by Marwan Hamed (Egypt) and the novel Une Mélancolie Arabe by Abdellah Taïa (Morocco), this article examines how media makes it possible to understand how Muslims in North Africa negotiate their sexuality, religion, and practice against backgrounds in which queerness exists in silence and marginality. The selected film and novel demonstrate that Islam is, in fact, a sensuous and queer religion. Designating Islam as queer gestures towards the possibility of imagining non-normative sexualities exiting within and being compatible with the religion. In their different iterations of the intersection of queerness and the practice of Islam, Imarat Yácubyan and Une Mélancolie Arabe open new spaces for understanding Islam and, specifically, what it means to be queer, Arab, and Muslim within the sociocultural context of North African countries
South Africa and Sweden in the UN Security Council
Get PDFThe UN Security Council is the world’s most established forum for safeguarding international peace and security. It has, however, suffered from significant deficiencies in legitimacy and effectiveness. The permanent five (P5) members control the Council’s agenda and block action on conflicts because of their own national interests and geopolitical rivalries. New research (see Graham, 2022; Olsson, Muvumba Sellström, and Chang, 2021; and for example, Bode, 2018; Pay and Postolski, 2022; and Farrall, Loisell and Prantl, 2020) suggests that the elected ten (E10) members are, however, able to project their own interests and preferences, and shape decisions from inside the Council, particularly on conflict situations and themes that affect Africa. Indeed, conflict in Africa makes up two-thirds of the Council’s workload, and 85% of UN military peacekeepers are deployed to the continent. This short article explores the recent memberships of Sweden (2017-18) and South Africa (2019-20). Elected states have played an active role in terms of promoting cross-cutting themes, including strengthening Africa’s Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and the women, peace, and security (WPS) agenda, to varying degrees. Elected members can distinguish their short tenures on the Council by signalling their contribution to global affairs through thematic events and resolutions. By presenting South Africa and Sweden’s record of conduct on these themes, the article explores differences and similarities in E10 practice. The main contribution is an illustration of how elected states pursue a common agenda, using diverse methods of engagement. This variation is important for understanding the UNSC, since it demonstrates the Council’s pluralist nature, and the interplay of its least powerful members through policy practices of specialization and interdependence
The Promise of Cultural Diplomacy: Reflections on the Work of a Counsellor of Cultural Affairs
Get PDFThis article offers a reflection on the potentials of cultural diplomacy and cooperation, situating itself in the long-term relationship between South Africa and Sweden as well as the specific context of the professional practice of Sweden’s first counsellor for cultural affairs in South Africa, Hedda Krausz Sjögren. Providing a first-hand account of cultural diplomacy, it adopts a self-reflexive positionand, largely, a first-person perspective. Co-authored by Krausz Sjögren and one of her collaborators during this period, a theatre director and researcher, Kristina Hagström-Ståhl, it also attempts to reflect the shared experience of collaborative work in this sphere. As such, the text is written from within a combination of diplomatic, cultural, and professional practices, as well as from within a diverse set of skills informing the practices that shaped the body of work to which the article refers. We use a combination of personaland collective pronouns throughout this article to place emphasis on our reflections; the use of personal pronouns denotes Krausz Sjögren’s reflections. We aim to share a sense of the possible impact of work dedicated to democracy, freedom of expression, andgender inclusion
BRICS and Digitally Just and Inclusive Futures
Get PDFAs the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries gather for the 2023 Summit in August 2023, they are confronted with the task to deepen economic cooperation in line with the BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy. Key to this is the building of a BRICS-wide digital economy that enables inclusion and dynamism. They see themselves as committed to driving digital transformation, harnessing opportunities and mitigating challenges they face in regard to digital technologies. They recognize the importance of digital inclusion and connectivity as economic growth and social development drivers. Initiatives such as India\u27s Digital India program, China\u27s Belt and Road Initiative, and South Africa\u27s National Integrated ICT Policy emphasize expanding digital infrastructure and improving access to bridge the digital divide (Kaplinsky, 2017)
The Politics of Gender Reform in West Africa: Family, Religion, and the State by Ludovic Lado
Get PDFNo abstract is available for this article
Perceptions of ethically ambiguous public relations practices on social media: A view from Zimbabwe
Get PDFThis research explored views on ethically acceptable public relations (PR) practices on social media held by Zimbabwean PR practitioners. There are several distinct findings that provide insight into PR practice and inform future studies on the role of social media in PR in the region. First, Zimbabwean practitioners were not unanimous in their assessment of whether examples of social media practices can be considered ethically acceptable, suggesting that many ethically ambiguous practices are perceived as a norm. Second, Zimbabwean PR practitioners overwhelmingly stressed the need for social media training and organisational policy to engage on social media ethically. Finally, practitioners believed that social media promoted the role and status of PR within organisations and afforded increased control over the reach and impact of organisational messages