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Churchill: A Short Story of Contemporary Lebanon
No full textThis fictional story, inspired in part by real-life events, develops an episode in the life of Sarah, who comes from a family of modest means in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Sarah weds Ned Khoury, a self-made businessman whose Christian faith invites criticism in Sarah’s community. The marriage brings Sarah and her family financial stability, but it soon becomes clear that Ned’s interests lie elsewhere. Sarah learns she is a cover for Ned’s same-sex inclinations and later meets his lover Rayan, who offers her a feisty parrot—Churchill—as a companion. Ned introduces Sarah to his childhood friend, Dani, who seduces her. Sarah grows close to and later fetishizes Churchill, whose presence becomes essential to her lovemaking rituals. Meanwhile, Ned encourages and guides her as she forms her own network of partners. When Churchill dies, his skull mangled, his beak squashed in the heat of a moment, Sarah experiences a fleeting rapprochement with a slightly chastened Ned, but feels ashamed and no longer expectant when her affections are unreturned.
"Cheers to 365 days of Being a Woman”: Dylan Mulvaney, Transgender Womanhood on Social Media, and the Right’s Transphobic Countermovement
No full textDylan Mulvaney, a transgender woman, has amassed a significant following on social media, with 2 million followers on Instagram, 9.4 million on Tik Tok, and hundreds of thousands of views on her You Tube videos. In part, her popularity can and should be understood as a reinforcement of the rigid gender binaries of femininity and masculinity, and a reification of “transitioning” into this hegemonic beauty standard of and for woman. Indeed, it is through her use of social media that she is able to both construct and reinforce what is acceptable as a (transgendered) woman’s body. And this vast social media following has translated into sociopolitical capital. Mulvaney has become a de facto spokeswoman for transwomen, sitting down with President Biden and snagging a sponsorship with Bud Light. However, it was this sponsorship, which included Bud Light’s creation of a personalized can of beer for Mulvaney, and its reaction across social media, that created a transphobic countermovement by the political right. Using the traditional social movement techniques of repertoires of contention and framing, this countermovement attempted to defend the existing power structures, or more precisely, the heteropatriarchal concepts of gender and sex, and their own positions of privilege. The boycott of Bud Light, as its primary form of collective action, re-framed both the product itself and masculinity as one defined by race (white), nationality (American), and sex-as-gender (hegemonic masculinity). Moreover, this countermovement primarily occurred in the virtual space, with social media offering a platform to circulate widely this counter-ideology, normalizing and valorizing such efforts.
Queering #MeToo: Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House as Narrative Activism
No full textWhen #MeToo emerged in late 2017, the public conversation about sexual violence escalated. Across the globe, survivors of sexual violence shared their stories, initially through digitised hashtags on social media and later through formal life writing publications. These narrative moments revealed the pervasiveness of sexual violence, the breadth of diverse experiences, and the ways in which survivors have been historically silenced. Carmen Maria Machado’s experimental memoir In the Dream House (2019) is one such text that participated in this public reckoning. Machado creatively manipulates genre and form to narrate both her abusive relationship with another woman and uncover the history of queer intimate partner violence. Reading Dream House in the context of #MeToo positions the text as a work of narrative activism through its intention to expose the systemic and structural barriers to breaking the silence on queer intimate partner abuse and violence. Narrative activism promotes social change through storytelling techniques that inform, educate, and persuade readers on a certain topic. The combined effort of disclosing personal experiences and contextualising these experiences against the backdrop of social movements can not only facilitate empathetic responses that hold the potential to lead to real-world action, but also provides readers with the vocabulary and knowledge to become literate advocates. Machado echoes the findings of queer sexual violence researchers and addresses issues of heterosexist definitions of sexual violence, dominant cultural narratives about queerness, and the binaristic view of gendered power relations. Dream House is an important contribution to the wider discussion that #MeToo started about sexual violence as it brings to light the experiences of queer people that have been overlooked and misrepresented in greater mainstream #MeToo discourse
Transgender Narratives and Online Dating: Reframing Trans-Cis Relations (in Cape Town)
No full textThe recent inclusivity and protections of transgender identities on online dating platforms has improved the creation, dissemination and reception of individualised transgender narratives, making both – sites and trans narratives – more accessible and acceptable to (potentially) transamorous cismen. Within research, trans-cis dating relations have been unexplored. Studies that exist (Smith 2007; Doozy 2021), tended to pathologize trans-cis relationships and attractions. This article, using an autoethnographic lens on my lived experience, illustrates how transgender narratives on online dating platforms are personalised and created through question-and-answer exchanges and the nuanced (re)telling of transitioning. I challenge dominant assumptions about the experience of dating a transgender woman in Cape Town, South Africa, among them hyper-sexualised portrayals of transwomen as sex workers, an interest in sexual fetishes and in habitually multiple, temporary sexual experiences. While my online dating experiences have been tumultuous, online dating platforms, I argue, have the generative potential to shift for the better the wider reception of unconventional transgender narratives. I suggest that online dating platforms play a critical role in disseminating, through exchanges, a diverse range of transgender stories that disrupt stereotypical, normative assumptions about trans lives and trans dating. Here, I draw on transitioning narratives understood as existing within the liminality of an ongoing, processual space, rather than in the more normatively (mis)understood teleology of a pre- and post-transition. Hil Malatino describes this space as the trans interregnum, referring to “moments during transition [..] (that do) not have a definite end”, in effect dispelling the “cruel optimism” that a fixation on medical transitioning holds out to transwomen and cismen who find an interest in online dating (635). Malatino also accounts for “creative and caring acts of trans intimacy” (635). Within such a framework, online dating platforms can play a unique role in sharing the complexity of transgender narratives with unfamiliar cismen
Chinampas, Flowers and Struggles
No full textThis personal narrative reflects on the memories of Xochimilco, in the south of Mexico City, and how they intertwine with the region’s long history of resilience and struggle. The smell of flowers and the taste of herbs bring back memories of my childhood, my family, my village, and the historical forces that have shaped the identity of the people of this region of Mexico over the last 500 years. Corruption, impunity, the exploitation of Indigenous populations, the overexploitation of natural resources, social inequality, and poverty still affect the Xochimilcas, following the subjugation of the Aztec Empire, the effects of which continue to resonate today.This personal narrative reflects on the memories of Xochimilco, in the south of Mexico City, and how they intertwine with the region’s long history of resilience and struggle. The smell of flowers and the taste of herbs bring back memories of my childhood, my family, my village, and the historical forces that have shaped the identity of the people of this region of Mexico over the last 500 years. Corruption, impunity, the exploitation of Indigenous populations, the overexploitation of natural resources, social inequality, and poverty still affect the Xochimilcas, following the subjugation of the Aztec Empire, the effects of which continue to resonate today.This personal narrative reflects on the memories of Xochimilco, in the south of Mexico City, and how they intertwine with the region’s long history of resilience and struggle. The smell of flowers and the taste of herbs bring back memories of my childhood, my family, my village, and the historical forces that have shaped the identity of the people of this region of Mexico over the last 500 years. Corruption, impunity, the exploitation of Indigenous populations, the overexploitation of natural resources, social inequality, and poverty still affect the Xochimilcas, following the subjugation of the Aztec Empire, the effects of which continue to resonate today.This personal narrative reflects on the memories of Xochimilco, in the south of Mexico City, and how they intertwine with the region’s long history of resilience and struggle. The smell of flowers and the taste of herbs bring back memories of my childhood, my family, my village, and the historical forces that have shaped the identity of the people of this region of Mexico over the last 500 years. Corruption, impunity, the exploitation of Indigenous populations, the overexploitation of natural resources, social inequality, and poverty still affect the Xochimilcas, following the subjugation of the Aztec Empire, the effects of which continue to resonate today.This personal narrative reflects on the memories of Xochimilco, in the south of Mexico City, and how they intertwine with the region’s long history of resilience and struggle. The smell of flowers and the taste of herbs bring back memories of my childhood, my family, my village, and the historical forces that have shaped the identity of the people of this region of Mexico over the last 500 years. Corruption, impunity, the exploitation of Indigenous populations, the overexploitation of natural resources, social inequality, and poverty still affect the Xochimilcas, following the subjugation of the Aztec Empire, the effects of which continue to resonate today.This personal narrative reflects on the memories of Xochimilco, in the south of Mexico City, and how they intertwine with the region’s long history of resilience and struggle. The smell of flowers and the taste of herbs bring back memories of my childhood, my family, my village, and the historical forces that have shaped the identity of the people of this region of Mexico over the last 500 years. Corruption, impunity, the exploitation of Indigenous populations, the overexploitation of natural resources, social inequality, and poverty still affect the Xochimilcas, following the subjugation of the Aztec Empire, the effects of which continue to resonate today.This personal narrative reflects on the memories of Xochimilco, in the south of Mexico City, and how they intertwine with the region’s long history of resilience and struggle. The smell of flowers and the taste of herbs bring back memories of my childhood, my family, my village, and the historical forces that have shaped the identity of the people of this region of Mexico over the last 500 years. Corruption, impunity, the exploitation of Indigenous populations, the overexploitation of natural resources, social inequality, and poverty still affect the Xochimilcas, following the subjugation of the Aztec Empire, the effects of which continue to resonate today
The Power of a Global Citizenship Curriculum on College Students
No full textWith the proliferation of globalization in recent decades, it has become integral for learners to understand global issues and become responsible and active global citizens. Educational institutions have recognized this need and have made pedagogical innovations for global citizenship education. One community college in the Northeast region of the United States has created a global citizenship curriculum to become a new instrument for educational change the 21st century society is now calling for. The global curriculum developed by the community college addresses the neoliberal and critical facets of global citizenship. The neoliberal approach to global citizenship focuses on developing “global competencies” that enable students to become internationally mobile and readily employable in a variety of cultural and national contexts, and the critical approach stresses the need to provide opportunities for reflexive learning and critical thinking, allowing students to become responsible and active citizens. This curriculum strives to enable students to move freely throughout the world increasing transnational movement of knowledge and skills and linking global citizenship to global economic participation, while teaching them about social equality, justice, and freedom to instill individual responsibility to societal change through exposure to situations with different cultures and groups. By covering four themes (empathy, active listening, intercultural communication, and globalization) and employing faculty instruction, direct experience, and focused reflection, this curriculum has increased student knowledge, developed skills, clarified values, and advanced their capacity to contribute to their global communities. Student narratives from recent surveys of a pilot study revealed the power of this global citizenship education and how it has instilled global citizenship in their personal, academic, and professional lives
Formation of collective sensemaking against calamities in global construction engineering projects
No full textCollective sensemaking becomes prominent to the teams in global construction engineering project (GCEP) settings in order to enable resilience against the calamites encountered. Both natural and man-made calamities that are come across in these projects influence the team performance adversely and these teams need enabling resilience against them. For this purpose, they need making collective sense promptly to know what is going on around the work environment. However, making collective sense is a significant challenge for these teams because the team members do not have face-to-face interaction in a physical proximity due to their virtual team set up. Therefore, knowing how collective sensemaking is made of can facilitate them to identify the best practices for its formation. However, what components make collective sensemaking in the GCEP team settings is still a significant knowledge gap although a plethora of literature is available in this research context. Thus, this paper conceptualizes the model of collective sensemaking with its components through literature and confirms its model fit through the results of a questionnaire survey among the team members in the GCEP settings. Both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis have been used to confirm this model. The teams in GCEP settings can use this model to understand what aspects are to be prioritized for the formation of collective sensemaking to become resilient against calamities. This finding becomes an original contribution to the construction management research domain and the future researchers can use them to develop further theories and practices.  
(Im)mobility and Environmental Change in the Coastal Sinking Cities of Java, Indonesia
Full text linkEnvironmental degradation induced by climate change disturbs livelihoods and is, therefore, a critical issue in policy and academic discourses on immobility. This paper aims to investigate experiences of immobility in three coastal areas within Indonesian cities of varying adaptive capacities, with a focus on women who represent vulnerable people whose role can be attributed to policies and governance. We adopted a qualitative methodological approach, combining ethnography and utilizing in-depth interviews with a total of 60 respondents, and roundtable discussions representing various stakeholders. Three locations, i.e., Muara Angke, Tambak Lorok, Panjang Wetan, were selected because the residents experience immobility despite massive environmental pressures. Direct and indirect adaptive capacities can lead to more equitable opportunities for residents to choose between staying or moving out and thereby may promote increased mobility justice. We highlight ways in which policy and political governance can better support impacted areas and invest in capacity-building among at-risk populations
Evaluating social sustainability factors prioritization in sustainable urban regeneration: The case of UK construction industry projects:
No full textSocial sustainability has been acknowledged as an essential component for delivering sustainable development objectives. While the importance of social sustainability has been well recognised by many construction industry practitioners, its core requirements have remained undefined. Many of such social sustainability concepts have remained implicit and undefined. In some case, they have been ‘concealed behind a seemingly random choice of common socio-political indicators hence making social sustainability requirements very difficult for practitioners to clearly specify and prioritise in an explicit manner and deliver it in practical terms. This study investigates the degree of consideration given to the promotion of social sustainability factors by practitioners engaged in the delivery of sustainable regeneration projects in the UK. It draws data from 15 and 122 practitioners through semi-structured interviews and questionnaire survey respectively, from practitioners who participated in the study. The results reveal that, health and safety issues were the most promoted among the other six key social sustainability issues considered by majority of practitioners. The findings indicate that various efforts and legislations initiated by the UK government to improve health and safety practices within the construction industry had played a key role on practitioners’ attitude towards the promotion of health and safety issues in their practices
Stakeholder theory and shareholder theory application in construction field: systematic scoping review
Full text linkStakeholder theory and shareholder theory are essential frameworks for understanding construction projects, influencing sustainability, project success, and decision-making. Although some studies have explored these theories, there is a notable gap in retrospectively analyzing their application within the construction context. Therefore, this study seeks to systematically review stakeholder and shareholder theories to determine which theoretical approach is predominantly used in construction studies, assess the thematic areas where stakeholder theory or shareholder theory is applied in construction studies, and identify future research and gaps in the application of these theories in construction studies. The study adopted Arkesy and O\u27Malley\u27s five-stage framework to conduct a systematic scoping review of 1726 articles from Scopus and Google Scholar databases, focusing on stakeholder theory or shareholder theory. The selection process followed the PRISMA framework, with 31 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. The data was analyzed using content analysis. The study showed an increased focus on stakeholder theory as compared to shareholder theory. There were 10 themes identified under stakeholder theory with ‘stakeholder management’ being the predominant theme. Shareholder theory, on the other hand, had only 2 themes, with ‘shareholder value creation’ being the predominant theme. The few themes identified under shareholder theory were as a result of the scarcity of research in this area. This calls for more research in the application of shareholder theory. Remarkably, there is a notable lack of research that integrates these two theories. This highlights the opportunity for the integration of these theories to address complex challenges in the construction industry
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