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Didier Fassin and Axel Honneth, (Eds.), "Crisis Under Critique: How People Assess, Transform, and Respond to Critical Situations"
No full textLANGUAGE VARIANCES IN DEFINING YOUNG WOMEN IN NORTHERN UGANDA HUMANITARIAN SETTINGS
No full textThis paper, which focuses on formerly displaced communities in post-conflict northern Uganda, discusses the variance between the way formal institutions view young women’s identities and how young women see themselves. Based on a qualitative study that used in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, findings indicate that the infantilizing and victimizing language adopted by these institutions does not reflect the identities of young women in the post-conflict setting. These women argue that terminology such as “child mother” and “child soldier” is disempowering, denying them the prestige of adulthood yet disassociating them from childhood. The intersecting nature of their perceived identities hinders their access to humanitarian assistance targeted specifically to children or adults, since they are not recognized as clearly belonging to either group. The use of the term “child mother” effectively penalizes young women for engaging in adult (sexual) behaviour, while denying them the adult status that mothers are normally accorded. This article argues that sustainable post-conflict reconstruction, with efficient access to and use of humanitarian assistance, demands insitutional adoption of contextually inclusive language that recognizes young women’s professed identities and is reflective of local experiences and realities
Repealing the Eighth Amendment: A Historical Institutionalist Discursive Analysis
No full textThis study analyzes the Republic of Ireland’s successful 2018 referendum to repeal the Eighth Constitutional Amendment restricting access to abortion. Using a historical institutionalist perspective to interpret our findings, we analyze the dominant issues informing Irish public opinion towards abortion over time by conducting a discursive analysis of newspaper publications between 1992 and 2018. Our study concludes that the X Case and the death of Savita Halappanavar constitute critical policy junctures resulting in the development of new moral templates, which in turn shifted popular opinion towards liberalizing abortion, and ultimately led to the repeal of the Eighth Amendment
Surveillance, Containment, and the Establishment of Indian Reserves in Canada
No full textDrawing on work done in anti-colonial theory and surveillance studies, this paper aims to examine the realities and implications of historical and ongoing settler colonial surveillance assemblages. I focus on the paradoxical nature of settler state surveillance to argue that surveillance is used as a tool of the colonial project with its goals of erasure and invisibilization of Indigenous people, while at the same time a racialized surveillance functions to render Indigenous people as hyper visible. My aim with this paper is to unsettle the ways in which systems of surveillance, containment, and categorization are often taken for granted or naturalized. I hope to foster critical dialogue and questions to carry these ideas further
Improving teachers’ intercultural awareness and communication skills for the benefit of non-native learners’ academic performance
No full textDespite the increasing need for teachers to effectively accommodate students in increasingly multicultural grade-school classrooms, there remains a glaring lack of practical suggestions for teachers to do so. In response to this gap in the literature, the goals of this paper are (a) to highlight the effects of teachers’ intercultural awareness and communication skills on the academic performance of non-native students; (b) to generate practical recommendations for teachers to improve their intercultural awareness as well as verbal and non-verbal communication skills in the classroom. In doing so, this paper may function as a response to the call for additional insights on the topic
Yōko Ogawa’s Subversion of the “Normal Life” in The Housekeeper and the Professor
No full textIn The Housekeeper and the Professor (2009), Yōko Ogawa explores domesticity and the everyday for an unconventional family. The everyday that Ogawa creates, however, is an intentional subversion of Japanese cultural expectations of a “normal life.” These “normal life” ideals are supposed to be the only path to happiness; however, Ogawa’s novel shows that there is more than one way to achieve fulfilment, despite the social pressure exerted through these ideals. In my analysis of Ogawa’s novel, I engage with Ofra Goldstein-Gidoni’s work on the Japanese “normal life.” I argue that Ogawa breaks cultural expectations and subverts traditionally gendered associations of domestic duty. These subversions demonstrate that the culturally expected and patriarchally motivated “normal life” is not the only way to achieve fulfilment—manifested through the eclectic family in The Housekeeper and the Professor
“Out here you’re just in the wind”: The Liminal World of The Oil Sands in Kate Beaton’s Ducks
No full textThis paper examines how Kate Beaton represents the Alberta oil sands in her graphic memoir Ducks (2022). Taking an interdisciplinary approach that draws on comics studies and contemporary ethnographies, I argue that Beaton’s visual and textual details make the oil sands a liminal space. I explore how Beaton draws on shades of grey to visually establish this space between the boundaries of life and work, even as she conveys the harsh realities of such a transitory existence within the narrative. However, her solid black panels speak to the emotional consequences (such as disassociation, drug use, and infidelity) of such a life on the workers. Ultimately, Beaton’s memoir demonstrates how the liminal world of the oil sands ignores the humanity of its workers
When Words Can Do Justice: Assessing the Novel Relationship Between Legislative Drafting and Access to Administrative Justice in Yukon and Canada
No full textThis paper is about legislative definitions and drafting. I will explore if and how a thoughtfully drafted legislative definition of a broad concept in the law, as well as the defining process itself, may be tools for increasing access to justice, specifically in the administrative law context. Given that access to justice strengthens the public’s confidence in the administrative justice system (through transparency, predictability, the use of plain language, and the availability of meaningful due process, among other factors), its betterment will reinforce the rule of law.
While this paper begins by discussing far-reaching processes and big concepts, I narrow my analysis to focus specifically on section 12 of the Yukon Human Rights Act, which concerns systemic discrimination and its operability in the Yukon territory. I discuss whether and how re-drafting this provision may occur through an expanded capabilities approach, inspired by Amartya Sen, and complemented by the theoretical ideas of standpoint theory and legal empowerment.
The Yukon case study’s teachings and provocations may apply to other situations within Canadian administrative law and beyond. Although there is literature on the place of legislative drafting within the wider Western liberal democratic framework, as well as some separate, limited commentary on the intersection of administrative law and access to justice, my piece is unique in that it combines legislative drafting in the administrative context with considerations of access to justice and the rule of law in a novel way