University of Victoria Journals
Not a member yet
13485 research outputs found
Sort by
Subodh: A Pluralistic Voice of Dissidents [2017–Present]
No full textThis paper examines Subodh, a popular graffiti series produced by unknown artists in the Bengal region in 2017. The protagonist who gave his name to this graffiti series is an archetypal middle-class, subaltern Bengali male figure who appeared on walls in stencil and spray paint (as well as in print in digital form), animating the streetscapes of the capital city of Dhaka in the nation-state of Bangladesh; images of Subodh also appeared in neighbouring Calcutta, India. The graffiti series is titled “HOBEKI?” (Might it Happen?): the image of a powerful male body appears mostly with graphic inscriptions that addresses the need to flee but also to take dynamic action. This image, a kind of Bengali ‘everyman,’ speaks to the horror felt in response to the creeping censorship of the Bangladeshi government and the urgency of escaping from a dystopic nation. The image’s versatility in capturing the diverse relationality of its many viewers has made it an indelible icon of the oppressed – as well as a response to the political situations in Bangladesh and India.
To understand the emergence of this archetypal image of Subodh firstly in Dhaka, one must understand Bangladesh’s complex socio-political history. The nation of Bangladesh—first colonized by the British (1858–1947), and then passed on to Pakistani control (1947–1971)— attained independence only 51 years ago. This region has had a continual history of anti-authoritarian movements for centuries. Bangladeshi street walls have been a canvas for creative activism, and the image of Subodh offers a window into the contemporary graffiti scene of the urban cityscape. The many images of Subodh, each one carrying subtle nuances of visual text and image, shed light on the response to the ever-present forces of censorship and authoritarian backlash across South Asia. I examine how the perceived governmental suppression of freedom and the impact of communal trauma stemming from recent socio-political incidents in Bangladesh, inform on contemporary Bangladeshi activist arts. This artistic phenomenon gained widespread popularity among the Bengali audience from 2017 to the present, at a particularly important moment in the history of Bangladesh. Subodh’s widespread popularity in Bangladesh indicates how activist artists politically engage with this imagined character by developing an encoded visual language to criticize the authoritarian government. The appearance of his image in Calcutta offers proof that this type of archetypal text-image creation offers artists potent ways to express their response to present socio-political realities
Emanuela Ceva and Maria Paola Ferretti, "Political Corruption: The Internal Enemy of Public Institutions"
No full textReview of Ceva and Ferretti\u27s recent book, Political Corruption: The Internal Enemy of Public Institutions
Sofie Møller, "Kant’s Tribunal of Reason: Legal Metaphor and Normativity in the Critique of Pure Reason."
No full text
Thang Sai Thee Sam (The Third Pathway) Novel As Archive: Inspiring a Kathoey ‘Herstorian’
No full textThis essay studies the Thai novel Thang Sai Thee Sam, or ทาง สายท่ีสาม (The Third Pathway), as an archive. This novel was written by Kiratee Chanar, the first Thai transsexual woman novelist, who drew from her own emotions and sex-change experiences in the USA in 1975. The first edition of Thang Sai Thee Sam was published in 1982. In summary, this essay elucidates how a novel can be a historical source by contextualizing its formation. Thang Sai Thee Sam reflected the broader political contexts in Thailand during the Cold War, the development of a world sex-change capital in/outside of Thailand, and the visibility of white transsexual autobiographies. By situating it within this context, I demonstrate that it is possible to examine Thang Sai Thee Sam as a “transgender archive” — or more specially a kathoey archive — and a historical source of development of trans medicine in national and global contexts
Special Issue Editors\u27 Introduction: Trans Histories by Trans Historians
No full textNarrative conventions might call for this special issue introduction to present trans history to the unfamiliar reader as a burgeoning field of academic inquiry. For years now, the story goes, trans history has been becoming, in the works, and on the horizon. As this exciting new collection of essays displays, trans history is, in fact, already here. Moreover, it is being twisted and transformed by a growing wave of graduate students and early career scholars who are, finally and significantly, trans ourselves. It is with great joy that we now share with the world this very special special issue of trans histories — one that is solely trans-edited, trans-designed, and trans-authored. (Click PDF to read more
NEUROSCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE AND CARE LEAVING: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY CRITICAL COMMENTARY
No full textWhile neuroscientific literature suggests that some parts of the brain are not fully developed until the mid-20s, public discourse is skewed toward early child development (ECD) because of its supposed long-term economic benefits. Some researchers have gone so far as to say that society overinvests in remedial programs for disadvantaged adolescents. Such claims resist advocacy efforts for extended care for children in out-of-home care and discourage policy and legislative concerns regarding investing in early adulthood. In this commentary, we unpack the literature on brain development and critically discuss its selective use by legislators and policymakers for investments in ECD. Despite the availability of neuroscientific and economic evidence, it is not prominent in the discourse surrounding supportive interventions like extending care. Using Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction, we discuss how preference is given to only the type of knowledge that preserves the social structures that work to ensure the multigenerational flow of capital among dominant groups. Also, social institutions act within the dimensions set by the social structure, constantly shaping and reshaping ways of facilitating capital preservation among the upper classes. We conclude that, in addition to moral argument, the current neuroscientific evidence may support investment in extended care programs
ARE AFRICA’S POOREST CHILDREN ON COURSE TO AVOID BEING LEFT BEHIND IN POVERTY BY 2030?
No full textThis paper examines the performance of key factors influencing the prospect of Africa’s poorest children avoiding being left behind in poverty by 2030 as required by the United Nation’s Agenda for Sustainable Development, a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) declared in 2015. At that time, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was facing both rising debt and deterioration of the fiscal space required to provide resources. Quantitative methods employing descriptive analysis on secondary data are used in this study to compare the trend of child poverty, as represented by under-5 mortality rates (U5MR), both over time and between country clusters. U5MR was chosen because it is an indicator of the well-being of a nation’s children. Countries were “clustered” into quartiles based on their average U5MR between 2000 and 2018. The results indicate marked disparities in U5MR across SSA. No strong association was found between economic growth and U5MR, but good governance, as demonstrated by progress towards achieving the SDGs, correlates with decreases in both U5MR and the incidence of childhood stunting. In the first U5MR quartile, the SDG index score is over 50% in all child poverty indicators under consideration, whereas in the fourth quartile it is below 50%. SSA as a whole performed well in child poverty indicators from 2000 to 2015; however, consideration of the period from 2015 to 2018 suggests that much remains to be done to lift every child out of poverty. Within and across countries, critical areas for immediate attention include: improving sanitation and access to clean water and lowering the prevalence of anaemia and stunting; increasing the rates of exclusive breastfeeding, birth registration, and pre-primary enrolment; and reducing youth unemployment and socioeconomic disparities. Cash transfers to low-income families may help address the added economic insecurity due to COVID‑19 that has left more children vulnerable to child marriage and child labour
Timely Development: Visualizing Children\u27s Growth and Potential
No full textChildren\u27s growth has long been measured against the axis of time. Yet anthropometric indexes such as age for height measurements do not simply mark the passage of time and associated growth but themselves indicate "norms"? that stand as markers of potential. Charting changing modes of representing the problem of children\u27s growth over the 20th century and into the 21st, this paper attends to visual technologies that distribute potential unevenly around the world, asking what is at stake in making children\u27s growth and development visible, and whose potential is affirmed in the process