Open Journals at Memorial University
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How the Heritage of Postcolonial Studies Thinks Colonialism Today
No full textI have been asked to write on the heritage of postcolonial studies. I separated myself from postcolonial studies in A Critique of Postcolonial Reason, published in 1999. I am still separated from it. But “separation” is, of course, a relationship; and there are different kinds of separation. Perhaps this relationship constitutes itself by way of the fact that, in the country of my citizenship, the heritage of the postcolonial is dubious
Abolitionist Disjuncture: Reducing Police Violence in Frontline Social Work
No full textIn the summer of 2020, two life-altering currents swept across North America: COVID-19 and the call to“defund the police.” During this time, I worked at an emergency overnight shelter that was created as a pandemic response. This article is an attempt to reconcile the ethical disjuncture I felt between the popular call to move police funding into social services, and the shifts I spent watching frontline workers use the police to intervene in the lives of service-users. I explore this disjuncture through a case study from July 2020. The case study is followed by a series of practical harm reduction strategies for when frontline workers interact with the police. My hope in writing this article is twofold: (a) to encourage the field of social work to demand that its professionals interrogate their relationship with and professional usage of police, and (b) to reconcile the abolitionist purity of “never call the cops“ with the reality that frontline workers will likely continue to use the police, and that that these interactions can and must change in order to reduce harm for service users
Birgejupmi – Life Skills, the Sámi Approach to Inclusion and Adapted Education
Get PDFThis essay explores the Sámi approach to inclusion and adapted education through references to theory about Sámi culture and values concerning child rearing (Balto & Kuhmunen, 2014; Aikio, 2010; Balto, 1997). There are also examples of meeting the special learning needs of children in a Sámi community in North Norway. The personal experiences of a Sámi woman who lives and works in a Sámi village are shared. To anonymize, the woman is given the name Sofe and the village is situated in the northern part of Norway. Sofe is a teacher with all together 14 years of teaching experience on different levels, from kindergarten to upper secondary school. Part of her teacher training education was about Sámi childrearing, and she currently works in upper secondary school. Some of the experiences Sofe shares are examples from her own teaching practice in school; others are from her colleagues and her community. Sofe shared her insights via informal talks and written texts in e-mails, and we communicated regularly about the topic over a period of three months. The stories she shares are the essence of this essay because they are key to understanding how the principles that are explained in theory transfer to everyday life in school and elsewhere. The headings of the essay create the text’s structure and consist of Sámi terms that express a way of thinking and an ideology about human beings and child rearing. However, a brief introduction to the Norwegian system of education is necessary to create a backdrop for the reader to better comprehend the Sámi approach
What is the Future of ECE Teacher Profession? Teacher’s Agency in Finland Through the Lenses of Policy Documents
Get PDFThe education system and teacher training programs in Finland have been under reform for the past decade. All policy documents in the field of early childhood education have been renewed and this has influenced both teaching training practices and teachers’ work as well. Teachers are challenged to implement pedagogical methods to support children in becoming active agents of their learning. Further, teachers should be active agents in their own professional development. Finnish teachers’ competences and quality of the teaching are defined in recent policy documents that introduce the future competences of teachers, including expertise agency and innovative approach. The aim of this research is to understand and critically evaluate the teacher’s agency and agentic approach of these recent policy documents through thematic content analysis. In total, three policy documents were analyzed. As our theoretical framework we describe the agentic and life-long-learning approach in the educational context. We explain the Finnish early childhood education context, and current policies and practice within the field of ECEC in Finland through the viewpoint of teachers’ agency and competence. According to the results, the focus in the analysed documents was more on today and less on future aspects of the teacher’s agency. Further, the main focus of the teacher’s agency today was on notions describing pedagogical and relational agencies. Our results suggest that teachers are given a large number of different roles as well as values across the different documents. Teachers are asked to be “more of everything” now and in the future. We conclude this paper with critical reflection. We argue that policymakers in Finland in the field of ECE should take a more critical perspective on teacher’s future skill requirements especially regarding teachers’ agency
The Nakba Continues: The Palestinian Crisis from the Past to the Present
No full textDrawing on postcolonial and settler-colonial studies, this article accounts for the settler-colonial nature of the Jewish state, which is founded on the cadastral displacement and effacement of Palestinians, who are dehumanized by Israel, an apartheid state par excellence. We delineate the colonial practices of the Israeli military occupation and its racial discrimination and exclusion as manifested in the construction of the Separation/apartheid Wall and of roads that link settlements in the West Bank, which is under the threat of annexation. This article further illustrates the resilience of the Nakba as a memory and experience in the life of Palestinians. We argue that today’s Israeli war against Palestinians takes the same shape that it took when it established itself in 1948. As this article shows, Israel continues its practices of displacing and replacing Palestinians with Jewish citizens while destroying their homes. This article also argues that Palestinians have felt that the deterioration of the Palestinian political leadership has affected their collective struggle for their self-determination.
Review of Capitalism, The American Empire, and Neoliberal Globalization by Kenneth E. Bauzon
No full textAt the G7 summit in June 2021, leaders of the top seven “advanced economies” met at a seaside resort in Cornwall, England. After three days of frolicking on the beach for photo-ops, they emerged promising a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses for “less well-off” countries and affirmed $100 billion per year in “climate finance” from both public and private sources. In short, the summit—laughably described as a meeting of world “leadership”—was simply yet another lackluster performance piece. The spending on climate change was already promised in 2009, and it pales in comparison to the trillions of dollars spent by G7 countries on domestic pandemic relief. Behind the G7 are the legacies of carbon capital and colonial capitalism that enabled them to be rich enough to be first in the vaccine queue and help themselves to large numbers of scarce doses. For example, Canada, a leading global exporter of moral puffery, had already snatched up about 80% more vaccines than it actually needed— more than ten doses for every person in the country. It had even elbowed in on COVAX, an international program to ensure equitable global access to vaccines. Having looked after itself at the expense of others, Canada exuded generosity at the G7 by promising to donate its “surplus” and to fund other vaccine purchases
International Mining Regulations Through A Constructivist Paradigm
Get PDFThe creation of the Global Mining Initiative saw the CEOs of the world’s largest mining companies come together from 1998-2002 to approach the social and environmental concerns voiced by many actors regarding the global impact of the mining industry (Tost et al., 2017). This paper shows that the creation and continued use of the Global Mining Initiative can be explained using a constructivist lens. By looking at the history of international mining regulations, constructivist explanations showcase how norms and cultures overtime encouraged the formation of institutions and relationships between stakeholders. The role of ideas, the impact of global norms on mining actors as well as mining actors attempts to influence global norms are explored. This allows for the showcasing of how the interaction between both actors and structures is not a one-way relationship, but one that changes given the interaction of all participants when looked at through a constructivist lens.
“MacIntyre and Lonergan” Revisited
Get PDFIn the fall of 1999, I drafted two essays for the annual meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical Association (ACPA), which took place in St. Paul, Minnesota during the first week of November 1999. The essay that I presented, “Insights into and in the History of Philosophy,” was later published in the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly. The second essay, “MacIntyre and Lonergan on the History of Philosophy,” was not presented at the ACPA. In the spring of 2000 I reworked this essay and submitted it to The Thomist for publication with the title “MacIntyre and Lonergan: Metaphysical Genealogies?”Nineteen years later I am revisiting the essay I submitted to The Thomist. Why? Some things have happened in the last 20 years that have significantly changed my perspective regarding the effectiveness of comparing these two thinkers. Indeed, my perspective on the effectiveness of comparing any two or more thinkers has changed significantly, and I feel moved to articulate reasons for the change, as it calls into question a basic expectation and procedure of academic practice. What was I doing in the original essay? Why did it make sense to compare the two thinkers then, but it does not now? What difference does my change in perspective make? To whom might it make a difference