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Epistemic stakes in the spatial politics of Palestine
Get PDFSince early 2024, I have been coordinating the open-access curriculum Palestine: Spaces and Politics. The project emerged through an intensive dialogical process between academics engaged in the Arab Urbanism platform. Despite varied disciplinary approaches, we shared a research interest in postcolonial spatial politics. Particularly, we were concerned that growing demand for critical analysis on Palestine’s built and natural environments was largely consumed by settler colonial perspectives rooted in ethnic separation, border-making, indigenous dispossession, and land commodification. As significant as these analyses are, they do not clarify the multiplicity of Palestine and Palestinians, nor respond to research concerns and needs produced through internal critique
Finding colleagues, finding home, finding energy rethinking African feminist engagements with international politics through vernacular rights cultures. Reflections from a study of pro-abortion activism and allyship.
No full textAfrican feminist pro-choice abortion activism and political mobilisation is shaped by colonial legacies in a multitude of ways. A key area where the sustained colonialist dynamics is visible is in the relationship between pro-choice abortion activists and organisations funded by and/or located in the Global North. How activists in the African space navigate these relationships and infrastructures has been a sustained site of critique within decolonial and post-colonial literature. However, accounts from pro-choice abortion activists and allies working on abortion access in Africa, particularly those working in and with communities, are limited. As a result, Afrofeminist experiences of and perspectives on navigating transnational pro-choice abortion activist infrastructures are invisibilise. This paper centres these perspectives, using them to identify and theorise the complex reasons why and process through which pro-choice abortion activists and allies navigate transnational collaborations in the African space. Inspired by the work of Madhok on vernacular rights cultures we work to conceptually account for how members and allies of one pro-aboriton African movement - the Mobilising Activist for Medication Abortion (MAMA) - utilise transnational collaborations including Global North and Global South actors even though they recognise the colonialist traces within this space. Through centring activist and allies’ contributions and Afrofeminist perspectives, particularly those of Tamale and Ossome, we contend that MAMA strategically engages with international collaborations to challenge anti-abortion politics that have gained traction in the African postcolony where abortion has been positioned as ‘un-African’. Given the limited evidence from contemporary pro-choice abortion activists in Africa within academic literature, the paper highlights the need for conversations on relationships between the different actors in this space to centre African feminist voices and work from Afrofeminist perspectives
Navigating contrasting journalisms: Latin American responses to China’s training programmes for journalists
Get PDFFor decades, the Chinese government has invested heavily in public diplomacy efforts to enhance its global image. The limited effectiveness of these initiatives has prompted a strategic shift in China’s communication approach. In 2016, President Xi Jinping announced plans to train of 500 media professionals from Latin America. In a region where most media lack the resources to send correspondents to China, training programmes for journalists aim to bypass international news filters and reshape perceptions through curated experiences. In addition, these programmes also serve to showcase China’s journalistic model. Drawing on 35 interviews with journalists from 15 Latin American countries, this paper examines how journalists engage with and respond to contrasting journalistic cultures. The findings reveal a clash between China’s collaborative model and the monitorial and interventionist journalistic roles preferred by Latin American journalists. Participants expressed dissatisfaction with the programmes regarding the lack of access to sources and the inability to practise journalism as they understand it. The overall rejection of China’s approach to journalism highlights deep cultural and professional incompatibilities that undermine the success of these programmes and their journalism training component
Shaping an eco-Kuwait: from policies to practice
Get PDFKuwait faces critical environmental challenges driven by high per capita energy consumption, car-dominated urban development, and fossil fuel dependency. Despite national commitments to carbon neutrality by 2060, there remains a significant gap between policy intentions and real-world implementation. This research investigates the intersections of governance, user behaviour, and policy-practice mediation across the housing, energy, and transport sectors. By employing a mixed methods approach that integrates stakeholder engagement, comparative policy analysis, and the proposal of policy-practice mediation tools, the study aims to bridge policy and behavioural gaps. It highlights the role of data in accessing, informing, and monitoring policies and behaviours, and proposes stronger, dedicated institutions, a rethinking of energy subsidies, the adoption of bottom-up and participatory approaches, and the use of social media platforms for advocacy, communication, and the promotion of sustainable lifestyles. These interventions can contribute to advancing Kuwait’s sustainable transition through context-specific, evidence-based, inclusive, and scalable policy measures
Social media and ordinary life: affect, ethics, and aspiration in contemporary china. Cara Wallis. New York: New York University Press, 2025. 285 pp. $89.00 (hbk). ISBN 9781479825035
No full textRedefining reciprocity through a gender lens: the VVV model of social exchange
No full textSocial exchange theory has profoundly shaped our understanding of workplace relationships, yet its gender-neutral assumptions remain largely unexamined. This study challenges these assumptions by highlighting systemic gender disparities within the reciprocity cycle, in which women are often assigned low-prestige, taxing, and career-irrelevant tasks. To address this gap, we propose the VVV (Visibility-Valuation-Virtue) model. Visibility highlights how women’s contributions are frequently overlooked; valuation exposes the systemic devaluation of women’s work compared to men’s; and virtue examines how moral norms perpetuate these inequities. Together, these factors reinforce gendered disadvantages in social exchanges. The VVV model extends social exchange theory by demonstrating how gender shapes the processes of asking, giving, recognizing, reciprocating, and reacting to (non)reciprocation. It provides a parsimonious framework for re-examining research fields heavily reliant on social exchange theories and offers guidance for organizations seeking to minimize the gender gap
Left out and misunderstood: children in global, regional and national digital policies
Get PDFThis report investigates how children are represented in digital policies around the world. It consists of in-depth analyses of policies from intergovernmental organisations (IGOs), regional bodies and countries around the world, with a focus on understudied regions and countries. The report starts with a brief analysis of policies of larger international IGOs, but the focus is on a more in-depth discussion of findings from policy analyses of regional bodies and the countries within these regions, set out in alphabetical order. The report focuses on unique policy features, good practices and likely challenges for specific countries and governing bodies, providing excerpts to illustrate how policies work in practice5 in each country. In this sense it is more like an encyclopaedia with separate entries than a report with a linear narrative. For a global overview and a deeper understanding of how the research was conducted, please read the two other publications that complement this report: • Left out and misunderstood: Children in digital inclusion policies. A global review 6 provides an overview of the background, methodology, general findings, overarching global patterns and recommendations. • Digital policy analysis: A methodological toolkit7 is designed for researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders who would like to conduct similar analyses of existing or proposed policies. It provides details of the method used, including theoretical frameworks, search criteria, methodological challenges and the analytical approach. This toolkit is also useful for those looking to analyse the representation of other groups in policies