Lek och empowerment : de alternativa rummens roll i sociala r��relser

Play and empowerment: the role of alternative spaces in social movements The article examines the role played by alternative space in social movements and argues that it plays a crucial role in counter-acting feelings of powerlessness and facilitating the empowerment of subaltern groups. Alternative space is defined ��� using Benjamin���s notions ofshock, nature and history ��� as constituted by forms of interaction in which society is made to appear as history. To facilitate empowerment, alternative space must, firstly, provide a place for subaltern groups in which they are no longer subordinated; secondly, instill hope that social change is possible and encourage such change; and, thirdly, expand or consolidate alternative space itself. These tasks can easily enter into conflict with each other, since they sometimes appear to require alternative space to adopt more ���abstract��� forms of interaction in which aspects of the social situation are bracketed and sometimes more ���concrete���ones in which such aspects are again given attention. In order to study how movements may relate to this difficulty, the article looks at three contemporary Japanese social movements with NAM, New Start / New Start Kansai and the General Freeter Union as central organizations. Only the third successfully combines the three tasks, in large measure through its skillful use of the play-element.

Fakalakalaka : The impact of a Tongan notion of development in a contemporary transnational world

This paper aims to explore a Tongan notion of development ���'fakalakalaka' ��� in light of Western notions of development. Two case studies of international development aid schemes illustrate the impact of Tongan development ideas in practice. Drawing on a number of ethnographers' work on Tonga, 'fakalakalaka' appears broader than the Western notion of development. The latter is characterised by influential ideals of controllability and industrialisation. The notion of development among Tongans, on the other hand, tends to be directed by an underlying persistence that, for instance, reflects Tongan core values regarding social organisation. The production of textile 'koloa', controlled by women, emerges as central to the accomplishment of this three-dimensional development notion of intertwined physical, mental and spiritual aspects. The importance attributed to this specific kind of textile has increased in recent years and found two additional roles, or development strategies, in Tongans' contemporary transnational world.

The Impact of Transnational Conflicts on Christian-Muslim Relations in Nigeria (2001-2006)

This Master���s Thesis examines transnational conflicts and Christian-Muslim relations in Nigeria between the years 2001 and 2006. It focuses on two major transnational conflicts: The September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and the Danish cartoon controversy of 2005/2006. It discusses the impact of these transnational conflicts on Christian-Muslim relations in Nigeria in the light of the implementation of the Sharia Law in some northern Nigerian states and the improved access to the broadcast media and mobile telephone communication in Nigeria. By underscoring the relationship between transnational conflicts and the local context, this study provides a new perspective for understanding Christian-Muslim relations in Nigeria

Speak Good English Movement in Singapore : Reactions in Social and Traditional Media

The first Speak Good English Movement, SGEM, took place in 2000, and has been organized annually ever since. Speaking a ���standard��� form of English is considered to bring increased personal power. However, the SGEM wants the Singaporeans to use ���standard��� English in their private life as well. A decade after the beginning of the campaign, a Speak Good Singlish Movement was started. Based on studies of language and identity, it is understandable why some Singaporeans might feel the SGEM threatens their identity. However, the reactions towards the campaign are mainly positive. For the purposes of this analysis, Twitter messages, Facebook pages, and newspaper articles from The Straits Times were collected. The SGEM has hailed both direct and indirect praise and criticism in both social and traditional media: Five newspaper articles praise the campaign while five criticize it; the results are nine and seven respectively for social media. This thesis looks at reactions towards the SGEM in both social and traditional media, analyzes how these reactions might relate to the ideas of the power of language, its variety and the relation of language and identity.

Publikdragande namn eller aktivistermed drag i? : Om symboliskt kapital som maktresurs i den globala r��ttviser��relsens lokala organiseringsarbete

Crowd-pulling names or energetic activists? On symbolic capital as a power resource in the local organizational work within the global justice movement The article explores the global emergence of local Social Forums by means of an ethnographic study of the organization of the Stockholm Social Forum. In international academic debate, the forums are often discussed as a ���globalization from below��� and a new deliberative democratic process. However, empirical research on the organizational process, and its power relations, has been very limited. The theoretical concept symbolic capital (Bourdieu) and concepts from conversation analysis (CA) are used to analyze how power in terms of priority of interpretation is constructed in conversations between activists with differing political backgrounds. A detailed empirical analysis is based on the case of an internal discussion about inviting keynote speakers to the local forum. The results show how transnational networks and specific knowledge about the global social forum process became symbolic capital in the organizational process. Holders of this specific form of symbolic capital gained priority of interpretation in the internal discussions. This had an impact on the practical outcome of the organizational process in terms of the symbolic framing of the Social Forum. It is argued that the social forum process produces specific forms of cultural distinctions, social hierarchies and patterns of exclusion.

Flerspr��kighet i ett globaliserat samh��lle : uppfattningar om minoritetsspr��ket som framtidsresurs

Multilingualism in a globalized society: The minority language as a future resource In this article the author investigates how the globalization of society is used as a reference in the discussion of future opportunities among minority language speaking youths in Sweden. A spatial typology of four different types of societies are constructed, the national, the multicultural, the diasporic and the transnational society, all giving the expression of different levels of globalization. These are used as layers of reference put upon the empirical data, functioning as a raster on a screen. The result is a pattern of expressions in three societal dimensions, the economic, the social and the cultural dimension. The findings of the investigation show that the minority language as a future resource of opportunities is anchored in all four societal types and in all three dimensions. In the empirical data (the youths interviewed) the ability of anchoring (finding stories, opportunities etc.) is less frequent when it comes to the diasporic and the transnational as a foundation for opportunity and more frequent when it comes to the national and the multicultural.

Framv��xten av sociala r��relsers globala politik

The emergence of social movements��� global politics Globalization not only transforms capital, media and technology, but also creates conditions for global politics, beyond ���international politics���. New transnational public arenas emerge, where a broad range of actors articulate demands and interests. A globalized political infrastructure arise from the combination of the (1) internal transnational mobilization within two opposing global networks: movements��� World Social Forum and political economy elites��� World Economic Forum; and a global connection with (2) regular dramatic street protests during multilateral regime summits; and (3) a permanent and virtual network of information communication technology that enables new forms of action, organization and mobilization. Together these arenas make participatory and global politics possible for social movements. Regime confrontations are formed by the new global media of ICT in a way that transforms the struggle into a political drama, where activists��� diversity of tactics ��� The Majority Drama, The Carnival, and The David-Goliath Drama ��� creates both competition and collaboration. These arenas are only emerging and this new form of global political structure creates both possibilities and problems. Still, a unique potential to democratize politics is created.

Tillh��righetens gr��nser : Internationell adoption och ursprungets betydelse i svensk utredningsretorik

Boundaries of belonging: transnational adoption and the significance of origin in Swedish official rhetoric This article explores how the category of ���transnational adoptees��� in Sweden is constructed in two Official Government Reports (SOU). The article is inspired by poststructuralist perspectives on welfare and social categorization, and draws from a postcolonial and feminist theoretical framework. ���Transnational adoptees��� as a category is understood as constituted through discourse, and given meaning in different contexts. In the reports, a fundamental importance is attached to the fact that individuals with a background as transnationally adopted have been separated from their birth family and country of birth. It is argued that mental problems and a split identity are consequences to be expected from the separation. (Re)connection to the origin is therefore considered to be crucial for the well-being of the group. The article concludes that this line of reasoning is based on a specific logic of blood and roots, in which ���transnational adoptees��� are understood as belonging to their countries of birth, rather than Sweden. The logic of blood and roots can be read as a form of racialized othering, but also as a discursive exclusion of ���transnational adoptees��� from Sweden as an imagined, national community.