Da maniva ao grolado: práticas produtivas e patrimoniais no processo identitário dos Tremembé de Almofala (CE)

The indigenous political scene in Brazil is undergoing transformations that need to be better analyzed by scholars in the field of the Social Sciences. The deficit in the policy of indigenous land demarcation emerges as the largest obstacle in the conquest of collective rights. Therefore, a study to analyze renewed strategies in the struggle for social rights, and their implications in local everyday life relations, is urgent. In this context, the aim of this research is to understand the current social dynamics of identity among the Tremembé people of Almofala, in the state of Ceará, Brazil, with a fieldwork conducted in the flour mill of the Casa de Farinha Comunitária project, in the Lameirão community. Specific aims are: a) to analyze the processes involved in the project in order to comprehend their meanings and appropriations as well as their everyday life and political uses; b) understand the strategies to fight for social benefits; c) analyze the local ethnic classifications grounding the construction of the Tremembé identity in Almofala. Methods deployed are ethnography of communities, used to apprehend the social production of networks of relationships, and a social cartography of practices. The realization of rights demanded by the indigenous populations in Brazil is intertwined with a process of social and legal legitimation their identity and cultural heritage. Such legitimation works as a safeguard mechanism of rights secured by the Constitution. Therefore, to own a “cultural heritage” is perceived as a “passport” to benefit from emerging rights. Amid this context, changes in the traditional processing of the cassava root, a productive practice shared locally by diverse social groups, is reified as cultural heritage by the Tremembé people of Almofala and their network of collaborators in the pursuit of accessing distinctive public policies. Furthermore, the research came across specific social arrangements of local subjects which unfolded internal struggles, enabling to understand the dynamics of the Tremembé of Almofala identity process.

(Re)Imagining Relationality: Brad Isaacs and The Map of the Empire

The exhibition, The Map of the Empire (30 March – 6 May, 2016), featured photography, video, and installation works by Toronto-based artist, Brad Isaacs (Mohawk | mixed heritage). The majority of the artworks within the exhibition were produced from the Canadian Museum of Nature’s research and collections facility (Gatineau, Québec). The Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN), is the national natural history museum of (what is now called) Canada, with its galleries located in Ottawa, Ontario. The exhibition was the first to open at the Centre for Indigenous Research Creation at Queen’s University under the supervision of Dr. Dylan Robinson. Through the installment of The Map of the Empire, Isaacs effectively claimed space on campus grounds – within the geopolitical space of Katarokwi | Kingston – and pushed back against settler colonial imaginings of natural history. The Map of the Empire explored the capacity of Brad’s artistic practice in challenging the general belief under which natural history museums operate: that the experience of collecting/witnessing/interacting with a deceased and curated more-than-human animal will increase conservation awareness and facilitate human care towards nature. The exhibition also featured original poetry by Cecily Nicholson, author of Triage (2011) and From the Poplars (2014), as a response to Brad’s artwork. I locate the work of The Map of the Empire within the broader context of curatorship as a political practice engaging with conceptual and actualized forms of slow violence, both inside of and beyond the museum space. By unmapping the structures of slow, showcased and archived violence within the natural history museum, we can begin to radically transform and reimagine our connections with more-than-humans and encourage these relations to be reciprocal rather than hyper-curated or preserved.

On democracy

If one clear argument emerged from my doctoral thesis in political science, it is that there is no agreement as to what democracy is. There are over 40 different varieties of democracy ranging from those in the mainstream with subtle or minute differences to those playing by themselves in the corner. And many of these various types of democracy are very well argued, empirically supported, and highly relevant to certain polities. The irony is that the thing which all of these democratic varieties or the ‘basic democracy’ that all other forms of democracy stem from, is elusive. There is no international agreement in the literature or in political practice as to what ‘basic democracy’ is and that is problematic as many of us use the word ‘democracy’ every day and it is a concept of tremendous importance internationally. I am still uncertain as to why this problem has not been resolved before by far greater minds than my own, and it may have something to do with the recent growth in democratic theory this past decade and the innovative areas of thought my thesis required, but I think I’ve got the answer. By listing each type of democracy and filling the column next to this list with the literature associated with these various styles of democracy, I amassed a large and comprehensive body of textual data. My research intended to find out what these various styles of democracy had in common and to create a taxonomy (like the ‘tree of life’ in biology) of democracy to attempt at showing how various styles of democracy have ‘evolved’ over the past 5000 years.ii I then ran a word frequency analysis program or a piece of software that counts the 100 most commonly used words in the texts. This is where my logic came in as I had to make sense of these words. How did they answer what the most fundamental commonalities are between 40 different styles of democracy? I used a grounded theory analysis which required that I argue my way through these words to form a ‘theory’ or plausible explanation as to why these particular words and not others are the important ones for answering the question. It came down to the argument that all 40 styles of democracy analysed have the following in common 1) A concept of a citizenry. 2) A concept of sovereignty. 3) A concept of equality. 4) A concept of law. 5) A concept of communication. 6) And a concept of selecting officials. Thus, democracy is a defined citizenry with its own concept of sovereignty which it exercises through the institutions which support the citizenry’s understandings of equality, law, communication, and the selection of officials. Once any of these 6 concepts are defined in a particular way it creates a style of democracy. From this, we can also see that there can be more than one style of democracy active in a particular government as a citizenry is composed of many different aggregates with their own understandings of the six concepts.

Little Birung

The field of research was contemporary indigenous theatre practice. The aim of the project was to produce theatre that remained as close and true to its source as possible, in both form and content. Little Birung is the final part of a 6-year mentorship of young indigenous artist, Megan Samardin, conducted by renowned musician and composer, John Rodgers, producer Leah Cotterell and director Sean Mee. The culminating event of the mentorship was to develop to create an original music theatre piece, composed by John Rodgers and Megan Samardin, that featured both Megan’s prodigious talent as a singer and her family’s remarkable story. Creative development consisted of extensive interviews with family members, creative development workshops (supported by both State and Federal Government) and critique and input from leading indigenous creatives such as Wesley Enoch (artistic director, Queensland Theatre Company). The challenge was to keep faith with the family and their story whilst creating a work that would appeal to national/international producers and their audiences. The result is a song cycle of 12 original songs that presents an intensely personal exploration of 6 generations of Megan’s family down the maternal line, as told through Megan’s sometimes uneasy relationship with her great grandmother, Flora. Uniquely, each of the 12 songs presents the personal response of each of the women as they confronted the often-brutal consequences of institutionalised racism and government-imposed oppression. The work was produced in Cairns in 2011 as part of the Cairns Festival to substantial critical acclaim and was an official event of Cairns Indigenous Arts Fair. A revised version was successfully presented at the Judith Wright Centre, Brisbane in November 2011. As a result of the Brisbane season, Little Birung has been invited to make a presentation at the 2012 APAM (Australian Performing Arts Market) in Adelaide. Importantly, the family and the indigenous community have embraced the work and have continued their fervent support. It has strengthened them as a family and as a part of the indigenous people of Australia.

Malay Kingship in Kedah : Religion, Trade, and Society

The book probes and examines traditional sources of royal power and control, as well as indigenous socio-political systems in the Malay world. It is focused on the north-western Malaysian Sultanate of Kedah which is acknowledged as the oldest unbroken independent kingship line in the ‘Malay and Islamic world’ with 1,000 years of history. Little scholarly attention has been paid to its pre-modern history, society, religion, system of government and unique geographic situation, potentially controlling both land and sea lines of communication into the remainder of Southeast Asia. It will thus provide the first comprehensive treatment in English, or other languages, on Kedah’s pre-modern and nineteenth century historiography and can provide a foundation for comparative studies of the various Malay states which is presently lacking. The proposed book also sheds much needed light on a range of important topics in Malay history including: Kedah and the northern Melaka Straits history, colonial expansion and rivalry, Southeast Asian history and politics, interregional migration and the influence of the sea peoples or orang laut, traditional Malay socio-political and economic life, Islamic influences and the course of Thai-Malay relations. The book attempts to offer a new understanding, not only of Kedah, but of the political and cultural development of the entire Malay world and of its relationships with the broader forces in both its continental and maritime settings. It argues that Kedah does not seem to follow, and in fact, often seems to contradict what has been commonly been accepted as the “typical model” of the traditional Malay state. Thus it concludes that the ruling dynasty has historically exploited a wide range of unique environmental conditions, local traditions, global spiritual trends and economic forces to preserve and strengthen its political position. The scope and theme of book The Kedah Sultanate is the oldest unbroken independent kingship lines in the “Malay world” with 1,000 years of history, and arguably one of the oldest in the Islamic world. In this study I examine key geopolitical and spiritual attributes of Malay kingship that have traditionally cemented the ruler, the peoples, and the environment. Brief description of the primary audience for the book: There is little written in English or Malay on Kedah’s pre twentieth century history. The available sources only look at certain aspects of Kedah’s history, are outdated or are confined to a specific period often outside the scope of the book. It is therefore anticipated that the readership and market for the book includes: • Scholars of Southeast Asian history, Islam, kingship, trade. • Academics & Historians (including: Asian, Thai history, Islamic, Maritime, Persian, South Asian, Southeast Asian and Colonial) • Libraries • Students, particularly those in Malaysia (especially the states of Kedah, Perlis and Penang), Thailand and Singapore. • Universities • Scholars and students in Political Science & International Relations

Grenada, Education and Revolution, 1979-83

Grenada’s New Jewel Movement, led by Maurice Bishop, was the first indigenous political grouping in the history of the English-speaking Caribbean to overthrow an existing government by armed force. Yet most of the four and a half years of the Revolution (1979-83) were characterized by considerable popular support for the new People’s Revolutionary Government before it came to it’s tragic, unexpected and shocking end in October 1983. Social, economic and political change seems possible in the 1970s and ‘80s. People in newly decolonizing countries were encouraged by the beginnings of the Non-Aligned Movement of Third World nations demanding new international economic order that would win them some economic justice after the ravages of colonialism. People also saw that some radical regimes, such as that led by Michael Manley in Jamaica and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, were articulating and implementing basic rights that held the promise of countering the social and political oppression that they had endured throughout the centuries of colonial history. A majority of Grenadians committed themselves to fighting by the side of the People’s Revolutionary Government for such new goals. This chapter will analyse how the Grenada Revolution reconceptualised the education, planned new goals, and implemented bold new educational policies. It will discuss the extent to which the government and people were able to reshape education as a tool for national reconstruction and the raising of national consciousness.

The ethical demands of settler colonial theory

This article explores the strengths and limitations of settler colonial theory (SCT) as a tool for non-Indigenous scholars seeking to disturb rather than re-enact colonial privilege. Based on an examination of recent Australian academic debates on settler colonialism and the Northern Territory intervention, we argue that SCT is useful in dehistoricizing colonialism, usually presented as an unfortunate but already transcended national past, and in revealing the intimate connections between settler emotions, knowledges, institutions and policies. Most importantly, it makes settler investments visible to settlers, in terms we understand and find hard to escape. However, as others have noted, SCT seems unable to transcend itself, in the sense that it posits a structural inevitability to the settler colonial relationship. We suggest that this structuralism can be mobilized by settler scholars in ways that delegitimize Indigenous resistance and reinforce violent colonial relationships. But while settlers come to stay and to erase Indigenous political existence, this does not mean that these intentions will be realized or must remain fixed. Non-Indigenous scholars should challenge the politically convenient conflation of settler desires and reality, and of the political present and the future. This article highlights these issues in order to begin to unlock the transformative potential of SCT, engaging settler scholars as political actors and arguing that this approach has the potential to facilitate conversations and alliances with Indigenous people. It is precisely by using the strengths of SCT that we can challenge its limitations; the theory itself places ethical demands on us as settlers, including the demand that we actively refuse its potential to re-empower our own academic voices and to marginalize Indigenous resistance.

Punishment and 'the People' : Rescuing Populism from its Critics

The term 'penal populism' is now reflexively used by criminologists to describe what many see as a dominant trend within penal policymaking in many western countries. The epithet 'populist' is used with no Jess frequency by media and other public commentators to refer (always pejoratively) to this or that political announcement, policy or style of political leadership, whether the context be specifically related to crime or some other arena of public affairs. In most accounts 'penal populism' (or 'populist punitiveness': Bottoms, 1995) is treated as a composite term. The two words are inseparably coupled and it is the penal that receives most of the detailed attention. As in more general political commentary, populism is tacitly understood as a negative and rather dangerous phenomenon, suggestive of manipulation, shallow-ness and demagoguery: in short, a corruption of normal, healthy democratic politics. As against such accounts, I want to suggest that debate about penal policymaking and its future -and particularly the prospects for more progressive policymaking in the area -would be assisted if populism was taken more seriously both conceptually and politically. This requires a decoupling of the concept of populism from what is habitually taken to be its punitive partner and that which defines its content. Currently the term is used without clear definition, let alone conceptual elaboration, to reference political pathology. Instead populism should be examined as a regular, meaningful dimension of contemporary political practice that has to be understood and engaged, not just denounced and extirpated. That is, I am seeking to make a case for bringing populism in from the despised margins to the centre of political practice and reflection. I will also briefly consider some of the implications this may have for penal politics specifically.

Writing Ourselves : pastpresentfuture

If resilience is a hallmark of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s survival beyond centuries of colonisation and oppression, brandishing the pen – or any its modern equivalents– can be understood as key resilience and survival strategy. Writing ourselves into contemporary and future existence is a complex act of cultural translation; it involves a speaking to others through a technology from a foreign culture. Subsequently, Indigenous writing is born into complexity.

Gustaf III inför sina undersåtar : Konsten att härska och politikens kulturhistoria

The dissertation analyses the political culture of Sweden during the reign of King Gustav III (1771-1792). This period commonly referred to as the Gustavian era followed the so-called Age of Liberty ending half a century of strong parliamentary rule in Sweden. The question at the heart of this study engages with the practice of monarchical rule under Gustav III, its ideological origins and power-political objectives as well as its symbolic expression. The study thereby addresses the very nature of kingship. In concrete terms, why did Gustav III, his court, and his civil service vigorously pursue projects that contemporaneous political opponents and, in particular, subsequent historiography have variously pictured as irrelevant, superficial, or as products of pure vanity? The answer, the study argues, is to be found in patterns of political practice as developed and exercised by Gustav III and his administration, which formed a significant part of the political culture of Gustavian Sweden. The dissertation is divided into three parts. The first traces the use and development of royal graces chivalric orders, medals, titles, privileges, and other gifts issued by the king. The practice of royal reward is illustrated through two case studies: the 1772 coup d état that established Gustav III s rule, and the birth and baptism of the crown prince, Gustav Adolf, in 1778. The second part deals with the establishment of the Court of Appeal in Vasa in 1776. The formation of the Appeals Court was accompanied by a host of ceremonial, rhetorical, emblematic, and architectural features solidifying its importance as one of Gustav III s most symbolic administrative reform projects and hence portraying the king as an enlightened monarch par excellence. The third and final part of the thesis engages with war as a cultural phenomenon and focuses on the Russo-Swedish War of 1788-1790. In this study, the war against Russia is primarily seen as an arena for the king and other players to stage, create and re-create as well as articulate themselves through scenes and roles adhering to a particular cultural idiom. Its codes and symbolic forms, then, were communicated by means of theatre, literature, art, history, and classical mythology. The dissertation makes use of a host of sources: protocols, speeches, letters, diaries, newspapers, poetry, art, medals, architecture, inscriptions and registers. Traditional political source material and literary and art sources are studied as totalities, not as separate entities. Also it is argued that political and non-fictional sources cannot be understood properly without acknowledging the context of genre, literary conventions, and artistic modes. The study critically views the futile, but nonetheless almost habitual juxtaposition of the reality of images, ideas, and metaphors, and the reality of supposedly factual historical events. Significantly, the thesis presumes the symbolic dimension to be a constitutive element of reality, not its cooked up misrepresentation. This presumption is reflected in a discussion of the concept of role , which should not be anachronistically understood as roles in which the king cast himself at different times and in different situations. Neither Gustav III nor other European sovereigns of this period played the roles as rulers or majesties. Rather, they were monarchs both in their own eyes and in the eyes of their contemporaries as well as in all relations and contexts. Key words: Eighteenth-Century, Gustav III, Cultural History, Monarchs, Royal Graces, the Vasa Court of Appeal, the Russo-Swedish War 1788–1790.

Sobre los procesos de (re)organización institucional cívica en Hispania

Estíbaliz Ortiz de Urbina (ed.)

Teoria dialética da cidadania:política e direito na atuação dos movimentos sociais urbanos de ocupação na cidade do Rio de Janeiro

A cidadania é um dos principais temas da atualidade, sendo múltiplos os seus significados. Na perspectiva jurídica prepondera uma visão focada na centralidade do Estado e na titularidade de direitos. O tema-problema central desta pesquisa considera a insuficiência dessa concepção da cidadania. As hipóteses de base afirmam que tal conceito produziu um processo de alienações da cidadania e um fetichismo constitucional; por outro lado, um novo sentido para o conceito pode ser pensado na chave teórico-prática da dialética e da desalienação. A partir do método do materialismo histórico e dialético, de Marx e Engels, constrói-se uma crítica a partir da prática política e social da cidadania na América Latina, que oferece importantes contribuições materiais para se pensar uma nova compreensão desse conceito na atualidade. A interpretação dessa dinâmica é feita por meio do instrumental teórico-metodológico de Antonio Gramsci, identificando-se novos atores políticos e sociais, e diferentes relações entre Estado, sociedade civil e cidadãos. A cidade do Rio de Janeiro é estudada empiricamente, na conjuntura dos mega eventos internacionais, como espaço da prática dinâmica e ampliada da cidadania através dos movimentos sociais urbanos, que adotam a ocupação como estratégia de ação política direta e efetivação de direitos.

Corpo, subjetividade e política: o ideário libertário das décadas de 60 e 70 em uma revista de jornalismo da psicologia

A pesquisa se debruça sobre o ideário dos anos 60 e 70, investigando como este repercutiu e se manifestou no contexto brasileiro, sobretudo em um determinado nicho do campo psi muito influenciado pelas idéias libertárias e antiautoritárias que reverberaram no período. Para tanto, tomei como objeto de pesquisa a revista de psicologia Rádice, publicação alternativa escrita, majoritariamente, por psicólogos recém-formados, estudantes de psicologia e jornalistas, que circulou entre 1976 e 1981. Entre outros assuntos, Rádice abordou temas relativos à loucura, sexualidade, psicanálise, relações familiares e ecologia. Através da análise deste objeto, interessa-me compreender melhor como a psicologia brasileira se politiza nos anos 70, assumindo uma postura ativista, militando em torno de diversas causas, como a oposição à ditadura militar, a luta antimanicomial e a discussão em torno da desrepressão sexual e liberação dos costumes. Ao mesmo tempo, o processo de transformação individual passa a ser concebido como o único caminho para a transformação da sociedade, fazendo com que a subjetividade se torne um espaço político. Pretendo investigar, portanto, um momento de encontro entre política, subjetividade e corpo, e o surgimento de uma nova prática política que se distancia das grandes questões e da doutrina revolucionária marxista, preocupando-se com o cotidiano, questionando hábitos, comportamentos e formas de relação social.

Refigurando monstros: a perspectiva parcial de Donna Haraway como crítica da ciência

Esta dissertação trata das relações de poder que marcam a produção científica ocidental moderna a partir da abordagem dos estudos sobre Gênero e Ciência da feminista historiadora da ciência estadunidense Donna Haraway. Esta autora propõe a concepção de toda a produção de conhecimento como pratica política, assumindo a perspectiva parcial como fundamento para uma ciência objetiva e apontando a perspectiva de objetividade calcada na ideia de imparcialidade como produtora de um tipo de saber que historicamente serviu como instrumento de dominação: o conhecimento que se propõe como universal. Em sua narrativa, o androcentrismo, o etnocentrismo, o racismo e as divisões de classe operam na conformação e nas transformações desta ciência a partir da construção de um sujeito privilegiado do conhecimento, o cientista, figura constituída a imagem e semelhança do homem branco ocidental independente. Meu recorte de sua obra são as reformulações dessas relações ao longo da historia da ciência ocidental moderna observadas por ela na emergência e nas produções de um conjunto especifico de disciplinas do campo das ciências naturais biológicas, fortemente marcadas pelas teorias e tecnologias da informação e da comunicação produzidas no campo da cibernética. Na construção de um discurso critico sobre os saberes / poderes hegemônicos, Haraway traz para a cena da ciência figuras monstruosas, entre elas o ciborgue, tanto como meio de revelar categorias culturais atuando na produção do conhecimento como para materializar novos significados para natureza, os corpos e as relações de diferença. Em conexão com esses monstros, refigurados em suas narrativas, a autora defende uma relação de conexão, e não de divisão, entre sujeito e objeto do saber.