Political Education in Plural Societies: Using the Anti-Bias Approach to Challenge Oppression in Bombay and Berlin

This study addresses the effectivity of the Anti-Bias approach and training methodology as a pedagogical political strategy to challenge oppression among student groups in the cities of Bombay and Berlin. The Anti-Bias trainings conducted within the framework of this study also become the medium through which the perpetuation of oppressive structures by students within and outside the school is investigated. Empirical data from predominantly qualitative investigations in four secondary schools, two each in Bombay and Berlin, is studied and analysed on the basis of theoretical understandings of prejudice, discrimination and identity. This study builds on insights offered by previous research on prejudices and evaluations of anti-bias and diversity interventions, where the lack of sufficient research and thorough evaluations testing impact has been identified (Levy Paluck, 2006). The theoretical framework suggests that prejudices and discriminatory practices are learnt and performed by individuals over the years by way of pre-existing discourses, and that behaviour and practices can be unlearnt through a multi-step process. It proposes that the discursive practices of students contribute to the constitution of their viable selves and in the constitution of ‘others’. Drawing on this framework, the study demonstrates how student-subjects in Bombay and Berlin perpetuate oppressive discourses by performing their identities and performing identities onto ‘others’. Such performative constitution opens up the agency of the individual, disclosing the shifting and dynamic nature of identities. The Anti-Bias approach is posited as an alternative to oppressive discourses and a vehicle that encourages and assists the agency of individuals. The theoretical framework, which brings together a psychological approach to prejudice, a structural approach to discrimination and a poststructural approach to identity, facilitates the analysis of the perpetuation of dominant discourses by the students, as well as how they negotiate their way through familiar norms and discourses. Group discussions and interviews a year after the respective trainings serve to evaluate the agency of the students and the extent to which the training impacted on their perceptions, attitudes and behavioural practices. The study reveals the recurrence of the themes race, religion, gender and sexuality in the representational practices of the students groups in Berlin and Bombay. It demonstrates how students in this study not only perform, but also negotiate and resist oppressive structures. Of particular importance is the role of the school: When schools offer no spaces for discussion, debate and action on contemporary social issues, learning can neither be put into practice nor take on a positive, transformative form. In such cases, agency and resistance is limited and interventionist actions yield little. This study reports the potential of the Anti-Bias approach and training as a tool of political education and action in education. It demonstrates that a single training can initiate change but sustaining change requires long-term strategies and on-going actions. Taking a poststructural perspective, it makes concrete suggestions to adapt and alter the Anti-Bias approach and the implementation of Anti-Bias trainings.

The Political Ecology of Salmon Aquaculture in Chile

Every German consumes per year, 15% is salmon, which is the third most popular fish in Germany after Alaska-Seelachs and Hering (Keller/Kress 2013: 9). But where does the salmon that ends up on our plates every 6th time we eat fish come from? There's no obligation for producers to declare the origin of their fish products, but if they do so, the latin name of the fish, catching method and catch area should be declared. Salmon, of which about 40% are captured in the wild and the rest brought up in aquacultures, could then be declared as follows: Salmon (salmo salar), aquaculture from Chile. Without any doubt, this makes consumption more transparent, but the standards of production – both, social and ecological ones – and the ecological impacts are still kept in the dark.

Political Economy of Global Rush for Agricultural Land: a Tract on India’s Overseas Acquisitions

This paper is an attempt to map the global land acquisitions with a focus on Indian MNCs in acquiring overseas land for agricultural purposes. It tries to outline the contemporary political economy of capital accumulation at the global level, especially, in the emerging developing economies like India and China, where the emergence of a new capitalist class has engaged itself into acquisition of land and control of other natural resources in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and South East Asia, for example, water and other minerals to secure itself from the eventual losses of ongoing economic crisis and to earn profit from the volatile agricultural commodity markets. This sway of control of resources by the MNCs has got paramount State support under the helm of neoliberal policies. The paper provides scale of overseas land acquisitions at the current juncture and tries to highlight its causes and the major implications associated with it.

Lost in Research - Wissensmanagement in komplexen (psychoanalytischen) Forschungsprojekten

Die Wissenschaft weist im Zuge der Entwicklung von der Industrie- zu einer Wissensgesellschaft einschneidende Veränderungen in der Wissensordnung auf, welche sich bis hin zu einem zunehmenden Verlust der wissenschaftlichen Selbststeuerungsmechanismen bemerkbar machen und einen veränderten Umgang mit dem generierten Wissensschatz erfordern. Nicht nur Änderungen in der Wissensordnung und -produktion stellen die Psychoanalyse vor neue Herausforderungen: In den letzten Jahrzehnten geriet sie als Wissenschaft und Behandlungsverfahren zunehmend in die Kritik und reagierte mit einer konstruktiven Diskussion um ein dem Forschungsgegenstand – die Untersuchung unbewusster Prozesse und Fantasien – adäquates psychoanalytisches Forschungsverständnis. Die Auseinandersetzung mit Forderungen gesellschaftlicher Geldgeber, politischer Vertreter und Interessensgruppen wie auch der wissenschaftlichen Community stellt die Psychoanalyse vor besondere Herausforderungen. Um wissenschaftsexternen wie -internen Gütekriterien zu genügen, ist häufig ein hoher personeller, materieller, finanzieller, methodischer wie organisatorischer Aufwand unabdingbar, wie das Beispiel des psychoanalytischen Forschungsinstitutes Sigmund-Freud-Institut zeigt. Der steigende Aufwand schlägt sich in einer zunehmenden Komplexität des Forschungsprozesses nieder, die unter anderem in den vielschichtigen Fragestellungen und Zielsetzungen, dem vermehrt interdisziplinären, vernetzten Charakter, dem Umgang mit dem umfangreichen, hochspezialisierten Wissen, der Methodenvielfalt, etc. begründet liegt. Um jener Komplexität des Forschungsprozesses gerecht zu werden, ist es zunehmend erforderlich, Wege des Wissensmanagement zu beschreiten. Tools wie z. B. Mapping-Verfahren stellen unterstützende Werkzeuge des Wissensmanagements dar, um den Herausforderungen des Forschungsprozesses zu begegnen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden zunächst die veränderten Forschungsbedingungen und ihre Auswirkungen auf die Komplexität des Forschungsprozesses - insbesondere auch des psychoanalytischen Forschungsprozesses - reflektiert. Die mit der wachsenden Komplexität einhergehenden Schwierigkeiten und Herausforderungen werden am Beispiel eines interdisziplinär ausgerichteten EU-Forschungsprojektes näher illustriert. Um dieser wachsenden Komplexität psychoanalytischer Forschung erfolgreich zu begegnen, wurden in verschiedenen Forschungsprojekten am Sigmund-Freud-Institut Wissensmanagement-Maßnahmen ergriffen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird daher in einem zweiten Teil zunächst auf theoretische Aspekte des Wissensmanagements eingegangen, die die Grundlage der eingesetzten Wissensmanagement-Instrumente bildeten. Dabei spielen insbesondere psychologische Aspekte des Wissensmanagements eine zentrale Rolle. Zudem werden die konkreten Wissensmanagement-Tools vorgestellt, die in den verschiedenen Forschungsprojekten zum Einsatz kamen, um der wachsenden Komplexität psychoanalytischer Forschung zu begegnen. Abschließend werden die Hauptthesen der vorliegenden Arbeit noch einmal reflektiert und die geschilderten Techniken des Wissensmanagements im Hinblick auf ihre Vor- und Nachteile kritisch diskutiert.

The circular economy and the water-food nexus

The global economy is based on a take-make-consume and dispose model where natural resources are turned into products and the waste disposed of instead of being reused as a resource. In the Asia-Pacific region climate change along with rapid population and economic growth is resulting in increased demand for water and food, potentially leading to economic and political instability. Europe has developed policy and technological innovations that can facilitate the transition towards a circular economy where waste becomes a resource. By using existing instruments Europe can transfer its circular economy knowledge and technology to the Asia-Pacific region to increase security of supply of scarce resources. This can help ensure global security, influence climate change negotiations and create jobs in Europe.

Prices versus exams as strategic instruments for competing universities

In this paper we investigate the optimal choice of prices and/or exams by universities in the presence of credit constraints. We first compare the optimal behavior of a public, welfare maximizing, monopoly and a private, profit maximizing, monopoly. Then we model competition between a public and a private institution and investigate the new role of exams/prices in this environment. We find that, under certain circumstances, the public university may have an interest to raise tuition fees from minimum levels if it cares for global welfare. This will be the case provided that (i) the private institution has higher quality and uses only prices to select applicants, or (ii) the private institution has lower quality and uses also exams to select students. When this is the case, there are efficiency grounds for raising public prices

Whither Japan's Economy?

The Japanese economy entered a long recession in spring 1997. Its economic growth has been much lower than in the US and the EU despite large fiscal stimulus packages, a monetary policy which has brought interest rates to zero since 1999, injections of public money to recapitalize banks, and programs of liberalization and deregulation. How could all these policies have failed to bring the Japanese economy back on a sustainable growth path? This paper argues that the failure of Japan's efforts to restore a sound economic environment is the result of having deliberately chosen inappropriate and inadequate monetary and fiscal instruments to tackle the macroeconomic and structural problems that have burdened the Japanese economy since the burst of the financial bubble at the beginning of the 90s. These choices were deliberate, since the "right" policies (in primis the resolution of the banking crisis) presented unbearable political costs, not only for the ruling parties, but also for the bureaucratic and business elites. The misfortunes of the Japanese economy during the long recession not only allow us to draw important economic policy lessons, but also stimulate reflections on the disruptive role on economic policies caused by powerful vested interests when an economy needs broad and deep structural changes. The final part of the paper focuses on ways to tackle Japan's banking crisis. In particular, it explores the Scandinavian solution, which, mutatis mutandis, might serve Japanese policy-makers well.

La adolescencia: retos para la investigación y para la sociedad europea de cara al sigol XXI

A lo largo de la última década, la adolescencia ha sido un tema de discusión política en distintos espacios europeos al más alto nivel. En una sociedad aceleradamente cambiante se percibe que la adecuada socialización de las generaciones más jóvenes constituye un reto socio-histórico que nos afecta a todos. Los cambios en que estamos sumergidos son tan plurales (demográficos, sociales, tecnológicos, económicos, políticos, etc.) que generan un amplísimo frente de nuevos dilemas éticos. La opinión de los ciudadanos de la Unión Europea se muestra preocupada por nuevos valores y destaca la preferencia por la responsabilidad en coherencia con dicha situación cambiante. Todo este macrocontexto psicosocial viene planteando nuevos retos teóricos y de investigación a la comunidad científica. De hecho las ciencias humanas y sociales han empezado a desarrollar nuevas líneas de investigación para comprender mejor las nuevas relaciones entre adultos y adolescentes y las nuevas culturas que emergen entre estos últimos, impulsadas por nuevas aspiraciones sociales compartidas por grupos más o menos amplios de la población joven. El desarrollo de técnicas e instrumentos que nos permitan comprender mejor la perspectiva del adolescente se hace más evidente si analizamos su relación con las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación. Dichas tecnologías comportan nuevos riesgos, pero también nuevas oportunidades, entre las que destaca la posibilidad de establecer nuevas formas de relación. La motivación que muestran los más jóvenes por las nuevas tecnologías constituye un gran reto a los investigadores aplicados para sugerir formas de maximizar las potencialidades latentes

Reconciliation as a Political Concept: Some Observations and Remarks

This paper summarizes a number of observations and reflections on the phenomenon and practice called “reconciliation”, in connection to peace processes and peace-building initiatives. In particular it draws from processes followed by the author, in East Timor in particular, but also in Europe, the Middle East and, more recently, Colombia. It is a discussion paper. The purpose is to invite to reflection, both on the level of perspectives as well as concepts. It is developed from a lecture called “The Challenge of Reconciliation” held at Universidad Nacional, Bogotá, in December 2003. Following substantial revision since then (making the text more than double in length) I realize that today not many parts of the original text are still recognizable from that presentation, then organized by the Embassy of Sweden in Colombia, as part of its commitment to the peace process in that country. I have accepted the invitation of the Center of Political and International Studies (Centro de Estudios Políticos e Internacionales, CEPI), at Universidad del Rosario, to publish this work in progress, to reach a broader public in Colombia and contribute to the discussion on econciliation. The field of “political reconciliation” is evolving, definitions of reconciliation are abounding, and different contributors have different takes on the subject matter, quite naturally. It is the author’s view, that reconciliation can and should not be “held captive” of any particular field of study. It relates to fundamental, some would call it existential, issues of meaning, trust, contradictions, and suffering in the midst of a violent, political reality. It is wise to tread softly on ground with such a complex bottom.

[Ressenya del llibre Nationalism, Self-determination and Political Geography, de R.J. Johnston, D. Knight i E. Kofman (eds.)]

Cap als anys 80 la Geografia Política va començar a interessar-se no solament per l’Estat, sinó també per tota organització dotada de poder i/o acció política capaç d’inscriure’s en l’espai. En aquest marc és on cal situar l’interès en aquells anys pel nacionalisme, motivat també per l’esclat nacionalista que viu el món de finals del S. XX

Probabilistic models to assist maintenance of multiple instruments

The paper discusses maintenance challenges of organisations with a huge number of devices and proposes the use of probabilistic models to assist monitoring and maintenance planning. The proposal assumes connectivity of instruments to report relevant features for monitoring. Also, the existence of enough historical registers with diagnosed breakdowns is required to make probabilistic models reliable and useful for predictive maintenance strategies based on them. Regular Markov models based on estimated failure and repair rates are proposed to calculate the availability of the instruments and Dynamic Bayesian Networks are proposed to model cause-effect relationships to trigger predictive maintenance services based on the influence between observed features and previously documented diagnostics

Teoría y práctica de la diplomacia de celebridades : origen, desarrollo y límites de un concepto

Recientemente el mundo ha sido testigo de como las celebridades del espectáculo aparecen en los medios de comunicación comentando sobre asuntos políticos y humanitarios, el motivo de dichas apariciones es que cada día los famosos están interviniendo en temas internacionales de orden político y diplomático en un esfuerzo por solucionar algunas de las más graves crisis a las que se enfrenta el mundo en las últimas dos décadas, este fenómeno es conocido como Diplomacia de celebridades. El presente es un análisis acerca de este concepto en cuanto a su origen, desarrollo y alcance, apartir de la óptica del poder blando y ciertas condiciones que permiten la existencia del fenómeno, tales como el avance de las tecnologías digitales y de comunicación, fama de alcance global y nuevos espacios y actores en el ejercicio de las Relaciones Internacionales. La hipótesis sostiene que los famosos realizan una actividad no oficial y utilizan elementos como el poder blando, el dinero y los medios de comunicación para realizarla, tal y como lo haría una ONG. Ellos se identifican con una causa o un tema y utilizan los medios de comunicación como infraestructura para adentrarse en los escenarios de política internacional y promoverla a nivel de gobiernos y opinión pública. Usualmente los emprendimientos sociales y políticos de las celebridades suelen ser efectivos, sin embargo se enfrentan a campos donde su inexperiencia puede llevarlos al fracaso, la falta de comprensión de situaciones muy complejas puede considerarse otra limitante a la que se enfrentan los famosos, puesto que su mensaje o sus esfuerzos se distorsionan al no conocer los matices de una situación y de esta manera generar más perjuicios que beneficios.

The Bogota – sabana region : the political economy behind the struggle to implement a sustainable urban development model

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El cierre del Canal Nacional Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) durante el segundo periodo de Hugo Chávez Frías, periodo 2001- 2007, como injerencia política hacia los medio audiovisuales masivos.

El estudio responde las preguntas sobre injerencia política hacia medios radioeléctricos por parte del gobierno chavecista con el cierre de RCTV; con la identificación de instrumentos jurídicos hacia los medias y la examinación en que el gobierno manejó estos instrumentos de regulación.