Who makes the world? Academics and (un)cancelling the future

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-427
Author(s):  
Leonie Holthaus ◽  
Nils Stockmann

In this essay, we consider the role of academics as change-makers. There is a long line of reflection about academics’ sociopolitical role(s) in international relations (IR). Yet, our attempt differs from available considerations in two regards. First, we emphasize that academics are not a homogenous group. While some keep their distance from policymakers, others frequently provide policy advice. Hence, positions and possibilities of influence differ. Second, our argument is not oriented towards the past but the future. That is, we develop our reflections on academics as change-makers by outlining the vision of a ‘FutureLab’, an innovative, future forum that brings together different world-makers who are united in their attempt to improve ‘the world'. Our vision accounts for current, perhaps alarming trends in academia, such as debates about the (in)ability to confront post-truth politics. Still, it is a (critically) optimistic one and can be read as an invitation for experimentation. Finally, we sympathize with voices demanding the democratization of academia and find that further cross-disciplinary dialogues within academia and dialogues between different academics, civil society activists and policymakers may help in finding creditable solutions to problems such as climate change and populism.

2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 671-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Drayton

The contemporary historian, as she or he speaks to the public about the origins and meanings of the present, has important ethical responsibilities. ‘Imperial’ historians, in particular, shape how politicians and the public imagine the future of the world. This article examines how British imperial history, as it emerged as an academic subject since about 1900, often lent ideological support to imperialism, while more generally it suppressed or avoided the role of violence and terror in the making and keeping of the Empire. It suggests that after 2001, and during the Iraq War, in particular, a new Whig historiography sought to retail a flattering narrative of the British Empire’s past, and concludes with a call for a post-patriotic imperial history which is sceptical of power and speaks for those on the underside of global processes.


Author(s):  
Christian W. McMillen

There will be more pandemics. A pandemic might come from an old, familiar foe such as influenza or might emerge from a new source—a zoonosis that makes its way into humans, perhaps. The epilogue asks how the world will confront pandemics in the future. It is likely that patterns established long ago will re-emerge. But how will new challenges, like climate change, affect future pandemics and our ability to respond? Will lessons learned from the past help with plans for the future? One thing is clear: in the face of a serious pandemic much of the developing world’s public health infrastructure will be woefully overburdened. This must be addressed.


Author(s):  
Krisztina Kolos ◽  
Mirkó Gáti

A szerzők tanulmányának célja, hogy bemutassa, milyen célokra alkalmazzák az internetet a hazai vállalatok, milyen várakozásaik vannak az e-kereskedelem versenyben betöltött szerepével kapcsolatban, és hogyan észlelik annak előnyeit. Vizsgálják azt is, hogy az elmúlt öt évben milyen változások tapasztalhatók a vállalatok gyakorlatában e téren. Elemzik továbbá, hogy a piacorientáció és a vállalat külső marketingkörnyezete hogyan befolyásolja az e-kereskedelem megítélését és alkalmazását. Elemzésük a "Versenyben a világgal" kutatási program 2009-ben készült felmérésének eredményeire támaszkodik, amelyben 300 vállalat szakembereit kérdezték meg. Kutatásukban megerősítést nyert, hogy Magyarországon az elektronikus kereskedelem jelentősége nő. A vállalatoknak kedvezőek az elektronikus kereskedelem jövőjével kapcsolatos várakozásaik, és úgy vélik, hogy ez versenyelőny forrása lehet. A vállalat piacorientációja erőteljesen befolyásolja azt, hogy egy vállalat milyen mértékben alkalmazza az internetet, és hogyan viszonyul az elektronikus kereskedelemhez / === / The objective of the authors’ research is to show how internet is used among Hungarian companies, to analyse their expectations with regard of the role e-commerce plays in competition, and the benefits resulting from e-commerce. They also focus on the changes that have taken place the past five years in the practice of Hungarian companies. The authors investigate how market orientation and the external marketing environment of firms influence evaluations of e-commerce and its implementation. Their analysis is based on the results of the research program „Competing with the world” , which includes the answers of 300 companies. Their research results confirm that the importance of e-commerce is growing in Hungary and overall Hungarian firms have positive expectations with regard of the future of e-commerce and consider it a source of competitive advantage. Market orientation of the firm strongly influences the extent of internet applications and attitudes toward ecommerce.


Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1185
Author(s):  
Eva Díaz ◽  
Salvador Ordóñez

In a recent United Nations draft report (August 2021), a large number of scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change described the climate change over the past century as “unprecedented” and warned that the world will warm at an increasing rate, with unpredictable results, unless aggressive action to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases is taken [...]


Author(s):  
C. Parker Krieg

      This essay examines the role of myth in and as cultural memory through a reading of the novel, Archipelago (2013), by the Trinidadian-British author Monique Roffey. Against conceptions of the Anthropocene as a break from the past—a break that repeats the myth of modernity—I argue that Roffey’s use of cultural memory offers a carnivalesque relation to the world in response to the narrative’s account of climate change trauma. Drawing on Bakhtin’s classic study of the carnival as an occasion for contestation and renewal, as well as Cheryl Lousely’s call for a “carnivalesque ecocriticism,” this essay expands on the recent ecocritical turn to the field of Memory Studies (Buell; Goodbody; Kennedy) to illustrate the way literature mediates between mythic and historical relations to the natural world. As literary expressions, the carnivalesque and the grotesque evoke myth and play in order to expose and transform the social myths which govern relations and administrate difference. Since literature acts as both a producer and reflector of cultural memory, this essay seeks to highlight the literary potential of myth for connecting past traumas to affirmational modes of political engagement. Resumen     Este ensayo examina el papel del mito en y como memoria cultural analizando la novela Archipelago (2013), escrita por la autora trinitense-británica Monique Roffey. Frente a la idea del Antropoceno como una ruptura con el pasado—una ruptura que repite el mito de la modernidad—este trabajo argumenta que el uso de la memoria cultural de Roffey ofrece una relación carnavalesca con el mundo en respuesta al trauma del cambio climático detallado en la novela. Basando mi argumento en la teoría clásica de Bakhtin sobre el carnaval como una ocasión para la contestación y la renovación, así como la llamada de Cheryl Lousely por una “ecocrítica carnavalesca,” este ensayo amplía el reciente giro de la ecocrítica hacia el campo de los estudios de memoria (Buell; Goodbody; Kennedy) para ilustrar cómo la literatura media entre las relaciones míticas e históricas con el mundo natural. Como expresiones literarias, lo carnavalesco y lo grotesco evocan el mito y el juego para revelar y transformar los mitos sociales que gobiernan las relaciones y gestionan la diferencia. Ya que la literatura actúa tanto como productora y como espejo de la memoria cultural, este ensayo busca destacar el potencial literario del mito para conectar traumas del pasado con modos de compromiso político más afirmativos.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 3280
Author(s):  
Hülya Pehlivan

Games, which are as old as the history of the world, were played all over the world in all periods of history and in all cultures; and will be played in the future. A game which can be rule governed or free of rules, but in which children always participate voluntarily is a part of real life; and is the basis for physical, cognitive, social, linguistic, emotional and social development. Games are the mirrors reflecting the inner world of children, and they are the imaginary environments re-created by children so as to understand their emotions and enthusiasm, distress and relations. A game, which is defined as a field of experimenting in which children test and reinforce what they see, sets up ties with the past and forms a source for the future. Games are regarded as  children’s most important pursuit, and they mean discovering, learning, creating and expressing oneself for children. All materials for playing which introduce regulation into children’s movements, which help them in their physical and psycho-social development, which develop their imagination are described as toys, and toys have important functions in children’s development and in the development of their learning and creativity. Designing playgrounds, which are the locations for effective learning for children,  bring about significant responsibility. Therefore, this fact should be taken into consideration while choosing toys for chidren and while desgning playgrounds, and games should be employed in pre-school education in the light of scientific data.  Özetİnsanlık tarihi kadar eski olan oyun, dünyanın her yerinde, her çağda ve her kültürde oynanmıştır ve oynanmaya da devam edecektir. Oyun, belli bir amaca yönelik olan veya olmayan, kurallı ya da kuralsız gerçekleştirilen fakat her durumda çocuğun isteyerek yer aldığı fiziksel, bilişsel, sosyal, dil, duygusal ve sosyal gelişiminin temeli olan gerçek hayatın bir parçasıdır. Oyun çocuğun iç dünyasının bir aynasıdır ve çocuğun duygu ve coşkularını, üzüntülerini, ilişkilerini anlamak için onların yeniden yarattıkları bir düş ortamıdır. Çocuğun gördüklerini sınadığı ve pekiştirdiği bir deney alanı olarak tanımlanan oyun geçmiş ile bağ kurmakta, gelecek için kaynak oluşturmaktadır. Çocuğun en önemli uğraşı olarak kabul gören oyun, çocuklar için keşfetme, öğrenme, yaratma, kendini ifade etme anlamına gelmektedir. Gelişim basamakları boyunca çocuğun hareketlerine düzen getiren zihinsel, bedensel ve psiko-sosyal gelişimlerinde yardımcı olan, hayal gücünü geliştiren tüm oyun malzemeleri de oyuncak olarak tanımlanır ve oyuncakların çocukların gelişim, öğrenme ve yaratıcılığın gelişmesinde önemli bir işlevi vardır. Çocuk için etkili bir öğrenme mekânı olan oyun alanlarının tasarımlanması önemli bir sorumluluğu beraberinde getirir. Bu nedenle, çocuklara oyuncak seçerken ve oyun alanları dizayn ederken bu durum göz önünde bulundurulmalı ve özellikle okul öncesi eğitimde de bilimsel veriler ışığında oyundan faydalanmalıdır.


Philosophies ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Giovanbattista Tusa

In this essay, I suggest that we are currently witnessing a mutation, which disrupts the mythical imaginary that had confined viruses, climate change, and atmospheric turbulences to an immutable background in the all-too-human narrative of the struggle against nature. I argue that the incapacity of translating this mutation in cultural and social terms, and the repression of this traumatic experience, are the cause of the perturbation that haunts our time. Disorientation pervades philosophy when the entire imaginary to which it had anchored its power to change the world seems to dissolve in the air, when what was silent and distant turns out to be vibrant, more familiar to us than any known proximity. Precisely for this reason, philosophy must rediscover its ability to inhabit times and spaces different from those oriented by the hegemony of capitalist progress, with its correlate of regular catastrophic emergencies and calculated risk. In this essay, I aim to present a perspective in which, instead of coming back straightforwardly ‘down to earth’, philosophy accepts inhabiting the fluctuating disorientation of its own time, itself populated by intermittent and uncertain opportunities of experiencing differently the past and the future—to encounter different relationships with the times that change.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
Jamshid Ali Turi ◽  
Hassan Basheer ◽  
Shahryar Sorooshian ◽  
Sadia Shaikh

In the past few decades, the frequency of floods has increased in Pakistan. Climate change and poor policy-making and management system across the country is the main reason for the increasing floods in Pakistan. However, the role and potential of Civil Society has not been acknowledged by different stakeholders in disaster management. The aim of the study to explore the role of civil societies contributes to the flood-affected area also how their efforts can be more meaningful for the flood-affected communities. A quantitative study based on a questionnaire conducted in village Ghangwal. The study reveals that Civil Societies responses are quicker than the government response to the flood-affected areas. The major role of Civil Society is in rescue and recovery phases. However, in mitigation and rehabilitation phases the role is limited. The government can reduce the risks of floods if the Local Government system and coordinated efforts at all level are ensured.  In the conclusion, the study identified four major areas where Civil Societies support the affected communities are civil society’s response is quicker and more immediate; rescue the affected people and nature of help extended by the civil societies; basic needs of the affected people so the need-based assessment was carried out to compensate and rehabilitate the prospective flood victims. Lastly, the study discovered the methods of distribution of relief-goods among the victims.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-36
Author(s):  
Philipus Benitius Metom

There is a line of titles of Saint Mary mentioned by Pope Francis in his published encyclicals and apostolic exortations. However, we summarize them into seven new titles, namely, Saint Mary is the daughter of Zion, mother, queen, woman, star, bride, and the spring of happiness for the little people. We consider that the number seven title has opened the minds of the faithful about the joy of believing in the Triune God who saves the world and the significant role of Saint Mary in the success of this exalted work. The recognition of the seven new titles aims to support the understanding of the faith of the Catholic faithful in the Blessed Mary as Mother of God and Virgin. Apart from that, another goal is that the quality of the Church's faith in the virginity of Saint Mary and her mother of God will be strengthened. What kind of quality do you want to affirm? What he wants to affirm is the quality of the Church's faith which is rooted in the past of the Old Testament, which is flourishing and expanding in the present, and which will bear fruit to await eternal happiness in the future (eschatological). Thus, the seven new titles of Saint Mary can reveal the faith of the Church to live at all times.


Hypatia ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 558-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrida Neimanis ◽  
Rachel Loewen Walker

In the dominant “climate change” imaginary, this phenomenon is distant and abstracted from our experiences of weather and the environment in the privileged West. Moreover, climate change discourse is saturated mostly in either neoliberal progress narratives of controlling the future or sustainability narratives of saving the past. Both largely obfuscate our implication therein. This paper proposes a different climate change imaginary. We draw on feminist new materialist theories—in particular those of Stacy Alaimo, Claire Colebrook, and Karen Barad—to describe our relationship to climate change as one of “weathering.” We propose the temporal frame of “thick time”—a transcorporeal stretching between present, future, and past—in order to reimagine our bodies as archives of climate and as making future climates possible. In doing so, we can rethink the temporal narratives of climate change discourse and develop a feminist ethos of responsivity toward climatic phenomena. This project reminds us that we are not masters of the climate, nor are we just spatially “in” it. As weather‐bodies, we are thick with climatic intra‐actions; we are makers of climate‐time. Together we are weathering the world.


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