Problematizer Design: A Foucaultian Approach

Based on a line of inquiry initiated by Dorst, this article explores Foucault's work as a philosophical inspiration for design research and practice. In terms of foucaultian problematization, notions of discourse and problematization— instead of notions of design problems— is an alternative way of dealing with design situations. It is argued that through the problematization of the discourses interwoven in a design project, the designer takes on a critical and political dimension of their own work. In this way, through the project, designers can have the option to critically choose between reinforcing discourses— in case of agreement with them, or subverting discourses— in case of disagreement.

THE FAILURE OF TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN AFGHANISTAN: THE POLITICAL DIMENSION

In every phase of the conflict in Afghanistan, serious War Crimes and crimes against humanity were committed, resulting in mass killings and forced displacement of millions of Afghan civilians and political opponents. Based on relevant literature, this article investigates the political factors responsible for the failure of transitional justice in Afghanistan, particularly internal and external factors. The article also brings to the fore the impact of the dual process of state-building and peace-building on the implementation of transitional justice. In addition, the paper investigates why the 'Peace first and justice later' strategy proved to be unsuccessful in Afghanistan as the Taliban continued their atrocities, fighting Afghan forces and killing innocent people in suicide attacks. The paper finds that the failure of transitional justice in Afghanistan is due to both internal and external factors. Further, the paper finds that Afghanistan has never been a post-conflict state, unlike other countries that have experienced transitional justice processes. Therefore transitional justice measures were never implemented.

MORDVA - SUPRA-ETHNOS; MOKSHA, ERZYA - SUB-ETHNOSES? (Experience of interdisciplinary dialogue)

The prominent Mordovian historian-ethnologist N.F. Mokshin chronologically and consistently presented information about Mordovians, Moksha and Erzya in the mass-political publication "Mordovia through the eyes of foreign and Russian travelers". This information was taken from Iordan, Konstantin Bagryanorodnyj, Rubruk, Joseph, Strabo, Ptolemy Claudius, Abu Ishaq al'-Farisi al' Istakhri, Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, Ibn-Haukal', Julian, H. Fren, P.S. Savel'ev, A.Ya. Garkavi; “The Tale of Bygone Years” (Povest Vremennykh let), V.N. Tatishchev, P.I. Rychkov, P.S. Pallas, Johann-Gottlieb Georgi and others recent and modern historians and ethnologists. In the proposed publication, a comparativist, a specialist in comparative historical linguistics, gives consistent comments to those presented by N.F. Mokshin's views, assumptions and conclusions of travelers, geographers, historians, ethnologists, among whom there was not a single professional linguist. In particular, there are doubts about the rapprochement of the modern ethnonym Erzya with exoethnonyms: Aors (Strabo), Arsiites (Ptolemy Claudius), Aris (Joseph), which are offered other explanations. It is clarified that Artania, as one of the three names of the Eastern Slavs (Rus, Slavia, Artania) mentioned by K. Bagryanorodnyj, should be read [Art̠āniya] in the Latin transliteration of the Arabic original. [Arsaija / Ersanija] readings are distorted; therefore, the archetype of the modern ethnonym Erzya is erroneous. The idea is that the urbanonym ‘Art(a)’ and the name of the country Artania both have a Turkic-Bulgarian origin and the real basis ‘Art’ (“back”; “backside”; “north”, etc.), being the equivalent of the ancient name of northeastern Russia - Zales’e, which had not only a geographical, but political dimension.

Against the Authoritarian Orator and His Pater familias: Deviant Literarity and Orphaned Speech in El padre mío by Diamela Eltit and Lotty Rosenfeld

Published in the last year of Augusto Pinochet Ugarte’s military dictatorship saw its end, My Father (El padre mío) constitutes an interprofessional, collaborative work between Chile National Literature Prize winner Diamela Eltit and visual artist Lotty Rosenfeld, composed of unaltered transcriptions of three monologues (dis)articulated by a schizophrenic vagrant who referred to himself as My Father. By re-enacting the vagrant’s irrational utterances in a truthful but parodic manner, Eltit and Rosenfeld “orphaned” these spoken words into a work of written literature that mocked the authoritarian voice of the dictator who had imposed himself as the Grand Orator of the Nation and the Father of Chile. The main objective of the present work, which is principally based on the conceptualization of Mute Speech by Jacques Rancière, is to examine the political dimension of Eltit and Rosenfeld’s aesthetic endeavor: through an exploration of the possibilities of political emancipation that the vagrant’s fatherless monologues fostered in My Father, our study demonstrates that what neoliberal civil society presupposes as objectionable animalistic noises may be capable of intervening in what Rancière refers to as the “distribution of sensible” and its consolidated aesthetics of hierarchy, thus subverting the fable of pater familias and pater patriae concocted by Pinochet’s right-wing military regime.

Reflexões em torno das relações entre docentes e educandos/as na educação de pessoas jovens e adultas: caminhos que se encontram na busca pela garantia de um direito

Este artigo traz para a reflexão as relações que se constroem entre docentes e educandos/as da Educação de Pessoas Jovens e Adultas (EPJA) em escolas da Rede Municipal de Educação de Belo Horizonte (RME-BH). As análises apresentadas partem de uma pesquisa realizada com docentes de ampla trajetória de trabalho na modalidade, que variam entre 11 e 32 anos de experiência no campo. Com o objetivo de descrever e analisar essas relações, o artigo indaga sobre como os/as docentes participantes da pesquisa reconhecem as especificidades dos sujeitos que frequentam a EPJA na RME-BH e constroem, junto com eles/as e na interação com a comunidade, um conjunto de práticas cuja finalidade é a busca pela garantia do direito à educação de todas as pessoas que chegam na EPJA, destacando a dimensão ética e política do fazer educativo.Palavras-chave: Docência na EPJA; Relações entre docentes e educandos/as da EPJA; Direito à EPJA.Reflections on the relationship between teachers and students in YAE: paths that meet in the search for the guarantee of a right AbstractThis paper aims to reflect on the relationships built between teachers and students of Youth and Adult Education (YAE) in schools of the Rede Municipal de Educação de Belo Horizonte (RME-BH). The proposed analyses are based on research conducted with teachers who have extensive work trajectories in the modality, ranging from 11 to 32 years of experience. With the aim of describing and analyzing these relationships, the paper explores how the teachers participating in the research recognize the specificities of the individuals who attend YAE at RME-BH and build, together with them and in interaction with the community, a set of practices whose purpose is to ensure the right to education of all people who attend YAE, highlighting the ethical and political dimension of education.Keywords: Teaching in YAE; Relationships between teachers and students in YAE; The right to Youth and Adult Education. Reflexiones en torno a las relaciones entre docentes y educandos/as de la EPJA: caminos que se encuentran en la búsqueda de la garantía de un derechoResumenEste artículo se propone reflexionar sobre las relaciones que se construyen entre docentes y educandos/as de la Educación de Personas Jóvenes y Adultas (EPJA) en escuelas de la Red Municipal de Educación de Belo Horizonte (RME-BH). Los análisis planteados parten de una investigación realizada con docentes que poseen amplias trayectorias de trabajo en la modalidad, las cuales varían entre 11 y 32 años de experiencia en el campo. Con el objetivo de describir y analizar dichas relaciones, el artículo indaga sobre cómo los/as docentes participantes de la investigación reconocen las especificidades de los sujetos que asisten a la EPJA en la RME-BH y construyen, junto a ellos/as y el resto de la comunidad, un conjunto de prácticas cuya finalidad es la búsqueda de la garantía del derecho a la educación de todas las personas que llegan a la EPJA, destacando la dimensión ética y política del quehacer educativo.Palabras clave: Docencia en la EPJA; Relaciones entre docentes y educandos/as de la EPJA; Derecho a la EPJA.

Transhumanism, Nietzsche and Politics: A Commentary on Their Relationship

The aim of this commentary is to highlight the relationship between Nietzsche and Transhumanism on the occasion of the publication of the Posthuman Studies Reader in 2021, which is edited by Evi D. Sampanikou and Jan Stasienko. More specifically, this commentary focuses on the fact that the Reader promotes Nietzsche as the official forerunner of Transhumanism, since it places humans at a transition point between animal and Overhuman.The analysis of the ten transhumanist texts in the Reader shows that, in essence, Transhumanism is not a transition but an overcoming of the human and, from this point of view, it is not in line with Nietzsche's conception. Moreover, this commentary focuses on the relationship between Transhumanism and politics and shows that the political dimension is entirely absent from most of the Transhumanist texts in the Reader. Thus, transhumanism should re-evaluate its epistemological foundations and its relation to politics.

Memorial Urban Art as an Aesthetic Experience in the City - An Aesthetical Reading of War Murals in Tehran’s Urban Landscape

In the city of Tehran, a series of war-themed murals, often focused on strengthening the audience’s historical memory, stand out among all types of urban art. These works of art, which are generated by the government’s order and created by different state institutions, all carry political and ideological dimensions. They are considered a source of environmental qualitative assessment and recognised as a kind of ‘urban aestheticisation’; in other words, it is a process leading to the production of value according to the ‘John Dewey’ theory. Knowing that the war artworks contain a major political dimension and are mainly created by the order of the ruling governments to ‘strengthen the audience’s historical memory’, an added quality is inevitably integrated, which in the aesthetic domain is commonly known as kitsch: taking advantage of people’s standard associations and confirming them by employing proven stereotypes and clichés, as Ortlieb and Carbon (2019b) wrote. The urban landscape as an exhibition platform is therefore important as it is the context of social events and daily life that affects the audience’s perception. John Dewey defines this perception as an aesthetic experience which takes place in the field of empirical aesthetics and begins by explaining why specific objects give pleasure or displeasure. These explanations will later be integrated into a set of principles which, in turn, will join a global system of analysis, such as Fechner’s aesthetic valuations. The aesthetic experience of war urban artworks is analysed from the observation that in the creation of these works in Tehran, the government, as the sponsor, focuses on the use of the aesthetic qualities of the kitsch. The article then presents the reading of this aesthetic experience through the analysis of a selection of works, based on evaluation criteria and indicators. The interpretation of this experience is to discover the ‘quiddity’ of the evolutions which have occurred in these works from the beginning of the war until today. The following statement highlights one of the most notable results of the research: the weakening of the art position, from a promotional state that improves the urban landscape quality, into a way of showing government’s positioning concerning the paradigms of the country.