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Political Possibilities (political + possibility)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	80%

Selected Abstracts

The Paradoxes of Indian Politics

HISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 4 2007
Achin Vanaik
This article by one of India's foremost writers on contemporary politics surveys twelve paradoxes. These are the key themes which have shaped domestic political change in India in recent decades and particularly since the mid-eighties. It outlines how social and economic changes have intersected with political possibilities and especially stresses the way in which India's continued social inequalities have been played out in a democratic setting. It is very useful for anybody wanting to understand the present day politics of India or who is interested in the consequences of colonial economies for postcolonial states. [source]

The Influence of Country of Birth and Other Variables on the Earnings of Immigrants

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2005
The Case of the United States in 199
With globalization, plus the ongoing wars and political problems facing many countries, immigration has lately been accentuated. It is very common for immigrants to move to countries where it is perceived that their economic and political possibilities might be enhanced. In light of this, many foreigners tend to see the United States as their destination. However, sometimes these new additions to the economy face an uphill battle to fit in and make their abilities be valued in the new country. This paper tries to measure and quantify these problems faced by newcomers. It also addresses the question of who will most probably fare better in the United States. These two issues are measured through data obtained in the Current Population Survey published in March 1999. [source]

The boundaries of property: lessons from Beatrix Potter

THE CANADIAN GEOGRAPHER/LE GEOGRAPHE CANADIEN, Issue 2 2004
Nicholas Blomley
Beatrix Potter's classic children's book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, offers an example of a well-entrenched view of property and its geographies. Drawing on this, and current scholarship on law and geography, I explore the ways in which the spatial boundaries of property are formally conceived. I then compare this model with the findings of a qualitative research project on people's everyday practices and understandings of their garden boundaries in inner city Vancouver. While this provides partial support for the formal model, I find more pervasive evidence for a very different view of the boundaries of property. While the dominant account assumes a determinate, individualistic and ordered view of the boundary, my findings suggest a more relational, porous and ambiguous alternative. The gap, however, proves instructive. In conclusion, therefore, I return to law and geography to reflect on the importance of thinking through the ways legal forms, such as property, are materially and spatially enacted within particular places. Finally, the study alerts us to the multivalent political possibilities of property. While property can, indeed, be individualistic and reified, it also contains more collective and fluid meanings. Le livre classique d'enfants, Pierre Lapin, par Beatrix Potter, donne un exemple d'une opinion bien implantée de la propriété et de ses géographies. En tirant de ce sujet, et de l'érudition récente de la loi et de la géographie, j'examine les façons dans lesquelles les frontières spatiales d'une propriété sont conçues officiellement. Ensuite, je met en parallèle ce modèle avec les résultats d'un projet de recherche qualitatif qui explique les habitudes quotidiennes des personnes et les compréhensions des frontières de leurs jardins dans les quartiers déshérités du Vancouver. Pendant que ce projet donne du soutien partiel pour l'ancien modèle, je trouve de l'évidence qui se fait sentir un peu partout pour une opinion très différente au sujet des frontières des propriétés. Tandis que l'explication principale admette une vue au sujet de la frontière qui est déterminante, individualiste et hiérarchisé, mes résultats proposent une alternative plus relationelle, plus perméable, et ambiguë. La lacune, cependant, démontre d'être éducative. En conclusion, donc, je retourne à la loi et à la géographie pour réfléchir sur l'importance de penser comment les formes légales, comme la propriété, sont promulgués d'une façon matérielle et spatialle dans les endroits particuliers. Finalement, cette étude nous avertit aux possibilités politiques et polyvalentes de la propriété. Lorsque la propriété peut, bien sûr, être individualiste et bien fondé, elle peut contenir des significations plus collectives et fluides. [source]

Of eagles and flies: orientations toward the site

AREA, Issue 3 2010
Keith Woodward
The macro-micro distinction is one of the most powerful in the human and physical sciences. In this article we challenge the macro by positing an alternative that recognises the intricacies and complexities of material geographies. We employ the Latin proverb , Aquila non captat muscas (Eagles don't catch flies) , to epitomise our position. Instead of looking to general theory , the bird's eye view , we argue for interrogating the ontological and methodological implications of a reciprocal, but antithetical, perspective , that of the flies. We call this alternative the site, an ontology that attempts to account for the different and varying political possibilities , virtually infinite and ,un-catalogue-able', constantly at work in the world. The site is a formulation that recognises social life as a realm of infinite singularity and variability, where matter is immanently self-organising and pure difference unfolds. We explore the spatiality of the site through the concepts of topology and difference and then develop four methodological orientations for exploring the terrain of situated practices enmeshed in and unfolding through sites. [source]

THERAPY AS MEMORY-WORK: DILEMMAS OF DISCOVERY, RECOVERY AND CONSTRUCTION

BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHOTHERAPY, Issue 4 2002
Erica Burman
ABSTRACT In this paper I have sought to shift the focus on the construction of memory within psychotherapeutic practice in a number of different directions to draw some more general lessons for the process and status of therapeutic accounts. The precipitating context for the current scrutiny of memory-making within therapy may have limited its scope and fruitfulness. The fact that this issue was largely prompted by debates about the status of (usually) adult women's recovery of memories of early abuse within therapy is a relevant factor that has been compounded by issues of professional credibility and hierarchy. Clearly, at a cultural level, women's memories of childhood abuse function politically as well as personally, as reflected by the social and legal responses to this challenge. However, guidelines for professional practice cannot legislate for the indeterminacies surrounding the subjectivity of memory, while assumptions underlying the empirical psychological resources drawn upon to inform debates in psychotherapy require critical scrutiny. Clinical and interpretive dilemmas extend beyond the status accorded client memorial reports to therapists' memory-making practices as textualized via both supervision and clinical notetaking. Drawing on more recent (including feminist) discussions of memory that identify different political possibilities within third and first person accounts it was suggested that, rather than eschewing the subjectivity of memory, therapists can instead analyse this as a key interpretive and reflexive resource to inform their own practice. [source]