Agency Structure

A FEMINIST TAOIST VOICE PART 2: MY DIALOGUE WITH ELISA FON, ACUPUNCTURIST, TAOIST, FEMINIST AND FRIEND by Sara Frykenberg

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

Taoism is a philosophy that, for me, has been around so long because it is meant to move and change with society…more Taoism is a philosophy that, for me, has been around so long because it is meant to move and change with society…

Acupuncturist, healer and friend, Elisa Fon and I began a discussion of Taoism and feminism in Part 1 of this interview.  Elisa defined her vision of feminism and Taoism, explained Taoism’s relational and yet, individual emphasis on what is particular in each of our experiences and considered the basic relationship of yang and yin.  Part 2 picks up where she and I left off, returning to the discussion of yin, yang and supposed dualisms.

Sara: I was wondering if you could talk a little about the complementarity of yin and yang?

Body, Nature, Ancestors by Carol P. Christ

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project.

Some years ago, womanist theologian Karen Baker–Fletcher asked about ancestors following a lecture I gave on the body... more Some years ago, womanist theologian Karen Baker–Fletcher asked about ancestors following a lecture I gave on the body and nature.  I have since come to realize that ancestors are a missing link between the two:  we cannot speak adequately of embodiment and interdependence in the web of life without recognizing the ancestors whose lives made ours possible.  Our mothers quite literally gave us our bodies.  All of our ancestors gave us their genes.  Care and callousness with origins going back longer than conscious memory was imprinted on the psyches of our parents and grandparents and transmitted to us.  All of our ancestors give us connections to place.  While many black people in America can recite oral histories that begin with slavery in the United States, I come from a family where stories of origin for the most part were not valued or told.

Anarchsim Strikes Back

by Christian Garland

Unedited version of shortened review of Franks, B. (2006) Rebel Alliances: The Means and Ends of Contemporary British Anarchisms (Edinburgh: AK Press) published in Radical Philosophy 172 http://www.radicalphilosophy.com/reviews/142-reviews

A Dual-power situation? Communization and the Materiality of Anti-power

by Christian Garland

Text of talk given at 'Taking Control' Conference, 12 March 2011
SOAS, University of London
http://takingcontrol2011.wordpress.com/

'Autonomism'

by Christian Garland

‘Autonomism’ pps. 322-325 International Encyclopaedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500-the present ed. Ness, I. (Oxford & New York: Blackwell Publishing) http://www.revolutionprotestencyclopedia.com/public/

Negating that which Negates us: Marcuse, Critical Theory and the New Politics of Refusal

by Christian Garland

‘Negating that which Negates us: Marcuse, Critical Theory and the New Politics of Refusal’ (under review) in Radical Philosophy Review. Version of paper presented as part of Panel 24: ‘Looting, Refusing, Negating, Embodying’, 'Critical Refusals’ Fourth Biennal Conference of the International Herbert Marcuse Society, University of Pennsylvania, 27-29 October 2011

Review of Holloway, J. (2010) Crack Capitalism (London: Pluto)

by Christian Garland

Review of Holloway, J. (2010) Crack Capitalism (London: Pluto) for Marx and Philosophy Review of Books

Continuing professional development through reflexive networks: Disrupting online communities of practice

by Gurmit Singh

Singh, G., McPherson, M. & Sandars, J. (2012). Continuing professional development through reflexive networks: Disrupting online communities of practice. Paper presented at ProPEL International Conference 2012, University of Stirling, UK, May 2012.

"Tension in Intersectional Agency. A theoretical discussion of the interior conflict of white, feminist activists' intersectional location"

by Dieuwertje Dyi Huijg

- winning essay of the FWSA 2010/11 competition (Feminist & Women Studies Association)

In this article I question the wholeness of the agency of white, feminist activists. Drawing on intersectional theory,... more In this article I question the wholeness of the agency of white, feminist activists. Drawing on intersectional theory, I problematise the multiplicative character of their location in order to be able to understand how intersectional agency operates. This location reveals three layers of intersectionality; the junction of axes of social signification (gender and race); the junction of manifestations on these axes (female and white); and the junction of, subsequent, positions in power relations (disadvantaged and advantaged). I argue that this is specifically important and complex when we explore how whiteness can operate intersectionally. This results in three observations. First, this intersectional junction is conflictive in its interior; race as advantage and gender as disadvantage can operate as opposite structuring forces in power relations. Second, feminist activism is characterised by gendered action and aims at social transformation in the realm of gender. Whiteness, on the other hand, is often marked by racial passivity and omission via which it can invest in the maintenance of the racial status quo and non-change; this contradicts feminist objectives. Third, contra the conflation of agency with action, I agree that not every action is agentic. If not every action is agentic, then not all agency generates action. In turn, this means that agency can also result in omission; ‘something’ which is not action, i.e. an absence or void of action or, what I call, inaction. We can say that inaction is a familiar manifestation of hegemonic processes as whiteness. In turn, we can see that gender and race as structuring forces, subsequently, shape agency contradictorily, which can generate action and inaction simultaneously. The differentiation of layers in intersectional theory suggests that the agency of white, feminist activists is mobilised within a conceptual opposition in power relations that, consequently, questions the ‘wholeness’ of intersectional agency.

Keywords: Intersectional theory, Agency, White women

Comprehensive Examination In Sociological Theory

by Matt Patterson

Written in September 2009
Committee: Jack Veugelers, Marion Blute, Bernd Baldus
Department of Sociology, University of Toronto

Dualność czy dualizm? Relacje pomiędzy strukturą i podmiotowym sprawstwem we współczesnych debatach teoretycznych

by Markieta Domecka

Artykuł zaakceptowany do publikacji w: "Sprawstwo - teorie, metody, badania empiryczne w naukach społecznych", red. Mrozowicki, A., Nowaczyk, O., Szlachcicowa, I., Zakład Wydawniczy NOMOS.

Śledząc rozwój teorii w naukach społecznych widzimy dominację podejść jednostronnych, skupiających się na poziomie... more Śledząc rozwój teorii w naukach społecznych widzimy dominację podejść jednostronnych, skupiających się na poziomie strukturalnym i ignorujących znaczenie podmiotowości lub przeciwnie, eksponujących rolę podmiotowego sprawstwa przy jednoczesnym pomijaniu wpływów strukturalnych. O ile obecnie możemy zaobserwować rosnące zrozumienie dla potrzeby równorzędnego uwzględnienia zarówno poziomu strukturalnego jak i podmiotowego, nadal nie udało się osiągnąć konsensusu co do tego, jakie relacje istnieją pomiędzy tymi poziomami. Wielu teoretyków podejmowało do tej pory nie do końca udane próby połączenia struktur z praktykami generując jedne z drugich, redukując je lub sprowadzając do siebie nawzajem. Dwa dominujące do chwili obecnej sposoby połączenia wpływów strukturalnych i podmiotowych mogą być opisane jako dualność i dualizm. Pierwszy z nich polega na konceptualnym zespoleniu struktury i podmiotowego sprawstwa; drugi zaś na ich konceptualnym rozdzieleniu.

Neoliberalism as discourse: between Foucauldian political economy and Marxian poststructuralism

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. Forthcoming. Neoliberalism as discourse: between Foucauldian political economy and Marxian poststructuralism. Critical Discourse Studies.

Contemporary theorizations of neoliberalism are framed by a false dichotomy between, on the one hand, studies... more Contemporary theorizations of neoliberalism are framed by a false dichotomy between, on the one hand, studies influenced by Foucault in emphasizing neoliberalism as a form of governmentality, and on the other hand, inquiries influenced by Marx in foregrounding neoliberalism as a hegemonic ideology. This article seeks to shine some light on this division in an effort to open up new debates and recast existing ones in such a way that might lead to more flexible understandings of neoliberalism as a discourse. A discourse approach moves theorizations forward by recognizing neoliberalism is neither a ‘top down’ nor ‘bottom up’ phenomena, but rather a circuitous process of socio-spatial transformation.

The Land of the (Not Quite) Free: Women and Religion Behind Bars by Amy Levin

by Feminism and Religion

originally published on the Feminism and Religion Project.

The sun was setting on an early Friday evening in October 2008 as I pulled into the parking lot of the Iowa... more The sun was setting on an early Friday evening in October 2008 as I pulled into the parking lot of the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women, a maximum level security prison housing nearly 700 inmates. Though the serene drive on Iowa’s main highway lasted a mere 40 minutes from Grinnell to Mitchellville, my co-teacher and I felt worlds away from our tiny utopian bubble of books and booze. As we gathered our teaching materials for a course we designed called “Feminist Playwriting,” we made sure not to bring in any contraband, one of the many precautions given during our orientation for students participating in Grinnell Liberal Arts in Prison, a program created in 2003 that allows students to design liberal arts courses in either a men or women’s Iowa prison. My experience interacting with an incredible roomful of women, some who would suffer behind bars for the rest of their lives, was needless to say a life changing experience. That semester ignited a fire in me for prison rights, which recently has manifested in a concern for the nexus of religion and prison.

Many Americans view prison and prisoners through a binary lens – the good are free, and the bad are behind bars, or at least should be. We also tend to pride ourselves on the fact that we value freedom, but when Francis Scott Key invoked the phrase “Land of the Free,” he must not have predicted that the United States would imprison more people than any other country on the planet. America incarcerates roughly 2.3 million Americans, 208,000 of which are women. As a New York Times article in 2008 put it quite shockingly: “The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.” These statistics do not even touch upon the staggering disproportionate number of African Americans in prison, and it certainly doesn’t tell us anything about women’s experiences in prison.

Media Consumption Across Platforms: Identifying User Defined Repertoires

by harsh taneja

Cite as :
Taneja,H, Webster, J, Malthouse,E, Ksiazek,T (In Press)Media Consumption Across Platforms: Identifying User Defined Repertoires, New Media and Society.

New media have made available a wide range of platforms and content choices. However, audiences cope with abundant... more New media have made available a wide range of platforms and content choices. However, audiences cope with abundant choices by using more narrowly defined repertoires. Unfortunately, we know little of how users create repertoires across media platforms. This study uses factor analysis to identify user-defined repertoires from data obtained by following 495 users throughout an entire day. Results indicate the presence of four repertoires that are powerfully tied to the rhythms of people's daily lives. These were in turn explained by a combination of factors such as audience availability and individual demographics.

The social practices of curriculum making

by Mark Priestley

EdD Thesis (2007)

This thesis is concerned with the ‘problem’ of change in education, an issue characterised in much of the literature... more This thesis is concerned with the ‘problem’ of change in education, an issue characterised in much of the literature as a paradox of innovation without change. The thesis draws upon school-based empirical research, undertaken in the context of the reactions by Geography, History and Modern Studies teachers to the notion of teaching integrated social subjects, set against the wider framework of the Scottish Executive’s curriculum policy. The thesis first sets the topic in its Scottish and wider context, before undertaking a comprehensive review of the themes that emerge from the worldwide literature on educational change. These include the paradox of innovation without change, teacher mediation of change initiatives, departmental and school cultures, the subject centredness of schooling and factors that have been noted to underpin successful change initiatives. The thesis sets out a theoretical position that draws upon the critical realist social theory of Margaret Archer. This approach posits a centrist approach to the contentious structure/agency debate, suggesting a complex relationship between social structures, cultural forms and individual agency, whereby social reproduction and transformation are played out through continual social interaction. From this foundation of theory, I develop a practical methodology for researching change in school settings. My empirical work consists of a questionnaire sent to 100 schools, and two linked case studies, where data was collected through semi-structured interviews, observations and analysis of school documents. The research identifies trends in school provision and, through the case studies, the processes of curriculum making are investigated using the aforementioned methodology. The thesis concludes that such processes are ineluctably social practices, and that those seeking to innovate in schools should pay attention to the social dimensions of change – the engagement of people with ideas and the social structures that impede, distort or promote change. The thesis concludes by presenting a set of general principles that might serve to facilitate change promoted by future initiatives.

Wprowadzenie do polskiego tłumaczenia książki Margaret S. Archer "Being Human: The Problem of Agency"

by Markieta Domecka

Introduction to the Polish translation of the book by Margaret S. Archer "Being Human: The Problem of Agency"; to be published by Nomos

Toward an Integrated History to Guide the Future

by Ida Kubiszewski

Co-authored with Sander van der Leeuw, Robert Costanza, Steve Aulenbach, Simon Brewer, Michael Burek, Sarah Cornell, Carole Crumley,, John A. Dearing, Catherine Downy, Lisa J. Graumlich, Scott Heckbert, Michelle Hegmon, Kathy Hibbard, Stephen T. Jackson, Paul Sinclair, Sverker Sörlin, and Will Steffen
Published in 2011

Many contemporary societal challenges manifest themselves in the domain of human–environment interactions. There is a... more Many contemporary societal challenges manifest themselves in the domain of human–environment interactions. There is a growing recognition that responses to these challenges formulated within current disciplinary boundaries, in isolation from their wider contexts, cannot adequately address them. Here, we outline the need for an integrated, transdisciplinary synthesis that allows for a holistic approach, and, above all, a much longer time perspective. We outline both the need for and the fundamental characteristics of what we call “integrated history.” This approach promises to yield new understandings of the relationship between the past, present, and possible futures of our integrated human–environment system. We recommend a unique new focus of our historical efforts on the future, rather than the past, concentrated on learning about future possibilities from history. A growing worldwide community of transdisciplinary scholars is forming around building this Integrated History and future of People on Earth (IHOPE). Building integrated models of past human societies and their interactions with their environments yields new insights into those interactions and can help to create a more sustainable and desirable future. The activity has become a major focus within the global change community.

Structure, Agency and the Hierarchy of Beliefs

by libby pickworth

From agency to structure: Analysis of an episode in a facilitation process

by François Cooren

Women's leisure and auto/biography: empowerment and resistance in the garden

by Jayne Raisborough

Raisborough, J.; Bhatti, M.
Journal of Leisure Research 2007 Vol. 39 No. 3 pp. 459-476

This exploratory paper addresses prevailing conceptualisations of women's agency in leisure. It focuses on the... more This exploratory paper addresses prevailing conceptualisations of women's agency in leisure. It focuses on the reproduction/resistance framework characteristic of much feminist work. Realising the role of leisure in reproducing oppressive gender relations and the various ways that leisure can also resist them is vital to the continual politicisation of leisure, however we explore whether this framework can always adequately realise the complexities of women's lived relations to engendered power. We specifically focus on the conceptual relationship between empowerment and resistance. Using the illustration of one woman's auto/biography lodged with the Mass Observation Archive, we question whether women's empowerment is derived from a contextual repositioning to gendered norms and an agency which neither resists nor straight-forwardly reproduces gender relations.