Unsettling research versus activism: how might critical disability studies disrupt traditional research boundaries?

Abstract

This article responds to the call for producing activist-oriented scholarship by engaging with theoretical and methodological approaches that explore the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in Vietnam. We consider possibilities for connecting different forms of knowledge and activism by reflecting on research practices designed to foster social change. Specifically, we ask: how can critical disability studies be more reflexive about knowledge which privileges particular ways of knowing from the Global North? What alternative possibilities can exist to foster more inclusive and transformative knowledge that tackles systemic forms of oppressions in colonial and postcolonial contexts? Reflecting on an ongoing collaborative project in Vietnam, we argue that critical disability studies which engages with different forms of activism through critical reflections on our privileges can tackle exclusion by opening a new platform for debating social justice transnationally.     

人类命运共同体构想的三维审思：逻辑起点·现实基点·思想源点

人类命运共同体构想作为马克思主义中国化的最新理论成果，是在积极反思人类生存现状的基础之上，对世界未来发展形态的一种前瞻性擘画。总体观之，作为“类”存在的人的主体自觉以及马克思主义“类”思想是人类命运共同体构想的逻辑基点， 现代“人类交往”方式的演进与普遍发展是人类命运共同体构想的现实基点，中国传统文化中的“和合”理念是人类命运共同体构想的思想源点。逻辑起点、现实基点与思想源点共同构成人类命运共同体构想的生成之源，对其系统、深入的阐释与审思则是我们学习、领悟、实践这一伟大构想的重要环节。     

Staff and family attitudes to fences as a means of detaining people with dementia in residential aged care settings: The tension between physical and emotional safety

This study investigates staff and family attitudes towards the use of the fences that surround many aged care facilities in Australia, in the context of indefinite detention of people with dementia. This indefinite detention has been described in a report from an Australian Senate Inquiry as “a significant problem within the aged care context”, which “is often informal, unregulated and unlawful”. Five focus groups comprising direct care workers, family members, nurse unit managers and facility managers discussed the reasons for and their attitudes towards fences. The results show a tension between the provision of physical and emotional safety. This is to say that even while it is illegal to detain people with dementia against their will, and even while participants understood the negative impact of fences on the well‐being and emotional safety of people with dementia, they accepted and supported the presence of perimeter fences because they provided the perception that fences kept people with dementia physically safe. This has implications for redressing the balance between physical and emotional safety in policy and practice.     

习近平新时代观的理论生成探讨

理顺习近平关于“中国特色社会主义进入新时代”的逻辑理路，有助于系统论证“新时代”的科学性和理论性。从方法论上看，习近平新时代观是应用马克思主义立场观点和方法得出的正确结论。从理论归因看，中国社会主要矛盾的转化作为习近平新时代观生成的主要标志，源于马克思主义关于矛盾运动的基本理论。从理论定位看，习近平新时代观展现的是中国发展的特殊阶段，内含着中国对自身发展的时代定位与目标趋向，渗透着中国与世界在共同发展中的新阶段、新高度、新未来，是对中国发展方向的顶层设计。     

‘I shouldn’t be living there because I am a sponger’: negotiating everyday geographies by people with learning disabilities

Learning disability policy has for some time been framed by the goal of inclusion which purports to enable people with learning disabilities to lead a ‘life like any other’ person. This article examines the extent to which this is the case in England, by tracing the lived experiences of people with learning disabilities within their communities. The article draws on two interlinked qualitative studies involving interviews that examined their local place-based experiences of inclusion and exclusion. The findings reveal ‘moments of inclusion’ and opportunities for social encounter from peer support, but these were situated amidst wider experiences of exclusion and harassment.     

习近平外交思想指向下中日关系发展的新定位

近年来中日关系逐步转寒回暖,无论政治交流氛围,还是经济合作环境都得到了较大改善,这离不开中国政府根据国际形势及中日关系的变化及时调整对日政策,也充分体现了习近平新时代中国特色社会主义外交思想对中日关系缓和发展的引领作用。在安倍首相访华及习近平主席出席大阪G20峰会之后,两国政府在努力建设契合新时代要求的中日关系上达成多点共识。中日双方将依托“一带一路”倡议和第三方市场合作的平台,进一步致力于深化经济合作,维护多边主义和自由贸易体制,共同培育新动能和新的增长点,加速东北亚区域命运共同体的构建。     

“订单式”培养远洋渔业紧缺人才的实践与思考

发展现代远洋渔业是党的十八大提出的建设海洋强国的战略需求，而远洋渔业人才的培养则是促进远洋渔业可持续发展的重要保障。应采用理事会管理、“订单式”培养远洋渔业紧缺人才；行业主管部门、产业部门、学校和学生四方应协同，形成政府宏观调控、企业需求有保证、学校积极培养、学生愿意选择的良性循环；企业至少提前2年下“订单”，由学院、企业共同选拔学生，进行为期二年的“订单式”强化培养；校方应将强化培养教学内容纳入教学计划中，作为专业方向来培养；应多层次、多方面和多专业培养远洋渔业紧缺人才。     

Journey towards independent living: a grounded theory investigation of leaving the care of Girls & Boys Town,South Africa

The journey out of care and towards independent living is a challenge for many care-leavers. There has been little research into the social processes involved in this care-leaving journey. This paper presents the results of a grounded theory investigation into the care-leaving journeys of nine young men who had, several years previously, been in the care of Girls & Boys Town in South Africa. Working from a resilience perspective, with an ecological emphasis, four central social processes emerged that together explain the care-leaving experiences of the participants. These processes are striving for authentic belonging; networking people for goal attainment; contextualised responsiveness and building hopeful and tenacious self-confidence. These four processes are located within contextual boundaries and at the social environmental interface. The paper presents these processes in detail, drawing on selected narratives of the participants and integrated with additional theory. It is hoped that this paper may contribute to theory building concerning care-leaving processes and enhance youth care practices for youth in care and leaving care.     

Contested attachments: rethinking adoptive kinship in the era of open adoption

Since its legal inception in 1926, adoption work has been centrally concerned with the matter of the adopted child's ‘first’ or prior life, whilst also focussed on achieving a new and secure substitute family for that child. Adoptive kinship has been formed through this dual and contradictory concern, a concern that has produced diverse policies and practices over the last 90 years. Drawing on Foucault's concept of technologies of the subject, this paper is an exploration of adoptive kinship within the new context of open adoption, a set of practices that more actively promotes the involvements of the adopted child's former family. These practices both promote a radical reworking of adoptive kinship, as well as confirming its more orthodox moorings. Drawing on an adoption archive study, the paper concludes with an analysis of letterbox contact to explore how far this form of open practice transforms adoptive kinship in the contemporary era.     

Using complexity theory in kinship practice

This reflective discussion draws on data from a collaborative enquiry into kinship or family and friends practice. It introduces perspectives from complexity and chaos theory as a way of re‐examining the challenges of kinship practice. The discussion highlights the enduring challenges for practitioners, not least, managing anxiety and uncertainty, sustaining continuity and containment, becoming experienced and taking account of the complex developmental needs of the children and their families. The discussion particularly raises questions about appropriate settings for practitioners to undertake such a demanding area of child and family social work.