Taking the longer view: Explaining Multicultural London English and Multicultural Paris French

The article explores the perplexing outcomes of comparative research projects in London and Paris on language change in multilingual areas of the cities populated by large numbers of recent immigrants with very diverse language backgrounds. In London, as in many other northern European cities, language contact on such a large scale has resulted in the emergence of a “multiethnolect”: a repertoire of innovative linguistic forms used by young people of all ethnicities, including monolingual non‐immigrant speakers. In Paris, however, there was no such repertoire. I propose four factors that are necessary for a multiethnolect to emerge and that explain why similar processes of population movement, immigration, and globalization have produced such different linguistic outcomes in London and Paris. These factors remind us that language evolution, like language use, is constrained not only by the social characteristics of individuals but also by the socio‐cultural historical contexts in which individuals live.     

Systematization of Kazakh music in Mongolia: activities of theater and radio station during the Soviet era

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the systematization of Kazakh music in Mongolia during the Soviet era in Bayan-Ölgiy Province, focusing on the music collection and preservation activities led by a theater and radio station. Bayan-Ölgiy is located far from Ulaanbaatar; adjacent to Kazakhstan, Xinjiang (China), and Russia. Using three–years participation observation, this study identified three activities in promoting the systematization of Kazakh music in Mongolia: importing musical knowledge and technology from the Soviet Kazakh Republic (1950–1960s); establishing a radio station and audio archive following the Sino-Soviet split (1960s–1980s); collections of Kazakh music in Mongolia (1960s–1980s). These activities were driving forces for Kazakhs to claim their identity in the post-socialist period in Mongolia. Diener found that Kazakh culture in Mongolia was preserved thanks to the geographic isolation of Bayan-Ölgiy. However, this study clearly identifies international relations and Bayan-Ölgiy’s strategic location as drivers of systematization of Kazakh music in Mongolia.     

Digital learning across cultures: an account of activity theory

ABSTRACT

This paper explores a teaching and learning process as it unfolds in an online offshore classroom. The paper reports on teaching and learning narratives distilled from different cultures, namely the cultures of educators and students in the context of digital learning environments. Drawing on activity theory as a conceptual framework to analyse the narrative, we employ self-study as a methodological tool for capturing the dynamism and complexities that unravel in intercultural and technology-enabled teaching activities. The framework explores the relationships, tensions and opportunities of diverse activity elements that constitute the design and delivery of digital pedagogies. In the networked intercultural system, sustaining the position of activity elements and the specific relational circuit that they institutionalise is a key task for understanding digital technologies as an influential tool for effective learning and teaching practices. We argue that seeing the digital platform from the perspective of its role in creating dynamic interrelationships in a complex activity system is one way to move beyond the cultural confines of any particular element in the system.     

The paradox of illicit economies: survival,resilience, and the limits of development and drug policy orthodoxy

ABSTRACT

The illicit drug crops opium and coca are conventionally regarded as sources of instability, an ‘evil’ that breeds fragility and violence. Fragile states are supposed to be most vulnerable to their production and consequent harms. Yet by looking into the local contexts of the world’s leading opium and coca producers – Afghanistan, Myanmar, Colombia and Bolivia – these illicit crops are found to also be sources of stability, even drivers of economic growth. They enable marginalized communities and territories abandoned by the state to be reinserted into national and global markets. Within so-called ‘fragile’ and conflict-affected areas are displaced and dispossessed households adopting innovative and unorthodox strategies for coping and survival in changing and insecure environments. This paper maps out an approach, useful for examining the resilience that has emerged amidst violence and uncertainty in illicit-crop-producing territories, and which can hopefully tackle the continuing disconnect between drugs and development policy.     

Fiddling while the planet burns? COP25 in perspective

ABSTRACT

With fires, storms, social protests, and climate strikes sweeping the world, 2019 should have been a tipping point in how the world responds to global heating. This was the backdrop to the COP25 climate change summit which took place in Madrid in December 2019. This paper assesses the outcomes of the meeting and the path towards the critically important meeting in Glasgow at the end of 2020. It analyses and explains the key points of contention over levels of ambition, the rules which should govern global carbon markets and sensitive issues such as loss and damage associated with the impacts of climate change. The analysis is situated within a broader geopolitical and economic context of right-wing populism, deepening forms of marketization and financialization of responses to climate change and against a background of a world increasingly feeling the effects of the climate crisis.     

To what extent is social security spending associated with enhanced firm-level performance? A case study of SMEs in Indonesia

Although the relationship between social protection and enterprise performance is much debated in the literature, evidence is particularly limited in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises in developing economies. Using census data from 2010 to 2014, this article examines how the provision of social security influenced business performance in Indonesia. The author finds that increased social security spending of 10 per cent is associated with a per-worker revenue gain of up to 2 per cent. Moreover, profits are not found to decrease with increased social protection coverage, suggesting that increasing worker benefits may be a worthwhile business investment.     

ISO 45001 and controversial transnational private regulation for occupational health and safety

This article analyses the genesis of the ISO 45001 standard on occupational health and safety, a new initiative of transnational private regulation. The authors draw a picture of controversy from interviews with stakeholders involved in its design, approval and initial dissemination, and from a qualitative content analysis of the internal documentation of the committee responsible for its approval. Like its predecessors relating to environmental management – ISO 14001 – and corporate social responsibility – ISO 26000 – this new standard raises serious concerns among stakeholders given that it deals with substantive political, social and legal issues.     

Women Underrepresentation in R&I: A Sector Program Assessment of the Contribution of Gender Equality Policies in Research and Innovation

Despite decades of efforts to achieve gender equality in research and innovation (R&I), all EU member states still face remarkable difficulties in driving forward the development of their innovation system while at the same time improving gender equality by using all the available research potential. In this paper we focus on the development of the share of women researchers in four national innovation systems, i.e. in Austria, Denmark, Hungary and Spain in the time period 2005-2015. The four selected cases represent countries with significant differences in their innovation capacity, gender regimes and progress of gender equality in R&I. A qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is carried out to conduct a sector program evaluation based on statistical data and qualitative studies to understand the dynamic development of the proportion of women researchers. The study aims to provide insights into the aggregated gender equality interventions and policies implemented in the four countries studied and their contributions to the development of the proportion of women scientists at the structural level. The analysis reveals that the development of the share of women researchers during the studied period has been particularly influenced by contextual factors, namely the relative size of the business enterprise sector and the share of women among holders of tertiary education. While this is the case, it is found that gender equality interventions need to be more widespread and more effectively designed to be a strong contributing factor to an increasing representation of women in R&I.     

Queering Canadian Social Work Accreditation standards and procedures: a content analysis

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews and critically analyzes the Canadian Association for Social Work Education—Association Canadienne Pour La Formation En Travail Social’s (CASWE-ACFTS’) Accreditation Standards and Procedures from a Sexual Orientation Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIESC) lens to examine how such are addressed in relevant documents. The CASWE-ACFTS Queer Caucus undertook a lead role in examining ‘diversity’ in the documents as it serves as an umbrella term for SOGIESC and other intersecting positionalities. This paper iterates an initial response in the CASWE-ACFTS Queer Caucus’ ongoing consultation with the CASWE-ACFTS’s Education Policy Committee’s work on Education Policy and Accreditation Standards 2019 (EPAS2019). The content analysis of the documents reveals that SOGIESC issues are not adequately addressed and this has implications for undergraduate and graduate social work curricula in Canada. The authors provide recommendations that address the integration of SOGIESC in CASWE-ACFTS’s Accreditation Standards and Procedures documents.     

Unintended consequences in traffic-light food labeling: A call for mixed methods in public health research

Abstract

Nudge theory describes how indirect suggestions and positive reinforcement can influence decision-making. We used nudge theory to implement a traffic-light labeling and choice architecture (modifying product placement) intervention at Harvard University cafeterias, but found no significant change in sales. Survey and focus group data showed that some students thought the labeling may exacerbate eating disorders, however, there is extremely limited research on potential negative consequences of labeling. One way to describe these findings is through 20th century philosopher Michel Foucault’s concept of biopower. Biopower manipulates cultural norms and nudges individuals to engage in self-surveillance and self-discipline, de facto subjugating themselves to certain ways of being. Biopower may lead to the creation of an in-group and an out-group based on who can adopt the new behaviors, such as healthy eating. Those in the out-group may face additional unintended consequences, highlighting the need for mixed-methods research to better evaluate public health interventions.