‘Us’ and ‘them’: the limits and possibilities of a ‘politics of neurodiversity’ in neoliberal times

The neurodiversity movement claims that there are neurological differences in the human population, and that autism is a natural variation among humans – not a disease or a disorder, just ‘a difference’. A ‘politics of neurodiversity’ is based on the claim that the ‘neurodiverse’ population constitutes a political grouping comparable with those of class, gender, sexuality or race. This paper considers the limits and possibilities of neurodiverse political activism, and concludes by calling for a politics of identity that does not depend on a politics of ‘us’ and ‘them’.     

Failing ‘Abyan’, ‘Golestan’ and ‘the Estonian Mother’: Refugee Women,Reproductive Coercion and the Australian State

Abstract

In September and October 2015, the story of detained Somali refugee ‘Abyan’ unfolded in the Australian media. A victim of rape on Nauru and seeking an abortion that could not be obtained on the island nation, Abyan was escorted to Sydney where she was to attend an abortion clinic. She was ultimately returned to Nauru without having had an abortion. This paper situates Abyan’s story alongside other stories from Nauru and in a longer history of reproductive coercion in Australian Immigration Department accommodation since the Second World War.     

Urban ‘untouchables’ and Hindu nationalism

The ‘untouchables’ of India are excluded from various areas of social and cultural life. Despite this, the higher castes do not exclude them from the category of ‘Hindu’ since, for them, the term is counterposed to the concept of ‘foreigner’. The lowest groups, on the other hand, often do not think of themselves as Hindus, for they use the word in terms of a very different set of conceptual oppositions. For them, ‘Hindus’ are people of high caste. Anderson's (1983) characterization of the nation as an ‘imagined community’ does not adequately explain why Hindu nationalists are now pressing minority ‘untouchables’ to define themselves as Hindus. Western reification of the concept of ‘Hindu’ has implications for political struggles in the sub‐continent.     

‘National Machineries’ and Authoritarian Politics

Abstract

Why do authoritarian states adopt ‘state feminist’ policies, and what are the effects of these initiatives? This article expands our understanding of state feminist institutions in non-democracies by examining the development of a women's national machinery in Cameroon. It argues that the Cameroonian state has adopted a national machinery because: (1) it provides low-cost international legitimacy; (2) it attracts international assistance; (3) this assistance fuels domestic patronage networks; and (4) the national machinery channels women's activism toward state-delineated projects and goals. These motives undercut its ability to promote women's advancement. National machineries in authoritarian contexts are not just plagued by technical problems and funding shortages but also by competing agendas within the state apparatus and a lack of a commitment by high-level government officials to improving women's status in society.     

Slavery and Bristol's ‘golden age’

Bristol's eighteenth century ‘golden age’ has conventionally been linked to the rise of slavery in British America after 1660. This paper seeks to add substance to this linkage by exploring Bristol's involvement in the Atlantic slave trade, without which slavery in the Americas could not have developed to the level it did, and goes on to explore the impact of slave trafficking and the trades in slave-produced goods such as sugar and tobacco on income levels in the city in the 1780s. It suggests that in the late eighteenth century at least 40 per cent of the income of Bristolians derived from slavery-related activities. The paper concludes by offering some brief reflections on the relationship between slavery and British metropolitan development.     

‘Talk’ and Hermès

Attention to ‘textuality’ has been used in organizational studies to point to the strong situational quality of organizing, but there has been little detailed empirical or theoretical examination of talk in action. Simply stating that ‘organizing is talk’ is not enough. Starting with Boden's analysis of organizing as ‘talk’, the import of the communication‐based interpretation of organizing is examined. A ‘flat’ or ‘one‐dimensional’ analysis of organization, grounded solely on speech‐based causality, will be rejected. Michel Serres' philosophy of communication provides in the figure of Hermès, needed complex connectionist insight(s) into interaction. And coupled with Levi‐Strauss' concept of the totemic operator, Serres' philosophical insights are used to develop a concept of communicative agency in tune with a complex narrative analysis of organizing.     

‘Gutsy’ Decisions and Passive Processes

Abstract

The Obama administration has positioned itself against the militarized discourse of the Bush-era Global War on Terror (GWOT) by articulating a ‘return to the rule of law’. And yet, the figure of the US decision-maker remains as masculinized and militarily-oriented as ever. I demonstrate this seeming incongruity through an analysis of: first, the decision to render the Christmas Day (would-be) bomber of 2009 to the criminal justice system, a decision for which Obama was labelled ‘weak’ (hence feminine) on terrorism; and second, the killing of Osama bin Laden by the US Navy SEALs special operations team, a decision which reaffirmed Obama's warrior credentials, since it proved that he was the ‘strong’ (hence masculine) commander-in-chief. Both cases demonstrate that the hegemony of the masculine ‘warrior decision-maker’ remains privileged and facilitates the re-emergence of the GWOT ‘war machine’, despite the Obama administration's commitment to change.     

Heterogeneous ‘adaptation’ and ‘income effects’ across self-reported health distribution?

Self-reported health is a key quality-of-life measure affected by well-known cognitive biases, such as adaptation (or anchoring to past health conditions) along with a socio-economic vector. There are good reasons to think that both effects heterogeneously impact the health distribution. This paper carries on empirical exercise to test whether the effects of adaptation and income are indeed, affected by individual heterogeneity. We use a continuous scale of health (the Visual Analogue Scale or VAS) and ex-post evaluations of the individual health status to capture adaptation using quantile regression. Our findings suggest that adaptation effects exhibit an inverse U-shaped form, more common in the median of the health distribution. Income effects exhibit a marked and non-linear impact at low quantiles. This is consistent with the hypothesis that income investments for relatively healthy people translate into very moderate effects on health. Health changes evaluated by the median individual are relatively more affected by adaptation.     

The ‘compliant’, the ‘pacified’ and the ‘rebel’: experiences with Swiss disability insurance

Switzerland’s social policies in the field of disability have been significantly reshaped over the last two decades by reducing the number of allowances awarded and by increasing the recourse to vocational rehabilitation measures. What stances do individuals who experience the implementation of these policies adopt? What kind of tests are they subjected to? How can we explain the posture they adopt – be it ‘compliant’, ‘pacified’ or ‘rebellious’ – when facing the (re)assignations of their identity and professional status? Drawing on interviews conducted with individuals who have recently been involved in programmes set up by Swiss disability insurance, we highlight their uncertainties and concerns relating to their place in society, as well as their reactions to disability insurance’s interventions.     

‘Deprivation’ and ‘the rural’: An investigation into contradictory discourses

This paper investigates the issue of ‘rural deprivation’ using material collected for the Rural Lifestyles Project, conducted at Saint David's University College, Lampeter. The concept of ‘deprivation’ usually deployed within the literature in rural studies is problematic, and a number of criticisms are made about existing conceptualisations of the term. One of these criticisms is based on the finding that amongst respondents interviewed for the study of lifestyles in rural areas of England, a number were highly critical of the application of the term ‘deprivation’ to rural areas. This issue is explored through an investigation of the discourses of ‘the rural’, taken to mean a system of meanings that describe English rural areas. An examination of these discourses shows how ‘deprivation’ is denied, and this is investigated through a discussion of the representation of rural areas as problem-free and ‘idyllic’ in some way; through the portrayal of ‘deprivation’ as a fault of the individual; and through the construction of ‘deprivation’ as a feature of ‘the rural's’ ‘other’, i.e. the urban. The paper concludes with a call for the attitudes and beliefs of different groups of people living in rural areas to be taken account of in the production of research into lifestyles in rural areas.     

Rowing ‘at home’ and ‘away’: sport,heritage and identity in the Malay world

This paper is grounded in a comparison of the cultural identifications that accompany Sambas Malays’ participation in rowing competitions ‘at home’ and ‘away’. Sambas Malays are Indonesian citizens from the regency of Sambas, who ethnically identify as Malay. There, rowing competitions provide the sociocultural infrastructure for developing local and translocal cultural identifications. Two related, yet distinguishable, cultural identifications are evident, each associated with a specific rowing infrastructure. When contests occur ‘at home’, rowing is steeped in local Sambas Malay culture and heritage. However, contests ‘away’, in areas loosely identified as ‘Malay’, generate identifications with a regionally based Malay culture and consociality. Utilizing a non-positivistic conceptualization of ‘border’, this paper considers the intersection of culture, politics, economy, geography and mobility in everyday bordering practices producing two overlapping cultural identifications.     

Global System Theory and ‘Market-friendly’ Religion

This article explores some implications of the interplay of neoliberal economic policy and religion for Leslie Sklair's global system theory (GST), and some implications of Sklair's theory for the study of contemporary religion. We first suggest that Sklair needlessly restricted his theory's scope by analyzing culture in terms of consumerist ideologies without systematic consideration of religious doctrines and practices. Second, based on studies of ‘market Islam’ and our own research on neo-Pentecostal Christianity in Guatemala, we argue that Sklair's notion of a transnational capitalist class is needed for an adequate understanding of the rapid growth of these religious movements. We conclude that GST can benefit from consideration of contemporary religious change, while the study of contemporary religion has perhaps even more to gain from theorizing the influence of transnational elites.     

‘Northernness’, gender and Manchester’s creative industries

This article explores northernness and gender in the context of creative industries in Manchester. I argue that a version of northernness has been mobilised by those within the creative industries and that this identity is strongly linked with masculinity. The article examines the emergence of new creative industries in Manchester from the 1980s onwards. Many of these new creative industries were connected with music and club culture and often prioritised ‘lads’ and their interests. The ‘heritage’ and influence of this seedbed stage of Manchester’s creative industries and the dominant discourses about Manchester’s pop cultural creativity has had a profound influence on the ‘gendering’ of subsequent creative industries in this city. A paradigm of northern ‘laddishness’ pervades the creative sector in Manchester, and this is amplified and sustained by a powerful, media fuelled, cultural identity of the city and its popular culture. A number of local specificities have had an impact on linking creativity to ‘northern’ masculinity in the Manchester case. This has contributed to the ascendency of closed, male-dominated networks in the creative sector. This appears to stand in the way of women’s full access to, and participation in, the city’s creative industries. I suggest that all empirical case studies of creative industries could find value in reflecting on the local context and specificities of place. Using Manchester as a case study, I argue that place-specific identities could productively be explored in debates about exclusion and underrepresentation of women in creative industries.     

‘Birds of a feather stick together’? Negotiating community,family and intimate relationships between ‘established’ and ‘newcomer’ Caribbean migrants in Britain

This article explores the ‘invisible’ boundary separating and informing social relations among ‘established’ and ‘newcomer’ Caribbean migrant communities in Britain. To briefly note, ‘established’ migrants are characterised in the analysis as those Caribbean migrants who settled in Britain from the 1940s, their offspring and subsequent generations. In contrast, the ‘newcomer’ represents a new influx of Caribbean that arrived and settled in Britain from the late 1990s onwards, either with a legal or illegal resident status. The common assumption is that ‘established’ and ‘newcomer’ groups are bonded together through shared cultural and ethnic background. Therefore any differences that exist between the two groups tend to be ignored because it is assumed that the newcomers are automatically absorbed into existing Caribbean communities. However, this empirical study of Caribbean families suggests that inherent differences exist between these two groups. To discuss issues of intra-ethnic diversity the analysis is guided by a social capital approach. It also draws on the views and perspectives of Caribbean people to highlight the social hierarchies and cultural stereotypes that exist between ‘established’ and ‘newcomer’ migrants. Concentrating on the ‘invisible’ and intra-ethnic boundaries between the ‘established’ and ‘newcomer’ migrants, the discussion explores issues of change and continuity, and also problems and opportunities that emerge within Caribbean family networks and their intimate relationships.     

Adult dyslexia and the ‘conundrum of failure’

While there is a wealth of literature about childhood dyslexia, adult dyslexia remains relatively undocumented, particularly from a lived perspective. This paper focuses on the ‘deficit perspective of failure’, as highlighted in current literature, which addresses issues confronting adults with dyslexia. Within this theme of failure a number of subtypes have been identified. This paper contextualises these subtypes around the perceptions of individuals involved in a tertiary course for adults with dyslexia. The paper demonstrates what the author has identified as a ‘conundrum of failure’ that has influenced the perceptions of many adults with dyslexia, including their life choices. Its prevalence in the literature and the lived experiences of the research subjects highlight the need for societal, institutional and attitudinal change.