Critical discourse analysis of perspectives on knowledge and the knowledge society within the Sustainable Development Goals

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is employed to analyze discourses of knowledge and the knowledge society in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Discourse analysis is a collective name for a number of scientific methodologies for analyzing semiosis, namely how meaning is created and communicated though written, vocal or sign language. Employing a genealogical approach which locates discourses in the field of prior discourses, two prior discourses of the knowledge society are identified in the key document of the SDGs. The concepts knowledge and knowledge society are found to have a marginal position within the main policy document “Transforming our world,” adopted by the United Nations in September 2015. The techno‐scientific‐economic discourse is found to be dominant at the level of implementation and of goals, while there is some evidence of the pluralist‐participatory discourse at the level of vision and strategy. Analysis of some of the policy advice provided by international organizations and civil society indicates that more pluralist‐participatory discourses on knowledge were represented when the SDGs were being formulated. Developed countries and the corporate sector were very influential in determining the final text and were probably instrumental in excluding more transformational discourses and maintaining the status quo.     

‘It didn’t come up on my radar’: an examination of students’ orientation toward disability justice in the US

Abstract

While social justice is a well-recognized concept, it is less frequently examined through the lens of disability. In order to address existing gaps within social justice education, this qualitative case study investigates how participation in a semester-long Introduction to Disability Studies (IDS) course affected students’ orientation toward disability justice, or the conception of disability as an issue of social justice. The framework underpinning this research merges Cipolle’s theory of critical consciousness development with disability-based constructs. Findings reveal that participation in IDS allowed participants to develop an awareness of their ability privilege, understand the experiences of peers with disabilities, increase their social awareness of disability, and consider their work as disability allies. This article concludes with recommendations for social justice educators who are interested in applying disability justice practices.     

战争记忆与个人意识——《巴别尔马背日记》的自传性解读

当前,日记已成为自传研究的一部分,真实性是二者的共同特征。从这个意义上讲,《巴别尔马背日记》是一部记录作家生平活动的自传作品,包含许多极有价值的一手资料。日记记录了苏波战争期间巴别尔本人在骑兵军里的所见所闻,留下了他最真实的记忆和最真切的感受;它是一位孤寂者在自我诉说中呈现给世人的战争真相和个人真情,具有极高的真实性和时代精神。     

论大学教学中的文化意识与文化自觉

大学教师从文化视角出发研究和组织教学,形成文化意识和文化自觉,以文化传承的形式进行课堂教学,有助于激发学生学习课程的兴趣,明显提高教学效果。     

《老子》“养”字词义考辨

休谟哲学常常被诠释为一种具有心理主义倾向的经验论,但其作为一个历史学家的身份在其哲学研究和探讨中较受忽略,因此,休谟哲学中所隐藏的历史性和历史意识的向度并未受到充分重视。文章旨在通过对休谟文本的再度诠释,揭示和展现其哲学中的历史意识,这也是一种深化和准确理解休谟哲学的新维度。     

Let the countdown begin — Aging experiences of young adults in countdown blogs

This paper examines a particular blog phenomenon that has not yet received much attention: Countdown blogs which are written before a significant birthday (in this paper, it is the thirtieth birthday). The bloggers fill the remaining time, often a year, with the accomplishment of particular tasks, reflections on their lives or photo projects. In their blogs, the young adults demonstrate an age awareness that is often overlooked in aging studies. The paper argues that young adults use countdown blogs to cope with their aging experiences and, in doing so, they apply a particular economic rhetoric and emerge as entrepreneurs of themselves - an identity concept that Foucault presented in the late 1970s. Foucault, however, did not consider the themes of age as symbolic capital nor the marketing strategies that entrepreneurship of the self imply. In a close reading of a sample of twenty-one countdown blogs, the paper suggests new complexities in Foucault's concept. At the same time, it argues that young adults today have developed creative strategies in terms of multimedia projects and heightened self-scrutiny to cope with the finitude of time, the expectations of age-appropriate behavior and the coercions of neoliberal consumer culture.     

The Occupy Movement and the Politics of Vulnerability

The Occupy movement has generated a significant amount of scholarly literature, most of which has focused on the movement's tactics or goals, or sought to explain its emergence. Nevertheless, we lack an explanation for the movement's broad appeal and mass support. In this article we present original research on Occupy in New York City, Detroit, and Berlin, which demonstrates that the movement's heterogeneous participants coalesced around the concept of vulnerability. Vulnerability is an inability to adapt to shocks and stresses, and it inhibits social reproduction and prohibits social mobility. Rather than specifically discussing the wealth of elites per se, Occupy participants consistently expressed the feeling that the current political economic system safeguards elites and increases the vulnerability of everyone else. We argue that the Occupy movement has reworked the relationship among a range of political struggles that were hitherto disconnected (i.e. ‘old’ and ‘new’ social movements) and rendered them complementary through the politics of vulnerability.     

When managerialism meets professional autonomy: The university ‘budget update’ as genre of governance

Through analysis of 178 texts posted online by university leaders during a severe budget shortfall, I explore the tensions that arise as managerialist practices are recontextualized within university governance. I identify 64 texts constitutive of a hybrid genre, which I call the ‘budget update’. The structure and linguistic features of this genre are described. Interdiscursive and intertextual analysis demonstrate hybridities that emerge when leaders enact, negotiate, and resist managerialism.     

One week in October: Luis Suárez,John Terry and the turn to racial neoliberalism in English men’s professional football

This article explores two significant incidents of racism – involving Luis Suárez and John Terry – from the 2011–2012 English Premier League football season. In particular, it analyses and contextualises the reactions and responses articulated by key stakeholders within the football industry. Discursive themes were employed by these individuals as a means of trying to mitigate and/or exonerate the actions of Suárez and Terry, to question the veracity of the allegations made against them, and to downplay the extent and effects of racism in English football more generally. The article situates these standpoints within the wider cultural politics of race in the game and extricates the connections between discourse and structure in manifestations of racism. It demonstrates that these dominant responses are indicative of colour-blind ideology, white racial framing and the rules of racial standing. It also argues that these sporting trends are part of a wider societal shift towards racial neoliberalism.