Aesthetics of disaster as decolonial aesthetics: making sense of the effects of Hurricane María through Puerto Rican contemporary art

ABSTRACT

On 20 September 2017, Hurricane María made landfall on Puerto Rico causing unprecedented disaster. From that day onwards, the Puerto Rican multi-layered colonial, social and political context was further complicated by the traumatic acceleration of a human disaster via this natural disaster. This crystalized the urgency of using art as vehicle for (social) catharsis, a practice that continues to be used by individual artists, collectives, community organizations, art projects, and other art institutions on the island and abroad, through mural art, community paintings, art exhibitions, literature, music, and many other aesthetic expressions. This article examines, from a decolonial and critical cultural studies perspective, post-Hurricane María artistic expressions in contemporary art as decolonial aesthetics through the cathartic use of the frame of an aesthetics of disaster. It is argued that, an aesthetics of disaster aims to re-assert an artistic form that is able to accelerate the discursive nullification of a deeply rooted colonial, social and cultural problem by way of art as catharsis inspired by the way that Hurricane María unveiled these problems. The piece briefly contextualizes Puerto Rico, and it examines the idea of Puerto Rican contemporary art as catharsis. Then, it describes how Puerto Rican contemporary art exhibitions and associated aesthetic production are processing urgent post-hurricane issues through three illustrative pieces in exhibitions in PR and abroad in the United States (US). Lastly, decolonial aesthetics is reexamined and re-understood, informed by Édouard Glissant's view expressed in Poetics of Relation which aids to the conclusion that Puerto Rican contemporary art using the frame of an aesthetics of disaster functions as a powerful form of decolonial aesthetics.     

Similarities between friends on service,activism, and awareness of inequities in an adolescent social network

This brief report characterizes the tendency of adolescent friends to be similar on civic behaviors and critical consciousness. Using two waves of network data from a high school that serves primarily low-income Latiné youth (2019, N = 519; 2020, N = 521), the present study examined homophily on service, activism, and awareness of inequities. The results of Exponential Random Graph Models indicated that adolescents tended to be friends with peers who had similar service behavior and awareness of inequities, but not activism. The findings suggest that schools could foster civic engagement by providing infrastructure that encourages civic interactions between peers. The current study highlights the potential that social network analysis holds for generating novel insights into the relational underpinnings of youth civic engagement.     

A reciprocal global education? Working towards a more humanizing pedagogy through critical literacy

Dehumanizing tendencies within the present neo‐liberal era provide the backdrop against which the authors have developed an 11‐year partnership in the Global South. The economic context encourages competition over community and, while portending to bring people closer together through technological advances, it only facilitates the flow of commerce and capital while stemming the movement of consumers and workers. The authors provide a nuanced historical perspective leading up to the neo‐liberal moment, which notices the emergence of patriarchy, Christianity, racism, and capitalism as particular forms of social control, oppression and dehumanization. Recognizing the constructed nature of these forms, the authors propose community, consciousness, and courage as liberating ways forward towards the creation of an alternative form – a more reciprocal global education. While documenting some of their 11‐year partnership, the authors reveal the contribution of the following theorists who have impacted their praxis: Paul Kivel (social service vs social change), Paul Farmer (charity vs development vs social justice approaches to ‘service’ work), and Paul Gorski (decolonizing intercultural education). The authors conclude by (re)examining their desire to resist neo‐liberal globalizing tendencies towards a more reciprocal global education which expands upon relationships built and focuses on a critical literacy approach though the use of culture circles.     

Moving beyond ‘diversity’ to ‘social justice’: the challenge to re‐conceptualize multicultural education

This is a study of teachers’ conceptualizations of multicultural education (MCE) and their implications for practice in both schools and university courses. Through survey and interview data, the results reveal that teachers associated multicultural education with demographic diversity rather than with social justice, strategies for instruction rather than with theory, and that patterns of communication within the school precluded school‐wide implementation of multicultural education. The implications for bridging the gap between university courses grounded in social justice and school practice are explored.     

Analysing critical success factors to implement sustainable supply chain practices in Indian automobile industry: a case study

The aim of this article is to analyse the critical success factors (CSFs) behind the successful implementation of sustainable supply chain practices in Indian automobile industry. Supply chain sustainability is a critical and timely topic for the developing country like India that captures increasing concerns over sustainability, whether driven by current legislation, public interest or competitive opportunity. Identification of CSFs responsible for sustainable supply chain practices and evaluating their contextual relationships has the potential to affect future government policy, current production operations and identify new business models. In response to this, this paper intends to identify CSFs based on organisational theory and model them to implement sustainable supply chain practices in Indian automobile industry. Twenty-five CSFs to implement sustainable supply chain practices based on organisational theory are recognised by means of the literature review and in discussions with experts in one case study organisation. A solution methodology based on the interpretive structural modelling (ISM) technique is used to propose a structural model, which not only helps in understanding the contextual relationship among these CSFs, but also in determining their interdependence to implement sustainable supply chain practices. Further, the importance of CSFs has been determined based on their driving and dependence power using MICMAC analysis. Our overarching thesis is that the insights gained are useful for Indian automobile industry and would help practitioners, regulators and academicians to focus their efforts towards implementation of sustainable supply chain practices.     

Intersectionality,Critical Race Theory,and American Sporting Oppression: Examining Black and Gay Male Athletes

This article examines the influence of the racial categories of White and Black and the sexual categories of gay and straight on sporting American men. The effect of the intersection of these cultural categories is discussed by investigating the exclusion of athletes who are both Black and gay, as well as highlighting the culturally perceived differences of (straight) Black and (White) gay men. However, the analysis accounts for more than just difference, examining the commonalities of oppression between these discrete identity groups. We use the research on Black athletes to call for further empirical study on gay athletes. It is argued that critical race theory and intersectionality offer complex and nuanced understandings of these oppressions, which, when theorizing is left solely to the realm of poststructuralism, can otherwise be missed.     

Debating LGBT Workplace Protections in the Bible Belt: Social Identities in Legislative and Media Discourse

ABSTRACT

This article reports a case study of the legislative and media discourse surrounding the addition of sexual orientation and gender identity language to the employment nondiscrimination ordinance of a city in the heart of the Bible Belt. The purpose of the study is to uncover how different identities were constructed and contested at city council meetings and in the news media on the way to passing legal protection for LGBT city employees in a region that is often characterized by anti-gay prejudice. This debate over the nondiscrimination ordinance centered on the question of whether LGBT identities are equivalent to identity categories based on race, gender, or religious belief, and it was shaped by various intergroup communication dynamics, specifically between members of the LGBT minority and the straight majority, between LGBT and Christian identities, and between “true” and “false” Christian identities.     

培育批判性思维：大学教学的重要维度

批判性思维是关于相信什么和做什么的理性思考,它既是独立自主人格形成的基础,也是知识创新的前提,还是应对未来的定力。因此,为了培育大学生的批判性思维,大学教学就应确立新的知识观,开展问题导向的教学,更新教学评价方式。     

The Challenges of Creating Critically Reflective Groups

In this article the author reflects on her experiences in establishing an enabling climate in critically reflective groups. The author also addresses some particular challenges for educators and participants who are firmly committed to social justice values. The author outlines some embedded ways of thinking about how we make knowledge and how we make a sense of ourselves that can inhibit critical reflection. The author pinpoints five specific internalised cultures about “the expert,” “the manager,” “the evangelist,” “the victim,” and “the technician.” From an awareness of these, the author then suggests an orientation for enabling critical reflection based on the notion of “co-researching.”