bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Religious Architecture in Palmyra
Authors: Le Blanc Robyn L.
Published: January 2024

The chapter provides an overview of the architecture of six Palmyrene temples and their sanctuaries from the first century bc to the third century ad, particularly in reference to their lengthy building histories, supported by ample inscriptional evidence attesting to sanctuary patrons. The combination of Graeco-Roman and Near Eastern architectural styles, especially embodied in the sanctuaries of Bēl and Baalshamin, is also discussed, as is the use of sanctuaries for a range of religious and civic activities. Finally, the chapter addresses future areas of fruitful research into religious architecture at Palmyra, in particular that focused on the experiences of ancient visitors and new research avenues made possible by digital tools and approaches.
Religious Life and Priestly Representations in Palmyra
Authors: Raja Rubina
Published: January 2024

The evidence for religious life at Palmyra is broad, ranging from sanctuaries, to altars, to religious reliefs and sculpture as well as inscriptions. However, the visual representations of Palmyrene priests, distinctly recognisable through their priestly headgear—a round hat with a flat top—constitute the largest group of evidence testifying to the local religious life in the Roman period. The representations of Palmyrene priests in the Palmyrene iconography, in particular the funerary sculpture as well as so-called banqueting tesserae, are plentiful. Close to four hundred of these exist in the corpus of funerary limestone sculpture and several hundred in the corpus of the tesserae. While these representations in many ways are repetitive in that they show male Palmyrenes dressed in priestly clothes, they also differ in the detail and unique expressions adapted by the individual to express their societal status. This chapter discusses the role of Palmyrene priests and their visual representations within the framework of our knowledge of the religious life of the oasis city.
Palmyra and Its ‘Dark Ages’ (273–750)
Authors: Intagliata Emanuele E.
Published: January 2024

Zenobia’s defeat and the end of the second Palmyrene revolt (272–273) did not coincide with the end of Palmyra. Evidence for its continued existence is apparent in the immediate aftermath and throughout the centuries that follow. From these historical events, scholars may start to trace the city’s urban transformation. Two of the most important agents of these changes were Christianity, which was present in the settlement at least by the early fourth century, and the military. In the early Islamic period, the city prospered as the centre for a powerful tribe, the Banū Kalb, that supported the caliphate in Damascus. This chapter will briefly trace the history of the Palmyra after Zenobia focusing in particular on the main agents responsible for its urban transformation.
The Numinous Motivation Inventory
Authors: Piedmont Ralph L.
Published: January 2024

Over the past 25 years, I have been engaged in a program of research aimed at determining whether an empirically sustainable definition of the numinous could be obtained. The first step in this process was the development of an empirical model for establishing the viability of a numinous construct. From there, this epistemology was developed in light of an ontological model I created which outlined the theoretical origins, function, and expression of numinous constructs in our mental life. This ontological model gives direction and focus to the development of explicit measures of the numinous. The Numinous Motivation Inventory (NMI) benefits from these two developments and represents a second-generation measure of numinous functioning. The purpose of this chapter is to present the conceptual foundations and empirical development of the NMI. Its psychometric integrity and empirical predictiveness demonstrates its value over a previous generation measure. The value of the numinous, as operationalized through the NMI, is outlined and its potential for expanding the field discussed.
Spiritually Sensitive Psychotherapy
Authors: Sperry Len
Published: January 2024

Increasingly clients expect that therapists and other mental health professionals will incorporate spiritual issues in their psychotherapy and other mental health services. In addition, the ethics codes and diversity policies of the various mental health professions also expect that therapists will be sensitive to spiritual issues. Such expectations require many of these professionals who may have been indifferent or less sensitive to spirituality and spiritual issues to become more sensitive to them. This chapter reports on the paradigm shift that is currently under way in how spiritually sensitive psychotherapy and other mental health services are conceptualized and practiced by an increasing number of mental health professionals. Six indicators of this shift are described, and their implications are discussed.
Honoring Religious Diversity and Universal Spirituality in Psychotherapy
Authors: Richards P. Scott
Published: January 2024

Spirituality is a universal human concern and capacity, but there is great diversity in the world concerning how spirituality is understood and practiced. Within this context of diversity, it is challenging for psychotherapists to ethically and effectively work with spiritual issues during treatment in order to facilitate their clients’ healing and growth. This chapter describes some principles and practices that may assist psychotherapists in their efforts to succeed at this important challenge, including seeking competency in religious and spiritual aspects of diversity, selecting a spiritually integrated treatment framework and approach, finding common spiritual ground with clients, and creating a spiritual space that helps clients access the resources of their spirituality during their healing journeys. The chapter also describes a theistic, spiritually integrated model and approach to psychotherapy. It concludes with a brief discussion of recent research findings and needs in this domain.
Psychoanalysis, Psi Phenomena, and Spiritual Space
Authors: Rosenbaum Ruth
Published: January 2024

Psychoanalysis, psi phenomena (telepathy, clairvoyance, and psychokinesis), and spirituality might appear to be strange bedfellows. However, with the evolution of psychoanalytic theories of intersubjectivity and scientific studies of psi phenomena, a portrait has emerged of the kind of space within which the self exists. It is a space characterized by indistinct boundaries between self and other, a shared space, and it appears to be crucial for psychological growth and transformation. This concept of the self connecting with an “other” beyond its own localized boundaries is also the basis of spiritual experience and spiritually- inspired forms of transformation, such as miracles and mystical states. In exploring the common ground shared by these overlapping territories of the self’s expansive reach, we may discover the conditions that enhance the possibilities for change and growth in psychoanalysis and, in the process, approach a more comprehensive understanding of the nature of consciousness itself.
Psychology, Meditation, and the Brain Across Contemplative Traditions
Authors: Kelly Brendan D.
Published: January 2024

Virtually all of the world’s major spiritual and religious traditions incorporate elements of meditation or contemplative prayer, although the nature, prominence, and precise features of such practices vary between traditions. Neuroscientific findings indicate that meditation is associated with significant, enduring alterations in patterns of activity in specific brain areas. These, in turn, are linked with the increased attention and alterations in experience of self associated with contemplative practice. Neuroscientific findings are complemented by clinical evidence of relationships between contemplative practice and positive psychological change, leading, for example, to the use of “mindfulness-based cognitive therapy” for depression (combining mindfulness-based techniques from Buddhist tradition with Western cognitive therapeutic approaches). Notwithstanding recent work, substantial potential remains for further research and ongoing dialogue aimed at developing deeper, more integrated understandings of the spiritual, psychological, and biological effects of contemplative practice.
Theoretical and Epistemological Foundations
Authors: Nelson James M. , Slife Brent D.
Published: January 2024

Contemporary psychology of religion and spirituality (PRS) is generally understood as a scientific enterprise involved in empirical hypothesis testing. However, an exploration of the philosophy of science at work in the field reveals a more complex picture. Much PRS inquiry is actually underlaid by a particular set of assumptions about science and the nature of the world that often inhibit our ability to understand what PRS studies. Ontological assumptions like naturalism assume that religious and spiritual phenomena act in a describable law-like manner independent of human values or any inherent meaning, a stance which is fundamentally at odds with the worldview of the religious and spiritual individuals we study. Ethical assumptions can include epistemic values like parsimony in explanation that may unintentionally oversimplify phenomena that are irreducibly complex. Moreover, such assumptions often claim that religion and spirituality are no different than any other kind of phenomena we study, and so the methods generally used in psychology can be applied without alteration in PRS. Uncritical PRS acceptance of these types of assumptions has negatively affected the work of thoughtful investigators, often making the results of their research of little benefit to those they seek to study and help. Analyses that draw on the resources of religious and philosophical thought can provide possible correctives to the problems of these assumptions. One such approach—hermeneutical theory—allows a more contextualized understanding of PRS and comes from a more developed awareness of the assumptions and biases that researchers bring to their work.
Ethical Challenges in the Digitalization of Public Diplomacy
Authors: Huang Zhao Alexandre , Arceneaux Phillip
Published: January 2024

Advances in information technology, especially the mainstreaming of social media platforms, affect the exclusivity of traditional diplomacy as elite interaction and negotiation. Public diplomacy actors use the affordances of digital media to pursue continuous, day-to-day communication and deploy their government’s network influence. This diplomatic communication should not exist in an ethical vacuum. Digital diplomacy transcends the boundaries of traditional diplomacy, extending to civil society and touching the public good. Practitioners are faced with professional contradictions in balancing confidentiality versus transparency, exclusivity versus inclusiveness, and national versus public interests. This chapter discusses the professionalization of digital diplomacy practices and outlines the ethical challenges practitioners face in shaping the image and reputation of their government.
Digitalization of Diplomacy
Authors: Sevin Efe
Published: January 2024

This chapter discusses the impact of digitization of diplomacy for cities. The introduction explains the revived interest in cities as international actors. The second section argues that diplomacy is not the only process through which cities engage with audiences beyond the borders of their home countries, and puts forwards the idea of international activities of cities by merging city branding and city diplomacy. The third section discusses the role of digitization and situates it as a framework to study the aforementioned international activities. These theoretical sections are followed by the empirical part of the chapter that looks at four select cities—New York (USA), Izmir (Turkey), Victoria (Canada), and Akureyri (Iceland). The findings suggest that digitization is a spectrum, rather than a binary variable. Moreover, digitization also brings its own policy and communication challenges by blurring boundaries between audience segments as well as institutions.
International Law, Big Tech Regulation, and Digital Diplomatic Practice
Authors: Baines Victoria
Published: January 2024

Tracing the ongoing development of digital international law and relevant regimes, this chapter explores the roles and relationships of key actors, identifies emerging trends, and speculates on future changes to public and customary international law. While there is some consensus concerning the applicability of existing international law, especially in relation to cyber operations that meet the threshold of armed conflict, there is greater disagreement among policy makers and scholars about its sufficiency. Challenges of attribution, jurisdiction, and the location of much Internet infrastructure outside direct state control have given rise to alternative processes that include multinational corporations, civil society organizations, and even individuals as norms shapers, rights holders, and duty bearers. The continued exercise of sovereignty is nevertheless a persistent concern of states, with respect not only to traditional national security issues such as the protection of critical infrastructure, but also to the control of online content and digital innovation. International Relations theory provides a helpful lens through which to view stakeholder perspectives, current contentions, and deliberative processes. Crucially, all actors are increasingly dependent on the spaces and tools they seek to regulate in order to communicate with counterparts and global society on the subject of that very regulation.
From Micro to Macro Digital Disruptions
Authors: Manor Ilan , Pamment James
Published: January 2024

Despite the recent growth of the digital diplomacy research corpus, few studies have employed the theoretical framework of digital disruption. We contend that digital disruption may help to explain how and why diplomats adopt digital technologies. Moreover, a theory of digital disruption may help to examine the consequences of diplomats’ use of digital technologies at a national or societal level. To date, digital diplomacy scholars have focused on analysing how digital technologies impact the working routines and procedures of diplomats. We conceptualize such studies as focusing on micro-level digital disruption as they illustrate how digital technologies give rise to new professional norms, values, and routines. In this chapter we argue that micro-level analyses do not fully capture the dynamics of digital disruption. This is because micro-level digital disruption often stems from macro-level disruptions. By macro-level disruption we refer to digital technologies’ impact on governments or societies as a whole. We contend that digital disruption at the macro level is what motivates digital disruption at the micro level, or the level of diplomats’ working routines. However, we also contend that micro-level disruptions reverberate and contribute to additional disruptions at the macro level. We demonstrate the interaction between macro- and micro-level disruption through three case studies.
Diplomatic Negotiations in the Digital Context
Authors: Eggeling Kristin Anabel , Adler-Nissen Rebecca
Published: January 2024

This chapter considers how diplomatic negotiations unfold in the digital context. It asks how digital devices, such as mobile phones, screens, or social media apps, challenge core diplomatic norms and procedures; and, more radically, considers what happens to diplomatic negotiations when the interaction itself is conducted virtually or in hybrid formats. Moving beyond an overview of how diplomatic negotiations can be theorized and studied empirically in digital contexts, we suggest that different approaches build on different understandings of ‘the digital’: as an advantage, a challenge, or as a negotiation in itself. We develop these strands in conversation with the IR literature on ‘digital diplomacy’ and illustrate our points with examples of digitalization and diplomatic practice in the European Union. We discuss critical issues, emerging trends, and procedural changes in diplomatic negotiations by relating them to broader societal digitalization trends. Diplomats’ (work) phones, individual digital competencies, and shared institutional norms co-constitute diplomatic negotiations in the digital context. Beyond a much-needed exploration of how diplomats handle digital devices in everyday negotiations, we suggest that emerging debates on the regulation, management, and limits of digital technology will be crucial for our understanding of diplomatic negotiations in the coming years.
Hindu Economic Ethics
Authors: Vinod Hrishikesh D. , Deodhar Satish Y.
Published: January 2024

Hinduism is shaped by the four objectives of life (purusharthas), achieved in the context of four stages of life (ashramas), four vocations of life (varnas), and four branches of knowledge (vidyas). Dharma signifies ethical actions in harmony with the eternal laws of the universe. Ancient treatises such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas contain narratives explaining the consequences of right and wrong paths in pursuit of productive economic life. Kautilya wrote on the science of economics titled Arthashastra circa 350 bce. Law books such as Manu-Smriti, Yajnavalkya-Smriti, and a liberal digest on it by Lakshmi Devi affected the way of life on the Indian subcontinent, including worship of deities, divinity tiers, property rights of economic agents, and concept of varna. The law books remained relevant during the Muslim and British rule and post-independence India. This chapter explains how Hindu economics respects all creatures. Hindu teachings have a non-dogmatic open architecture, remain relevant, and are characterized by democratic values, global capitalism, and sustainability.
Chinese Popular Religion and Economy
Authors: Yang Mayfair
Published: January 2024

Chinese popular religion includes shamanism and divination, deities with their cults and pilgrimages, ancestor worship, healing and exorcism rituals, and fengshui or geomancy. While popular religion has been partially absorbed into the more institutionalized Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, it remains tied up with local communities, and therefore exhibits regional differences. Popular religion took shape during the Song Dynasty period of commercialization and urbanization in China in the tenth to twelfth centuries ce. The history of burning ‘spirit money’ as offerings or debt payments to gods, ancestors, and ghosts predates paper money used as legal tender, which was invented in China. The notions of sin and debt were interchangeable, and moral evaluations were quantified in an interpenetrating logic that was both economic and religious. Thus, medieval China’s highly commercialized profit-oriented premodern economy was not disembedded from the other institutions of family, kinship, religion, and the state. The God of Wealth could make one rich as well as punish dishonesty and sin. When twentieth-century Chinese intellectuals, reformers, and revolutionaries adopted the modern Western opposition between religion and economic development and started suppressing religious practice and ethics as ‘backwards’, the ancient delicate ecology of religious ethics checking and balancing the market’s profit mechanism was destroyed. Today, we can still find pockets of a revitalized ‘ritual economy’ in rural areas and small towns of China, especially along the south-eastern coast. George Bataille’s concept of ‘religious or ritual expenditures’ provides a good way to conceptualize this generosity in ritual sacrifices, donations, and ‘wastefulness’ in life-cycle rituals and religious festivals and building projects. They all counter-balance the utilitarian, profit-maximization, and accumulationist tendencies of secular capitalism.
Religion and Agriculture
Authors: LeVasseur Todd
Published: January 2024

This chapter provides a historical and comparative overview of Judaism, Christianity, and Hinduism and some of these three religion’s respective understandings of food production and distribution. The chapter begins by providing an overview of the Agricultural Revolution, within which contemporary world religions have emerged. The chapter then proceeds to analyse key doctrines, ethics, and rituals from each religion as these are related to food production and distribution. The chapter concludes by looking at contemporary issues in food production and distribution, including genetic modification of crops and understandings of sustainable agriculture. These topics will be briefly explored via a comparison of Judaism, Christianity, and Hinduism. Given the historical and phenomenological scale and scope of food–religion interactions within these three religions, readers should note the chapter is not exhaustive, but rather captures broad themes and key data points from the three religions.
Religion and Poverty
Authors: Beyers Jaco
Published: January 2024

Poverty is a human condition determining human behaviour. Social, economic, psychological, political, and religious factors have effects on society and can alleviate or worsen poverty. This chapter suggests several functions of religion regarding poverty. Religion can redirect human thought to spiritual concerns, focussing on spiritual poverty. Religions can view poverty either as something desirable as proof of piety or as a curse, punishment, or sign of lack of faith. Religion can influence the response to poverty by having an ethical impact when principles benefitting all in society are applied within economic systems, fostering greater generosity. Perspectives from three religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) are discussed and compared. Although Islam and Judaism exhibit institutionalized forms of dealing with poverty in terms of tzedakah and zakat, Christianity encourages spontaneous acts of kindness towards the poor as acts of faith. Prosperity Theology as one expression of dealing with materiality is discussed.
Confucian Economic Ethics
Authors: Huang Yong
Published: January 2024

Confucian economic ethics is centred around the relationship between moral rightness and economic and other external benefits. It is a consensus that Confucianism gives priority to rightness over benefits. Scholars disagree on whether this is because Confucianism regards rightness as an intrinsic value independent of, even though not necessarily inconsistent with, benefits, or because it sees rightness as the best instrument to produce benefits. The former takes Confucianism as a deontological theory, while the latter a consequentialist or even utilitarian one. In contrast, this chapter argues that it is a virtue ethical theory, concerned with a good life, consisting of both external and internal well-being. Benefits are indispensable for external well-being, while the virtue of rightness is essential for internal well-being. Although these two aspects, each of which has its own intrinsic value, are mutually instrumental, conflicts between the two may arise, and when they do, Confucianism puts rightness ahead of benefits, as it is what makes human life different from other forms of life.
Bahá’í Economic Ethics
Authors: Badee Hooshmand
Published: January 2024

The purpose of this work is to explore the Bahá’í teachings on economics and their impact on the members of the Bahá’í Faith and the wider society. Knowing and understanding the economic principles of the Bahá’í Faith can assist Bahá’ís to work towards building communities based on its spiritual and material foundations. It must be noted that Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of this Faith did not construct a Bahá’í economic system. Nevertheless, the central figures of the Bahá’í Faith have provided a number of principles that can be used as guidelines to develop the components of a just, universal, and flexible economic system. The exploration of the Bahá’í writings and the role of the Bahá’í Faith in economic behaviour are founded on a number of prerequisites and assumptions. The main goal of the Bahá’í Faith is uniting humanity, and economics is just a means for achieving this goal. Religious beliefs influence the actions and lifestyle of Bahá’ís. This is explored in relation to individuals, Bahá’í institutions, and their communities. The contribution of the Bahá’í Faith to the subject of economics is essentially indirect and is mainly directed to the application of spiritual solutions to economic problems. The Bahá’í teachings are complementary in nature, and any Bahá’í discourse should consider the entirety of Bahá’í writings rather than individual teachings in isolation. This work explores some of the Bahá’í teachings based on principles of modern economics, including production, distribution, consumption, and the view on globalization.
Embodiment and Subjugation
Authors: Swanson Eric Haruki
Published: January 2024

This article is an examination of a ritual program created by the Buddhist monk Jien (1155–1225) at the Temple of Great Repentance (daisenpō-in, 大懺法院), established in 1206 in the proximity of the Heian capital (present-day Kyoto). It illustrates how the practice of exoteric-esoteric rituals were negotiated and reimagined to address growing concerns of social disorder. In his writing, Jien suggested that vengeful spirits (onryō, 怨霊) were responsible for the waning influence of imperial authority and argued for the reliance on practitioners of Buddhist rituals to maintain order in the capital. A consideration of Jien’s writings and their implications about ritual practice offers insight into concrete Buddhist expressions of the way the ritualized practice of embodiment was conceptualized as a practice not only with soteriological implications for the individual practitioner but also for maintaining order in the social realm.
The Role of Policymakers, Criminal Justice Administrators and Practitioners, and Citizens in Creating, Evaluating, and Using Evidence-Based Policy
Authors: Mears Daniel P. , Frost Natasha A.
Published: January 2024

Evidence-based policy (EBP) is critical for improving the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of criminal justice. Most accounts of EBP center on research evidence for or against a given policy, program, or practice. Missing in them is the role of policymakers, criminal justice administrators and practitioners, and citizens in generating and evaluating EBP and in using it on a widespread and appropriate basis. The problem does not simply reflect a lack of institutionalized translational criminology. It reflects a neglect of the important role that nonresearchers have in generating and evaluating research on EBP and in using research to guide policy. The chapter highlights this issue and discusses ways to increase research knowledge among these different groups and, in so doing, contribute to the more widespread and appropriate use of EBP.
Systems of Change
Authors: Peck Shawn , Welsh Janet A. , Glunt Kristopher T. , Spaw Roger
Published: January 2024

This chapter outlines the approach to juvenile justice utilized by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which is unusual in terms of its commitment to the use of evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery programs and practices. Pennsylvania’s approach is built on several theoretical and service-delivery models, which position interventions based on the strength of their supporting research evidence. Decentralized decision-making requires strategic partnerships among state, county and municipal organizations, service providers, and researchers. Implementation, systematic monitoring, and evaluation of evidence-based programs (EBPs) have been sustained for decades due to the successful collaboration of stakeholders at all levels. The chapter identifies emerging and ongoing challenges, including concerns regarding disproportionate engagement of minority youth in the juvenile justice system, better understanding the needs of gender minority youth, the need for effective interventions addressing the comorbidity of youth crime and mental health disorders, and the role of social media and other online platforms in juvenile crime.
Critical Approaches to Gangs
Authors: Schwarze Tilman , Fraser Alistair
Published: January 2024

This chapter provides an overview of how critical approaches have contributed to criminological research on gangs. Besides discussing the intellectual history of critical approaches to gang research, this chapter explores the relationship between gangs and politics and foregrounds how critical gang studies have been attentive to questions of power, racism, and inequality when researching gangs. Critical gang scholars view gangs as the product of specific historical contexts that are shaped by socioeconomic, cultural, and political currents over time. The chapter concludes with a brief reflection on critique and how critical approaches can contribute to criminological thought on gangs in the future.
Gangs in Practice
Authors: Kennedy David M.
Published: January 2024

Gang researchers have long paid careful attention to the scholarly definition of a “gang,” resulting in a rich literature on such definitions, their strengths and weaknesses, and their implications for scholarship and practice. Little such attention has been paid to what “gang” means outside scholarly circles, including to law enforcement, politicians, the media, and members of the public. That “received idea of the gang” has very real implications for how those sectors understand gangs, their contribution to crime and violence, and how they should be addressed. It can be illuminated from formal sources and inferred from the orientations and actions of key public actors. An initial attempt at that illumination is presented here, and critical contrasts with what is in fact known about gangs are highlighted.
The Legacy of Cheryl L. Maxson
Authors: Reid Shannon E.
Published: January 2024

This chapter highlights the career and impact of Cheryl Maxson on the field of gang research and public criminology. To cover the legacy of Cheryl Maxson, this chapter provides an overview of her non-traditional pathway through academia and her influence on the field and her students. This chapter reviews her large body of work, how she has impacted the field, and how she sees her legacy. To acknowledge Cheryl’s impact on the field is to not only consider her work itself, but her impact as one of the key women working in mainstream criminology, her role as a mentor, and her push for public criminology. Cheryl is rightfully considered one of the pioneering gang scholars, whose work, both nationally and internationally, continues to influence and impact future generations of researchers and policymakers. This chapter also uses the opportunity to interview Cheryl so readers can be inspired by her thoughts about the future of the field and her goals for gang research.
Strategic Assemblies
Authors: Zhelnina Anna , Jasper James M.
Published: January 2024

Peaceful assemblies are a broad strategy used by strategic players for a variety of purposes, and they are notably central to contemporary social movements. Like all strategic decisions they harbour a number of trade-offs and dilemmas, which the authors attempt to identify in this chapter. Foremost is the issue of how disruptive to be, with one extreme being to give up peacefulness altogether. Other dilemmas involve trade-offs between impacts on different audiences. Most observers view peacefulness as an inherently good thing, but we must remember that it comes with costs, making peaceful assemblies more predictable and less threatening to others.
Apologies and Transitional Justice
Authors: Smith Nick
Published: January 2024

This chapter considers the myths, complexities and warnings concerning the correlation between apologies and transitional justice. It details a general theory of apologetic meanings, including the major issues associated with collective state apologies. Apologies can, however, work hand in hand with traditional transitional justice mechanisms and provide one of the most primal and ancient forms of reconciliation. The theory of categorical apologies provides conceptual distinctions to empower victims and their advocates to ask and answer necessary questions, such as accepting blame and measures to take. The chapter mentions aggregating the apologies of individual offenders as an alternative for collective apologies.
Freedom of Association and Expression, Education, Information
Authors: Bartenev Dmitri
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines freedom of expression and related freedoms of association, education, and information in the LGBT context. It looks at the controversies which these freedoms produce and investigates the dynamics of legal developments across jurisdictions. The chapter defines the scope of states’ legal obligations regarding protection of LGBT freedom of expression under regional and universal international law, and critically assesses doctrines behind curtailing this freedom, such as protection of public morals or the rights of minors. It demonstrates that in the LGBT context freedom of expression comprises two dimensions, individual and political. While, methodologically, expression of homosexual identity is often analysed as a privacy issue, it is suggested that freedom of expression as a political right is inseparable from human dignity and the right to respect for private life because restrictions on freedom of speech inevitably lead to denial to LGBT people of the core element of their identity.
Civil Unions
Authors: Fiorenza Katia , Virzo Roberto
Published: January 2024

The Western world has seen an increase in the number of states that, through a variety of legislative procedures and policies, have enabled same-sex couples to obtain legal recognition for their relationships. This chapter mainly focuses on registered partnerships, providing an analysis of some interesting types of same-sex civil unions, and outlining both their key features and their differences from the institution of marriage. Furthermore, the ever-increasing possibility of unions between same-sex partners gives rises to delicate problems in private international law—problems that the legislators try to solve by adopting specific conflict-of-law rules, which, in their turn, vary from one legal system to another. Therefore, the last section of the chapter presents a general comparison between certain rules of private international law concerning registered partnerships.
The promotion and protection of sexual and gender minorities under the African regional human rights system
Authors: Viljoen Frans , Sogunro Ayodele
Published: January 2024

This chapter explores the landscape for the promotion and protection of one of Africa’s most vulnerable communities—sexual and gender minorities—within the African regional human rights system. It focuses on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, assessing the avenues available for protecting and promoting LGBTI rights under the system, including the elaboration of soft-law standards, communications, state reporting, special mechanisms, and civil society participation. It traces the Commission’s evolving practice of standard-setting and institutional engagement and examines the interplay of national settings, historical dynamics, regional norms, and mechanisms for change. It further identifies inconsistencies and contemporary challenges in the continuing evolution of the legal, political, and social frameworks that inform the recognition and protection of LGBTI rights in Africa. The chapter concludes that if human rights are to be safeguarded for all Africans, they must be applied in a way that is consistent and non-discriminatory.
Haba na Haba Hujaza Kibaba
Authors: Gaitho Waruguru , Akena Achieng
Published: January 2024

This chapter gives an overview of SOGIESC legal advocacy and mobilization in Africa over the last three decades, during which queer legal protections have emerged. This is undertaken by exploring the contestations around SOGIESC in Africa, particularly the advancements made via litigation and legal reform at both national and regional levels. It discusses the social and political underpinnings of the development of legal provisions, including the criminalization of same-sex relations, and provides on-the-ground critical reflections from legal activists on the complex considerations that inform queer lawfare. The chapter avers that ‘progress’ and what this means, for law, society, and sexual and gender minorities is nuanced, multi-layered, and contextual. In reckoning with patterns of coloniality in the narratives of queer Africa, this chapter tells a story that holistically depicts the legal realities regarding SOGIESC on the continent, contextualizes law and society, and centres the insights and critical reflections of African lawyer-activists.
An Intersectionality Perspective on LGBTI Law
Authors: Binder Christina
Published: January 2024

The chapter argues that an intersectionality perspective may provide added value to LGBTI law, in particular when multiple forms of discrimination against LGBTI persons come into play. Moreover, a comprehensive intersectionality perspective may contribute to bringing together possibly diverging standards of protection as well as different approaches of universal and regional human rights monitoring institutions. It may also further a comprehensive design of remedies. After an exploration of the trends and—partly insufficient—intersectionality approaches adopted by international and regional human rights monitoring institutions, the chapter evaluates the remaining shortcomings and challenges in current approaches to LGBTI rights through an intersectionality lens.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law in the European Union and Its Court of Justice
Authors: Papadopoulou Lina
Published: January 2024

This chapter provides an overview of European Union (EU) legislation and the case law of its Court of Justice (CJEU) in matters of non-discrimination based on gender identity and / or sexual orientation in employment, asylum, blood donation, and of the free movement of same-sex partners and parents. The CJEU has recognized very early that discrimination based on gender identity re-assignment constitutes direct sex discrimination. However, the same has not been the case for homosexuals and same-sex couples. It was only after the introduction of Article 13 of the ‘Treaty establishing the European Community’ (through the Amsterdam Treaty), that the EU acquired the competence to adopt anti-discrimination legislation. Consequently, Directive 2000/78 was adopted, which precludes discrimination based (amongst others) on sexual orientation in EU matters, notably employment and free movement of persons. Moreover, the CJEU has shown remarkable sensitivity in asylum cases by taking the principle of human dignity into consideration.
Caste Disputes in Colonial India
Authors: Marquet Julie
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines how caste identities were shaped by disputes over honours such as passing through specific streets, using honorific objects, receiving or distributing prasadam in the temple, or performing vedic rituals. Analysing caste conflicts during the first centuries of colonial presence, from the 17th century, up to the 1880s,it shows that these conflicts were not only elicited by the colonial governments’ classificatory practices but were anterior to them. It thus suggests that categorisation was the resulat of long processes of self-presentation by social groups and of multiple attempts at social ascendance resorting tolegal reasoning or open conflict. This chapter thereby shed lights on a crucial moment in the shaping of caste identities.
Caste and the Law
Authors: Bhatia Gautam
Published: January 2024

Among the many interfaces caste has with the legal system, this chapter starts by looking at the supreme court’s engagement with reservations and highlights the tension that tear apart the different and contradictory interpretations of the Constitution. It shows that the jurisprudential links that have been drawn between caste, territory, and religion are premised upon an understanding of caste-based oppression and subordination that denies its deep-rooted and persisting character, and imply that caste discrimination can be resolved through a surface application of law. However, The Prevention of Atrocities Act passed by the Parliament of India offers a different approach to caste, which appears more authentic and faithful to reality than the dominant approach. Whether it will ever become a mainstream view, however, remains to be seen.
‘Backwardness’
Authors: Anandhi S. , Kannabiran Kalpana
Published: January 2024

In connecting backwardness to caste the Indian Constitution as well as various national and state commissions recognised the formidable role of caste in backwardness of several marginalized communities, including some non-Hindus. Accordingly, the socially and educationally backward classes were identified as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward classes which comprised numerous ‘bahujan’ castes. However, caste as criteria for assessing backwardness had come under severe criticism of some sociologists, civil society organisations and the Indian courts. Linking caste with backwardness and the contestations around this has a long genealogy in Indian history, to which one could connect the early Christian missionaries’ efforts to educate the ‘backward classes’, the colonial governments’ official policies of affirmative actions in favour of ‘low caste communities’ and Muslims, and the anti-caste politics of the Indian social reformers and their movements for empowerment of backward classes. This essay explores the genealogy of linking caste and backwardness in order to understand the limit and possibilities these debates offered in addressing multiple, layered and interconnected inequalities that required the state attention.
Do Indians Vote Their Caste—or Their jati, or Their Class, or…?
Authors: Jaffrelot Christophe
Published: January 2024

The 2014 general elections have reflected a certain erosion of the influence of caste compared to the growing importance of class elements. The first part of this chapter focuses on this evolution that is partly due to the socio-economic differentiation of caste groups that has resulted, in particular, in the formation of a ‘neo- middle class’. However, caste continues to play a significant role at the jati level, a more relevant unit of analysis than the large categories of ‘upper castes’, ‘Other Backward Classes’, and ‘Scheduled Classes’ which need to be disaggregated. The second part of the chapter makes this point by using data of the 2014 and the 2019 elections and by focusing on the state level. Finally, the chapter scrutinizes the impact of urbanization over the act of voting in relation to caste, as this variable also plays an important role at the jati level.
The Brahmins of Urban India
Authors: Narasimhan Haripriya
Published: January 2024

This chapter looks at recent ethnographic portraits of the Brahmins in urban India. The Brahmin(s) is faced with four challenges in the urban spaces of India in the new millennium. A strong undercurrent of nostalgia drives the Brahmins’ relationship to ‘native’ places in far flung areas. Technology comes in handy in creatively engaging with religious practices. Education and employment continue to be the main focus and complaint while gendering of spaces and comportment animate discussions on ‘appropriate’ behavior. The salient point in understanding the Brahmins of urban India is through the discourse of ‘castelessness’ and related beliefs in ‘merit’. In essence, talking about Brahmins in urban spaces of contemporary India is to render visible their struggle to hold on to a world and times that seem increasingly off the radar, and argue for relevance, mostly amongst themselves.
Agarwal Banias of Delhi
Authors: Ponniah Ujithra
Published: January 2024

Aggarwals are one of the dominant business castes in North India that are well represented in professional spheres. I focus on Agarwals that migrated from parts of Haryana and are involved in business in Delhi. It is established that businesses in India are structured by caste and family ties, however, little is known about how each of these social structures are sociologically structured and inhabited in contemporary Delhi. This case study, visibilises the processual formation of caste as network through a concerted effort by the elites. Through an intergenerational interrogation of the women’s question within families, the study, shows the changing processes of self-making. The case study shows that the success of a ‘middle’ caste to become an urban ‘upper’ caste lies in its careful negotiation of the women’s question.
Ambedkar’s Legacy
Authors: Teltumbde Anand
Published: January 2024

This chapter attempts to take stock of some broad aspects of Ambedkar’s legacy, which has been significantly shaped by history as well as contemporary social, economic, and political forces. The spread of education among Dalits and rise of a Dalit middle class that extended to constitute a sizable Dalit diaspora abroad; a section of it becoming entrepreneurs and advocating Dalit capitalism; the reservation policies that played a prominent role in catalyzing these changes; and the consequent identitarian instincts it induced in the upwardly mobile Dalits are all due to this legacy. Likewise, Ambedkar’s legacy could be noted in general constitutional discourse, civil rights activism, women’s struggles against gender discrimination, and the political activism of a vast political class to which numerous Dalit parties, including the Bahujan Samaj Party belong. Ambedkar’s multi-dimensional legacy encompassing all these multi-layered influences is thus a complex whole, which may not be easy to grasp and remains difficult to analyse.
The Mahars and Dalit Movement OF Maharashtra
Authors: Wankhede Harish
Published: January 2024

With a focus on Mahar Dalits, this chapter attempts to draw a chronological account of three major phases of Dalit Movement in Maharashtra. The first part narrates the social and political background responsible for the emergence of nascent ‘Mahar Movement’. The second phase is crucial as it witnessed the entry of Ambedkar as the most powerful leader of the untouchable castes. He offered Dalits a collective social identity and revolutionary political ideology to enable them effectively intervene in modern democracy. Finally, it maps the contemporary Dalit social and political life to showcase the arrival of newer complexities and divisions that could be described as the emerging Dalit conundrum.
Caste and Tribe
Authors: Prasad Jai
Published: January 2024

The idea of a ‘tribe’ is a colonial construct that spawned the now institutionalized and highly politicized administrative category: ‘Scheduled Tribes.’ This term seeks (and fails) to describe a large and diverse group of communities in India that are seen apart from the so-called caste-based Hindu society. Colonial-era evolutionary frameworks that see tribes as ‘primitive’ or backward and the mainstream as ‘advanced’ continue to undergirded policy discourses and predominant academic narratives on social change among these communities. The absorption of tribal communities into Hindu mainstream through processes of Sanskritisation is often portrayed as an ongoing, even inevitable, process. In contemporary India, however, that has not been the reality. India’s tribes, in their longstanding struggle against material and cultural violence, have asserted their identity and ethnic autonomy in search for a rightful place in national politics and collective imagination.