bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Political Strategies of Self-representation: The Case of Young Afghan Migrants in Sweden
Authors: Josefsson Jonathan 
Published: March 2023

AbstractIn this chapter, I explore how children and youth make use of particularstrategies of self-representationto seek political representation. I do so by taking my point of departure in a group of young Afghan migrants in Sweden and their political mobilization for their right to residency permits. In dialogue with debates in political theory around democracy and representation, I examine how young political actors contest and recast dominant regimes of political representation to claim political space and a voice of their own. Focus is put on the ways in which various actors struggle over the authority to represent and give meaning to the interests, rights, and well-being of young migrants and how these processes of representing children and youth become politically productive. Four different strategies are identified and suggested to constitute a politics of self-representation:Rejecting previous forms of representation;establishing, shaping, and controlling political identity;creating political space;making opponents and allies. Based on these empirical observations, I argue that the mobilizations of young non-citizens against deportation reveal a critical dimension to the politics of childhood, namely, how the strategies of self-representation used by children and youth disrupt current legal and political orders and open up new avenues for political representation.
Children’s Participation in Their Right to Education: Learning from the Delhi High Court Cases, 1998–2001
Authors: Balagopalan Sarada 
Published: March 2023

AbstractWith several states in the majority world having passed legislation around free and compulsory education and millions of marginal children now enrolled in schools, the question of how we frame children’s participation in their right to education assumes considerable significance. By drawing together discussions around children’s representations, participation and educational equity, this chapter critically opens up the particular dynamic that has helped produce educational equity as a continually deferrable goal. It argues that the dominant representation of first-generation learners as economically marginal children is variously, and continually, leveraged to justify their presence within unequal and deeply segregated school spaces. To help problematize this narrative of assumed victimhood, the chapter discusses a set of court cases adjudicated in the Delhi High Court between 1997 and 2001. These cases not only highlight the state’s role in perpetuating existing inequalities but also draw attention to how these dominant representations had a deleterious effect on marginal children’s school experiences. By countering a simplistic narrative around school attendance as an adequate measure of children’s learning and participation in education, these Delhi High Court cases foreground marginal children’s primary identity as learners. They thus help expose how the current fuzziness around children’s participation in schooling has helped produce schooling as a critical compensatory technology that is no longer about guaranteeing educational equity.
“Children Without Childhood”: Representations of the Child-Soldier as an International Emergency
Authors: Tabak Jana 
Published: March 2023

AbstractConsidering the prevailing discourse about the child-soldier, whose most iconic figure is a poor, vulnerable, prepubescent, male African who carries a gun bigger than he is, this chapter investigates how child-soldiers are invariably framed as an essentially deviant and pathological child—and as such a threat to world security—in need of solution. Regardless of many historical examples of children’s participation in war, the child-soldier is assumed to be a new international emergency, an exception to the norm of the child, owing primarily to the outbreak of “new wars” in the post–Cold War era. The focus of this chapter turns to two main discourses that articulate and authorize the limits that (re)produce the child-soldier as an international problem, setting boundaries within which only certain subjects, narratives and responses are admitted: (1) the discourse of the law, that is, international legal standards that articulate children’s participation in war as something that is wrong and must be banned under international law; and (2) what I call the “discourse of the norm,” which is analyzed through the three contrasting images of the child-soldier as dangerous and disorderly, the hapless victim, and the redeemed hero, as identified by Myriam Denov (Child Soldiers: Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010). The discourse of the norm, in particular, makes visible child-soldiers as a pathology, excluding their aspects of disorder, dysfunction, and risk from the accepted boundaries of what is to be a child and its childhood. In this case, it is not only that children’s participation in wars is wrong, but it is absolutely abnormal once their childhood has been lost together with any semblance of the “civilized world.” At the end of the day, the logic of opposite extremes—to be a child-soldier is to be an innocent victim or to be a feared monster—operates to (re)produce children as targets of international intervention (or protection) with no chance of autonomous decision-making; child-soldiers are either the objects of exploitation or the objects of salvation.
Children’s Representation in the Transnational Mirror Maze
Authors: Hanson Karl 
Published: March 2023

AbstractThe chapter critically analyses the performances of children’s representation in the transnational political arena and engages with the questions: Who is representing children? Where are such representations enacted? It investigates two largely advertised transnational advocacy campaigns in favour of children’s human rights. The first concerns international advocacy around minimum age legislation for child soldiering, a campaign led by transnational advocacy networks that claim to represent children and young people’s rights and interests but in which children are hardly present. The second is about children and young people who have taken the lead to fight climate change via international legal procedures and who are backed up by large children’s rights entities. Both cases illustrate the tension between transnational approaches that favour a ‘global childhood’ and national and other interests at stake in childhood politics. Given their close connection with international policy making on children, childhood and children’s rights, transnational campaigns and entities exert a significant part of the transnational public power against which they are struggling. This makes it important to critically assess who is speaking on behalf of children and where their representation is being performed. To strengthen children’s representation in transnational matters it is important to investigate its complex and often confusing workings and extend internal democratic processes within transnational actors.
Deliberative Disobedience as a Strategy for Claiming Rights and Representation in the Family: The Case of Accra’s Street Children
Authors: Ofosu-Kusi Yaw 
Published: March 2023

AbstractRepresentation as a cornerstone of liberal democracy enables representatives to speak on behalf of others; articulate their views and defend their interest when necessary. Children’s representation however is a challenging endeavour because they usually do not have voting rights or enforcement capacity to hold those who represent them accountable. In the domestic arena, for example, parents are commonly seen as legitimate representatives of their children because of a natural affiliation and propensity to speak for and defend their interests. However, in recent times, broader social and economic transformations in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa, especially social change, neoliberalism and globalization and their myriad consequences, have incapacitated some parents, while motivating their children to defy and deliberately disengage with their representation. This quest transforms the notions of rights and representation because by enabling children more space in decision-making it subverts the norms of representation. It is a slide from traditional acquiescence/obedience towards a self-representation that elevates children’s agency but subverts the authority of parents/adults, thus disrupting the traditional distribution of power. This is exemplified in the migration of children to the major cities of Ghana, especially Accra, in spite of protestations from their parents, to earn incomes for themselves and sometimes the family and in the process claim rights that enable them to chart their own courses of life. The context for this argument is the outcome of a programme of qualitative studies in Accra in the 2000s. It involved 102 boys and girls, aged between 8 and 17 years, who were interviewed, observed and encouraged to participate in photo-elicitation exercises.
East Central Europe Between the Colonial and the Postcolonial: A Critical Introduction
Authors: Kołodziejczyk Dorota , Huigen Siegfried 
Published: March 2023

AbstractIn this introductory chapter, we propose a comparative model for studying the in-between location of East Central Europe on the cultural, historical, and political map of Europe. To construct this model, we make a critical survey of theoretical frameworks that have been deployed so far and claim that postcolonialism can be used as a hermeneutical device for situating East Central Europe on the global map of (colonial) modernity. Analysing the approaches developed in studies on the region, we discuss the shortcomings of using postcolonialism for claiming the postcolonial status for the region.
East Central Europe as a Historical and Conceptual Space: On the Production of Knowledge from an (Historical) Area Studies Perspective
Authors: Kraft Claudia 
Published: March 2023

AbstractThis chapter takes a historical look at the emergence and transformation of the concept of East Central Europe. In doing so, a dual perspective is adopted. On the one hand, it is necessary to ask for historical justifications for the specific state of the region’s “in-between-ness” at least since the early modern times. On the other hand, it will be reflected how the political and scholarly discourse about an imagined region, or a region characterised by socio-economic or political-institutional structures contributed to produce knowledge and to solidify the specific disciplinary take of “area studies.” The aim is to question the apparent aporia between structuralist essentialism and constructivist approaches and, above all, to work out to what extent East Central Europe can be used to produce theories for modern regional studies (instead of just being used as a testing ground for theories developed elsewhere). This seems to be even more important because the region, especially since the historical upheaval of 1989, has been placed in a perspective of catching up that assumes a linear temporality and does not do justice to the intrinsic value of East Central European spaces of experience.
Colonial Ambivalence and Its Aftermath: Colonialism and Anti-Colonialism in Independent Poland and Ireland
Authors: Healy Róisín 
Published: March 2023

AbstractThis chapter places the East Central European experience of colonialism within a broader European framework by comparing the cases of Poland and Ireland in the nineteenth century. Historians of Ireland have long argued for the colonial status of Ireland within the United Kingdom by reference to English and Scottish settlement, civilising discourse, economic neglect, and political subjugation. Historians of Poland have been slower to deem it colonial, as not all of these features were present in all three of the partitions. Recently, it has become clear that some Irish and Polish subjects were themselves implicated in colonial practices elsewhere, as ideologues, administrators, soldiers, settlers, teachers, and missionaries. Other Polish and Irish subjects were critical of colonialism, however, and expressed support for colonial subjects elsewhere. After independence, Poland and Ireland diverged, as Ireland made anti-colonialism state policy, whereas Poland toyed with the idea of acquiring colonies. Little valued as a distinct cultural and political entity, Ireland used anti-colonialism as a means of asserting the state’s relevance on the international stage. Conversely, Poland’s more recent experience of statehood and the historical dominance of ethnic Poles in the region encouraged its ambitions to become a Great Power and thus a colonial one.
The Unbearable Virtues of Backwardness: Mircea Eliade’s Conceptualisation of Colonialism and His Attraction to Romania’s Interwar Fascist Movement
Authors: Cârstocea Raul 
Published: March 2023

AbstractThis chapter addresses Mircea Eliade’s conceptualisation of the colonial experience and the ways in which it influenced his view of history, which in turn informed his studies of the sacred and the discipline of comparative religious studies to whose establishment he contributed significantly. I argue that his vision of colonialism, informing both his scientific work and his perception of the history and culture of Central and Eastern Europe, was reflective of the tension prompted by the epistemology of in-betweenness that Eliade (and other interwar Romanian intellectuals) developed as a response to Romania’s marginality, translating in practical terms in a conversion of its perceived “backwardness” into a virtue (albeit one that remained uncomfortable) and a weapon directed against Western cultural and political hegemony. As such, his epistemological stance corresponded on the one hand to Eliade’s genuine cultural pluralism, support for decolonisation, and appreciation of non-European cultures and the challenges they posed to European hegemony; and on the other led to his attraction to Romania’s native fascist movement, the “Legion of the Archangel Michael”. Studying the link between Eliade’s scholarship and his politics in light of his experience of colonialism in India draws attention to his broader understanding of Romania’s position within the global system, as well as to the parallels he drew between colonial scenarios and the historical legacies of countries in the region of Central and Eastern Europe, which he saw as also indelibly marked by their own experiences of empire.
Regained Landscapes: The Transfer of Power and Tradition in Polish Discourse of the Regained Territories
Authors: Siewior Kinga 
Published: March 2023

AbstractThe chapter discusses colonial strategies underlying landscape representations of the Regained Territories in the literature of the Polish People’s Republic. These regions, incorporated into Poland after 1945, were at the centre of Polish (and socialist) spatial imaginary, functioning as a mythical place of the origin of Polish statehood and a space of utopian fantasies of a new socialist society, established through state-driven settlement. Foreign landscape, in fact marked by German influence, was to be “recovered” or, rather more accurately, “repossessed,” in practice—Polonised/colonised. Hence, I discern here mechanisms of aestheticisation (ideologisation) of the landscape that oscillated around two basic categories: (1) populartopoiofterra nulliusand (2) the specific poetics of familiarity, developed by Jan Bułhak (one of the most influential founders of Polish modern photography) in his pre-war works from the Eastern Borderlands (Kresy)—the space of centuries-old Polish expansion. In the analytical part of the chapter, I focus on how the Eastern Borderlands landscape migrates into western spaces and new ideological and literary contexts, as well as on how Eastern Borderlands colonial tradition functions here as a template for “domestication” of a new Western Borderland.
Critical Understanding of Civic Statistics: Engaging with Important Contexts, Texts, and Opinion Questions
Authors: Gal Iddo 
Published: March 2023

AbstractThis chapter aims to support teachers and lecturers interested in developing students’ statistical literacy in general and critical understanding of Civic Statistics in particular. The chapter provides practical advice regarding task design and development of activities that encourage critical analysis of statistical texts (such as in the news media or publications of official statistics agencies). Key topics include: analysis of the nature of ‘context knowledge’ and what are ‘meaningful and important’ contexts that are worthy of attention when teaching for understanding of Civic Statistics; ways to bring ‘meaningful and important’ contexts and texts about them (e.g., from newspapers or digital media) into the classroom and to make sure students understand them; ideas about question-posing and designing suitable tasks about these meaningful and important contexts, in particular how to shape ‘opinion questions’ that can elicit students’ critical reading, reflective thinking, and communication of thoughtful opinions; and ideas about the dispositions and habits of mind (e.g., critical stance, ability to ask ‘worry questions’) and skills (e.g., reading comprehension, critical interpretation) we want students to internalized and be able to activate when engaging statistical messages. Based on the guidelines and examples regarding these topics, the chapter discusses implications and recommendations for curriculum design and for teaching and teachers working both at the high-school, college, and adult education contexts, in mathematics education, statistics and data science education, and related STEM disciplines.
Implementing Civic Statistics in Business Education: Technology in Small and Large Classrooms
Authors: Kovacs Peter , Kazar Klara , Kuruczleki Eva 
Published: March 2023

AbstractIntroducing Civic Statistics is of high importance in business education as its multidisciplinary nature helps students to develop complex and critical thinking and also to link different areas of their studies. In this chapter we share our hands-on experiences on the implementation of Civic Statistics both in large and small classrooms and highlight the differences between the techniques and topics employed in different circumstances. The study materials developed include topics such as the ageing society, poverty and income inequality, social and business networks and even financial literacy, the implementation of which will be discussed in detail in this chapter. The challenges of introducing Civic Statistics in a small or a large classroom in business education are different, and both are described here. In general, we received positive feedback from students: the social themes explored facilitated increased engagement and participation, and students welcomed the topics and tools—even though they are rather unusual compared to their ‘ordinary’ statistics classes.
Implementing Civic Statistics: An Agenda for Action
Authors: Gal Iddo , Ridgway Jim , Nicholson James , Engel Joachim 
Published: March 2023

AbstractThe first three chapters of this book have identified societal demands for understanding Civic Statistics (Chap. 1), described specific features of the statistical and mathematical information citizens receive about civic issues (Chap. 2), and mapped out the facets and tools (skills, knowledge, mental and motivational tools) needed to critically understand such statistical and mathematical information about society (Chap. 3). The present chapter examines issues that are essential for promoting necessary changes in the teaching and learning of Civic Statistics, which are needed for empowering citizens to engage with and analyze data sources and data-informed reasoning about burning issues in society, and critically interpret messages related to Civic Statistics encountered in the news media, social networks and related digital sources. The chapter first provides further illustrations of activities or tasks pertaining to Civic Statistics and shows how to analyse task demands in terms of the facets and tools they require. Then, general questions are examined regarding the all-important alignment of the features of Civic Statistics and their demands with curriculum plans and learning goals, classroom teaching practices, and assessment methods. We provide some guidelines for developing assessment items relevant to Civic Statistics. Finally, the chapter presents six broad recommendations related to changes in systemic issues that can promote attention to and critical understanding of Civic Statistics, at the school and university levels, and which can improve effective instruction and assessment in this regard, within mathematics education, statistics and data science education, and related disciplines.
Seeing Dynamic Data Visualizations in Action: Gapminder Tools
Authors: Kovacs Peter , Kazar Klara , Kuruczleki Eva 
Published: March 2023

AbstractCitizens need sophisticated ways of thinking in order to understand complex, real social and economic phenomena and to interpret relationships among social and business data correctly. Huge amounts of data, data sources and visualization tools provide an opportunity to illustrate complex relations within real data. At the same time, the misuse of these tools can lead to misinterpretations and in turn perhaps to poor decision making. The Gapminder Foundation has developed several visualization tools (using bubble charts, trend lines, ranks, maps, etc.) in order to facilitate the exploration of complex relationships between variables, to rank countries, and to explore things such as time series, age distributions and income distributions. The goals of this chapter are to: show these different tools in action in classes exploring poverty and the ageing society; to describe their advantages and disadvantages; and to compare.
Inclusive Fitness: A Scientific Revolution
Authors: Rodrigues António M. M. , Gardner Andy 
Published: March 2023

AbstractProponents of the “Extended Evolutionary Synthesis” argue that the current state of evolutionary biology departs from what was established in Modern Synthesis to such a degree that a new synthesis is needed. They present a “laundry list” of complaints concerning the core focus and assumptions of the Modern Synthesis and argue that the perspective of evolutionary biology must be shifted and these core assumptions relaxed in order to incorporate a plethora of new evolutionary factors. However, we contend that this revolution is already well underway, in the form of the inclusive-fitness research programme. We provide an overview of the inclusive-fitness revolution, charting its origins, explaining its core concepts and outlook, and describing the ways in which it has developed into a fully fledged and extraordinarily productive programme of scientific research. We then consider the apparently neglected processes and perspectives from an inclusive-fitness viewpoint. We conclude that progress in evolutionary theory is facilitated by focusing research attention on areas where there is a relatively poor fit between theoretical predictions and empirical observations, rather than complexifying models in pursuit of extra realism for its own sake.