Contested Futures

Contested Futures PDF Author: Nik Brown
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351949004
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
In a unique volume, Contested Futures brings together a group of scholars to examine the relationships between social action and the future. Rather than speculating upon what the future might bring, the volume interrogates the metaphors and practices through which the future is mobilized as an object of present day action and agency. The book shifts the analytical gaze from looking into the future to looking at the future as a sociological phenomenon in its own right. Futures are thus contested in as much as they register differences of interest, time frame or organizational and political form. Contestation is also evident in the ascendancy of certain discourses, languages and metaphors which foreclose some futures whilst facilitating others. But futures are far from being simply linguistic abstractions, and in fact can often be seen to harden into material entrenchment as expectations become scripted into 'path dependency' and 'lock in'. Contested Futures is an invaluable analysis for both academics and policy actors seeking a better understanding of the ubiquity of futures-discourse in the context of today’s uncertainties.

Contested Futures

Contested Futures PDF Author: Nik Brown
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351949004
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 390

Get Book Here

Book Description
In a unique volume, Contested Futures brings together a group of scholars to examine the relationships between social action and the future. Rather than speculating upon what the future might bring, the volume interrogates the metaphors and practices through which the future is mobilized as an object of present day action and agency. The book shifts the analytical gaze from looking into the future to looking at the future as a sociological phenomenon in its own right. Futures are thus contested in as much as they register differences of interest, time frame or organizational and political form. Contestation is also evident in the ascendancy of certain discourses, languages and metaphors which foreclose some futures whilst facilitating others. But futures are far from being simply linguistic abstractions, and in fact can often be seen to harden into material entrenchment as expectations become scripted into 'path dependency' and 'lock in'. Contested Futures is an invaluable analysis for both academics and policy actors seeking a better understanding of the ubiquity of futures-discourse in the context of today’s uncertainties.

Energy, Resource Extraction and Society

Energy, Resource Extraction and Society PDF Author: Anna Szolucha
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135121392X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
Energy is central to the fabric of society. This book revisits the classic notions of energy impacts by examining the social effects of resource extraction and energy projects which are often overlooked. Energy impacts are often reduced to the narrow configurations of greenhouse gas emissions, chemical spills or land use changes. However, this neglects the fact that the way we produce, distribute and consume energy shapes society, political institutions and culture. The authors trace the impacts of contemporary energy and resource extraction developments and explain their significance for the shaping of powerful social imaginaries and a reconfiguration of political and democratic systems. They analyse not only the complex histories and landscapes of industrial mining and energy development, including oil, coal, wind power, gas (fracking) and electrification, but also their significance for contested energy and social futures. Based on ethnographic and interdisciplinary research from around the world, including case studies from Australia, Germany, Kenya, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Turkey, UK and USA, they document the effects on local communities and how these are often transformed into citizen engagement, protest and resistance. This sheds new light on the relationship between energy and power, reflecting a wide array of pertinent impacts beyond the usual considerations of economic efficiency and energy security. The volume is aimed at advanced students and researchers in anthropology, sociology, human geography, science and technology studies, environmental studies and sustainable development as well as professionals working in the field of impact assessments.

Global Civil Society

Global Civil Society PDF Author: Gideon Baker
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134256876
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
For many commentators, global civil society is revolutionising our approach to global politics, as new non-state-based and border-free expressions of political community challenge territorial sovereignty as the exclusive basis for political community and identity. This challenge 'from below' to the nation-state system is increasingly seen as promising nothing less than a reconstruction, or a re-imagination, of world politics itself. Whether in terms of the democratisation of the institutions of global governance, the spread of human rights across the world, or the emergence of a global citizenry in a worldwide public sphere, global civil society is understood by many to provide the agency necessary for these hoped-for transformations. Global Civil Society asks whether this idea is such a qualitatively new phenomenon after all; whether the transformation of the nation-state system is actually within its reach; and what some of the drawbacks might be.

Contested Energy Futures

Contested Energy Futures PDF Author: Stuart Rosewarne
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811902240
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
This book unpacks the politics of climate change in Australia in the context of successive conservative Coalition governments resisting any moves to mitigate emissions and as local communities and transnational corporations struggle with each other to control the transition to a sustainable energy future. As Australia has abundant clean energy resources in terms of solar and wind, the book offers a test case for study of the energy policy transition in the 21st century. It does so by using tools from political economy and sociology, teasing out public attitudes to renewable energy technologies and innovative infrastructure investments, unpacking the complex parameters of this historical debate, tracing the rise of household 'prosumers' and arguing the case for grassroots ownership of renewable infrastructure or 'energy sovereignty' - already pioneered by some isolated communities in Australia. The cultural and emancipatory benefits of cooperative ventures are well known. However, capitalism is not readily defeated by democracy. The promotion of individual households as 'virtual power stations', of 'smart technologies' and even of cryptocurrency into the energy transition innovative mix opens up ever new horizons for corporate control.

Contested Architectural Pasts and Futures of a Regional City, Geelong, Australia

Contested Architectural Pasts and Futures of a Regional City, Geelong, Australia PDF Author: Mirjana Lozanovska
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1036406180
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
This collection of essays highlights current debates for cities undergoing urban renewal, focussing on regional cities as places that lead change. Like many regional cities, Geelong is grappling with the legacy of its industrial architectural heritage and identity. This in-depth study of the city of Geelong examines theories and realities - from the speculative to the mundane – critical to change pre-empted by deindustrialisation. While this book argues that architecture and the built environment are key to urban renewal, an intersectional perspective on Geelong as a place raises contested pasts and territories. This brings attention to the dispossession of First Nations people by British colonisers, as well as the exploitation of immigrant communities in industrial production. Informed by positions on design futures, decolonising and cultural urbanisms, adaptive re-use and the post-industrial city, the chapters in this book expand an interdisciplinary field relevant to scholars and practitioners in heritage and conservation, urban design, community engagement and place-making more generally.

Women and Wars

Women and Wars PDF Author: Carol Cohn
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745660665
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
Where are the women? In traditional historical and scholarly accounts of the making and fighting of wars, women are often nowhere to be seen. With few exceptions, war stories are told as if men were the only ones who plan, fight, are injured by, and negotiate ends to wars. As the pages of this book tell, though, those accounts are far from complete. Women can be found at every turn in the (gendered) phenomena of war. Women have participated in the making, fighting, and concluding of wars throughout history, and their participation is only increasing at the turn of the 21st century. Women experience war in multiple ways: as soldiers, as fighters, as civilians, as caregivers, as sex workers, as sexual slaves, refugees and internally displaced persons, as anti-war activists, as community peace-builders, and more. This book at once provides a glimpse into where women are in war, and gives readers the tools to understood women’s (told and untold) war experiences in the greater context of the gendered nature of global social and political life.

Technology, Society and Inequality

Technology, Society and Inequality PDF Author: Erika Cudworth
Publisher: Digital Formations
ISBN: 9781433119712
Category : Capitalism
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book suggests that the primary purpose of current production and distribution is not to satisfy human needs but to create profit for the owners of capital that in turn has devastating consequences for the environment and for vulnerable people. Multidisciplinary in perspective, contributors to this volume addresses issues of inequality which affect both developed and developing countries.

Occupy All Streets

Occupy All Streets PDF Author: Bruno Carvalho
Publisher: UR (Urban Research)
ISBN: 9780996004176
Category : City planning
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Occupy All Streets: Olympic Urbanism and Contested Futures in Rio de Janeiro analyzes the implications of the various mega-projects that form part of the comprehensive transformation of Rio de Janeiro, connected to the 2016 Olympic Games. Contributions from literary critics, historians, anthropologists, architects, media theorists, geographers and urban planners explore the array of interventions proposed and built in anticipation of recent mega-events. Collectively, the essays tell the story of how these changes to the cityscape have kindled Rio's citizens? hopes and aspirations for their ?right to the future,? and also chronicle the various ways they have contested the futures being imposed on them. Anticipating the city yet to come, these essays also point to the potential for activism and protest to transform the Olympic legacy into different futures. While focused on Rio, Occupy All Streets is full of lessons for other cities experiencing wide-ranging challenges and facing far-reaching reforms.

Encounters on Contested Lands

Encounters on Contested Lands PDF Author: Julie Burelle
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 0810138980
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Winner, 2019 John W. Frick Book Award Winner, 2020 Ann Saddlemyer Award Finalist, ATHE Outstanding Book Award for 2020 Mention Spéciale, Société québécoise d'études théâtrale In Encounters on Contested Lands, Julie Burelle employs a performance studies lens to examine how instances of Indigenous self-representation in Québec challenge the national and identity discourses of the French Québécois de souche—the French-speaking descendants of white European settlers who understand themselves to be settlers no more but rather colonized and rightfully belonging to the territory of Québec. Analyzing a wide variety of performances, Burelle brings together the theater of Alexis Martin and the film L'Empreinte, which repositions the French Québécois de souche as métis, with protest marches led by Innu activists; the Indigenous company Ondinnok's theater of repatriation; the films of Yves Sioui Durand, Alanis Obomsawin, and the Wapikoni Mobile project; and the visual work of Nadia Myre. These performances, Burelle argues, challenge received definitions of sovereignty and articulate new ones while proposing to the province and, more specifically, to the French Québécois de souche, that there are alternative ways to imagine Québec's future and remember its past. The performances insist on Québec's contested nature and reframe it as animated by competing sovereignties. Together they reveal how the "colonial present tense" and "tense colonial present" operate in conjunction as they work to imagine an alternative future predicated on decolonization. Encounters on Contested Lands engages with theater and performance studies while making unique and needed contributions to Québec and Canadian studies, as well as to Indigenous and settler-colonial studies.

Contested Sustainability Discourses in the Agrifood System

Contested Sustainability Discourses in the Agrifood System PDF Author: Douglas H. Constance
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351664913
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
The industrial agrifood system is in crisis regarding its negative ecological, economic, and social externalities: it is unsustainable on all dimensions. This book documents and engages competing visions and contested discourses of agrifood sustainability. Using an incremental/reformist to transformation/radical continuum framework for alternative agrifood movements, this book identifies tensions between competing discourses that stress food sovereignty, social justice, and fair trade and those that emphasize food security, efficiency and free trade. In particular, it highlights the role that governance processes play in sustainability transitions and the ways that power and politics affect sustainability visions and discourses. The book includes chapters that review sustainability discourses at the macro and meso levels, as well as case studies from Africa, Australia, Canada, Europe, South America and the USA.