Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

On Hannah Arendt's Study Of Constitutionalism In The Aftermath Of Totalitarianism: A Philosophical Search For The Principle To Secure The Foundations Of Modern Politics, Joseph De Leon Flores

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Hannah Arendt faces the grotesque appearance of totalitarianism, and with bravery goes on the offensive, herself armed with contemporary philosophical tools of analysis, to do battle in the field of existential-phenomenology against this modern monster. Totalitarianism, birthed from the seeds of lawless action, claims to be the most lawful mode of human existence. The monstrous existence of totalitarianism demonstrates a crisis in the very foundations of modern manâ??s political mode of being. In order to find a solution to this modern political crisis Arendt closely studies the experience of constitution writing at the moment the men of action are about …

Breaking The Rule Of Silence: Childbirth And Gendered Power In Efuru And The Joys Of Motherhood, Sunday Elliott Uguru

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines the thematic preoccupation of childbirth in the formative period of feminist discourse in African literature through a critical study of selected novels of Igbo women of southeastern Nigeria. The novels studied represent the earliest published African texts in English by women. The period under focus falls within the emerging stage of Nigerian literary tradition in its written form with a dominant presence of men. This study investigates the women novelists' perspective toward the failure of male authored works to represent women's childbirth experience. Through a critical reading of Flora Nwapa's Efuru and Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of …

Counter-Discourse And Power In Ahmed Yerimah’S Hard Ground And Uwemedimo Atakpo’S Watering The Hard Ground, Anietie Francis Udofia

International Review of Humanities Studies

Niger Delta uprising always evokes controversial positions viewed from a single perspective from the pages of print to electronic media with which many dramas and films on their themes clone some intertextual discourses as the absolute voice on the Niger Deltans’ problem. The major concern is usually the violence caused by the people of the Niger Delta to disrupt the peace of the Nigerian society without giving a second thought to the people’s complaint about the political which worsens the situations of the region. Using qualitative research methodology, framed on Mikhail Bakhtins’ theory of Dialogism as a suitable theoretical framework …

Power Centres: A Collaborative Development Proposal For Addressing Poverty And Related Challenges In Rural Communities In Kenya, Kennedy Okello Miruka, Kennedy Okello Miruka

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

In Homa Bay County, Kenya, a community-led development initiative called the Power Centre is transforming the fight against poverty and powerlessness. Grounded in principles of decolonization and participatory action, this project addresses the root causes of marginalization by empowering residents of Kokal Village to become active agents of change. Through a robust mixed-methods research approach, the project identifies systemic challenges and leverages existing social networks to build a sustainable, locally-owned model for development. The Power Centre implements a three-pronged strategy, focusing on increasing community participation, strengthening existing groups, and fostering collaborative networks to weave a robust support system. By addressing …

Book Review: Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths: From Alexander To Hitler To The Corporation, Tim Bakken

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The book Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths is a survey of a vast amount of human wrongdoing. It lays bare the motivations of aggressors who wish to subjugate nations or groups of people and corporate executives and government bureaucrats who make discretionary decisions that harm people. Along with cataloging mass killings by despots and soldiers, the book includes stories about Ponzi-schemers and the deaths of automobile drivers and passengers who were killed by vehicle defects known to the manufacturer. The book posits that “[p]owerful, elite forces are trying to force us backward toward a non-democratic state, one where power, wealth, and prerogative …

Power And Impact: Examining The Role Of Monarchy And Media In Shaping Attitudes Around Race And Human Rights For Sub-Saharan Migrant Populations In Morocco, Leila Narisetti

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this investigation is to delve into the intricate dynamics surrounding migration in Morocco, specially focusing on the Maghreb region’s treatment of sub-Saharan migrants and the complex interplay between institutions of power, media narratives and societal attitudes towards race and identity. Drawing on Morocco’s historical relationship with slavery and its present handling of Africanness, the analysis unveils a culture of denial that deeply impacts the integration of migrants and the perpetuating of discriminatory practices. The narrative shifts towards the role of rhetoric and media, emphasizing its pivotal importance in shaping societal perspectives, particularly regarding non-Moroccans. The examination extends …

Reimagining The Theory Of Necropolitics In A Modern Lens: Hate Crimes And Violence, Salma Ahmed Abdulmagied Gheita

Future Journal of Social Science

This research paper is testing the validity of the Necropolitics theory and how we can reintroduce its definitions in a modern lens. Though the theory of Necropolitics is extreme and historically was a terminology and paradigm that was used towards more catastrophic and traumatizing events. The main argument that this paper is discussing is how did the idea of Necropolitics evolved into a more institutional, systematic, and legalized manors of exclusion. This is made through critical discourse analysis of the text presented on the term Necropolitics to highlight on the history of this term and what it stood for in …

Political Theory, Activism, And Visual Media: The Ideology Of Protest Symbols, Jilly E. Crane-Mauzy Mx.

Whittier Scholars Program

Art changes culture while policy codifies it. Radical revolutionary movements are often accompanied by equally radical shifts in art and design. I cataloged, compared, and contrasted the semiotic power of three specific symbols and their most significant historical moments in the United States. Through the examination of; Stonewall, The Equality March March Against Death, The Day The World Said No To War, The 1968 Summer Olympics, and The 2020 Black Lives Matter, the shifting of each ideologies symbol from inflammation in the media to recognition showcases the clarifying function along with creating unity and pride in community that is integral …

The Student-Teacher Romance Film Genre: Hollywood's Historical Representation Of Abuse Of Power, Darby Gilliland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite vast literature analyzing films that depict romantic and sexual relationships between young students and their teachers, scholarship has yet to explicitly call this category of films and television a genre. The purpose of the present thesis is to define the student-teacher romance film genre and identify patterns that make it up as a means of illuminating the genre’s exploration of abuse of power in the classroom. I use a historical-generic methodology and gaze theory as a framework to conduct this analysis. I identify three distinct eras of the genre and analyze films from each time period. The first era …

Part Of The Team: Effecting Change And Sharing Power In Healthcare Settings, Jessica Stanier, Rachel Purtell, Dave Thomas, William Murray

Patient Experience Journal

In 2019, we, as a group of patients and researchers, were invited to rethink how the executive board received and responded to patient stories at a specific NHS hospital trust in the UK. Through an iterative series of meetings, we were able to co-identify common concerns and together develop a distinctive narrative framework for effecting change by sharing patient experiences. This narrative framework is designed to help patients position themselves as ‘part of their healthcare team,’ emphasising roles and responsibilities between patients and health practitioners to compare ideals with reality in patient experiences. While the project was promising, several factors …

The Manifestation Of Intra Gender Oppression In Margaret Atwood’S The Handmaid’S Tale As Results From Intentional Patriarchal Power Structures, Aliyah Browning

The Compass

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has long been studied for its cautionary warnings about sexist ideologies that exist between men and women; seldom has it been analyzed for instances of intra gender oppression. Intra gender oppression, which this thesis seeks to define and highlight through the novel’s context, offers artificial forms of power to those in oppressed classes, enough to attract women themselves to participate in the indoctrination and policing of their own sex. This essay will highlight the ways in which Atwood’s dystopia parallels sexist beliefs held by societies past and present.

The Gay Science: Power On The Body, Population, And Psyche, Nicola Augustyn

CMC Senior Theses

Michel Foucault is a philosopher of power who left behind a legacy of ideas that continue to inspire scholars today. His conceptualization of power is not limited to the figures of kings, monarchs, or the sovereign state. Rather, he regards power as a productive force that shapes subjectivity, manufactures knowledge, and engenders the truth in a particular historical context. In this thesis, I aim to provide a comprehensive account of Foucault’s analysis of power, starting with his refutation of the “repressive hypothesis” that challenges the predominant view of centralized top-down power. Then, I present Foucault’s proposal for redefining power as …

An Event-Without-Witness: A Nietzschean Theory Of The Digital Will To Power As The Will To Temporalize, Talha Issevenler

Publications and Research

This article offers a Nietzschean theory of digital will to power to conceptualize the temporality of social media feeds run by algorithms. Stylistic and methodological temporalities of Nietzsche are discussed as well as their influence in subsequent social theory of political technologies. The paradox of heavy investment in both subjective expression and nonhuman temporalization in social media milieus is addressed with the concept of an event-without-witness drawn from Nietzsche’s account of himself as the solitary thinker of catastrophe of nihilism and psychoanalytical and deconstructive literatures on the catastrophes of the 20th century. Nietzsche’s fundamental resistance to and fascination with the …

Civil War And Power: A Theoretical Inquiry, Can Guven

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation is a theoretical project that explores the conceptual nexus between civil war and power. It maps out a lineage of thought which posits civil war as a framework for explicating politics, not as a pre-political stage of savagery or a deteriorated condition of the socio-political order. Starting with Michel Foucault’s radical yet short-lived civil war thesis, which situates civil war as the matrix of relations of power, this investigation traverses the work of several theorists and philosophers who have drawn on, or departed from, this line of thought. It critically evaluates Giorgio Agamben’s use of the concept …

Colonial Education: Puerto Ricans And The Carlisle Indian School, Progenitors Of The Mythic Identity, Melissa Swinea

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

‘GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES’ reads a subheading of The Red Man –a historic periodical memorializing the tune of 19th century Americana with references to Godliness and its connection to Indianness and ostentatious capitalism in a canon of school newspapers. The Red Man was the staple periodical of the Carlisle Indian Industrial Institute published monthly and declared “in the interest of Indian education and civilization” for the annual price of 50 cents[1] The subject and recipients of The Red Man would also include 193 Puerto Rican students sent to Carlisle through the U.S.’s campaign to Americanize the Caribbean …

Time And Power: The Will To Temporalize In Digital Culture, Talha Issevenler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I analyze the new forms of temporalization of social media in relationship to arrangements of power through nonhuman agency of the algorithm. The new social media industry refers to the entities that make up its circulatory movement, simply as ‘content’. This suggests that scientific or empirical study of social media should deal with content and analyze this as the data of research through sampling (Manovich, 2020, p. 93-94). Yet the forms and the temporality in which the content is presented not only are open to empirical research but should be central to our understanding of the organization …

Visions And Seeds Of Change : Pathways To Defining And Seeking Liberation, Ramon Kentrell Lee

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

From July 2015 to May 2018, the sociopolitical terrain and atmosphere of Albany, New York underwent significant shifts as the levels and types of activism and liberation discourse increased. The shifts were related to national occurrences, such as the development of the Black Lives Matter movement, the state of police brutality and state-sanctioned violence, the campaign and election of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United State, and the emergence of the Me Too movement. During this period of change, activists engaged in a series of political struggles for situated identification and empowerment, the emergence of a …

Archiving Feminist Truth In Trump’S Wake Of Lies, Julie Shayne

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

This article is about an assignment I do in one of my Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies social movement classes. I revised the assignment the first time teaching the class after Trump lost the 2020 election. For the assignment, students work in groups to research local feminist and gender justice organizations and deposit all of their original materials – recordings, photos, flyers, etc. – into a digital, open access archive I co-created several years ago with librarians and staff on my campus. In 2021 I had my students do the “post-Trump” edition where they researched local organizations about how their …

How Democratic Is Democracy? A History Of Political Corruption In Peru, Kaitlyn Selzler

Graduate Review

With the emergence of revisionist scholarship beginning in the 1960’s and 1970’s, scholars have taken terms which had absolute definitions, such as totalitarianism or democracy, and introduced different perspectives and methods which questioned the absolute authority of historical terminology. As a case study into these new historical methodologies, this essay seeks to answer the question: How democratic is Peru’s democracy? To answer this question, this research explores the deep seeded corruption in Latin America, specifically Peru, beginning in 1985 with the election of Alan Garcia, continuing through the presidency of Alberto Fujimori, and eventually ending with the current state of …

Policing Perspectives Of Human Trafficking, Joanne V. Silva

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This study incorporates a criminological and feminist analysis of policing perspectives surrounding the power dynamics within human trafficking.

Power, Resistance And Revolution In Michel Foucault, محمد الطوالبة, محمود بني دومي

Jerash for Research and Studies Journal مجلة جرش للبحوث والدراسات

Michel Foucault's thought and his philosophical research, especially those related to power and its relation to knowledge, resistance and revolution, are still controversial among many scholars and researchers. In fact his thought provokes many reactions, objections and arguments.This study aims at understanding Foucault's vision as well as his model in the analysis of the idea of power. in addition, it attempt to clarify his position and analysis of the Marxist concept of power. The study also shed light on topics such as the physics of power and its opposition to the theory of the right and the legal perception of …

Metal Music And Gender, Adam Fortney

Sociology Student Work Collection

Heavy metal music is experienced as a vibrant and empowering global community, but its history, structure, and practice reflect and recreate larger patterns of masculine hegemony within the metal world. As the metal ethos is centered around the practice and affirmation of social transgression, some are pushing the boundaries of metal itself to become a vehicle for critical social discourse around structural inequalities, including gendered hegemony.

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? A Marxist Analysis Of "Hamilton" And Its Relationship To The Broadway Economic System, Alana Ritt

Honors Projects

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s mega-hit Hamilton: An American Musical has been both a critical and academic darling since its premiere in 2015. A historical retelling of America’s inception through the eyes of an oft-ignored founding father, the musical weaves together a diverse cast and hip-hop musical stylings in order to tell the story of “America then, as told by America now.” While many critics and scholars alike have praised the musical for putting an exciting and accessible twist to American history, others have argued that the musical is not nearly as “revolutionary” as it claims to be. This essay is designed to …

Inauguration Day And The Politics Of A Partial Exorcism, Donald Roth

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Our nation is possessed by various spirits, and the parties are far from united on which ones should go and which should stay."

Posting about the 2021 Presidential Inauguration from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/inauguration-day-and-the-politics-of-a-partial-exorcism/

Multispecies Disposability: Taxonomies Of Power In A Global Pandemic, Darren Chang, Lauren Corman

Animal Studies Journal

This paper bridges critical conversations regarding animal exploitation and racialized violence that have been occurring throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We apply Claire Jean Kim’s analysis of taxonomies of power to help make sense of the interwoven multispecies catastrophes of racialized animalization and animalized racialization, such as the violence experienced by various species of nonhuman animals, as well as East Asians and other People of Colour in the West, whether in public spaces, in media, on farms, or inside industrial animal slaughterhouses or meatpacking plants. We conclude by arguing that Kim’s ethics of mutual avowal provides a productive way for social …

Documental Fixity, Asy Sanches, Ronald E. Day

Proceedings from the Document Academy

The article discusses the concept of fixity in documents and documentality. Issues of control and power are discusses as related to these concepts.

“Surveilling The Maternal Body”: A Critical Examination Through Foucault’S Panopticon, Sarah Symonds Leblanc

The Qualitative Report

This article analyzes my personal experience of having a maternal body through autoethnographic means. Being pregnant is a time of celebration, but moms experience private and public changes in their bodies. These public changes continue during the postpartum period. Ground in Foucault’s panopticon, this paper explores how the maternal body undergoes self-surveillance as well as surveillance by the proverbial others. I provide vignettes and personal experiences to highlight the panopticon: moms self-surveil but moms are also being surveilled when in the public eye. I make the argument of how the maternal body is a site of surveillance often used to …

Not So Minor Feelings, Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt

Faculty Publications

This creative nonfiction essay by Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt about race, silencing, and families originally appeared in Entropy.

A Student Primer On Intersectionality: Not Just A Buzzword, Elodie Silberstein, Marisa Tramontano, Meghana V. Nayak

Open Educational Resources

This book:

● lays out the objectives of WS 166, Gender, Race, and Class, taught in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, Pace University, New York City campus;

● provides a structure for any course addressing intersectionality, feminism, and oppression;

● describes the framework of intersectionality, which examines societal issues by analyzing the interlocking systems of oppression that shape people’s lives;

● argues for a transnational application of intersectionality that also centers U.S. Black feminists’ contributions to understanding oppression;

● includes journal articles, TED Talks, and class exercises that are generally accessible for most students or interested readers without previous …

From Protecting To Performing Privacy, Garfield Benjamin

The Journal of Sociotechnical Critique

Privacy is increasingly important in an age of facial recognition technologies, mass data collection, and algorithmic decision-making. Yet it persists as a contested term, a behavioural paradox, and often fails users in practice. This article critiques current methods of thinking privacy in protectionist terms, building on Deleuze's conception of the society of control, through its problematic relation to freedom, property and power. Instead, a new mode of understanding privacy in terms of performativity is provided, drawing on Butler and Sedgwick as well as Cohen and Nissenbaum. This new form of privacy is based on identity, consent and collective action, a …