Feminism and Political History

Political historians traditionally privileged the political activities of men and masculine political institutions. This vision of political history was revised from the early 1970s, first by "women's history" and later due to the influence of the "gender turn". The latter encompassed a recognition that conceptions of masculinity and femininity contribute to the shaping of political power. Both developments challenged but ultimately reinvigorated political history. However, as this article will argue, political history and feminist history remain to an extent quarantined from one another, despite the radical potential for feminist scholarship to change the way politics is conceived.     

Experiential and empathetic engagements with global poverty: ‘Live below the line so that others can rise above it’

In recent years events that physically challenge Northern publics have emerged as a new form of engagement with global poverty. In this article we examine the ‘Live Below the Line’ (LBTL) campaign, which asks participants to live on a small amount of money equivalent to the international poverty line for five days, as an example of experiential exercises that complement physical challenges with the simulation of some aspect of poor people’s lives. Drawing on interviews with participants in the 2013 New Zealand campaign, we argue that LBTL creates a limited understanding of poverty focused on poor food consumption caused by low income. While participants were able to have a more embodied and empathetic engagement with poverty, they projected their own physical and emotional sensations onto imagined poor others. As a result, stereotypes about those living in poverty were reinforced rather than challenged.     

A Conversation About Q. D. Leavis

Mary Ellen Mark's photographic collection Twins (2003) raises provocative questions about performance, contingency and the relativity of difference, self and other. Her images complicate notions of individuality and foundational difference and challenge both self-recognition and recognition by others. They require viewers to observe closely, to spend time studying her subjects and to address the relativity—sometimes the radical relativity—of difference but also of sameness. Difficult questions about where ‘you’ end and ‘I’ begin are raised. Though Twins contains images of fraternal twins and triplets, Mark's subjects are, overwhelmingly, identical twins. She usually photographs them standing together, dressed in precisely the same way, in carefully constructed poses. This recreates the carnivalesque, performative aspect of Twins Day, held each year in Twinsburg, Ohio, in which the fact of being a twin (or in some cases triplet) is affirmed. Some identical twins choose to represent themselves as twins rather than solely as individuals, or as siblings who are also twins, in order to test out the limits of individuality. Here, I consider the ways in which such a chosen celebratory representation challenges different ways in which identical twins have been conceived of, which emphasise instead alterity and uncanniness.     

The War with the Ottoman Empire: The Centenary History of Australia and the Great War Volume 2

The War with the Ottoman Empire: The Centenary History of Australia and the Great War Volume 2. By Jeffrey Grey (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2015), pp. x + 238. 16 Maps. AU$59.95 (cloth).     

Regulations as Arbiters of Risk: Great Britain, Germany, and the Hazardous Waste Trade in Western Europe

This article seeks to explain why Great Britain is one of the world's largest importers of hazardous wastes, while Germany, in contrast, is a waste exporter. Why one country exhibits such risk-acceptance behavior, while another is so risk averse, I argue, depends on differences between their national systems of environmental regulation. The style and structure of Britain's regulatory system, unlike that of Germany and its other partners in Western Europe, gives a high degree of leeway to private firms, filtering out the preferences of environmental groups and public opinion, thus enabling and facilitating the importation of hazardous wastes by waste disposal companies. The empirical section tests this argument against two alternative explanations: a state-centric explanation based on individual government's calculations of the relevant costs and benefits associated with the waste trade, and second, a "comparative advantage" explanation, based on the technological superiority of Britain's waste disposal facilities. The conclusion draws out the implication for international environmental regulation and for domestic-level regulatory change.     

Empowerment for development: Taking participatory appraisal further in rural South Africa

This paper examines the potential for Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques to contribute to community development and empowerment in a deprived rural community in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. A series of participatory workshops was undertaken in which various new techniques were used to identify people-environment relationships and, in particular, the community perception of the value and problems relating to the river and riparian zone. The workshops led to the community taking positive action to address the problems identified. The study indicates the value and role of participatory research among disempowered communities in rural Africa.     

劳动争议调解机制比较——转化型调解模式与传统的调解模式的区别

常见劳动争议调解模式有四:指导型调解、分析性调解、评估型调解及转化型调解.前三种的成败有赖于调解员在和解的过程中说服双方达成协议的主导性能力,侧重利益的分割,因而压抑了当事人对纠纷解决的主动性.而转化型调解则要求发挥当事人的作用,即通过协助当事人健全自我认知、体会对方的立场,转变对事件的感知,促成理解,重建共识,化解纠纷.可见,这不仅减少了制度负担,也有更好地尊重当事人意愿,更大程度上修复社会关系的效果.