A shifting enemy: analysing the BBC’s representations of “al-Qaeda” in the aftermath of the September 11th 2001 attacks

This article seeks to explore how the BBC made sense of the al-Qaeda phenomenon in its flagship “News at Ten” bulletin during the aftermath of the September 11^th 2001 attacks. Using Critical Multimodal Discourse Analysis, it shows how the BBC’s representations function as a dynamic and continually shifting site upon which a range of fears, identities, discourses and forms of knowledge and power struggle and contend, and through which a number of different “al-Qaedas” manifest themselves. In particular, three shifting modes of visual and verbal representation are identified within the BBC’s coverage which each correspond to a separate understanding of al-Qaeda: the “Islamic” mode, the “Personalised” mode and the “Elusive” mode. These representations both draw upon and challenge the dominant discourses surrounding Islam, non-state terrorism and the identities of terrorist suspects, providing audiences with a variety of often conflicting ways of seeing and speaking about this entity. As such, the article provides insight into the complex nature of the BBC’s representations of al-Qaeda during its coverage of the September 11^th 2001 attacks, and shows how such complexity serves, albeit inadvertently, to legitimise the far-reaching counterterrorism policies that were enacted in the aftermath of these attacks.     

Proscribing torture: an analysis in Indian and ethical contexts

The article seeks context for the 2010 Indian Prevention of Torture Bill, by critically examining the nature of the international law proscribing torture, then the universality of torture’s immorality. Argument covers the scholarship on torture categories and addresses the probity of evidence deriving from tortured subjects. It critically investigates the sociological literature on torture. It states a suggested policy guide, developed in a worldwide context, and therefore of use by any jurisdiction. In particular, this paper considers the underpinnings of the prohibition against torture and also will analyse the proposed Indian Bill on the delimited basis of the conflicting ideologies of the two greater jurists, Immanuel Kant and Jeremy Bentham. This paper asks whether the new Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010 (India), still not enacted, would prevent torture in India.     

Sustaining livelihoods in complex emergencies: experiences of Sri Lanka

This article examines the role of context-specific factors that help to perpetuate the vulnerability of conflict-affected people. The discussion revolves around key concepts of household livelihood security, resilience building, income diversification, market access, and armed non-state actors. It is argued that, while conflict-affected households develop adaptive strategies to sustain their livelihoods amid the commonly observed vulnerabilities, the governance arrangements of the parties to the conflict can place stress on local initiatives, confining them to subsistence level and so reinforcing their vulnerability. Deeper analysis of the sources of vulnerability and implications of policy processes could help to inform intervention strategies.     

Injustice and the New World Order: an anthropological perspective on “terrorism” in India

This article presents biographies of three activists of the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Following 9/11, the Indian state banned SIMI for fomenting “terrorism”, “sedition” and “destroying Indian nationalism”. Of the three SIMI activists, Qasim Omar had spent 30 months in prison and Samin Patel, a US citizen of Indian origin, 27 months. Both these prominent SIMI leaders were charged with denigrating the photo of India’s flag and making provocative speeches. I interviewed them after their release. The third was an ordinary (non-office bearer) activist. Drawing on their biographies, I argue that Islamist radicalism or “terrorism” should be construed politically. Contrary to the prevalent politics, the pivot of which is bare rationality of profit and loss and ruthless pursuit of national interests, the kind of politics SIMI actors enact is best understood as a profound act of ethics manifest in the quest for justice. As such, they are not enemies of freedom, democracy and human rights; on the contrary, activists such as those in SIMI strive to rescue freedom and human rights from being monopolised and molested by the mighty few and thereby truly universalise them. Against methodological nationalism, I take the post-World War II global order as the human condition in which to situate the radical politics of these young SIMI activists.     

African immigrant women’s experience in western host societies: a scoping review

There is a dearth of literature on new African immigrant populations in Canada, especially women from Sub-Saharan Africa. Much of the sparse literature focuses on men’s experiences. We analyzed the sparse literature on African immigrant women in western host countries with a focus on previous and emerging trends in the discourse, gaps in literature, important areas for consideration in future research as well as potentially viable theoretically and methodological directions that scholars could follow. We also briefly shared the results of a set of focus group discussions with African women in Canada that followed our scoping review. The findings of our scoping review of literature, largely reinforced in the focus group discussions, underscore the need for more studies on Sub-Saharan African immigrant women’s experiences within and outside the family. Active community engagement as well as the mobilization of women's agency and cultural knowledge, resonate as crucial factors that enhance the transition and integration of Africans into Western host societies.     

Modern slavery: A literature review using bibliometric analysis and the nexus of governance

This article reviews and analyses the empirical and theoretical literature on modern slavery, a topic that has received substantial attention in recent years. A qualitative and quantitative meta-literature review was carried out on modern slavery literature published between 1999 and 2021. A total of 280 works on the topic were analysed using citation analysis (Harzing's Publish or Perish and VOSviewer software) and content analysis. Several noteworthy aspects in the literature were identified, specifically the topics, articles, authors, journals, institutions, countries, co-authorship networks, and research streams. The research streams fall into three categories: 1) an overview and growth of modern slavery, 2) modern slavery and theories, and 3) modern slavery and country behaviour. The review and analyses led to the development of 15 research questions for future research. In addition, two views about current research on modern slavery were established: 1) the assertion that modern slavery is not exclusive to specific nations, jurisdictions, or periods, and 2) despite the numerous areas of accounting research on modern slavery, there is still a lack of studies on the topic. This study is the first to use inclusive mapping to empirically evaluate modern slavery.     

Pro-poor values in agricultural research management: PETRRA experiences in practice

PETRRA was an agricultural research-management project which used a values-based approach in project design, planning, and implementation. Through an experiential learning process, agricultural research and development (R&D) institutes, NGOs, private agencies, and community-based organisations rediscovered and improved the understanding of their strengths in meeting development commitments. The project successfully showed how values-based research can meaningfully be implemented and a sustainable pro-poor impact achieved.