Challenging constructions of nationhood and nostalgia: exploring the role of gender,race and age in struggles for women’s rights in Scandinavia

Drawing on a multi-sited ethnographic approach, this article aims to study interactions between women’s organizations, state agendas and national histories in the contemporary struggle for women’s rights in Scandinavia. Upon examining a diverse range of material (debates, survey responses, fieldnotes and interview data), it is revealed how the largest women’s organizations appeal to dominant discourses of Scandinavia as a homogeneous region and Scandinavian women as a uniform collectivity. It is shown how divisions between groups of women are shaped along categories of national belonging, race and age, and it is argued that a conceptualization of women as a uniform group offers a too simplistic frame for an understanding of these dynamics. By contrast, it is suggested that the contestations evoked by nostalgic articulations of homogeneity, and uniformity can be rich sources for social analysis, as attention to such tensions can help us to visualize the existence of multiple historical pasts and presents.     

A Review of: “Mike Davis. Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb”

Lenin allegedly referred to the thinkers and activists ready to cover up for his crimes against his own people as “useful idiots.” Today, some intellectuals sacrifice their integrity as intellectuals not for a professedly progressive egalitarian movement, but in order to protect radical Islam, one of the most regressive and authoritarian movements imaginable. This article refers to such people as “useful infidels,” showing how their excessive self-criticism is exploited by Islamists to incriminate the West in the evils of modernity. The result is a perversion of human rights discourse and a marriage of pre-modern sadism and post-modern masochism.     

A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR STUDYING THE SOURCES OF VARIATION IN PROGRAM EFFECTS

Evaluations of public programs in many fields reveal that different types of programs—or different versions of the same program—vary in their effectiveness. Moreover, a program that is effective for one group of people might not be effective for other groups, and a program that is effective in one set of circumstances may not be effective in other circumstances. This paper presents a conceptual framework for research on such variation in program effects and the sources of this variation. The framework is intended to help researchers—both those who focus mainly on studying program implementation and those who focus mainly on estimating program effects—see how their respective pieces fit together in a way that helps to identify factors that explain variation in program effects, and thereby support more systematic data collection. The ultimate goal of the framework is to enable researchers to offer better guidance to policymakers and program operators on the conditions and practices that are associated with larger and more positive effects.     

Navigating ISIS’s Preferred Platform: Telegram1

ABSTRACT

Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) online recruitment has been the subject of considerable interest by journalists and technology writers, but there has been no scholarly work to date exploring ISIS Telegram channels and chat rooms. Telegram has played an important role in recruitment and coordination in recent ISIS/terror attacks in Europe. Further, Telegram is quickly replacing the group’s online presence on more open platforms such as Facebook and Twitter as these companies aggressively police and shut down ISIS-linked accounts. This research note aims to demystify Telegram, explain how it can be used for research, and discuss some of the addictive qualities associated with user engagement.