Writing for Reconciliation: A Musing

This musing grew out of the AEPL Summer Conference in Berea, Kentucky, June 2006, at which bell hooks was the keynote speaker

Aesthetics of Resistance in Western Sahara

In reaction to neo-liberal globalization policies that were spearheaded in the 1980s by Reagan-economics and Thatcherism, indignant movements ignited globally in distinct places, spaces, and territories, using diverse resistance strategies, both violent and nonviolent. Today, two years into the new social media revolutions, with the “Arab Spring” (in Tunisia known as Sidi Bouzid Revolt, in Libya as the Revolution of February 17th, and in Egypt as Revolution of January 25th), the “indignado/a” movement in Spain, and “Occupy Wall Street” in the United States, what does it mean to be “indignant”?Within an interdisciplinary Peace Studies and Research context, how do we begin to talk about and theorize this (inter)subjective move from being a “victim” to being “indignant?” And, how do we do so in a way that captures the complex and multi-layered dimensions of liberation struggles? We begin with a theoretical overview in order to frame the discussion. We then specifically examine the “Sahrawi Spring” in order to see theory in practice. As Africa’s last colony,Western Sahara provides an interesting look into the aesthetics of resistance

Intelectuais Negras

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Mulheres negras: moldando a teoria feminista

Resumo Este texto de bell hooks teve um papel central na discussão contemporânea sobre os limites do feminismo para levar em conta as posições sociais e as experiências das mulheres negras. A crítica à visão de que existe um coletivo “mulheres”, bastante presente na literatura posterior, é feita por hooks a partir da exclusão das mulheres negras do conhecimento e da política feministas. Ela chama atenção para as relações de opressão e dominação entre mulheres e, nelas, para o silenciamento das mulheres negras. O ponto de vista dessas mulheres, em contraposição a um “nós” baseado na experiência das mulheres brancas e de classe média, é destacado na construção da teoria feminista e de um projeto político feminista radical. Palavras-chave: teoria política feminista; raça; dominação; mulheres; poder.   Abstract   This essay by bell hooks has played a central role in contemporary discussions about the limits of feminism to consider black women’s social positions and experiences. The criticism to the understanding that there is a collective subject such as “women”, very frequent in later literature, is produced by hooks considering the exclusion of black women from feminist knowledge and politics. She underlines oppression and domination among women and that they prevent black women from speaking. The perspective of those women, as opposed to a “we” based on the experience of white middle class women, becomes central in building feminist theory and a radical feminist political project. Keywords: feminist political theory; race; domination; women; power

Migrant African women: tales of agency and belonging

This paper explores issues of belonging and agency among asylum seekers and refugee women of African origin in the UK. It discusses the ways these women engendered resistance in their everyday life to destitution, lack of cultural recognition, and gender inequality through the foundation of their own non-governmental organization, African Women’s Empowerment Forum, AWEF, a collective ‘home’ space. The focus of this account is on migrant women’s agency and self-determination for the exercise of choice to be active actors in society. It points to what might be an important phenomenon on how local grassroots movements are challenging the invisibility of asylum seekers’ and refugees’ lives and expanding the notion of politics to embrace a wider notion of community politics with solidarity. AWEF is the embodiment of a social space that resonates the ‘in-between’ experience of migrant life providing stability to the women members regarding political and community identification

ICNavS: A tool for reliable dynamic route guidance

The aim of this paper is to devise a new reliable dynamic route guidance approach by integrating the A* algorithm, the concept of reliability and an existing route guidance method into a single package. A new purpose-developed software tool, the Imperial College Navigation Software (ICNavS), is presented, so as to implement and demonstrate the new approach on a real road network, using simulated data. A summary of the background of the program is given, followed by a procedure developed in order to model the features of real road networks, as well as missing data. Then, a imulation experiment on a part of West London’s road network is carried out and the results are presented