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This article identifies and elaborates a form of comic persuasion called "stand-up rerouting," showing how comedian Ali Wong's stand-up in Netflix's 2016 Baby Cobra transforms familiar conceptual norms, especially the conflicting binaries she faces as a woman and comedian. Drawing on the philosophical insights of Mikhail Bakhtin, Donna Haraway, and Gilbert Simondon as well as the feminist thought of Hélène Cixous and Trinh T. Minh-ha, the article traces Wong's bawdy humor as it reroutes audience attention from a conceptual to a sensuous understanding of life. In embracing the tensions caused by normative expectations, and exploiting familiar cultural limits on identity in novel ways, Wong materializes alternative, nonbinary ways to reconcile tensions in her identities, transforming who and how she—and we—can be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an obituary for Daniel Dennett, an influential American philosopher and cognitive scientist who passed away in 2024 at the age of 82. Dennett made significant contributions to philosophy, particularly in the areas of intentionality, consciousness, free will, and religion. He wrote numerous books and articles, formulating naturalistic views and challenging traditional philosophical approaches. Dennett's philosophy aimed to demystify phenomena that are often considered magical or beyond scientific understanding. He emphasized the importance of philosophy in scientific inquiry and criticized the dismissal of philosophical ideas by some scientists. [Extracted from the article]

In this Editorial, we tackle perhaps the most urgent issue of our time – the need to orient lives more towards sufficiency. Achieving such a transformation also requires a parallel paradigm shift in science. In this Editorial, we have two guest authors, Teemu Koskimäki and Aleksi Neuvonen, who are members of the SISU Consortium doing research on sufficiency transition in Finland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to enhance the pedagogy of drawing by integrating relevant aspects of art history and aesthetics with perception and communication theories. Visualcy is defined as an articulacy with visual languages, from which the more familiar '3Rs' (Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic), alluding to literacy and numeracy, evolved. It embraces not only the more familiar definition of 'visual literacy' in the sense of how people perceive, interpret, and learn from existing visual imagery, but also the semogenic facility for producing the means to understanding through the articulation of visual elements (line, shape, tone, texture, colour) in the construction of new images. After reviewing the role of drawing in cultural evolution, the article discusses drawing in relation to aesthetics, before outlining a pedagogy of drawing designed to nurture visualcy, of central importance to human culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista MAD is the property of Revista MAD and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The relationship between sociotype and cultural evolution has been a subject of great interest, particularly in the context of industrial revolutions. This review article delves into the intricate dynamics between sociotype and cultural evolution, focusing on how the advent of industrial revolutions has accelerated cultural trade and transformation. By examining historical and contemporary examples, as well as theoretical frameworks from anthropology, sociology, and evolutionary psychology, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how sociotype shapes and is shaped by cultural evolution, particularly in the context of industrial revolutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses a question posed by the increase of democratic backsliding: whether democracy itself is compatible with human nature. It analyses democracy as a layered system consisting of three levels: the political/institutional, the social/interactional and the psychological/intrapsychic. At each level it uses evolutionary theory to describes features of a 'light side' of human nature that makes democracy possible, and of a 'dark side' of human nature that leads to democratic backsliding. At the political/institutional level these features are the reduction of reactive aggression and the capacity for the intragroup stranger. At the social/interactional level they are the cultural evolution of cooperative norms and an inclusive group identity. At the psychological/intrapsychic level they are the coherent, continuous positive self-experiences produced by shared positive emotions. However, these mechanisms can misfire at each level, producing the dark side that leads to democratic backsliding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we focus on the return of young migrants from abroad. We understand return as one phase in the migration cycle. We show that the experience of living abroad leads to changes in the social behavior of young people, as well as to changes in the structure of their values in a broader sense. We also reveal that return serves as a catalytic process in which young returnees understand their own changes while living abroad in contrast to the situation in their society of origin. Therefore, the first part of the study presents return as a dynamic process of personal and cultural transformation. The second part of the paper focuses on social remittances which are analyzed as sources of innovation in the country of origin. Then, in the third part, we deal with the role of young returning migrants in spreading innovation in families, local communities and in the wider society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to survive and develop, organizations need to create structures able to anticipate tendencies of economic and social evolution. Therefore, the strategic planning of the organization, the human resources included, represents the most important managerial activity of long run effects. Sadly, the Covid-19 pandemic changed and continues to change the human resources organization. Thus, the organization itself has to assess permanently. The organization needs to assess its own structure, the efficiency of the information and resources, the ability of the organization's adjustment to the external conditions. The organization has to assess the personnel's abilities to make use of the new technologies, the capacity of investing in improving and retraining the personnel etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baby names are often used to model the mechanisms of cultural evolution, as they are not given arbitrarily but on the basis of their perceived associations. Datasets showing birth registrations over time track changes in these perceptions, and thereby in tastes and ideas. Using birth registration data, numerous transmission biases have been identified that predispose someone to favour one cultural variant (i.e., a name) over another. While this research is facilitated by the annual release of many countries' birth registration data, these datasets are typically limited to yearly counts of forenames. To gain insight into name transmission biases not detectable from birth registration data alone, this study parses the birth, marriage, and death registers of England to generate a dataset of 690,603 name transmission relationships, given between 1838 and 2014, and linking the names of both parents and child. The data reveal long-term trends in matro- and patronymic naming, once common practices affecting approximately 15% of male and 8% of female records per year throughout the 19th century. These practices declined precipitously throughout the 20th century, in the aftermath of the First World War. These results highlight the importance of contextualising birth registration data when identifying naming trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores Nandini Sahu's collection, "Shedding the Metaphors," delving into its diverse thematic concerns and Sahu's approach to storytelling and gender politics. It dissects the stories, including themes of love, sexuality, and societal power dynamics, illustrating the struggles of varied female characters. It touches upon taboo subjects like incest and alternative masculinity, challenging societal norms and emphasizing the role of writing in empowering women.

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Copyright of Conservative Thought / Muhafazakar Düşünce is the property of Muhafazakar Dusunce Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article, I propose a reading of Henri Bergson's Two Sources of Morality and Religion, centering on how mysticism transforms homo sapiens. For Bergson, the mystics are exemplars of social innovation, representatives of a "new species." The open society, far from being a distant utopian social ideal, is already immanent to static, closed society. Openness can be achieved now, in the moment of mystical experience, defined by Bergson as unity with the flow of life. Instead of a rigid dualism between closure and openness, Bergson proposes that social change is driven from the inside by new moral ideas. Moral heroes are those willing to break the mould of social obligation. A form of non-discriminatory love is possible, going beyond the inner/outer distinction. Far from being a passive or contemplative practice, mysticism for Bergson is an active change of the human condition, a passage to the more-than-human. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans' sophisticated language system and advanced ability to cooperate with non-relatives are unique amongst animals. Verbal arguments have asserted that language, in particular, facilitated the evolution of large-scale cooperation—but the specific mechanisms by which language influences cooperation have not been tested in formal models. Here we develop a mathematical model that explicitly considers three possible influences of language on the evolution of cooperation: 1) increasing the payoff of cooperative interactions, 2) allowing cooperation to succeed with fewer cooperators in the group, and 3) promoting the positive assortment of cooperators. Our results show that the role of language in the evolution of cooperation is not as straightforward as often believed, with each model variant showing a different effect of language. Notably, when language decreases the number of cooperators needed to successfully reach a positive group payoff, the equilibrium frequency of cooperators can actually decrease with increasing language proficiency. Language does consistently favor the evolution of cooperation when it leads to higher payoffs of cooperation or facilitates the positive assortment of cooperators. However, language cannot lead to the evolution of cooperation in a population of only defectors, except when it leads to positive assortment in both cooperators and defectors. Overall, our results demonstrate that the way that language alters cooperative interactions determines its effect on social evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to survive and develop, organizations need to create structures able to anticipate tendencies of economic and social evolution. Therefore, the strategic planning of the organization, the human resources included, represents the most important managerial activity of long run effects. Sadly, the Covid-19 pandemic changed and continues to change the human resources organization. Thus, the organization itself has to assess permanently. The organization needs to assess its own structure, the efficiency of the information and resources, the ability of the organization's adjustment to the external conditions. The organization has to assess the personnel's abilities to make use of the new technologies, the capacity of investing in improving and re-training the personnel etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article examines ways to analyze and understand the social and cultural transformation that occurred after the 2011 uprising in downtown Cairo. We argue for a cultural sociological perspective using a renewed version of the concept "the sacred" for analysis. Visual material - graffiti and murals on the walls of Cairo - is discussed in relation to the process of transforming the death of an individual into collective martyrdom. The role of social media, public rituals, and celebrations in the events in Tahrir Square is also discussed. This article shows how the process of sacralization follows a recurring pattern in which individual deaths transmigrate into new collective, ritualized memories through the use of aesthetics in social media and on murals. Using different types of field-based and online material, this article argues for a cultural sociological perspective whereby individual death also can be understood on a more general level as a constituent part of the existing and contested societal order. The emphasis on a processual view of social and cultural transformation is equally important. This view includes a dialectical perspective, which together with an awareness of spatiality, materiality, new media, and embodiment, is essential for an understanding of what happened in downtown Cairo after the uprising in 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design is increasingly used to develop public services, and considerations have arisen regarding how to gain best value from it. Design ladders and design maturity models are commonly also referenced in the public sector, but we argue that their adequate use must rest on an informed view of the diversity of design activities in public-sector organizations. The world's major cities are large and highly diversified organizations. Our inductive case study of one of them, the city of Helsinki, reveals 23 design activities, distinct in terms of the process, outcomes or agency that design has. These activities can be grouped into six different clusters. These lay the ground for each other and support the cultural transformation of the organization into being a more citizen-centric organization. At the same time, they also create a design management challenge and confusion over what 'design' is and what it can do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the last recorded formal duel in the U.S. as an introductory framework, this essay explores how adjudication and conciliation, two distinct modes of dispute processing, interact to affect social evolution. Evolutionary transitions and the fitness of more complex entities, such as pro-social animal societies, require ongoing stable cooperation among constituent members. Cultural mechanisms of law and conciliation harness different aspects of evolved reciprocal behavior to address these requirements. Building on the work of mid-20th century legal philosopher Lon Fuller, the essay examines how adjudication and conciliation may work in social evolution. It concludes with examples of how law itself attempts to address the conflict between these two modes of dispute processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Studying long-term processes in human history has over the past decades become a broad and multidisciplinary affair, which draws on various intellectual traditions. The work of sociologist Johan Goudsblom, to whom this special issue is dedicated, was an effort to transgress disciplinary boundaries and to synthesise different perspectives in this field. In this introduction we distinguish four important scholarly lineages: social evolutionism, Darwinian theory, historical sociology, and world history with its extensions into environmental history and big history. We characterise in broad outlines each of these traditions and specify how Goudsblom combined parts of them in his own work on long-term social processes, extending in particular the sociology of Norbert Elias. The final section of this introduction gives a summary overview of the content of this HSR Special Issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Sociologia, Problemas e Práticas is the property of Centro de Investigacao e Estudos de Sociologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

• A critical review of the socio-technical energy transition (STET) literature shows the importance of representing societal factors in energy modelling. • The study engages with social mechanisms that have the potential to impede or foster rapid transitions such as resistance to change and the societal diffusion of environmental values within society. • We provide modelling steps to incorporate quantified socio-technical and socio-political behavioural insights into a probabilistic, non-linear energy system model, with a focus on the UK residential heating sector. • Illustrative scenarios and research discussions ponder the potential of non-monetary drivers of societal change to affect future transition pathways, including the importance to consider the most fragile segments of society in long-term policy decision making. The achievement of national pledges that are compatible with the Paris Agreements warming limit of 1.5C is a massive challenge, as it requires not only an acceleration of technological innovation, but also a socio-economic and cultural transformation. Reducing uncertainties demands a better integration of behavioural evolutions in models exploring future energy pathways, including non-monetary barriers and drivers to technology diffusion. This study provides suggestions on incorporating social mechanisms of change such as resistance to change and the diffusion of environmental values into a UK-focused probabilistic energy system model, with a focus on people's attitudes towards residential heating technologies. We also offer a comprehensive literature review on interdisciplinary energy transitions modelling and exploratory scenarios embedding climate risks perceptions. We argue that efficient policy-making to meeting net-zero emissions targets must fully embrace whole-system approaches, support the more constrained segments of society, and account for interconnected socio-political factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This is a descriptive quantitative research that identified the transformations in the cultural consumption of children and adolescents (NNA) in the rural area of Cúcuta between 2017 and 2022, taking into account the changes in the social dynamics produced by the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey made up of 7 items and 22 questions was used to find out about the technological devices, preferences and uses of ICTs of children and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19. The emergence of studies on cultural consumption opened up the question: How is cultural consumption re-signified in contexts of globalisation and cultural transformation? Their answers allow us to understand the new forms of social groupings and the changes in the ways of being together. Today, this is facilitated by the technological devices to which different age and socio-economic groups in both rural and urban areas have access. The 2017 findings reveal that given the connectivity difficulties and socio-economic conditions of the children and their families, their cultural consumption was related to television programmes and music, through the radio. However, during the compulsory physical confinement, the National Government and the Ministry of ICTs strengthened technological and connectivity capacities, which transformed this consumption, showing greater participation in social networks, with an interest in a broad and diverse digitalisation of daily life based on the adaptation to change and the search for information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chain effects of the energy crisis that European society is currently facing will intensify with the start of the cold season, especially given the unpredictability of Russian gas supplies. In the context where almost half of the Romanian residents and a third of the Bulgarian residents declare that they cannot cope with unforeseen expenses, the doubling of energy prices compared to the previous year will affect people with low and medium incomes. Using the EViews 12 program to correlate the evolution of natural gas and electricity prices with the housing costs borne by people with low incomes in the two states (Pearson correlation coefficient), as well as with the social expenses of Romania and Bulgaria, we notice that the number of vulnerable people can increases significantly with the increase in heating and electricity expenses, in the absence of consistent social measures from the authorities. The objective of the research is to demonstrate that the energy crisis in Europe is a factor that can increase the risk of poverty in less developed states if the state will not allocate sufficient funds to support vulnerable people or to partially compensate their bills. This fact can cause many risks, such as poverty or labor emigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main arguments in favor of the metacontingency as a model for explaining social phenomena is that it embraces another "kind" of selection (cultural selection) beyond natural and operant selection. Despite being "emergent" on operant processes, it would not be "reducible" to operant selection. Consequently, cultural selection would demand a conceptual framework of its own, hence the metacontingency. Assuming the existence of another "kind" of selection is an ontological premise, and that this new process requires its own conceptual framework, because contingency analysis is insufficient to explain it, can be considered an epistemological premise. Our goal in this paper is to argue that the epistemological premise present in the metacontingency literature is wrong. To do so, we present pragmatic reductionism as a model to discuss the possibility of reductive explanations of selection and maintenance of cultural practices from metacontingency to contingency analysis. Based on this framework, we provide examples of pragmatic reductive interpretations, thought experiments, and an analysis of experimental data in which we try to explain away the metacontingency. We conclude that it is possible to pragmatically reduce metacontingency explanations to contingency explanations. That does not, however, invalidate the ontological premise about the existence of different processes related to cultural evolution and selection whatever those might be. It only shows that, if they exist at all, they are not the ones being studied in metacontingency research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The current dynamics of the global political economy are depressing: A multidimensional climate crisis is taking on speed; new pandemic waves with unknown lethal consequences are building up; National capitalism - bent to become a new form of fascism - raises its head and the return to military conflict solution makes a 3rd World War possible. But despite these gloomy perspectives it remains true that mankind so far has mastered all difficulties as soon as it became aware of them. Our species in principle has all means - physically and intellectually - to let a new Atlantis rise. And the guidelines how to overcome the above mentioned three crises, are delivering the blueprint of the organizational design of such a new Atlantis. This paper explores this exciting hypothesis. The first goal to reach clearly is to avoid a 3rd World War, which means to defeat the fascist movements in the world. As the 20th century showed, fascism developed out of nationalism, which in turn was nourished by a nationwide controlled class rule, a form of military (and police) governed capitalist exploitation. This currently so successful form of capitalism (China, Russia, USA) is defined as 'National Capitalism'. It corresponds to what I called disintegrating capitalism in (Hanappi 2019a). Being victorious, to have overcome national capitalism, means to have been able to establish a global democratic government. To get there the progressive opposition to National Capitalism has to develop theory, strategy and practice. As described in (Hanappi 2020) a certain degree of division of progressive labor activities - the emergence of a global class of organic intellectuals2 - will be needed. Only with global governance the other two crises, the climate crisis and the future global health crises, can be overcome. Since they are already here and help to make the impasse of capitalism, of national capitalism, become very visible to every human individual, we already can find ways of global coordination to prevent them. In doing so, success is possible and can yield into the necessary optimism, an attitude which is necessary for the emotional basis of any progressive, humanistic movement. A man-made Atlantis can rise - not beyond an ocean but here on earth. We just have to unite our intellectual forces and to continue the century-old struggle for emancipatory social evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Witchcraft beliefs are historically and geographically widespread, but little is known about the cultural inheritance processes that may explain their variation between populations. A core component of witchcraft belief is that certain people ('witches') are thought to harm others using supernatural means. Various traits, which we refer to as the 'witchcraft phenotype' accompany these beliefs. Some can be classified as 'symbolic culture', including ideas about the typical behaviour of witches and concepts such as familiars (witches' magical helpers), and demographic traits such as the age and sex of those likely to be accused. We conducted an exploratory study of the cultural evolution of 31 witchcraft traits to examine their inferred ancestry and associations with historic population movements. We coded a dataset from ethnographic accounts of Bantu and Bantoid-speaking societies in sub-Saharan Africa (N = 84) and analysed it using phylogenetic comparative methods (PCMs). Our results estimate that while some traits, such as an ordeal to test for witchcraft, have deep history, others, such as accusations of children, may have evolved more recently, or are limited to specific clusters of societies. Demographic and symbolic cultural traits do not typically co-evolve. Our findings suggest traits have different transmission patterns, and these may result from benefits they provide or from universal psychological mechanisms that produce their recurrent evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As emphasized by the challenging sustainable development agenda, countries are facing a complicated combination of environmental stress and social challenges, leading the Earth system towards an unsustainable path. Therefore, it is crucial to accurately assess past fluctuations contributing to current situations and apprehend plausible future implications. This study integrates safe and just operating space (SJOS) with Sustainable Development Goals to depict multiple "windows" of environmental and social evolution in different historical periods, with 31 provinces in China as a case study. Then, we track the spatiotemporal evolution trajectory of environmental performance and social well-being in each province from 2012 to 2021. The Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model is utilized to capture the temporal relationships between various indicators and to forecast the spatial trends of SJOS in the provinces from 2022 to 2030. Research findings indicate that: (1) over the 2012–2021 period, the environmental performance of the majority of provinces far exceeds the warning thresholds, with no province falling within all threshold boundaries simultaneously. The phosphorus cycle is the most challenging boundary, with only 6.8% of provinces within the safe boundary over the past 10 years. In comparison, freshwater use performs the best, with 80% of provinces staying within the threshold. (2) Social well-being generally improves across all provinces from 2012 to 2021, but the spatial and temporal trajectories are more varied. All provinces meet the thresholds for the food security and employment indicators. However, none of the provinces meet the standard for the social equity indicator. (3) Over the 2022–2030 projection period, environmental performance and social well-being trend in opposite directions across provinces. This culminates in no province being entirely within the safe and just space by 2030. Sanitation shows the most significant change compared to other indicators. Xinjiang had the largest improvement at 59.12%, while Tianjin had the most significant downward trend at 53.88%. Adjustments in national policies and priorities are essential if China wants to accomplish the sufficiency of biophysical resources whilst ensuring social equity in the access and exploitation of these resources. • Environmental performance and social well-being are revised, resulting in 15 indicators and thresholds. • Evidence indicates heterogeneity exists in environmental performance and social well-being. • Results reveal if a province can operate within a safe and just operating space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has maintained strong relationships with many African countries, and Ghana is one such country. While the two countries have normally enjoyed good friendly relations, concerns over the involvement of Chinese citizens in small-scale mining in Ghana threaten the cordial relationship between the two countries. There is evidence of a cultural evolution and a gradual shift from a culture of enthusiastic reception of local people to the Chinese in the area of mining to one of cold reception to Chinese interests in mining communities. There is also evidence that this cold reception to Chinese miners is stimulated by non-state actors led by the media and inspires in Ghana a new paradigm of more rational engagement with China at the political level, although challenges still remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Revista de Indias is the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Travel writings by Western visitors of the Orient have often been rebuffed for disseminating a stereotypical discourse on the people and the culture of the East. The rationale for the collective dismissal of such narratives, however, is built upon a limited canon whose myopic perspective creates a monolithic Orient. It is argued that since this dominant discourse leaves nearly no room for non-conformism, it has conveniently overlooked a large body of travel writings of western writers that adopt a non-Orientalist approach to appreciate cultural differences. To pursue this argument, the present study aims to explore Jürgen Wasim Frembgen's At the Shrine of the Red Sufi: Five Days & Nights on Pilgrimage in Pakistan (2011) to examine how the autobiographical narrator's travel accounts present an alternative narrative about the East that subverts prevailing discourses on travelogues as apparatuses to reinforce colonial/Western norms. To achieve this goal, the study benefits from Debbie Lisle's (2006) theories on the cosmopolitan vision of a travel writer as well as Edward Said's (1978) theory of Orientalism. Frembgen's cosmopolitan vision throughout the narrative neutralizes negative perceptions about Muslim communities in Pakistan as uncultivated and declining by offering a counter view of the country that underscores its vibrant and positively transformative qualities. The celebration of Eastern culture and religion in Frembgen's travel writing indicates the need for the re-examination of the Orientalist thought that has, wittingly or unwittingly, dismissed a significant segment of western works about the east in order to legitimize its theoretical and hypothetical cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Kosmosjournal.org/kj%5Farticle/a-us-department%5Fof%5Fpeacebuilding/ The Peace Alliance has championed efforts to support the adoption of legislation to establish a cabinet-level US Department of Peacebuilding in our federal government. The DoP was originally crafted by then US Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH-10) in 2001/2002 as H.R. 2459: Efforts to establish a Department of Peace captured the attention of Marianne Williamson, Dot Maver, Anne Creter and others. Kucinich's Department of Peace, introduced in the House 07/11/2001 (exactly 60 days before 9/11), establishes (in part): "a Department of Peace, which shall be headed by a Secretary of Peace appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Department of Peacebuilding, previously the Department of Peace, has had legislation presented to Congress every 2 years since 2001. [Extracted from the article]

Qaisra Shahraz’s A Pair of Jeans and Other Stories (2013) has been a story of a girl named Mariam. Her oscillation between the two worlds stands for the conflict between conventional and modern values. Conflicts arise not just between values but also between generations. One generation may have a harder time accepting new ideas, traditions, laws, and cultures than another. On the other hand, there is a generation that can change with the environment and is adaptable. Cultural materialism is an anthropological research orientation first introduced by Marvin Harris in his 1968 book “The Rise of Anthropological Theory (1968), as a theoretical paradigm and research strategy. In the preface of his book Cultural Materialism: The struggle for a science of culture (1980) he defines, that cultural materialism is based on one premise and that is human life is affected by the existence of earthly problems”. This paper contains all the necessary components to highlight the two distinct worlds that the protagonist's current generation and his parents' previous generation once lived in. The nature of this study is qualitative. The method of inquiry known as qualitative research aims to comprehend the essence of its subjects. Instead of seeking to gather and evaluate objective facts, qualitative research explores subjective experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The essay describes transformations of the Ukrainian cultural sphere where once "artists-as-viruses" (Elena Petrovskaya), who inhabited the liminal space between the political and the non-political, embraced and enacted a new understanding of politics as a collective engagement in democracy and history, where the roles of an artist and a citizen complement and reenforce one another rather than stand in binary opposition. Such reattachment to the local context is about regaining agency and voice realized through solidarity and extreme care (Kwasi Wiredu). This new art of action, of intervention in the physical and political reality to affect the symbolic one, cares about the outcome not only about an artistic gesture. It incorporates Ukrainian artists and their experiences into the society unlearning to perceive itself through the Russian and the Western gaze, owning its embedded knowledge and producing its own epistemologies. The Ukrainian decolonial war today is geared towards constructing societies that make sense for those living within them (Felwine Sarr). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenges posed by climate change have generated many initiatives that seek to implement societal transformations. In most cases, these focus on technology developments, adoption and diffusion but neglect the social and cultural dimensions of a transformation. Insights from systems and behavioural sciences can provide valuable guidance on these aspects, but the utility of this literature is limited by two factors. Firstly, the literature on the intersection between social transformation and psychological processes of behaviour change by individuals is limited. Secondly, the complex technical nature of much of the transition relevant literature limits its accessibility by stakeholders outside academia. We seek to address these challenges through the development of a transdisciplinary Transformation Process Framework for use as a 'knowledge integration' tool as part of a co-design process for transformative change. The Framework: (1) develops a systematic narrative of the transformational changes that need to be triggered at multiple scales (from individual to society), (2) generates a map to identify key variables, drivers, and blockers in a transformation process integrating different knowledge from fragmented disciplines; (3) serves as a tool to support the exploration of relevant academic (and other) literature to collate and utilise relevant knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]