Body politics

Thema und Gegenstand der
Tagung
Gegenstand der Tagung „Natur-Technik-
Kultur” sind Denkansätze und Forschungs-
richtungen, die einen Beitrag zur Überwindung
der gängigen Spaltung von Natur und Kultur
und der damit einhergehenden Gabelung der
Wissenschaften in Natur- und Geistes-
wissenschaften zu leisten versprechen.
„Kultur” soll als besonderer Seinsbereich
innerhalb der Natur transparent gemacht und
Kontinuitäten im Mensch-Natur-Verhältnis
aufgezeigt werden. Dabei soll zugleich die
Methodik von Natur- und Geisteswissen-
schaften kritisch hinterfragt und die Rolle der
Philosophie innerhalb der so genannten
Kulturwissenschaften thematisch gemacht
werden.

El cuerpo que siempre fui. Una travesti de la vida se nombra a sí misma es una pieza de Performance Art que interroga la distancia entre el cuerpo que el mundo nombra y el cuerpo que una habita. A través de la transformación en travesti de la vida —no como disfraz, sino como acto de verdad encarnada—, la performance declara que el proceso de hacerse una misma es un acto político, poético y ritual. La pieza se articula en torno al monólogo de Barbarita, interpretado por Kiriam Gutiérrez en la película cubana Los dioses rotos (Daranas Serrano, 2008), texto que funciona como columna vertebral verbal y ritual de la acción. Siguiendo la lógica tripartita del rito de paso —separación, umbral y reincorporación—, la acción transcurre en un espacio doméstico filmado donde el espejo es el único testigo del proceso de transformación. Este artículo, enmarcado en la metodología de la Investigación Basada en las Artes, expone los fundamentos conceptuales, simbólicos, rituales e históricos de la pieza, inscribiéndola en la genealogía del transformismo cubano y las luchas trans latinoamericanas.

This special issue of the Journal of International Women's Studies gathers its articles from presentations delivered at the 2022 8th World Conference on Women's Studies, which focused on themes of women's precarity, borderlands, decoloniality, and transformative change. The global pandemic of COVID-19 left humanity to grapple with volatile socioeconomic and socio-political realities across borders. The impacts of crises are never genderneutral and COVID-19 is no exception, as often the most marginalized groups from the Global North and South continue to suffer the brunt of the consequences in an increasingly disaggregated world. On one hand, lockdowns and quarantines promoted developments in virtual digital worlds, encouraging the global exchange of ideas. On the other hand, this digital world is an exclusive one that does not include the voices of impoverished people-especially women-who remain marginalized, vulnerable, and invisible. Feminist interventions in knowledge discourses have revealed other important forms of exclusion faced by women in terms of an assumed objectivity, which neglects embedded biases in gender studies. The challenge in feminist interventions comes in two layers. First, it is the construction of the Other regarding gender subjectivity across the North and South. And second, it is in terms of cultural subjectivity as these two regions emerge from different histories, cultures, and indigenous forms of knowledge. The COVID-19 crisis exacerbated existing inequalities and vulnerabilities while reversing decades of significant achievements in women's rights. For instance, women make up 39% of global employment but account for 54% of overall job losses in the pandemic and post-pandemic context (Madgavkar et. al, 2020, para 1). Women were disproportionately impacted due to the increasing burden of unpaid care work as the economic sectors of service industries and other informal employment avenues were hardest hit. As of 2022, around 435 1 Vivienne Tailor earned her Cultural Studies MA with a concentration in Media Studies from Claremont Graduate University, her MFA in Creative Writing from National University, and her BA in English with an African American Studies certificate from the University of Georgia. Her comparative arts research centers on oppressive regime structures, healing trauma through art, and historical amnesia with the reclamation of memory and individual and national identities. She is currently editing a volume on East Asian Popular Culture and is co-editing a film studies volume on Trinh T. Minh-ha.

In the context of the current refugee crisis, the decision of a number of EU countries to not accept Muslim refugees stirs up discussion and debate among both the European political leaders and the general public. Fears of more terrorism associated with Islam and concerns about Muslims failing to integrate into Christian societies could explain a growing xenophobic rhetoric. This article examines how an online community on the "Debating Europe" platform discursively constructs the religious difference of the out-group of refugees leading to their social exclusion. Adopting the discourse historical perspective

This research paper presents a comparative analysis of the artistic techniques and philosophical underpinnings in the short stories of the eminent 20th-century Indian litterateur Bonophul (Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay) and the 19th-century French naturalist Guy de Maupassant. The primary focus of this study centers on Bonophul’s Budhni and Maupassant’s Mademoiselle Fifi. Both authors, despite their distinct geographical and temporal contexts, share a profound sense of ‘Clinical Detachment’, a diagnostic gaze that dissects social and psychological malaises without moral bias.
Drawing upon the tenets of French Naturalism, as proposed by Émile Zola, and the psychoanalytical theories of Sigmund Freud, this paper explores the manifestations of ‘The Human Beast’ (Le Bête Humaine) within the protagonists. It argues that both stories depict the fragility of civilization and the dominance of primal instincts, specifically focusing on ‘Body-Politics’ and the male ‘Sense of Ownership’ over the female form. In Budhni, the protagonist’s possessive love transcends social morality, leading to a tragic collision between paternal ego and maternal instinct. Conversely, in Mademoiselle Fifi, the Prussian invasion serves as a backdrop for a perverse display of sexual and political dominance, where the female body becomes a symbolic battlefield of nationalistic pride.
Furthermore, the paper employs the lens of Subaltern Studies to contrast the ‘Silence’ of Budhni with the ‘Agency’ of Rachel, evaluating how marginalization dictates their responses to oppression. By examining the dialectics of Eros and Thanatos (Life and Death instincts), the research unveils how biological determinism governs human behavior across cultures. Ultimately, this study aims to establish that the depiction of primal dominance and the pathology of gender-based violence in these works transcend local boundaries, offering a universal case study of the human condition.

This research paper presents a comparative analysis of the artistic techniques and philosophical underpinnings in the short stories of the eminent 20th-century Indian litterateur Bonophul (Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay) and the 19th-century French naturalist Guy de Maupassant. The primary focus of this study centers on Bonophul’s Budhni and Maupassant’s Mademoiselle Fifi. Both authors, despite their distinct geographical and temporal contexts, share a profound sense of ‘Clinical Detachment’, a diagnostic gaze that dissects social and psychological malaises without moral bias.
Drawing upon the tenets of French Naturalism, as proposed by Émile Zola, and the psychoanalytical theories of Sigmund Freud, this paper explores the manifestations of ‘The Human Beast’ (Le Bête Humaine) within the protagonists. It argues that both stories depict the fragility of civilization and the dominance of primal instincts, specifically focusing on ‘Body-Politics’ and the male ‘Sense of Ownership’ over the female form. In Budhni, the protagonist’s possessive love transcends social morality, leading to a tragic collision between paternal ego and maternal instinct. Conversely, in Mademoiselle Fifi, the Prussian invasion serves as a backdrop for a perverse display of sexual and political dominance, where the female body becomes a symbolic battlefield of nationalistic pride.
Furthermore, the paper employs the lens of Subaltern Studies to contrast the ‘Silence’ of Budhni with the ‘Agency’ of Rachel, evaluating how marginalization dictates their responses to oppression. By examining the dialectics of Eros and Thanatos (Life and Death instincts), the research unveils how biological determinism governs human behavior across cultures. Ultimately, this study aims to establish that the depiction of primal dominance and the pathology of gender-based violence in these works transcend local boundaries, offering a universal case study of the human condition

Neither Queer Nor Cyborg: The Body Caught Between Norms examines the relationship between the body and normative structures through the intersecting lenses of queer theory and cyborg thought. Moving between theoretical inquiry, visual culture, and artistic practice, this artist research explores the body as a site of instability, transformation, resistance, and reconstruction.
Drawing on thinkers such as Donna Haraway, Judith Butler, Julia Kristeva, Paul B. Preciado, and Legacy Russell, the study investigates how embodiment can be understood beyond fixed binaries of gender, nature, technology, and identity. The cyborg is approached not as a futuristic fantasy of perfection, but as a hybrid and politically charged figure that destabilizes normative categories.
The research also engages with art history and contemporary visual culture through artists including Claude Cahun, Hans Bellmer, Meret Oppenheim, ORLAN, Ed Atkins, and Matthew Barney.
The final section focuses on the author’s own artistic practice—including performance and video works such as Queeek, Nest, Smooth Pan Peach, and Under-the-Table Cleaner—as a space where theoretical concepts are embodied, tested, and transformed.
This thesis positions the body not as a stable identity, but as a porous, performative, and continuously shifting terrain.

The February 2012 performance by the Russian feminist punk collective Pussy Riot in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and the subsequent criminal prosecution of three of its members, generated intense international debate about artistic freedom, religious authority, and state repression. This column argues that Pussy Riot matters to anthropologists not simply as a human rights case but as a complex instance of activist practice that sits at the intersection of performance, politics, and sacred space. Drawing on anthropological frameworks for understanding ritual, transgression, and political theater, the piece examines what the Pussy Riot case reveals about the relationship between the body, public space, and political claim-making in contemporary Russia.

The development of eating disorders including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and atypical eating disorders that affect many young women and even men in the productive period of their lives is complex and varied. While numbers of presumed risk factors contributing to the development of eating disorders are increasing, previous evidence for biological, psychological, developmental, and sociocultural effects on the development of eating disorders have not been conclusive. Despite the fact that a huge body of research has carefully examined the possible risk factors associated with the eating disorders, they have failed not only to uncover the exact etiology of eating disorders, but also to understand the interaction between different causes of eating disorders. This failure may be due complexities of eating disorders, limitations of the studies or combination of two factors. In this review, some risk factors including biological, psychological, developmental, and sociocultural are discussed.

Menstrual health is essential for human dignity, bodily autonomy, and overall wellbeing. Yet, marginalized populations, especially lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) women and sex workers, face significant barriers to accessing menstrual and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. This study explored the dignity needs surrounding menstrual health, access to services, and experiences of discrimination among LBQ women (N=79) and sex workers (N=14) in Nigeria. Using a mixedmethods approach, quantitative survey data were enhanced with qualitative insights from focus group discussions. The findings indicated that only 29.1% of LBQ women and 28.6% of sex workers felt their menstrual needs were adequately met, while over half in both groups reported only partial fulfillment. Access to menstrual products and services was notably higher among sex workers (57.1%) than LBQ women (20.3%). A significant number of respondents avoided seeking services due to fear of discrimination (65.8% LBQ; 57.1% sex workers). Additionally, sex workers were more likely to be denied SRHR care and excluded from services altogether. The qualitative findings highlighted key structural factors driving exclusion, including cisnormative healthcare systems, financial challenges, physical barriers to access, stigma, and mistreatment experiences. The study concludes that the inequities in menstrual health faced by LBQ women and sex workers stem from intersecting identity-based structural and economic discrimination. A Human Rights-Based Approach is suggested to create inclusive, accountable, and stigma-free menstrual health systems.

This article examines the Bhojpuri folk theatre form Bidesiya as a site of material–discursive enactment, where the subaltern body negotiates agency, subjectivity, and resistance within the constraints of caste-based graded inequality. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, performance observation, and interviews, the study comparatively analyses rural and urban Bidesiya performances to interrogate how cross-dressed performers mobilise embodiment as a political strategy.

Foregrounding breath as a performative and political act, the paper situates bodily practice within Ambedkar’s framework of graded inequality, arguing that breath functions not merely as a physiological process but as a semiotic marker of resistance, consciousness, and survival. By adapting and extending Patrice Pavis’s mise-en-scène framework through a non-Eurocentric, semiotics-based questionnaire, the study develops a methodological model to analyse gesture, costume, performance space, and spectator relations in folk performance contexts.

The findings demonstrate that while both rural and urban Bidesiya employ strategic essentialism to challenge dominant caste and gender norms, their capacity to generate an inclusive framework of resistance varies across socio-political contexts. Rural performances reveal internal contestations within subaltern communities, whereas urban performances often negotiate elite expectations through aesthetic sanitisation.

Ultimately, the article argues that breath performativity operates differentially across contexts, producing multiple, situated forms of resistance rather than a unified subaltern agency. By emphasising situational embodiment and relational materiality, the study challenges homogenising readings of folk performance and proposes a dynamic analytical framework for understanding subaltern performative practices.

Titel:
„Es lebe der König!“ – Luciles Schrei als klangliches Gegenwort zwischen Büchner und Celan

Luciles Schrei „Es lebe der König!“ am Ende von Georg Büchners Dantons Tod stellt einen Moment der akustischen und semantischen Zerrissenheit dar: ein Schwanken zwischen Wort und Geräusch, zwischen Sprache und Stille. Dieser Beitrag beabsichtigt, den phonischen und expressiven Wert dieses Schreis als Form eines Gegenworts im Licht der poetologischen Reflexion von Paul Celan, insbesondere in der Rede Der Meridian, zu untersuchen.

Lucile, die der Hinrichtung ihres Mannes Camille Desmoulins beiwohnt, ist von einem Schmerz überwältigt, der jede Logik übersteigt. Ihr Schrei – scheinbar historisch sinnlos, gegen die Werte der Revolution gerichtet – ist ein Akt der Rebellion, der Züge einer radikalen Freiheit annimmt, ein Wort als Widerstand. Der paradoxe Ausruf „Es lebe der König!“ ist, wie Celan bemerkt hat, ein Klang, der schon fast ein Schweigen ist, ein erstickter Schrei, ein unterbrochener Atemzug. In diesem Sinne verbindet sich dieser Ausruf mit der Idee der Atemwende: dem Moment der „Pause“ zwischen einem Atemzug und dem nächsten, in dem der Dichter die Geschichte atmet, um sie in Poesie zu verwandeln.

In Der Meridian stellt Celan eine explizite Verbindung zwischen Luciles Schrei und dem psychischen Zusammenbruch des Protagonisten in Büchners Lenz her. Er etabliert damit eine thematische Kontinuität zwischen dem Abstieg in den historischen und existenziellen Abgrund und der Geburt des poetischen Wortes. Für Celan muss die Dichtung die Geschichte durchqueren, ihre Brutalität aufnehmen; sie muss Durchgangswort sein: ein Wort, das hindurchgeht. In diesem Sinne ist Luciles Schrei, wie derjenige von Lenz, zugleich Zeugnis und Schöpfung, Überleben und Kunst.

Durch eine Analyse, die dramatische, poetische und akustische Elemente miteinander verknüpft, zeigt dieser Beitrag, wie die zersplitterte Stimme von Lucile zu einem Paradigma für eine Poesie wird, die sich von der Krise, dem Schrei und dem unterbrochenen Atem nährt. Bei Celan durchzieht diese klangliche Erfahrung auch seine Lyrik: Was von der Stimme bleibt, ist ein Hauch, ein Echo, ein artikuliertes Schweigen, das die Erinnerung an die Geschichte in sich trägt. Der Schrei von Lucile ist daher nicht nur ein Akt der Sprache, sondern eine Klanggeste, die eine Poetik des Widerstands im Klang formt.

Situated in Poland’s protracted reckoning with its socialist past, this article examines how cultural practices might fashion alternative, embodied forms of justice and history to counter the moralizing, nation-state centric transitional justice projects driven by right-wing groups. The article offers a close study of the experimental posttheater play Small Narration (Mała Narracja), performed by Wojtek Ziemilski about his grandfather, a popular cabaret singer who was accused of being a treacherous communist spy shortly before his death. Based on an analysis of choreography clips and personal stories shared on stage and conversations with Ziemilski and other family members implicated by the accusation, this article explores the power of art to “flesh out” the tensions and struggles underlying the making of sovereign body politic and articulate alternative forms of knowing and feeling that challenge right-wing sovereignty politics.

This article explores how sacred myths operate as political archives that preserve the voice of power while silencing the defeated. Through a comparative reading of Ramayana and Asura: Tale of the Vanquished alongside Prometheus Bound and Prometheus Unbound, it argues that subaltern consciousness arises not as a rejection of heroism but as resistance to the moral authority claimed by divine law. Canonical myths present cosmic order as ethical necessity, yet this order is maintained through exclusion, punishment, and silence. Revisionist narratives re-center figures cast as demonic or criminal Ravana and Prometheus revealing them as ethical subjects shaped by regimes of power. Their reimagined voices expose myth as an ideological instrument that naturalizes hierarchy and conquest. Bringing Indian and Greek traditions into dialogue, the study shows that counter-myth functions as cultural memory, transforming storytelling into an act of resistance and reopening questions of justice beyond divine authority.

No fim dos anos 1930, um punhado de estudantes de primeira hora da Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras da Universidade de São Paulo (FFCL-USP) se reunia depois das aulas na Confeitaria Vienense. A escolha de um salão insuspeito para a confraternização de moças e rapazes era ainda uma providência necessária numa cidade que, então, se modernizava a olhos vistos sob a gestão Prestes Maia. A certa altura, Décio de Almeida Prado introduziu na turma seu amigo Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes. A primeira impressão não foi exatamente boa. Antes mesmo de aparecer, Paulo Emílio gerava certo acanhamento, uma vez que era precedido pelas lendas que o cercavam desde sua precoce entrada na vida pública paulistana, ainda em meados dos anos 1930. 3 De sua parte, recém-chegado de Paris, Paulo Emílio desconfiava da modernização paulistana em geral, bem como da fisionomia burguesa do grupo da Vienense. Vencida a fase das desconfianças mútuas, contudo, o grupo se cristalizou por meio de iniciativas coletivas, notadamente com a edição da revista Clima entre 1940 e 1944. A publicação marca um momento de definição dos destinos desses jovens estudantes, processo este atravessado pelas hierarquias que selaram a distribuição de competências no interior do periódico (PONTES, 1998, p. 123-139). Enquanto a crítica, que definia a razão de ser da revista, foi dividida entre os homens, as mulheres dedicaram-se ao apoio logístico--afetivo e, mais raramente, à publicação de textos ficcionais, caso de Lygia Fagundes Telles, Dora Ferreira da Silva e Gilda de Mello e Souza. Esta última passaria nos anos seguintes ao âmbito acadêmico e à crítica, mas seu percurso institucional não deixou de ser marcado pela questão de gênero. Quanto a Paulo Emílio, sua trajetória foi caracterizada por obstáculos de outra natureza. Sua designação como responsável pela crítica de cinema em Clima atendia a um interesse que havia sido despertado durante sua estadia na França. Contudo, o cinema era um ramo cultural relativamente desdenhado na época, correspondendo, portanto, a um polo fraco na revista. Essa situação do campo incidiria na tardia institucionalização acadêmica de Paulo Emílio, uma vez que os estudos cinematográficos só vieram a ser incorporados na universidade brasileira na década de 1960. E, no entanto, o cinema foi um dos pontos de convergência entre Paulo Emílio e Gilda. Munido da experiência adquirida na comunidade cineclubista parisiense, o primeiro seria um dos organizadores do Clube de Cinema de São Paulo, onde foram exibidos filmes clássicos garimpados nas salas da cidade. A exibição, às vezes realizada na casa do próprio Paulo Emílio, era seguida por um comentário conduzido por intelectuais de destaque na época, entre os quais constam alguns professores da FFCL que marcaram o grupo da Vienense,

This paper critically examines the intersections of gender, religion, and social politics through the character of Nida Rahim in the Indian Netflix miniseries Ghoul (2018). Through the protagonist, it analyzes a struggle for bodily autonomy and identity in a dictatorial State, problematized further by the subtext of supernatural invasion. A close reading of the text with the theoretical backing of Foucauldian analyses of power and identity, Edward Said's Orientalism, and Kimberlé Crenshaw's intersectionality, reveals the series' attempt at proposing resistance to the authoritarian powers through the media representation and portrayals. The recognition and the acceptance of power imbalances, and a gradual resistance to generalized and prejudiced perceptions for various sections of the State population, form the core of the series. The paper analyzes the processes of assimilation in a militarized State and the dangers it poses against one's individual and collective identity.

disorder is considered as a form of maladaptive coping methods used by individuals who have difficulties in applying more adaptive strategies. Skin-picking development has been suggested to be preceded by traumatic life events. Dissociative symptoms have been reported as experienced by skin-picking sufferers during picking episodes. The purpose of the study was to examine whether the link between trauma and automatic type of skin-picking is mediated by the frequency of dissociative experiences, and whether the COVID-19 pandemic conditions have changed this relationship in any way. The study sample consisted of 594 adults (76% women) aged from 18 to 60. Traumatic life events, dissociative experiences, and types of skin-picking (focused vs. automatic) were assessed with self-report questionnaires. Mediation analyses and multigroup path analyses were carried out. Results: Dissociative experiences partially mediated the link between traumatic events and both types of skin-picking. The model was robust considering the conditions in which survey was filled out (pre-pandemic vs. pandemic). Conclusions: Traumatic life events and dissociative experiences are associated with both automatic and focused skin-picking regardless of pandemic conditions. Further studies are needed to understand mechanisms underlying the relationship between dissociation and skin-picking styles.

The region of 'Mithila' owes its name from 'Maithili' the daughter of king Janak who is not only a source of inspiration for the region but also an epitome of feminine virtues, sanctity and qualities. The region associated with her birthplace is Sitamarhi (Bihar) and Janakpur (Nepal). In 1816, after the Sugauli agreement though the region got divided and half of the area went under the administration of Nepal but the regions still have close cultural affinity. The region is blessed with rivers and in the land of Mithila all the rivers bear significance of matriarchal values. The region enjoys immense greenery and the chief livelihood of the people living here is agriculture since ages. Sowing, irrigating, winnowing, husking and then comes 'labaan' i.e. getting the fruit of toil in the form of new crop. In such a region, there is a varied and vibrant culture of rich cultural heritage. As the grandeur of any cultural heritage is reflected in the life of community which is a collective expression of the mass living together for the development of the community. This expression of community is an incessant process of evolution, creation and experimentation found in most pure and natural form in folk songs and folk dramas. Folk songs are often condensed and impersonal experience of communities expressed as songs of folks, sung through generations. In Maithili folk songs, too 'The Divine Mother-Father' 'Parvati-Shiv' as well as 'Ram Sita' couple pair has been cast in different light and tone. Here descriptions are entirely different from the traditional scripture details. In most of these folk songs even Sita and Parvti have been constructed and cast into experience of pain and potential a feminine body experiences. In many folk songs 'Parvati' has been depicted as daughter of mountainous region doing household courses, solving quarrels among her family members and in the meantime her husband comes, who is angry as she works whole day long to make her household happy and is with left with no time for him. Feminine imagination is seen here penetrating into the deeper realms of functioning of household worries where husband may not be earning enough and the lady of the house has still to ensure that all the members of family are fed or not, including helpers. Here we get a glimpse of every Indian female heart where they are seen worrying and praying for well being and future of their loved ones irrespective of their disability, indolence or idleness. This is imparted to them by dint of their ideal 'Parvati', 'the divine mother'.

Her research explores the shifting contours of dissent and freedom in the Soviet Empire and its successor states, particularly for marginal religious communities. Her monograph, Dissent on the Margins (Oxford University Press, 2014) is the first comprehensive history of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Soviet Union. ORCID: 0000-0002-5854-0128. Since 2017, Jehovah's Witnesses have been barred from legal practice of their faith in Russia. This marks the first criminalization of a major religious faith in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. For Witnesses, it has been a disturbing return to life under ban, a reality they experienced for decades under Soviet rule. Moreover, all indications suggest that this situation is unlikely to improve in the short term. Russian officials have shown consistent willingness to enforce a broad interpretation of the ban, including through the arrest and imprisonment of individual Witnesses. This article offers an overview of recent developments since 2017, with a particular focus on its impact on individual Witnesses. 1 Such analysis is made possible by the wealth of documentation provided by the Jehovah's Witnesses on their official websites, which carefully track events in Russia. 2 Repression has been a lived reality for Witnesses since their arrival on Russian soil in the mid-twentieth century. As a result of World War II, the Soviet Union added substantial territories along its western borderlands. These lands contained scattered communities of Witnesses who 1 For other relevant work on this topic, see The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review 46, no. 2 (2019); The Journal of CESNUR 4, no. 6 (2020) and The Journal of CESNUR 5, no. 1 (2021), all of which contain multiple articles on the status of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia in the Putin era. 2 There are two major sources of official information from the Jehovah's Witnesses. The first is the JW.org website, the official website of the worldwide organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. The second is the jw-russia.org website, which is the worldwide organization's official website for legal developments in Russia. The former offers regular news alerts and reports on state action against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. The latter contains a wealth of documents from Russia, including court statements from accused Witnesses, detailed timelines of individual criminal cases, and other legal materials. Given that the situation remains in flux, with new court decisions a regular occurrence, a draft version of the article was read by staff members at the Jehovah's Witnesses' Office of Public Information. I am grateful to them for their feedback and suggestions.

لعلّ كلود ليفي شتراوس لم يخطىء حين يقول إن معرفتنا عن الأسطورة قبل فرويد ليس هي ذاتها بعده، فكيف قراءة " أوديب" دون الالتفات لما قاله عنها فرويد، وكيف يتسنى لنا فهم " الإخوة كارامازوف" بعيداً عن تفسيرات وإشارات فرويد النفسية المثيرة بهذا الشأن.

Esta tese só foi possível graças ao apoio recebido da Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, processo -2015/21739-0). Acredito que o papel desta agência de fomento é fundamental para a vida intelectual no ecossistema social do país, investindo recursos na geração e circulação de conhecimento, espírito crítico e diversidade. Agradeço a instituição por considerar arte como conhecimento, investindo também na relevância de seu desenvolvimento dentre outros conhecimentos das humanidades, beneficiando o meio em geral, e a mim em particular, em todo meu trajeto de pesquisa, desde a iniciação científica. Agradeço minha orientadora Silvia Laurentiz, por sua perseverança nos desafios que se apresentaram no processo. Agradeço o acolhimento e o apoio perene da minha terapeuta Cláudia Galizoni. Agradeço a dedicação dos programadores de Autograph, Ângelo Benetti e João Bueno. Agradeço à Paula Vermeersch pela sua presteza na revisão da tese. Agradeço ao colega Sérgio Venâncio pelo apoio na pesquisa de sistemas de reconhecimento de imagem e ao colega Dario Vargas, pela diagramação da tese e pelo companheirismo nesta fase do processo. Escola de Dança da Universidade Federal da Bahia, Carmen Paternostro Schaffner e às professoras Lenira Rengel, Ludmila Pimentel e Mirella Misi, pela generosa acolhida e colaboração indispensável para a realização desse projeto. Agradeço a preciosa ajuda de Tânia Bispo nas questões logísticas na Escola de Dança e à Isabel Valverde, pela ajuda nas sessões de captura. Agradeço também a paciência e disponibilidade do Ney (Ivonei Santana Santos), técnico do Laboratório de Motion Capture, que acompanhou as sessões de captura e me ensinou a utilizar o sistema. E, finalmente, agradeço aos bailarinos participantes do Autograph Lab, pelo interesse e dedicação com que criaram e ofereceram seus movimentos que hoje integram o sistema

This paper explores gendered narratives of non-belonging within the
nation by juxtaposing Anita Desai’s novel In Custody (1984) and the
scholarly debates/news reports of the 1980s with 2019–2021 media
reports on the protests at Shaheen Bagh, Delhi, concerning the
Citizenship Amendment Act. These texts of the 1980s and between
2019–2021 narrate the discontent of gendered Muslim subjects in
India regarding their place and prospects within the nation against
a context of uneven development.  This discontent often feeds into
violence that is woven into the fabric of the nation, constituting the
underbelly of national discourse. This paper explores the embodied
experiences of exclusion of gendered Muslim subjects within the
nation-building process, experiences that are exacerbated by current
experiments with the idea of a Hindu nation. This paper is divided into
three parts: the first part examines the media and scholarly debates on
the inclusion and exclusion of minorities in the 1980s; the second
part provides a close reading of In Custody, a novel by Anita Desai,
focusing on the lives of its Muslim characters; the third part examines
the news reports about Muslim women’s protests at Shaheen Bagh,
Delhi, after the passage of the Citizen Amendment Act.

According to Schuhmann, in his Briefwechsel edition of the letter, Husserl is commenting on La Mythologie primitive; Bernard Waldenfels and Sebastian Luft, however, claim that the text under discussion is Die geistige Welt der Primitiven. It is entirely likely that Husserl, though he could read French, consulted the German text of Lévy-Bruhl more closely than the French texts at his disposal.

According to Schuhmann, in his Briefwechsel edition of the letter, Husserl is commenting on La Mythologie primitive; Bernard Waldenfels and Sebastian Luft, however, claim that the text under discussion is Die geistige Welt der Primitiven. It is entirely likely that Husserl, though he could read French, consulted the German text of Lévy-Bruhl more closely than the French texts at his disposal.

Die Arbeit untersucht die Schnittstelle von kybernetischen Körpern und der Dekonstruktion von Normalität im Rahmen der Disability Studies. Sie beleuchtet kritisch, wie technologische Fortschritte, insbesondere in der Kyber netik und bei Hilfstechnologien, das Verständnis von Behinderung beeinflussen und traditionelle Vorstellungen von Normalität in Frage stellen. Die Konzepte des Transhumanismus und des kritischen Posthumanismus werden analysiert, um zu veranschaulichen, wie sie die menschliche Identität und Handlungsfähigkeit neu definieren, insbesondere für Menschen mit Behinderungen. Der Transhumanismus plädiert für den Einsatz von Technologie, um physische und kognitive Einschränkungen zu überwinden, und skizziert eine Zukunft, in der menschliche Fähigkeiten durch Innovationen wie Genetik, Nanotechnologie und Künstliche Intelligenz verbessert werden können. Die Arbeit hebt die potenziellen Vorteile der Technologien hervor, einschließlich einer verbesserten Mobilität und Autonomie von Menschen mit Behinderungen durch Geräte wie intelligente Prothesen und Exoskelette. Dennoch wirft die Arbeit auch ethische Bedenken hinsichtlich des Zugangs zu den Technologien auf und betont, dass nicht jeder gleich von ihnen profitieren kann. Im Gegensatz dazu bietet der kritische Posthumanismus eine differenzierte Perspektive, die die Anerkennung vielfältiger menschlicher Erfahrungen und die Notwendigkeit einer inklusiven technologischen Entwicklung einfordert. Die Analyse zeigt, dass Behinderung nicht nur als Defizit betrachtet werden sollte, sondern als Teil eines komplexen Zusammenspiels von sozialen, kulturellen und technologischen Faktoren. Letztendlich argumentiert die vorliegende Arbeit, dass der Dialog über kybernetische Körper und Behinderung weiterentwickelt werden muss, um die Vielfalt menschlicher Erfahrungen zu akzeptieren und etablierte Normen von Identität und Fähigkeit zu hinterfragen. Tekin, H. (2025). Kybernetische Körper und die Dekonstruktion von "Normalität" im Rahmen der Disability Studies. in I. Atasoy & H. Tekin (Eds.), Cyberpunk and Posthumanism (p. 154 167). İstanbul University Press.

Questo paper esplora l’accelerazione dei ritmi della musica dance come sintomo e segnale di una trasformazione culturale profonda. Un glitch generazionale che si manifesta attraverso la fisicità del dancefloor. Se la velocità della musica dance è da sempre un sismografo sociale, l’aumento post-pandemico dei BPM segna un una novità inedita. La generazione cresciuta nell’isolamento, privata dei riti collettivi della club culture, accede improvvisamente allo spazio notturno azzerando rituali, codici e genealogie. Ciò che emerge non è più il groove sensuale afroamericano da cui la club culture è nata, ma un’energia iperaccelerata e aggressiva, più vicina al punk che al funk, che ridefinisce la danza come esperienza estrema e dissociativa. Questa mutazione sonora e simbolica è politica. Spostandosi dalla communitas fisica a un ecosistema connesso ma isolante, la scena dance contemporanea racconta un nuovo modo di abitare il tempo, di elaborare il trauma collettivo e di opporre resistenza all’invisibilità culturale nella quale è relagata la gioventù postpandemica. L’accelerazione diventa così una forma di agency generazionae.

The figure of Sita, most famously known as the central female character from the ancient Indian epic the Ramayana, has historically been regarded as the epitome of feminine virtue, purity, and sacrifice. She has long been a part of the mental framework of every Indian girl, who is taught the duties of womanhood through her character. The influence of Sita is so powerful that women succumb to societal pressures, feeling they must emulate her, even when they should resist. The patriarchal narrative has imposed a singular, submissive image of Sita that glorifies woman’s subjugation. In contrast, modern writers have reimagined Sita as a symbol deeply connected to nature embodying vibrant energy of nature. This reinterpretation integrates the ecofeminist idea that women and nature are interlinked forces of nurture and power. Thus, contemporary portrayals challenge the traditional, limiting image and bring out a new Sita who is both nature’s daughter and an agent of her own destiny. This research paper explores the poem "Sita" from an ecofeminist perspective, focusing on the new dimensions of her character erstwhile ignored by the writers. It draws on critical interpretations, notably by Nandini Sahu and Toru Dutt, to reveal Sita’s connection to her inner feminine and healing aspect of nature.

Previous studies have shown genetic, cultural, and dietetic differences between athletes from East Africa and Caucasian athletes from Europe and North America that effect performance in endurance races. To date, no study has made a comparative analysis of race tactics in elite competition between the two groups. In contrast to the longer distance races where male East African athletes have clearly dominated international-level competitions in recent decades, there has been a relatively high number of successful Caucasian 800m runners, providing enough data to draw valid conclusions. The author studied major event finals and other international 800m races to try to identify statistically verifiable ethno-typical differences in tactics. He found that on average East African runners are keener to make fast starts and get closer to the lead in both championship and record-attempt situations while Caucasian athletes are more aggressive in the 400 to 600m segment of the race. Among the at...

Aurat March, shaped by both local and global influences-including the current landscape of women's rights and the movements such as the #MeToo-seeks to challenge patriarchal structures by redefining traditional gender roles, critiquing institutions like marriage and family, and addressing issues related to bodily autonomy and sexuality, including topics such as rape, pornography, and prostitution. The March has adopted and implemented various practical strategies in response to the significant backlash from patriarchal forces. This study explores these backlashes and strategies through qualitative content analysis, drawing on archival research and in-depth semi-structured interviews with supporters and critics of Aurat March. Findings reveal that the utilisation of social media, the deconstruction of public-private and productive-reproductive binaries, and the transition of discussions regarding bodily rights and sexual autonomy from private to public spheres are key strategies employed by Aurat March to confront the backlash it has received from patriarchal figures, including media representatives, religious circles, and state authorities. This contributes to the discourse on reconceptualising activism in Pakistan and the Global South, particularly about the tactics and strategies adopted by women's movements to navigate these challenges.

Contributions:
​Problematization as Object
​Stacy Leigh Pigg
Simon Fraser University

I Say
Claire Wendland
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Questioning the Zero Tolerance Paradigm and Legal Reform Strategies for Ending Female Genital Cutting: An Emerging Public Discourse in Africa
Bettina Shell-Duncan
University of Washington

Comment on The Twilight of Cutting
Inderpal Grewal
Yale University

Remarks on The Twilight of Cutting
Ara Wilson                                                                                 
Duke University

Reply:
Feminist Anthropology as Fugitive Practice
Saida Hodžić
Cornell University

Edited by:
Erin V. Moore
Columbia University
https://somatosphere.com/2019/twilight-of-cutting.html/

This study explores the complex intersections of youth, religion, and identity in the context of social media among Muslim and Christian youth in urban India. With the rapid digitalization of everyday life, social media platforms have become important spaces where young people negotiate their religious affiliations, cultural belonging, and social identities. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, the research examines how Muslim and Christian youth use platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to express religious values, engage with faith-based communities, and construct hybrid identities that combine tradition with modernity. The study highlights how social media provides opportunities for interfaith dialogue, religious expression, and identity assertion, while also exposing youth to challenges such as online polarization, stereotypes, and communal tensions. By focusing on urban Indian contexts, this research contributes to broader debates on religion, youth culture, and digital media, demonstrating how social media is reshaping the ways in which young people understand themselves and relate to others across religious boundaries.

Taking posting of personal events in pictures and text on Facebook as an example, the article discusses some mechanisms of production of the Self in a new form. Using the process of creating a constructed identity on a social media platform, the paper combines Jacques Lacan, Carl Rogers and Karen Horney in explaining psycho-socially how and why people create an imaginative version of themselves online. This digital version of their Self lives beyond the reality principle. The Self is produced in the digital according to specific needs and drives of its owner. The Other(s) (the audience) that consumes it, bring values and sense of worth by consuming it.  The main claim the article makes is that as a result of the communication between the Self and its audience (the Other (s) in the digital), personal values about self-worth change. As a result, self-identification with the consuming audience leads to self-actualizing and glorifying. This sets up the process of creating an Ideal Image...

Citizenship in the Arab world is defined
both by individual nations and nationalities
and by a shared regional history. A clear
understanding of citizenship in the contemporary
Arab world must be grounded in this
shared history of existing Arab states as
they unfold in global processes of identity
formation in the context of the modern state,
colonialism, anti-colonial resistance, and
the rise of authoritarian post-colonial states
and discrete national identities. The contemporary
Arab states—as defined by Arab
League membership—consist of: Algeria,
Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq,
Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania,
Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia,
United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The
Ottoman Empire began delineating national
identity in the nineteenth century as the Arab
and Islamic social and cultural spaces articulated
a nascent sense of Arab identity. Under
colonialism, this sense of identity was used
across the Arab world to make demands
for rights as citizens rather than as colonial
subjects. The emergent political order
of the anti-colonial era, however, narrowed
the purview of national identity and access to
rights of citizenship.

The region of 'Mithila' owes its name from 'Maithili' the daughter of king Janak who is not only a source of inspiration for the region but also an epitome of feminine virtues, sanctity and qualities. The region associated with her birthplace is Sitamarhi (Bihar) and Janakpur (Nepal). In 1816, after the Sugauli agreement though the region got divided and half of the area went under the administration of Nepal but the regions still have close cultural affinity. The region is blessed with rivers and in the land of Mithila all the rivers bear significance of matriarchal values. The region enjoys immense greenery and the chief livelihood of the people living here is agriculture since ages. Sowing, irrigating, winnowing, husking and then comes 'labaan' i.e. getting the fruit of toil in the form of new crop. In such a region, there is a varied and vibrant culture of rich cultural heritage. As the grandeur of any cultural heritage is reflected in the life of community which is a collective expression of the mass living together for the development of the community. This expression of community is an incessant process of evolution, creation and experimentation found in most pure and natural form in folk songs and folk dramas. Folk songs are often condensed and impersonal experience of communities expressed as songs of folks, sung through generations. In Maithili folk songs, too 'The Divine Mother-Father' 'Parvati-Shiv' as well as 'Ram Sita' couple pair has been cast in different light and tone. Here descriptions are entirely different from the traditional scripture details. In most of these folk songs even Sita and Parvti have been constructed and cast into experience of pain and potential a feminine body experiences. In many folk songs 'Parvati' has been depicted as daughter of mountainous region doing household courses, solving quarrels among her family members and in the meantime her husband comes, who is angry as she works whole day long to make her household happy and is with left with no time for him. Feminine imagination is seen here penetrating into the deeper realms of functioning of household worries where husband may not be earning enough and the lady of the house has still to ensure that all the members of family are fed or not, including helpers. Here we get a glimpse of every Indian female heart where they are seen worrying and praying for well being and future of their loved ones irrespective of their disability, indolence or idleness. This is imparted to them by dint of their ideal 'Parvati', 'the divine mother'.

This open access book presents new, empirically-based ethnographic and sociological studies of Kurdish women’s activism and its implications for their rights and the dynamics of citizenship across different social, cultural, and political fields. Organized into five sections, the book explores the ecological and cultural aspects of citizenship and activism; the interplay between activism and family life; the status of citizens and stateless people in marginalized conditions; and the historical development of Kurdish citizenship in various regions of Kurdistan and the diaspora. It offers an in-depth exploration of lived citizenship, social movements, and women activism in the Global South, as well as a comprehensive study of contemporary Kurdish society, politics, and culture. This book is an essential read for researchers in Kurdish studies, women’s and gender studies, family studies, peace and conflict studies, migration studies, environmental studies, and art and literary studies.

Kimono, in many regards, invites transformation. Whether it is a fiber, woven cloth, fashion statement, or cultural material, from the first steps of its conception until its consumption, kimono is naturally an agency infused with the possibility of change, which has different modalities. Created by Japanese designers for a Japanese audience, the kimono retains its key characteristics while addressing new trends and demands. Outside of Japan it found territories where it thrives as a malleable, fashionable item. As a result, a variety of non-Japanese designers reimagined and customized the kimono, seeing its sleeves, colors, surfaces, and material dimensions negotiated through many variables. The first examples examined in this article are the kimono designs of Vitali Babani, created in Paris during the “peak” of Japonisme (1900s to 1930s). The second category is the kimono tailored with African wax and kanga fabrics, as developed by the contemporary brands WAfrica, Lezele, and Über...

In this paper, I discuss the guidelines of a phenomenology of the social world in the wake of Alfred Schutz and José Ortega y Gasset. While the latter was not, for a long time, acknowledge as a phenomenologist, the former is a well-known critique of Husserl’s theory of intersubjectivity and of the possibility of grounding a community of transcendental Egos. Both, however, remained faithful to some basic phenomenological tenets, namely, that individual subjectivity has a relational character, the circumstances in which men live are a part of their life, and life is characterized by its openness to the world. On this basis, they both carried out a phenomenological description of social existence, stressing its two main assumptions: 1) there are things that must be taken for granted; 2) habitualities, typical constructions, and systems of relevance are the primary ways of dealing with social events and other fellow citizens. In different ways, they both showed that the traditional obje...

Retelling and rewriting of epics and myths connect the present with the past. It helps us rediscover the relevance of the old texts from contemporary angles. In India the major epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have been rewritten and retold in multiple languages and the epics have reemerged through a process of modification. Whenever a story is told it brings certain changes to the old version. It is because of the use of language and the intention of the story teller. In case of rewriting of epics, the language is of utmost importance. The new version calls for modification of language to make the old text accessible. In a way each rewritten version instills a new interpretation. The newer versions make us look at the characters and plots of the older ones with a questioning attitude. A comparative perspective gets built up through multiple versions of the same stories told again and again. Haldhar Nag's long poem Mahasati Urmila draws attention to the minor character Urmila of the epic. The conventional approach to the Ramayana as the story of Rama and Sita can be reread as the story of Laxmana and Urmila. This freshness of approach does not distort the significance of Sita. It rather places Urmila's character

During the last 10 years the field of Acting has witnessed an unprecedented development in Romania -now it encompasses teaching, personal development, sometimes even therapy; it has blended well with the visual field in Installations and, due to pandemic situation, it has engulfed the virtual medium. Therefore, Acting has changed -nowadays, the purpose of an Acting School is not that of forging masters of Acting, but of guiding and supporting the discovery and designing of the unicity, creativity and personality of each and every artist. Romanian theatre has fought many battles along the way -that with censorship, that with mass media and now a completely new and insidious challenge -the fight with the present sanitary situation. Nowadays, the theatres, either conventional or unconventional, are closed due to various reasons: the political wage of war, the conflict between the vaccine followers and the vaccine opponents, the gulf between the majority parties and the minorities, various restrictions and our own personal fears. Thus, nowadays artists should prove, once more, their amazing capacity of adapting themselves to these conditions. And, if our times are confusing for artists, they are even more bewildering for the Acting teachers. An Acting teacher that is a former graduate of a 4 year course of study in a form of 5-6 fellow mates, that, most likely, has a job as an actor in a National Theatre, is supposed now to teach in Bologna system to a double number of students than the one he was used to (and that even online) and to prepare them for a very crowded and diversified market place. So, what is to be done on part of the Acting teacher?