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The communicative imperatives

Naomi Head

in Justifying violence: Communicative ethics and the use of force in Kosovo

Building on existing theories of communicative ethics and the limitations to Habermas's project identified in earlier chapters, this chapter articulates a series of communicative imperatives and a ... More

Building on existing theories of communicative ethics and the limitations to Habermas's project identified in earlier chapters, this chapter articulates a series of communicative imperatives and a set of issues regarding the relationship between theory and practice which strike at the heart of the emancipatory and evaluative orientation of critical theory. The communicative imperatives have two key purposes: to operate as an instrument of critique and to guide actors and participants in the normative development of practical dialogue. The chapter seeks to facilitate our understanding of the role of language in the construction of legitimacy and to contribute to the procedural argument that how we arrive at decisions may be as important as the substance of those decisions.Less

Practice Theory in Folklore and Folklife Studies

Simon J. Bronner

in The Practice of Folklore: Essays toward a Theory of Tradition

This chapter identifies a difference between European and American approaches to folklore around ideas of practice and performance, respectively. It evaluatesthe different forms of practice and ... More

This chapter identifies a difference between European and American approaches to folklore around ideas of practice and performance, respectively. It evaluatesthe different forms of practice and performance theory in social sciences and proposes that an Aristotlean concept of praxis is most appropriate for folklore and folklife studies.Less

Toward a Definition of Folklore in Practice

Simon J. Bronner

in The Practice of Folklore: Essays toward a Theory of Tradition

In the digital age, the twentieth-century definition of folklore as "artistic communication in small groups" is problematic. This chapter cites a need for a practice-oriented definition to account ... More

In the digital age, the twentieth-century definition of folklore as "artistic communication in small groups" is problematic. This chapter cites a need for a practice-oriented definition to account for various phenomena involving tradition that are not limited to small groups or face-to-face communication.It proposes "traditional knowledge drawn from and put into practice" to draw attention to thesource of cognition for repeated, variable activities, or practices.Less

Black Boxes and Trojan Horses: Translating Religion Approaches

Ira Helderman

in Prescribing the Dharma: Psychotherapists, Buddhist Traditions, and Defining Religion

This chapter introduces psychotherapists’ translating religion approaches to Buddhist traditions focusing on the therapeutic use of mindfulness practices as a popular case example. In these ... More

This chapter introduces psychotherapists’ translating religion approaches to Buddhist traditions focusing on the therapeutic use of mindfulness practices as a popular case example. In these approaches, Buddhist elements are “translated” into biomedical treatment interventions admissible to secular-designated psychotherapy. Influenced by a number of institutional and affiliative factors, cognitive behavioral psychotherapists were predisposed to seek to maintain scientific legitimacy while incorporating Buddhist practices. Taking a closer look at the historical origins of contemporary therapeutic mindfulness practices and the currently-untold stories of the development of some of the most prominent mindfulness methodologies (Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, etc.), the chapter interrogates the prevailing narrative that “mindfulness was extracted from Buddhism” and completely remade into a secular biomedical item. The chapter elucidates the ongoing contestation among clinicians - spurred by encounters with multiple, overlapping institutional authorities (not only biomedical or Buddhist, but academic as well) - over whether to define their “translations” as Buddhist or psychotherapeutic, religious or not-religious.Less

Conclusions

Matthew Gibson

in Pride and Shame in Child and Family Social Work: Emotions and the Search for Humane Practice

This chapter reviews and summarises the theory proposed throughout this book. It considers this theory within the context of the case-study site used as an example throughout. While all child and ... More

This chapter reviews and summarises the theory proposed throughout this book. It considers this theory within the context of the case-study site used as an example throughout. While all child and family social work organisations will interpret the wider systemic pressures individually and have their own regional needs and local idiosyncrasies, the case example provides an illustration of how pride and shame can be used in political attempts to shape, direct and control public services. In addition, it also demonstrates the complexity of the decision-making process, where experiences, or the anticipation, of pride, shame and other self-conscious emotions drive practitioners to comply with, or resist, such pressures. These processes are not reserved specifically for child and family social work, however. Indeed, the whole welfare state and governmental apparatus has been going through a transformation as neoliberal ideas, agendas and values have become embedded into political, media and public discourse. These ideas, therefore, relate to other disciplines and practices. This chapter sketches out the conditions needed for authenticity and pride in social work practice before concluding with possible future directions in the theory and practice of pride and shame in professional practiceLess

Rethinking anti-racism

Chris Gilligan

in Northern Ireland and the Crisis of Anti-Racism: Rethinking Racism and Sectarianism

This chapter draws on the work of Karl Marx to critique the Race Relations approach. The author argues that conventional social science (which underpins Race Relations theory) is, in its ... More

This chapter draws on the work of Karl Marx to critique the Race Relations approach. The author argues that conventional social science (which underpins Race Relations theory) is, in its methodological approach to understanding the world, inherently elitist. This is so because it artificially separates understanding the world (theory) and acting in the world (practice) and because it allocates a special role to experts. Race Relations theory and practice tends to view ordinary people as inclined towards racism and allocates a special role to enlightened experts in tackling racisms.Less

Crossing-Over of Art History and Media History in the Times of the Early Internet—with Special Regard to THE THING NYC

Susanne Gerber

in Social Media Archeology and Poetics

In the early Internet, art history crossed the path of media history and both disciplines conveyed characteristics of each other. Net (based) art did not regain the utopian potential of art, but its ... More

In the early Internet, art history crossed the path of media history and both disciplines conveyed characteristics of each other. Net (based) art did not regain the utopian potential of art, but its social, aesthetic and conceptual approach referenced the future role of digital communication. This chapter documents and examines the role of the art network THE THING in early digital communication and art practice and how it anticipated the future potential to communicate, distribute, and produce. Including the theory and practice that informed the founding of THE THING, as well as an interview with THE THING founder, Wolfgang Staehle, and a concluding timeline of THE THING's history, this chapter also emphasizes how THE THING was both playful and far ahead of its time.Less

The Relevance of Philosophy to Life

Patrick Shade and John Lachs

in Freedom and Limits

Lachs offers five reasons philosophers have a general obligation to make philosophy relevant to life, thereby unifying theory with practice—albeit in practice. The conviction that to believe ... More

Lachs offers five reasons philosophers have a general obligation to make philosophy relevant to life, thereby unifying theory with practice—albeit in practice. The conviction that to believe something is to have a tendency to act on it, for instance, obligates us to embody our commitments.Less

Commentary: contingent ageing, naturalisation and some rays of intellectual hope

Dale Dannefer and Jielu Lin

in Ageing, meaning and social structure: Connecting critical and humanistic gerontology

This chapter presents a commentary on the foregoing chapters, beginning by underscoring the usefulness of the distinction made by Baars and Phillipson between contingent aging and existential ageing. ... More

This chapter presents a commentary on the foregoing chapters, beginning by underscoring the usefulness of the distinction made by Baars and Phillipson between contingent aging and existential ageing. This important distinction resurfaces in a number of complex ways throughout the chapters of this volume, and it is employed as the first organizing theme for the commentary. The second organizing theme concerns the tension between theory and practice which also arises in fresh ways in several of the chapters. These two sets of tensions are used as the primary frameworks within which to organize concluding comments on the informative and provocative chapters of the volume.Less

Conclusion

Buchanan Sandra

in Transforming conflict through social and economic development: Practice and policy lessons from Northern Ireland and the Border Counties

The conclusion returns to the conceptual and theoretical examination outlined in Chapter 2 which initially informed and shaped the book's assessment, Lederach's exploration of the interdependence, ... More

The conclusion returns to the conceptual and theoretical examination outlined in Chapter 2 which initially informed and shaped the book's assessment, Lederach's exploration of the interdependence, justice and process-structure gaps, to assess the extent to which they have been narrowed by the three programmes examined. While the middle-range is certainly critical to sustaining change, this book has also found that the nature of the three programmes ensured the valuable capacity existing within the grassroots was as equally instrumental as that of the middle level in delivering and sustaining conflict transformation, particularly when the political failed, clearly demonstrating the intrinsic importance of participative democracy to representative democracy. Because of the practice perspective of this book, the conclusion acknowledges the need to marry the theoretical to the practical. It challenges governments to take up the recommendations, cognisant that this is a considerable challenge: as today's world faces growing social and economic conflict, building peace without the inclusion of social and economic development in the conflict transformation matrix as a strand of the web as necessary as the political, cultural, spiritual or psychological, will be devastating.Less

The Gesture of Speaking

Vilém Flusser

in Gestures

Moving between the speaking of a word and silence, Flusser identifies speech here as reaching out toward others, an effort to expand the sphere of human freedom.

The Gesture of Destroying

Vilém Flusser

in Gestures

Here Flusser raises the question of evil, defining it as disinterested destruction, an act without intention. Carefully distinguishing it from acts of frustration and rebellion, he declares it ... More

Here Flusser raises the question of evil, defining it as disinterested destruction, an act without intention. Carefully distinguishing it from acts of frustration and rebellion, he declares it “terrifying”.Less

The Gesture of Filming

Vilém Flusser

in Gestures

Flusser’s analysis of film centers on the possibility of manipulating the perception of time. He notes a growing tendency to prefer a montaged, projected version of events to actual, four-dimensional ... More

Flusser’s analysis of film centers on the possibility of manipulating the perception of time. He notes a growing tendency to prefer a montaged, projected version of events to actual, four-dimensional history.Less

The Gesture of Shaving

Vilém Flusser

in Gestures

Skin is the boundary that separates a person from his environment, and a person shaving himself is simultaneously a subject acting and an object being acted upon. The gesture, or its absence, becomes ... More

Skin is the boundary that separates a person from his environment, and a person shaving himself is simultaneously a subject acting and an object being acted upon. The gesture, or its absence, becomes an expression of the way a given person orients himself with respect to others.Less

The Gesture of Video

Vilém Flusser

in Gestures

Video is here sharply distinguished from film, notably in its potential for immediate playback, allowing those behind the camera to change places with those before the camera, and opening ... More

Video is here sharply distinguished from film, notably in its potential for immediate playback, allowing those behind the camera to change places with those before the camera, and opening opportunities for visual dialogue.Less

The Gesture of Making

Vilém Flusser

in Gestures

“Making” here becomes the movement of two hands coming together, approaching a sameness that they can never fully achieve. The two forces are metaphorically associated with “practice” and “theory”.

The Gesture of Smoking a Pipe

Vilém Flusser

in Gestures

This detailed analysis of the reasons for smoking a pipe opens up a lengthy discussion of ritual, a broad category of gesture that applies both to religious ritual and to art.