Graduate Journal of Social Science

Articles

• Centering the Center: Finding the ‘Hetero’ in Heteronormativity

  Lee Wing Hin

  • Abstract

    This paper begins with this question: what do we mean when we say “heterosexual” and how have we positioned “heterosexuality” in queer studies? The first part of the paper focuses on the normative heterosexual institutions of marriage and reproduction. Using a selection of historical works by Henry Abelove, Adele Perry, Ruth Perry, and Laura Ann Stoler, I proceed to challenge the perceived self-evident and ahistorical relationships between normative heterosexuality – heteronormativity – and the “heterosexual” institutions of marriage and reproduction. I propose a methodological opening to see “heterosexual” arrangements as often simultaneously crucial parts of colonial, capitalist, patriarchal, and racist regimes at different historical moments. This opening allows us to deconstruct the relationship between heterosexuality and heteronormativity, as well as uncover the non-sexual goals and implications of normalizing heterosexuality. In the last part of my analysis, I look at the role of “tradition” in framing discourses of heterosexuality in four Hong Kong sex and puberty education materials. I argue that comprehensive understanding of the definition and disciplining functions of “heterosexuality” in the materials requires engagement with Hong Kong’s colonial history and post-colonial present. This engagement includes, but is not limited to, the accounting for the relationship between “heterosexuality” and the erasure of same-sex desires in Hong Kong’s contemporary narratives of the Chinese “traditional” past.

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  • pp. 5–32

• Beyond Rainbows and Butterflies: Environmental Politics and the Scale and Scope of NGO Activities

  Jonathan Stilwell

  • Abstract

    The article examines the role played by NGOs in international environmental policy processes. Special attention is given to the relationship between the effectiveness of NGO interventions and the scale and scope of their actions. Scale is defined in the article with reference to the spatial focus of actions taken by NGO groups, and scope is seen as defining the relevance of these focused actions within a broader interdependent and inter-temporal policy discourse. Taking this interdependent, inter-temporal and inter-spatial view of the policy process provides a basis for exploring the interdisciplinary importance of attempts to enhance the effectiveness of NGO actions relative to the scale and scope of their activities.
    It is argued that the presence of NGOs in environmental politics has to some extent been determined by the existence of policy vacuums that prompt responses to the perceived need for a more inclusive approach to these forms of politics. However, a number of theoretical examples are used to illustrate that enhanced inclusiveness is not a sufficient condition for ensuring more fair policy processes. The example of NGO participation in Senegalese marine fishery policy discourse is used to substantiate this point.
    On the basis of theoretical and practical observations, it is argued that attempts to realize greater inclusiveness can detract from the effectiveness of policy processes through adding additional voices to already noisy policy arenas. This is compounded by the temporal, special, and conceptual interdependence characterizing many of these spaces in the first place. As an alternative, I argue that the efficacy of policy processes can be enhanced through a more synergistic approach that identifies common objectives across diverse and often conflicting rationalities. The concept of sustainable development is seen as one that is capable of providing the macro rational orientation required for the realization of a more synergistic attrition of ideas. And NGO groups are seen as the entities most capable of the flexibility that is required for advocating that cause.

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  • pp. 33–48

• Self-reflection on emergent research design

  Andy Martin

  • Abstract

    This paper provides a self related narrative to the development of the philosophical and methodological framework for my PhD study. The thesis involved evaluating case studies of the educational outcomes and experiential learning process of courses at Outward Bound institutions in New Zealand, Czech Republic and Australia. It presents a story, reconstructed through reflection of the development of an emergent research design based on my experience of the research process, methodologies and methods. My dilemma in using a traditional pre-planned design was that whilst my research background and review of literature into outcomes of experiential education programs initially favoured a quantitative approach. My world view and the nature of the different research contexts related to the educational process suggested using a phenomenological paradigm. The emergent unplanned journey reflected my experiences as a researcher becoming increasingly involved in the different contexts of the study. The resulting use of different methods reflected the benefits of both quantitative and qualitative approaches and how some research methods may be more appropriate for different contexts and cultures. The epistemological implication from this paper for other interdisciplinary studies is the benefit of a multi method approach related to the emergent nature of the research, which aims to enhance the study’s reliability (dependability) and validity (credibility and transferability). This experiential process also allows the development of a broader perspective of research methodologies involving adaptations to different learning environments.

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  • pp. 49–70

• Negotiating figurations for feminist methodologies: A manifest for the fl@neur

  Jennie Olofsson

  • Abstract

    Introducing the fl@neur as a feminist figuration, this article seeks to refigure and defy the notion of Baudelaire’s flâneur as a male loiterer. Hence, the fl@neur comprises my points of departure as I hope to – not only promote seamlessness between body and spatiality – but also between social, virtual and material sites. The article is drawn up as an interview situation in which I serve both as the questioner and as the interviewee; a favourable approach in order to dismantle Baudelaire’s dandy-like hero. The fl@neur is claimed to be an intriguing key figure in order to understand the intertwined social, virtual and material environments; the negotiation of this figure corresponds with my intention to emphasize transgressive bodies and performances as well as multiple sites. Hence, the fl@neur can be seen as a feminist figuration, occupying multi sited perspectives and taking into consideration social, virtual as well as material settings.

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  • pp. 71–93

Book Reviews

• Michel de Certeau. Analysing Culture by Ben Highmore

  Isaac Marrero

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  • pp. 94–97

• Multiculturalism without culture by Anne Phillips

  Khadija Abbasi

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  • pp. 98–102

• ‘Chocolate City’. Documentary film. by Ellie Walton and Sam Wild

  Melissa Fernandez

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  • pp. 103–107