tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/resistance-31665/articlesResistance – The Conversation2024-02-09T00:36:19Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2228532024-02-09T00:36:19Z2024-02-09T00:36:19ZHigher, faster: what influences the aerodynamics of a football?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573580/original/file-20240203-27-i63qjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3579&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In addition to a player's ability to throw it, a number of factors will influence a ball's flight, including its size, inflation pressure and texture.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With <a href="https://www.nfl.com/news/super-bowl-lvii-averages-audience-of-113-million-viewers-fox-sports">113 million viewers in the United States</a> and 40 million more around the world, the Super Bowl is the most popular sports event in North America. This year’s event on Sunday – with the added attraction of a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/sports/2024/02/06/super-bowl-players-vegas-taylor-swift-wire-nc-vpx.cnn">romance in the spotlight</a> – promises to attract as many fans.</p>
<p>In Canada, the most recent Grey Cup final, last November, reached a <a href="https://twitter.com/RDS_RP/status/1726722586816430330">record audience</a> of 3.7 million viewers who tuned in to watch the Montréal Alouettes’ victory.</p>
<p>The two leagues definitely don’t enjoy the same popularity – far from it. Nor do they have the same rules. But there is another difference: although similar in appearance, the famous oval balls used in football have specific characteristics on both sides of the border that can affect their aerodynamics, i.e. the forces exerted by the air on the ball during its flight. The design and characteristics of the ball have an impact on the magnitude of these forces.</p>
<p>It might be news to football players, but their talent for throwing balls long distances is not the only thing that matters. A number of factors affect the ball’s aerodynamics, including the way it is made and its inflation pressure.</p>
<p>As a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Québec’s École de technologie supérieure, I am interested in experimental fluid dynamics. I study the physics of fluid flows and certain applications (e.g. propulsion of aquatic vehicles, aerodynamic applications). Fluid dynamics is a vast field and affects many aspects of our lives, such as the flow of blood in the heart, the flight of aircraft, the beautiful swirling patterns in Jupiter’s atmosphere or the perfect football pass for a touchdown.</p>
<h2>Ball size affects flight stability</h2>
<p>The NFL and CFL have the same <a href="https://cfldb.ca/faq/equipment/#:%7E:text=The%20CFL%20football%20dimensions%20are,to%2028%201%2F2%20inches">rules</a> regarding the dimensions of their balls. They must be between 11" and 11.25" long. They must also be inflated to between 12.5 psi and 13.5 psi, giving them a maximum circumference of between 28" and 28.5" around the length and between 21" and 21.25" around the width.</p>
<p>These dimensions are important. The football acts like a gyroscope. The higher the speed of rotation, the more stable the ball will be during its flight. Different dimensions can therefore have specific effects on the stability of the ball’s flight.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An American football player catches a ball in mid-flight on a field" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573219/original/file-20240203-25-y5at9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573219/original/file-20240203-25-y5at9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573219/original/file-20240203-25-y5at9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573219/original/file-20240203-25-y5at9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573219/original/file-20240203-25-y5at9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573219/original/file-20240203-25-y5at9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573219/original/file-20240203-25-y5at9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The size of the football matters. The ball acts like a gyroscope. The higher the speed of rotation, the more stable the ball will be during its flight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A larger circumference suggests that more of the ball’s mass is located away from its centre line. This means that it will have a higher moment of inertia (resistance to rotation) and, therefore, that the same force applied to make it rotate will result in a lower speed of rotation.</p>
<h2>Two stripes and laces make a difference</h2>
<p>While there are two white stripes on the Canadian ball, as well as laces, American rules don’t mention these.</p>
<p>The differences between the Canadian and American balls can have an effect on their drag. A drag force is the resistance to a moving object in a fluid. In this case, it is mainly the resistance caused by the air (a fluid), which is called form or pressure drag.</p>
<p>Let’s take the example of a golf ball. Its dimples encourage turbulence, which allows the airflow to stick to the ball and reduce its total drag. Less drag means the ball can fly further with the same force applied.</p>
<p>The laces on a football and any other significant modification to its surface (a logo, a valve), in combination with the rotation of the ball, will to some extent have the same effect. It would be interesting to study how <a href="https://www.engineering.com/story/the-aerodynamics-of-a-football">these differences</a> between NFL and CFL footballs affect their respective drag.</p>
<h2>NFL or CFL, which ball is better?</h2>
<p>To do this, we could use a wind tunnel (an experimental installation in the form of a tunnel with a controlled airflow) to simulate the movement of air (fluid flow) around the two balls that will be fixed in space, put into rotation and subject to an airflow speed that would imitate the balls’ speed of flight.</p>
<p>An aerodynamic force balance could be used to measure the differences in drag between the two balls subjected to the same conditions. Ideally, to eliminate other factors of variability, the two balls would have the same dimensions.</p>
<p>The passage of air around the ball could be visualized using smoke or particle image/tracking velocimetry. The latter is a method in which the air is seeded with particles (helium-filled soap bubbles or oil droplets). The movement of these particles could then be captured using a camera to quantify the airspeed at all points around the ball. This would allow regions of flow separation and recirculation to be seen, and provide an idea of the distribution of aerodynamic forces around the ball.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A gloved hand holds a football on a grassy surface" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573221/original/file-20240203-21-3s2qf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573221/original/file-20240203-21-3s2qf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573221/original/file-20240203-21-3s2qf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573221/original/file-20240203-21-3s2qf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573221/original/file-20240203-21-3s2qf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573221/original/file-20240203-21-3s2qf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573221/original/file-20240203-21-3s2qf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A ball about to be kicked. A number of factors will influence the aerodynamics of the ball.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Different rotation speeds and flight speeds could be examined, as there is always the possibility of developing flow instabilities, which would lead to a change in its behaviour around the ball. </p>
<p>This would help determine whether the NFL or CFL ball is better.</p>
<h2>Ball texture influences drag</h2>
<p>There is another type of drag, this one attributable to the friction between the air and the surface of the ball. This is called friction drag.</p>
<p>It depends mainly on the texture of the ball and its speed. The rougher the texture of the ball, the greater the friction drag for the same speed. Similarly, a faster ball speed will have a higher friction drag.</p>
<p>By reducing the form drag, we further reduce the total drag of the ball, which can therefore go further and faster on the football field.</p>
<h2>And then there’s the weather!</h2>
<p>The weather also plays a role in the aerodynamics of the football.</p>
<p>Cold or hot temperatures can affect the size of the ball by reducing or increasing the air pressure inside it.</p>
<p>Similarly, temperature can have some effect on the material properties of the ball, with colder temperatures making it stiffer and warmer temperatures making it softer.</p>
<p>Temperature and humidity also play a role in the physical properties of air, altering its density and viscosity.</p>
<p>Rain will also directly affect drag as, in a sense, it affects the texture of the ball’s surface as felt by the air.</p>
<p>But that won’t be an issue in Las Vegas on Feb. 11 for the Super Bowl game, since Allegiant Stadium is covered.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222853/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Giuseppe Di Labbio ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>A football’s dimensions, pressure and texture affect its aerodynamics, i.e. the forces exerted by the air on the ball as it flies.Giuseppe Di Labbio, Professeur adjoint, École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2220552024-02-08T21:17:53Z2024-02-08T21:17:53ZThe war in Gaza is wiping out Palestine’s education and knowledge systems<p>Gaza’s education system has suffered significantly since Israel’s bombardment and assault on the strip began. Last month, Israel <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68023080">blew up</a> Gaza’s last standing university, Al-Israa University.</p>
<p>In the past four months, all or parts of Gaza’s <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/24/how-israel-has-destroyed-gazas-schools-and-universities#:%7E:text=Palestinian%20news%20agency%20Wafa%20reported,university%20in%20Gaza%20in%20stages.">12 universities</a> have been bombed and mostly destroyed. </p>
<p>Approximately <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-102-enarhe">378 schools</a> have been destroyed or damaged. The Palestinian Ministry of Education has reported the deaths of over <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/151126/file/State-of-Palestine-Humanitarian-Situation-Report-No.15-(Escalation)-17-January-2024.pdf">4,327 students, 231 teachers</a> and <a href="https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6108/Israel-kills-dozens-of-academics,-destroys-every-university-in-the-Gaza-Strip">94 professors.</a></p>
<p>Numerous <a href="https://librarianswithpalestine.org/gaza-report-2024/?fbclid=IwAR1VqwE8t9HEb46IFQDPJhl8ZFReHyyzgCAXjPfMPIGoThfbSXBEsy-Trog">cultural heritage sites</a>, including libraries, archives and museums, have also been destroyed, damaged and plundered.</p>
<p>But the assault on Palestinian educational and cultural institutions did not begin in response to the Oct. 7 attack. Israel has a long record of <a href="https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/430540">targeted attacks</a> on Palestinian institutions that produce knowledge and culture. That history includes targeting and <a href="https://yam.ps/page-11801-en.html">assassinating</a> Palestinian intellectuals, <a href="https://www.aaiusa.org/library/i-knew-ghassan-kanafani">cultural producers</a> and political figures. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4cY6H8n0zf0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A video clip shared by ‘The New Arab,’ showing the destruction at Al-Israa University in the Gaza Strip.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What is scholasticide?</h2>
<p>The destruction of education systems and buildings is known as “scholasticide,” a term first coined by Oxford professor Karma Nabulsi during the 2008-2009 Israeli assault on Gaza. Scholasticide describes <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/10/gaza-schools">the systemic destruction of Palestinian education</a> within the context of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0377919X.2021.1909376">Israel’s decades-long settler colonization and occupation of Palestine</a>.</p>
<p>Recently, a group of scholars working under the name <a href="https://scholarsagainstwar.org/toolkit/">Scholars Against the War on Palestine</a> broadened the definition to include a more comprehensive picture of what is happening during the current war. They outline the intimate relationship between <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/how-israels-scholasticide-denies-palestinians-their-past-present-and-future/article_8f52d77a-b648-11ee-863d-f3411121907b.html">scholasticide and genocide</a>.</p>
<p>They say scholasticide includes the intentional <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/14/a-cultural-genocide-which-of-gazas-heritage-sites-have-been-destroyed">destruction of cultural heritage</a>: archives, libraries and museums. Scholasticide includes killing, causing bodily or mental harm, incarcerating, or systematically harassing educators, students and administrators. It includes besieging, closing or obstructing access to educational institutions. It can also include using universities or schools as a military base (as was done with <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68023080">Al-Israa University</a>).</p>
<p>The magnitude of destruction has led them <a href="https://scholarsagainstwar.org/toolkit/">to conclude:</a> “Israeli colonial policy in Gaza has now shifted from a focus on systematic destruction to total annihilation of education.”</p>
<p>As genocide scholar Douglas Irvin-Erickson says: the original definition of genocide as first drafted by <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781351214100-2/rapha%C3%ABl-lemkin-douglas-irvin-erickson">Raphael Lemkin in 1943</a> included the idea that “attacking a culture was a way of committing genocide, and not a different type of genocide.” </p>
<h2>The International Court of Justice</h2>
<p>During the recent genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), South Africa argued that <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20231228-app-01-00-en.pdf">Palestinian academics were being intentionally assassinated</a>.</p>
<p>Legal representative for South Africa, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f_yoal4gx8">told the court</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Almost 90,000 Palestinian university students cannot attend university in Gaza. Over 60 per cent of schools, almost all universities and countless bookshops and libraries have been damaged and destroyed. Hundreds of teachers and academics have been killed, including deans of universities and leading Palestinian scholars. Obliterating the very future prospects of the future education of Gaza’s children and young people.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240126-sum-01-00-en.pdf">On Jan. 26, in a landmark ruling, the ICJ</a> ordered Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza.</p>
<h2>Attempting to eliminate Palestinian futures</h2>
<p>Scholasticide is not an event. It’s part of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0377919X.2021.1975478">colonial continuum</a> of attacking and destroying a people’s educational life, knowledge systems and plundering material culture and cultural heritage.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/jps.2017.46.4.75">targeted killing of the educated class</a> is intended to make it difficult for Palestinians to restore the political and socio-economic conditions needed to survive and rebuild Gaza.</p>
<p>This systematic destruction is at the core of the settler colonial “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14623520601056240">logic of elimination</a>.” It has also been applied to Indigenous Peoples in Canada, the United States and elsewhere. This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2201473X.2012.10648833">logic</a> drives a settler population to replace Indigenous peoples in their aim to establish a new society. </p>
<p>For example, this logic was exercised <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/palestine-nakba-9781848139718/">during the 1948 Nakba</a>. Thousands of <a href="https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/78440">Palestinian books</a>, manuscripts, libraries, archives, photographs, cultural artifacts and cultural property <a href="https://journal.radicallibrarianship.org/index.php/journal/article/view/54">were looted, destroyed or damaged</a> by Zionist militias. In 1948, <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Ethnic-Cleansing-of-Palestine/Ilan-Pappe/9781851685554">Palestinian schools were destroyed or damaged</a> or later appropriated for use by the new Israeli state. </p>
<h2>Resistance: Palestinian history and culture</h2>
<p>Despite the ongoing attempts to erase Palestinian history, culture and memory, Palestinians have found ways to resist their erasure. In the 1960s and ‘70s, <a href="https://palestinianstudies.org/workshops/2023/palestinian-revolutionary-tradition-and-global-anti-colonialism">an anti-colonial revolutionary tradition</a>, produced and influenced by intellectual and political thought, was strengthened. </p>
<p>It helped to create <a href="https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1650753">infrastructures</a> for the survival, mobilization and development of the Palestinian people and their national movement. It cultivated transnational relationships of solidarity. It helped displaced Palestinians, separated across geographies, to preserve their identity and reorganize themselves politically.</p>
<p>The intellectual and political thought of this period was <a href="https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/28899">passed onto</a> the generations that followed. It influenced educational and political programs, cultural development and practices of resistance. Especially during the First Intifada from 1987-1993. This enabled Palestinians to stay steadfast in their struggle against colonial violence across time and space. Palestinian education and culture form <a href="https://www.newarab.com/analysis/israels-archaeological-war-palestinian-cultural-heritage">the backbone</a> of the right to self-determination. This is why Israel frequently targets Palestinian education and culture. </p>
<p>Palestinians have endured <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v32/n20/karma-nabulsi/diary">several periods of intense attacks</a> on their cultural and educational life. This includes the June 1967 war, Israel’s 1982 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jan/06/israel7">invasion of Lebanon during which a number of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s institutions were destroyed</a> and the First and Second Intifadas.</p>
<p>Following Israel’s destruction of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44746845">the Palestine Research Center in Lebanon in 1982</a>, Palestinian poet <a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/palestinian-identity/">Mahmoud Darwish said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“He who steals land does not surprise us by stealing a library. He who kills thousands of innocent civilians does not surprise us by killing paintings.” </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A man in glasses wears a suit and tie" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574465/original/file-20240208-16-vtx98z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574465/original/file-20240208-16-vtx98z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574465/original/file-20240208-16-vtx98z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574465/original/file-20240208-16-vtx98z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574465/original/file-20240208-16-vtx98z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574465/original/file-20240208-16-vtx98z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574465/original/file-20240208-16-vtx98z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote about everyday grief. (Photo is from 1980)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Syrian News Agency/Al Sabah)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.2022.2114778">colonial theft</a> continues unabashed. Cultural heritage has been <a href="https://librarianswithpalestine.org/gaza-report-2024/?fbclid=IwAR2QpiHfxSB6939yfyipOLY6zVYTED_rQN7JVxTq33UCinF_-3U1xNuQFzE">annihilated, damaged or plundered</a> in this war. During the bombing of Al-Israa University in January, Israel also targeted the National Museum. Licensed by the Ministry of Antiquities, the museum housed over <a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-obliterates-gazas-last-university-amid-boycott-calls">3,000 rare artifacts, which were looted</a>. </p>
<p>Most academic institutions around the world remain silent about Israel’s scholasticide. But others are speaking out. Globally, this includes <a href="https://lithub.com/israel-has-damaged-or-destroyed-at-least-13-libraries-in-gaza/">Librarians and Archivists with Palestine</a> and some <a href="https://www.brismes.ac.uk/news/destruction-of-palestinian-education-system">academic associations</a> and faculty groups. The ICJ’s recent order to Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza may motivate other scholars and institutions to consider breaking their silence on scholasticide.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222055/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chandni Desai does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Scholars say Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s schools, universities and museums are part of an ongoing project to destroy Palestinian people, identity and ideas.Chandni Desai, Assistant professor, Education, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2203172023-12-22T18:38:28Z2023-12-22T18:38:28ZLift your spirits with our musical playlist: Don’t Call Me Resilient’s year in review<p>It’s been quite a year. The last few months especially have been particularly heavy for just about everyone. Amid the intensity of it all, my team and I on the <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> podcast produced another two seasons — in our new, newsier format. </p>
<p>Individually, each episode stands as an intimate exploration of some of the most pressing issues of our time. Collectively, our <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/">back catalogue</a> serves as a library of critical conversations around systemic racism that can be revisited as similar issues continue to unfold in the world.</p>
<iframe height="480px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/fb609e39-d729-4a54-860a-8a411be157ae?dark=true&show=true"></iframe>
<p>Each week, we also worked towards creating a new type of newsroom culture — one that centres the need for compassion internally, but also one that asks both journalist and listener: what can we do to help make change? </p>
<p>This season has been our most successful yet. With the number of downloads we now get, <a href="https://www.thepodcasthost.com/planning/whats-a-good-number-of-downloads-for-a-podcast/">we are among the world’s top five per cent of podcasts</a> and we even made it to <a href="https://chartable.com/charts/itunes/ca-news-commentary-podcasts">Apple Podcasts’ chart for top News Commentary in Canada</a>.</p>
<p>And we covered a wide range of topics. We looked at how <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-brown-and-black-people-supporting-the-far-right-214800">right-wing nationalist values are growing among Black and brown candidates in the Republican party</a> as well as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-school-aged-boys-so-attracted-to-hateful-ideologies-218700">school-aged boys in Canada</a>. We also tackled pressing socio-economic issues, like <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-corporate-landlords-are-eroding-affordable-housing-and-prioritizing-profits-over-human-rights-215582">the erosion of affordable housing</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/dear-politicians-to-solve-our-food-bank-crisis-curb-corporate-greed-and-implement-a-basic-income-219086">our crisis of food insecurity</a>. We spoke to Indigenous scholars about <a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-the-search-for-the-unmarked-graves-of-children-lost-to-indian-residential-schools-214437">the ongoing search for the unmarked graves of children lost to Indian Residential Schools</a>, as well as the headline-making <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-journalists-tell-buffy-sainte-maries-story-matters-explained-by-a-60s-scoop-survivor-216805">exposé questioning the Indigenous roots of music legend Buffy Sainte-Marie</a>. </p>
<p>Our most listened-to episodes, those replayed and used to help communities delve into challenging conversations, were those in which we attempted to add meaningful perspectives to the ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel. We spoke to two scholars with both expertise and personal ties to the region <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/why-the-israel-gaza-conflict-is-so-hard-to-talk-about">to understand why the conflict is so hard to talk about</a>. We also sought to understand <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/palestine-was-never-a-land-without-people">the long history of Palestinian ties to the land.</a></p>
<p>Our efforts, of course, would have been impossible without the brilliant scholars and guests who joined us each week — not to mention our listeners, who have now been with us through more than 50 episodes!</p>
<p>As we head into the New Year, we are sharing our <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6tzGPnRhkAFXeccciOFJdf?si=d20060c289664c63"><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> playlist</a>. It’s a collection of songs on the theme of resilience, reflection and revolution, inspired by the topics we cover and co-created by our production team and podcast guests from this season and beyond.</p>
<p>Collectively, these are songs that help get us through tough moments, and light us up when we’re depleted. We hope you’ll enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed putting it together; and we hope it might bring you some strength and solidarity, or maybe even a little joy as we head into 2024. </p>
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/6tzGPnRhkAFXeccciOFJdf?utm_source=generator&theme=0" width="100%" height="352" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220317/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Our playlist is a collection of songs on the theme of resilience, reflection and revolution, inspired by the topics we cover on our Don’t Call Me Resilient podcast.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2193422023-12-07T14:13:10Z2023-12-07T14:13:10ZApartheid in Namibia: why human rights and women are celebrated on the same day<p>10 December is worldwide commemorated as <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/human-rights-day">Human Rights Day</a>. It marks the anniversary of the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights">UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a> adopted on that day in 1948. Many countries and organisations acknowledge this as a significant marker.</p>
<p>It created a lasting, normative framework defining fundamental human rights. UN Member States, while in constant violation, have all ratified the principles. They remain a moral and ethical compass demanding recognition and respect. </p>
<p>In Namibia, the day is marked as both International Human Rights Day <a href="https://namibia.unfpa.org/en/news/commemoration-international-human-rights-day-namibian-womens-day">as well as Namibian Women’s Day</a>. The reason for this is that it marks an event that stands out in Namibian history as a reminder of human rights abuses in the past, as well as the significant role played by women in the struggle for the restoration of these rights. </p>
<p>An indiscriminate shooting by police took place on this date in <a href="https://www.namibiadigitalrepository.com/files/original/f1626d4c5966b3ae6527015e129afa71.pdf">1959</a>. Thirteen unarmed demonstrators were killed, among them one woman. More than 40 were wounded as they resisted their forced removal from an area known as the Old Location. </p>
<p>The events became a reference point for the national liberation movement, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/SWAPO-Party-of-Namibia">South West African Peoples Organisation</a>, which was formed in 1960 in response to the event. The actions of the demonstrators acted as a midwife to the organised anti-colonial liberation struggle that went on to gain new momentum, culminating in <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/namibian-struggle-independence-1966-1990-historical-background">independence in 1990</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/namibia-pulls-down-german-colonial-statue-after-protests-who-was-curt-von-francois-195334">Namibia pulls down German colonial statue after protests – who was Curt von François?</a>
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<p>As diagnosed by the late South African historian <a href="https://www.baslerafrika.ch/projects/emmett-tony/">Tony Emmett</a> in his pioneering work on the formation of national resistance in Namibia:</p>
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<p>The authorities’ attempts to move residents of the old location to a new township and the resistance they met represent a significant point in the political history of Namibia. … it transcended parochial issues and united a broad cross-section of groups and classes in a confrontation with the colonial state.</p>
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<h1>The Old Location</h1>
<p>My research has included life in the <a href="https://www.baslerafrika.ch/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2016_3_Melber.pdf">Old Location</a>, its <a href="https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/jch/article/view/5037/4005">history</a> and the <a href="https://upjournals.up.ac.za/index.php/historia/article/view/3827/3915">forced removal</a>. </p>
<p>Since the early 20th century, the Location was the biggest Black urban settlement in Namibia. A former German colony since 1884, the territory then called South West Africa was in 1918 transferred as a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/mandate-League-of-Nations">League of Nation mandate</a> to South Africa. Administered like a fifth province, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/apartheid">apartheid policies</a> institutionalised as “separate development” since the late 1940s, was also transferred to the adjacent country.</p>
<p>The Location was in walking distance to Windhoek’s town centre. Only a riverbed separated it from the suburb set aside for white people. Residents in the Location paid a fee for the area they occupied even though the constructions built for accommodation were their private ownership.</p>
<p>In line with apartheid policy, a decision was taken to move the people from the Location. Residents there were from a variety of indigenous communities in the country. Despite different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, they lived in peaceful cohabitation. </p>
<p>To remove them from the direct vicinity to the “White” city, a new township <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Katutura-place-where-not-stay/dp/B0006W2U1Y">Katutura</a> was created. It was separated by a buffer zone several kilometres apart from the city. It also divided the residents through ethnically (“tribally”) classified, strictly policed separate living quarters. </p>
<p>The houses there remained property of the administration, for which higher rents had to be paid. People of mixed descent, classified as so-called <a href="https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/c0a95c41-a983-49fc-ac1f-7720d607340d/628130.pdf">“Coloureds”</a> were until then living in the Location. They were now forced to relocate to another separate suburb <a href="https://memim.com/khomasdal.html">Khomasdal</a>. </p>
<p>Hardly anyone living in the Main Location volunteered to move. Instead, as of late 1959, women initiated a boycott of services.</p>
<p>Following weeks of campaigns, a meeting with White officials took place in the Location on 10 December. Stones were thrown, and the police opened fire. The sheer brute force executed to break resistance marked the end of the Location.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/namibia-and-south-africas-ruling-parties-share-a-heroic-history-but-their-2024-electoral-prospects-look-weak-204818">Namibia and South Africa's ruling parties share a heroic history - but their 2024 electoral prospects look weak</a>
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<p>As from 1960, people were moved to Katutura and Khomasdal. Their homes in the Location were bulldozed to the ground. It was officially closed in 1968, with no traces of its existence left.</p>
<p>Extensions to Katutura since then turned it into the biggest settlement in Namibia. The area of the former Location has been turned into <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02589001.2022.2081671">middle class suburbia</a>.</p>
<h1>Remembering</h1>
<p>Anna “Kakurukaze” Mungunda became <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nbcContenthub/videos/in-this-short-history-video-you-will-learn-about-anna-mungunda-also-known-as-kak/2019517574914081/">the most widely acknowledged face of the resistance</a>. </p>
<p>Narratives differ as regards her role. She was not a prominent resident before and had no involvement in the organised resistance. But police killed her when she was supposedly setting the car of one of the White officials on fire.</p>
<p>As the only woman killed, Mungunda is paid recognition and respect by a <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/150256637/anna-mungunda">tombstone</a> erected at the Windhoek Heroes Acre, inaugurated in 2002.</p>
<p>There is also an ongoing fight in Germany to get a street in Berlin named after her. The idea is to rename some of the colonial street names in the <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2019/october/in-the-afrikanisches-viertel">“African Quarter” (Afrikanisches Viertel)</a>. In particular, efforts are under way to change the Petersallee into <a href="https://taz.de/Dekolonisierung-von-Strassennamen/!5899594/">Anna-Mungunda-Allee</a>. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/454592">Peters</a> was a notorious colonial perpetrator in imperial Germany.</p>
<p>Implementation is on hold due to a legal intervention by some of the residents.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/namibia-and-angolas-remote-ovahimba-mountains-reveal-a-haven-for-unique-plants-new-survey-213884">Namibia and Angola’s remote Ovahimba mountains reveal a haven for unique plants – new survey</a>
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<p>In Windhoek, parts of the neglected and dilapidated Location cemetery have been <a href="https://pickingupthetabb.wordpress.com/2019/12/01/windhoek-remembering-the-old-location-massacre/">restored and upgraded</a> to a memorial site and turned into an Old Location Cemetery Museum. It is a venue for commemoration and on the <a href="https://www.windhoekcc.org.na/tour_attractions.php">list of local tourist attractions</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/he-dr-zedekia-j-ngavirue-dphil-politics-1967">Zedekia Ngavirue</a> was employed as social worker in the Location in 1959/60. Politically active in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/South-West-Africa-National-Union">South West Africa National Union</a> he founded and co-edited the first African newspaper “South West News”. Its nine issues have been reproduced <a href="https://www.baslerafrika.ch/a-glance-at-our-africa/">in a compilation</a> and are a treasure trove documenting discussion of the time.</p>
<p>In his introduction to the collection, “Dr Zed” (as he was later fondly called) might have captured the spirit of these days best:</p>
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<p>It was, indeed, when we owned little that we were prepared to make the greatest sacrifices.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henning Melber is a member of Swapo since 1974. </span></em></p>Anna “Kakurukaze” Mungunda became the most widely acknowledged face of the resistance to the apartheid policy of forced removal.Henning Melber, Extraordinary Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2168062023-12-05T13:17:38Z2023-12-05T13:17:38ZScientists have been researching superconductors for over a century, but they have yet to find one that works at room temperature − 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560888/original/file-20231121-15-k3mvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C8%2C1417%2C2095&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The search for the room-temperature superconductor continues. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/superconductivity-royalty-free-image/521405206?phrase=superconductor&adppopup=true">Charles O'Rear/Corbis Documentary via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you hadn’t heard about superconductors before 2023, odds are you know what they are now. Researchers raised eyebrows early in the year with <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/short-spectacular-life-viral-room-temperature-superconductivity-claim">claims of operational room-temperature superconductors</a>, though none has been substantiated, and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05742-0">one paper</a> from researchers at the University of Rochester was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06774-2">retracted by the journal Nature</a> at the authors’ request in November. </p>
<p>But the hunt <a href="https://www.energy.gov/science/doe-explainssuperconductivity">for a superconductor</a> – that is, a material that can conduct electricity without resistance – that can operate at room temperature is nothing new. </p>
<p>Right now, superconductors can operate only at very cold temperatures. So, finding one that could work at room temperature without needing to be kept in a cold chamber could revolutionize everything <a href="https://theconversation.com/physicists-hunt-for-room-temperature-superconductors-that-could-revolutionize-the-worlds-energy-system-80707">from power grids</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/room-temperature-superconductors-could-revolutionize-electronics-an-electrical-engineer-explains-the-materials-potential-201849">medical equipment</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/room-temperature-superconductors-could-revolutionize-electronics-an-electrical-engineer-explains-the-materials-potential-201849">quantum computing</a>. But physicists first have to figure out how to make them work. </p>
<p>A Dutch physicist <a href="https://theconversation.com/superconductivity-at-room-temperature-remains-elusive-a-century-after-a-nobel-went-to-the-scientist-who-demonstrated-it-below-450-degrees-fahrenheit-213959">discovered the phenomenon of superconductivity</a> in the early 20th century, and since then, labs around the world have tested materials that can reach a superconductive state at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.50.4260">warmer and warmer temperatures</a>. </p>
<p>So, how do these materials manage to conduct electricity without resistance, and what sorts of technological possibilities lie on the horizon, with superconductor research improving every year? Here are three stories from The Conversation’s archive that explore the history, science and future of this incredible physical phenomenon. </p>
<h2>1. Physics behind the phenomenon</h2>
<p>How is it even possible to generate a current with zero electrical resistance, the basis for superconductivity? In order to do so, you must <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.108.1175">keep your conducting metal cold</a>. Really cold. Like, hundreds of degrees below zero. </p>
<p>“At normal temperatures, electrons move in somewhat erratic paths. They can generally succeed in moving through a wire freely, but every once in a while they collide with the nuclei of the material,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-superconductors-work-a-physicist-explains-what-it-means-to-have-resistance-free-electricity-202308">wrote Mishkat Bhattacharya</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5gCcMuMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">a physicist at</a> Rochester Institute of Technology. “These collisions are what obstruct the flow of electrons, cause resistance and heat up the material.”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Superconductive materials repel magnetic fields, making it possible to levitate a magnet above a superconductor.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Normally, the nuclei of all atoms vibrate constantly, and they can bump into each other. In superconducting materials, the electrons in the current pass from atom to atom while vibrating at the same frequency as the nuclei of the atoms in the superconducting metal. This means that instead of colliding and generating heat, they’re moving in a <a href="https://www.energy.gov/science/bes/articles/electrons-line-dance-superconductor">smooth and coordinated way</a>. And it’s the cold temperatures that allow for this coordinated movement. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-superconductors-work-a-physicist-explains-what-it-means-to-have-resistance-free-electricity-202308">How do superconductors work? A physicist explains what it means to have resistance-free electricity</a>
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<h2>2. A century of superconductivity</h2>
<p>Mercury was the first material <a href="https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3490499">discovered as a superconducter</a>, by <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1913/onnes/facts/">Heike Kamerlingh Onnes</a> in 1911. His team had to cool liquid helium to -454 degrees Fahrenheit (-270 degrees Celsius) to observe the effect. They used wires made of mercury to send a current through the material, and then measured the effect of electrical resistance as “near enough null.” </p>
<p>Onnes and his team repeated the experiment several times to make sure the effect they’d observed was, in fact, superconductivity, and they also troubleshot all other possible explanations for the effect – electrical faults, open currents and so on. But they kept finding the same result, and after three years of testing, Onnes was able to demonstrate currents with truly zero resistance. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549876/original/file-20230924-17-dcurwt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graph with the resistence of Mercury on the y axis and temperature on the x axis, showing a sharp drop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549876/original/file-20230924-17-dcurwt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549876/original/file-20230924-17-dcurwt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549876/original/file-20230924-17-dcurwt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549876/original/file-20230924-17-dcurwt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549876/original/file-20230924-17-dcurwt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549876/original/file-20230924-17-dcurwt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549876/original/file-20230924-17-dcurwt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The resistance of mercury as recorded on Oct. 26, 1911, by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes’ lab.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Superconductivity_1911.png">Heike Kamerlingh Onnes via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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<p>“Superconductivity has always been tricky to prove because some metals can masquerade as superconductors,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/superconductivity-at-room-temperature-remains-elusive-a-century-after-a-nobel-went-to-the-scientist-who-demonstrated-it-below-450-degrees-fahrenheit-213959">wrote David D. Nolte</a>, <a href="https://galileo-unbound.blog/books-by-d-d-nolte/">an author of history of science books and a physicist at Purdue</a>. “The lessons learned by Onnes a century ago – that these discoveries require time, patience and, most importantly, proof of currents that never stop – are still relevant today.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/superconductivity-at-room-temperature-remains-elusive-a-century-after-a-nobel-went-to-the-scientist-who-demonstrated-it-below-450-degrees-fahrenheit-213959">Superconductivity at room temperature remains elusive a century after a Nobel went to the scientist who demonstrated it below -450 degrees Fahrenheit</a>
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<h2>3. A superconductive future</h2>
<p>One of the most important applications of a future room-temperature superconductor would be decreasing the heat wasted from electronics. Not only could electronics like cellphones and computers run much <a href="https://theconversation.com/physicists-hunt-for-room-temperature-superconductors-that-could-revolutionize-the-worlds-energy-system-80707">more quickly and efficiently</a>, but on a larger scale, electric grids, power lines and data centers could decrease <a href="https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=105&t=3">their wasted heat</a>. This could be a huge win for the environment. </p>
<p>“If we succeed in making a room-temperature superconductor, then we can address the billions of dollars that it costs in wasted heat to transmit energy from power plants to cities,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/physicists-hunt-for-room-temperature-superconductors-that-could-revolutionize-the-worlds-energy-system-80707">wrote Pegor Aynajian</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=B_5QhO4AAAAJ&hl=en">a physicist at</a> Binghamton University, State University of New York. “Solar energy harvested in the vast empty deserts around the world could be stored and transmitted without any loss of energy, which could power cities and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”</p>
<p>A type of superconductor made from a ceramiclike material <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1987/summary/">discovered by scientists</a> at <a href="https://www.zurich.ibm.com/">IBM in Switzerland</a> could be one path to a room-temperature superconductor. Already, this class of materials has been shown to <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/high-temperature-superconductivity-understood-at-last-20220921/">work at higher – though still frigid – temperatures</a>, closer to -300 F (-184 C) than conventional superconductors like Onnes’ original mercury wires. </p>
<p>But while a room-temperature superconductor could revolutionize electronics and energy transmission, the right material still remains elusive. As Aynajian puts it, a room-temperature superconductor is quite literally “the next million-dollar question.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/physicists-hunt-for-room-temperature-superconductors-that-could-revolutionize-the-worlds-energy-system-80707">Physicists hunt for room-temperature superconductors that could revolutionize the world's energy system</a>
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<p><em>This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216806/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Claims about the discovery of a coveted room-temperature superconductor peppered the news in 2023. We pulled three stories from our archives on what superconductivity is and why scientists study it.Mary Magnuson, Assistant Science EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2103372023-08-29T12:26:16Z2023-08-29T12:26:16ZHow individual, ordinary Jews fought Nazi persecution − a new view of history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541736/original/file-20230808-20-mx7iby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=28%2C17%2C3815%2C2489&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lizi Rosenfeld, a Jewish woman, sits on a park bench bearing a sign that reads, 'Only for Aryans,' in August 1938 in Vienna.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1102831">United States Holocaust Memorial Museum /Provenance: Leo Spitzer</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Nazi Germany, Hertha Reis, a 36-year-old Jewish woman, performed forced labor for a private company in Berlin during World War II. In 1941, she was evicted by a judge from the two sublet rooms where she lived with her son and mother – <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/1419-ps.asp">she was unprotected as a tenant because of an anti-Jewish law</a>.</p>
<p>In plain daylight, in front of the courthouse in the heart of the Nazi capital, she protested in front of passersby.</p>
<p>“We lost everything. Because of this cursed government, we finally lost our home, too. This thug Hitler, this damned government, these damned people,” she said. “Just because we are Jews, we are discriminated against.”</p>
<p>Historians knew of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Holocaust/Jewish-resistance-to-the-Nazis">clandestine acts of resistance</a>, of course, and of armed group resistance, such as the <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/warsaw-ghetto-uprising">Warsaw ghetto uprising</a>. But in the dominant understanding of the Nazi period until now, the act of speaking out publicly as an individual against the persecution of Jews seemed unimaginable, especially for the Jews. </p>
<p>But in July 2008, I stumbled on the first trace of such public acts of resistance in the logbook of a Berlin police precinct, one of the few chronicles of its kind that had survived in the <a href="https://landesarchiv-berlin.de/en/the-landesarchiv-berlin">Berlin State Archive</a>.</p>
<p>The entry, bearing the label “political incident,” was written by a police officer who had arrested a Jewish man protesting against the Nazi anti-Jewish policies. At the time of the discovery, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aug_8D0AAAAJ&hl=en">I had studied the persecution of German Jews</a> intensively for almost 20 years, but I had never heard of anything like this.</p>
<p>Intrigued, I started investigating. Subsequently, finding more and more similar stories of resistance in court records and survivor testimonies began to shatter my established scholarly beliefs. </p>
<h2>Challenging traditional views of Jewish resistance</h2>
<p>Historians, including myself, had long painted a <a href="https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/156520">picture of passivity of the persecuted</a>. When discrimination in Nazi Germany gradually increased, the Jews slowly adapted, so went the argument. More generally, an assumption still exists today that defiance, especially individual protest, <a href="https://thechinaproject.com/2022/10/13/a-rare-protest-banner-hangs-off-a-bridge-in-beijing/">is rare in authoritarian regimes</a>.</p>
<p>The astonishing evidence from the Berlin police files resonated deeply with me on a personal level. I grew up behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany. The communist regime persecuted even mild expressions of individual opposition as threats. This personal experience of living in a dictatorship until the age of 28 provided me with a distinct sensitivity that enabled me to recognize day-to-day forms of resistance. </p>
<p>Knowing from history that the treatment of the political opposition in Nazi Germany was so much more brutal, how much more serious must the Hitler regime have perceived any signs of resistance coming from their No. 1 racial enemy, the Jews?</p>
<p>Still, today the public and many scholars understand Jewish resistance during the Holocaust mostly in terms of rare armed group activities in the Nazi occupied East, for example <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-resistance">ghetto uprisings or partisan attacks</a>. </p>
<p>By including individual acts and, thus, broadening the traditional definition of Jewish resistance, over a dozen years of systematic research I was able to unearth many new sources – from police and court records of various German cities to video testimonies of survivors – that documented a much greater volume and variety of resistance acts than could ever have been imagined. </p>
<p>The astonishing results change the view of Jewish resistance during World War II dramatically. The story of Hertha Reis and many other potent tales of individual defiance and courage contradict the common misconception that Jews were led like sheep to slaughter during the Holocaust.</p>
<h2>A 17-year-old challenges the Nazi regime</h2>
<p>Searching the <a href="https://landesarchiv.hessen.de/ueber-uns/hessisches-hauptstaatsarchiv-wiesbaden">Hesse Main State archive in Wiesbaden</a>, I found the story of Hans Oppenheimer. He left his four-story apartment house every night for weeks in 1940, breaking the curfew for Jews. Not a single light illuminated the street in front of him. The city of Frankfurt had ordered a brownout to protect it from Allied air raids. </p>
<p>A few blocks away from his home, Hans hid in a doorway. With the entire city, Hans waited anxiously for the bombs to fall.</p>
<p>Persecuted because he was Jewish, as a 17-year-old, Hans had already toiled as a forced laborer for a year and a half, most recently unloading stones and cement bags from river barges for 10 hours every day. He earned only pennies and felt constantly harassed.</p>
<p>Hans had never been to a movie or a play, because those were prohibited for Jews in Frankfurt. As a Jewish adolescent, he saw no future in Nazi Germany. Because the war prevented him from leaving, he had decided to do something.</p>
<p>Every night, he waited in the dark, anxious and excited. When the sirens started to blare, announcing that the Allied bombers were closing in, Hans set off fire alarms to divert the German firefighters from the actual bombing sites. In December 1940, after he had set off dozens of false alarms, the police finally manage to catch Hans red-handed.</p>
<p>The Frankfurt prosecutor indicted Hans Oppenheimer and put him on trial. Since the court could not prove treason, the now 18-year-old received only three years in prison for sabotaging the war effort. </p>
<p>Incarcerated and isolated, Hans suffered from severe depression and physical debilitation. When the prison officials did not respond to his repeated complaints, the young man attempted to take his own life twice. At the end of 1942, the Gestapo deported all Jewish prison inmates from Germany to Auschwitz. Hans Oppenheimer did not survive there for long, because of his weakened state. He died on Jan. 30, 1943, just days after he had turned 20 years old.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Ingrid Frank tells how her uncle, Fritz Josefsthal, beat the editor of the Nazi newspaper ‘Der Stürmer’ with his whip after it published an antisemitic obituary of his father.</span></figcaption>
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<p></p>
<h2>A new history of Jewish resistance</h2>
<p>Forgotten until now, between 1933 and 1945 hundreds and hundreds of Jewish women and men performed individual acts of resistance in Nazi Germany proper. I present many of their stories in my new book, “<a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300267198/resisters/">Resisters. How Ordinary Jews Fought Persecution in Hitler’s Germany</a>.” </p>
<p>They destroyed Nazi symbols, protested in public against the persecution, disobeyed Nazi laws and local restrictions and defended themselves from verbal insults as well as physical attacks.</p>
<p>Amazingly, Jews of all ages, educational backgrounds and professions resisted in many ways. Some did it repeatedly, others just once. The fact that so many Germans and Austrians individually resisted the Nazis and their policies obliterates the common misconception of the passivity of the persecuted Jews. </p>
<p>Instead, such widespread individual acts of resistance during World War II provide a new view of history: that Jews showed agency in fighting their persecution by the Nazis. And this, in turn, demonstrates that individual resistance is possible under even the worst genocidal circumstances.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210337/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wolf Gruner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Finding the stories of individual Jews who fought the Nazis publicly and at great peril helped a scholar see history differently: that Jews were not passive. Instead, they actively fought the Nazis.Wolf Gruner, Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor of History; Founding Director, USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2106222023-08-18T12:39:21Z2023-08-18T12:39:21ZMemes about animal resistance are everywhere — here’s why you shouldn’t laugh off rebellious orcas and sea otters too quickly<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543322/original/file-20230817-27-rb0yah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=299%2C221%2C3598%2C2428&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's tempting to envision orcas attacking yachts as the forward troops in an animal uprising.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/killer-whale-family-with-yacht-royalty-free-image/1425229306?adppopup=true">Jackson Roberts/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://cheezburger.com/21059333/orca-gangs-are-attacking-yachts-and-the-memes-are-killer">Memes galore</a> centered on the “orca revolution” have inundated the online realm. They gleefully depict orcas launching <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/25/orcas-ramming-yachts-spanish-whale-behaviour-trauma-humans">attacks on boats in the Strait of Gibraltar</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/21/orca-rams-yacht-off-shetland-first-such-incident-northern-waters">off the Shetland coast</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1669051456085712907"}"></div></p>
<p>One particularly ingenious image showcases an orca posed as a sickle crossed with a hammer. The cheeky caption reads, “<a href="https://twitter.com/rhelune/status/1669051456085712907">Eat the rich</a>,” a nod to the orcas’ penchant for sinking lavish yachts.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/13/1187295769/otter-santa-cruz-surfboard-surfers-california">surfboard-snatching sea otter</a> in Santa Cruz, California has also claimed the media spotlight. Headlines dub her an “<a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2023-07-21/otter-841-essential-california-essential-california">adorable outlaw</a>” “<a href="https://www.today.com/video/otter-remains-at-large-after-series-of-surfboard-thefts-188563013674">at large</a>.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543052/original/file-20230816-27-mcay7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="black and white image of otter wearing beret next to text 'Accept our existence or expect resistance ... an otter world is possible – Otter 841'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543052/original/file-20230816-27-mcay7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543052/original/file-20230816-27-mcay7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543052/original/file-20230816-27-mcay7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543052/original/file-20230816-27-mcay7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543052/original/file-20230816-27-mcay7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543052/original/file-20230816-27-mcay7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543052/original/file-20230816-27-mcay7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Memes position the otter as a renegade revolutionary, modeled on Ché Guevara.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu7L_O4L0GC/">thesurfingotter via Instagram</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Memes conjure her in a beret like the one donned by socialist revolutionary Ché Guevara. In one caption, she proclaims, “<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu7L_O4L0GC/">Accept our existence or expect resistance</a> … an otter world is possible.”</p>
<p><a href="https://literature.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/emeriti/aisfahanihammond.html">My scholarship</a> centers on animal-human relations through the prism of social justice. As I see it, public glee about wrecked surfboards and yachts hints at a certain flavor of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/schadenfreude">schadenfreude</a>. At a time marked by drastic socioeconomic disparities, white supremacy and environmental degradation, casting these marine mammals as revolutionaries seems like a projection of desires for social justice and habitable ecosystems.</p>
<p>A glimpse into the work of some political scientists, philosophers and animal behavior researchers injects weightiness into this jocular public dialogue. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203797631">field of critical animal studies</a> analyzes structures of oppression and power and considers pathways to dismantling them. These scholars’ insights challenge the prevailing view of nonhuman animals as passive victims. They also oppose the widespread assumption that nonhuman animals can’t be political actors.</p>
<p>So while meme lovers project emotions and perspectives onto these particular wild animals, scholars of critical animal studies suggest that nonhuman animals do in fact engage in resistance. </p>
<h2>Nonhuman animal protest is everywhere</h2>
<p>Are nonhuman animals in a constant state of defiance? I’d answer, undoubtedly, that the answer is yes. </p>
<p>The entire architecture of animal agriculture <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/32110?language=en">attests to animals’ unyielding resistance</a> against confinement and death. Cages, corrals, pens and tanks would not exist were it not for animals’ tireless revolt. </p>
<p>Even when hung upside down on conveyor hangars, <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/32110?language=enthe">chickens furiously flap their wings and bite</a>, scratch, peck and defecate on line workers at every stage of the process leading to their deaths.</p>
<p>Until the end, hooked tuna resist, gasping and writhing fiercely on ships’ decks. Hooks, nets and snares would not be necessary <a href="https://doi.org/10.5130/csr.v22i1.4363">if fish allowed themselves to be passively harvested</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.1991.tb00213.x">If they consented to repeated impregnation</a>, female pigs and cows wouldn’t need to be tethered to “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmcwilliams/2013/10/25/milk-of-human-kindness-denied-to-dairy-cows/">rape racks</a>” to prevent them from struggling to get away. </p>
<p>If they didn’t mind having their <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo28907793.html">infants permanently taken from their sides</a>, dairy cows wouldn’t need to be blinded with hoods so they don’t bite and kick as the calves are removed; they wouldn’t bellow for weeks after each instance. I contend that failure to recognize their bellowing as protest reflects “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43154308">anthropodenial</a>” – what <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/ethology">ethologist</a> Frans de Waal calls the rejection of obvious continuities between human and nonhuman animal behavior, cognition and emotion.</p>
<p>The prevalent view of nonhuman animals remains that of René Descartes, the 17th-century philosopher who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199375967.003.0013">viewed animals’ actions as purely mechanical</a>, like those of a machine. From this viewpoint, one might dismiss these nonhuman animals’ will to prevail as unintentional or merely instinctual. But political scientist Dinesh Wadiwel argues that “even if their defiance is futile, the <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/32110?language=en">will to prefer life over death is a primary act of resistance</a>, perhaps the only act of dissent available to animals who are subject to extreme forms of control.”</p>
<h2>Creaturely escape artists</h2>
<p>Despite humans’ colossal efforts to repress them, nonhuman animals still manage to <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300192483/every-twelve-seconds/">escape from slaughterhouses</a>. They also break out <a href="https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2041628,00.html">of zoos</a>, circuses, aquatic parks, <a href="https://www.nj.com/union/2015/07/watch_21_horses_escape_watchung_stables_roam.html">stables</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/how-a-team-of-baboons-hitched-a-brilliant-plan-to-escape-a-research-lab-in-texas-texas-biomedical-testing-barrel">biomedical laboratories</a>. Tilikum, a captive orca at Sea World, <a href="https://www.akpress.org/fear-of-the-animal-planet-e-book.html">famously killed his trainer</a> – an act at least one marine mammal behaviorist <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2010/03/07/how-smart-are-killer-whales-and-can-they-decide-to-kill-a-person/">characterized as intentional</a>.</p>
<p>Philosopher Fahim Amir suggests that depression among captive animals is likewise a form of emotional rebellion against unbearable conditions, <a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/being-and-swine">a revolt of the nerves</a>. Dolphins engage in self-harm like thrashing against the tank’s walls or cease to eat and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/08/the-dolphin-who-loved-me">retain their breath until death</a>. Sows whose body-sized cages impede them from turning around to make contact with their piglets <a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/being-and-swine">repeatedly ram themselves</a> into the metal struts, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtu015">sometimes succumbing to their injuries</a>.</p>
<p>Critical animal studies scholars contend that all these actions arguably demonstrate nonhuman animals’ yearning for freedom and <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo6407651.html">their aversion</a> <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/9383/chimpanzee-politics">to inequity</a>.</p>
<p>As for the marine stars of summer 2023’s memes, fishing gear can <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/25/orcas-ramming-yachts-spanish-whale-behaviour-trauma-humans">entangle and harm orcas</a>. Sea otters were <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/sea-otter">hunted nearly to extinction for their fur</a>. <a href="https://oceanconservationtrust.org/ocean-advocacy/think-ocean/ways-to-think-ocean/">Marine habitats have been degraded</a> by human activities including overfishing, oil spills, plastic, chemical and sonic pollution, and climate change. It’s easy to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/25/orcas-ramming-yachts-spanish-whale-behaviour-trauma-humans">imagine they might be responding to human actions</a>, including bodily harm and interference with their turf.</p>
<h2>What is solidarity with nonhuman animals?</h2>
<p>Sharing memes that <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu-2mxcRkpz/">cheer on wild animals</a> is one thing. But there are more substantive ways to demonstrate solidarity with animals.</p>
<p>Legal scholars support nonhuman animals’ resistance by proposing that their current classification as property should be replaced with that of <a href="https://tupress.temple.edu/books/animals-property-and-the-law">personhood</a> or <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781487525873/animals-as-legal-beings/">beingness</a>.</p>
<p>Nonhuman animals including songbirds, dolphins, <a href="https://www.nonhumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/Happy-Brief.pdf">elephants</a>, horses, <a href="https://www.animallaw.info/case/suica-habeas-corpus">chimpanzees</a> and <a href="https://changingtimes.media/2017/08/03/habeas-corpus-victory-for-bear-in-colombia-encourages-animal-rights-lawyers/">bears</a> increasingly <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=4387696">appear as plaintiffs</a> alleging their subjection to extinction, abuse and other injustices.</p>
<p><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/zoopolis-9780199599660">Citizenship for nonhuman animals</a> is another pathway to social and political inclusion. It would guarantee the right to appeal arbitrary restrictions of domesticated nonhuman animals’ autonomy. It would also mandate legal duties to protect them from harm.</p>
<p>Everyday deeds can likewise convey solidarity.</p>
<p>Boycotting industries that oppress nonhuman animals by becoming vegan is a powerful action. It is a form of political “counter-conduct,” a term philosopher Michel Foucault uses to describe <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52120-0_7">practices that oppose dominant norms</a> of power and control.</p>
<p>Creating <a href="http://www.lawatsonart.com/the-roadside-memorial-project.html">roadside memorials for nonhuman animals</a> killed by motor vehicles encourages people to see them as beings whose lives and <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Economies-of-Death-Economic-logics-of-killable-life-and-grievable-death/Lopez-Gillespie/p/book/9780367599331">deaths matter</a>, <a href="https://www.amandastronza.com/passions#:%7E:text=I%20began%20creating%20memorials%2C%20not,seeds%2C%20weeds%2C%20and%20grasses">rather than mere “roadkill</a>.”</p>
<p>Political scientists recognize that human and nonhuman animals’ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107045392">struggles against oppression are intertwined</a>. At different moments, the <a href="https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/emisferica-101/10-1-dossier/akbar-stole-my-heart-coming-out-as-an-animalist.html">same strategies</a> leveraged against nonhuman animals have <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-trump-calls-someone-a-dog-hes-tapping-into-ugly-history-128589">cast segments of the human species as “less than human”</a> in order to exploit them.</p>
<p>The category of the human is <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo3622788.html">ever-shifting and ominously exclusive</a>. I argue that no one is safe as long as there is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/300203">classification of “animality.”</a> It confers <a href="https://english.elpais.com/society/2022-12-04/how-nazi-propaganda-dehumanized-jews-to-facilitate-the-holocaust.html">susceptibility to extravagant forms of violence</a>, legally and ethically condoned.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Otter 841 is the wild sea otter off Santa Cruz, California, who some observers suspect has had it with surfers in her turf.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Might an ‘otter world’ be possible?</h2>
<p>I believe quips about the marine mammal rebellion reflect awareness that our human interests are entwined with those of nonhuman animals. The desire to achieve sustainable relationships with other species and the natural world feels palpable to me within the memes and media coverage. And it’s happening as human-caused activity makes our shared habitats increasingly unlivable. </p>
<p>Solidarity with nonhuman animals is consistent with democratic principles – for instance, defending the right to well-being and opposing the <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/8481629">use of force against innocent subjects</a>. Philosopher Amir recommends extending the idea that there can be no freedom as long as there is still unfreedom beyond the species divide: “While we may not yet fully be able to picture what this may mean, <a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/being-and-swine">there is no reason we should not begin to imagine it</a>”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210622/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Isfahani-Hammond does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A few marine mammals in apparent revolt pushed meme-makers into overdrive. But a scholar who thinks about justice and human-animal relations suggests something deeper is behind the schadenfreude.Alexandra Isfahani-Hammond, Associate Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature, University of California, San DiegoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2062592023-06-01T15:37:24Z2023-06-01T15:37:24ZListen: Trans scholar and activist explains why trans rights are under attack<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/e2ecabe1-cf01-433c-bd7e-7aac7f1d241a?dark=true"></iframe>
<p>This year we’ve seen an aggressive push to implement anti-trans legislation across the United States. There are currently more than <a href="https://translegislation.com/">400 active anti-trans</a> bills across the country. </p>
<p>Some of the legislation <a href="https://time.com/6265755/gender-affirm-care-bans-u-s/">denies gender-affirming care to youth</a> – and criminalizes those health-care providers that attempt to do so. Other bills <a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-nonbinary-hormone-puberty-missouri-lawmakers-5a8922430ffab9e43cf9b7ce254bff9f#:%7E:text=Charlie%20Riedel%2C%20File">block trans students from participating in sports</a> and still others have banned books with trans content. </p>
<p>These bills have at least two things in common. They all aim to make being trans harder in an already hostile society and they are being spearheaded by the far-right. </p>
<p>Where does anti-trans sentiment come from? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black Lives Matter activists organize a sit-in at Yonge Street and College Street during the Trans Pride March, in Toronto, 2016. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Lima)</span>
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</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/transphobia-white-supremacy/">enforcement of a gender binary</a> likely has much to do with the preservation of white power. And, <a href="https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2022/5/20/through-line-critical-race-dont-say-gay-great-replacement">violence</a> against trans people continues as a result. </p>
<h2>Is Canada better?</h2>
<p>What do things look like in Canada? Are we a safe haven or are we following some of the same trends?</p>
<p>Recently, a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/us-transgender-asylum-petition-1.6779692">petition</a> signed by <a href="https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4268">over 160,000 people</a> asked the Canadian government to extend asylum to trans and gender non-conforming people from nations in the West, previously considered safe. </p>
<p>To get a better understanding of trans histories in Canada, <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/listen-to-an-american-canadian-trans-scholar-and-activist-explain-why-trans-rights-are-under-attack">we are joined by Syrus Marcus Ware</a>, an artist, activist and assistant professor at the School of the Arts at McMaster University. He is a co-curator of Blockorama/Blackness Yes! and a co-editor of <a href="https://uofrpress.ca/Books/U/Until-We-Are-Free"><em>Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada</em></a>.</p>
<p>We discuss the history of anti-trans and queer actions in Canada. We also speak about backlash and ways to move forward.</p>
<h2>Listen and Follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/listen-to-an-american-canadian-trans-scholar-and-activist-explain-why-trans-rights-are-under-attack">Don’t Call Me Resilient</a></em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. </p>
<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person with a rainbow on their shirt holds up a hand with a pointed finger and a sign in the other hand. They appear to be yelling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brenna Thompson protests this month against an abortion ban and restrictions on gender-affirming care for children in Lincoln, Neb.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Justin Wan/Lincoln Journal Star via AP/KOLN-TV OUT</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-3814961">All Power to All People? Black LGBTTI2QQ Activism, Remembrance, and Archiving in Toronto</a> (<em>Transgender Studies Quarterly</em>) by Syrus Marcus Ware </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/05/30/pride-flag-wont-fly-at-york-catholic-schools-after-board-votes-against-the-motion.html">‘A travesty’: Outrage swells over York Catholic board’s rejection of Pride flag</a> (<em>Toronto Star</em>) </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/10/05/supreme-court-cant-ignore-equality-rights-claims-of-refugees.html">Supreme Court can’t ignore equality rights claims of refugees</a> (<em>Toronto Star</em>) </p>
<p><a href="https://xtramagazine.com/power/toronto-bathhouse-raids-40-years-194590">Everything you need to know about the Toronto bathhouse raids</a> (<em>Xtra</em>) </p>
<p><a href="https://xtramagazine.com/power/what-the-national-inquiry-into-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-and-girls-means-for-two-spirit-canadians-158992">What the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls means for Two-Spirit people</a> (<em>Xtra</em>) </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-2009-015">Settler Homonationalism: Theorizing Settler Colonialism within Queer Modernities</a> (<em>Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies</em>) by Scott Lauria Morgensen </p>
<p><a href="https://blockorama.ca/">Blockorama/Blackness Yes!</a></p>
<h2>From the archives - in The Conversation</h2>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/transgender-hate-crimes-are-on-the-rise-even-in-canada-121541">Transgender hate crimes are on the rise even in Canada</a>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cuts-to-telehealth-in-ontario-mean-fewer-trans-and-non-binary-people-will-have-access-to-life-saving-health-care-198502">Cuts to telehealth in Ontario mean fewer trans and non-binary people will have access to life-saving health care</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-went-to-cpac-to-take-maga-supporters-pulse-china-and-transgender-people-are-among-the-top-demons-they-say-are-ruining-the-country-201442">I went to CPAC to take MAGA supporters' pulse – China and transgender people are among the top 'demons' they say are ruining the country</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/right-to-party-20-years-of-black-queer-love-and-resilience-80040">Right to party: 20 years of Black Queer love and resilience</a>
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</em>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206259/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
This year, there are more than 400 active anti-trans bills across the U.S. What do things look like in Canada? Are we a safe haven or are we following those same trends?Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientBoké Saisi, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1987222023-04-11T12:04:25Z2023-04-11T12:04:25ZDefying the Holocaust didn’t just mean uprising and revolt: Remembering Jews’ everyday resistance on Yom HaShoah and year-round<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519969/original/file-20230407-3779-73o8pm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C22%2C4995%2C3513&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Samuel Willenberg, the last survivor of the Treblinka uprising, poses for a picture at his art studio in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2010. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MideastIsraelHolocaust/761dbacc01df4c75ac290d2f73100256/photo?Query=samuel%20willenberg&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=21&currentItemNo=12">AP Photo/Oded Balilty</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Richard Glazar insisted that no one survived the Holocaust without help. To this Prague-born Jewish survivor, who endured Nazi imprisonment at Treblinka and <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/theresienstadt">Theresienstadt</a>, plus years in hiding, it was impossible to persevere without others’ support. Glazar conceded that some of his fellow Treblinka survivors were “loners,” but <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/164058/into-that-darkness-by-gitta-sereny/">he nevertheless believed</a> that they “survived because they were carried by someone, someone who cared for them as much, or almost as much as for themselves.”</p>
<p>Carrying someone else took many forms. For fellow Treblinka prisoner <a href="https://karentreiger.com/">Samuel Goldberg</a>, a Polish Jew born in a small town called Bagatelle, it was the moment the women of his work detail stood up to a guard to save Goldberg’s life. For <a href="https://nupress.northwestern.edu/9780810111691/trap-with-a-green-fence/">those around Glazar</a>, it was the times he brought them more to eat because his position as a fence builder gave him chances to buy food outside the camp. <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/744548519">Still more prisoners</a> benefited from a friend willing to literally hold them up during roll call so no guard would notice they were sick – a near-certain death sentence.</p>
<p>In a place meant to destroy all Jewish life, the smallest acts of support and comfort were resistance.</p>
<p>On Aug. 2, 1943, the Treblinka II extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland was the site of <a href="https://www.hmd.org.uk/resource/2-august-1943-uprising-of-prisoners-at-treblinka/">one of the most dramatic acts of armed rebellion</a> throughout the Shoah, as the Holocaust is called in Hebrew. Several hundred prisoners managed to escape, though most were recaptured and killed. Nonetheless, at least 70 people survived to recount what happened there. Without their actions, the camp might have continued to operate, and we would likely know next to nothing of its history. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://jewish.cofc.edu/documents/jewish-studies-faculty-and-staff-bios/chad-gibbs.php">years of research on this extermination camp</a>, I’ve come to place as much importance on the long trail of smaller acts as on the famous day itself. Long before the revolt, resistance was commonplace at Treblinka. It had to be. Here and elsewhere, prisoner revolt would have been impossible without those everyday acts of support that laid foundations for more.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519972/original/file-20230407-16-xh4te7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo shows a huge smoke cloud rising across a field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519972/original/file-20230407-16-xh4te7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519972/original/file-20230407-16-xh4te7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519972/original/file-20230407-16-xh4te7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519972/original/file-20230407-16-xh4te7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519972/original/file-20230407-16-xh4te7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519972/original/file-20230407-16-xh4te7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519972/original/file-20230407-16-xh4te7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A clandestine photograph of the burning death camp Treblinka II, taken by eyewitness Franciszek Ząbecki during the uprising on Aug. 2, 1943.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Treblinka_uprising_(Z%C4%85becki_1943).jpg">Franciszek Ząbecki/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Defiance and dignity</h2>
<p>Between July 1942 and November 1943, Nazi Germany killed as many as 925,000 people at <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/treblinka">Treblinka II</a>. The vast majority of these victims were Jews, though the regime also murdered several thousand Romani people there. </p>
<p>This terrible place was unlike most other Nazi camps in that its sole purpose was <a href="https://iupress.org/9780253025418/the-operation-reinhard-death-camps-revised-and-expanded-edition/">the destruction of life</a>. There were no slave labor industries or construction projects. The Jews responsible for the revolt were among the several hundred men and women kept alive to maintain facilities, sort the belongings of the dead, and dispose of the bodies. As <a href="https://www.aju.edu/faculty/michael-berenbaum">the historian Michael Berenbaum</a> put it, Treblinka was “<a href="https://www.kcet.org/shows/treblinkas-last-witness/episodes/treblinkas-last-witness">a factory whose end product was dead Jews</a>.” </p>
<p>In such a hell, life itself is resistance, but those held at Treblinka pushed back against Nazi designs for their destruction in every way possible. Early organized efforts took the form of escapes to warn other Jews. <a href="https://muzeumtreblinka.eu/en/informacje/krzepicki-abram-jakub/">Abraham Krzepicki</a>, for example, escaped Treblinka and went back to the Warsaw Ghetto to tell of what the camp really was – and later died there, fighting in <a href="https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/combat-resistance/warsaw-ghetto.html#narrative_info">the ghetto’s 1943 uprising</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519974/original/file-20230407-20-vejhd2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo shows women and children in coats walking beside cattle cars." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519974/original/file-20230407-20-vejhd2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519974/original/file-20230407-20-vejhd2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519974/original/file-20230407-20-vejhd2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519974/original/file-20230407-20-vejhd2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519974/original/file-20230407-20-vejhd2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519974/original/file-20230407-20-vejhd2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519974/original/file-20230407-20-vejhd2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deportation to Treblinka from the Jewish ghetto in Siedlce, Poland, in 1942.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Deportation_to_Treblinka_from_ghetto_in_Siedlce_1942.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These messengers of truth helped expose Nazi lies and give others the chance to try to go into hiding, fight or jump from trains. </p>
<p>Still, most people targeted by the Third Reich could not avoid transport to Treblinka or other camps even if they knew what awaited them there. For some, resistance was the way they carried themselves on the way to a certain death, such as saying prayers like <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-shema/">the Shema Yisrael</a>. Condemned for being Jewish, they steadfastly remained so to the end.</p>
<p>Samuel Willenberg, who was <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/rivlin-at-funeral-for-last-treblinka-revolt-survivor-samuel-willenberg-was-a-symbol-of-heroism-445734">the last survivor of the Treblinka revolt</a> when he died in 2016, remembered how a young woman named Ruth Dorfmann asked only if the gas would hurt, and calmly acted with such unshakable dignity that he felt compelled many years later to <a href="https://www.yadvashem.org/articles/interviews/willenberg.html">sculpt her final moments</a>.</p>
<h2>‘Choiceless choices’</h2>
<p>Court testimonies, oral histories, survivors’ memoirs and <a href="https://iupress.org/9780253025418/the-operation-reinhard-death-camps-revised-and-expanded-edition/">other sources</a> show that over months of concerted planning, Treblinka prisoners’ “Organizing Committee” laid the groundwork for the August rebellion by building a network of trusted men and women. Organizers found ways to place them in jobs that gave prisoner planners complete access to the camp. </p>
<p>That process was a winding and perilous road. Three earlier plans failed, and Nazi guards killed many Jews they suspected of resistance. It took at least eight months of concerted effort to finally <a href="https://iupress.org/9780253025418/the-operation-reinhard-death-camps-revised-and-expanded-edition/">pull off the revolt</a>.</p>
<p>Though resistance at Treblinka eventually meant armed revolt, it could not have achieved that end without the countless little rebellions that came before. The same was true in Warsaw and throughout Nazi-controlled Europe. At its core, resistance is the way a person or a people chooses to stand against the challenges thrown at them. That holds true even if those options are what <a href="https://fortunoff.library.yale.edu/film/langer/">Holocaust scholar Lawrence Langer</a> called “<a href="https://sunypress.edu/Books/V/Versions-of-Survival">choiceless choices</a>” between one terrible outcome and another. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/ghettos/warsaw.html">the Warsaw Ghetto</a>, where hundreds of thousands of Jews were crammed into inhumane conditions, residents held each other up by establishing soup kitchens and clandestine schools, organizing the removal of waste to prevent disease, and setting up everyday events to help people feel normal, even for one moment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519968/original/file-20230407-21-lfycr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People look at a museum display. In the foreground, a single slice of bread sits on a table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519968/original/file-20230407-21-lfycr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519968/original/file-20230407-21-lfycr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519968/original/file-20230407-21-lfycr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519968/original/file-20230407-21-lfycr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519968/original/file-20230407-21-lfycr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519968/original/file-20230407-21-lfycr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519968/original/file-20230407-21-lfycr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A piece of bread, equivalent of a daily food ration in the Warsaw Ghetto, displayed during a commemoration of residents’ suffering in the ghetto.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/piece-of-bread-equivalent-of-a-daily-food-ration-in-the-news-photo/149037070?adppopup=true">Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via GettyImages</a></span>
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<p>Warsaw Jews worked <a href="https://portal.ehri-project.eu/units/us-005578-irn507312">to archive what they endured</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/warsaw-ghettos-defiant-jewish-doctors-secretly-documented-the-medical-effects-of-nazi-starvation-policies-in-a-book-recently-rediscovered-on-a-library-shelf-182726">documented the medical effects</a> of the starvation they faced. Both acts demonstrated hope for a future that would remember their suffering and use its lessons to ease the pain of others.</p>
<p>Yom HaShoah, the annual day of remembrance for the Holocaust established by the Israeli government, occurs on the 27th of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar: the start of major fighting during <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/holocaust-uprising/">the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising</a>. Thousands died in the Germans’ brutal retaliation.</p>
<h2>A more complete picture</h2>
<p>The full name of Yom HaShoah is “Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day” – which, along with its tie to the Warsaw Ghetto, links remembrance with resistance in no uncertain terms. This pairing held great importance <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780805066609/theseventhmillion">for Israel’s identity as a new state</a> and for a people so deeply wounded by years of terror.</p>
<p>Whenever we remember the Holocaust, we should remember the small rebellions, the individual stands, and the little acts of caring that Glazar found so important. Only in seeing that wider picture of everyday struggles can we understand the true variety and scope of resistance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chad Gibbs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Yom HaShoah, which falls on April 17-18, 2023, pointedly commemorates Jewish resistance to the Nazis.Chad Gibbs, Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies, College of CharlestonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1974252023-03-29T02:29:50Z2023-03-29T02:29:50ZA therapist reckons with her own trauma, in the shadow of Australia’s collective shame<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517367/original/file-20230324-20-bs55am.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C2995%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elena Saharova/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The plot of Jacinta Halloran’s fourth novel <a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/resistance">Resistance</a> is straightforward. The Agostino family have stolen a car and driven into the desert. As part of their court-mandated sentence they must attend sessions with family therapist Nina. </p>
<p>The reader is privy to these sessions, as well as sessions between Nina and her supervising therapist, Erin. With her, Nina discusses the Agostino family, as well as her own personal history. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: Resistance – Jacinta Halloran (Text Publishing)</em></p>
<hr>
<p>But the novel goes beyond its simple plot ingredients, to offer a broader view of what it means to be Australian – and the importance of recognising a nation’s history as your own.</p>
<h2>A narrative bowerbird</h2>
<p>Resistance is a collage of stories presented as a novel, narrated by Nina. The through-storyline intrigues – we want to know what has compelled the Agostinos – but there are also hints of the short-story cycle in the book’s structure. Nina recounts stories from the Agostinos, from therapist Erin, from her colleague Melita, and from minor characters such as her ride-share driver, her doctor and her mother. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517308/original/file-20230323-22-gcre0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517308/original/file-20230323-22-gcre0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517308/original/file-20230323-22-gcre0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517308/original/file-20230323-22-gcre0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517308/original/file-20230323-22-gcre0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517308/original/file-20230323-22-gcre0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517308/original/file-20230323-22-gcre0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p>Nina seems a narrative bowerbird, collecting stories: the novel is a presentation of her collection. Halloran’s publisher has compared her novel to Rachel Cusk’s <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/i-dont-think-character-exists-anymore-a-conversation-with-rachel-cusk">Outline trilogy</a> and the way its stories filter through Nina’s consciousness does resonate with that comparison – as though character is less the point than the stories Nina accesses for us. </p>
<p>Nina narrates almost all of these stories. As readers, we are forced to trust her point of view and this creates an intentional (I suspect) discomfort. How can we believe Nina when she herself questions these interpretations and wrestles with trauma of her own, after the recent death of her brother?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/secrecy-psychosis-and-difficult-change-these-lived-experiences-of-mental-illness-will-inspire-a-kaleidoscope-of-emotions-191011">Secrecy, psychosis and difficult change: these lived experiences of mental illness will inspire a kaleidoscope of emotions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Nina’s tone is often clinical and reserved. Her voice can be overbearing and there is little direct dialogue to support her interpretations. Dialogue may deliver the reader into the stories, but they are then left to Nina’s discretion; sometimes the stories have the feel of monologues. </p>
<p>If there is a writer’s dichotomy of “showing” and “telling”, Nina’s accounts weigh heavily on the side of “telling”. The reader is not allowed to witness conversations, but is forced to trust the narrator. </p>
<p>The reader’s dynamic with Nina mirrors that of the Agostinos, who have been forced into a similar contract of trust. They are an intriguing family: father Claude, mother Lisa, daughter Poppy (12 years old) and son Theo (seven). </p>
<p>Claude and Lisa come across as old-fashioned, solid parents who offer engaged and kind parenting to their children. Poppy and Theo do not seem to be in danger, and yet the family openly keeps secrets from their therapist – so both the reader and Nina must try to unravel the puzzles and silences of this family.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-are-only-passing-through-stories-about-memory-mortality-and-the-effort-of-being-alive-193628">'We are only passing through': stories about memory, mortality and the effort of being alive</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Acts of remembering</h2>
<p>The way Halloran uses Nina’s voice to control stories throughout the novel also acts as metaphor, reminding me of the historian trying to understand history. We cannot choose who tells the stories we use to understand the past. </p>
<p>Often, we must look for the story of what “really” happened in silences and unintentional clues. The historian must trust historical accounts that come to them through a lens they did not choose. In the same way, Halloran’s readers must trust Nina.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517370/original/file-20230324-18-acafpt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517370/original/file-20230324-18-acafpt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517370/original/file-20230324-18-acafpt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517370/original/file-20230324-18-acafpt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517370/original/file-20230324-18-acafpt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517370/original/file-20230324-18-acafpt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517370/original/file-20230324-18-acafpt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517370/original/file-20230324-18-acafpt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jacinta Halloran’s novel reminds us we can’t choose who tells the stories we use to understand the past.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mish Mackay</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One story, however, is clearly presented to the reader without interpretation. Twelve-year-old Poppy writes about going into the desert and the reader is given her verbatim account. It is important that Poppy’s narrative operates independently in this way – she represents future generations who will be impacted by the psychic work her parents do or don’t do. Her writing opens up questions of interiority, time and remembering. These questions drive the whole novel – whether personally, politically or historically. </p>
<p>Nina’s boss Melita often provides points of reflection in relation to these themes. As Nina recounts: “when we told stories of our childhood, Melita said, we were always speaking in metaphors”. Melita considers the act of remembering and the role of time. </p>
<p>Earlier in the novel, she says: “What if, instead of having anxiety or depression, we just had a troubled relationship with time?” She points to those who look backwards, believing “their best days had passed” and those who look to the future, “standing on shaky ground of expectation, planning for every contingency”. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://theconversation.com/pilates-research-shows-how-this-low-impact-workout-can-benefit-your-health-189829">pilates</a>, Melita says, the body can relieve us of these two states by anchoring us in the present. It’s telling that Melita chooses a physical activity to achieve mindfulness, as the body is also a site for trauma – and reckoning with trauma is a prominent theme in the novel. Later, Melita suggests it would be easier if </p>
<blockquote>
<p>our clients wore their psychological and spiritual wounds on their body […] an old, proud scar which communicated that this person had done battle.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The trauma explored in this book is also collective, the trauma of a nation. As Lisa Agostino says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We were all of us living every day with the repressed shame of genocide … and nothing we did would wipe that away, so long as we continued to live in this country.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Throughout these stories and reckonings, the novel interrogates the usefulness of psychology in the face of past trauma. We see this as Nina narrates her own struggles, as well as in Erin’s insights during their sessions. Both therapists question their roles, their interventions and their interpretations. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-are-they-losing-their-children-like-this-fiona-mcfarlanes-novel-interrogates-the-stain-of-white-presence-on-aboriginal-land-193448">'How are they losing their children like this?' Fiona McFarlane's novel interrogates the stain of white presence on Aboriginal land</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Nina’s mother says that it’s hard to keep trusting one’s instincts in the face of a “so-called expert on the human mind”. In the story world, this can read as a dig at Nina, or the larger profession. But it feels like Halloran may also be playing devil’s advocate with the novel itself. </p>
<p>Resistance is a poignant, thoughtful novel with layered meanings, but it’s also an engaging and quick read. I found myself wanting to return to the world Halloran has created, and wondering what was ahead for these multi-faceted characters. Halloran offers an intriguing set-up that pays off in understated ways. Story is a vehicle for deeper reckoning here as the characters face their own – and others’ – resistance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shady Cosgrove does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Resistance, like Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy, uses its main character – a therapist, Nina – as a vehicle for others’ stories.Shady Cosgrove, Associate Professor, Creative Writing, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1965312022-12-15T16:04:33Z2022-12-15T16:04:33ZFungal toxins are widespread in European wheat – threatening human health and the economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500999/original/file-20221214-1149-y34rfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C0%2C3478%2C2309&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Harmful fungal toxins are a growing threat for European wheat.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/production-wheat-flour-535439188">Sergey Butin/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wheat <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-013-0263-y">provides</a> 19% of the calories and 21% of the protein consumed by humans globally. But a fungal disease called <a href="https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-library/fusarium-and-microdochium-in-cereals">fusarium head blight (FHB)</a>, which can infect wheat crops and contaminate the grain with toxins, is on the rise. </p>
<p>These so-called mycotoxins – which include deoxynivalenol, commonly called “vomitoxin” – are a <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/26/2/454">threat</a> to human and livestock health and can cause vomiting, intestinal damage, weakened immune system, hormone disruption and cancer. </p>
<p>To protect consumers, the EU commission set <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:364:0005:0024:EN:PDF">legal limits</a> on vomitoxin levels in wheat produced for food. Grain deemed too contaminated for human consumption is often downgraded to animal feed. But downgrading comes at a cost to farmers and the economy because animal feed has a lower monetary value than food. </p>
<p>Governments and agribusinesses routinely monitor mycotoxin levels in the food and animal feed supply chains. Yet the scale of FHB mycotoxin contamination in European wheat supplies is understudied and its economic impact had previously not been quantified.</p>
<p>With colleagues from the universities of Bath and Exeter, we <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00655-z">analysed</a> the largest available mycotoxin datasets and found that FHB mycotoxins are widespread in wheat produced for food and animal feed across Europe. We also found that the threat of mycotoxins – particularly in the south of Europe – is increasing over time. </p>
<h2>European wheat contaminated</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501003/original/file-20221214-4682-q7fm05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A wheat spike in the palm of a hand showing discolouration." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501003/original/file-20221214-4682-q7fm05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501003/original/file-20221214-4682-q7fm05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501003/original/file-20221214-4682-q7fm05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501003/original/file-20221214-4682-q7fm05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501003/original/file-20221214-4682-q7fm05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501003/original/file-20221214-4682-q7fm05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501003/original/file-20221214-4682-q7fm05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A wheat spike showing Fusarium Head Blight symptoms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/typical-fusarium-head-blight-fbh-symptom-2140986197">Dan Gabriel Atanasie/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Vomitoxin was present in every European country studied, and overall it was found in half of all wheat samples destined for food. In the UK, vomitoxin was found in 70% of the food wheat produced between 2010 and 2019. </p>
<p>Almost all (95%) of the vomitoxin contamination recorded in European wheat was within legal limits. This confirms that current legislation and the monitoring of FHB mycotoxin levels in food effectively safeguard European consumers against acute poisoning.</p>
<p>Yet the widespread presence of vomitoxin in our food is concerning. It is not yet known how constant, low-level dietary exposure to mycotoxins can affect human health in the long term. This is compounded by the fact that one-quarter of the wheat contaminated with vomitoxin also contained other FHB mycotoxins, raising concerns of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0041010112007143?via%3Dihub">synergism</a>, where toxins interact with each other and cause greater harm than the sum of the individual toxins acting alone.</p>
<h2>Economic cost of fungal toxins</h2>
<p>We also estimated the cost of vomitoxin to the European economy.</p>
<p>Vomitoxin was recorded in concentrations above legal limits in 5% of the wheat produced for food in Europe. Between 2010 and 2019, this was equivalent to 75 million tonnes of wheat. If all of this affected wheat was diverted to animal feed, we calculated that the loss in value for wheat producers would be €3 billion (£2.6 billion) over the period studied. </p>
<p>However, the total economic cost of the FHB disease in Europe is likely to be far higher. Our calculation does not include the reduction in wheat yields as a result of the disease, contamination with other harmful but less routinely tested mycotoxins, or the costs of applying fungicide to prevent the growth of the fungal pathogen.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tractor spraying fungicide on a wheat field as it drives through the field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501302/original/file-20221215-17-purmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501302/original/file-20221215-17-purmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501302/original/file-20221215-17-purmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501302/original/file-20221215-17-purmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501302/original/file-20221215-17-purmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501302/original/file-20221215-17-purmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501302/original/file-20221215-17-purmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A tractor spraying fungicide on a wheat field to prevent the growth of fungi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/farmer-spraying-green-wheat-field-504107407">oticki/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Increasing threat</h2>
<p>FHB is a disease that fluctuates annually. But we found that mycotoxin levels increased in lower latitude countries between 2010 and 2019, with this particularly the case in the Mediterranean. The vomitoxin concentrations recorded during the 2018 and 2019 outbreak years, for example, were the highest across the period studied.</p>
<p>Our study did not investigate the causes of this increase. But it is likely that changes in farming practices, climate change, and the dwindling effectiveness of fungicides are all contributing factors.</p>
<p><a href="https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/sustainable-farming-incentive-pilot-guidance-use-min-till-or-no-till-farming/">Minimum tillage</a>, where land is cultivated using methods other than ploughing to reduce soil disturbance, is an increasingly popular farming method. The method is beneficial for soil health but leaves crop debris behind and enables the FHB fungus to survive the winter. Maize, a crop highly susceptible to FHB, is also <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Agricultural_production_-_crops">grown extensively</a> across Europe. Combined, these farming practices increase the FHB pathogen load in the environment. </p>
<p>Climate change may also encourage the spread of FHB disease. Warmer and wetter weather coinciding with when wheat is in flower provides conditions ideal for the FHB fungus to infect and produce mycotoxins.</p>
<p>Resistance to azoles, a commonly used fungicide, has been increasingly <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.3004404?cookieSet=1">reported</a> in recent years. Naturally and through repeated exposure, fusarium fungal species are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8546618/">more resistant</a> to these fungicides than other fungal pathogens. </p>
<p>FHB contamination is widespread across Europe, carrying a substantial cost. Understanding the FHB disease and its mycotoxins is therefore important. But monitoring of FHB outbreaks must be improved to allow researchers to predict which environments are most at risk of mycotoxin-causing fungal diseases in the future. </p>
<p>Methods of containing the disease must also be further developed. These include new fungicides or future crop protection strategies that inhibit the development of mycotoxins. Climate change is leading to more crop disease outbreaks and our need for secure food supplies is increasing, the issue of mycotoxins is therefore only going to become more important.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Brown works for the University of Bath. He receives funding from the BBSRC Future Leader Fellowship BB/N011686/1, an internal University of Bath grant, and a Royal Society grant RGS\R2\202128.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Johns is a PhD student at the University of Bath. Louise Johns was funded by a University of Bath URSA studentship and a British Society for Plant Pathology Covid-19 PhD student support grant.</span></em></p>Wheat is an important global crop, but new research suggests that fungal toxins have contaminated half of all European wheat produced for food.Neil Brown, Senior Lecturer, Molecular Fungal Biology, University of BathLouise Johns, Postgraduate Research Student, Department of Life Sciences, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1945662022-11-17T10:05:20Z2022-11-17T10:05:20ZStar Wars Andor captures the essence of resistance that is happening in the real world<p>Andor is the newest Star Wars series on Disney+. It tells the backstory of Cassian Andor, one of the heroes who helped steal the Death Star plans in the 2016 film Rogue One (itself a prequel to the original Star Wars movie from 1977). </p>
<p>As the series draws to a close, Andor has become a <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/andor-best-star-wars-disney-plus/">favourite</a> for Star Wars fans. This is despite the fact that it has yet to mention the Force or the Jedi and there hasn’t even been a lightsaber. </p>
<p>One of the major appeals of the show is the level of <a href="https://screenrant.com/andor-show-change-star-wars-empire-imperials/">detail and “everydayness”</a> that it depicted. The characters from the evil, imperialistic and in many cases, overtly fascist Galactic Empire are, in the grand scheme of things, relatively low-level. It optimises what cultural theorist Hannah Arendt, in describing the everyday seemingly mindless tasks undertaken by some of those in the Nazi Party, called “<a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Eichmann_in_Jerusalem/yGoxZEdw36oC?hl=en%E2%80%99">the banality of evil</a>”. </p>
<p>Take the fast-rising military tactical supervisor Dedra Meero and the embittered civil servant-style employee Syril Karn. They are seen scouring reports, sat behind desks, performing menial tasks and in Karn’s case, living at home with his overbearing mother.</p>
<p>It is the intricacy of their work, the levels of bureaucracy and military hierarchy they must navigate, that characterises the massive scale and sheer terror of the Empire. In this, it also not-so-subtly critiques the <a href="https://www.militaryindustrialcomplex.com/what-is-the-military-industrial-complex.php">military-industrial complex</a> by exposing the intricate (and often fraught) links between private military corporations and state.</p>
<p>The series also takes a great deal of care to build up the rebels’ backstories, giving far more emotional weight to their reasons for rebelling. The rebel networks of deceit and subterfuge that the show painstakingly outlines adds real complexity, dynamism and a heightened sense of jeopardy that is somewhat missing from the fast-paced stories of the Star Wars cinematic films. </p>
<p>In essence, Andor is the “grown-up” Star Wars story that many of the fans were craving after the rather one-dimensional and insipid <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2019/12/18/review-disney-and-lucasfilms-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-is-a-terrible-end-to-the-skywalker-saga/?sh=1e343a4e113c">calamity</a> that was Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.</p>
<p>But there is a deeper reason I think that Andor is striking a chord: it is capturing the essence of resistance that is happening in the real world around us.</p>
<p>There are the people in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-63553888">Iran</a> protesting against the country’s strict laws. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/10/climate-activists-target-private-jet-airports-and-demand-ban-at-cop27">Climate activism</a> is increasing across the world, Black Lives Matter movements <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/child-q-diane-abbott-joins-hundreds-of-protesters-in-march-for-schoolgirl-15-strip-searched-while-on-period-12571791">continue to fight</a> against institutional racism, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/09/vermont-abortion-vote-first-us-state-constitution">reproductive rights groups are campaigning again in the US</a> and resistance is increasing <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/trans-activism-isnt-just-about-pronouns-and-bathrooms-its-about-class-struggle/">against rampant transphobia</a>. There are very real, and widespread networks of activism across the world. </p>
<p>As Star Wars creator Geroge Lucas has <a href="https://movieweb.com/star-wars-george-lucas-james-cameron-interview/">stated</a>, the saga has always been about rebellion against colonialism and fascism. That’s why Andor really is a true Star Wars story and why it speaks very intimately to the troubles, but also the exhilaration and specific triumphs, of effective resistance campaigns and debates around how action should be “done”.</p>
<h2>Life-long resistance</h2>
<p>The series introduces us to one of the “lead” organisers of the rebellion, Luthen. Luthen is “hiding in plain site” in the Empire, where he poses as a wealthy antiques shop owner while secretly coordinating rebel activities. </p>
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<p>In his utterly captivating and brilliantly written monologue at the end of Episode ten “One Way Out”, he encapsulates the deep sacrifices he had made for life-long resistance. This is brilliantly summed up with the quite haunting line: “I burn my life to make a sunrise I know I’ll never see.” </p>
<p>This again echoes the many times <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/04/27/Meet-Protesters-Fighting-Climate-Change/">we have heard climate activists</a> claim that they risk jail time, ridicule and everything else that comes with activism because they want a better future for the children – a future they might never see.</p>
<p>For scholars of activism like myself, one of the more intriguing lines from the speech is: “I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them.” Here, he is talking about having to live a lie in order to infiltrate the Empire. But these lines also importantly echo a very live debate in activist and academic circles about how resistance should be “done”. </p>
<h2>Whose tools should be used?</h2>
<p>To summarise the argument, a more traditional <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Rebirth_of_History/xaLajwFWw9AC?hl=en&gbpv=0">Marxist approach</a> will agree with Luthen, that to defeat the enemy, you must use their tools in a moment of insurrection. This is essentially a political argument that says to change the world, you have to achieve power first. Through political pressure or, if needed, full-scale revolution (such as in <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2731-october">Russia in 1917</a>), the aim is to seize power first before using that power to affect change. </p>
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<p>More <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Radical_Feminism/zte_CQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=feminist+activism&printsec=frontcover">feminist</a> and <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2019/06/ruth-kinna-on-anarchy-and-activism">anarchist</a> approaches will argue that resistance means building your own house with tools you create yourself. This is perhaps most famously captured by the words of the American civil rights activist and poet Audre Lorde who wrote the now <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Master_s_Tools_Will_Never_Dismantle/Cv5cDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">famous words</a>: “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” </p>
<p>She is arguing here that we cannot solve problems of oppression working with the tools of a system of oppression. This thinking sees activism as less about changing the system so that it supports us better, but building entirely new systems. </p>
<p>The show teases this form of activism with Vel and Cinta, two rebels who are in a relationship. After a major successful heist against the Empire, Vel seems to want to run away with Cinta, to stop fighting and leave the system of oppression that they currently operate in and instead forge new lives under new systems of their own making. And in a more subtle, “soft” form of activism, the indigenous people of the occupied planet of Aldhani are seen maintaining their “folk” traditions in spite of clear disdain from the colonial imperial occupiers.</p>
<p>But whichever side of this activist positioning people are on, Andor shows the struggles of attempting each. The time spent detailing the nuances of the Empire’s fascism as well as the various practices of resistance that grow to meet it are why I think Andor is as popular as it is. </p>
<p>In a world where all sorts of groups are fighting for different causes, there are debates about the right and wrong way to go about enacting change. Art and culture thrives when it speaks to the real world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194566/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oli Mould does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a rousing speech, one of the “organisers” of the rebellion muses on the lifelong struggle of activists and wades into the debate on the best way to effectively resist.Oli Mould, Reader in Human Geography, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1924252022-10-20T14:07:58Z2022-10-20T14:07:58ZSouth Africa’s struggle songs against apartheid come from a long tradition of resistance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490044/original/file-20221017-21-qtbypn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions sing political songs in 1987 in Johannesburg. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Walter Dhladhla/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Struggle songs, also known as protest music or liberation songs, are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03007768308591202">defined as</a> “expressions of discontent or dissent” used by politically disenfranchised protesters to influence political conversations and express emotions. </p>
<p>Some scholars <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03007768308591202">argue</a> that these songs date back to ancient biblical times when the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt and “the Hebrew people sang their lamentations”. </p>
<p>In the American context, researchers <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Sinful_Tunes_and_Spirituals.html?id=OvQLVneUgHkC&redir_esc=y">contend</a> that protest music can be traced back to transatlantic slaves. But others <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-50538-1">note</a> that the use of these songs <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-50538-1">goes back even further</a>.</p>
<p>In modern Africa and in other colonised contexts, such as Latin America, protest music was an <a href="https://www.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/attachments/jps-articles/jps_2003_32_3_21.pdf">important tool</a> used by oppressed peoples in their quests to overthrow oppressive regimes. </p>
<p>In South Africa, struggle songs were critical in the strategies used to depose the oppressive race-based <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> state. They became effective instruments of confrontation used by the black majority against the white oppressors.</p>
<p>They were also used as a means of keeping alive the memory of political icons who had been killed, like <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-steve-bikos-remarkable-legacy-often-overlooked-82952">Steve Biko</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/remembering-south-african-struggle-hero-chris-hani-lessons-for-today-64715">Chris Hani</a>, and <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/solomon-kalushi-mahlangu">Solomon Mahlangu</a>. </p>
<p>At the same time they helped ensure that those resistance leaders who were imprisoned, like <a href="https://theconversation.com/mandela-was-a-flawed-icon-but-without-him-south-africa-would-be-a-sadder-place-142826">Nelson Mandela</a>, or exiled, like <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/oliver-tambo">Oliver Tambo</a>, were not forgotten. These people, the dead and the living, represented the country’s political struggle.</p>
<p>The songs were also a way of marking moments of grief, of which there were many, and the occasional moments of hope, as black South Africans looked forward to the apartheid regime’s demise.</p>
<p>As a researcher whose work looks at the intersection of rhetoric, language and media, I <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780367823658-26/persuasion-songs-protest-sisanda-nkoala">have</a> <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/EJC-20c6b555ff">examined</a> the appeal of struggle music as an persuasive means of engaging in political communication in the South African context. </p>
<p>These texts are relevant even in the post apartheid context because they continue to be an important way in which people deliberate on issues. </p>
<p>Even though the lyrics are relatively simple, and the music can be viewed as straightforward and repetitive, the depth of the ideas they capture makes a case for reading texts like struggle songs at a level much more profound than what they literally denote. </p>
<h2>A brief history</h2>
<p>Different styles of music characterised different periods in South Africa’s struggle for liberation. The change in political and social conditions did not just prompt a change in the lyrics of the songs; it called for a change in the form to capture the tone of the times. </p>
<p>From the late 1800s into the early 1900s, the strong influence of missionaries on black South African literary culture influenced the tone and lyrics of protest music. It resulted in struggle songs that were characterised by a hymn-like sound. This was in the context of a shared Christian belief system. </p>
<p>For example, Biblical and ancient studies scholar, J. Gertrud Tönsing (2017) <a href="https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/4339">talks about</a> how the emphasis of prayer as a tool against the apartheid regime was rooted in the missionary influence. This, in turn, influenced the lyrics and melodies of the struggle songs that emerged so that they featured rhythmically static music and words written like prayers. </p>
<p>From the 1940s and 1950s the violence against black South Africans was written into law through the passing of the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/group-areas-act-1950">Group Areas Act</a> and <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/pass-laws-south-africa-1800-1994">“pass laws”</a>. These restricted the movement of black people in certain areas. </p>
<p>Music began to incorporate musical elements inspired by <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3113919#metadata_info_tab_contents">American jazz and kwela penny whistles</a>. Kwela is a <a href="https://ukzn-dspace.ukzn.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10413/9106/Allen_Lara_V_1993.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">pennywhistle-based street music with jazzy underpinnings and a distinctive, skiffle-like beat</a>.</p>
<p>This merger of musical elements was indicative of the cultural diversity that characterised the townships. Music historian Lara Allen <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3113919#metadata_info_tab_contents">argues</a> that the music found resonance and gained popularity because the sound expressed a “locally rooted identity”. </p>
<p>Another feature of the struggle songs from this era was the topical subject matter. Lyrics spoke to current events as they affected black people – kind of “singing the news”. As Allen <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3113919#metadata_info_tab_contents">puts it</a>: </p>
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<p>In this regard vocal jive enjoyed an advantage … in that lyrics, through reference to current events and issues of common concern, enabled listeners to recognize their own interests and experiences more concretely.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The 1960s marked an intensification of the apartheid government’s heavy-handedness on any form of protest and resistance. On 21 March 1960, the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/sharpeville-massacre-21-march-1960">Sharpeville massacre</a> occurred, where 69 people were killed while staging a protest against pass laws. In response, the struggle approach changed from a non-violent to an armed struggle with the establishment of the militant wing of the African National Congress, <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/umkhonto-wesizwe-mk">uMkhonto we Sizwe</a>. </p>
<p>The upbeat vocal jive style <a href="http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/265/the-sounds-of-resistance-the-role-of-music-in-south-africas-anti-apartheid-movement">was increasingly replaced</a> by militaristic rhythms and chants accompanied by marching actions. </p>
<p>Some of the songs from this period were simply chants. Nevertheless, they were still musical in the way in which they used the beat and other vocal sound effects to evoke emotions. They were often accompanied by the toyi-toyi, a high-stepping ‘dance’ that Allen describes as a march that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03057070902920015?casa_token=IJZ5nO8NssYAAAAA:WTltYQHaHlYg6ZvMtFriNwlAyF-CADEhEmDcxyV32iauPXJbrCVK0Vnl2xkrU0Hmws5O9K9FrD6rLg">mimicked the movement of soldiers in training</a></p>
<p>As musicologist and expert in struggle music Michela Vershbow <a href="http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/265/the-sounds-of-resistance-the-role-of-music-in-south-africas-anti-apartheid-movement">describes them</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The power of this chant builds in intensity as it progresses, and the enormity of the sounds that erupt from the hundreds, sometimes thousands of participants was often used to intimidate government troops.</p>
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<h2>In a post-apartheid world</h2>
<p>In the late 1980s academic and expert on Latin American revolutionary songs Robert Pring-Mill <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/853420#metadata_info_tab_contents">wrote about how</a> songs that featured prominently in many oppressive cultures retained their power and currency over time.</p>
<p>This is true in South Africa too where songs from the struggle continue to hold an established place as part of South Africa’s political communication heritage. Examples include songs of lament, like <em>Senzeni na?</em> which bemoans the unjust treatment of marginalised South Africans. Another is the more confrontational <a href="https://www.newframe.com/political-songs-ndodemnyama-miriam-makeba/">Ndodemnyama we Verwoerd!,</a> which was written by Vuyisile Mini and sung by him and his compatriots while walking to their death in the apartheid gallows.</p>
<p>Pring-Mill argues that struggle songs endure because they reflect historical </p>
<blockquote>
<p>events recorded passionately rather than with dispassionate objectivity, yet the passion is not so much that of an individual singer’s personal response, but rather that of a collective interpretation of events from a particular ‘committed’ standpoint. </p>
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<p>It’s noteworthy that in recent years, some of these songs are now said to be hate speech. There have even been calls <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/politics/political-parties/equality-court-grants-afriforum-leave-to-appeal-kill-the-boer-ruling-20221004">to ban them from being sung</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sisanda Nkoala receives funding from the National Research Foundation and has previously been awarded an AW Mellon-UCT Graduate Scholarship in Rhetoric </span></em></p>Struggle songs are relevant even in the post apartheid context because they continue to be an important way in which people deliberate on issues.Sisanda Nkoala, Senior Lecturer, Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1822632022-06-23T21:29:32Z2022-06-23T21:29:32ZHow powerful sounds of protest amplify resistance — Podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470041/original/file-20220621-25-8rvwsn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C20%2C4507%2C2991&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sound researchers believe sound is an element of resistance. Here a protester holds a 'Black Lives Matter" megaphone at a protest in New York City in 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.cpimages.com/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=2RLQ2JSMH1VPZ&PN=1&WS=SearchResults">AP Photo/John Minchillo</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="480px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/fb609e39-d729-4a54-860a-8a411be157ae?dark=false&show=true"></iframe>
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<p>When you think of a protest, one that fills the streets, do you remember the visuals of what you saw? Visually striking images are often circulated by news media — like the one we’ve used for this article.</p>
<p>But can you also close your eyes and remember the sounds that surrounded you? </p>
<p>For me, sound has always resonated — it’s sometimes what I remember, long after the streets are empty and quiet again. </p>
<p>Maybe it’s the sound of a chant “No Justice No Peace” or “I Can’t Breathe” at a Black Lives Matter protest. Or a theatre shaking from <a href="https://twitter.com/writevinita/status/1525875652955721729?s=20&t=CGMSVCBqxbedsLRHdmeOuA">feet stomping after a speech by a brown queer rights activist</a>. I can still hear that. I also remember the sound of Toronto police horses clopping on concrete during the <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/news/yonge-street-riot-documentary">1992 protest against police brutality</a>.</p>
<p>Everyday sounds are important too. The normal sounds of a Saturday: music from a fruit stall, neighbours yelling “hey” to each other, the clattering of the Q train in Brooklyn. These sounds can define a neighbourhood. And if we don’t pay attention to them, as life changes, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2022/saving-sounds-an-ancient-city/">sounds can disappear</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470102/original/file-20220621-13681-jw2nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person drums and sings with supporters in Winnipeg to protest against the construction of a pipeline on Wet'suwet'en territory." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470102/original/file-20220621-13681-jw2nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470102/original/file-20220621-13681-jw2nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470102/original/file-20220621-13681-jw2nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470102/original/file-20220621-13681-jw2nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470102/original/file-20220621-13681-jw2nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470102/original/file-20220621-13681-jw2nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470102/original/file-20220621-13681-jw2nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In this 2020 photo, protesters in Winnipeg sing in support of the Wet'suwet'en nation’s protest to keep pipeline workers out of the B.C. First Nation’s traditional territory.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.cpimages.com/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=2RLQ2JSM1LPM5&PN=1&WS=SearchResults">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Sudoma</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/the-powerful-sounds-of-protest">In today’s episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a>, I speak with two people involved in sound studies who believe sound is an element of resistance. They explain why — in our hyper-visualized age of Instagram-perfect photos — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771821000248">sound is so compelling</a> and why soundscapes can help to amplify voices of resistance.</p>
<p>Nimalan Yoganathan is a PhD candidate at Concordia University. He studies protest tactics and he looks at how different sound practitioners have contributed to anti-racist movements. </p>
<p>I also spoke with <a href="https://daily.bandcamp.com/lifetime-achievement/norman-w-long-list">Norman W. Long</a>, a born-and-raised resident of the south side of Chicago. Norman is a sound artist, designer and composer who works to document and record the everyday reality of his community. He has graduate degrees in landscape architecture from Cornell University and in fine arts from the San Francisco Art Institute. </p>
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<p>Both our guests talk about how important it is to listen to the sounds around us as a way to critically engage with our communities, to help bridge our deep divides and to pay attention to the forces of power in our environment. They say anyone can learn to listen deeply, even children. </p>
<p>As Long invites both insiders and outsider to listen on guided soundwalks of his community, he starts with a short breathing exercise. He said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The practise of breathing brought me back to COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd. In both of these instances, African-Americans are more vulnerable to contract the virus and more likely to be murdered by police. There’s also the fact that most areas with high rates of air pollution and toxins are overwhelmingly poor and African-American. When we breathe, we are mindful of our mind-body connection, our connection to each other and our connection to those who cannot breathe. We can breathe for them and listen to the street, the noises and disruptions, and join in the chorus that demand justice for Black and brown people all over the world.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is a different kind of episode: instead of our usual interview style, we let the sound guide us. I encourage you to listen in and follow along with our conversation and playlist.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7E26_sjxbYY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Stay Alive’ by Mustafa.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Soundscapes/Credits</h2>
<ul>
<li>“<a href="https://youtu.be/x2Nx4jUEZfc">Idle No More Protest</a>,” (2012) recorded by Paula Kirman at the West Edmonton Mall</li>
<li>“<a href="https://mustafa.ffm.to/when-smoke-rises">Stay Alive</a>” <em>When Smoke Rises</em> by Mustafa</li>
<li><em>Ali</em> by Mustafa</li>
<li><a href="https://normanwlong.bandcamp.com/track/black-space-in-winter">“Black Space in Winter”</a> (2021) Produced by Norman W. Long. Recorded as part of the We Series curated by Lia Kohl and Dierdre Hackabay. Bowls, Cymbals and electronics by Norman W. Long. Recorded at Marian R. Byrnes Park. </li>
<li><a href="https://soundcloud.com/normanlong/sets/washington-park-sun-ra-sound">Washington Park Mix 2016</a> Produced by Norman W. Long</li>
<li>“<a href="https://soundcloud.com/delaurenti/n30">N30: Live at the WTO Protest</a>”
(1999), produced by Christopher DeLaurenti </li>
<li>“<a href="https://soundcloud.com/delaurenti/fergusonaugust?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing">Fit The Description</a>”
(Ferguson, 9-13 August 2014), produced by Christopher DeLaurenti </li>
<li>“<a href="https://citiesandmemory.com">Remixing the world, one sound at a time</a>” on Cities and Memory (LA No KKK)</li>
<li>“<a href="https://audioboom.com/posts/6146907-for-and-against-donald-trump">For and against Donald Trump (2017)</a>” recorded by Aaron Rosenblum (on Cities and Memory Project) </li>
<li><a href="https://discrepant.bandcamp.com/track/thakira-jamaiya">Thakira Jama'iya</a> by Muqata’a</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQjRqJGZeRU">Mbana Kantako</a> from NPR and YouTube</li>
<li>“Regent Park is Toronto’s up-and-coming neighbourhood” in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9JMRn3VmSI">BlogTo</a></li>
<li>“<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/music/junos/watch/watch-the-2022-juno-awards-1.6424880">CBC Juno Awards</a>”</li>
<li>Marshawn Lynch clip from ESPN</li>
</ul>
<h2>ICMYI in <em>The Conversation</em></h2>
<ul>
<li>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/black-lives-matter-movement-uses-creative-tactics-to-confront-systemic-racism-143273">Black Lives Matter movement uses creative tactics to confront systemic racism</a> by Nimalan Yoganathan </li>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/voices-hearts-and-hands-how-the-powerful-sounds-of-protest-have-changed-over-time-140192">Voices, hearts and hands – how the powerful sounds of protest have changed over time</a> by Lawrence English</li>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/hip-hop-is-the-soundtrack-to-black-lives-matter-protests-continuing-a-tradition-that-dates-back-to-the-blues-140879">Hip-hop is the soundtrack to Black Lives Matter protests, continuing a tradition that dates back to the blues</a> by Tyina Steptoe </li>
</ul>
<h2>Resources</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771821000248">"Soundscapes of Resistance: Amplifying social justice activism and aural counterpublics through field recording-based sound practices”</a> in <em>Organised Sound</em> by Nimalan Yoganathan</li>
<li><a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/listening-to-images"><em>Listening to Images</em></a> by Tina M. Campt</li>
<li><a href="https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/muqata-kamil-mangus-interview">“Parsing Muqata’a’s Personal, Potent Instrumental Hip-Hop”</a> by Lewis Gordon</li>
<li><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10714413.2011.597646">“Pedagogies of hope”</a> by Yasmin Jiwani</li>
<li><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/20551940.2016.1214455">“Sounds inside: prison, prisoners and acoustical agency”</a> in <em>Sound Studies</em> by Tom Rice</li>
<li><a href="https://soundstudiesblog.com/2019/08/05/hearing-change-in-the-chocolate-city-soundwalking-as-black-feminist-method/">“Hearing Change in the Chocolate City: Soundwalking as Black Feminist Method”</a> by Allie Martin</li>
<li>“<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-profound-silence-of-marshawn-lynch">The Profound Silence of Marshawn Lynch</a>” by Hua Hsu</li>
<li>Jennifer Lynn Stoever: “<a href="https://iaspm-us.net/interview-series-the-sonic-color-line/">Interview Series: Jennifer Stoever, The Sonic Color Line</a>”</li>
</ul>
<h2>Follow and listen</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:theculturedesk@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<p><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> is produced and hosted by Vinita Srivastava. The co-producer on this episode is Lygia Navarro. Haley Lewis is a series co-producer and Vaishnavi Dandekar is an assistant producer. Jennifer Moroz is our consulting producer. Lisa Varano is our audience development editor and Scott White is the CEO of the Conversation Canada. <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> is a production of <em>The Conversation Canada</em>. This podcast was produced with a grant for Journalism Innovation from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </p>
<h2>Transcript</h2>
<p><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/the-powerful-sounds-of-protest/transcript">Unedited transcript</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182263/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In today’s episode, we look at how sound and noise are used as tactics of protest and how practitioners are using environmental soundscapes to protest against racism and police brutality.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1849562022-06-13T11:56:38Z2022-06-13T11:56:38ZUkraine war: why popular resistance is a big problem for Russia<p>When you invade a neighbouring country, armed resistance is to be expected. In addition to having to deal with Ukraine’s conventional forces, Russia is likely to find itself struggling to pacify the territory it has so far seized. Continued resistance in occupied regions – both violent and nonviolent – challenges the Russian narrative as well as its strategy.</p>
<p>Russia has claimed that a series of “terrorist” attacks has been perpetrated against its troops in occupied Ukraine. A recent example is the <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/06/08/ukraine-resistance-targets-russian-leaders-first-terror-attack/">alleged bombing</a> of a cafe frequented by occupation forces in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine. This could be, as others have pointed out, a “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/60470089">false flag event</a>” – something which Russia is well known for staging. But, if we accept the report at face value, the attack does fall within a broader pattern of organised resistance directed at the Russian side in recently seized territory.</p>
<p>In addition to conducting significant <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/01/ukraine-russia-war-guerrilla-partisans-civilian-militia/">preparation and training</a>, Ukraine had a <a href="https://uscc.org.ua/en/ukrainian-parliament-verkhovna-rada-registered-a-bill-5557-about-foundations-of-national-resistance/">legal and administrative framework</a> in place to conduct a whole-of-society resistance well before the invasion. </p>
<p>Given the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/09/world/europe/ukraine-military-russia-invasion.html?searchResultPosition=1">perception of Russian military capabilities</a> at the time, this was very much the war that the Ukrainian side planned on fighting. The Russians, planning for a swift “<a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/fierce-resistance-kherson-disrupts-russian-liberation-scenario">liberation</a>” of Ukraine, probably did not plan on confronting a serious resistance of any nature. So they appear to lack a strategy to contend with the forces that remain in captured districts.</p>
<h2>Fierce resistance</h2>
<p>Ukrainian resistance has been <a href="https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/05/putins-nightmare-a-ukrainian-guerrilla-movement-has-emerged/">much fiercer than expected</a> – and this is as true in occupied regions as it is on the front lines. In Kherson alone, there has been sabotage, attempted assassinations and direct attacks on Russian forces – though <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-russian-arms-train-not-sabotaged-by-partisans/a-61620735">not all reported attacks</a> have been accurate. Also, the collaborators Russia was counting on to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/07/world/europe/russia-putin-ukraine-politicians.html">assist with its administration</a> of these territories have not materialised in sufficient numbers.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1536216230838816773"}"></div></p>
<p>Even more worrying for Moscow, Russia is struggling to <a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/british-defense-intelligence-update-june-9-2022.html">maintain basic public services</a> in the regions it has seized. Interestingly, some sources have suggested that the war is also <a href="https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-society/3481824-guerrilla-movement-on-rise-in-occupied-crimea.html">encouraging resistance</a> in areas occupied by Russia or its proxies prior to February, though this is difficult to confirm.</p>
<p>The true scale of Ukrainian resistance forces in occupied areas is also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/06/world/europe/occupied-ukraine-guerrilla-attacks.html">difficult to reliably judge</a>. As well as the “partisan” forces <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2022/06/05/ukraines-partisans-are-hitting-russian-soldiers-behind-their-own-lines">specially trained and equipped</a> to fight, there seems to be a place for anyone who wants to <a href="https://sprotyv.mod.gov.ua/">oppose occupation</a>. Of course, Ukraine will naturally emphasise the impact of resistance movements, while Russia wants to undermine the legitimacy and scale of any Ukrainian activity behind its front line.</p>
<p>It’s not inconceivable that some Ukrainian resistance actions may fall outside the rules of law. But, by most reasonable metrics, Ukraine’s resistance forces will fall within the <a href="https://lieber.westpoint.edu/legal-status-ukraines-resistance-forces/">definition of combatant</a>, not terrorist, so long as they respect the Geneva Conventions. In this regard, the framing of the Ukrainian resistance actions as terrorist has more to do with the <a href="https://www.ejiltalk.org/what-is-russias-legal-justification-for-using-force-against-ukraine/">Russian worldview</a> than objective reality – after all, this is how they have been referring to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/17/fate-hundreds-ukrainian-soldiers-unclear-azovstal-resistance-ends">Ukrainian conventional forces</a> as well.</p>
<p>Russia has clearly had to heavily modify its initial objectives since beginning operations, though it undoubtedly wishes to maintain control over the regions it has so far captured. Regarding captured territory in southern Ukraine, Russia has announced its intentions to stay “<a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/06/russia-to-stay-in-southern-ukraine-forever-senior-lawmaker-a77612">forever</a>”.</p>
<p>To accomplish this it is attempting to “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/world/europe/moscow-russifying-captured-territory.html">Russify</a>” captured areas, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/kherson-ukraine-life-under-russian-occupation/a-61090151">solidifying its control</a> by replacing civil administration with pro-Russian collaborators. Occupiers are also changing the currency and providing humanitarian support, ultimately eyeing a <a href="https://telegra.ph/Pro-vizit-06-07">Crimea-style annexation</a> of cities like Kherson. This will be extremely difficult to accomplish. Given the level of resistance, Russia may have to rethink even the <a href="https://www.fpri.org/article/2022/06/the-evolving-political-military-aims-in-the-war-in-ukraine-after-100-days/">adjusted objectives</a> it has adopted for the conflict.</p>
<h2>Implications for the conflict</h2>
<p>By some estimations, Russia holds <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/zelensky-russia-invasion-ukraine-territory-b2093172.html">upwards of 20%</a> of Ukrainian territory. In this regard, it may have bitten off more than it can chew. At the moment, Russia is having to confront both a conventional military and irregular partisan forces, which places it in an uncomfortable position.</p>
<p>If the resistance were to spread beyond the territories captured by Russia since February, then this would have further implications. Russia has controlled Crimea as well as parts of eastern Ukraine since 2014. The emergence of serious organised resistance in these areas would not only represent a further drain on Russia’s limited resources but further damage Moscow’s self-perception as a liberating force.</p>
<p>To effectively respond, Russia may have to fall back upon the more brutal means of subjugation that it has used in the past. Recent Russian history with counterinsurgency has been summarised as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/world/europe/moscow-russifying-captured-territory.html">grim but successful</a>. Conflicts against Chechen separatists and in support of the Syrian regime have demonstrated Russia’s effective use of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/world/europe/russia-chechnya-caucasus-terrorists-families.html">terror and reprisals</a> to quell resistance movements. </p>
<p>Of course, Russian solutions generate Russian problems, and a more aggressive approach in occupied territory could ultimately generate issues for the regime, further driving the nation into isolation. We also don’t know how the Russian military might fare in those other theatres today, despite its past successes in counterinsurgency. The heavily traumatised and demoralised <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-soldier-recruitment-ukraine-war/31892914.html">Russian land forces</a> may simply no longer have the <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/36324/a_historical_basis_for_force_requirements_in_counterinsurgency#:%7E:text=Twenty%20counterinsurgents%20per%201%2C000%20residents,be%20based%20on%20Quinlivan's%20work.">resources they need</a>.</p>
<p>The Ukrainian resistance is clearly capable of more than a few isolated bombings. It is able to impose significant costs on the Russian occupation, and its success compounds the failure of both Russia’s imperial vision for Ukraine and its programme of Russification. Ultimately, holding territory might prove more costly for Russia than acquiring it in the first place. </p>
<p>Far from expanding and <a href="https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/nationalist-and-imperial-thinking-define-putins-vision-russia">renovating the Russian Empire</a>, territorial expansion into Ukraine has opened a series of <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-will-not-be-like-korea-dogged-resistance-will-turn-it-into-putins-bleeding-ulcer-180169">bleeding sores</a> that will remain open as long as Russia maintains a presence in Ukraine.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184956/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Morris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Russia’s military planners were not expecting such fierce Ukrainian resistance, especially in regions it has occupied since 2014.Christopher Morris, Teaching Fellow, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1841992022-06-05T16:13:57Z2022-06-05T16:13:57ZUkraine diaries: art in the face of the war<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466660/original/file-20220601-48284-l8xm3k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1326%2C865&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A contemporary work of art? No, a protected one. Taken in Kiev, on 18 April. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romain Huët</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Lviv, 18–20 April 2022. The city is calm. The streets are full of onlookers, sauntering under the intermittent sunshine. At first glance, life looks normal. In reality, the changes are profound.</p>
<p>Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Lviv has welcomed <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/3/14/lviv-as-refugees-flee-a-city-mobilises-for-war">tens of thousands of refugees</a> from throughout the country, mainly from Kyiv and towns in the east. A curfew is in place from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The sale of alcohol has just been authorised again, but not before 8 p.m. Spirits are strictly forbidden. Around the city are several checkpoints, barricades built by civilian volunteers, minor protection on some windows, and sandbags or big tarpaulins protecting monuments from potential shrapnel. During my two days here, six or seven sirens have sounded around the city, disrupting collective life, but only momentarily. On 18 April, a Russian missile killed <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraines-zelenskiy-condemns-shelling-bodies-line-streets-mariupol-2022-04-18/">seven people</a>.</p>
<p>The experience of war encourages people to focus their attention on armed resistance. But war also prompts nonviolent resistance. There is an <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-critique-internationale-2018-3-page-89.htm?contenu=plan">everyday economy</a> of war, woven from collective stitch-ups and arrangements. Behind the scenes, people replenish the frontline’s provisions, take in refugees, develop international networks and seek funding. This has to do with maintaining a peace economy in war time.</p>
<p>I wanted to meet artists and learn about their thoughts on resistance. Art provides a vital language to transcribe what is happening. War also rages <a href="https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/par-les-temps-qui-courent/nadia-kaabi-linke-artiste-plasticienne">within its boundaries</a> as Ukrainians seek to confront Russian cultural dominance in post-soviet states.</p>
<h2>Denys Metelin, a street artist</h2>
<p>Denys Metelin, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/metelin_denys/?hl=fr">a street artist</a>, is from Crimea. In 2014, after Russia’s invasion, his father packed his bags and threw him onto the next train to Lviv. He was 19. War has haunted him ever since.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CcSQG-Pt-WA","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>He has made it the main subject of his work. His point of view is clear: he does not want to indulge in tragedy. To change how war is seen, “you need to find a perspective to understand the bombs”, he says. He plays and works with the symbols from the Soviet Union, subverting their meaning. His work strips war of its horrors and praises collective Ukrainian forces.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Denys Matelin in his workshop on 18 April.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romain Huët</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Work by Denys Metelin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romain Huët</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Work by Denys Metelin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romain Huët</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the first two days of the invasion, Denys followed into the steps of thousands of Ukrainians by heading to one of the volunteering centres that sprang up throughout the city. He was clueless as to what to do.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“On the first day, I was so bewildered and panic-stricken that I went to buy sweets for child refugees and get a smile out of them. On the second day, we built barricades all over the city. On the third day, I learned how to make Molotov cocktails.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Since then, he took first-aid lessons and also trained to fight. He stills attends these courses three times a week “to be ready if the Russians come here”.</p>
<h2>Viktor Kudin, painting urban text</h2>
<p>I also meet Viktor Kudin, an architect and artist. When the war broke out, he fled Kyiv for Lviv.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Work by Viktor Kudin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romain Huët</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition to his work as an artist, Kudin raises funds for the Ukrainian army. He experienced Russia’s invasion as a real moral shock. Overwhelmed with stress and “negative feelings”, he went to buy material to paint with. Every day, you can find him on the rooftops of Lviv, painting the city, houses and streets.</p>
<p>His paintings show a somewhat transformed landscape. A detail attests to the ongoing war: graffiti insulting Putin, a small poster indicating the locations of shelters, plumes of black smoke drifting skywards, a Ukrainian flag holding out against the wind. People are absent from his paintings.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When I paint, I will often hear the sirens before a blitz. I’m alone on the rooftops and the streets start emptying.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>War transforms life. It also has an impact on urban texts and cityscapes. Victor tells me his inspiration has taken a real hit. He wavers between “tears and hatred”, adding, “I can’t live with such intense feelings. I want to give names to these forces running through me. I want to understand them.”</p>
<p>Words get stuck in his throat. His anger frees them: “We’ve got to destroy Russia. We’re going to kill them all.”</p>
<h2>Fear and fatalism</h2>
<p>The artists I meet all come back to one consistent reaction: a combination of fear and fatalism. On 24 February 2022, it was disbelief that first took hold of them. <a href="https://www.antiqvitas-nova.art/press/">Alexander Denysenko</a>, an artist who shares a studio with his father, Oleh, confided to me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I was stunned. I didn’t know what to do. I left my house and started walking. I walked without knowing where I was going. I couldn’t stop walking. And then I phoned my friends. We wondered what we could do.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This disbelief was all the more potent as many of these artists were a long way from the volunteer groups that have been operating in the Donbas since 2014. War was going on in the background, but it had been normalised. Its effects were not felt.</p>
<p>It has now broken into everyday life. In Lviv and elsewhere in Ukraine, it has become inescapable, even though it varies in intensity. Alexander’s disbelief quickly turned into a conviction that the Russian invasion was real. It was just that everything seemed submerged. Until then, he did not know anything about war as a tangible reality. But when war suddenly crashes down on you, life is abruptly transformed and, from then on, has to be organised alongside the war. </p>
<p>After their initial disbelief, and its share of disempowering feelings, their despondency turned into rebellion. The list of possible reactions to this kind of situation is limited: you can flee; you can try to maintain your habits in an upended and uncertain daily life; or you can make yourself useful without really knowing how. Some artists have taken up arms and gone to the front. Others have stayed put and continued to practise their art in spite of everything.</p>
<h2>War provides opportunities: promoting Ukrainian art</h2>
<p>These artists are determined to make Ukrainian art better known. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/marta_trotsiuk/?hl=fr">Marta Trotsiuk</a> runs a gallery. Before the war broke out, she would organise exhibitions throughout Lviv. She now works toward solidarity among the city’s artists to tackle the present emergency. She is energetic, even restless: she has been invited to take part in the Venice Biennale in the coming days. For her, this moment is an opportunity to make the uniqueness of Ukrainian art known.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CcnPmZctvzP","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Her first job was to organise a petition and a collective letter to denounce Russia’s aggression and call for sanctions against its artists. She justifies this by explaining that “culture is one of Moscow’s preferred methods in pushing its propaganda. It’s soft power, quite simply.”</p>
<p>In addition to this political initiative, Ukrainian artists are trying to organise a series of cultural events for refugees: concerts, plays, films, exhibitions – so many daily events that could help refugees “unwind”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb0aksONfB3","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>As the world collapses, art comforts people in the face of an unbearable reality. The purpose of these cultural events is not to directly express war or look at it differently. It is mainly to relieve people afflicted by war and forced in exile. Like others, Marta has set herself a challenge:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[I want to make] people feel less inhibited about art, making our events attractive to them. We hope that they will come to think that there’s something for them in these events, and that our art will speak to them… People come from all over the country: from Kyiv, Odessa, and many other cities. They’re shy, they keep their distance, but when they come they’re always pleased to be there.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>“Being lumped together with the Soviet Union is simply unbearable.”</h2>
<p>This claim that Ukrainian art is unique is especially heartfelt. Marta is disappointed and tired of people’s habits: like others, she bristles against the common confusion between Russian and Ukrainian art. She explains angrily:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When we’re not being confused with Russians, we’re being portrayed as their ‘little brothers’… Being lumped together with the Soviet Union is simply unbearable. Our history is different. What’s more, our language is closer to Polish than it is to Russian. We’ve been independent since 1991. Since then, we’ve been fighting Russia’s imperialism and its daunting propaganda.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Marta readily asserts how proud she is of Ukraine:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I’m a proud Ukrainian. We have to carry on fighting. We even have to fight to get back our border from 1991, when we became independent. We have to change Russia’s government and get it to recognise what it’s carried out: genocide in Ukraine.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This nationalistic line is unapologetic. The main tension in nationalism seems to reside in Marta’s words:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We’ve got to be patriotic and keep our traditions alive, because we’ve been attacked. Otherwise, we’ll be wiped out as a people.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>National pride flourishes where a people is threatened with extinction. The war is giving the people the feeling they have discovered a collective power, a unity that is all the more strong as the threat is real. Behind Marta’s revolt, some prospects brought on by war are taking shape: the possibility of the world taking an interest in Ukrainian culture, artists, works and uniqueness. In a world crumbling, these artists have started dreaming of a new future: a people aware of itself, forging its destiny and promoting its uniqueness worldwide. The imagination is a place where reality can be defied.</p>
<h2>Turning viewers into witnesses</h2>
<p>Remarkably, art is not presented as it would be in peacetime. It does not seek to make war intelligible, or offer a break in which the world, in its cruelty, can find expression. Rather, it seeks to supplement war. It encourages uprising and a refusal to give up among all those who still have strength. Lastly, it records memory. All these works produced as the war rages capture the people’s accomplishments, actions and words, helping them escape transience. Artists hope to make us not just viewers but also witnesses.</p>
<p>And while some carry on creating works during the war, others try to salvage them. Bogdana Brylynska works at the <a href="https://cityofliterature.lviv.ua/mans/bogdana-brylynska">“Territory of Terror” Memorial Museum</a> in Lviv. From the outset of the war, she has been salvaging works throughout Ukraine, especially in the south and east of the country, where a large portion of Ukraine’s national cultural heritage can be found: “Our aim is to preserve heritage in Mariupol and so many other cities”, she says. Volunteers swing into action to protect monuments, using either tarps or sandbags, to protect them from shrapnel.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romain Huët</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some statues are hidden in secure locations – abroad or in underground passages. Volunteers also get organised to transport the most important works to Lviv. In all the country’s museums, people find creative ways to get works out:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We’re not waiting for government orders to save these works. Since the Maidan Revolution, we’ve got used to getting organised on our own. Since then, we’ve forged so many ties with the whole country that we’re in touch with volunteers everywhere. Since the revolution, we’ve realised what our collective capacities are really like.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Volunteers transport the artworks. This requires finding answers to practical questions, like how to pack up the works without damaging them:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“At first, we really didn’t know how to do it. We tried lots of methods before finding techniques that worked well enough… But that’s not the only problem. Because we don’t have any official licence to transport these artworks, there are tedious negotiations at checkpoints to establish that we’re not stealing the works but protecting them. You have to be resourceful. We’re used to it!”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In such a situation, resistance is about salvaging the materiality of the world, the memory of the country. It is about saving the world from destruction as much as you can. I’m now leaving Lviv to head for Kyiv, and then Kharkiv.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article could not have been written without the precious help of Julia Sinkevych, a film producer. I am indebted to her for making my many meetings in Lviv possible</em>.</p>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Thomas Young for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en">Fast ForWord</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184199/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article is a continuation of the author's research and ANR 'Ethnographie des guerillas et des émeutes: formations subjectives, émotions et expérience sensible de la violence en train de fait - EGR' <a href="https://anr.fr/Projet-ANR-18-CE39-0011">https://anr.fr/Projet-ANR-18-CE39-0011</a>.</span></em></p>The experience of war also inspires non-violent forms of resistance.Romain Huët, Maitre de conférences en sciences de la communication, Chercheur au PREFICS (Plurilinguismes, Représentations, Expressions Francophones, Information, Communication, Sociolinguistique), Université Rennes 2Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1808282022-04-11T12:09:24Z2022-04-11T12:09:24ZWater fights, magical decapitated heads and family reunions – the Southeast Asian festival of Songkran has it all<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456993/original/file-20220407-24-rurnnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=72%2C20%2C3351%2C2272&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People celebrating the Songkran Festival in Luang Prabang, Laos, in April 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/april-15-2021-people-sprinkle-water-to-each-other-news-photo/1232379173?adppopup=true">Xinhua/Kaikeo Saiyasane via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In many countries in Southeast Asia, such as Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, the arrival of spring also marks the beginning of the new year. <a href="https://www.m-culture.go.th/en/article_view.php?nid=45">Songkran</a> (สงกรานต์), as the festival welcoming in the new year is called in Thai, is often celebrated with playful water fights on city streets over the course of three chaotic days. </p>
<p>In 2022, Songkran will begin April 13 and last until the evening of April 15. The dates are calculated via the <a href="https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/121460">lunisolar</a> calendar, which accounts both for the movement of the sun through the zodiac and the moon’s cycles. Specifically, the dates mark the period when the Sun’s leaving the constellation of Pisces and entering Aries.</p>
<p>Over these days, cities turn into playful battlegrounds. Children emerge armed from their houses and bands of revelers gather on the sides of the roads ready to waylay passersby. This, though, is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47920868">a war with water</a>. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://berkeley.academia.edu/AndrewJohnson">scholar of Thai religion and culture</a>, I have done fieldwork in Bangkok and <a href="https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/ghosts-of-the-new-city-spirits-urbanity-and-the-ruins-of-progress-in-chiang-mai/">Chiang Mai</a> off and on for many years. I first encountered Songkran in Bangkok in 2010, and it was shocking for me. After sustaining a few discreet squirts from children in my neighborhood I emerged into a full melee; staying dry was simply out of the question. </p>
<p>In Theravada Buddhism, the religion practiced from Sri Lanka to Laos, this is the most significant holiday of the year. The day is known as <a href="https://www.phnompenhpost.com/siem-reap-insider/angkor-sangkran-again-during-new-year-period">Sangkren</a> in Cambodia, <a href="https://sonasia-holiday.com/sonabee/thingyan-festival-myanmar-new-year">Thingyan</a> in Myanmar, or simply Pi Mai in Laos.</p>
<p>In the diaspora, Songkran festivals happen wherever there is a Theravada temple, most <a href="https://thainewyear.org/">notably in Los Angeles</a> and <a href="https://www.watthaidc.org/events/songkran-festival/">Washington, D.C.</a></p>
<h2>A grand carnival</h2>
<p>The festival is a clear display of “sanuk,” the Thai emphasis on making activities fun, when many hierarchies of class and generation are suspended, at least during the water war. </p>
<p>In the days before the beginning of Songkran, roadside stalls start to sell cheap plastic water guns – many of which break by the first pull of the trigger – to “armed” groups of children, who wait to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udyok536EZ8">soak</a> adults whom they previously obeyed and respected. The most creative children fill their water tanks with ice, ensuring that the victims wince when they’re hit. </p>
<p>Along major streets in Bangkok, or around the city moat in Chiang Mai, groups gather, firing water pistols and lifting goopy handfuls of <a href="https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/advanced/522115/the-story-of-powder">chalk powder</a> to slap on each other’s faces – the chalk, incidentally, being a traditional sunscreen, often promoted as a <a href="https://www.sanook.com/women/63815/">natural beauty aid</a>. </p>
<p>In the past two years, concerns over COVID-19 have put a damper on the festivities, as <a href="https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/songkran/songkran-2022-bma-allows-water-splashing-from-covid-safe-distances-in-private-venues">governments try to limit</a> the number of participants and contact between them. </p>
<h2>Carnival time</h2>
<p>Having spent a significant part of the past 20 years living in and writing about the region, I am struck by how Songkran mixes a public carnival and family connections. In rural villages, Songkran means reunions as well as parties. Many families are supported by remittances from members working in Bangkok or abroad, and the holiday provides a chance to return home with gifts, money and temple donations. </p>
<p>Here, too, things turn into a party. In 2015 I spent Songkran in a fishing community <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/mekong-dreaming">near Nong Khai</a>, in northeast Thailand. The town was suddenly full of new faces – people who had been working in factories in Korea, had married overseas, or simply lived and worked in Bangkok. In the mornings of each day, a tent was set up alongside the road, with dishes of spicy som tam <a href="https://www.seriouseats.com/som-tam-green-papaya-salad-5208332">papaya salad</a>, minced pork <a href="https://www.seriouseats.com/laab-moo-isan-isan-style-minced-pork-salad-5205873">larb</a> and copious amounts of <a href="https://www.singhabeerusa.com/leo-beer/">beer</a>. </p>
<p>A hose fed constantly into a series of buckets, and as cars came down the highway, each of us would carry a fully laden bucket of cold water out into the road to soak the drivers. </p>
<p>Of course, this mix of chaos and alcohol can have dire consequences. The numbers of traffic fatalities spike during Songkran week each year – in 2018, there were <a href="https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/30343425">418 deaths</a> linked with drunken driving in Thailand alone. </p>
<h2>Mythic origins</h2>
<p>There is more to the holiday than just a water fight. In <a href="https://learnthaistyle.com/what-is-songkran-festival/#:%7E:text=Legend,this%20challenge%20must%20be%20beheaded.">Thai versions of</a> Hindu-Buddhist myth, the day draws from the rituals surrounding the severed head of Kapila Brahma, or Kabila Phrom in Thai, a Hindu sage who challenged a poor child with a riddle. A child who guessed incorrectly would lose his head, and the confident sage announced that he himself would suffer the same fate if the child guessed right. But the child could understand the speech of animals and overheard the correct answer. The sage lost his head, but his magic was so strong that his severed head would make the rains end if tossed into the sky, or cause the seas to dry if it touched the ground. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://burmese-buddhas.com/blog/burmese-festival-thingyan/">the Burmese version</a>, this myth stems from a conflict between two groups of divinities, and the headless Brahma’s body was granted a new elephant’s head and thus transformed into the Hindu God Ganesh. </p>
<p>In each version, a group of divine women – daughters of the sage in some versions, daughters of the god Indra in others – then took the original head and enshrined it in a cave on Mt. Kailash in western Tibet. Each year, one of the daughters would mount a different beast depending on the day of the week on which Songkran falls and take the severed head in a procession.</p>
<p>This year, the appointed daughter rides a donkey, carries a champaka flower, and wears green – something which everyday believers can do, too, to increase their fortunes. In Bangkok, this divine procession takes the form of a parade and <a href="https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/2016-bangkok-wisut-kasat-miss-songkran-fashion-photos">beauty contest</a> to elect “Miss Songkran.”</p>
<h2>A time for reflection</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456995/original/file-20220407-24-za83w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman wearing a face mask pouring water over a bronze-colored Buddha statue that is decorated with flowers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456995/original/file-20220407-24-za83w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456995/original/file-20220407-24-za83w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456995/original/file-20220407-24-za83w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456995/original/file-20220407-24-za83w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456995/original/file-20220407-24-za83w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456995/original/file-20220407-24-za83w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456995/original/file-20220407-24-za83w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman pours scented water on a Buddha statue during Songkran at the Wat Pho temple in Bangkok, Thailand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/woman-scented-water-on-a-buddha-statue-as-they-celebrate-news-photo/1232284817?adppopup=true">Anusak Laowilas/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>European celebrations of the new year happen during the winter, when days are short. Those are celebrations of <a href="https://www.sapiens.org/culture/renewal-rituals/">resilience</a> amid hope that the world is about to turn toward light and warmth again. </p>
<p>But in Southeast Asia, the season of difficulty does not coincide with the winter. Indeed, <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/thailand/bangkok">daylight time differs</a> by only just over an hour between June and December, and the winter months have <a href="https://en.climate-data.org/asia/thailand/bangkok/bangkok-6313/">temperatures</a> that remain quite pleasant. </p>
<p>The significant seasonal variation is, instead, the <a href="https://eos.org/science-updates/evolution-of-the-asian-monsoon">monsoon</a>. April is the moment just before the hot and dry weather breaks, when monsoon is set to begin and agriculture is at its most desperate. The water wars acquire a sympathetic sort of magic, presaging the rainwaters to come.</p>
<p>It is also a time to thank those who have provided support and bring hope for what is to come. Each Songkran, individuals go to the temples close to their hometown, where they donate, listen to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSOMxDsBrSE">Buddhist sermons</a> or perform acts of service.</p>
<p>Many honor their elders by <a href="https://baanunrakorg.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/rod-nam-dum-hua-a-water-pouring-ceremony/">pouring water</a> over their elders’ palms and also over images of the Buddha, a symbolic giving of coolness and moisture, given the month’s nearly unbearable heat and dryness.</p>
<p>Each of these aspects – the carnival water fight, the mythic story of the rain-destroying head, the bathing of elders’ hands and the image of the Buddha – point toward the significance of water as a source of renewal. It is also a celebration of life in the midst of hardship; a sign of its resilience and, even, its joy.</p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180828/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Alan Johnson receives funding from the Fulbright-Hays foundation, the Mario Einaudi Center, and the Humanities Korea foundation.</span></em></p>In Southeast Asia, Songkran is a time to celebrate the coming year with water fights, honoring elders and offering prayers.Andrew Alan Johnson, Visiting Scholar of Anthropology, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1683352021-12-22T13:37:29Z2021-12-22T13:37:29ZWindrush, music and memories: how songs of resistance and celebration have shaped who I am<p>Like me, you’ve probably found that listening to old songs can transport you back in time. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amy-Belfi/publication/280908551_Music_evokes_vivid_autobiographical_memories/links/55cfe8e408ae6a881385de23/Music-evokes-vivid-autobiographical-memories.pdf">Memories</a> associated with the music flood your brain and so too can the associated emotions. </p>
<p><a href="https://jbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/jbiol82">Research</a> suggests that because emotions enhance memory processes and music evokes strong emotions, music could help us form memories – either about pieces of music or about experiences associated with particular music.</p>
<p>I experienced this quite recently while I was rummaging through my father’s record collection. I was surprised by how much it affected my emotions. Memories from my childhood came rushing back and I began to really understand the connection between <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Memory-of-Sound-Preserving-the-Sonic-Past/Street/p/book/9781138699168">memory and music</a> – I could clearly see how these records have shaped who I am today.</p>
<p>My dad was the son of a preacher from Dundee Pen, a rural parish in Hanover, Jamaica. He was part of the second wave of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/windrush-generation-the-history-of-unbelonging-95021">Windrush generation</a>. He came to Britain with a single aim and a Dulcimena, a type of suitcase. The aim was to return home to Jamaica one day with his wife and build their dream home. He worked hard – first shift work, then nights – meaning that in the 1960s we didn’t see him much except at weekends. That’s when the record collection came out.</p>
<p>Although he was quite religious, his record collection was eclectic, in the sense that alongside <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7dkjW7FzeA">The Grace Thrillers</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ndMZqT6i4I">Jim Reeves</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThsYX4RBtbw">Elvis</a>, you would find <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQQCPrwKzdo">Fats Domino</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myRc-3oF1d0">Duke Ellington</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFFSpSiGueE">Charles Mingus</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x6A662sCMY">Grant Green</a> and even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igHp6TjZ2_s">Jimi Hendrix</a> – from whom I eventually learned to play the guitar by slowing down the 45rpm (revolutions per minute) vinyl to 33rpm. </p>
<p>My dad’s friend would bring fresh bun (a sweet, spiced bread often with added dried fruits), coconut drops and hard dough bread with steamed rice and callaloo, a popular Caribbean vegetable dish. Dad had a <a href="https://www.retrotogo.com/2015/10/ebay-watch-midcentury-style-grundig-radiogram.html">Grundig radiogram</a> – something I have inherited. This was his sophisticated sound system. Mine is much more expensive but now too often, ironically, bypassed for my iPhone and Spotify.</p>
<p>The post-Jamaican independence songs of the mid-1960s and 1970s like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdF1pKeujw8">“Feel no Pain”</a> (1973), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpVxwWQjIy0">“007 - Shanty Town”</a> (1967), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1SoFBlwyYI&list=PLbFh4CNLcHWxMu_XQpHvFk4cb3Phkwwju">“You Can Get It If You Really Want”</a> (1970) and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMSgfPgKgvc">“The Harder they Come, the Harder they Fall”</a> (1972) were our favourites, and stood for us, at the time, as the personification of resistance songs. </p>
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<p>After all, Jamaica was independent, so we could sing, dance and celebrate, in the moment, while still coexisting alongside the harsh realities of British society and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/21/windrush-institutional-racism-hostile-environment">institutional racism</a>. Through music, we soon learned that British colonial links to Jamaica were not entirely severed. With the growing popularity of pirate radio music, songs like Bob Marley’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UubfH-1S43k">Get Up Stand Up”</a> (1973) and Linton Kwesi-Johnson’s album <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPwFQfznjmE">“Forces of Victory”</a> (1978) were getting to the masses – articulating the frustrations of racial injustice and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRbcFNhDFeA">unfair stop and search laws</a>. </p>
<p>Although my dad’s record collection was inspirational, it was our family friend Herman, who had the more radical collection. He had retired from serving in the army and owned a cool 1970 BMW 02 E10. His record collection was much larger and varied: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW2nk18F72w">Big Youth</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Znh0OM9jiA">Jimmy Cliff</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW7X0g1E2A4">King Tubby</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjAXSYQRpQ8">Pablo</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q429AOpL_ds">Shaft</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cmo6MRYf5g">Curtis Mayfield</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrPNwLuk0zQ">Rick James</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QZvoOqUkqw">The Isley Bros</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnJFhuOWgXg">Gil Scott Heron</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW37ccX3Pwg">Cymanide</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylXk1LBvIqU">Miles Davis</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll3CMgiUPuU&t=87s">John Coltrane</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx_OrjGn9lo">War</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOZ8LmYVcVA">Danibelle</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dY4sppiKug">Walter Hawkins</a> and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTQlhXij66g">Last Poets</a> are just a few examples of the Black music he played from a large jazz, blues and gospel collection. </p>
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<p>There was a constant theme of self-empowerment and fighting the power in his selections. We argued about this: whose approach to combating racial and social injustice was better, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U6Y4RmxC9o">Malcolm X’s</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP4iY1TtS3s">Martin Luther King Jr.’s</a>? Both <a href="https://www.history.co.uk/articles/the-lives-of-malcolm-x-and-martin-luther-king-the-firebrand-and-the-pacifist">radical visionaries</a>, Martin Luther King was often seen as a nonviolent pacifist, while Malcolm X was characterised as a political renegade – both <a href="https://www.livescience.com/martin-luther-king-jr-and-malcolm-x-similarities.html">stereotypes that were not necessarily correct</a>.</p>
<h2>Rebel music as pop music</h2>
<p>As pop music culture developed in the 1960s and 1970s, it evolved and was often <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/popular-music/article/abs/sound-effects-youth-leisure-and-the-politics-of-rock-n-roll-by-simon-frith-new-york-pantheon-books-1981-294-pp/054A540129407B6239F46123C62FCF38">expressed as protest music</a>. Artists like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh44QPT1mPE">Neil Young</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90WD_ats6eE">Bob Dylan</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3LFML_pxlY">Simon and Garfunkel</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGLGzRXY5Bw">Joni Mitchell</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0zaebtU-CA">The Beatles</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEjkftp7J7I">The Rolling Stones</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuYnDFNGHMg">Lou Reed</a> and many other popular music groups of the period were widely regarded as anti-establishment. </p>
<p>This explosion of political and cultural expression in popular music culture was, in many cases, inspired by <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-soundtrack-of-the-sixties-demanded-respect-justice-and-equality-105640">protest rhetoric</a> from Black musicians. Teenage rebellion galvanised an explosion of new fashions, outlooks and views. This coincided with the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/black-power-movement-civil-rights">civil rights and Black Power movement</a> in the US, which through Black music, articulated struggles, innovations and celebrations of Black life.</p>
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<p>By looking back at my dad’s music collection, I understand more clearly that the music I listened to as a child has, in part, shaped my personality. It also provided an important emotional shield and an internal power that helped arm me in the struggles that <a href="https://theconversation.com/george-floyd-and-ahmaud-arbery-deaths-racism-causes-life-threatening-conditions-for-black-men-every-day-120541">Black people still experience</a>.</p>
<p>Maybe you might like to take a moment to think about your own experiences listening to music – how a song, playlist, album, cover, concert or performance has impacted you and is still deeply rooted in your memory. I would love to hear what tracks or albums have influenced you and your life story – along with why – in the comments below.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168335/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By looking back at my dad’s music collection I understand more clearly that the music I listened to as a child shaped my personality, destiny and view of the world.Les Johnson, Visiting Research Fellow, Birmingham School of Media, Birmingham City UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1676012021-09-14T19:08:05Z2021-09-14T19:08:05ZForceful vaccine messages backfire with holdouts – how can it be done better?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420892/original/file-20210913-21-15zd52e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C44%2C942%2C579&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters gather at Indiana University in June 2021 to demonstrate against mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for students, staff and faculty. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protesters-holding-placards-gather-at-indiana-universitys-news-photo/1233384399?adppopup=true">SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-full-fda-approval-of-a-vaccine-do-if-its-already-authorized-for-emergency-use-165654">FDA approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine</a> and the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/08/24/covid-vaccines-mandates-masks-biden-fauci/8250548002/">continued surge of the delta variant</a>, governments across the world have renewed their push to increase the number of vaccinated individuals by persuading the holdouts. On Sept. 9, 2021, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/us/politics/biden-vaccine-mandates-transcript.html">President Joe Biden announced</a> sweeping vaccine mandates, expressing frustration at the vaccine holdouts: “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us.”</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.bellisario.psu.edu/people/individual/s.-shyam-sundar">communication scientist</a> who has studied the effects of media and health campaigns for the past 30 years, I worry that a fevered pitch in vaccine messaging may make the holdouts even more resistant. The direct, blunt messages to go get vaccinated that worked on three-quarters of Americans may not work for the remaining one-quarter. If anything, they might backfire.</p>
<p>Research has shown that some health communication techniques work more effectively than others depending on the audience. It’s a lesson that not only policymakers can apply but also members of the media, industry and even parents and relatives.</p>
<p>When it comes to embracing new ideas and practices, research has identified <a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?hl=en&publication_year=2003&author=EM+Rogers&title=Diffusion+of+innovations">five categories of people</a>: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. With COVID-19 vaccination, it’s come down to the last two, and they are the most resistant to change.</p>
<p>This group of <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/unvaccinated-america-in-5-charts/">unvaccinated people</a> is substantial in number – there are nearly <a href="https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2021/07/21/unvaccinated">80 million people</a> in the U.S. who are vaccine eligible yet remain unvaccinated – and they are the ones who could help the U.S. achieve herd immunity. But, research suggests that they are also the ones who will take offense at forceful exhortations to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/05/opinion/coronavirus-mask-vaccine-mandates.html">go get vaccinated</a>. </p>
<h2>Strong messaging can backfire</h2>
<p>Public health messaging can and does often influence people – but not always in the intended direction. Back in 1999, I <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=euwjAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA155&lpg=PA155&dq=STATEMENT+BEFORE+THE+SUBCOMMITTEE+ON+CRIMINAL+JUSTICE,+DRUG+POLICY+AND+HUMAN+RESOURCES+OF+THE+UNITED+STATES+HOUSE+OF+REPRESENTATIVES+BY+S.+SHYAM+SUNDAR,+PH.D.&source=bl&ots=QAAzWaL6o7&sig=ACfU3U2zK6uWRtXCmPnOmiU5n8XSRl3tJA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwirh66dmbvyAhUjEFkFHTziDREQ6AF6BAgCEAM#v=onepage&q&f=false">testified in the U.S. Congress</a> about how powerful anti-drug messages may be turning adolescents on to drugs rather than off of them. Likewise, the strong language of current vaccine messaging may be evoking resistance rather than compliance. </p>
<p>Consider <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/05/opinion/coronavirus-mask-vaccine-mandates.html">this headline</a> from a recent New York Times editorial: “Get Masked. Get Vaccinated. It’s the Only Way Out of This.” This follows 18 months of public-health messaging urging people to stay home, wash hands and maintain social distancing.</p>
<p>They may be well intentioned, but research in health communication shows that such directive messages can be perceived as “high threat,” meaning they threaten the free will of the message receiver by dictating what they should do. They are likely to trigger <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1967-08061-000">what psychologists call “reactance”</a>. In other words, when individuals sense a threat to their freedom of action, they become motivated to restore that freedom, often by attempting to do the very thing that is prohibited or by refusing to adhere to the recommended behavior. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2021.1927914">Recent research</a> by my communications colleagues at Penn State shows that even advertisements that include directive slogans such as “No Mask, No Ride” – from Uber – and “Socialize Responsibly to Keep Bars Open” – a Heineken message – can irritate consumers and make them less likely to engage in responsible behaviors.</p>
<p>Reactance to COVID-19 messaging is evident in the form of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/24/world/france-protests-covid-health-pass.html?smid=em-share">widespread protests</a> around the world. Many have gone to the streets and social media, <a href="https://www.malheurenterprise.com/posts/8849/covid-surge-malheur-county-goes-back-to-school-local-health-experts-ask-community-to-vaccinate">with slogans</a> such as “my body, my choice,” “let me call my own shots” and “coercion is not consent.” </p>
<p>These responses demonstrate not simply hesitation to get vaccinated, but rather active resistance to vaccine messaging, reflecting an effort to protect personal agency by asserting one’s freedom of action. </p>
<h2>Flipping the script</h2>
<p>Freedom is a critical concept in the anti-vaccination rhetoric. “Freedom, not force” is the battle cry of the protesters. “If we lose medical freedom, we lose all freedom,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/22/nyregion/staten-island-covid-vaccine-workers.html">reads a poster</a>. “Choose freedom,” urged Sen. Rand Paul in a <a href="https://www.paul.senate.gov/fox-news-op-ed-sen-rand-paul-mask-mandates-and-lockdowns-petty-tyrants-no-not-again-choose-freedom">recent op-ed</a> expressing his resistance to mask mandates and lockdowns. “We will make our own health choices. We will not show you a passport, we will not wear a mask, we will not be forced into random screening and testing.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Anti-vaccination protester holds a sign and a flag during a rally against COVID-19 vaccines" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Freedom of choice has been a constant theme throughout the pandemic, whether it be about masking, school and business closures or vaccination.</span>
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<p>One way to counter such reactance is by changing the communication strategy. Health communication researchers have found that simple changes to message wording can make a big difference. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03637750500111815">one study</a> by my Penn State colleagues who study health persuasion, the researchers tested participants’ responses to sensible health behaviors such as flossing: “If you floss already, don’t stop even for a day. And, if you haven’t been flossing, right now is the time to start. … Flossing: It’s easy. Do it because you have to!” Study participants reacted to such messages by expressing their disagreement through anger and by defying the advocated behavior.</p>
<p>But then the researchers reworded the same advocacy to be less threatening, such as: “If you floss already, keep up the good work. And if you haven’t been flossing, now might be a good time to start.” And “Flossing: It’s easy. Why not give it a try?” They found that the participants’ reactance was significantly lower and their message acceptance higher. </p>
<p>In the same way, softening the message and using less dogmatic language could be the key to persuading some of the unvaccinated. This is because suggestive, rather than directive, messages allow room for people to exercise their own free will. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2019.00056">Studies in health communication</a> also suggest several other strategies for reducing reactance, ranging from providing choices to evoking empathy.</p>
<h2>Bandwagon effects</h2>
<p>Perhaps more important – given people’s reliance on smartphones and social networking – is to make better use of the technological features of interactive media, which includes websites, social media, mobile apps and games. Clever use of digital media can help convey strong health messages without triggering reactance.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106270">Research in our lab</a> shows that people’s responses to media messages can be influenced by the approval of anonymous others on the internet, in the same way that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/1358628.1358873">consumers rely</a> on other people’s opinions and star ratings for making purchasing decisions online. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2021.1888450">recent study</a>, we discovered that freedom-threatening health messages can be made more palatable if they are accompanied by a large number of likes on social media from other people. When a lot of others were seen as supporting the advocacy message, the forceful language did not seem any more threatening to their freedom than the gentler version. </p>
<p>In other words, we found that the number of likes has a strong “bandwagon effect” in reducing reactance. We also discovered that providing an option to comment on the health message imbues a higher sense of personal agency and greater acceptance of the message.</p>
<p>In another <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2021.1885772">recent experiment</a>, we found that customization, or the ability to tailor one’s phone or online site to one’s liking, can also aid health communication. Whether it is a phone app, dating site or social media feed, customizing a digital space allows people to reflect their personality. Seeing a health advocacy message in such a personalized space does not pose as much of a threat in such venues because people feel secure in their identity. We found that customization helps reduce negative reactions to health messages by increasing one’s sense of identity.</p>
<p>A communication strategy that is sensitive to psychological reactance could empower the holdouts to willingly get vaccinated instead of grudgingly comply with a mandate.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167601/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>S. Shyam Sundar receives funding from U. S. National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Subtly shifting the crafting and delivery of public health messaging on COVID-19 vaccines could go a long way toward persuading many of the unvaccinated to get the shot.S. Shyam Sundar, James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects & Co-Director, Media Effects Research Laboratory, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1652222021-08-12T12:25:51Z2021-08-12T12:25:51ZHow Native students fought back against abuse and assimilation at US boarding schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414849/original/file-20210805-23-16hrt5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C16%2C3618%2C2600&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Native American students at the Carlisle Indian School, circa 1899.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/native-amercian-students-study-at-their-desks-and-line-up-news-photo/640483015">Library of Congress/Corbis Historical Collection/VCG via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Indigenous community members and archaeologists <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/churches-reckon-with-traumatic-legacy-of-boarding-schools">continue to discover</a> unmarked graves of Indigenous children at the sites of Canadian residential schools, the United States is reckoning with its own history of off-reservation boarding schools. </p>
<p>In July 2021, nine Sicangu Lakota students who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania were disinterred and <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/now-theyre-home">returned to their homelands at Whetstone Bay</a> in South Dakota.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black-and-white portrait of young man seated in chair" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1199&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1199&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portrait of Ernest Knocks Off.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/images/ernest-knocks-version-2-c1880">John N. Choate/Cumberland County Historical Society</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of these young people was Ernest Knocks Off. Ernest, who came from the Sicangu Oyate or Burnt Thigh Nation, was among the first group of students to arrive at Carlisle, in 1879. He entered school at age 18 and attempted to run away soon after arriving. He ultimately <a href="http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/documents/potentially-terminal-illness-ernest-knocks">went on a hunger strike</a> and died of <a href="http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/documents/report-deaths-maud-little-girl-and-ernest-knocks">complications of diphtheria on Dec. 14, 1880.</a></p>
<p>My new book “<a href="https://upcolorado.com/utah-state-university-press/item/3980-writing-their-bodies">Writing Their Bodies: Restoring Rhetorical Relations at the Carlisle Indian School</a>” explores how Indigenous children resisted English-only education at Carlisle, which became the prototype for both Indian schools across the U.S. and <a href="http://rschools.nan.on.ca/article/the-davin-report-1879-1120.asp#_ftn1">residential schools in Canada</a>. </p>
<p>While digging into archives of Carlisle students’ writing, I found that young people like Ernest were not passive victims of U.S. colonization. Instead, they fought – in Ernest’s case, to his death – to retain their languages and cultures as the assimilationist experiment in education unfolded. </p>
<h2>‘Unspoken traumas’</h2>
<p>U.S. Army Gen. Richard Henry Pratt opened the government-funded Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1879. Following his model, more than <a href="https://boardingschoolhealing.org/list/">350 government-funded</a> and church-run boarding schools later opened across the U.S. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition estimates that <a href="https://boardingschoolhealing.org/education/us-indian-boarding-school-history/">hundreds of thousands</a> of young Native people attended these schools in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first students were <a href="https://www.oupress.com/books/9779183/battlefield-and-classroom">recruited by Pratt and sent by their nations</a> in hopes that they could learn English to continue fighting against treaty violations by U.S. settlers. In 1891, attendance became <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1626&context=ailr">compulsory under federal law</a>.</p>
<p>Boarding schools sought to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Western culture by separating them from their communities. The schools forced them to learn English and practice Christianity and trained them to work in a capitalist economy – often as <a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803214804/">servants and laborers</a> on farms and in the households of white people. </p>
<p>Students experienced <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/03/traumatic-legacy-indian-boarding-schools/584293/">physical abuse, sexual violence and hunger</a>, and hundreds died of <a href="https://heard.org/boardingschool/health/">diseases like tuberculosis</a> that spread rampantly in institutional settings.</p>
<p>Canada’s national <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1450124405592/1529106060525">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a> identified <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/churches-reckon-with-traumatic-legacy-of-boarding-schools">3,201 children who died in Canadian residential schools</a>. No such estimate exists in the U.S., where a formal reckoning has yet to occur. However, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, <a href="https://www.doi.gov/secretary-deb-haaland">a member of the Laguna Pueblo Nation</a>, <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/secretary-haaland-announces-federal-indian-boarding-school-initiative">has pledged </a> to “address the intergenerational impact of Indian boarding schools to shed light on the unspoken traumas of the past.”</p>
<p>Even as Indigenous students faced teachers and a government trying to replace their cultures, languages and identities, they resisted the assimilationist education. Their strategies were at times blatant, but often covert. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tombstone for Samuel Flying Horse, who died May 11, 1893." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A tombstone of a young Oglala Lakota student buried at the old Carlisle Indian School cemetery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tombstones-of-young-indians-are-decorated-with-small-tokens-news-photo/1195087091">Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis News Collection via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Running away</h2>
<p>Ernest may have been one of the first boarding school students to run away, but he certainly wasn’t the last. Scholars have found that <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/away-from-home-american-indian-boarding-school-experiences-1879-2000/oclc/454120244">running away was a tactic</a> used by students in boarding schools across the U.S. and Canada. It became such a significant shared experience that celebrated Native authors such as <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43079/indian-boarding-school-the-runaways">Louise Erdrich</a> and <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/18/reviews/990418.18rutalt.html">Leslie Marmon Silko</a> capture this act of resistance in their writings. </p>
<p>Running away was a way for students to communicate their rejection of assimilationist education and to fight their separation from their homeland and community. Runaways sometimes succeeded and got back home. But I believe that even when they were forcibly returned to school, running away represented courage and reminded the other students to keep fighting. </p>
<h2>Plains Sign Talk</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935345.013.42">Plains Sign Talk</a> is a sign language that serves as a lingua franca for trade and diplomacy among the Pawnee, Shoshone, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow and Siouan peoples in the Southern Plains. It became a powerful tool at Carlisle, where teachers demanded that students give up their languages for another shared tongue – English. Plains Sign Talk was a way for students to communicate with one another and across tribes that was unintelligible to their teachers. </p>
<p>Carlisle teachers underestimated the importance of Plains Sign Talk, viewing it as a primitive form of communication that students would leave behind as they learned English. When Pratt and his colleagues witnessed students using it, they created a <a href="http://constell8cr.com/issue-2/the-historical-work-of-cultural-rhetorics-constellating-indigenous-deaf-and-english-only-literacies/">new curriculum based on techniques</a> used to teach deaf students. They did not realize that students were using the sign language <a href="http://constell8cr.com/issue-2/the-historical-work-of-cultural-rhetorics-constellating-indigenous-deaf-and-english-only-literacies/">to circumvent the English-only policy</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Senior woman stands beside a makeshift memorial of flowers and other offerings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kamloops Indian Residential School former student Evelyn Camille, 82, at a makeshift memorial to the 215 children whose remains were discovered buried near the facility in British Columbia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kamloops-indian-residential-school-survivor-evelyn-camille-news-photo/1233277614">Cole Burston/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Pictographic writing</h2>
<p>Students also drew on <a href="https://scholar.dickinson.edu/student_work/6/">Plains pictography</a> to tell their stories. Plains tribes originally painted pictographs – elements of a graphic writing system – on buffalo hides to document victories in battle and record “<a href="http://aktalakota.stjo.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8993">winter counts</a>,” or annual historical records. After increased contact with settlers, many tribes began to document pictographic histories in ledger books. These texts served as communal histories that would prompt oral retellings of battles and other significant events. </p>
<p>Students at Carlisle <a href="https://upcolorado.com/utah-state-university-press/item/3980-writing-their-bodies">regularly used pictographs</a> on slates or chalkboards. On June 25, 1880, for example, a Cheyenne student who was renamed Rutherford B. Hayes at school drew a <a href="http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/images/slate-showing-student-work-names-r-b-hayes-and-john-williams-version-1-1880">pictograph of a horse and rider</a> on his slate. He labeled the image John Williams – the Carlisle name of an Arapaho boy who was his classmate and friend. </p>
<p>I argue that these pictographic records show how some students understood their time at school in the context of their developing warrior identities, underscoring their desire to act bravely and return home to recount their stories for their nations’ collective memory.</p>
<h2>Speaking Lakota</h2>
<p>When students spoke their languages, they <a href="https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/ccc/podcasts/klotz">faced harsh penalties</a>. This included corporal punishment, incarceration in the campus barracks and public shaming in the school newspaper. </p>
<p>Pratt and his supervisors at the Bureau of Indian Affairs hoped that they could break up tribes by disrupting the transmission of language and culture from one generation to the next. <a href="http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4929">By destroying tribal identities</a>, they hoped to take land in communally held reservations and guaranteed by treaties. For U.S. settlers to gain access, the land would have to shift to a private property system. Boarding schools thus became part of the federal Indian policy later codified as the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/fed-indian-policy">1887 Dawes Act</a>. </p>
<p>Although students were supposed to speak only English, they began to learn one another’s languages as well. Lakota, or Sioux, became particularly popular, as it was a majority language in the school’s early years when many students came from the Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations. </p>
<p>In 1881, Pratt was troubled that students were still speaking their languages two years into their term. When student Stephen K. White Bear was found “talking Indian,” he received a common punishment, which was writing a composition about his discretion. In his essay <a href="http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/SchoolNews_v02n08_0.pdf">“Speak Only English”</a> Stephen revealed that “every boy and every girl would like to know how to talk Sioux very much. They do not learn the English language they seem to want to know how to talk Sioux.” </p>
<h2>Seeds of pan-Indian resistance</h2>
<p>As students met peers across nations as geographically far-flung as the Inuit and the Kiowa, they sowed seeds for the pan-Indian resistance movements of the 20th century. From the founding of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.31">Society of American Indians</a> in 1911 through <a href="https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-indian-movement-1968-1978?tags=migration">the American Indian Movement</a> of the 1960s and ‘70s, Native activists unified for advocacy and cultural revitalization. <a href="https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/1863/search-for-an-american-indian-identity-the/">Scholars argue</a> that these movements can trace their roots to intertribal communities of solidarity that were built in the boarding schools. </p>
<p>The outcry against boarding schools that we see today across Canada and the U.S. reflects not only a shared experience of trauma, but a longstanding solidarity among Indigenous peoples working together to maintain land, language, culture and identity in the face of oppression at the hands of Euro-Americans. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Klotz received funding from CCCC/NCTE Emergent Researcher Award including a grant of $10,000 for monograph project, Writing Their Bodies: Restoring Rhetorical Relations at the Carlisle Indian School, 2016</span></em></p>Ernest Knocks Off was 18 when he arrived at the Carlisle boarding school in 1879. He was one of many young Native people who fought – in his case, to the death – to retain their language and culture.Sarah Klotz, Assistant Professor of English, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1591002021-04-21T12:26:02Z2021-04-21T12:26:02ZWhy our dislikes should be celebrated as much as our likes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395754/original/file-20210419-19-1ppraal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C26%2C4452%2C2970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reveling in dislike can give us a modicum of control in a world that inundates us with content.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nero-in-the-arena-dooming-a-gladiator-who-has-to-re-enter-news-photo/517331044?adppopup=true">Bettmann via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Millions might tune into the Oscars every year, but I’m always interested in <a href="https://razzies.com/index.html">the Razzies</a>, which recognize spectacular cinematic underachievement. </p>
<p>I’m not the only one who thinks dislikes can be every bit as interesting as likes, either: While the internet and social media are full of praise for fandoms and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/annabenyehudarahmanan/2019/04/24/merriam-webster-adds-stan-to-the-dictionary-a-brief-history/?sh=6ede68d3f80f">stans</a>, there’s a deep well of content <a href="https://ew.com/article/2012/08/16/newsroom-smash-glee-hatewatch/">honoring</a> <a href="https://theweek.com/articles/540183/good-riddance-two-half-men-tvs-laziest-sitcom">profound</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-everyone-hates-nickelback-2016-4">dislikes</a>.</p>
<p>Why do deep dislikes matter, and why might it matter, for instance, whether “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6673612/">Dolittle</a>” or “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13989524/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Absolute Proof</a>” wins the Razzie for Worst Picture?</p>
<p>For several years I’ve been trying to answer these questions. Many dislikes of media content are simple and fleeting: Change the channel and they’re gone. But my forthcoming book “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479809981/dislike-minded/">Dislike-Minded: Media, Audiences, and the Dynamics of Taste</a>” aims to explore when and why dislikes can weigh more heavily upon us.</p>
<p>For all the attention heaped on what we like, what we dislike can be just as important, interesting and empowering.</p>
<h2>Dislike as snobbery</h2>
<p>Among academics who have explored dislike – yes, that’s a thing – the most cited work comes from French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674212770">who saw dislike as snobbery</a>. More specifically, he saw all judgments of taste, favorable or not, as performances of class. The rich could justify their place in society, he argued, by claiming to have more refined tastes. Knowing which literature, music or art to praise could signal to others their rightful place at the top of society. </p>
<p>I’d argue that Bourdieu oversimplified in seeing all dislike as snobbery and all snobbery as class-based. But he’s not entirely wrong. In fact, dislikes often scream out elitism, sexism and racism.</p>
<p>Media associated with women – romance or soap operas – might be sneered at as “<a href="https://pittnews.com/article/155304/opinions/opinion-just-say-no-to-chick-flicks/">chick flicks</a>” or “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/22/chick-lit-hate-term-love-genre-fiction-fourth-wave-feminism">chick lit</a>.” Music associated with people of color, like rap, <a href="https://theconversation.com/rap-musics-path-from-pariah-to-pulitzer-95283">is still dismissed</a> as obscene, while country music songs <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY8SwIvxj8o">are often derided as all sounding alike</a>. </p>
<p>So many -isms do their work in and through dislikes.</p>
<p>Furthermore, dislikes are often used as a way not to stand apart but to fit in. It means learning the unspoken rules of what’s OK to like or dislike, and to proclaim those likes or dislikes loudly for others to hear. When some of us do swim against the social tide, we might be savvy enough to label our likes as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-guilty-pleasure-of-watching-trashy-tv-40214">guilty pleasures</a>,” which both acknowledges the rules and apologizes for violating them.</p>
<h2>Spitting out what you’re force-fed</h2>
<p>In my research, though, I found that dislike isn’t just a form of snobbery. </p>
<p>My research assistants conducted hourlong interviews with more than 200 people over the course of several years. The interviewees were a diverse group in terms of race and gender. Their ages ranged from the 20s to the 70s. Some were working class, while others were upper class. Yet all tended to actively dislike media content far more when they felt they couldn’t escape it.</p>
<p>Sometimes simply changing the channel isn’t possible. Many people can’t choose the radio station that’s playing at work, the playlist in a grocery store, what’s on the TV at the bar or what’s blaring out of someone’s car window. And certain programs or movies creep into other aspects of people’s lives – think <a href="https://geekandsundry.com/bb-8-oranges-furbacca-and-the-29-weirdest-the-force-awakens-products/">“Star Wars” BB-8 branded oranges</a> or <a href="https://crest.com/en-us/products/toothpaste/kids/crest-kids-toothpaste-featuring-disneys-frozen-ana-and-elsa">“Frozen” toothpaste</a>. </p>
<p>For all the chatter about cancel culture, many consumers are powerless to cancel or even to escape. So when people can’t stand what an item of media represents, its ubiquity can invite criticism or dislike.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A stressed woman pushes a cart down a supermarket aisle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Much of the media we’re exposed to is out of our control.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-pushing-trolley-in-supermarket-aisle-royalty-free-image/908954-017?adppopup=true">Andy Sacks via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Surely we are all annoyed at least some of the time by some media. But some of us are subjected to more annoyance than others.</p>
<p>A less discussed privilege is the power to control what media is seen or heard, even if only by being “the type of audience” many producers and their funders want to address.</p>
<p>Remote controls, for instance, have long been <a href="https://theclassicdad.com/2018/01/dad-rule-dad-can-handle-operate-tv-remote/">envisioned</a> as an appendage of dads everywhere, with women and kids being given less power to change the channel. Store <a href="http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/how-to-choose-music-for-retail-stores-and-why-it-is-importan.html">playlists</a> are regularly chosen with middle-class customers’ tastes in mind. And people of color are still often <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Watching-While-Black-Centering-Television/dp/0813553865/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=watching+while+black&qid=1618946985&sr=8-1">regarded as niche audiences</a> for much media, with white preferences and interests acting as the default.</p>
<p>Those without as much power in society might be expected to be more actively annoyed, haunted and hounded by media. Everyone turns to media hoping for specific needs and desires to be met, but those who have those needs and desires realized less often are those who might be expected to dislike with passion more often. </p>
<p>Seen this way, speaking about dislikes is an act of resistance – it’s a refusal to allow public space to be conquered by the ads, merchandise and buzz for media that doesn’t connect.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason, to dislike is to acknowledge that much of our media diet is force-fed.</p>
<p>[<em>Get our best science, health and technology stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-best">Sign up for The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>Keep your likes close – and your dislikes closer</h2>
<p>Dislike can certainly transform into anger or hate, but it may also take a more playful form. Many reviewers strive for a poetry of putrescence in how they excoriate their objects of dislike. </p>
<p>Three of <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Your_Movie_Sucks/eipZqzyaF0UC?hl=en&gbpv=0">Roger</a> <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Horrible_Experience_of_Unbearable_Leng.html?id=dAwrk5wbvFoC">Ebert’s</a> <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/I_Hated_Hated_Hated_This_Movie.html?id=UwXuJCuQ6q4C">books</a>, for example, collect only his most damning criticism. Parents sharing their disdain with me for Caillou – the whiny children’s character – did so while laughing, not raging. And “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/12/10/7336119/hate-watching-explained">hate-watching</a>,” or watching something to revel in all the ways you despise it, has become a common form of viewing. </p>
<p>Instead of tuning out and turning off, why would someone gleefully watch the object of their dislike and offer a running commentary of damnation?</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="The children's character Caillou sits accompanied by the text 'If 2020 was a child, it would be Caillou.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A meme features the much-derided Caillou.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">https://www.memecreator.org/meme/if-2020-was-a-child-it-would-be-caillou/</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reveling in dislike can reassert control in a world that inundates everyone with content. Keeping the shows, songs and movies the hate-watcher despises close at hand – rather than trying to avoid or repel them – can make them better prosecutors in the court of public opinion. If popular media regularly produce discussion, the hate-watcher is better equipped to poison that well.</p>
<p>Or some dislikers might enjoy their dislikes as a way to avoid their corroding certain relationships. Many of us can probably relate to the experience of having a friend, partner or family member who insists we watch something against our will. </p>
<p>What if, rather than resenting the show or the person, we simply embrace it in all of its cringeworthy glory?</p>
<p>Impassioned dislike can be too easily mistaken for hate and anger, but it is a distinct reaction: Nobody at the Razzies will be pounding their fists, red-faced, on the podium as they present. </p>
<p>By all means, heed the colloquial advice to “ignore the haters.” But a lot can be learned by listening to the dislikers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159100/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Gray does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Loudly proclaiming your dislikes isn’t snobbery. There can be a power and poetry to putrescence.Jonathan Gray, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1387062020-06-03T14:45:22Z2020-06-03T14:45:22ZCOVID-19 murals express hope and help envision urban futures<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338388/original/file-20200528-51462-119p2k0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=59%2C165%2C3886%2C2751&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rather than blank boarded-up storefronts, artists in Vancouver have created murals to offer inspiration, public health messaging and beauty during the coronavirus pandemic. This one is by Will Phillips.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Eugene McCann)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Urban public spaces have been transforming during the COVID-19 pandemic. Storefronts in once-bustling shopping districts have been boarded up with plywood. In many cities, large temporary boards have <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/06/coronavirus-themed-murals-from-around-the-world.html">gradually been painted with murals</a>.</p>
<p>In Vancouver, B.C., there are three types of new murals: inspirational works of general encouragement and gratitude toward essential workers; informational murals, conveying warnings and advice; and decorative, largely abstract, paintings adding colour to the plywood.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/indignacao-brazilian-street-art-in-its-historical-context-27926">Cities have always had street art</a>, but what should we make of these recent murals? Our research looks at how public space is essential to political debate about urban futures. </p>
<p>In our critical reading of the COVID-19 murals, the artists are expressing specific visions of the future. Our analysis also raises questions about whose visions for the future are less evident in the murals.</p>
<h2>Murals tell stories and are political</h2>
<p>Thin veneers of paint on walls, murals seem one-dimensional. Yet, they reference and resonate across numerous aspects of life. Murals take up space. </p>
<p>They often commemorate and glorify particular stories of the past, like conservative tales of empire or the “good old days.” Murals also <a href="https://www.twincities.com/2020/05/30/stunning-mural-of-george-floyd-provides-minneapolis-community-a-place-to-process/">memorialize victims of injustice</a> — as the ones for George Floyd have done. These murals are intended to inspire progressive change and they <a href="https://sparcinla.org/">celebrate movements that have fought for that change</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People gather at a memorial mural painted on Chicago Avenue in South Minneapolis where George Floyd was killed by police.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Brian Peterson/Star Tribune/AP)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Murals are also future-oriented. They invoke opportunities and desired social change. Thus, they are political. Researchers and activists pay attention to murals as <a href="https://themainlander.com/2016/10/05/vancouver-mural-festival-is-caught-up-in-gentrification/">harbingers of gentrification</a>, as indicators of <a href="https://theconversation.com/speaking-with-cameron-mcauliffe-on-graffiti-art-and-crime-39183">local economic development priorities</a>, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/street-art-personal-creations-get-political-with-public-messaging-115945">grassroots pedagogy</a> and as expressions of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12053">struggles over the city</a>.</p>
<p>Murals tell stories that are shaped by their artists and funders. They represent partial stories about what is important in the world and who is an important member of the public.</p>
<h2>COVID-19 murals</h2>
<p>In Vancouver, officially curated <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-artists-fight-back-against-coronavirus-with-hope-heart-and-public/">murals have been painted by local artists</a> during the crisis. They’re commissioned and supported by the city, store owners, business improvement associations, the local <a href="https://www.vanmuralfest.ca/">Mural Festival organization</a>, a graffiti removal company and a credit union. </p>
<p>Inspirational murals, like the masked angelic health professional by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sketchbork/">Will Phillips</a> in downtown Vancouver, represent the care and professional competence of health-care and other essential workers. These murals often contain portraits of individuals or small groups in monumental, heroic or even quasi-religious poses. They feature personal care workers who, until recently, may have been taken for granted.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Tha Virus,’ a collaboration between artist Smokey D and community advocate Karen Ward with a public health message.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Eugene McCann)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Informational murals convey advice. For example, <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/coronavirus-street-art-to-inform-residents-on-vancouvers-downtown-eastside/ar-BB12eYDo">artist Smokey D’s mural, a collaboration with community advocate Karen Ward</a>, advises physical distancing, frequent hand-washing, less face-touching and provides statistics on the global impact of the virus. Funded by the city and located in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, home to many people with health vulnerabilities, this mural is part of a wider ecosystem of grassroots outreach work, as well as traditional sources of news. </p>
<p>Compared to inspirational murals, informational ones often encourage self-help and awareness for survival.</p>
<p>Decorative murals are less likely to emphasize a message or an individual. Instead, they tend to mirror the esthetic of the retail store on which they are painted, either in their colour scheme or motifs. Their purpose is to make shuttered retail streetscapes more attractive, thus encouraging customers to return, while leaving the interpretation of the art up to their audience. They avoid taking a stand that might alienate any viewers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Decorative murals, like this one by Victoria Siecz are not message-centric but are esthetic offerings that enhance commissioning businesses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/victoriasiecz/">(Eugene McCann)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reading and re-writing the city</h2>
<p>Urban geographers have long approached the city <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/ca/academic/subjects/geography/human-geography/city-text-politics-landscape-interpretation-kandyan-kingdom?format=PB">as a text</a> <a href="https://www.mcny.org/exhibition/city-canvas">or canvas</a> that can be read to understand how it is shaped by political, economic, social and cultural forces and values. </p>
<p>Reading the murals commissioned by local government and business allows us to see a heightened appreciation of care work; a commitment to the well-being of the most vulnerable, and a concern about the future of brick-and-mortar retail.</p>
<p>Yet, official narratives are only part of the story. While these murals reflect approved messages, images, values and agendas, other artists, painting and creating in less official capacities, are mainly left out of the picture, with less resources. Thus, their messages are less likely to gain public attention. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Izzie Cheung and Brian Heimowski created this inspirational mural of respiratory therapists.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/this_iz_art/">(Eugene McCann)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are no critiques of <a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/commentary/fast-facts-homelessness-precarious-housing-and-covid-19">housing precarity</a>, <a href="https://www.policynote.ca/seniors-care-profit/">health-care funding</a> or <a href="https://nupge.ca/sites/default/files/pdf/COVID-19%20and%20Income%20Inequality%20Paper.pdf">income inequality</a> in the officially sanctioned murals.</p>
<p>This is not to say the commissioned murals are apolitical. The inspirational and informational murals contain latent calls for increased public funding for public health care, decent housing and social services for essential workers and for people who are low-income earners. </p>
<p>The decorative murals may raise questions about the long-term value and viability of urban shopping districts. Their presence may subtly ask passersby if they are willing to find public solutions to the threat of e-commerce.</p>
<p>Murals are remarkably ephemeral. Unless maintained assiduously, they quickly fade. COVID-19 murals are <a href="https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/robson-street-boarding-dismantled-reopening">particularly fleeting</a>, since they are painted on temporary hoardings. Similarly, supportive feelings about essential workers, vulnerable neighbours and local businesses, can quickly fade, especially when other economic priorities arise. </p>
<p>Public art invites us to think about what stories are being told to us — and by whom. We should also be aware of the stories we are not being told. Art can offer this sort of comprehensive, critical reading of the world and its possible futures. It can inspire progressive political coalitions to work toward a more just society. If they succeed, an artist will paint them in a mural one day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138706/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eugene McCann receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Friederike Landau receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lise Mahieus receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p>During COVID-19, boarded-up storefronts host various new types of inspirational, informational and decorative murals that should be read critically as representing political agendas for the future.Eugene McCann, Professor of Geography, Simon Fraser UniversityFriederike Landau, Postdoctoral Researcher, Geography, Simon Fraser UniversityLise Mahieus, MA student, Geography, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1386012020-05-28T21:21:44Z2020-05-28T21:21:44ZIndigenous communities come together virtually during coronavirus despite barriers and inequities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336871/original/file-20200521-102632-xwsra0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=513%2C110%2C2113%2C2440&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kyla Henry, from Roseau River and Winnipeg, performs a Jingle Dress dance with Carson Robinson, from Sagkeeng First Nation, during a concert at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg in June 2018. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>During the COVID-19 pandemic, Indigenous communities are coming together virtually in the spirit of wellness and many Indigenous Peoples are connecting over social media to showcase culture through song and dance. </p>
<p>Indigenous presence on what we refer to as Turtle Island is rooted in a history of violence, including biological warfare. In 1763, British army officer Jeffery Amherst <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27774278">encouraged the intentional spread of disease to Indigenous communities through smallpox blankets</a>. Smallpox was one of the diseases that ravaged Indigenous communities, along with influenza and measles. </p>
<p>Fast forward to the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/ottawa-sends-body-bags-to-manitoba-reserves-1.844427">2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic</a> and the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/native-american-health-center-asked-covid-19-supplies-they-got-n1200246">2020 COVID-19 pandemic</a> when Indigenous communities were sent body bags rather than health-care resources. These health disparities should have been a wake-up call in 2009 when northern Indigenous communities were hit the <a href="http://www.nccah-ccnsa.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/174/NCCAH-FS-InfluenzaEpidemiology-Part01-Halseth-EN-Web.pdf">hardest during the H1N1 outbreak</a>. The structural barriers and health-care inequities facing Indigenous communities are clear.</p>
<p>As a result, Indigenous spiritual traditions and community connections remain integral to our survival.</p>
<h2>Survival and resistance</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803210837/">Survivance, according to Indigenous literary scholar Gerald Vizenor, is about more than survival</a>: It encompasses an active sense of presence merging both survival and resistance. </p>
<p>In examining solidarity movements like Idle No More, Cree scholar Karyn Recollet writes that new geographies of resistance bring Indigenous peoples together through a process of “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.2014.995060">making visible an active Indigenous presence and futurity in otherwise contested Indigenous territories</a>.”</p>
<p>Cultural traditions like the jingle dress dance show how Indigenous people come together to survive and resist. As historian Brenda Child uncovered, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/created-during-spanish-flu-jingle-dress-dance-now-helping-first-nations-people-cope-with-covid-19-1.5531917">this medicinal and healing dance is connected to the 1919 Spanish Flu pandemic</a>.</p>
<p>One of the origin stories of the jingle dress dance explains that <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/origins-of-women-s-jingle-dress-dancing-g3WkMh6AmECyELjx3rZavw">it was first danced by Maggie White of Whitefish Bay First Nation</a> after it came to Maggie’s father in a vision when Maggie was ill as a child. Known for its beautiful sound and intricate footwork, the dance has since become a popular main category in traditional and competitions powwow; jingle dress dancers are often called upon to perform healing ceremonies. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Historian Brenda Child explores the health connection behind the jingle dress in Ojibwe history.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In response to the current pandemic, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/jingle-dress-dance-healing-covid-19-pandemic-1.5504903">jingle dress dancers come together</a> in the spirit of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mS5vIEg22A">bringing healing to our nations</a>. <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/tony-violet-duncan-indigenous-dancers-heroes-heroines">Today</a>, they come <a href="https://www.powwows.com/jingle-dancing-going-viral-during-covid-19/">together virtually</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/GatheringofNationsPowwow/videos/calling-all-jingle-dress-dancers-dance-your-style-dance-for-healing-jingle-powwo/2240646429371486/">This virtual connection</a> is a powerful expression of our cultural strength — the very parts that hold us up, transcending borders, time and space. </p>
<p>For some, the pandemic means indefinite separation from community, friends and family. For example, the community of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory recently put up barricades to prevent access to visitors <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/six-nations-barricades-covid-19-1.5512752">as a way to protect the reserve from the spread of COVID-19</a>. Similar blockades are now <a href="https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/special/coronavirus/covid-19-checkpoints-check-all-boxes-for-indigenous-rights-570324442.html">preventing non-residents from entering Indigenous communities across the country</a>. </p>
<p>Within the boundaries of Six Nations, support for community safety is <a href="https://www.tvo.org/article/what-its-like-working-a-checkpoint-in-a-first-nation-during-covid-19">visibly unwavering</a>. Community member Rhonda Martin has been busy in her kitchen preparing healthy meals for the community members posted to the barricades. Chef Tawnya Brant has been showcasing videos <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfqY0cvDia5SNeQ9iYbhTcA">featuring traditional foods on YouTube</a>. The owners of jewellery company Sapling & Flint <a href="https://www.saplingandflint.ca/blogs/announcements/first-nations-jewellery-manufacturer-retools-to-make-mask-filters">restructured their gallery to make face mask filters for frontline workers</a>; many of these have been sent to the <a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/05/417506/ucsf-sends-second-wave-health-workers-navajo-nation">Navajo Nation</a> that has recorded the largest per-capita infection rate in the <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/navajo-nation-surpasses-new-york-state-for-the-highest-covid-19-infection-rate-in-the-u-s-1.4944145">United States</a>. As of May 23, the Navajo Nation <a href="https://www.ndoh.navajo-nsn.gov/COVID-19">has 4,434</a> positive COVID-19 cases and 147 deaths. The disproportionate rates of infection within Indigenous communities demands immediate action. </p>
<h2>Coming together as a virtual community</h2>
<p>Similar acts of support and decolonial love are happening across Turtle Island. Writer Adrienne Keene set up <a href="http://nativeappropriations.com/category/indigenous-stories-uncertain-times">Indigenous Stories of Uncertain Times</a>, where contributors can request donations be sent to an Indigenous COVID relief fund. Indigenous youth are building and inspiring community through the TikTok-based <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/indigenous-sask-beauty-influencers-uprising-1.5535511">#PassTheBrush</a> challenge. Traditional cooking has been inspired by Yazzie the Chef’s #PassTheChefKnife video featuring Indigenous chefs cooking from home in their own territories:</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Indigenous chefs like Yazzie the Chef connect from their kitchens in the #PassTheChefKnife challenge, inspired by the #PassTheBrush make-up and jingle dress challenge.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Indigenous authors and podcasters are <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFApHLoivKQ">bringing people together through dialogue</a>. The survivance and the solidarity of Indigenous peoples hold us up and keep us well.</p>
<p>On May 21, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a relief fund for Indigenous people living off-reserve and in urban centres. The money, expected to take several weeks to roll out, is intended to support community-based projects including access to food and mental health services, but it fails to address <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/march-2020/priority-pandemic-response-needed-for-first-nations/">the structural barriers and health disparities facing Indigenous communities</a>. </p>
<p>Canada has failed to end the ongoing boil water advisories across First Nations communities. Communities with “<a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/this-ontario-first-nations-boil-water-advisory-has-been-in-effect-for-25-years/">do not consume advisories</a>” can only wash their <a href="https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1581964230816/1581964277298">hands with bottled water and hand soap</a> — commodities that are <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/why-did-you-buy-that-unearthing-the-roots-of-consumer-choices-in-the-pandemic-1.4929588">suddenly hard to find for many Canadians</a>. </p>
<p>The community members of Neskantaga in Ontario, for example, can spend over $7 for a <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/this-ontario-first-nations-boil-water-advisory-has-been-in-effect-for-25-years/">3.7-litre jug of water</a>. Along with the outrageous food prices in some of our remote communities, residents face <a href="https://yellowheadinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/covid-19-and-fn-infrastructure.pdf">poor infrastructure</a>, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6136161/first-nations-food-insecurity-study/">food insecurity</a> and <a href="https://juxtamagazine.org/2019/11/24/canadas-national-failure-indigenous-health/">limited health-care resources</a>. <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1111%2Fnin.12237">The inequities are evident</a>.</p>
<p>Now, more than ever, the government of Canada needs to roll out an immediate and effective plan to ensure the safety and well-being of Indigenous communities. Until then, Indigenous communities will continue to do all possible to ensure their own protection and well-being; this is nothing new. </p>
<p>I remain fearful for the most vulnerable communities of this land. Our virtual Indigenous community, however, is stronger than ever as evidenced with each YouTube, TikTok video and virtual jingle dress dance.</p>
<p>I am not sure what normalcy will look and feel like, but the Indigenous survivance that has strengthened us during this pandemic will have forever changed us. </p>
<p>From the structural barriers that have produced disproportionate rates of infection to the inadequate health-care responses, the present state remains grossly unfair to Indigenous peoples. As we take it upon ourselves to construct a safer, healthier and more equitable reality after COVID-19, I hope more non-Indigenous people consider these disparities as a call for collective action on our now shared territories.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138601/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Brant does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Indigenous communities are connecting over digital communities to survive and resist.Jennifer Brant, Assistant Professor in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1254022019-10-18T09:40:49Z2019-10-18T09:40:49ZExtinction Rebellion’s commuter and science critics are missing the point<p>Extinction Rebellion is making people angry. After weeks of disrupting drivers in central London, protesters from the climate change activist group have enraged commuters by stopping Underground trains. <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/17/extinction-rebellion-have-turned-climate-change-class-war/">Critics have</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/17/extinction-rebellion-canning-town-well-off-people">come out</a> <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/extinction-rebellion-come-under-fire-for-comparing-tube-protesters-with-civil-rights-activist-rosa-a4264131.html">in force</a>. Stopping hard-working people from getting home by shutting down one of the lowest carbon forms of transport available will only lose you support, runs the argument. Which completely misses the point. </p>
<p>Those who criticise protesters for causing “disruption” are likely to be the same people who, a few years from now when serious climatic disruption is unsettling their daily lives, will complain that “nobody did anything”. Certainly protestors need to disrupt carefully (tube trains are surely not a good target), but without disruption of some kind, how else will urgently needed system change happen?</p>
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<p>I’m reminded of the words of <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1857-frederick-douglass-if-there-no-struggle-there-no-progress/#sthash.8Eoaxpmo.dpuf">abolitionist Frederick Douglass</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Extinction Rebellion should be used to criticism by now. They have also been told they are <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/environment/2019/10/does-extinction-rebellion-have-class-problem">too middle class</a>. That their targets <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47947775">are unrealistic</a>. That they are misuing science to <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/6/13/18660548/climate-change-human-civilization-existential-risk">exaggerate the catastrophic nature</a> of climate change. And that they are too <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/20/children-deserve-better-extinction-rebellions-dangerous-fantasies/">reliant on fear</a> to try to motivate people. Some of this criticism deserves consideration and some a defence. But there is another, overlooked problem that I think is a more serious threat to the movement’s goals.</p>
<h2>Unclear science</h2>
<p>The movement’s co-founder, Roger Hallam, is among those who has <a href="https://unherd.com/2019/09/why-climate-change-isnt-the-end-of-the-world/">been criticised</a> for saying climate change will kill billions and <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/environment/2019/10/extinction-rebellion-green-rebels-cause">threatens the very existence</a> of the human race, positions that <a href="https://climatefeedback.org/claimreview/prediction-extinction-rebellion-climate-change-will-kill-6-billion-people-unsupported-roger-hallam-bbc/">scientists have said</a> are <a href="https://climatefeedback.org/evaluation/iflscience-story-on-speculative-report-provides-little-scientific-context-james-felton/">not supported</a> by the evidence. The question for activists is whether the science is not already alarming enough to win support for sufficiently radical climate action.</p>
<p>First, it’s not clear how many people supporting Extinction Rebellion, or whose attention has been grabbed by the movement, actually share these fears of an existential crisis.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://twitter.com/alex_randall/status/1183773523728314368">Alex Randall</a> of the charitable Climate and Migration Coalition notes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t think that it’s Hallam’s inaccurate doom mongering that has brought people out onto the streets for XR. Rather, XR provided an organisation and a platform for people who were already worried enough to take to the streets. Hallam’s apocalyptic ramblings are not the driving force force behind their civil disobedience.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meanwhile, “the science” – endlessly <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-climate-change-science-misconceptions-debunked-122570">attacked and muddied</a> – is not clear on the exact level of risk we face, and doesn’t say anything about how we should respond to it.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most often quoted source of evidence on climate change is the output of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It was <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1005315532386">designed as</a> an inherently conservative organisation because the US didn’t want to be forced into international action by scientists, as it felt it had been over the issue of the ozone layer. As a result, the IPCC may well be <a href="https://www.climatecentral.org/news/report-ipcc-underestimate-assessing-climate-risks-15338">underestimating the risks</a> of climate change by erring on the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959378012001215">side of least drama</a>.</p>
<p>In fact, some scientists at the coalface of climate study are <a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a36228/ballad-of-the-sad-climatologists-0815/">super scared</a> of what’s going to happen. There’s also anecdotal evidence that some scientists are self-censoring, particularly with regards to how much warming the Earth is likely to experience. This may be because they are worried being bad news messengers may not be good for their careers, or a belief that only hope in preserving our current climate will encourage people to act.</p>
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<h2>Using fear</h2>
<p>This chimes with the criticism of Extinction Rebellion that inspiring fear will only demotivate people from acting, paralysing them by spreading the view that the situation is so hopeless that nothing can be done. This may or may not be the case (it depends). Fear certainly seems to make <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/03/demagogues-fury-violence-outrage-discourse">processing difficult information harder</a>.</p>
<p>But writing as someone who has studied corporate resistance to the Australian carbon pricing system, I can tell you that a lot of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/joyces-100-roast-prediction-rubbished-20121118-29kln.html">the fear-mongering</a> around climate change comes from those with a vested interest in the status quo. Even though a carbon price would have had <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/OGorman-and-Jotzo-Impact-of-the-carbon-price-on-Australias-electricity-demand-supply-and-emissions.pdf">very mild economic effects</a>, coal companies and their allies repeatedly hired economists whose models “proved” such a price would provoke imminent economic armageddon, in well-publicised “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/1119_australian1.pdf">sky will fall</a>” reports, every time a carbon price was proposed. Once such a scheme was finally adopted, it lasted just two years before it was scrapped. Fear can indeed be a powerful tool.</p>
<p>Ultimately, regardless of how many degrees of warming are likely, what we need is urgent action. And this is where we come to the bigger problem with Extinction Rebellion. Action doesn’t happen because of <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-climate-strikes-what-next-for-the-latest-generation-of-activists-111594">one-off mobilisations</a>, but rather constant, specific pressure at all levels – local, national, international – by informed, engaged citizens who are in it for the long haul. This is regardless of what I call <a href="https://marchudson.net/2019/09/23/the-emotacycle-what-it-is-why-it-matters-what-is-to-be-done/">the “emotacycle”</a>, a social movement’s predictable course of action inspired by emotion, taken whether or not it achieves the movement’s stated goals. </p>
<p>While protesters stop traffic in central London, local authorities around the rest of the country are largely getting away with declaring climate emergencies and then <a href="https://climateemergencymanchester.net/2019/10/09/new-report-manchester-city-council-a-dead-tortoise-society-on-climate-change">doing nothing</a>. When the protests end, we have to hope that those who have braved the cold nights on thin cardboard will join with others for the excruciating boredom of town hall scrutiny committees.</p>
<p>If we are talking about the behaviour of activists having a bad impact on the possibility of radical climate action, it’s not the anger of commuters or the fear of children we should worry about. But rather it’s the feelings of disconnection that so many people feel after attending a badly designed and badly run activist meeting. Standing on top of a tube carriage will only ever get you so far.</p>
<hr>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1125402">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125402/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc Hudson is one of five core group members of Climate Emergency Manchester, which seeks to get Manchester City Council to adopt policies that genuinely meet the scale of the challenge we face. And then actually implement those policies. CEM works with individuals and groups to achieve these goals.</span></em></p>Extinction Rebellion isn’t trying to win support or inspire people – it’s trying to force action.Marc Hudson, Researcher, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1101322019-01-18T21:28:16Z2019-01-18T21:28:16ZHoward Thurman – the Baptist minister who had a deep influence on MLK<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254542/original/file-20190118-100288-2k42ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thurman taught King Jr. that spiritual cultivation was necessary to take on the intense work of social activism.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/MLK50-Life-of-King-Photo-Gallery/a640c380eda44c21808ee73757aba03f/234/0">AP File Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For most African-Americans who grew up with the legacy of segregation and violence, making space for introspection was difficult. Martin Luther King Jr., however, learned to integrate spiritual growth with social transformation – a practice that sustained him during periods of intense work for the civil rights movement. </p>
<p>As a <a href="http://paulharvey.org/about">historian</a> who has studied how figures in American history struggled with similar questions, I believe one <a href="https://religionnews.com/2019/01/17/howard-thurman-mentor-to-king-who-preached-nonviolence-featured-in-documentary/">significant influence on King’s thought in this area</a> was the African-American minister, theologian and mystic <a href="http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/howard_thurman.html">Howard Thurman</a>.</p>
<h2>The influence of Howard Thurman</h2>
<p>Born in 1899, Thurman was 30 years older than King: the same age, in fact, as King’s father. Through his sermons and teaching at Howard University and Boston University, he influenced intellectually and spiritually an entire generation that became the leadership of the civil rights movement. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201700/original/file-20180111-101492-3fslzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201700/original/file-20180111-101492-3fslzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201700/original/file-20180111-101492-3fslzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201700/original/file-20180111-101492-3fslzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201700/original/file-20180111-101492-3fslzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201700/original/file-20180111-101492-3fslzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201700/original/file-20180111-101492-3fslzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Howard Thurman.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/speakingoffaith/8447631569">On Being</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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<p>Among his most significant contributions was bringing the ideas of nonviolence to the movement. It was Thurman’s trip to India in 1935, where he met Mahatma Gandhi, that <a href="http://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2014/10/when-howard-thurman-met-mahatma-gandhi-nonviolence-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html">was greatly influential</a> in incorporating the principles of nonviolence in the African-American freedom struggle.</p>
<p>At the close of the meeting, which was long highlighted by Thurman as a central event of his life, Gandhi reportedly <a href="http://www.beacon.org/Visions-of-a-Better-World-P745.aspx">told Thurman</a> that “it may be through the Negroes that the unadulterated message of nonviolence will be delivered to the world.” King and others <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=iY-MAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA89&lpg=PA89&dq=it+may+be+through+negroes+unadulterated+message+king+scla&source=bl&ots=-CdQSQlAeq&sig=B-oRs-yTewBMbNuavMzVWhaxUOE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKlObjqNDYAhUN6mMKHftDBzYQ6AEILzAB#v">remembered</a> and repeated that phrase during the early years of the civil rights movement in the 1950s. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201692/original/file-20180111-101508-8ea62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201692/original/file-20180111-101508-8ea62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201692/original/file-20180111-101508-8ea62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201692/original/file-20180111-101508-8ea62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201692/original/file-20180111-101508-8ea62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201692/original/file-20180111-101508-8ea62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201692/original/file-20180111-101508-8ea62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Mahatma Gandhi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGandhi_spinning.jpg">gandhiserve.org via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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<p>Thurman and King were both steeped in the black Baptist tradition. Both thought long about how to apply their church experiences and theological training into challenging the white supremacist ideology of segregation. However, initially their encounters were brief.</p>
<p>Thurman had served as <a href="https://www.bu.edu/thurman/about/dr-thurman/a-timeline/">dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University</a> from 1953 to 1965. King was a student there when Thurman first assumed his position in Boston and heard the renowned minister deliver some addresses. A few years later, <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/howard-thurman-2">King invited</a> Thurman to speak at his first pulpit at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.</p>
<p>Their most serious personal encounter – the one that gave Thurman his opportunity to influence King personally, and help prepare him for struggles to come – came as a result of a tragedy. </p>
<h2>A crucial meeting in hospital</h2>
<p>On Sept. 20, 1958, a mentally disturbed African-American woman named Izola Ware Curry came to a book signing in upper Manhattan. There, King was signing copies of his new book, “<a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/stride-toward-freedom-montgomery-story">Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story</a>.” </p>
<p>Curry moved to the front of the signing line, took out a sharp-edged letter opener and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/us/izola-ware-curry-who-stabbed-king-in-1958-dies-at-98.html">stabbed</a> the 29-year-old minister, who had just vaulted to national prominence through his leadership of the <a href="http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_montgomery_bus_boycott_1955_1956/">Montgomery bus boycott</a>.</p>
<p>King barely survived. Doctors later told King that if <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/curry-izola-ware">he had sneezed,</a> he easily could have died. Of course, King later received a fatal gunshot wound in April 1968. Curry lived her days in a mental institution, to the age of 97.</p>
<p>It was while recuperating in the hospital afterward that King received a visit from Thurman. While there, Thurman <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=DYzaAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA162&lpg=PA162&dq=king+hospital+recovery+thurman+1958&source=bl&ots=tx31YuL0ij&sig=UMyHOSFrTa2JQIC0tgHKmaFo3IE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiu4erNps7YAhVC32MKHc0BCXIQ6AEIPzAH#v=onepage&q=king%20hospital%20recovery%20thurman%201958&f=false">gave the same advice</a> he gave to countless others over decades: that King should take the unexpected, if tragic, opportunity to meditate on his life and its purposes, and only then move forward. </p>
<p>Thurman urged King to extend his rest period by two weeks. It would, as he said, give King “time away from the immediate pressure of the movement” and to “rest his body and mind with healing detachment.” Thurman <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/thurman-howard">worried</a> that “the movement had become more than an organization; it had become an organism with a life of its own,” which potentially could swallow up King. </p>
<p>King <a href="https://www.bu.edu/today/2011/who-was-howard-thurman/">wrote to Thurman</a> to say, “I am following your advice on the question.”</p>
<h2>King’s spiritual connection with Thurman</h2>
<p>King and Thurman were never personally close. But Thurman left a profound intellectual and spiritual influence on King. King, for example, reportedly carried his own well-thumbed copy of Thurman’s best-known book, <a href="https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.260684">“Jesus and the Disinherited,”</a> in <a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2004-01-19/news/0401190135_1_howard-thurman-luther-king-martin-luther">his pocket</a> during the long and epic struggle of the Montgomery bus boycott. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201697/original/file-20180111-101492-edbhzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201697/original/file-20180111-101492-edbhzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201697/original/file-20180111-101492-edbhzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201697/original/file-20180111-101492-edbhzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201697/original/file-20180111-101492-edbhzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201697/original/file-20180111-101492-edbhzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201697/original/file-20180111-101492-edbhzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In his sermons during the 1950s and 1960s, King quoted and paraphrased Thurman extensively.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMartin_Luther_King_Jr_St_Paul_Campus_U_MN.jpg">Minnesota Historical Society, via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>In his sermons during the 1950s and 1960s, King quoted and paraphrased Thurman <a href="http://www.beacon.org/A-Strange-Freedom-P175.aspx">extensively</a>. <a href="https://www.weldonturner.com/howard-thurman-jesus-and-the-disinherited">Drawing from Thurman’s views</a>, King understood Jesus as friend and ally of the dispossessed – to a group of Jewish followers in ancient Palestine, and to African-Americans under slavery and segregation. That was precisely why <a href="https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469618845/the-color-of-christ/">Jesus was so central</a> to African-American religious history.</p>
<h2>The mystic</h2>
<p>Thurman was not an activist, as King was, nor one to take up specific social and political causes to transform a country. He was a private man and an intellectual. He saw spiritual cultivation as a necessary accompaniment to social activism. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.bu.edu/sth/profile/walter-e-fluker/">Walter Fluker</a>, editor of the <a href="http://www.bu.edu/htpp/">Howard Thurman Papers Project</a>, has explained, the private mystic and the public activist <a href="http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/488403">found common ground</a> in understanding that spirituality is necessarily linked to social transformation. Private spiritual cultivation could prepare the way for deeper public commitments for social change. </p>
<p>King himself, <a href="http://www.augsburgfortress.org/media/downloads/9780800663490Chapter1.pdf?domainRedirect=true">according to</a> one biographer, came to feel that the stabbing and enforced convalescence was “part of God’s plan to prepare him for some larger work” in the struggle against southern segregation and American white supremacy. </p>
<p>In a larger sense, the discipline of nonviolence required a spiritual commitment and discipline that came, for many, through <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/john-lewis-love-in-action-jan2017/">self-examination, meditation and prayer</a>. This was the message Thurman transmitted to the larger civil rights movement. </p>
<p>Thurman combined, in the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2002/01/18/january-18-2002-the-legacy-of-howard-thurman-mystic-and-theologian/7895/">words</a> of historian <a href="https://divinity.uchicago.edu/martin-e-marty">Martin Marty</a>, the “inner life, the life of passion, the life of fire, with the external life, the life of politics.” </p>
<h2>Spiritual retreat and activism</h2>
<p>King’s stabbing was a bizarre and tragic event, but in some sense it gave him the period of reflection and inner cultivation needed for the chaotic coming days of the civil rights struggle. </p>
<p>The prison cell in Birmingham, Alabama, where in mid-1963 King penned his classic “<a href="https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Letter_Birmingham_Jail.pdf">Letter from Birmingham Jail</a>,” also accidentally but critically provided much the same spiritual retreat for reflections that helped transform America.</p>
<p>The relationship of Thurman’s mysticism and King’s activism provides a fascinating model for how spiritual and social transformation can work together in a person’s life – and in society more generally.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-theologian-who-helped-mlk-see-the-value-of-nonviolence-89938">originally published</a> on Jan. 11, 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Harvey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Thurman was 30 years older than King: the same age, in fact, as King’s father. Among his most significant contributions was bringing the ideas of nonviolence to the civil rights movement.Paul Harvey, Professor of American History, University of Colorado Colorado SpringsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.