Queer Global Displacement: Social Reproduction,Refugee Survival,and Organised Abandonment in Nairobi,Cape Town,and Paris

Queer refugees are misfits in the global political economy of migration. While international human rights law has provided some room for queer acceptance, queer refugees face organised abandonment—marginality, erasure, and invisibility—as they attempt to survive in the face of ongoing displacement. This paper explores queer refugee survival in Nairobi, Cape Town, and Paris, and examines the netted practices of the state, non-state actors, and civil society embedded in a landscape of heteronormativity and anti-migrant sentiment. In so doing, this paper emphasises queerness as a form of precarity inseparable from the overarching violence of race, class, and capital. With this critique in mind, queer refugee survival is constrained by the lack of access to shelter, community, and work-related social reproduction. In short, queer refugees face deeper marginality than their cis-gendered and heterosexual counterparts as they attempt to survive in the city.     

The adoption of culturally contentious innovations: The case of citizen oversight of police

Cultural contentiousness is defined as an attribute of innovation due to which it encounters resistance because of its incompatibility with hegemonic cultural assumptions. I argue that culturally contentious innovations are likely to be adopted when antecedents have productive symbolic force, i.e., they reveal contradictions between dominant cultural assumptions and the material outcomes of existing institutions or empower social actors to resolve such contradictions. However, antecedents with incapacitative symbolic force tend to obfuscate the above contradictions or decrease social actors’ capacity to resolve them, encouraging the adoption of less contentious innovation. Applying these arguments to citizen oversight agencies (COAs) for the police, I examine the antecedents of contentious (i.e., investigative) as opposed to less contentious (non-investigative) COAs. In support of the above argument, I find that productive antecedents (e.g., a consent decree, an increase in civil rights nonprofits) are associated with adopting investigative COAs. In contrast, incapacitative antecedents (e.g., a Law Enforcement Officer Bill of Rights, an increase in the violent crime rate) are associated with adopting non-investigative COAs. The findings broadly demonstrate that policy adoption scholars ought to distinguish policies in terms of cultural contentiousness and account for the symbolic force of antecedents. Further theoretical contributions are discussed.     

Trust in world politics: converting ‘identity’ into a source of security through trust-learning

In the discipline of international relations, the concept of trust has been theorised in two ways: the ‘rationalist’ approach and the ‘normative’ approach. This article aims to show that these approaches do not adequately reflect how trust operates in world politics and that trust provides a new way of understanding the identity–security nexus in international relations. It is argued that as actors learn to trust each other, this trust-learning process has a transformative effect on their definition of self-interests and identities. The elaborated understanding of trust in the security dilemma is operationalised in terms of the immigration security dilemma.     

Comparison of the Spectral Representation Method to Simulate Spatially Variable Ground Motions

The spectral representation method (SRM) is widely used when simulating spatially variable ground motions. It has mainly two formulas, i.e., the random amplitudes and the random phases formulas. There exist three methods for decomposing the cross spectral density matrix: Cholesky decomposition, eigen decomposition, and root decomposition. Therefore, there are six forms with respect to the different combinations of the simulation formulas and the decomposition methods. To provide researchers and engineers with the guidance on choosing simulation method, the six forms are systematically investigated from five aspects: the power intensity, response spectra, and stochastic error of auto/cross spectral density, Fourier spectra, and difference indexes for Fourier amplitudes and phases. Finally, we give the following advice: the characteristics of the ground motions simulated by the random amplitudes formula are independent of the decomposition method, while the characteristics of the ground motions simulated by random phases formula are dependent of the decomposition method. Furthermore, the root decomposition is strongly recommended when utilizing the random phases formula.     

Assessment of Construction Techniques and Material Usage in İzmir Rural Houses

The domestic architecture in the rural villages of ?zmir comprises a unique built environment with their masonry wall textures, semi-open sofas, round tiled-hipped roofs, and chimneys, and represents an important part of the cultural and architectural heritage. This assessment is mainly based on field observations that focus on the architectural and structural layout of intact, damaged, and destroyed houses. During field observation and the analysis of data certain plan typologies and relationships between the geological formations of the region and choice of materials and construction techniques were observed. While load-bearing masonry and timber skeleton systems are common, extensive use of timber laces, stone, and fired or adobe brick masonry with mud mortar and timber frames infilled with masonry materials were frequently seen. Generally, round timber elements such as wall plates, laces, lintels, posts, and frames of flooring systems are used. Architectural degenerations in authentic houses, defective details and partially due to the earthquake-prone nature of the region seismicity have been evaluated. An overall approach for the preservation and sustainability of this heritage is suggested.     

WAPA TOWN AT THE MOUNTAIN AREA

<正>I guess that,even in Tibet,apart from the residents themselves,few people have ever heard of Wapa Town.My colleagues had no knowledge of Wapa Town.I never he...     

The making of politics and trained intelligence in the Near East: Robert College of Istanbul

Abstract

This article examines the role of Robert College in Turkish-American relations in the early decades of the Turkish Republic. Relying on recently discovered archival sources and biographical accounts it explores political and educational networks between the United States and Turkey. Robert College, founded in 1863, was the first American College established abroad. It was, however, more than an educational institution; the College teaching staff acted as diplomatic and cultural correspondents for both countries. The trust the College staff earned among the Turkish elite during the First World War continued in the early years of Republic. This relationship turned into a more lucrative collaboration during the early periods of the Cold War. The story of Robert College in Turkey demonstrates the impact of trained intelligence on political relations between the two countries.