A Critique of the Metaphysics of Ontological Poesis : Responding to Theology and the Political

Abstract

A common set of metaphysical assumptions inform the theological proposals of many contributors to Theology and the Political: The New Debate. Those assumptions are orientated toward grounding the possibility of genuine ontological creativity (poesis) in a particular construal of nature's mediation of the supernatural. Applying the claims of Bernard Lonergan's early work on grace and freedom to those assumptions, the argument is made that this position repeats the most fundamental flaws of the Bañezian position in the de Auxiliis controversy: namely, a basic confusion of form with act, which gives rise to the misguided assumption that a "third" (i.e., physical premotion, causal influx, sophia) must be posited to mediate divine grace to the world and within it. It is argued that this confusion reveals that a competitive understanding of the God/world relation is presumed in this proposal, which itself is the result of a failure to affirm the absolute and immediate dependence implied by the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo.     

Day centres for homeless people: spaces of care or fear?

It is now widely argued that the contemporary city is becoming an increasingly hostile environment for homeless people. As basic street survival strategies are criminalized and public space ‘purified’ of those whose ‘spoiled’ identities threaten to ‘taint’ fellow members of the public, city authorities seem to have turned from a position of ‘malign neglect’ to more obviously punitive measures designed to contain and control homeless people. Less widely acknowledged but equally prevalent, however, is a parallel rise in the ‘urge to care’; evident in the growing number of night shelters, hostels and day centres emerging in recent years to provide shelter and sustenance to homeless people. This paper contributes to a small but growing body of work examining the development of the ‘spaces of care’ springing up in the interstices of a ‘revanchist’ city, by examining the development and internal dynamics of day centres for homeless people in the UK. Drawing upon a national survey of service providers, and a series of interviews and participant observations with day centre staff and users, the paper argues that day centres act as important sources of material resource and refuge for a highly stigmatized group. However, it warns against the romantic tendencies implicit in the notion of ‘spaces of care’, emphasizing that what for one person may operate as a ‘space of care’ might, for another, be experienced as a space of fear. The paper concludes by noting the ambiguity and fragility of such spaces within the wider ‘revanchist’ city.

Les centres d'hébergement temporaire pour itinérants: espaces de soins ou de peur?

On affirme couramment que la ville contemporaine est en train de devenir un milieu de plus en plus hostile pour les itinérants. Pendant que les stratégies ordinaires de survie dans la rue sont érigées en crime et l'espace public est «purifié» de ceux dont les identités «souillées» risquent d' «entacher» les autres membres du public, les autorités de la ville sont moins disposées à appuyer une position de «négligence pernicieuse» que des mesures nettement plus punitives conçues pour contenir et contrôler les itinérants. Ce qui est moins reconnu mais aussi courant est la progression simultanée du «désir de donner des soins» que permet de témoigner la croissance depuis quelques années de foyers d'hébergement, de gîtes, et de centre d'hébergement temporaire qui offre un toit et des moyens de subsistance aux itinérants. Cet article contribue à enrichir le corpus d'une ampleur limitée mais grandissante sur l'émergence d' «espaces de soins» dans les interstices de la ville «revancharde» par l'examen du développement et les dynamiques internes de centres d'hébergement temporaire pour itinérants au Royaume-Uni. Cet article a recours à un sondage national sur les fournisseurs de services et à un éventail d'entrevues et d'observations participatives auprès d'employés et d'usagers des centres d'hébergement temporaire. Il y est proposé que ces centres servent de lieu de distribution de ressources matérielles et de refuge pour un ensemble de personnes très défavorisées. L'article prend toutefois ses distances par rapport au penchant romantique implicite dans l'idée d' «espaces de soins», et souligne que les processus à l'?uvre peuvent être le reflet d'un «espace de soins» pour une personne ou celui d'une expérience d'un «espace de peur» pour une autre. Cet article termine par le constat qu'à l'échelle de la grande ville «revancharde», ces espaces demeurent ambigus et fragiles.

Centros diurnos para la gente sin techo: ¿lugares de asistencia o de miedo?

Hoy en día se reconoce que la ciudad contemporánea representa un lugar cada vez más hostil para la gente sin techo. A la vez que se criminalizan las estrategias básicas de sobrevivencia en la calle y se ‘purifican’ los espacios públicos, sacando a personas cuyas identidades ‘arruinadas’ amenazan con ‘contaminar’ a otros miembros del público, las autoridades cívicas parecen haber dejado su postura de ‘negligencia maligna’ a favor de medidas más punitivas, concebidas para contener y controlar a la gente sin techo. Menos reconocido, pero no menos corriente, es el aumento paralelo del ‘impulso a asistir’, evidente en el número cada vez mayor de refugios nocturnos, hogares y centros diurnos que han surgido en recientes años donde les dan alojamiento y alimento a los sin techo. Este papel contribuye a un conjunto de trabajo que examina el desarrollo de ‘espacios de asistencia’ que surgen en los intersticios de una ciudad ‘revanchista’, por medio de un estudio del desarrollo y la dinámica interna de los centros diurnos para los sin techo en el Reino Unido. Haciendo uso de un estudio nacional de las organizaciones que proporcionan servicios para los sin techo, y de una serie de entrevistas con funcionarios y usuarios de los centros diurnos, el papel sugiere que los centros diurnos sirven como fuentes importantes de recursos materiales y de refugio para un grupo muy estigmatizado. Sin embargo, argumenta en contra de las tendencias románticas que son implícitas en la noción de ‘espacios de asistencia’ y enfatiza que lo que puede servir como un ‘espacio de asistencia’ para una persona puede ser experimentado como una espacio de miedo por otra persona. El papel concluye por notar la naturaleza ambigua y frágil de estos espacios dentro de la ciudad ‘revanchista’ más amplia.     

‘Our home,our way of life’: spiritual homelessness and the sociocultural dimensions of Indigenous homelessness in the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada

In this article, I examine the sociocultural dimensions of Indigenous home and homelessness through a case study of increasing visible homelessness in two northern Canadian communities. Drawing on five years of ethnographic research on Indigenous homelessness in Yellowknife and Inuvik, two regional centres in the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, I suggest that Indigenous experiences of homelessness are at once collective and immediate. In particular, I draw on the concept of ‘spiritual homelessness’ (Keys Young 1998) to examine the multiple scales of homelessness experienced among northern Indigenous people. Research participants highlight several key elements of rapid sociocultural change that have an enduring impact on a collective sense of home and belonging, and play integral roles in shaping the experiences of homeless Indigenous people. Social and material exclusion, breakdowns in family and community, detachment from cultural identity, intergenerational trauma and institutionalisation are all woven throughout the personal narratives of homelessness articulated by research participants. I argue that the alleviation of Indigenous homelessness in the NWT depends on a decolonising agenda that specifically addresses contemporary colonial geographies and their expressions in the key institutions in Indigenous peoples' lives.     

The Inside Story of China's High-Tech Industry: Making Silicon Valley in Beijing. Yu Zhou

Two noted political geographers examine the results of surveys in the "de facto" states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia conducted in 2010. They assess the migration intentions of their residents, the likely destinations and motivations for planned departures, as well as the dramatic population decline due to emigration and expulsion of Georgian residents after wars in the early 1990s. Discussed are economic dislocations, the breakaway republics' uncertain geographical status, as well as improvements in security and economic conditions due to Russian military guarantees and massive economic aid that followed the 2008 wars with Georgia. The authors utilize key predictors derived from hypotheses about the push and pull forces affecting the decision to migrate (socio-demographic, war experiences, and attitudes about the "de facto" state prospects) to develop explanatory models of migration for each territory before deriving a pooled set of explanations. Both surveys suggest the likelihood that the majority of potential migrants have already left. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F220, F510, I300, J110, O150. 1 figure, 7 tables, 59 references.     

Burial containers – A hidden aspect of mortuary practices: Archaeothanatology at Ban Non Wat,Thailand

Research on mortuary practices has attracted a wide following for the role it can play in determination of individual social identity and population social structure. One aspect of mortuary practices that is rarely addressed, except where physical remnants are recovered, is the form of burial containers. Archaeothanatology is a taphonomically based methodology applied to infer the form of such containers when no material evidence remains. This paper shows how the archaeothanatological approach can be applied post hoc, with 133 adult burials from the prehistoric site of Ban Non Wat analyzed. Temporal changes in container form were expected as subsistence, technology, and social organization transformed over 1850 years. The deceased were predominantly loosely wrapped in non-durable material or placed in wide coffins, although individuals were buried in other contexts, with a peak in variety towards the end of the Bronze Age and early Iron Age. In combination with evidence from other sites in the area, our results identify a reduction in the variety of container forms used within sites in the mid to late Iron Age. We have shown the value of archaeothanatology as a contributor to research on mortuary practices, in particular having shown that it may be usefully applied post-excavation.     

A few bubbles more: The myntling register revisited

To conclude the debate between E.D. Jones and M.D. Bailey about the historical significance of the Myntling Register, we now print Dr Jones' reply to Dr Bailey's criticisms, in which he defends the use to which he has put the text.     

“I spent the first year drinking tea”: Exploring Canadian university researchers’ perspectives on community‐based participatory research involving Indigenous peoples

Community‐based participatory research (CBPR) is generally understood as a process by which decision‐making power and ownership are shared between the researcher and the community involved, bi‐directional research capacity and co‐learning are promoted, and new knowledge is co‐created and disseminated in a manner that is mutually beneficial for those involved. Within the field of Canadian geography we are seeing emerging interest in using CBPR as a way of conducting meaningful and relevant research with Indigenous communities. However, individual interpretations of CBPR's tenets and the ways in which CBPR is operationalized are, in fact, highly variable. In this article we report the findings of an exploratory qualitative case study involving semi‐structured, open‐ended interviews with Canadian university‐based geographers and social scientists in related disciplines who engage in CBPR to explore the relationship between their conceptual understanding of CBPR and their applied research. Our findings reveal some of the tensions for university‐based researchers concerning CBPR in theory and practice.     

Moving from research ON,to research WITH and FOR Indigenous communities: A critical reflection on community‐based participatory research

Research projects conducted on Indigenous communities have largely been developed within a dominant Western research paradigm that values the researcher as knowledge holder and the community members as passive subjects. The consequences of such research have been marginalizing for Indigenous people globally, leading to calls for the decolonization of research through the development of Indigenous research paradigms. Based on a reflexive analysis of a five‐year partnership focused on developing capacity for tourism development in Lake Helen First Nation (Red Rock Indian Band), we offer a way of understanding the connection between Indigenous research paradigms and the western construct of community‐based participatory research as a philosophical and methodological approach to geography. Our analysis shows that researchers should continue to move away from methods that perpetuate the traditional ways of working ON Indigenous communities to methods that allow us to work WITH and FOR them, based on an ethic that respects and values the community as a full partner in the co‐creation of the research question and process, and shares in the acquisition, analysis, and dissemination of knowledge. Our reflection also shows that when research is conducted on a community, the main beneficiary is the researcher, when conducted with, both parties receive benefit, while research for the community may result in benefits mainly for the community. We further contend that any research conducted within a community, regardless of its purpose and methodology, should follow the general principles of Indigenous paradigms, and respect the community by engaging in active communication with them, seeking their permission not only to conduct and publish the research but also with respect to giving results of the research back in ways that adhere to community protocols and practices.     

Im Dienste der Wissenschaft: Der Centro de estudios históricos und die Begründung eines liberalen Nationalbewußtseins in Spanien (1910–1936)

In the Name of Science: the Centro de Estudios Históricos and the shaping of a liberal national conciousness in Spain (1910–1936). – The Centro de Estudios Históricos was founded in 1910 by the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios. The main goal was to create a modern scientific system, but the researchers of the Centro also attempted to reinterpret some aspects of the Spanish Culture. We also try to have a new insight into how Spanish History and Culture was apprehended by those intelectuals in order to create the cultural basis of a new Spanish nationalism. The philological school of Menéndez Pidal or the historical school of Sánchez‐Albornoz played an active role in trying to find out the cultural roots of the Spanish Culture. They strived for providing the Spanish nation a cultural background.