Genevieve Fuji Johnson - Böcker

The Oxford Handbook of Grounded and Engaged Normative Theory introduces readers to this burgeoning field of theory and methodology by exploring a range of empirical research practices that center lived experience to develop normative arguments. Theorists who work in this way demonstrate a commitment to expanding thinking about political theory to include those who have a stake in the concepts being studied. They consider the meanings that people make of their own experiences, political context, and histories in the struggle to be recognized by oppressors with epistemic authority. Undoing these histories depends on a commitment to epistemic inclusion, that is, a commitment to look for and attend to modes of knowing and sources of knowledge that are otherwise marginalized by the politics of knowledge or the norms of the discipline.In the last decade, grounded and engaged normative theory has coalesced into a distinctive approach in political science. This Handbook offers a cohesive overview of the field's principles, origins, methodologies, substantive lines of inquiry, and applications. Contributors to the volume enrich theoretical and methodological discussions with chapters full of examples of how the authors themselves have done the work. By laying out multiple theoretical starting points and demonstrating diverse methodological approaches, this volume helps both practitioners and students to better understand what they can learn from and do in this dynamic field.

As oil reserves decline and the environment becomes more prominentin public policy discussions, the merits and dangers of nuclear powerand nuclear waste management continue to be debated. Canada is intenton building more reactors to increase energy production without harmingthe planet, but it and other nuclear energy-producing countries facenot only technical problems but also social and ethical issues.Nuclear Waste Management in Canada provides a criticalcounterpoint to the favourable position taken by government andindustry. The contributors build their case by exploring the followingkey issues and developments: What do frequently used terms such assafety, risk, and acceptability really mean? How and why did the publicconsultation process in Canada fail to address ethical and socialissues? What is the significance and potential of a public consultationprocess that involves diverse interests, epistemologies, and actors,including Aboriginal peoples? And how do we ensure that the frameworksfor discussion are inclusive and ethical?This collection is a timely antidote to the uncertainty, ambiguity,and ignorance that surrounds discussions about nuclear energy.

This multidisciplinary volume brings together scholars and activists to examine expressions of racism in contemporary policy areas, including education, labour, immigration, media, and urban planning. While anti-racist struggles during the twentieth century were largely pitched against overt forms of racism (e.g., pogroms, genocide, segregation, apartheid, and 'ethnic cleansing'), it has become increasingly apparent that there are other, less visible, forms of racism. These subtler incarnations are of special interest to the contributors.The intent of Race, Racialization, and Antiracism in Canada and Beyond is to probe systemic forms of racism, as well as to suggest strategies for addressing them. The collection is organized by themes pertinent to political and social expressions of racism in Canada and the wider world, such as the state and its mediation of race, education and the perpetuation of racist marginalization, and the role of the media. The contributors argue that, in order to effectively combat racism, various methodological approaches are required, approaches that are reflective of the diversity of the world we seek to understand.

Beneath the Red Umbrella blends academic research with the intimacy of storytelling in a genre-crossing graphic novel. At the heart of the story are three university students, Selina, Jaz, and Julie, whose evolving friendship unfolds over the course of an academic year. Through honest, sometimes uncomfortable conversations, they confront misconceptions and injustices faced by those providing sexual services.As the friends learn from each other, readers are drawn into a conversation about solidarity, justice, and the responsibilities of researchers. Interwoven with the narrative are two powerful academic arguments: first, that scholars working with marginalized communities – such as sex workers – must collaborate with them by supporting their goals and contributing to their empowerment; second, that the everyday injustices faced by sex workers are rooted in deeper epistemic and structural stigmas that frame them as "social deviants."Combining storytelling with a critique of stigma, criminalization, and institutional neglect, Beneath the Red Umbrella makes a case for the decriminalization and destigmatization of sex work and offers a model for how we can have difficult but necessary conversations about the demands of justice and human rights.

The theory of deliberative democracy promotes the creation of systems of governance in which citizens actively exchange ideas, engage in debate, and create laws that are responsive to their interests and aspirations. While deliberative processes are being adopted in an increasing number of cases, decision-making power remains mostly in the hands of traditional elites.In Democratic Illusion, Genevieve Fuji Johnson examines four representative examples: participatory budgeting in the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, Deliberative Polling by Nova Scotia Power Incorporated, a national consultation process by the Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organization, and public consultations embedded in the development of official languages policies in Nunavut. In each case, measures that appeared to empower the public failed to challenge the status quo approach to either formulating or implementing policy.Illuminating a critical gap between deliberative democratic theory and its applications, this timely and important study shows what needs to be done to ensure deliberative processes offer more than the illusion of democracy.

In our highly globalized and networked society, even our most seemingly local actions can have far-reaching social, political, economic, and environmental consequences. Has this changed our moral and political obligations towards people distant from us in space and time – for instance, to generations who are not yet or no longer living, or towards those beyond the borders of our own nations?Political Responsibility Refocused explores the theoretical foundations and practical implications of individual and collective responsibility towards those who are spatially or temporally separate from us. These essays offer critical assessments of our political responsibilities on topics such as residential schools, sweatshop labour, climate change, and forms of energy generation. Inspired by the final published writings of political and social theorist Iris Marion Young, specifically her outline of a “social connection model” of political responsibility, the contributors assess whether there are practices, policies, and institutions that could meaningfully address these expanded political responsibilities.