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Ideas of choice and rights traditionally dominate discussions
concerning reproduction and gender politics. Fertile Ground argues
that the current political climate in Canada necessitates a broader
understanding of the links between the politics of reproduction,
the state, and gender relations. Three major themes are developed
in the book: women's lived experiences, the role of the state in
reproductive politics, and discourses around reproduction.
Contributors examine unequal access to in vitro fertilization
treatments depending upon class, race, age, disability, and health
status; critique Health Canada's adherence to a medical model of
breastfeeding; analyze marketing campaigns for birth-control
products; and recount the Aamjiwnaang First Nation's experience of
seeking recognition for reproductive health concerns. Fertile
Ground links reproduction to marginalization, contestation, and the
state in order to illuminate the continuity of reproductive moments
and their implications for identity, activism, policy formation,
and further scholarship. A timely and multidisciplinary account of
reproduction and gender politics in Canada, Fertile Ground will
interest academics, activists, and professionals involved in the
areas of women's studies, politics, sociology, and public health.
This volume brings together reflections on the relationship between
politics and storytelling, especially within the democratic
context. Examples are drawn from the ancient and modern worlds,
from classical Greek tragedy and Shakespeare to television, science
fiction, and comic books, in order to examine the relationship
between the philosophical and the poetical. As a political
phenomenon, storytelling is used to confirm the prejudices and
uphold the principles that prevail within the culture that produces
it, while also providing a means for sparking a criticism of that
culture from within. What role should literature play in educating
a population, especially as regards one's civic responsibilities
and relationship to the political regime, and how does it compete
with or complement rational inquiry in providing that education?
What observable effects does storytelling in fact tend to have,
especially among democratic peoples, and what effects does it have
on their political identities, viewpoints, commitments, and
behavior? Which passions does it stoke: our hopes or our fears, our
suspicions or our loyalties? Can storytelling in democratic times
offer resistance to the logic and momentum of democratization or
does it only reliably propel it further forward? Does democratic
literature only cater to the satisfaction of personal appetites or
can it ennoble people so that they are more apt to fulfill their
responsibilities to each other as moral agents and fellow citizens?
This volume takes diverse approaches to addressing questions like
these.
A rioting crowd in a burning city, a lynch mob circling a battered
body, a campaigning senator exaggerating the threat of an enemy's
bombs-evidence of the power of anger, hate, and fear has lead many
political philosophers to call for rationality as the exclusive
basis for a stable, just society. Yet Aristotle himself granted
emotions a role as significant as that of reason in political life.
In this timely book, Marlene K. Sokolon revisits Aristotle's
understanding of emotions and finds that his ideas not only
resonate with current psychological theories but, more importantly,
offer a resource for political life in the twenty-first century.
Identifying fourteen political emotions, ranging from pity through
envy, benevolence through shame, Aristotle discovered that,
inherently, they are neither negative nor positive. Significantly,
different emotions have different functions. Anger and love pertain
to the well-being of the individual and his/her family and friends.
Indignation and benevolence, in contrast, are more concerned with
the security of other, unrelated persons. Aristotle asserted that
these political emotions, united in a harmonious "symphony" with
reason, could lead to stability, justice, moral action, and
community. But exactly what are emotions? According to Aristotle,
they are both innate physiological processes and psychological
assessments of one's political and social environment. This
concept, Sokolon shows, stands up surprisingly well in light of
current evolutionary, cognitive, and social construct theories.
Combining modern science and ancient thought, she concludes by
suggesting a framework for understanding the interaction of emotion
and cognitive rationality in sociopolitical decision making and
behavior.
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