Issues of measure and measurement, and their relation to value and values, are of concern in several major threads in contemporary social theory and social research. In this article, the notion of ‘measure–value environments’ is introduced as a theoretical lens through which the life of measures can be better understood. A number of points are made which represent both a continuation and a slight change in emphasis vis-à-vis the existing scholarship. First, it is argued that the relation between measure and (...) value is necessarily circular – better, entangled. Second, a conceptualization of measures as territorializing devices is advanced. Third, importance is given to the fact that measures are not simply tools in our hands, they are also environments in which we live. Fourth, attention is drawn to the fact that the unit is not just a quantitative happening among others, but is qualitatively distinct. (shrink)

The development of territorology requires the overcoming of the dichotomy between determinist and constructivist approaches, in order to advance towards a general science of territory and territorial phenomena. Insights for this task can come from at least four main threads of research: biology, zooethology and human ethology; human ecology, social psychology and interactionism; human, political and legal geography; and philosophy. In light of the insights derived from these traditions, the article aims to conceptualize territorial components, technologies, movements, effects, and their (...) interplay, in order to establish the main lines of inquiry for territorology. A general territorology, it is argued, amounts to a sociology of territorial acts and relations, whose aim is to analyze the expressive and functional components of territories, as fixed through their organizational and technological devices. (shrink)

The article discusses the status and role of politics — in its various facets — in the pragmatic sociology of critique. We focus on a number of different dimensions of politics — politics-as-justification, politics-as-distribution, politics-as-constitution, and politics-as-defiance — that can said to be of importance for a pragmatic sociology of critique, but that have not all been taken up equally in this approach. We situate pragmatic sociology in a tradition of thought that views politics as emerging in the settlement of (...) disputes over differences without resorting to violence. However, we argue that pragmatic sociology tends to ignore questions of the constitution of politics, and suggest that one way of bringing the foundational aspect upfront is by conceptualizing and studying defiance, including forms of explicit (dissent) and implicit critique (resistance) of the existing order. (shrink)

While avoiding the pretence of producing an exhaustive reading of such a complex object as Lars Von Trier's Dogville, this article selectively uses the film to explore the process of the emergence of a new legality and a new set of legal relationships within a community. Two superimposed layers of meaning, the biblical and the mythic, are considered and their interaction with two different reasons, the symbolic and the economic, is suggested and explored. The categories of ‘critical being’, by Fitzpatrick (...) and Tuitt, and homo sacer, by Agamben, are taken as useful tools to understand such interaction and the connected dynamics of inclusion and exclusion. Throughout the article, it is argued that the perspective of the sacrifice, as framed especially by Girard, is useful to highlight an anthropological mechanism that can be retrieved in Dogville. (shrink)

This article was first published in City, Territory and Architecture, volume 5, Article number : 4 under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. We thank the authors for the permission to republish it here.: The recent, rich scholarship on rhythms, following in the wake of Lefebvre's book Éléments de rythmanalyse, proves that rhythmanalysis is an important sensitising notion and research technique. Despite its increasing recognition, - Urbanisme – Nouvel article.

The attempt by Arnason and Roberts to interpret Canetti’s work in the context of social theory is taken here as the point of departure to investigate Canetti’s view on the phenomenon of resistance. Resistance is explored in the context of Canetti’s reflection on power and transformation. Further, it is argued that through his substantive concern for crowds, an epistemological challenge emerges for social theory. Canetti gives us some precious insights on phenomena of ambiguous multiplicity, which are neither simple sums of (...) separate individuals nor an ontologized Durkheimian collective. Not only this, he resolutely ventures towards the contingency at the foundation of social order, the ‘just-thisness' of power, revealing its non-symbolic basis in gestures that impart affects. It is at this level that resistance can be best understood as a movement of liberation from the grip of power. (shrink)

Medellín e a Teologia da Libertação têm em comum um contexto social e eclesial marcado por profundas transformações, desafiando os cristãos a se somarem na busca de alternativas à situação de uma sociedade marcada pela injustiça institucionalizada e a exclusão. E tanto Medellín como a Teologia da Libertação foram duas respostas à altura, que dariam muito que falar, que pensar e que fazer. Medellín deu à Igreja na América Latina um rosto próprio, plasmado pelas comunidades eclesiais de base, a leitura (...) popular da Bíblia, por uma Igreja pobre e para os pobres, pela pastoral social e os mártires das causas sociais. A palavra própria lhe foi dada pela Teologia da Libertação, gestada em torno a Medellín, não só “uma nova maneira de fazer teologia” como “uma teologia nova”, a primeira teologia na história da Igreja diferente da única teologia do centro e nascida na periferia. (shrink)

Puebla's present approach 40 years later aims to identify the synchrony and diachrony between the context of yesterday and today, postulating that Francisco's new pontificate is an opportune moment to resume the liberating ecclesial tradition, woven above all around Medellín and Puebla. It is a markedly historical approach, having as reference the analysis of the renewal of Vatican II and its creative reception by Medellín, which had in Puebla a counterpoint of conservative segments and in Santo Domingo its stagnation. The (...) text is structured in three parts: in the first, it makes reference to the consensus between Latin American teaching and theology in Medellín, the confrontation in Puebla and Santo Domingo, now neutralized by Francisco; in the second part, it outlines the process of “ecclesial involution”, which began in the mid-1980s and continued until Aparecida and the election of Pope Francis; in the third part, given the new ecclesial moment created by Aparecida and the new pontificate, it is justified that there is a new chance for the liberating ecclesial tradition. The text points out that today Puebla's contribution cannot be lost sight of, disqualifying nostalgic stances from a past without return and capable of encouraging renewed hope in the liberating ecclesial tradition of the Church in Latin America. (shrink)

This short text aims at exploring the dimensions that constitute our territories as social enterprises, that is enterprises of coexistence. The starting point is the idea of territories that we have in order to answer to specific problems related to the social coexistence itself. The text explains the type of problems involved and what territorial constitutions derive from them. Today, a territoriology as a science of territories cannot but begin from the realization that «territories are living». But with what lexicon, (...) with what concepts and with which analytic instruments can we talk about our contemporary territories? (shrink)

Este artigo pretende oferecer uma síntese dos principais elementos que caracterizam a epistemologia e o método da Teologia da Libertação, no pensamento de Clodovis Boff, autor que deu à Teologia da Libertação sistematização de sua semântica e de sua sintática. Em seus escritos em relação à questão, cronologicamente, identificam-se três fases distintas: a Teologia da Libertação como Teologia do Político (1), a libertação como perspectiva de uma teologia global, (2) e a Teologia da Libertação como libertação na Teologia (3). Entre (...) os elementos selecionados para esta abordagem sintética estão: a questão da identidade da Teologia da Libertação em relação a outras teologias, o ponto de partida da articulação do discurso teológico, o lugar do pobre na epistemologia da teologia e as mediações teóricas do método da Teologia da Libertação. O texto, em grande medida, reproduz o pensamento do autor, privilegiando, o máximo possível, citações textuais de sua ampla e consistente bibliografia sobre a questão. Palavras-chave: Teologia. Libertação. Método. Fé. Pobre.This article aims to present an overview of the main elements which characterize the method and epistemology of Liberation Theology, according to Clodovis Boff´s view. It was him who provided Liberation Theology with the systematization of its semantics and syntax. In his writings on the issue, chronologically, three distinct phases can be identified: Liberation Theology as the Politician´s Theology (1); the liberation as a global theology perspective (2); and Liberation Theology as the liberation in Theology. Among the selected elements are: the identity of Liberation Theology in relation to other theologies; the starting point of articulation of theological discourse; the place of the poor in the epistemology of theology; and theoretical mediations of the Liberation Theology method. The text reproduces the author's thought, focusing as much as possible, textual citations of his extensive and consistent bibliography on the issue. Keywords: Theology. Liberation. Method. Faith. Poor. (shrink)