Vulnerability

In this book, I identify contemporary developments on the theme of vulnerability within critical theory while also seeking to reconstruct an idea of vulnerability that enables an articulation of the political and demonstrates how it is socially produced. Philosophies that take vulnerability as a moral object contribute to rendering the political, as the site of a specific power and action, foreign to vulnerability. The notion of recognition offered by critical theory does not correct this deficit. Instead, I argue that vulnerability, as susceptibility to a harmful event, is above all a breach of normative expectations. I demonstrate that these expectations are not mental phenomena but are situated between subjects and must even be conceived as institutions. On this basis I argue that the link between the political and vulnerability cannot be reduced to the institutional implementation of moral principles. Rather I seek to rethink the political by taking vulnerability as the starting point and thereby understand the political as simultaneously referring to the advent of a world, the emergence of a relation, and the appearance of a political subject.

Federally-recognized tribes must adapt to many ecological challenges arising from climate change, from the effects of glacier retreat on the habitats of culturally significant species to how sea level rise forces human communities to relocate. The governmental and social institutions supporting tribes in adapting to climate change are often constrained by political obstructions, raising concerns about justice. Beyond typical uses of justice, which call attention to violations of formal rights or to considerations about the degree to which some populations may have caused anthropogenic climate change, a justice framework should guide how leaders, scientists and professionals of all heritages and who work with or for federally-recognized tribes understand what actions are morally essential for supporting tribes’ adaptation efforts. This paper motivates a shift to a forward-looking framework of justice. The framework situates justice within the systems of responsibilities that matter to tribes and many others, which range from webs of inter-species relationships to government-to-government partnerships. Justice is achieved when these systems of responsibilities operate in ways that support the continued flourishing of tribal communities.

Resumo Esse artigo objetiva discutir casos de comorbidade de transtornos mentais comuns e uso abusivo de álcool e suas determinações entre moradores de assentamentos de reforma agrária. Trata-se de um estudo de delineamento combinado quantitativo-qualitativo, com amostra inicial de 2.012 moradores, resultando, após aplicação de questionário sociodemográfico e ferramentas de rastreamento (SRQ-20 e AUDIT) na identificação de 39 casos de comorbidade, aos quais foi aplicada entrevista semiestruturada. Para análise descritiva dos dados quantitativos utilizou-se o software SPSS for Windows, versão 20 e a construção de mapas dialógicos para os qualitativos. Aspectos envolvendo educação e trabalho, ambientes de interação/coesão social (redes e apoio social), mobilidade e transporte, acesso a equipamentos e serviços, falta de espaços de lazer, são fatores que interferem na saúde mental. Considera-se, dessa forma, a interdependência entre condições socioeconômicas, características dos territó...

The law of 11 February 2005 modifying public policy for people with disabilities has been described as introducing significant disruption in defining disability. This article demonstrates that legislators strengthened administrative control in defining the population concerned by this government policy by applying the same label and a scattering of identical measures to a set of individuals, as well as by their inclusion in the same “local world of production of rights.” This sector, like many others, has deeper roots in the instruments structuring relationships between actors than it has in an explicit, objective, and commonly accepted definition of the limits to the sphere of activity and the principles to be applied. This instrumentalist construction of the sector has led to a lack of clarity in defining the boundaries of the population concerned, a lack of clarity affecting both the individuals declared to be eligible for these rights, as well as the internal arrangements of structuring relations between these actors.

La loi du 11 février 2005, réformant l’action publique à destination des personnes handicapées, a été décrite comme introduisant une rupture importante dans la définition du handicap. Cet article cherche à montrer que le législateur, à travers l’application à un ensemble d’individus d’un même label, d’instruments épars mais identiques et en inscrivant ceux‑ci dans un même monde local de production de droits, a contribué à renforcer l’emprise administrative sur la définition de la population ciblée par cette action publique. Par ailleurs, ce secteur – à la manière de beaucoup d’autres – repose davantage sur les instruments qui ont charpenté les relations entre les acteurs plutôt que sur une définition explicite, objective et communément admise des limites du champ d’action et des principes qui lui sont appliqués. Cette construction instrumentale du secteur a pour effet de laisser la définition des frontières des populations concernées dans un flou qui a des effets sur les individus déclarés éligibles à ces droits ainsi que sur les modalités internes de structuration des relations entre ces acteurs.

Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN or SDWAN) is a modern conception and an attractive trend in network technologies. SD-WAN is defined as a specific application of software-defined networking (SDN) to WAN connections. There is growing recognition that SDN and SD-WAN technologies not only expand features, but also expose new vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, at the present time, most vendors say that SD-WAN are perfectly safe, hardened, and fully protected. The goal of this paper is to understand SD-WAN threats using practical approach. We describe basic SD-WAN features and components, investigate an attack surface, explore various vendor features and their security, explain threats and vulnerabilities found in SD-WAN products. We also extend existing SDN threat models by describing new potential threats and attack vectors, provide examples, and consider high-level approaches for their mitigations. The provided results may be used by SD-WAN developers as a part of Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SSDLC), security researchers for penetration testing and vulnerability assessment, system integrators for secure design of SD-WAN solutions, and finally customers for secure deployment operations and configurations of SD-WAN enabled network. The main idea of this work is that SD-WAN threat model involves all traditional network and SDN threats, as well as new product-specific threats, appended by vendors which reinvent or introduce proprietary technologies immature from a security perspective.

In the Anthropocene complexity, information and technology play a transcendental role in how we relate to our identity, context and otherness. The already widespread AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) technologies allow to play, teach, train, or educate, presenting also the potentiality to make people empathize with other realities and to envision healthier social scenarios. With the aim to define the benefits of applying AR/VR technologies to design in vulnerable communities, this research analyses several cases studies, underlying their effects on social interactions. Since contemporary projects of applications to vulnerable communities are limited, this work studied cases applied to (1) vulnerable groups (The Machine to Be Another, Carne y Arena, and Autism Empathy Tools) and (2) local communities (Within, Mondly Lenguages VR, Spatial, Alspace VR). An analytical comparison between these two kinds of applications shows how the application of these technologies can bring to benefits in terms of empathy, identity and alterity applied to several fields of life: works, leisure, education and sociality. Nevertheless, the research’s results are very clear in underlining how is extremely urgent to define a new narrative to efficiently represent the features of a vulnerable community.

Assessing risks from climate change is key for effective local adaptation planning. Integrated and participatory risk assessments are increasingly promoted as the most credible approach, ensuring community buy-in and overcoming data and resource restrictions in specific localities. Integrating the risk assessments of multiple actors can prove problematic, however, and demands attention to actors' diverse values and politics. In this paper, I critically examine the potential for integrated risk assessments of climate change in Vanuatu, South Pacific. I focus on local communities' risk assessments, and assessments by practitioners in civil society organizations (CSOs) that facilitate and fund local adaptation planning on climate change. I find a marked difference in how actors contextualized and prioritized risks. Villagers assessed current impacts and risks from climate change in relation to wider socioeconomic changes, and prioritized maintaining their way of life. In contrast, CSO actors adopted a technocratic approach, drawing on climate science and focusing not only on the severity of risks but also on the potential need for external interventions. Explanations for climate-related changes, and notions of causality, also differed among villagers and CSO actors. These differences reveal key challenges concerning actors' ways of knowing, conflicting values and worldviews, and the political interests influencing risk assessments. Effectively enabling integrated risk assessments will require open and inclusive dialogue among actors that creates space for alternative understandings of risk and potential adaptation strategies for climate change.

Purpose: To improve understanding of variables impacting health promotion behaviors among urban Black women. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was used. Urban Black women (N = 132) between the ages of 30 to 64 years participated. Setting: The study was conducted in a U.S. metropolitan region in 2015. Measures: Health literacy (Newest Vital Sign [NVS]), self-efficacy (New General Self-Efficacy Scale [NGSE]), and readiness for change (Health Risk Instrument [HRI]) were correlated with health promotion behaviors (Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile II [HPLPII]). Analysis: Univariate statistics addressed demographic characteristics; bivariate/simultaneous linear regression determined the relationships between the NVS, NGSE, and HRI to health promotion behaviors (HPLPII). Results: Demographics: 72.6% completed high school and 25% completed college, and the mean body mass index (BMI) was >32. Positive correlations existed between each variable to health promotion behaviors: NVS (r = .244, p < .002), NGSE (r = .312, p < .001), HRI (r = .440, p < .001), and accounted for 29.8% of variances in health promotion behaviors. Education and health literacy were also correlated (r s = .414, p = .001). Conclusions: Although health literacy, self-efficacy, and readiness for change are associated with health promotion behaviors, readiness for change was the most highly correlated. Clinical Relevance: The development and incorporation of interventions to promote health promotion behaviors should include readiness for change, health literacy, BMI, and education, especially among urban Black women in order to reduce critical health disparities. Community-based and culturally relevant strategies in promoting health that are integrated into existing lifestyles and designed to impact readiness for change will have the greatest impact on reducing health disparities both in the United States and in countries experiencing rapid urbanization. For example, healthy eating behaviors or increased physical activity may be best adopted when integrated into existing community-based spiritual or cultural events via trusted community leaders. Replication of this study in other populations of Black women will improve the generalizability of this study, both in the United States and globally. However , the addition of other demographic variables, such as a history of chronic conditions, military service, domestic or other violence, spirituality, and the availability of community resources, would strengthen the results in future studies.

Trust is critical for social life, and yet it is alarmingly fragile. It is easily damaged and difficult to repair. Philosophers studying trust have often noted that basic kind of trust needs to be in place in order for social life to be possible. Although philosophers have suggested that basic trust must exist, they have not tried to describe in explicit terms what this basic trust looks like, or how it comes to be. In this article I will identify and describe a basic form of trust that I call recognition trust. It is a latent expectation we have in others to respect our moral status as persons. By conceptualizing recognition trust, I can explain why trust is not just a useful tool for social cooperation: having our personhood recognized is necessary for living a minimally decent human life, and trust is a necessary element of recognition. First, I motivate the need for conceptualizing a basic form of trust by looking at cases of moral injury and our inherent vulnerability. Such injuries involve the betrayal of an expectation we have in others to recognize us as persons with moral status. Second, I dig deeper into this basic human need of recognition that is thwarted in moral injuries. I argue that fulfilling this basic need requires a particular kind of trust that others will not morally injure us. Third, I give shape to recognition trust by describing its core features, showing why it is a candidate for basic trust. Finally, I defend my concept of recognition trust against a pair of objections.

In this paper, we examine the relationship between socioeconomic vulnerabilities and due process violations in contemporary Mexico, using a novel survey of imprisoned populations. We further investigate whether institutional reforms—in particular, the 2008 reform that constitutionally mandated the provision of trained public defenders for those without private counsel—help offset the impact of preexisting socioeconomic disparities on the likelihood of suffering a due process violation. We find that women, indigenous people, and people with less schooling are more likely to suffer a due process violation. This finding, is, unfortunately, not surprising. The 2008 constitutionally mandated reform to provide quality public defenders has done little to alleviate this situation. Although it has improved the experience of defendants overall—whether represented by private or public counsel—it has failed to create an office of public defenders that successfully functions as an equalizing mechanism that offsets pre-existing socioeconomic inequalities. Instead, our analysis suggests that those most benefited by these reforms are those who did not need them as much to begin with: those who rely on private lawyers for their legal representation. This paper contributes to the literature that critically examines the idea of equality under the law and the mechanisms that seek to guarantee it.

Nach den Armuts- und Reichtumsberichten der Bundesregierung hat die Einkommensarmut in Deutschland den höchsten Stand seit 20 Jahren erreicht. Dieser statistische Befund wird vielfach als Beleg für die Existenz und das Wachstum einer &quot;abgehängten Unterklasse&quot; gesehen. In anderen Szenarien erscheinen große Teile der Gesellschaft vom Absturz in die Armut bedroht. Bezieht man die Dauer von individuellen Armutsphasen und die unterschiedlichen

Desde o surgimento das histórias em quadrinhos, os enredos com super-heróis são focados no espírito comunitário, confiança mútua, força e coragem, temas inspiradores para as áreas da Educação e Saúde. Entretanto pouco se sabe acerca do impacto das imagens dos super-heróis como recurso pedagógico e promotor de expressões de resiliência. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar as imagens dos super-heróis como recursos para a promoção de resiliência em crianças e adolescentes em situações de risco em ambientes educativos. Um dos resultados indicou que a maioria dos personagens fictícios viveu situações de risco como orfandade, abandono e abuso antes da fase de empoderamento. O estudo analisou relações entre adversidades da vida real de crianças desfavorecidas psicossocialmente e as adversidades da vida ficcional de personagens super-heroicos, em suas fases pré-superpotência (Pré-Capa/Pré-Máscara). A partir desses dados foi desenvolvido o objetivo de criar, executar e avaliar o impacto de uma intervenção positiva, apresentando como tema norteador o super-herói na fase Pré-Capa/Pré-Máscara. A intervenção foi realizada em uma escola pública, tendo como participantes adolescentes das séries finais do ensino fundamental. Os resultados obtidos revelaram que os participantes compreenderam e abstraíram os conceitos de risco, adversidade e ponto de virada. Isso lhes possibilitou discutir suas dificuldades cotidianas e buscar novas propostas de enfrentamento. Além disso, o grupo pesquisado evidenciou o entendimento de que o heroísmo não está atrelado apenas aos superpoderes, mas também a questões mais complexas, tais como: práticas relacionais de cuidado, bons tratos e reciprocidade com equilíbrio de poder. Ressalta-se a importância da condução dos encontros interventivos por um profissional preparado para realizar ações planejadas e testadas previamente.

This book is an inquiry into particular matters concerning the nature, normativity, and aftermath of evil action. It combines philosophical conceptual analysis with empirical studies in psychology and discussions of historical events to provide an innovative analysis of evil action.

The book considers unresolved questions belonging to metaethical, normative, and practical characteristics of evil action. It begins by asking whether Kant’s historical account of evil is still relevant for contemporary thinkers. Then it addresses features of evil action that distinguish it from mundane wrongdoing, thereby placing it as a proper category of philosophical inquiry. Next, the author inquires into how evil acts affect moral relationships and challenge Strawsonian accounts of moral responsibility. He then draws conceptual and empirical connections between evil acts such as genocide, torture, and slavery and collective agency, and asks why evil acts are often collective acts. Finally, the author questions both the possibility and propriety of forgiveness and vengeance in the aftermath of evil and discusses how individuals ought to cope with the pervasiveness of evil in human interaction.

Algunas  narraciones  de  excombatientes  del  conflicto  armado  colombiano  revelan  la precariedad como causa para alistarse en los grupos armados y los obstáculos para reintegrarse a la vida civil. Reconocer esta vulnerabilidad demanda esfuerzos sociales y académicos por comprender nuestro pasado  violento  y  plantear  posibilidades  de  transformación.  En  este  contexto,  este  artículo  presenta la  metodología  crítica  con  enfoque  en  vulnerabilidad,  que  desarrollamos  e  implementamos  desde  el Grupo  de  Investigación  sobre  Estudios  Críticos  con  excombatientes  en  proceso  de  reintegración  en Medellín  (Colombia),  mediante  un  laboratorio  de  experimentación  artística  y  narrativa.  Desde  esta experiencia, planteamos las categorías de vulnerabilidad narrativa, laboratorio biográfico-performativo y gesto biográfico-performativo, como una ampliación de las nociones de Judith Butler, Christine Delory-Momberger  y  Georges  Didi-Huberman.  Entre  los  hallazgos  de  este  diseño  metodológico están la necesidad de construir nuevos marcos narrativos y el llamado a la no violencia que hacen los excombatientes que participaron en la guerra y sobrevivieron

Mr, James Lutz, a former graduate student at Capitol Technology University, provided this insightful, "semi-light hearted" but serious presentation on the need for vulnerability assessments and their methodologies. This presentation was made at Capitol Technology University's IA 684 Complementary Security class.

Large-scale anthropogenic changes to the natural environment, including land-use change, climate change, and the deterioration of ecosystem services, are all accelerating. These changes are interacting to generate five major emerging public health threats that endanger the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of people. These threats include increasing exposure to infectious disease, water scarcity, food scarcity, natural disasters, and population displacement. Taken together, they may represent the greatest public health challenge humanity has faced. There is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the dynamics of each of these threats: the complex interplay of factors that generate them, the characteristics of populations that make them particularly vulnerable, and the identification of which populations are at greatest risk from each of these threats. Such improved understanding would be the basis for stepped-up efforts at modeling and mapping global vulnerability...

This article reviews ethnographic literature of environmental justice (EJ). Both a social movement and scholarship, EJ is a crucial domain for examining the intersections of environment, well-being, and social power, and yet has largely been dominated by quantitative and legal analyses. A minority literature in comparison, ethnography attends to other valences of injustice and modes of inequality. Th rough this review, we argue that ethnographies of EJ forward our understanding of how environmental vulnerability is lived, as communities experience and confront toxic environments. Following a genealogy of EJ, we explore three prominent ethnographic thematics of EJ: the production of vulnerability through embodied toxicity; the ways that injustice becomes embedded in landscapes; and how processes like research collaborations and legal interventions become places of thinking and doing the work of justice. Finally, we identify emergent trends and challenges, suggesting future research directions for ethnographic consideration.