Story Sentiments
Asynchronous Session
Human Rights’ Awareness among Maritime Students: Basis for an Action Plan View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marichu Garciano
This research is a quantitative study which determined the level of human rights awareness among the Maritime students as basis for an action plan. Majority of the Maritime students have strong level of awareness as to their human rights in the Philippines, particularly on the civil, cultural, economic, educational, legal, political, social, and international rights. However, as to their knowledge on the human rights violations, the majority of them do not possess a strong level of awareness on the following statements: Only the state or government can protect our human rights; Rich people have more rights than the poor; The government gives us our human rights; and that People in a country die because they have no money to buy food. To maintain the quality level of awareness among the Maritime students as to their human rights, a regular and scheduled awareness seminars and fora must be conducted to acquaint and update the knowledge of the respondents, especially on the contemporary human rights controversies. Specifically, an action must be crafted by the pertinent offices in the university to solidify the Maritime students’ human rights awareness.
The Failed Abjectification and the Achieved Hybridization in Igiaba Scego Short Story’s Salsicce/Sausages View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Carlo Butera
I consider a model of ‘abjectification’ through Kristeva’s quotation and the relative process of ‘hybridization’ in Igiaba Scego’s short story ‘Salsicce’/‘Sausages’. First, I analyze the three exponents of the quadratic equation visualized in Kristeva’s quotation: the ‘ego’, the ‘object’, and the ‘superego’. I recognize the ‘ego’ in a Somali/Italian lady living in Rome since birth. I refer to the ‘superego’ the symbolic orders of tastes and preferences characterizing her Somaliness and Italianness. I connect the ‘object’ with the discriminatory fingerprinting law. Then, I discover the unknown value of the equation—the ‘abject’—in the protagonist’s transgression because of attempting to eat sausages as a reaction to the ‘object’. Finally, I identify the lack of recognition of the protagonist’s Italian identity in the failed ‘abjectification’, and I suggest that the most viable solution for her sojourn in Italy should reside in the process of hybridization.
Social, Economic and Environmental Issues in the Media Discourse of the Spanish Press about SDGs and 2030 Agenda View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alberto E. Lopez-Carrion
Since their adoption by the United Nations (UN) member states in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have gradually increased their presence in the media, especially during years when climate summits are held. This study focuses on the three key dimensions of sustainability and sustainable development: ecological-environmental, economic, and social. The primary objective is to identify which of these topics appear most frequently in news articles about the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda in the most widely read digital newspapers in Spain. To address this question, a methodology combining both quantitative and qualitative techniques is employed. Statistical analysis tools are used to quantify the frequency of topics, while semantic analysis helps to better understand the context and depth of media coverage. The main findings indicate that topics related to the social dimension of sustainable development receive greater coverage compared to environmental themes, contradicting theories that suggest a higher dissemination of ecological topics. This finding underscores the importance of the social dimension in the media discourse on sustainability in Spain.
On Academic Liberalism and the Institutionalization of Anti-Palestinian Racism at US Universities
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Deborah Gordon
This study proposes there is an intense political contest at US universities over whether Zionism will be the only legitimate and permissible political speech on campus regarding Israel and the Palestinian people. Using news sources and initial academic analyses, I document how academic administrators, politicians, and students are using “performative” liberalism as the basis for making anti-Palestinian racism as normative on campus. Focusing on Columbia University, an Ivy League and University of California, Los Angeles, a large public institution, I show how “hate speech,” an entity without jurisdictional status in US law, is being silently invoked in double standards regarding freedom of speech, assembly, and protest on these two campuses. I explore the role of “outsiders” and “insiders” to campuses partner in working to make the claim stick that Palestinian political existence is inherently racist and anti-Semitic. A standard trope among politicians and university administrators, “Students have the right to protest, but…” This essential rhetoric asserts differential standards for Palestinian student protests relative to some Zionist students and allies. As a result, there is a national battle over what counts as being unsafe on campus, whether a lack of safety is measurable and objective, and with what consequences. Finally, I nod toward the University of California, Berkeley, the institution most identified with students’ rights to “free speech.” I speculate as to how that campus avoided the political psychodrama that took over Columbia and UCLA.
