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Abstract How do representations of nuclear deterrence serve to legitimize the nuclear status quo and the continued modernization or even increase of nuclear arsenals? While often understood as assigning strategic value to nuclear weapons, in this article, I use a feminist lens to demonstrate how deterrence talk is based on a gendered logic of protection. This article examines how nuclear deterrence is represented in US policy documents and NATO declarations. It draws attention to gendered discursive mechanisms operating in the context of representations of deterrence—understood here as discourse that emphasizes the capability of nuclear weapons to deter threats and adversaries. The argument advanced in this piece is twofold. First, I show how the nuclear deterrence discourse reiterates well-established gendered ideas about war, where the legitimacy of nuclear weapons and possessors depends on the visibility of the less powerful actors in discourse. Second, I demonstrate how deterrence and disarmament, contrary to well-established assumptions about their antagonism, reproduce similar understandings based on gendered assumptions about war. The article contributes to a burgeoning body of critical nuclear scholarship that examines the mechanisms legitimizing nuclear weapons, their possessors, and particular visions for the future. In doing so, it advances important knowledge that supports progress toward nuclear disarmament.

Abstract This article investigates the role of intersubjective and situated meanings and norm contestation for militarised humanitarian interventions from a critical perspective. The International Relations (ir) literature on humanitarian interventions, the Responsibility to Protect doctrine, and emergence of norms is explained and critically evaluated. The case analysed here is Turkey and its foreign policy discourse regarding interventions in Libya and Syria. Based on the case and literature review, the author concludes that critical approaches particularly provide useful tools to understand the role of identity, changing foreign policy narratives, and power constellations in world politics.

This study explored the perceptions of professional identity among three English teachers from diverse academic disciplines at a Korean university. The teacher participants were chosen based on their diverse sociocultural and academic backgrounds that created a small yet diverse sample of cases. Furthermore, each of them possessed a minimum of 10 years of teaching experience. This extensive experience enabled them to engage in profound reflections regarding the development of their professional identities through the lens of these experiences. Taking a poststructuralist approach, we utilized semi-structured interviews, class observations, and course-related documents to delve into the professional identity formation process and the factors influencing their identity formation. Our findings underscore that professional identity construction is an intricate process, shaped by sociocultural and institutional dynamics. Specifically, two dominant factors emerged: the implications of “native speakerism” and the distinctions between tenure and non-tenure academic tracks. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of professional identity complexities among English instructors in Korean higher education institutions. Plain Language Summary Understanding how English teachers at a Korean university see themselves as professionals and the challenges they encounter during this process The study aims to explore how three English teachers from diverse academic and sociocultural backgrounds, working at a Korean university, perceive themselves in their professional roles as English teachers. The researchers were curious to understand the factors that influenced the focal participants’ self-perceptions as English teachers and how they navigated these factors in shaping their professional identities. To capture the complexity of teachers’ experiences and perspectives on their professional identities, the researchers conducted interviews and collected course-related documents. They also observed participants’ classes to verify the credibility of their self-described professional identities. The findings reveal that a teacher’s professional identity is shaped by a variety of factors stemming from their workplace and the broader societal context. The researchers identified two significant factors in particular: the pervasive belief that being a native English speaker is inherently superior and the distinctions between tenured and non-tenured teaching positions. While this study provides valuable insights into the complexities of teacher identity in Korean universities, it is important to note that the study focused on only three English teachers in a single university in Korea. As such, the findings may not be universally applicable. Furthermore, the self-perception of being an English teacher is a multifaceted concept, so the study may not have captured all the intricacies involved in these teachers’ professional identities.

The concept of intertextuality within the framework of poststructuralist philosophy as one of the key categories that reflect the cultural consciousness of the second half of the 19th and 20th centuries was examined in the paper. The significance of intertextuality determines the relevance of the chosen topic as a crucial mechanism of intercultural dialogue. Today, intertextuality can serve as a means of preserving and developing a nation’s cultural heritage as well as being instrument of cross-cultural synergy. The research aim was to identify the shared function of intertextuality in both European and Asian traditions; to compare the of intertextuality through the works of Thomas Eliot and Bakytzhan Momyshuly, which works are seen as preservation and development of cultural traditions. The main research findings authenticate intertextuality as a method of intercultural dialogue. It was established that in B. Momyshuly’s works, intertextuality integrated Kazakh literature into the global literary context, emphasizing its uniqueness and multidimensionality. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the first-ever comparative analysis of the European and Asian traditions of intertextuality, proposing a new approach to their interpretation. The study defines intertextuality in B. Momyshuly’s works to reveal its connection with Kazakh historical and cultural tradition and world literature. The research also explores the specifics of intertextual elements in Kazakh literature, mainly through allusions, reminiscences, and references to folklore, mythology, and philosophy.

This paper investigates the perspectives of a set of actors devoted to development in the Pacific on climate change, migration, and adaptation. While much of the debate over climate and migration is centred around the Small Island Developing States in the Pacific, little is known about how the debate is articulated at that regional level. Drawing on poststructuralist discourse theory and using semi-structured interviews with a set of development actors working in the region, the paper discerns three distinctive discourses on climate and migration. These are (1) a main discourse that promotes international labour migration as an adaptation response and two alternative discourses that challenge the main discourse’s views, by suggesting (2) that migration is of marginal importance and engagement with socio-economic factors that influence Pacific Islands' vulnerability is more pressing, and (3) that out-migration is undesirable but that communities may have to be relocated within their countries. The paper further explores why the discourse on labour migration may have emerged and why it is being perpetuated by actors that originate outside the Pacific region. The paper concludes by suggesting that significant differentials in economic and political resources exist between the main discourse and the alternative discourses. In addition to these empirical insights, the paper adds new findings to the growing literature on the politics of climate migration discourses. Unlike earlier work that identifies a shift from an alarmist to an optimist framing, it illustrates that both alarmist and optimistic imaginaries operate simultaneously in the discourse on labour migration.

In this essay, we argue that postqualitative inquiry is not a useful descriptor for environmental education research and that it is time to consider what comes after the posts. We argue that thinking with theory as a process methodology in the onto-epistemological framings of our research is more generative and opens up opportunities for this research being interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary/cross-disciplinary, intersectional, ecofeminist/more-than-humanist, indigenous, participatory, experimental and transgressive.

A collaboration between Belgian artist Francois Schuiten and French writer Benoit Peeters, The Obscure Cities is one of the few comics series to achieve massive popularity while remaining highly experimental in form and content. Set in a parallel world, full of architecturally distinctive city-states, The Obscure Cities also represents one of the most impressive pieces of world-building in any form of literature.Rebuilding Story Worlds offers the first full-length study of this seminal series, exploring both the artistic traditions from which it emerges and the innovative ways it plays with genre, gender, and urban space. Comics scholar Jan Baetens examines how Schuiten's work as an architectural designer informs the series' concerns with the preservation of historic buildings. He also includes an original interview with Peeters, which reveals how poststructuralist critical theory influenced their construction of a rhizomatic fictional world, one which has made space for fan contributions through the Alta Plana website.Synthesizing cutting-edge approaches from both literary and visual studies, Rebuilding Story Worlds will give readers a new appreciation for both the aesthetic ingenuity of The Obscure Cities and its nuanced conception of politics. 

Purpose This study aims to consider how research methodologies and methods can afford holistic inquiry into gendered embodied consumption. Noting the salience of gender in past and present discourse surrounding the body and building on poststructuralist feminist hermeneutic philosophy and practice, the authors introduce a novel methodological framework situated within three considerations borne of the current socio-cultural landscape: the politics of embodiment, embodied identity and intersectionality. Design/methodology/approach To assist scholars and practitioners in interpreting themes of gendered embodiment in textual data surrounding consumption topics, the authors orient the framework around three principles of listening, questioning and hospitality. This framework fosters embodied empathy by linking the researcher’s body to those of research participants. To illustrate the method, the authors interpret consumption narratives extracted from semi-structured interviews with 26 women-identified recreational runners on the topics of embodiment, sport and media. Findings The interpretations of gendered consumption narratives show that using the principles of listening, questioning and hospitality invites an understanding of consumers as multifaceted, contradictory and agentic. The authors argue that consumers’ everyday experiences are often simple and quiet but embedded in history wherein bodies are both biological and inescapably social. Originality/value The methodological framework allows both the researcher’s and research participants’ embodiment to play a role in the research process. It also illuminates the entanglement of embodiment and consumption in a fraught, politicized context. The authors show that by listening to consumers, questioning their narratives and traditional interpretations thereof and inviting consumers to feel comfortable and heard, researchers can see what other approaches may overlook.

In this article, we apply three theoretical frameworks, poststructural feminism, queer, and sociology of gender to the issue of intimate partner violence (IPV) in order to better account for heterosexual female perpetration and same-sex IPV. Although the traditional feminist paradigm—that assumes men use violence as an extension of patriarchy against their female victims—has been useful in explaining some instances of IPV, it does not adequately frame instances of heterosexual female perpetration and IPV in same-sex relationships. Therefore, in this article we seek to add to existing literature by re-theorizing IPV using poststructural feminism, queer, and sociology of gender perspectives, and their attendant understanding of power as dynamic, fluid, and relational and gender as both interactional and structural, in order to open up new ways of framing IPV and encourage new lines of empirical research resulting in better policy proscriptions and treatment interventions.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the entrepreneurial actions of successful Iranian women entrepreneurs. It is an attempt to find the roots, motivations, challenges and strategies of successful actions of these women, despite the unequal and masculine structure of the society. Design/methodology/approach This research was conducted through the theoretical framework of poststructuralist feminism and the qualitative method. By purposive sampling, the researchers selected 10 women entrepreneurs living in Khorasan Razavi province for in-depth interviews. These women have created many jobs based on local potential and become recognized as top entrepreneurs. The narratives of these women were analyzed phenomenologically. Findings The actions of these women are fertilized under the influence of family background and early socialization and in the combination of internal motivations and external stimuli. These women resist social barriers such as widespread patriarchy, gender division of labor in society and complex bureaucratic processes through the “strategic cycle” resulting from the interaction of “reliance on intertwined social networks,” “social entrepreneurship,” “gradual formation of social capital” and “reliance on local potentials.” Social implications The strategies to overcome gender inequalities at the micro (family) and macro (society) levels introduced in this research can inspire women entrepreneurs who seek success in their businesses. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first qualitative research that, by studying the actions of successful Iranian women entrepreneurs, describes how they overcome structural inequalities and their success strategies.