This article focuses on the events surrounding a homosexual Romanian man's attempt to be recognized as a refugee in Britain. Numerous themes emerge such as the nature of authenticity, knowledge, identity, pleasure, evidence and the homosexual refugee as being caught in between two legal apparatuses (that is, fleeing from the hostility of one legal regime and then trying to gain refugee status, and thus legal protection, via a British Immigration Tribunal). In this article, the corporeality and sensuality of legal practices (...) are exposed in the form of `practices of truth'. That is, in this case medico-legal `living individuals' were to perceive, hear, speak, touch and penetrate the `secrets' of Mr Vraciu's body in order to authenticate his sexual identity for the purposes of law. This case also demonstrates the existence of a differend between what I describe as the self-knowledge of homosexuality and the `legal' fact-based, or authorized knowledge of homosexual identity produced through practices of truth. (shrink)

The new practices of human resource management can be seen as an expression of management communication, which has become increasingly pedagogical. This article is based on Luhmann systems theory regarding second-order observation. The article tries to observe how management communications observe the self-observations of employees, and claims that these observations take place within the code of the pedagogic. A number of effects are discussed: how the employee becomes a formator of him/herself as the medium child, how the employee is expected (...) to observe him/herself with a corrective pedagogical gaze, and finally how this installs a kind of a self-screening of the employee. (shrink)

The fuqahâ’ (Legal Scholars) and muḥadditsûn (Hadith experts) have constructed the epistemology of Sharḥ Hadith in al-Andalus by its use and application. Interpreting Hadith by understanding the reality and context in al-Andalus provides a comparative understanding for society to better get the messages of the Hadith, rather than focus on its transmission and validity rules. Such approach is taken considering the situation and condition in al-Andalus demand the dissemination of practical knowledge, not theoretical knowledge as in Masyriq (the East) where (...) the people have achieved deeper knowledge. The epistemology developed by ‘Abd al-Malik bin Ḥabîb (d. 238/852) in the second to the third century AH gives an illustration that Sharḥ Hadith is developed in its epistemic corridor. Basically, the study of Sharḥ Hadith in Al- Andalus does not only have a passive role in the domination of Islamic centrist in the Masyriq, but also play an active role in interpreting various situations and conditions in the region. The relation of power between the Mâlik School and local knowledge in the epistemology of Sharḥ Hadith hadith are productive, producing practical and principle-based knowledge for the people in al-Andalus. (shrink)

. This paper raises a question that is fundamental in the relationship between Euro-Western knowledge as a system of knowing, spawned and refined under particular historical circumstances, and the methodologies that are attached to it. I argue that Euro-Western knowledge gains its hegemonic status precisely because it is a political tool with political implications. As such, it is argued that the methodologies attached to it cannot be modified to subvert the very foundational motivations and spirit that inform Euro-modern knowledge. The (...) paper shows the politics of such knowledge and of the knowledge resulting from its methodologies. In this vein, then, I argue that chances for those placed on opposite sides of the “colonial difference” to engage in scholarly conversations that give equal respect to their ontological and epistemological concerns are non-existent. Heretofore marginalized ways of knowing and, thus, of being, need to be restored to an equal plane of recognition and affirmation for such conversations to be realized. The pervasive understanding of what came to be known as “African AIDS” is used as a case to substantiate the main argument. (shrink)

In the United Kingdom, the concept of mentorship has been central to nurse education since the 1980s. Mentorship has become the definitive term used to denote the supervisory relationship of the student nurse with a qualified nurse who monitors and evaluates their skill development in the clinical area. The background against which the concept was established is examined through a consideration of the concepts of archaeology of knowledge and genealogy of knowledge as conceptualised by Michel Foucault. In particular, the Foucauldian (...) concepts of power, discourses and the gaze are used to direct and shape the analysis. The paper explores the interplay of managerial dominance and professionalism and the ways in which mentorship can be used as a means of control and surveillance. (shrink)