Reproductive uncertainty: Understanding the regulations on assisted reproductive technologies in China

Tiantian Chen, University of Cambridge

This book provides the first sustained account of intense debates in China over the ban on single women’s access to egg freezing. Drawing on the author’s fieldwork in clinics and government agencies in Beijing, it mainly explains Chinese policymakers’ and clinicians’ rationale for restricting single women’s use of egg freezing even if they celebrate the technology as a success of Chinese modernization strategies. The main concept explored in this book is uncertainty. Egg freezing becomes a source of discomfort for the Chinese government and clinics because it reveals the uncontrollability of human destiny; its consequences are unpredictable and often intangible; it introduces ambiguities into genetic and legal paternity; and it undermines clinical and bureaucratic authority. This book uses egg freezing as a lens on broader social changes in China. The uncertainty of egg freezing reflects the limits of Chairman Deng Xiaoping’s reform. It also informs that the Chinese government has reversed policies by repackaging tradition and tightening party control. The book’s interpretation of "uncertainty" challenges the linear and progressive paradigm of modernization. China’s development path is distinct from the sequential logic of Western, modernist conceptions of history.

Jesuits in Science Fiction: Reason and Revelation on Other Worlds

Edited by Richard Feist, Saint Paul University

From their founding in 1540 to this day, Jesuits have been controversial. Their centuries of missionary work have taken them to all corners of the world. They have been accused of killing Kings and Presidents and contributing to colonization and destruction of cultures—even participating in enslavement. But the Jesuits have also been seen as bringers of light and education. With their ferocity of purpose and intellectual rigor, the Jesuits’ impact on world history cannot be ignored. No surprise then, that Jesuits appear in literature, especially that literature of ideas, exploration, and social commentary, otherwise known as science fiction. This unique collection of essays explores how the Jesuit has long been part of science fiction’s history and how Jesuit ideas and characters are featured in some of science fiction’s greatest works. In this collection, we see Jesuits continue their missionary spirit as they take leave of the earth, moving their missionary labors literally towards the heavens. Reason and revelation are now indeed on other worlds. In this collection, we have explorations of philosophy, science, theology, and culture, all done in typical Jesuit fashion, always in various and foreign contexts. This collection is akin to others in its linking of religion and science fiction, but it is unique in its concentration on the Jesuits and science fiction. This collection will be of interest to scholars working and researching in the field of science fiction studies and would be suitable for courses on science fiction. But it will also be of interest and accessible to those of us who simply love science fiction for its power to explore other worlds and, in this case, to take some of the deepest human reflections, namely those on God, morals and culture, lift them up, and see what forms they may take on other worlds.

Global Perspectives on Online Education During a Time of Emergency: Conditions, Contexts and Critiques

Edited by Patricia Marybelle Davies

Los jesuitas y la gestión religiosa intercultural a principios de la Edad Moderna

Capital humano, mentalidad global y obra misionera en Japón y Perú durante los siglos XVI y XVII

Frank Jacob, Nord University, Norway

Este libro analiza el papel del capital humano y la mentalidad global de la exitosa gestión intercultural de la Compañía de Jesús en los contextos geográficos de Japón y Perú durante los siglos XVI y XVII. Evalúa y analiza datos históricos de más de 200 jesuitas según la teoría de gestión moderna. El trabajo es, por tanto, un estudio interdisciplinario relacionado con la historia de las órdenes religiosas, la expansión europea, la gestión transcultural o intercultural, y muestra cómo los misioneros jesuitas en Japón y Perú lograron y estimularon una expansión exitosa de la influencia de su orden en estas regiones del mundo. Si bien analiza un tema histórico, el libro también será de interés para los gerentes de hoy en día, y para todos aquellos interesados en crear una exitosa estrategia para la gestión intercultural.

Untangling Whiteness: Education, Resistance and Transformation

Jennifer Gale de Saxe, Victoria University of Wellington

With the prominence of workshops, trainings, and anti-racist books popping up over the past few years, it may seem confusing as to what it really means to engage in deliberate and meaningful learning that challenges the many facets of racism and whiteness. 'Untangling Whiteness' directly interrogates the assumption that the teaching and learning about race and whiteness, particularly within the university context, can be condensed to one course, one workshop, or even a few trainings. It is a life-long process that may begin in one university classroom, but must continue as part of who we are as unfinished and undetermined beings. Through a deep and multi-faceted interrogation of racism and white supremacy, this book untangles critical theories of race, whiteness and resistance in an accessible and dialogical manner. It also situates whiteness in Aotearoa, New Zealand, demonstrating the importance of context and location when working to undermine and challenge it. As a theoretical provocation of existing scholarship on race and white supremacy, 'Untangling Whiteness' is underpinned by educating for critical consciousness, as well as a phenomenological engagement that aims to both interpret the world differently and transform it.