Neil Hughes

'Young people took to the streets and all of a sudden all of the political parties got old': the 15M movement in Spain

This profile looks at the emergence of the 15M Movement in Spain. It analyses the role played by social networks in the movements formation and identifies the grievances that mobilised a broad coalition of groups and individuals including dissatisfaction with the two-party political system, the venality of political and economic elites, widespread corruption, the economic crisis and the politics of austerity. The profile also looks at the action repertoire employed by the movement and its organisational structure. In terms of the former, it focuses attention on the role played by protest camps and assemblies in giving a voice to the excluded and building the bonds of solidarity necessary to sustain activists through protest. In terms of organisation, it describes a structure that is highly decentralised, has been influenced by protest movements in other parts of the world such as Latin America and has marked regional differences. It concludes with observations about what the 15M means for Spanish politics and the direction it might take in its struggle against the political and economic elites that have dominated Spain since the transition to democracy in the 1970s.

Indigenous Protest in Peru: The ‘Orchard Dog’ Bites Back

This profile looks at the indigenous mobilization against government attempts to open up the Peruvian Amazon to increased foreign investment. It draws parallels between the events in Peru and conflicts in countries such as Mexico, Bolivia and Ecuador. It identifies the main similarities as the causes of the conflict (neoliberal reform), the action repertoire deployed in the protests, and the successful outcome of the action for the indigenous groups involved. We also look at the sources of support for the struggle, focusing in particular on the role played by political leaders such as Ollanta Humala and Bolivian President Evo Morales. We conclude by analysing the consequences of the protests for the wider political situation in Peru.

Blended Learning and Disciplinarity: Negotiating Connections in French Studies in Regional Universities.

In this article, we outline the challenges facing French Studies in regional Australian universities resulting from an increasingly vocational curriculum and doubts about the cost-effectiveness of language learning in higher education. These pressures have resulted in a process of discipline restructuring and significant cuts in the numbers of staff teaching French Studies. The other major consequence outlined is the dislocation that has taken place in the link between teaching and research as academics with interests in the traditional aspects of French Studies have found their roles restricted to the delivery of low-level communicative language classes. Despite these considerable challenges, we offer a hint of optimism to colleagues in the discipline based on evidence from an increasing body of research into the impact of approaches to language teaching that combine traditional face-to-face instruction and online learning. In our opinion, this blended approach offers French Studies in the regions, not to mention other language disciplines, an opportunity to address the efficiency agenda and, at the same time, help to rebuild disciplinary breadth by re-establishing the link between teaching and research.

‘Tourists go home’: anti-tourism industry protest in Barcelona

Abstract This profile looks at the wave of at times violent protests against the economic, social and environmental consequences of mass tourism in Barcelona, which came to international attention in the summer of 2017. It outlines the leading role played by left-wing nationalist activists linked to the Candidatura d’Unitat Popular (CUP, Popular Unity Candidacy) political party in the protests. I examine CUP’s direct-action methods, targeting local business interests and foreign tourists, as well as the largely critical response this prompted from the wider anti-tourism industry movement. This profile addresses the CUP’s justifications for the action and the echo effect it had in other parts of Spain. It argues that to understand the events requires a focus on aspects of both continuity and change in urban social movement mobilisation in Barcelona, against processes of neoliberal urbanisation, in which anti-tourism industry contestation is to the fore.

Blended Chinese language learning design: an integrative review and synthesis of the literature

ABSTRACT This paper addresses a number of questions in the emerging area of blended Chinese language learning design. First, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the extant literature? Second, how might insights from the wider blended and blended language learning literature advance the field? Third, how might these literatures be synthesised to produce a set of parameters for effective blended Chinese language learning design? Fourth, what might a course based on these parameters look like in practice? The review of relevant literature, identified via a Google Scholar search, is carried out using an integrative literature review methodology. This approach proves a useful vehicle for critically evaluating the state of the literature and for developing practical guidance for blended Chinese language learning designers based on a synthesis of findings from the review with valuable insights from the wider blended language learning research. The design parameters that emerge from this process (mode, integration, research, asynchronicity, challenges, learners and evaluation, with the initial letter of each of the parameters providing the acronym MIRACLE) are discussed in turn and their applicability demonstrated using examples from a beginners’ Chinese language course delivered at the University of Nottingham in the UK.

The Ups and Downs of Third-Stream Collaboration in Modern Languages: The Blended Language Training Initiative at Nottingham Trent University.

In his Review of Modern Foreign Languages Provision in Higher Education in England, Michael Worton argues that to safeguard the health of their subjects, languages academics will need to establish ‘greater, sustainable collaborations’ with a range of partners including ‘extra-educational organisations’. For Wortons exhortation to languages academics to succeed, however, both cultural barriers to partnerships with external organisations and a lack of understanding and practical experience of so-called ‘third-stream’ activity amongst languages academics need to be addressed. This article contributes to reducing the knowledge gap in this area by analysing the setting up and first year of operation of a collaboration in the area of blended language learning and training involving academics at Nottingham Trent University and a Nottingham-based small and medium sized enterprise (SME) – The Cool Creative Company Ltd. The paper focuses explicitly on the early stages of the relationship as it is often during this period that issues crucial to the success of collaborative third-stream activity, such as the aims and objectives of the partnership, organisational structure and questions of risk-sharing and reward, are addressed. It is also in this period that conflicts are most likely to arise. The article looks at the conflicts that occurred in the early stages of the collaboration and identifies the resources that were crucial to resolving them. It also evaluates the benefits of the initiative for the various players involved and the wider community within which they are located. It concludes with recommendations to languages academics considering a collaborative alliance with one or more private-sector partners.