Journal of Excellence in Social Sciences

Balancing Survival and Business: Women’s Struggles and Strategies in Fako Division’s Informal Sector During Crisis

Hilary Ewang Ngide, Laura Senke Ngeh, Ngala Bryan Sama — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Anglophone crisis on women working in the informal sector in the Fako Division, Southwest Region of Cameroon. Using a sample size of 351 women, the research employed a cross-sectional methodology, utilising surveys, interviews, and focus group discussions for data collection. The data was analysed using descriptive statistical methods and presented through tables and figures. Findings indicated that the ongoing humanitarian crises had a significant negative effect on women in the informal sector, with over 80% of participants reporting job losses, wage cuts, business shutdowns, loss of customers, and relocations. These challenges exacerbated issues related to food security, health, and mental well-being. In response, the women proposed that humanitarian support in the form of financial aid, material assistance, empowerment programs, and educational subsidies would be crucial for their recovery. Such programs could help them regain self-employment, earn income, and support their families during and after the crises.

The Intersection of Feminist Psychoanalysis and Literature: A Critical Examination of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s "The Yellow Wallpaper"

Rameen Fatima — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper explores Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar" and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" through a feminist psychoanalytical lens, uncovering how Freudian theories have perpetuated gender biases. By examining the themes of hypocrisy and ontological insecurity, this analysis reveals the profound impact of societal expectations on women's mental well-being. The relationship between the two works and feminine writing and the way they both undermine conventional narrative formations while presenting genuine voices of women is also explored in the analysis. Last, this paper also examines the ongoing significance of "The Bell Jar" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" in feminist and women's mental health contexts, emphasizing their continued relevance today.

From Search to Synthesis: Generative AI, Internet Use, and the Transhuman Epistemic Shift

Ezra N. S. Lockhart — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100

This discourse on human-machine cognition offers a rigorous philosophical and epistemological exploration of the transformative impact of generative artificial intelligence on human knowledge, cognition, and the Internet. Moving beyond simplistic narratives of technological innovation, it situates AI within a rich theoretical framework that draws on the extended mind thesis, posthumanism, media theory, and critical epistemology. Central to the argument is the reconfiguration of the Internet from a passive repository of indexed knowledge into a dynamic, co-constitutive epistemic environment where humans and machines engage in dialogic, synthetic knowledge production. This epistemological study highlights how generative AI reshapes traditional notions of authorship, agency, memory, and identity, positioning humans and AI as hybrid co-authors and cognitive collaborators. It critically examines the ethical and political dimensions of this shift, including the risks of epistemic injustice, cognitive dependency, surveillance, and the commodification of knowledge. Through engagement with thinkers such as Andy Clark, Donna Haraway, N. Katherine Hayles, and Hannah Arendt, this framework proposal positions AI-mediated cognition as an emergent transhuman condition characterised by distributed agency and relational subjectivity. By integrating philosophical reflection with contemporary technological realities, this thought piece offers a novel conceptual vocabulary—such as the Internet as an "epistemic ecology" and AI as a "synthetic memory agent”—to articulate the profound epistemic reorientations underway. It calls for interdisciplinary research, critical literacies, and ethical frameworks that prioritise human flourishing and epistemic justice. Ultimately, this meta-analysis of AI and knowledge reframes the human-machine relationship as a shared, evolving project of knowledge co-production, emphasizing the urgent need for vigilance, reflexivity, and democratic accountability in the AI age.

Gastro-Experiences for Children: Practical Kitchen Workshops, Gastro-Museums and Events

Muhammet ERBAY, Fatma Nur URGANCI — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Gastronomy is a valuable field for children of all ages, fostering a sense of responsibility, teaching teamwork and healthy eating, while also developing survival, art, craft, numeracy, and motor skills. Including children in this area in their daily lives and holidays will enhance their self-confidence and abilities, enabling them to become social and active individuals. The controlling parenting style in society has gradually given way to supportive parenting, and as a result, children's role in the purchasing process has become more active. An example of this approach's reflection in the tourism sector is "child-friendly" hotels. A part of its cultural reflection is children's museums and trips that incorporate local culinary elements. This study focuses on the aspects of gastronomy activities carried out for children. In this context, the research question was determined as "To what extent are activities available for children to experience gastronomy?" By focusing on institutions such as museums, farms, hotels, and workshops that offer experiences for children to access and interact with gastronomy, and by examining their websites and Instagram accounts, as well as conducting some phone calls, the hypothesis was established: "There are events and opportunities for children to experience gastronomy, but they are in a developmental stage and need to increase." In light of the obtained data, the aim was to compile the gastronomy-related opportunities offered by child-friendly hotels, gastronomy museums, local culinary tours, and cooking activities for children, thereby creating a resource for the literature. While many countries such as America, Germany, and France have diversified and designed innovative approaches in this field specifically for children, it has been observed in Turkey that a large majority of innovative initiatives in terms of gastronomy activities for children, both in hotels and tours, and in events and museums, are carried out in the Istanbul destination. There is a need for these activities to increase.