Deadly Words: State Power and the Entanglement of Speech and Violence in Hate Crime

Any analysis of hate crime that attempts to separate speech from action, language from violence, faces epistemological difficulties that limit the range of conversations about laws responding to identity-based injury in the United States. Active debates have raged over the implications of bias crime sentence enhancement laws for the protection of ‘freespeech’, thus addressing the inextricability of language and meaning from hate crime. Those in favor of legal responses to identity-based injury tend toward essentialist claims which assume the stability of identity and of meanings inherent in words or actions. Those opposed assert the impossibility of codifying the meaning of words or actions in the law, and/or they worry about the reification of (victimized) identities accompanying bias crime statutes. This article argues that the focus on language and speech in these debates simultaneously enables an evasion of discussion about the law's response to bias-related violence, and misleadingly assumes too much stability in the functions of law and the nature of state power. Interviews conducted by the author with individuals involved in a 1992 racist hate crime are used to show the diverse elements of state power suffusing the incident and its aftermath. An analysis of the crime's investigation and prosecution under a Maryland hate crime statute suggests that law enforcement officers are primarily using hate crime laws as public relations tools in a fight against community perceptions that they are themselves bigots. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

扎实推进社会主义文化强国建设思想的价值逻辑——建构中国特色社会主义文化话语体系的理论特色

党的十八大报告把中国特色社会主义文化建设推向了一个新的高度。＂扎实推进社会主义文化强国建设＂思想凝结着中国共产党文化建设思想的智慧,体现了建构中国特色社会主义文化话语体系理论特色的价值逻辑。其蕴含的新观点、新精髓、新思路、新提法,丰富了建构社会主义文化话语体系的先进特色、民族特色、和谐特色、时代特色的重要理论内涵。新观点体现了建构中国特色社会主义文化话语体系先进特色的价值目标。新精髓形成了建构中国特色社会主义文化话语体系民族特色的理论核心。新思路体现了建构中国特色社会主义文化话语体系和谐特色的发展导向。新提法体现了建构中国特色社会主义文化话语体系时代特色的实践创新。     

The rule of power in the language of law

Conclusion Thus power appears as both a topic within an already constituted realm of legal analysis, and as one of the motors that drives the constitution of this realm. This second foundational level is only available to reflexive thought that can place its analysis within the world of law it analyses so as to monitor its own possibility-conditions. Power therefore presents itself as shaping the very language employed to articulate it so that the analytic language of legal education can become a resource in its own right. In drawing upon this resource we have found that power and truth are mutually implicated. Contrary to the counter-reflexive and implicit view of legal culture, this means that knowledge of the power/truth relation is also an outcome of this relation. This suggests that power is a positive factor in the determination of any legal meaning and developments within legal disciplines. Through the disowning of legal culture's counter-reflexivity it is possible positively to characterise the character and operation of power across the constituted and constituing levels. At the constituted level it shapes discourse and speakers from the inside as well as externally. At the constituting level — which can no longer be treated separately — it individualises/collectivises those very subjects, their positions and world, and distributes a conceptual and linguistic framework for its self-comprehension.     

Langage Juridique et Langage Usuel: Vrais ou Faux Amis?

This article tries to bring to light the mistaken idea that the words the law borrows from plain language, without explicit definition, should keep their original meaning; Although legal language and plain language are obviously close “friends”, they seem to be also “false friends”, because these words belonging to two different languages have, beyond their formal similarities, partially different meanings. For this purpose, this article provides a critical analysis of the reference of the belgian case law to the ordinary meaning of words. This reference is analysed in relation to three different matters: interpretation, legality, and autonomy of criminal law.     

On the Incoherence of Legal Language to the General Public

I will suggest, in this article, a possible explanation of the fact that legal language appears incoherent to the general public. I will present one legal text (an indictment), explaining why it appears incoherent to legal laypersons. I will argue that the traits making this particular text appear incoherent are, first, that a specialized legal meaning is conveyed implicitly and, second, that there are no key-words that could direct laypersons to the knowledge making this meaning obvious to legalists. I will conclude that any legal text having these traits is likely to appear incoherent to the general public and suggest that the traits making my example appear incoherent might be rather common among the various texts of the various legal systems. On this suggestion there is no need to assume any causal relation between lawyers’ social interests and the apparent incoherence of legal language as it entails that this incoherence is inevitable. (I will argue that it is a result of the facts that legal language is ordinary language used, in the ordinary way, in the special context of the legal discourse.)     

Deconstructing jurisprudence: An experiential feminist critique

Feminist legal scholars continue to raise questions concerning the nature of jurisprudence in its treatment of women. Central to this debate are issues of knowledge, truth, and power founded on the patriarchal code of justice. This article argues that the essentialism of the masculine system alone is entirely inadequate in speaking for the voice of women and/or for the feminine in consciousness. By disrupting Freudian and Lacanian constructions of female sexuality through a psycho-linguistic analysis, these insights are then applied to the works of both Carol Gilligan and Catharine MacKinnon. In doing so, it is discovered that an uncultivated feminine discourse is grounded in experience, gatherings, consciousness-raising, and interpersonal truth. Constituting an unadulterated code of feminine justice requires a return to imaginative discourse; a process whereby metaphors, symbols, and myths for and about women are re-constituted and freed from misogynous language and culture.     

The Languages of the Law: An Integrated View From Vico and Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Work on the relation between figurative language and the law is a fairly recent trend, within legal discourse studies, linguistics, and semiotics. The work in conceptual metaphor theory, for example, is starting to unpack the underlying metaphorical and metonymic structure of legal language, producing some new and important insights into the nature of this language. Missing from this emerging line of inquiry are the views of the Neapolitan philosopher Giambattista Vico, who was the first to understand the power of figurative language in the creation of symbolic systems, like language and the law. His tripartite evolutionary model of language shows that there is not one language of the law, but three “languages.” By integrating Vico’s model with the work in conceptual metaphor theory it will be possible to penetrate the underlying conceptual structure of legal discourse and thus lead to a more insightful science of this discourse.     

Linguistic Justice in International Law: An Evaluation of the Discursive Framework

Claims by minority groups to use their own languages in different social contexts are often presented as claims for “linguistic justice”, that is, justice as between speakers of different languages. This article considers how the language of international law can be used to advance such claims, by exploring how international law, as a discourse, approaches questions of language policy. This analysis reveals that international legal texts structure their engagement with “linguistic justice” around two key concepts: equality and culture. Through a close examination of the way in which these concepts function within international legal discourse, the article suggests that this conceptual framework may sometimes constrain, as well as enlarge, the possibilities for justice for minority language speakers. Thus while international law may provide a language for challenging injustices in the linguistic sphere, limitations inherent in this discourse may also restrict its emancipatory potential.     

De/limiting Emptiness and the Boundaries of the Ineffable

Emptiness (śūnyatā) is one of the most important topics in Buddhist thought and also is one of the most perplexing. Buddhists in Tibet have developed a sophisticated tradition of philosophical discourse on emptiness and ineffability. This paper discusses the meaning(s) of emptiness within three prominent traditions in Tibet: the Geluk (dge lugs), Jonang (jo nang), and Nyingma (rnying ma). I give a concise presentation of each tradition’s interpretation of emptiness and show how each interpretation represents a distinctive aspect of its meaning. Given that Buddhist traditions (1) accept an extra-linguistic reality and (2) maintain a strong tradition of suspicion of language with the belief that language both constructs and distorts reality, this paper responds to an issue that is not so much whether or not an inexpressible reality can be expressed, but rather how it is best articulated.     

Language use in ancestry research and estimation

Recent discussions have revolved around the concept of ancestry and ancestry estimation; however, the associated terminology and its theoretical underpinnings have not been similarly examined. This research evaluates the concepts (e.g., race, ancestry, ethnicity) currently in use, examines if they are consistent with the groups employed to illustrate them (e.g., Black, European, Hispanic), and looks for patterns in language usage. Articles in the Anthropology, Odontology, and General sections of the Journal of Forensic Sciences between 2009 and 2019 were evaluated for ancestry‐related language use. For each article, the concepts, examples, and bibliographic information were recorded, and the relationship between concept and example was examined. These data were cross‐tabulated to evaluate relationships between the variables. Cramer's V was used to assess the strength of association of these relationships. In this sample, ancestry predominates, especially recently The concept used is significantly associated with all variables except publication date and authors’ institution(s). Despite the prevalence of the ancestry concept, racially based terms for individual groups were common. The use of ancestry, over race, in forensic contexts has been suggested to be a primarily linguistic change; these results may support that assertion. Inconsistent language usage leads to a lack of clarity in meaning among researchers and misinterpretation of the data. It is critical to recognize that inconsistencies exist, but also to understand why they exist. These results underscore the long overdue need for the inclusion of diverse perspectives in forensic anthropology, especially in the current conversations surrounding ancestry and ancestry estimation.     

语境在翻译中的重要作用探新

语境在语言使用中起着非常重要的作用。它在翻译(语言活动之一)中起着举足轻重的作用。在翻译中起重要作用的三 个主要语境因素:原文和译文的文化知识、参与者和语篇因素。     

“What Are You Going to Do with the Village's Knowledge?” Talking Tradition,Talking Law in Hopi Tribal Court

Though the details of face-to-face talk and interaction have been studied in Anglo American and British courtrooms, few attempts have been made to extend similar analyses to the study of contemporary indigenous and (post)colonial legal institutions that continue to employ legal processes informed by both Anglo-style adversarial notions of law and "local" notions of law, culture, and tradition. Using methods of legal discourse analysis and language ideology studies, this article investigates how interlocutors in a hearing before the courts of the Hopi Indian Nation construct discourses of tradition and Anglo American jurisprudence in multiple and competing ways, and for significant sociopolitical effect. An argument is thus made for attending to the microdetails of sociolegal interactions as an important site for exploring the complex articulations between the contemporary lives of indigenous peoples and the laws with which they are imbricated.     

Overcoming Doctrinal School Thought: A Unifying Approach to Human Dignity

The concept of human dignity is criticized due to its vagueness, but by discussing the most important schools of thought, we can identify a core meaning that is common to most understandings of human dignity: Whether we conceptualize human dignity in terms of autonomy, self‐respect, social acts, or equal status, we always refer to some kind of personal identity. This personal identity consists in those aspects that we consider to be constitutive of our individual personality. Instead of remaining within doctrinal school thought, this core meaning can be taken as a common denominator for human dignity discourse.     

Violence in Fascist Criminal Law Discourse: War, Repression and Anti-Democracy

This article constructs a critical historical, political and theoretical analysis of the essence of Fascist criminal law discourse in terms of the violence that shaped and characterised it. The article examines the significance of violence in key declarations about the role and purpose of criminal law by Alfredo Rocco, Fascist Minister of Justice and leading ideologue, in his principal speech on the final draft of the 1930 Italian Penal Code. It is grounded on the premise that criminal law is particularly significant for understanding the relationship between State power and individuals, and so what was distinctive about Fascist thinking in this regard. The article analyses Rocco’s declarations as a discourse in order to highlight their contextual foundations, construction and ideological connections. It argues that the core theme of that discourse is violence, which has three principal dimensions: a close historical and rhetorical connection with war, a focus on repressive and intimidatory force, and a paramount concern with subordinating individuals to State interests. The article then uses this analysis to develop a theoretical reading of the nexus between criminal law and violence in Fascism, in terms of its foundations and reversal of ends and means. The article thus provides an original perspective on Fascism and criminal law, which it argues is important for critical engagement with criminal law discourse in our democracies today.     

Socially Responsible Private Regulation: World‐Culture or World‐Capitalism?

This article analyzes the phenomenon of “corporate social responsibility” (CSR; specifically: social private regulation) in light of two sociological paradigms of globalization: “world‐culture” and “world‐capitalism.” The study treats three analytically distinct features of CSR: the political contestation over its meaning, the role of business studies in transforming it into a managerial model, and its consolidation as a market of authorities. The study finds that (1) while CSR may be theorized as a emergent “world cultural” model, the culture paradigm does not take sufficient account of the role of corporations in shaping it, and (2) while both paradigms recognize the transition from political contestations over the character of CSR to its deployment by means of private regulation, the world‐capitalism paradigm offers stronger tools for theorizing the mechanisms of change that mediate between political agency and institutionalized regulatory outcomes.     

Rethinking subjectivity in law and ideology: A semiotic perspective

Post-Renaissance thought ushered in a new global optimism; however, postmodernist thought has recently challenged many of the claims to truth that form the basis of this line of inquiry and semiotic analysis has been one of its critical tools. Accordingly, this paper focuses on establishing a psychoanalytic semiotic perspective in law which is materially based. Law, ideology, and subjectivity are investigated in terms of discourse analysis. A Lacanian framework is integrated with a critically informed analysis that examines how the ‘what happened’ in the courtroom is constructed. It is argued that subjectivity is intrinsically connected with discourse. Two levels of discourse analysis are examined: the level of juridico-semiotic production, and the sphere of intra- and inter-subjective semiotic production. The notion of a semiotic grid constituted by three axes is developed, and extraverbal context is conceptualized as determinative. An alternative conceptualization of subjectivity in law based on Lacan is then argued for.     

The Constitution of Violence Through the Language of Law: Legal Hermenutics in Second‐Century Roman Egypt

Bryen, Ari Z. 2013. Violence in Roman Egypt: A Study in Legal Interpretation . Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. Pp. 376. $75.00 cloth; $75.00 eBook. This essay examines the linguistic anthropological themes emergent in Violence in Roman Egypt (2013). Viewing law as a discourse, it explores how language is constitutive of law and is the primary modality of acting upon, and enacting the world(s) that it shapes, giving meaning to the lives of people who engage each other in and through it. Violence petitions in second‐century Egypt are a fundamental mode of sense making and problem solving, calling on legal authorities to interpret claims of iniuria, or legal battery, into a language that they understand and remedy. In doing so, law changes the discourse of violence, specifically, and social life, more broadly.     

Constructing Women Who Experience Male Violence: Criminal Legal Discourse and Individual Experiences

This article examines the relationship between how women who experience violence from a male partner construct themselves, and how criminal legal discourse constructs female victims of violence. It is argued that in both arenas, women are constructed according to norms which emanate from a discourse of conventional femininity which operates together with a practice of shame. Utilising empirical data gained from qualitative interviews with women who experienced male violence, the article contends that the construction of the female victim of violence in criminal legal discourses as imbued with stereotypical ‘feminine’ characteristics such as passivity and weakness, may influence these women’s own construction and understanding of themselves. The existence of a practice of shame further consolidates the self-regulation of the women themselves to these norms of femininity. This construction is posited to be problematic as the experiences of women of male violence rarely ‘fit’ within these explanations. The article contends that in order to better understand women’s experiences of male violence; both criminal legal and individual women’s discourses need to be read in terms of the power, knowledge and effects which they exert upon individual women. It is argued that this alternative reading of these discourses has the potential for transformation as they are invested in the subject.

Theorizing continuity and change in socialist regulation

How does regulation change in authoritarian polities that tightly control public discourse and social mobilization? Socio-legal theories assume that regulation changes through intersubjective dialogical exchanges that persuade regulators to alter how they perceive social problems and the appropriate regulatory responses. Although this framework captures regulatory change in transparent dialogical spaces, it misses much of the regulatory story in the opaque discursive processes that order authoritarian polities. This article turns to sociological institutional theory—a non-dialogical theory to understand regulatory change in Vietnam's authoritarian polity. It investigates how commercial regulation in Vietnam has responded to an emerging mixed-market economy, at the same time the state has suppressed public dialogical challenges to socialist ideology. It concludes that regulatory change occurs when regulators respond to economic and social crises and layer new ideational components onto old programmatic ideas, converting them to new uses.     

The Socio-Cultural Exclusion and the Regulation of Sexuality in Taiwan

My paper begins with an analysis of recent emergence in Taiwan of public discourse and administrative ordinances that aim to regulate the internet, TV programs, newspapers, romance novels, comics, video games, education, obscenity laws and teenage culture. My analysis points out that the discourse and regulations have signaled significant changes in the relationship between Taiwan’s civil society and its nation-state. An exclusive civil society, a concept which I have partly drawn from Jock Young’s The Exclusive Society, is emerging as an extension of state power rather than as the antithesis of the state. I argue that as a result of this development of the exclusive society and the new regulatory state, a “culture war” between socio-cultural exclusion and social freedom (especially in the area of sexuality) is now being waged in Taiwan’s civil society. The role of the mainstream NGOs, the tactics of regulation and the wider context of this culture war will be analyzed in this paper.