Interrogating the Look of the Gaze: Theorizing a Latina Cine-subjectivity

Abstract: This article concerns sexual object choice, transgender subjectivities and emancipatory heterosexuality as imaged in three films: The House of the Spirits (1993), I Like It Like That (1994) and Mi Vida Loca (1994). The author argues, through her examination of the three films, for cinematic ways to refocus and interrogate the look and gender of the gaze, thereby envisioning what the author theorizes as a Latina cinematic subjectivity. The idea of a Latina cinematic subject is presented in order to articulate how at particular moments in the films an autonomous Latina subjectivity is created through narrative and mise-en-scène. It is at these narrative and aesthetic moments that the characters look back at the objectifying gaze, thereby creating a cinematic sexual subjectivity for the characters and a model of agency for the culturally resistant spectator who is doing the looking. The House of the Spirits points to the contradiction of sexual object choice and female desire; I Like It Like That reveals the performative and fluid possibilities of gender, as well as the hybridity of black and Latino cultures; and Mi Vida Loca reflects the struggle for agency in Chicana heterosexual relationships and in their material lives. The author argues that the three portrayals begin important cultural work in the rethinking of sexualities, as they unthink the rigidity of monosexuality, destabilize normative conceptions of gender and reinvigorate agency and egalitarianism in heterosexual relations.     

The post-development impasse and the state in India

After discussing the various points of departure suggested by scholars of development, this paper argues that, in the context of India, one way out of the post-development impasse lies in shifting the focus from development politics to the workings of the developmental state on the ground, and to change the methodological vantage point to ethnography. It is suggested that this change in approach would provide fresh insights into the workings of the developmental state and into the process of development in India.     

Terrorist violence and the enrollment of psychology in predicting Muslim extremism: critical terrorism studies meets critical algorithm studies

Discourse on terrorist violence has long facilitated an especially liberal form of securitisation. Originally evoked in reference to anarchists and communists, a rational consideration of terrorist violence, inaugurated by the concept, asks for deferred judgement about the nature of, or reasons behind, violence related to terror on the premise that state and international legal norms governing the legitimate use of violence fail to circumscribe the proper capacities of the state to regulate and explain terrorism. Where sovereign powers along with their military and civilian instruments of coercion are deemed unable to regulate violence effectively, analysts of terrorist violence and their readership are invited to consider and cultivate new sensibilities. Beginning in the 1980s, studies by psychologists found renewed urgency among a growing cadre of interdisciplinary terror experts who found religion, Islam especially, a key variable of analysis. I situate their contributions in a longer history of secular and racialising discourse about terrorist violence. Central to this history are practices of reading, translating, interpreting and archiving texts. Evidence for the argument is based on the analysis of an algorithm that allegedly predicts the likelihood of terrorist strikes by counting words spoken by al-Qa?ida leaders and correlating their frequency with over 30 psychological categories.     

Liberal Democracy Series I, 1972–1988: Definition, measurement, and trajectories

The purpose of this paper is to provide the definitional and empirical background to the Liberal Democracy Series I Index of democracy that is available in Bollen (1998) but whose rationale has not been published. More specifically, the paper (1) gives a definition of liberal democracy that has guided the formation of this index, (2) describes measures that correspond to this definition, (3) provides a measurement model that links the indicators of democracy to the latent variables that represent the concept, (4) explains the construction of the Liberal Democracy Series I Index, and (5) compares the Series I democracy measure to two other widely used democracy measures in a latent curve model. The Liberal Democracy Series I Index provides a simple unweighted measure of liberal democracy that minimizes the bias in expert ratings, is highly reliable and highly correlated with the latent liberal democracy variable. The evidenced reviewed here suggests that its measurement properties are superior to the Polity and Vanhanen democracy indices with the exception that it is available for a more limited period of years than these latter two.     

Resettling Refugees in Rural and Regional Australia: Learning from Recent Policy and Program Initiatives

Conscious policy and program support for the resettlement of refugees in regional and rural areas is a relatively recent trend in Australia. Resettlement is a complex process that hinges on the establishment of viable communities. This review suggests that its outcomes, especially for refugee communities, are potentially mixed. However, an appropriately resourced, well managed and well planned refugee resettlement program can potentially provide beneficial outcomes for refugees and host communities. This article draws on existing empirical data and contributions made at a VicHealth Roundtable in late 2007 to thematically explore the challenges facing rural and regional resettlement programs. Given that settlement is a dynamic process and the approaches to rural and regional settlement are evolving, this article provides 12 propositions for a more effective and integrated approach to policy and practice.     

论我国高等警察教育改革路向

我国高等警察教育应实行通识教育基础上的宽口径专业教育,学生不仅要有宽厚的知识基础,还要对整个刑事司法过程有完整的认识,要培养全人警察。应整合高等警察教育,逐步将高等警察学历教育归并到普通大学,警察机关专事职业培训,造就具有宽厚知识基础、人文关怀、实战能力强的新型警察。     

对苗族传统体育文化的分析研究

苗族传统体育,根据内容和形式的不同可分为:竞技类、娱乐类、配合节庆习俗类。具有娱乐性、审美性、传统性等特征,在未来的发展中,本文就如何规范苗族传统体育竞技,如何保持民族特色等问题进行了研究与论述。笔者认为上述问题是当前苗族传统体育中较为重要的问题,在此与大家共同切磋。     

民族学专业期刊的学术资源构成及其影响力分析——以《贵州民族研究》(1995～2005)为例

本文通过对《贵州民族研究》1995~2005年载文量变化、论文选题分布、载文作者统计和论文被引用情况等作统计分析,来探讨该民族学专业期刊的学术资源构成特点及其学术影响力。     

近期国内学术界对非政府组织研究综述

目前学术界对非政府组织的研究在概念界定方面,集中在包括剩余法在内的几种定义上;在非政府组织勃兴的深层动因方面,市场与政府的“双重失灵”,“市民社会”的知识话语体系,合法性建构,社会转型,可持续发展等是几个常见的视角;在非政府组织与国家的关系方面,着重探讨了导致两者合作或冲突的多种可能性;对于非政府组织在我国的发展定位问题,一些学者提出了对非政府组织不能期望过高、非政府组织本土化的观点。     

理论构建与论文写作——关于翻译研究的Meta理论思考

Meta理论是研究理论的理论,对于理论的构建起指导作用,因此,Meta理论是一个更高层次的理论。本篇文章试图使用Meta理论的一般原则,对翻译理论的构建提出一些思考。他山之石可以攻玉,相信这一初步研究对翻译研究、翻译教学以及研究生学位论文撰写会有所裨益。