Selective Perceptions: The Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust

Abstract

Adamson's conference report focuses on those speeches delivered at the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust that evinced a nationalistic tendency, particularly those given by delegates from Bulgaria, Latvia, Hungary and Turkey. He addresses the relationship between social conditions and solidarity with local Jewish communities, and shows, for instance, that whereas the representatives from Latvia and Turkey suggested that hardship was likely to threaten solidarity, the representative from Bulgaria argued rather that hardship was likely to enhance it. Another issue taken up concerns how moments from the historical past are put to use as constituents of national myths: whereas the speakers extolled resistance against the Nazis as the heroic acts of individuals, any collaboration was drained of intelligibility and a sense of responsibility, and reduced to being merely an episode of the national tragedy. Adamson also observes that the representatives from Latvia and Hungary put considerable emphasis upon their respective domestic legal statutes and their prohibition of racial hatred; this, he argues, is a very weak source of moral justification. Adamson then goes on to analyse and criticize the speeches delivered by the Bulgarian and Latvian delegates. On this subject he concludes that, in terms of, for instance, self-sacrifice or resistance against the Nazis, the former's speech considerably exaggerated the benevolent character of the Bulgarian people as a whole; it also, falsely, suggested that deportations of Jews in particular areas outside Bulgarian borders were not carried out by ‘Bulgarians’, and described, contrary to the evidence, the Bulgarian parliament as unanimously opposed to antisemitism. The Latvian delegate, in her turn, offered a rather subjective theory of the origins of ‘barbarity’ that was historically dubious.     

从图腾崇拜到自然崇拜：人与自然对话的走势

神话语言对宗教情感的培养是由万物有灵的“元语言”决定的。当“元语言”出现“多语”的要求时,其叙述语言向自然崇拜权力话语的接近,一方面造就着自然神故事的丰富性,另一方面自然神的故事也在图腾崇拜的话语中得到消解。对于自然崇拜而言,图腾崇拜具有特殊的意义,图腾崇拜是向自然崇拜过渡的必需语言。要全面地解构自然崇拜内在的语言结构,则必须从解构图腾崇拜入手。     

对《苗族古歌日月神话浅析》的再思考

本文对《苗族古歌中的日月神话浅析》一文所提出的“反映了远古时期特大陨石坠落地球的现象，是不可多得的宝贵资料”的结论提出不同的观点。     

Gender-Based Violence Prevention Workshops: An Experimental Evaluation of Efficacy

Gender-based violence has become an increasingly visible and salient public problem. In the Fall of 2015, the University of Connecticut’s Violence Against Women Prevention Program (VAWPP) implemented interactive workshops in first-year experience (FYE) classes to reduce rape myth acceptance, improve knowledge and understanding of the University’s affirmative consent policy, and increase confidence in interpreting cues related to sexual consent. This randomized experimental design tested whether these outcomes were realized as a result of the workshops. In almost all instances, the workshops substantially and statistically significantly decreased students’ rape myth acceptance, increased their knowledge and understanding of consent, and improved their confidence in cue interpretation.     

Examining the role of pornography and rape supportive cognitions in lone and multiple perpetrator rape proclivity

ABSTRACT

Since a substantial proportion of sexual offenders are not apprehended, researchers have introduced methods to test the propensity to sexually offend among the general public. Proclivity measures assess self-reported sexual interest in lone and multiple perpetrator sexual offending or rape (MPR), and can examine students and community members who indicate a proclivity to sexually offend. This study examines the role of pornography use and rape supportive cognitions to influence proclivity. Anonymous online data was collected from 295 male university students to assess the role of rape supportive cognitions and pornography use in predicting lone and MPR proclivity. Only rape supportive cognitions predicted scores on lone and MPR proclivity measures.     

Center Stage: Humiliation,Being Found Out,and the Myth of Supercompetence

Youth workers operate within a professional climate in which competence is perceived to be linked to a worker's ability to respond quickly and effectively to whatever situations clients may present. Many youth workers perceive their own inability to respond in moments of stuckness as indicative of their own failing and lack of professional skill. They often view their colleagues as more equipped and competent than themselves and fear having their own struggles exposed. This chapter describes the third of five themes associated with youth workers' experiences of not-knowing what to do: humiliation and the fear of being found out. In addition to presenting the dominant theme, this chapter discusses the two variations on the theme, as described by youth worker participants: (a) The worst public humiliation and (b) They'll know I'm a fraud. Implicit in both variations is the weight of youth workers' attempts to measure up to the field's myth of supercompetence in their practice.     

The scent of a green carnation: A review of the queer year

The “Blitz spirit” is a popular story about the British public during the Second World War, uniting together with defiance and resilience to overcome the threat of invasion from Nazi Germany. Previous work has revised this wartime story as a propagandistic construction of national identity and popular memory. Therefore, this paper reviews the Blitz spirit as a myth. A critical discourse analysis (CDA) then examines how this myth was retold in British newspapers after the July 7th bombings in London. I examine how this myth was constructed and the ideological role it played after the attacks. Similar to previous revisions of the Blitz myth from 1940, I argue that social and political complexities after July 7th were often suppressed by messages that sought to evoke a sense of “Britishness” defined by a previous generation. Whilst the July 7th bombings were not a case of traditional warfare or attacks carried out by a foreign force, I argue that wartime analogies often supported military responses in the war on terror and evoked a foreign threat.     

Muslim identity in the Balkans before the establishment of nation states

The background of the contemporary Macedonian “antiquization” can be found in the nineteenth century and the myth of ancient descent among Orthodox Slavic speakers in Macedonia, adopted partially due to Greek cultural inputs. The idea of Ancient Macedonian nationhood has also been included in the national mythology during the Yugoslav era. An additional factor for its preservation has been the influence of the Macedonian Diaspora. After independence, attempts to use myth of ancient descent had to be abandoned due to political pressure by Greece. Contemporary antiquization on the other hand, has been revived as an efficient tool for political mobilization. It is manifested as a belated invention and mass-production of tradition, carried out through the creation of new ceremonies, interventions in the public space and dissemination of mythological and metaphysical narratives on the origin of the nation. There have also been attempts to scientifically rationalize claims to ancient nationhood. On the political level, the process of antiquization reinforced the political primacy of its promoters, the ruling Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), but had a negative impact on the interethnic relations and the international position of the country.     

The Learning Orientation of Primary Health Care Teams in the English National Health Service: Is This a Myth That Should Be Perpetuated?

A qualitative study of primary health care teams in the UK provides insight into their co-ordination or learning-orientation and how this affects member commitment, conceptions of ‘core’ and periphery, group identification and willingness to integrate roles. Even if the ideal of a learning-oriented primary health care team is viewed as a myth, it can still perform useful functions despite an apparent withdrawal of its official authorization by the Cameron-led government. The perpetuation of this myth maintains a tension between reality and potentiality in the hopes that inspire its pursuit as an ideal of team formation.     

上古神话:中华民族文化精神的渊源

上古神话不仅是中华民族的文化源头,也是民族文化精神的渊源和集中体现。它反映了中华民族坚忍不拔、百折不挠的抗争精神；造福于民、泽被后世的牺牲精神；积极进取、勇于探索的创新精神和一往无前、自强不息的追求精神。上古神话不但是祖先留给我们的宝贵艺术珍品,也是一笔丰厚的精神财富。