Navigating,challenging, and contesting normative gendered discourses surrounding women’s pornography use

While there exists some empirical research on women’s use of pornography, the manner in which women do, and how they understand their pornographic spectatorship, remains under-examined. Focusing on the narratives of 26 women gained through both focus groups and individual interviews, this research explores how women who use pornography and other sexually explicit materials navigate, reaffirm, challenge, and contest normative gendered boundaries that surround women’s sexuality, sexual pleasure, and women’s pornographic use. While ‘pornography as female degradation’ is the most visible feminist discourse, the findings of this study suggest that the meanings attributed to both the experience of engaging with pornography, as well as with pornographic materials themselves, were far from wholly degrading, and in fact, served to provide pleasure, sexual self-actualization, and even corporeal validation – disrupting normative discourses of desiring and desirable bodies.     

The global,the local and the hybrid in the making of Johannesburg as a world class African city

In 2000 the city of Johannesburg adopted the vision of becoming a World Class African City (WCAC). Since then Johannesburg has been energetically promoted in accordance with this vision. The tagline ‘world-class African city’ is now used in the branding of the city. It has become a major signifier on its logo and a notable catchphrase in its radio adverts of its brand. However, the nested opposition of the ‘world-class’ and ‘African’ discourse has not been explicitly defined in the vision beyond their simplistic connection. Many people have found the vision puzzling and some have questioned its claims. This paper explores the conundrum that lies in the nested opposition of the ‘world-class’ and ‘African’ discursive currents. It identifies the ‘global’ and ‘local’ discursive forces (in the country) which were formative in the creation of the vision. It looks at how the intersection of global and African discursive fronts has become leverage for generating hybrid cultural/cosmopolitan identities. The thrust of the paper is that the urban practices and landscapes of post-apartheid Johannesburg are enacted and re-enacted together with the inspiration, signification and/or representation of the city vision.     

Defensive semiotic strategies in government: a multimodal study of blame avoidance

In this article, I argue that when officeholders try to avoid blame, they often engage in defensive performances which can be analysed in terms of how they exploit various multimodal semiotic resources to ward off (potential) criticism: the setting, appearance, and manner chosen for a particular interaction with an audience; and both verbal and non-verbal ways of arguing, legitimising, framing, and representing social actors and actions. I apply these analytic categories to interpret the data gathered during fieldwork at a major training event of British government communicators. By combining insights from multimodal discourse analysis, discourse-historical studies of organisational behaviour, and recent research into blame avoidance in public administration, I demonstrate how certain semiotic strategies used by officeholders have an effect of backgrounding the ideas about any possible norm violations that government communicators may have been associated with in the eyes of critical audiences, such as lying, spin doctoring, and using tax money for propaganda campaigns that may not actually serve the interests of the public. I suggest that analysts of government communication should pay more attention to the defensive practices of government insiders, and study in great detail how these practices are incorporated into everyday behaviour through professional training.     

Discursive construction of Lithuania’s “others:” the case of Belarus

This article analyzes discursive representations of Lithuania and of Belarus as Lithuania’s “Other” in the context of the recent political crisis in Ukraine. Focusing on the media discourse of Lithuanian intellectuals regarding the historical Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) and its legacy, it examines how Belarus and its role vis-à-vis Lithuania have been depicted. The analysis is informed by the discourse-historical approach within critical discourse analysis, using thematic content and argumentation schemes for studying the images ascribed to the GDL, Belarus, and Lithuania in the selected texts. Focus in the discourse of intellectuals on the GDL as a historical homeland is found to shift from history as a scholarly endeavor to the politics of history and the uses of the past in today’s political projects. Belarus and the GDL emerge as topics not only historically and politically salient but also potentially dangerous for Lithuania within the setting of the events in Ukraine.     

Ellie’s first time: constructing self-cutting in a teen drama

Self-cutting attracted a growing interest in society during the 1990s and the early 2000s, and this was reflected in a similar increase in media during this period. In this article, the example of Ellie Nash’s self-cutting in the teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation is used to investigate articulations of the phenomenon during this period. The starting point is that self-cutting, a behaviour that previously had mostly been connected to masculinity, had to be rearticulated to fit into already established constitutions of femininity. If this was not possible, self-cutting could only be understood as a radical and aggressive behaviour easily connected to movements such as Riot Grrrls that emerged during the same period. With the help of formal and narrative methods, and discourse theory, the scene that includes Ellie’s first cut is analysed. The results of the analysis show that themes such as success, control, family and alternative culture framed self-cutting as being executed by girls who are fragile and vulnerable but also sensible. Even if the things that led up to Ellie’s self-cutting were presented as structural problems, the solution for her was individual conversational therapy, which fitted with the hegemonic neoliberal values that dominated this period.     

Acting one way and talking another: China's coercive economic diplomacy in East Asia and beyond

Over the last two decades, China has experienced one of the most dramatic and sustained periods of economic growth in world history. China's use of economic statecraft provides an important venue in which to examine the role of unacknowledged ‘coercive diplomacy’ within the context of China's ‘peaceful rise discourse.’ In contrast to Western countries, which have overtly used sanctions and other forms of economic coercion, China has publicly denied any such policies while at the same time quietly pursuing them. China's denial of using coercive economic statecraft has muted the reactions of neighboring publics and government, but it cannot entirely forestall them. Without seriously undermining China's ‘peaceful-rising’ image, a more explicit statement from Beijing regarding its coercive economic measure could provide deterrence and assurance to China's neighbors in resolving the disputes. This article first surveys existing literature on economic statecraft focusing on the coercive aspects of such strategies. Second, it presents an in-depth case study on how China uses economic leverages over its neighbors in East Asia: North Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. Finally, it highlights the limits of China's economic statecraft within the constraints of China's ‘peaceful rise’ discourse. It concludes with implications for Asian politics and beyond.     

个人言语判别特征在短文本作者鉴别中的应用

目的以法律语言学为视角,通过测试语用、语篇语义以及语篇信息文本特征值对文本作者的判别能力,探究短文本作者鉴别或同一认定的方法。方法采用实验、语篇分析和统计的方法,对4位作者的28篇微博(每人7篇)共11种组合形式(二人组、三人组和四人组)逐一进行了文本特征值的测试和文本作者的判别分析。结果从语用、语篇语义学以及语篇信息领域抽取的5个特征值的不同组合对4名作者的所有11种判别组合都能进行显著区分,判别正确率达到85.7%~100%。结论基于4位作者微博文本的判别分类器已经建立并可以继续推演用于其他短文本作者的鉴别分析。     

Large-scale land deals from the inside out: findings from Kenya's Tana Delta

Although there is alarm over the global land rush, many plans for the large-scale transformation of land acquired by investors remain on the drawing board. Based on a study of two land deals in Kenya's Tana Delta, this paper considers the processes by which blueprint designs are amended or delayed through the involvement of local actors. It demonstrates that even top-down acquisition of land by powerful state-linked actors with the support of policy discourse can be stalled by the rural poor, particularly if the latter have strong customary claims and links to wider opposition. At the same time, large-scale land acquisition is not automatically opposed by local people, who may see land deals as an opportunity to safeguard access to resources and to support their development expectations. The paper also suggests that although consultation and the existence of recognised property rights appear to result in fairer project designs, land deals are likely to reflect the decision-making power of an elite that is not fully informed. The conclusion affirms the need for more nuanced, place-based analyses of large-scale land deals, taking into account tenure arrangements, resource access mechanisms, land management discourses and the role of cross-scale agency and alliances in building support for, or opposition to, such deals.     

Tensions in the discourse and practice of the European Union's Aid for Trade

The contemporary global Aid for Trade (AfT) agenda emerged out of world trade negotiations and it could have profound implications for the future of development aid, depending on how it is interpreted. The European Union (EU) has recontextualised this global agenda to suit its own approach to trade and development; specifically a focus on regional integration, and free market but ‘pro-poor’ development models. AfT is ascribed a variety of purposes in EU texts and its use continues to adapt as the EU's trade and development policy evolves. Institutionally the AfT framework has not strongly affected EU processes, organisational structures or methodology. A study of the use of EU aid for regional integration reveals dissonance between its development relationship and its trade policies while a focus on pro-poor AfT reveals a lack of capacity. Overall, there are tensions not just between discourse and practice but between different discourses of the EU.