On Music,Censorship, and Globalization

Malik Bendjelloul’s music documentary, Searching for Sugar Man (2012), uses the narrative of its central figure, American rock “n” roll musician Sixto Rodriguez, to allegorize South Africa’s emergence from censorship and isolationism to a post-apartheid and increasingly transnational dispensation. I look at the cultural politics of apartheid-era censorship in attempt to account for Rodriguez’s cult appeal in South Africa, despite his artistic shortcomings and his obscurity in the USA. I then focus on the film’s final concert sequence, featuring Rodriguez’s first South African performance, which Bendjelloul subtly positions as a moment of celebration over the new possibilities enabled by the demise of apartheid and the rise of an increasingly integrated global culture.     

How to construct your sexuality according to French magazines

Gendered magazines are a major contemporary form of mediation, (re)production and organization of (hetero)sexuality. They illustrate how sexual activity and performance become the concern and responsibility of individuals who are able to invest time and resources in the construction of a sexually-skilled self. Drawing on contemporary research, the article seeks to promote a dialogue between media and communications research, analysing French media narratives on sexuality through the reading of a selection of articles from the best-selling summer magazines aimed at 18- to 25-year-old readers. The article uses a semiodiscursive analysis to understand how didactic models are made to (re)produce specific knowledge on sexuality and to ascertain that this knowledge is coded in an expertise discourse. Through the hypothesis of a didactic ambition, three didactic models are identified, and attention is here focused on the short-coming/reparative model, that simultaneously creates a dysfunction and a fix. The analysis eventually reveals that didactic models are made to organize social life by strictly dividing sexual and therefore social roles between “men” and “women”. The moral criteria called upon regulate the ideal treatment of those didactic modalities and the discourse in magazines ends up shaping sexuality as a contemporary moral economy, a problem that should be pragmatically treated through the use of a certain type of knowledge.     

Issues in teaching terrorism as cultural artefact

From a humanities course on terrorism that focuses on how terrorist ideology and acts are transformed into cultural artefacts, several pedagogical–theoretical issues have emerged: the incongruity of viewing terrorist violence as art; 9/11 as an ahistorical event; the impossibility of defining terrorism; the infiltration (trivialisation?) of terrorism into popular culture; subgenres of terrorist works, each with its own paradigm; and the iconoclastic potential of many terrorist texts and films. These issues have implications for the curricular design of terrorism courses and for the role of instructors – in academia and in the larger community.     

PLANNING AND PARTICIPATION IN CITIES THAT MOVE: IDENTIFYING OBSTACLES TO MUNICIPAL MOBILITY MANAGEMENT

The dual processes of rapidly transforming cities and administrative decentralisation demands that local government address human mobility as a means of countering urban poverty. Despite this imperative, local authorities are often poorly equipped to address the needs of poor and transient residents. Through an examination of four South African municipalities, this article helps to identify three critical factors working against effective responses: poor data and conceptual bias; institutional ambiguities and budgeting processes; and, ironically, participatory planning. Although any one of these could serve as a basis for an article, by taking them together, we better summarise the challenges' scope and outline areas for further research and policy intervention. The article concludes by considering these findings' practical and scholarly implications. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

日汉外来语历史发展及介入方式比较研究

外来语是不同语言文化接触的必然产物,也是不同民族间交流来往的见证.日汉两民族在与外族交往的过程中,或直接借词或通过译词的方式接收外来词,逐渐形成了现在的词汇体系.文章对日汉外来语的历史发展和吸收方式进行对比分析和研究,找出二者之间存在的异同,为日汉外来语的研究提供参考.     

The Dynamics of Stereotyping: Is a New Image of the Terrorist Evolving in American Popular Culture?

This article considers popular ways of representing terror activists, and the metamorphoses that approaches to representation in the American media have undergone. A part of the article deals with terrorism in the media over time, common stereotypes, and how they affect the representation of Arabs and Muslims. The article then discusses Sleeper Cell (2005), a mini-series which focuses on a Jihad terror group. The article addresses questions including: How are Arabs and non-Arab Muslims portrayed in the series? Can a real change be observed over time in the method of portraying them? Twentieth-century historical considerations precede the pointed topical discussion.     

汉语外来词摭谈

汉语吸收外来词有着悠久的历史.随着汉语的不断发展,被吸收进来的外来词越来越多.吸收外来词,主要有音译和音加意译两种方法;一些多意词则根据其语境而定.但不论采取哪种方法,都应遵守汉语语言规范,符合我们民族的语言习惯.     

公共性和私人性:丁玲前期创作的悖论

本文分析了丁玲前期的生活和写作,并由此探讨“五四”以来女性寻求独立过程中所经历的突破和面临的困境。丁玲独自离家赴异地求学,并以种种实际行动表明了同封建父权制的彻底决裂,从而初步确立了现代女性相对独立的自主地位。在此基础上,丁玲的写作本身既打破了女性在公共空间的“沉默”历史、公开展示了女性隐秘的身体欲望,因而极具颠覆意义和革命力量;同时又因为日记体的特殊体例而重新被置于私人话语的圈子里,削弱了其公共权力和合法性,并且再次把女性作为有待窥视的秘密加以性别化———这构成了丁玲创作的一个悖论。     

《广雅疏证》所揭示的“二义同条”之词义关系分析

王念孙在<广雅疏证>中揭示了<广雅>沿用<尔雅>"二义同条"之例的种种具体现象.<广雅>"二义同条"的"二义"之间,有的有内在联系,解释字只代表一个词;有的没有内在联系,解释字代表两个词.<广雅>中还存在"三义同条"、有的被解释字与解释字都表示两种不同含义、解释字代表两个同音同形异义词等"二义同条"的特殊情况.     

《共产党宣言》对当代中国马克思主义大众化的启示

《共产党宣言》对当代中国马克思主义大众化的启示主要体现在以下几个方面：马克思主义理论工作者应当对社会现实问题高度关注，并站在人民群众的立场上来剖析社会现实；他们不断地从改革发展的实践中汲取理论创新的动力，能够经常性地进行自我批判；他们应保持对社会思想潮流变化的敏锐性，敢于应对各种反马克思主义的社会思潮的诘难和挑战；当代中国的马克思主义不仅需要在本国范围内传播与应用，而且需要通过语言转化来实现向外的扩散与传播；用通俗易懂的语言来阐释马克思主义中国化的理论成果；利用更多的媒体，尤其是新兴的互联网媒体来传播马克思主义中国化的理论成果。