Inxeba (The Wound): Sexual,Gender, Cultural and Religious Traumata on the African Screen

Abstract

This article is divided into two distinct parts. The first part contextualises John Trengove’s internationally renowned, award-winning, feature-length isiXhosa film, Inxeba. The second part of the article is an interview with Batana Vundla, conducted by Mark Kirby-Hirst (Film Theory and Visual Discourse Subject Manager at The Open Window), held in mid-2018, shortly after the High Court’s decision was made public regarding the final classification of Inxeba. The interview ranges from Batana Vundla’s history in the South African film and television industries, to the production processes behind the scenes of the film and concludes with a focus on the nuanced manner through which the film often broaches a wide variety of physical and psychic traumata.     

The Liberal Left Opts for Terror

For a century, intellectual debate on political violence has been dominated by efforts to romanticize the extremist and to invest him with the aura of the altruistic “freedom fighter.” It is astonishing that in the post-9/11 era, the terrorist's image continues to remain habitually mystified and ennobled, while terror attacks are justified as self-defense. “Terrorist discourse” is indicative of the universality of the intellectual position of the Left with regard to terror, national discrepancies notwithstanding. The present article evaluates leftist liberals' attitudes towards terrorism in the 20th-century Russian Empire, Europe, the U.S., and especially Israel—one of the epicenters of terrorism today. The article proposes to examine psychological responses to terrorism in conjunction with a range of contemporary reactions to threats, acknowledged or displaced with an assortment of mental constructs and rationalizations.     

财政立宪主义与“土地财政”治理

我国地方政府的"土地财政"引发了不少问题。财政立宪主义视野下,该现象是由央地财权划分不够合理,以及地方政府权力与当地居民权利不够平衡造成的。如果能够做到以宪法绝对统摄各类财税法律法规,则"土地财政"问题就可得到治理。     

The Tian Anmen massacre

The aftermath of the 2008 general election saw a series of upheavals occur in the Malaysian political landscape, not least of which was the emergence of a so-called “new politics.” Driven primarily by concerns over issues of public governance, this politics contained a set of interrelated questions involving changing notions of legitimate political authority. Although much has already been written about whether or not the post-2008 changes to Malaysia's socio-political terrain are genuine and enduring, I argue that many such analyses are too narrow in scope and fail to adequately recognise the complexity involved in such social realities. By distinguishing between the images and practices of the Malaysian state, this article aims to highlight the dynamic, contingent and contested nature of processes of legitimation. A detailed investigation of the consensus/dissensus surrounding Prime Minister Najib Razak's concept of 1Malaysia as the basis of a collective national identity reveals a more fundamental contestation occurring within contemporary Malaysian politics and society over the source(s) of political and moral legitimacy. While the opposition's challenge to Najib's administration remains formidable, of more pressing concern to Najib might be the objections arising from within his own party over the direction in which he is taking them. To define the present horizon of socio-political possibilities in Malaysia it is not enough, therefore, to simply explain how legitimation occurs; we must also be able to account for the way(s) in which it can occur.     

In the name of king,country, and people on the Westminster model and Bhutan's constitutional transition

In 2008 Bhutan inaugurated a written constitution thereby instituting the state as a constitutional monarchy. The constitution is almost unanimously described as democratic by international media and academics. The ease with which this apparent consensus on its democratic character has been achieved, however, raises the important question of how best to approach the theory of constitutional democratization. In approaching the issue of democratization as a move towards popular control, this article discusses the ambivalence of the Bhutanese constitution towards this principle in a cultural context where social order is seen as constituted within the unity of king, country, and people. Curiously, this language is not as unique to Bhutan as one might expect, but influenced by the Westminster legacy in its emphasis on the principle of “Crown in Parliament”, its ritualization, and ideas of political inequality. It raises the question whether this model is suitable as a blueprint model for countries with different historic and cultural trajectories from the European ones? The article advocates a novel approach to the analysis of constitutional transition that transgresses the dichotomy between an institutional and linguistic approach, thus opening up interesting new insights on the waxing and waning of processes of expanding popular control.     

秦律中的“官”释义——兼论里耶秦简“守”的问题

睡虎地秦律中的"官"没有官吏的意思,其主要义项是具有特定职能的机构、部门,从而引申出"公家"的意思,不宜泛泛作"官府"解。"官府"在秦律中有特定含义,表示具有保藏或作业功能的机构及其场所,不宜直接以现代汉语的"官府"对译。秦汉之际官署名称从"官"到"曹"的变迁,是秦朝建立前后以行政行为统一称谓用语的结果。里耶秦简中的"守",主要是长官不在时由某官员代为留守官署坐班之意。对里耶秦简中大量出现"守"和"守丞"现象的解释,必须联系睡虎地秦律和里耶秦简的不同文本性质和具体时空背景来理解。     

我国“绿卡制度”完善研究——以吸引海外高层次华人人才回归为视角

21世纪国家之间综合国力的竞争归根到底取决于人才的竞争。经济全球化趋势下,世界经济尤其是西方经济发展放缓,而人才正处于全球自由流动和竞争激烈的状态。中国是一个人口大国和非传统移民国家,中国经济的发展是不是可以更充分发挥本土人才的优势呢?本文就将站在如何吸引我国去国外留学人员、专家、学者等海外高层次华人人才回归的视角,探讨完善中国的"绿卡制度"的对策,从而吸引更多"海归",使他们能为中国的经济和社会发展做出相应的贡献。     

完善儿童权益保护之探析——以设立虐童罪为视角

少年之于国家的重要性是不言而喻的,我们理应保证未成年人有一个健康安全的成长环境,然而近年来越来越多虐待儿童事件的爆发,引起了人们对于儿童健康成长的强烈关注。目前,我国尚未设立虐童罪,然而调查表明90%的人支持设立虐童罪。随着虐童事件的发酵,关于虐童罪的讨论成为最受关注的话题之一。鉴此,分析虐童现象及其产生的原因,通过立法增设"虐童罪",无疑是遏制虐童现象的重要举措。     

陕西“十三五”规划制定中发挥智库作用的建议

国外已有人把智库看作是立法、行政、司法、媒体之外的"第五种"权力。国内实现从传统决策到现代决策的转型较为缓慢,教训很深。目前,政策决策咨询类智库时代已经开启。建议在陕西"十三五"规划制定中充分发挥社会科学、自然科学及软科学各类智库的作用,包括借鉴上海等地决策咨询委员会的经验,构建以"省决策咨询委员会"为具体操作平台,"省信息中心"为信息支持平台的决策咨询新模式;以虚拟形式整合省社科院,省社科联和省科协及其所属各学会、研究会,省教育厅及各高校,省科技厅及所属各研究院所等力量,形成我省政策决策咨询类智库体系,在已有经验基础上,探索打造"省决策咨询委员会"的"升级版"。     

自然价值的疏离与回归——论生态现象学“生活世界化的自然”

人类要想实现与自然的真正和解,就必须解决一个前提性问题,即如何看待和理解"自然"。对于这个问题的回答也是将不同生态哲学流派区分开来的根本标志。生态现象学作为一种反传统知识论哲学的现代哲学,它试图通过建构一种自然意义、社会意义和文化意义相统一的"自然"概念——"生活世界化的自然",将自然原初的被隐匿了的价值意义重新凸显出来,以引导人类走上通往与自然和解的道路。生态现象学的自然观念既不同于生态中心主义所主张的脱离人的生活世界来谈生态保护,也区别于人类中心主义所主张的将自然仅仅看作是工具价值层面"为我而生"的对象性存在。"生活世界化的自然"在"此在"的意义上来理解自然,是在日常生活中与"我"照面的,承载着各种价值意义,能够为人类的生命活动中所真切体验到的活生生的自然。生态现象学试图借助"生活世界化的自然"的"基底样式",推动人类在"遭遇自然"—"体验自然"—"审美自然"的交往过程中,赋予自然以人性的同时,重新唤醒人性的生态化一面,进而引导饱受工具理性摧残的现代人类实现与自然的真正和解。