Denigrating the local,glorifying the foreign: Malawian language policies in the era of African Renaissance

ABSTRACT

Malawi's Vision 2020 document, a national document that serves as a vehicle to project a future for a more developed, secure and democratically mature nation, laments the tendency of Malawians to denigrade local products and glorify all things foreign. Yet, paradoxically, the document does not address the important issue of promoting Malawi's indigenous languages. This silence can be interpreted as reflective of the population's inclination to ascribe greater value to foreign culture. In Malawi, as in many other African countries, indigenous languages are not considered worthy as media of education, subjects of advanced study or critical vehicles for national development. They are still victim to a discrimination rooted in Africa's 500 plus years of European enslavement and colonisation. Against the backdrop of the pursuit of an African Renaissance, this article looks at Malawi's language policies since independence in 1964, and at how, ten years short of an idyllic national vision, Malawi measures up on the important issue of language.     

Interpreting “Cumulative Extremism”: Six Proposals for Enhancing Conceptual Clarity

The concept of “cumulative extremism”—described in 2006 by Roger Eatwell as “the way in which one form of extremism can feed off and magnify other forms [of extremism],” has recently gained considerable traction in academic, policy, and practitioner discourses about extremism. Yet in spite of the growing usage of the term, particularly in analyses of the dynamic between extreme Islamist and extreme Right-Wing or anti-Muslim protest groups, there has to date been scant interrogation of the concept itself or of its application. In this article, we make a series of six proposals as to how we might enhance the conceptual clarity of these conversations about “cumulative extremism.” Our aim in doing so is to increase the likelihood that the concept might become a useful addition to the debates on extremism rather than becoming, to borrow a term from John Horgan—something of an “explanatory fiction”—an idea that appears to enable us to explain a great deal, but whose explanatory value is largely lost because there is insufficient scrutiny of the claims that it is used to make and whose liberal application becomes increasingly conducive to poor science.     

China's Relations with India's Neighbours: From Threat Avoidance to Alternative Development Opportunity

Abstract

China, once seen as a threat by the states of South Asia, is now viewed correctly as an alternative development opportunity. The unprecedented success of the Chinese development model places it as an obvious alternative to that offered by India—or indeed by the Western model of development—but what implications does this have for the middle and small powers that surround India, and indeed for India and the Western developed world? The fundamental rationale for China's relations with South Asia has changed radically, but the Sino-centric nature of Chinese foreign policy remains. Uniquely, for India's neighbours, but also for the global political economy as a whole, Chinese economic power raises political issues of human security, economic interdependence, and the relationship between physical infrastructure and the benefits of global public goods. The Chinese necessity to tranship through South Asia is identified as a complex new reality for the great power.     

Republican China: Chaos,Process, and Revolution*

A pivotal figure in the birth of Chinese cinema, Zheng Zhengqiu (鄭正秋 1889–1935) established an art of dramatic film integral to the creation of early Chinese motion pictures. His style incorporated unique cross-media perspectives, producing theatrical works fundamentally grounded in his experiences in graphic arts (illustrated news) and theater. This article focuses on crucial links between Zheng's films and his work for various illustrated newspapers, as well as between his stage plays and his own experience of family life. The author offers new approaches to and interpretations of Zheng's art, analyzing his emotional modes of narrative and provocative forms of engagement. These artistic traits are rarely discussed in contemporary scholarship on his contributions to Chinese cinema. Emerging during the 1911 Revolution, Zheng's sensational style of drama aimed to foster broad social and cultural reforms. For Zheng, art was never for art's sake alone; instead, art was always in the service of society.     

Western Medical Education on Trial: The Endurance of Peking Union Medical College, 1949–1985

Abstract

In the early twentieth century, Beijing's Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) stood as a prominent symbol of Western medical science and education in China. After the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) took control of the College between 1952 and 1956.This article argues that the endurance of PUMC as an institute of scientific, Western biomedicine in China was largely contingent upon reforms that the PLA instituted there. Drawing on Chinese accounts, as well as the observations of North American and European physicians, it asserts that political campaigns under Army leadership vehemently attacked American influences on the College but avoided direct criticisms of Western medical science itself. This dynamic politically legitimized the Western medical education that the College embodied. It also permitted PUMC to contribute to the development of Chinese military medicine, suggesting a significant connection between civilian and military medical education in the early People's Republic.     

Cao Yu’s Peking Man and Literary Evocations of the Family in Republican China

Abstract

Shanghai in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was home to communities and musicians from all parts of the world. Among the over 20,000 Russians living there, a significant population of musicians contributed to the musical life of the city, particularly the Conservatory of Music founded in November 1927. This article reveals an overlooked phase of musical exchange between China and the West by 1) tracing the context and early development of the Conservatory; 2) identifying and discussing the activities of the Russian pedagogues (including Boris Zakharov, Vladimir Shushlin, and Sergei Aksakov amongst others) and their more notable Chinese students’ (including Li Delun, Ding Shande, Wu Leyi, and Yi Kaiji amongst others) reaction to them; 3) assessing the role that Russians played in the affairs of the Conservatory; and 4) demonstrating how Russian pedagogues influenced the development of Western classical music in China through their students’ notable achievements.     

The Need for Gender-Sensitive Medical Interpreters for Victims with Limited English Proficiency in Sexual Assault Examinations

Abstract

The difficulties and trauma associated with sexual violence are exacerbated by language difficulties. Language difficulties pose particular barriers in accessing legal, social, medical and support services. This presents additional challenges for sexual assault response teams (SART). The SART members serve critical functions in supporting a victim of sexual violence from trauma to trial.

This paper addresses the need for trained gender-sensitive medical interpreters for adult female victims with limited English proficiency (LEP) in sexual assault examination, and thus the need for inclusion of trained medical interpreters in SART. Such needs were articulated from interviews with advocates and medical interpreters in the US, from literature reviews and conversations with women with LEP in the US. The paper closes with a set of specific recommendations that will promote comfortable accessible service to female victims of sexual violence with LEP.     

A Clinical Trials Recruitment Education Program for Immigrant Chinese Americans

Abstract

This study was designed to develop and evaluate a community-based education program to facilitate enrollment of immigrant Chinese into clinical cancer screening trials. The program included workshops with culturally tailored health education materials. It was piloted to recruit persons into an ongoing lung cancer screening trial from a senior citizen center in Manhattan's Chinatown and compared with a control program at a second senior center. Survey results from a convenience sample of seniors showed that the workshop raised awareness about cancer screening and clinical trials. However, it did not change attitudes towards cancer screening. The results highlighted prior focus group findings in which factors influencing participation in cancer screening and clinical trials are similar. Important facilitative factors include doctor recommendation, friend/family recommendation, the belief that early detection could “save lives,” no cost, and having an-interpreter.     

坚定不移高举中国特色社会主义伟大旗帜

中国特色社会主义伟大旗帜具有完整而科学的内涵。旗帜是政治方向,道路是实现途径,理论体系是行动指南,制度是根本保障。     

论英语语言学研究的多维视角

英语语言学研究在新的世纪不再是单纯的语言基础研究,应该本着开放的视野,更加注重研究的深度以及与其他学科连接的广度,并应随着学术研究的跨学科发展趋势,拓宽英语语言学的研究视角.英语语言学研究多维视角的提出有其必要性、合理性及可行性.外语工作者应不断深化哲学视角、文化学视角及政治学视角研究,推动英语语言学研究在新时期和新阶段的进一步发展.