Who ‘Owns’ the Streets? Ritual Performances of Respect and Authority in Interactions Between Young Men and Police Officers

Joining insights from the work of Richard Sennett and Erving Goffman, I probe the power relations which underlie the performances and negotiations of respect and authority in interactions between young men and police officers. Two cultures or codes of conduct most often clash in these confrontations, which interestingly enough bear some key similarities. The officers from the local police office that I observed attempted to avoid unnecessarily engaging youths in confrontations and thereby evaded contests of face. Their assignment in the field was to make their presence felt in the area they were patrolling and to bring the youth to an understanding that they were sharing this territory with them. The officers from the ‘street peace group’ had a different agenda and sought out confrontations with youths and thereby engaged them in public show‐downs over face. Their assignment in the field was to bring respect among the youth for the authority of the police, that is, to force a submission to their authority, and this is most readily accomplished through contests of face—contests in which they had the upper hand and through which they demonstrated time and again that they (the police authorities) controlled the streets (at least momentarily).     

High heels as a disciplinary practice of femininity in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street

With high heels brought back into fashion in the 2000s by the beauty-industrial complex, health organizations have since reported an ‘epidemiology of high-heeled shoe injuries’, especially among young women. Feminist theory in general, and literary criticism on gender, have not yet systematically addressed the role high heels play in upholding and naturalizing the construct of femininity. This article examines seemingly diverse but complementary ways in which high heels function as one of the contemporary devices of femininity in capitalist patriarchy, and argues that the promotion of high heels has a direct stake in reconfiguring women, and their bodies, as symbolically, and literally, tiny and unstable, as fragile and helpless, and as sexually objectified and commodified. The article relies on an interdisciplinary approach, which brings together feminist theory on body and recent medical findings on the effects that wearing high heels has on women’s health and motility. These are applied to the way the problematics of high heels tends to be captured and exposed in socially engaged literary works such as Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street, which serves as a rare instance of a critically engaged literary piece on this matter.     

Analysis of the testimonial evidence of Portugal’s first major forensic case: part II

The crime possibly perpetrated by a doctor named Vicente Urbino de Freitas in 1890 is one of the most famous cases of poisoning, and it had echoes in the Portuguese and foreign press for several decades. This prestigious doctor was convicted of the fatal poisoning of his nephew. He also attempted the homicide of two nieces and their mother-in-law, who only escaped because they obstinately refused to comply with the “therapeutics” prescribed by the family doctor. The motive of the crime should have been Vicente Urbino de Freitas’ ambition to receive the family inheritance of his wife, the daughter of the well-known merchant José António Sampaio of Flores Street in Porto. Vicente Urbino de Freitas was convicted but doubt about his guilt persists for more than a century. This second work aimed to collect and analyse all the relevant and contradictory testimonial evidence of the prosecution and defence witnesses. This case represents an odd historical record obtained through more than 12 years of research on the first major significant Portuguese forensic case. Rare and unprecedented testimonial evidence and photographs were obtained from different countries and then repaired, since these also provide an important historical record of the medical photography.     

开启“奥弗顿之窗”:美国桑德斯竞选运动的四个政治遗产

桑德斯竞选运动反映了2008年金融危机爆发后西方世界争取激进变革的新生群众运动对经济不平等现象蔓延的不满情绪,是“占领华尔街”运动爆发之后扭转经济不平等核心诉求重新进入美国政治议程的选举体现。通过重塑政治话语,桑德斯竞选运动成功推动“社会主义”从美国社会中的负面政治标签变成时代思潮,促使左翼政策纲领从边缘主张变成主流议题,激发了年轻人和激进左翼的选举热情,并唤醒了工人的阶级意识,催生美国激进左翼选举联合的可能性,其政治遗产对美国“民主社会主义”的进一步发展发挥了关键的助推作用,并深刻影响了民主党和激进左翼的政策取向和选举策略,将为若干年后“另一个桑德斯”的选举成功开启了“奥弗顿之窗”。桑德斯竞选运动是“占领华尔街”运动爆发之后美国激进左翼政治的重大进展,虽然较难引发美国政治机制的革命性变化,但却可以从推动形成和实施左翼政策纲领的层面促进美国国内政治领域的改良。     

宁夏长城文化

宁夏长城文化是宁夏历史文化的重要组成部分。宁夏长城文化是北方农耕与畜牧两种文化冲突、传播、交流、变迁与融合的历史。长城,也是多元文化的载体,从审美的角度,体现了长城雄伟、宏大而粗犷的壮美,也体现了长城的崇高美,涌动着生命的节奏。我们应把长城文化的保护、开发、研究与宁夏旅游事业发展衔接起来。历史的发展需要长城精神。     

关于进一步增强改革试点派出所"软实力"的思考

要全力提升派出所整体打击、防范能力,全面构建与现代警务机制相匹配的社区治安防控体系,派出所除了"硬件"建设要跟上外,街面治安防控能力、治安管理能力和基层基础工作能力这些"软实力"的建设不仅不能忽视,而且应不断加强.     

街面动态治安防控的内涵及方略

构建“动态治安”的社会防控体系已成为当前警务改革的必然趋势。为此,必须在明确街面　　动态治安的概念、内涵以及分析我们在打击现行犯罪工作中存在的问题的基础上,从接处警机制、巡逻　　策略和技能培训等方面来强化街面动态治安防控体系,以提高打击现行犯罪的能力。     

中国互联网内容监管的预期与效果——事实及评价

从监管预期与效果的落差来看,不同时期的案例证明,中国互联网"国家防火墙"仍会有间歇性失常,无论是冲动许可、维权春天还是哄客暴戾,民众表达仍然有弹性空间。西方的政治家和知识精英基于他们的自由价值立场和生活经验,对中国互联网内容监管提出了强烈批评,辩护者则注意到中国政府的现实权衡。批评者表达的是私人自由与公共权力之间的紧张,辩护者关注的是公共权力与统治秩序之间的调和。     

动态社会环境下街面治安防控与应急处置研究

为了有效驾驭街面动态治安局势,提高应急处置能力,公安机关应当建立与健全街面犯罪“人、物”动态管控机制,优化警务勤务模式,加强指挥中心龙头和核心地位,强化信息和科技支撑,这是推进现代警务机制建设的必然要求,也是取得最佳警务效益的有效策略。