Social Anthropology

This article examines how 'safety case' experts working on Finland’s nuclear waste repository project at Olkiluoto summoned, conjured, or channeled memories of Seppo—a deceased colleague whose ‘specter,’ as some put it, still ‘haunts’ their scientific community. For some, Seppo’s postmortem presence manifested as gaps in knowledge left behind by an expert often reluctant to document the methodological assumptions underlying his knowledge-practices. For others, it manifested as anecdotes about Seppo’s stubbornness, irritability, and intellectual intensity as well as his more jovial demeanor during sauna nights, workplace parties, or trips abroad. Still others caught themselves asking ‘What Would Seppo Do?’ while troubleshooting at work. Inspired by anthropological and philosophical work on ancestors and haunting, the article unpacks how the multi-millennial time horizons of nuclear waste risk, the intergenerational time horizons of expert succession, and the everyday time horizons of a single expert life-course shared entwined fates. It focuses less on what knowledge disappeared when an expert’s body died – or how it could have been preventatively backed-up or managed – and more on what has lived on of the expert in and through surviving colleagues. Analysis of 'afterlives of expertise' like these can, it concludes, provide insights for a current moment of intergenerational transition in nuclear energy sectors in Europe, North America, and beyond.

Lost in Transition tells of ordinary lives upended by the collapse of communism. Through ethnographic essays and short stories based on her experiences in Eastern Europe between 1989 and 2009, Kristen Ghodsee explains why it is that so many Eastern Europeans are nostalgic for the communist past. Ghodsee uses Bulgaria, the Eastern European nation where she has spent the most time, as a lens for exploring the broader transition from communism to democracy. She locates the growing nostalgia for the communist era in the disastrous, disorienting way that the transition was handled. The privatization process was contested and chaotic. A few well-connected foreigners and a new local class of oligarchs and criminals used the uncertainty of the transition process to take formerly state-owned assets for themselves. Ordinary people inevitably felt that they had been robbed. Many people lost their jobs just as the state social support system disappeared. Lost in Transition portrays one of the most dramatic upheavals in modern history by describing the ways that it interrupted the rhythms of everyday lives, leaving confusion, frustration, and insecurity in its wake.

Endorsements

“The collapse of the Soviet empire entailed not only the Blitzkrieg dissolution of the socialist economies and one-party states of Eastern Europe, but also immediate accidental and incidental changes in the everyday lives of its residents. With an ear for the ironic, the sensual, the playful, and the tragic, Kristen Ghodsee tells personal stories from this period of dissolution, which began several decades before the Berlin Wall came down. Drawing from her encounters in many years of research in Bulgaria, she portrays the changing nature of experience in that place during that time. Though understood as impoverished at the time, this socialist experiment reveals, in retrospect, lives filled with adventure, surprising friendships, and an openness to forms of engagement and being that makes the fullness of the free market and democracy in the post-Cold War order of today seem, by comparison, pale and predictable.”—John Borneman, Princeton University

“These charming essays have an unintended consequence. Not only are they a documentary ethnography of the lives of people caught up in the painful transition from socialism to capitalism. They are also a sort of Bildungsroman of a young American discovering another world and shedding stereotypes.”—Maria Todorova, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The book is devoted to the analysis of ethno-linguistic and socio-cultural foundations of the identity of Dagestanis. The author discribres
particularities of  ethno-linguistic situation in the Mountainous and Lowland districts of Dageston, the influence of migration, urbanization, ethnic mixations on the cultural and language identity,  as well as the correlation of ethnic and religious identitues,  forms of actualization of ethnic and civil  consciousness,  ethnic stereotypes and other components of consciousness of Dagestanis. Special attention is paid to the problem of preserving the language diversity and cultural identity of the peoples of Dagestan.The book is intended for anthropologists, historians, philologists.
culture and a wide range of readers interested in Etnea-
takovymi and ethno-cultural problems.

In order to better cope with the pressures and stresses of the current day, modern psychology is anxiously seeking to find new therapies to address the increasing disorders within the human psyche. In the process new fields of research, such as humanistic and transpersonal psychology, curiously appear to borrow more and more from the wisdom of the ages. This volume, containing eighteen articles by noteworthy expositors of the perennial philosophy such as Huston Smith, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Frithjof Schuon, presents the spiritual psychology of the wisdom traditions as a much-needed antidote to the current impasse in modern psychology.

Some Endorsements for Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy:

“[Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy] is more than an anthology. It is a wisely crafted collection of classic and contemporary scholarship noting that what many are seeking is what has always been, a perennial philosophy, that remains foundational. As one of the authors, Tage Lindbom, properly notes, ‘Secularization is a fish in troubled waters.’ This book claims the waters and is essential reading for all those who may have forgotten or are simply ignorant of the rich foundation provided by the perennial philosophy.”
—Ralph W. Hood, Professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, past president of the Psychology of Religion division of the American Psychological Association, co-founder of The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion and co-author of The Psychology of Religion

“A necessary and bracing critique of the assumptions and limitations of contemporary Western psychology, this generous volume is also a passionate call and learned guide towards a truer perspective that embraces man's spiritual nature.”
—Gabor Maté, M.D., and author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

“Knowing the nature of the mind is perhaps the most difficult undertaking, especially in today’s world. To comprehend the nature of mind one needs to turn to the domain of religion and spirituality. Yet the truth of the mind and its complexity cannot explicitly be defined in words. Inner or transcendent wisdom sees the mind’s own nature without the duality of the seer. Suchness (tathatā) of mind is only experiential and not expressible. The words used to describe thought are themselves a product of thought, which is conditioned and limited. Thus, differences and contradictions are unavoidable. Therefore, a comparative study of different viewpoints and commentaries is immensely important to awaken the inner intelligence to see the mind as it is. Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy: Studies in Comparative Religion edited by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos is an outstanding effort in this direction.”
—Samdhong Rinpoche, former Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa) of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, author of Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World: Tibetan Buddhism and Today’s World

“The rise of psychology has impacted the study and practice of spirituality, the experiences and attitudes relevant to ultimate human values that transcend ordinary behavior. Each chapter of this remarkable book demonstrates this interaction in a unique and provocative way. But rather than using psychology to reduce and ‘psychologize’ spiritual topics, its authors demonstrate how directives from the spiritual traditions can enhance and even illuminate the enduring importance of psychology in the 21st century.”
—Stanley Krippner, Saybrook University, co-author of Spiritual Dimensions of Healing

“The work at hand is a thinking and debating man’s delight. If you have any interest at all in attempting to include an educated and enlightened view of man’s higher functions in your purview of the world, you will learn from and enjoy this collection of essays. If you already have some knowledge in this area, brace yourself: you may see some of your favorites sharply criticized. A thought-provoking work.”
—Bruce W. Scotton, University of California, San Francisco, co-editor of Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology

“This book, superbly edited by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos, is a masterful critique of the field of psychology and its loss of the sacred ground in which it once was rooted. It offers depth psychologists an opportunity to contemplate timeless truths echoed through the centuries by perennial philosophers who have always claimed psyche is subordinate to Spirit. Although ignored in depth psychology’s early years due to prejudice and lack of understanding, this is a message today’s psychotherapists must take seriously. Human beings need a deeper and wider transpersonal vision of who and what we are, which the saints and sages of the world’s spiritual traditions have always pointed to. In psychotherapy with a therapist committed to such a vision, patients penetrate into their unconscious depths and not infrequently awaken to the Ground of all Being. Their suffering itself occurred because they had turned away from Spirit. Above all, this volume passionately calls upon depth psychology to remember its origin in the perennial wisdom at the core of the great religions. There is something of a polemic in these pages. It deserves to be considered by depth psychologists of all persuasions.”
—Bryan Wittine, Transpersonal psychologist and Jungian psychoanalyst

“This anthology from Samuel Bendeck Sotillos is a must reference for anyone who is interested in psychology and its relationship to spirituality, and in developing an inclusive dialogue between disciplines that favor an integral outlook on the person and his or her potential. Selections in this anthology will inspire us to reexamine the metaphysical underpinnings of psychology, and remind us how important it is to rise above science’s attempt to reduce the human being to an epistemic object.”
—Sangeetha Menon, National Institute of Advanced Studies (Bangalore, India), Board Member of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), author of The Beyond Experience: Consciousness in Bhagavad Gita

“This anthology has some of the most discerning essays and reviews on spirituality and psychology, which provide much-needed care and caution to all those engaged in bringing them together or who wish to do so in future. Therefore, it is a must-read for all those who teach, research, consult, or study in such frontier areas as transpersonal psychology, states of consciousness, mind-body relation, holistic health, Indian psychology, and so on. It will be an invaluable textbook for courses in these and other related areas. I congratulate the editor of the book.”
—Kiran Kumar K. Salagame, University of Mysore (India), Board Member of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), author of The Psychology of Meditation: A Contextual Approach

“One of the finest collections of essays on the Perennial Philosophy—a must-read for all psychologists who are engaged with spirituality and transpersonal psychology. The essays which critique modern psychology (including transpersonal psychology, and the framework of Carl Jung), in the light of the Perennial Philosophy are a revelation and make compelling reading. The book serves as a corrective to the excesses of modern psychology, and to this end Sotillos has done a commendable job. I for one will include the book in some of the graduate courses that I teach.”
—Suneet Varma, University of Delhi, co-editor of Foundations of Indian Psychology

“To its credit modern science by-and-large is becoming more cognizant of the essential connection between spirituality and psychological health and well-being and most of all its positive implications within the field of psychology. While there is ample data to document this in a plethora of academic journals and books, this new book Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy adds a novel contribution to the dialogue between psychology and spirituality, which captures many nuances that for the most part go unnoticed within these discussions, and last but not least, it provides a keen eye of discernment to understand this intricate relationship on a deeper level that is crucially needed. This work will be a valuable asset to students and long term mental health practitioners and professors alike who seek to better understand the relationship between psychology and spirituality.”
—Harold G. Koenig, Duke University, Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, co-author of The Handbook of Religion and Health

There are more types of borders today than ever before in history. Borders of all kinds define every aspect of social life in the twenty-first century. From the biometric data that divides the smallest aspects of our bodies to the aerial drones that patrol the immense expanse of our domestic and international airspace, we are defined by borders. They can no longer simply be understood as the geographical divisions between nation-states. Today, their form and function has become too complex, too hybrid. What we need now is a theory of the border that can make sense of this hybridity across multiple domains of social life.

Rather than viewing borders as the result or outcome of pre-established social entities like states, Thomas Nail reinterprets social history from the perspective of the continual and constitutive movement of the borders that organize and divide society in the first place. Societies and states are the products of bordering, Nail argues, not the other way around. Applying his original movement-oriented theoretical framework "kinopolitics" to several major historical border regimes (fences, walls, cells, and checkpoints), Theory of the Border pioneers a new methodology of "critical limology," that provides fresh tools for the analysis of contemporary border politics.

Dr. Hugh Brody (29th October, 2013) - The other side of Eden. The Ecology, Cosmos and Consciousness Salon, The Institute of Ecotechnics, October Gallery, Bloomsbury, London. (Host)

For tens of thousands of years, over 90% of our life as humans, we lived as hunter-gatherers. Since the rise of agriculture and city-dwelling, this way of life has been devastated and marginalized. As our own way of life faces mounting challenges, studying foraging cultures provides precious perspective - and further highlights the importance of helping living foragers reclaim and defend their land and culture. Tonight, renowned anthropologist and filmmaker Hugh Brody will discuss his 40-year career studying, living with, and fighting for hunter-gatherer peoples, and how these cultures raise huge issues relevant to us all.

Brazil has endured multiple political, economic, and environmental crises-and now the COVID-19 pandemic-which have drawn social inequalities into razor sharp relief. This contribution analyzes the resilience of rural families facing these crises in southern Bahia. These families have benefited from various redistributive policies over the years, including redistributive land reforms (RLRs), conditional cash transfers (CCTs), and recent emergency aid (EA) payments related to the pandemic. Each (re)distributive approach involves different notions of distributive justice informed by competing background theories of "the good, " which hold implications for concepts of resilience. Drawing on long-term research with RLR communities in Bahia, this article considers the gains achieved by different redistributive programs. Families who acquired land through RLR projects appear more resilient, especially in the face of crisis.

En partant d’une enquête ethnographique au long cours (2014-2017) portant sur le mouvement « sur la voie 96 » d’Imider, cet article interroge les modalités de politisation des communautés marginalisées. Située au sud-est du Maroc, Imider est une petite commune rurale connue pour abriter le plus grand gisement d’argent en Afrique. L’exploitation du gisement minier par le groupe Managem, filiale de la holding royale, fait face à une contestation forte de la part des communautés locales depuis ses débuts dans les années 1970. Ce faisant, c’est à partir de 2011, que les habitants d’Imider se sont organisés autour d’un mouvement « sur la voie 96 » pour revendiquer d’abord, un droit à l’eau, puis, de manière générale, une juste répartition des richesses. Les militants ont occupé le « Mont Alebban » et fermé, durant les neuf dernières années, la principale vanne de la pompe à eau ravitaillant la mine. En partant d’une description des manières dont le mouvement « sur la voie 96 » a réussi à s’imposer dans l’espace public et plus largement dans le champ politique, l’objectif visé par cet article est d’inscrire l’étude des mobilisations des communautés marginalisées dans une analyse politique plus globale. L’hypothèse défendue vise ainsi à montrer en quoi une étude qui prend au sérieux les ressorts politiques des mobilisations des marges peut aider à comprendre le processus de changement et de transformation socio-politiques en cours au Maroc depuis 2011.

"Aux frontières de l’achevé, de l’établi, de l’ordonné, du centre et du dominant, se trouvent le précaire, l’instable, le désordre, la périphérie et le dominé : une relation dynamique voire conflictuelle existe entre ces deux réalités, qui est celle du faire-ville."

Table des matières:

Avant-propos
Introduction. De l’ethnographie des marges à l’anthropologie de la ville

Première partie. La ville des anthropologues
Chapitre 1. La ville comme hologramme
Chapitre 2. Les savoirs urbains de l’anthropologie
Chapitre 3. Les situations élémentaires de la vie urbaine

Deuxième partie. La ville à l’œuvre
Chapitre 4. Ce qui rend la ville familière
Chapitre 5. Lieux, non-lieux, hors-lieux
Chapitre 6. Brouillons de ville

Troisième partie. La ville en mouvements
Chapitre 7. La culture des villes, ou l’habit d’Arlequin
Chapitre 8. Imaginaire et politique des marges
Chapitre 9. Occupations, invasions, installations : l’agir urbain

Conclusion. Du « droit à la ville » au « faire-ville »

Given the prominence of Muslim veils—in particular the hijab and full-face veil—in public discourse concerning the place of Muslims in Western society, we examined their impact on non-Muslims’ responses at both explicit and implicit levels. Results revealed that responses were more negative toward any veil compared with no veil, and more negative toward the full-face veil relative to the hijab: for emotions felt toward veiled women (Study 1), for non-affective attitudinal responses (Study 2), and for implicit negative attitudes revealed through response latency measures (Studies 3a and 3b). Finally, we manipulated the perceived reasons for wearing a veil, finding that exposure to positive reasons for wearing a veil led to better predicted and imagined contact (Study 4). Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Türkçede levirat üzerine oluşan sınırlı literatürün bu geleneksel evlilik biçimini yalnızca tarihsel bir tema olarak ele almış olması, konu üzerine yüzeysel bir literatür taraması yapan kişilerde levirat geleneğinin geçmişte yaşanmış ve artık icra edilmeyen bir uygulama olarak değerlendirilmesi gerektiği sonucunu doğurmaktadır. Bu, sorunlu bir durumdur çünkü bu gelenek tüm canlılığı ile Anadolu’nun tamamında hâlen icra edilmektedir.

Kocasını kaybeden bir kadın, kaynıyla; abisini ya da kardeşini kaybeden bir erkek, yengesiyle neden evlenir? Bu evlilik icracılar için nasıl bir anlam taşır? Ortaya çıkan köklü rol değişikliği bazı hasarlara sebep olmaz mı? Olursa bunlar nasıl düzeltilir?

Yukarıdaki sorulara halkbilimi disiplininin yöntem ve araçları ile cevap arayan bu çalışma, levirat geleneği kapsamında evlenmiş kişilerle yapılan derinlemesine mülakatlardan elde edilen bilgilere dayanmaktadır. Alandaki önemli bir boşluğu doldurma gayesi ile kaleme alınan bu eser; levirat geleneğinin yapısı, işlevi ve anlamını ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır.

This paper outlines a theory explaining why the provider role is important to boys in the development of their masculine identity. The family is a primary site for identity formation, and boys appear to be more badly affected by growing up in non-intact families than girls. Female identity is more marked by biological transitions (e.g. pregnancy), and gives mothers a more central role within the family than fathers. Thus the male role within the family – the provider role-needs to be socially and culturally constructed. Where the father is absent and the role is devalued, transition from boyhood to manhood is made difficult, and masculinity may be problematized as 'hegemonic', 'toxic', and 'hyper'. Solutions from traditional cultures are discussed.

Wayne Vucinic Book Prize 2007, "for the most important contribution to Russian, Eurasian, and East European studies in any discipline of the humanities or social sciences." 

Endorsement by Slavoj Zizek:

"Alexei Yurchak's Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More immediately seduced me by its very title with a profound philosophical implication that eternity is a historical category--things can be eternal for some time. The same spirit of paradox runs through the entire book--it renders in wonderful details the gradual disintegration of the Soviet system from within its ideological and cultural space, making visible all the hypocrisy and misery of this process. I consider Yurchak's book by far the best work about the late epoch of the Soviet Union--it is not just history, but a pleasure to read, a true work of art." (Slavoj Zizek, author of In Defense of Lost Causes)

Abstract:

Soviet socialism was based on paradoxes that were revealed by the peculiar experience of its collapse. To the people who lived in that system the collapse seemed both completely unexpected and completely unsurprising. At the moment of collapse it suddenly became obvious that Soviet life had always seemed simultaneously eternal and stagnating, vigorous and ailing, bleak and full of promise. Although these characteristics may appear mutually exclusive, in fact they were mutually constitutive. This book explores the paradoxes of Soviet life during the period of "late socialism" (1960s-1980s) through the eyes of the last Soviet generation.

Anormal Psikoloji kitabı, ruhsal bozukluklar alanında çalışan tüm profesyoneller, psikiyatristler, klinik psikologlar, psikologlar, psikolojik danışmanlar, hekimler, sosyal hizmet uzmanları, psikiyatri hemşireleri ve bu alanlarda öğrenci yetiştiren akademisyenler ile eğitim alan öğrenciler için temel bir başvuru kitabıdır.
2013 yılının Mayısı ayında yayımlanan DSM-5 ölçütlerine göre ruhsal bozukluklarla ilgili sunulan bilgilerin güncellemesinin de yapıldığı bu kitap, tüm dünyada pek çok üniversitenin psikiyatri ve psikoloji bölümlerinde ders kitabı olarak okutulmaktadır.
Kitabın her bölümünde, ilk olarak ruhsal bozukluklarla ilgili vakalar sunulmakta, daha sonra bozuklukların klinik tanıları yapılmakta ve DSM-IV-TR’den farklı olan DSM-5’te yapılan değişikliklere yer verilmektedir. Ayrıca, DSM-5’teki tanı ölçütleri, bozuklukların etiyolojisi ve epidemiyolojisi, bozukluklar üzerinde kalıtımın ve çevrenin etkileri, biyolojik ve sosyal ve kültürel etkiler, en güncel araştırmalardan elde edilen verilerle harmanlanarak sunulmaktadır. Ruhsal bozuklukların tedavisinde etkili olacak terapi yaklaşımları ve ilaçla yapılan tedaviler hakkında da bilgiler veren kitap, sahip olduğu zengin içeriği ile eşsiz bir kaynaktır.
Anormal Psikoloji kitabının; profesyoneller ve öğrenciler için önemli bir rehber olacağına, yardıma ihtiyaç duyan insanların sorunlarının çözümüne, ruhsal bozuklukların tanı ve tedavisinde önemli katkılar sağlayacağına inanıyoruz.

Tourism is big business – the biggest in the world. Apart from its economic aspects, the social and cultural impact of tourist activity on local societies and places deserve attention. Tourism exchanges are predominantly about the production and valuation of images and ...

This course worked well in many ways. I used the Thursday lecture slot to do unlectures - getting students to practice things more actively, from kinship charts, to reading and discussing a short article, to learning how to talk to Star Trek aliens.

Le registre de la « dignité » fait aujourd’hui partie des revendications des mouvements sociaux contemporains à travers le monde, à côté des revendications liées à des questions matérielles ou des questions de droits, qu’il s’agisse du terme de « dignité », ou plus largement des termes d’ « indignation », de « logement digne » ou encore de « travail décent ». Comment comprendre ces revendications en dehors d’une approche essentialisant la dignité et la réduisant à un attribut naturel de l’homme, ou encore sans partir d’une définition a priori de ce qu’est la dignité ?
Afin de répondre à ces questions en s’appuyant sur deux années de recherches de terrain réalisées au Brésil auprès d’un de ces mouvement sociaux – le Mouvement des Sans Terre du Brésil –, Alexis Martig se propose de contribuer à la compréhension des revendications contemporaines de dignité, en pensant une anthropologie de la dignité en contexte de lutte sociale.
Pour cela, il revient sur ces expériences de participation et d’observation au sein du Mouvement des Sans Terre, et analyse les pratiques spécialement développées pour reconquérir la dignité des travailleurs ruraux brésiliens à partir des théories de la reconnaissance sociale (Taylor, Honneth, Fraser, Renault, Margalit). Ce faisant, l’auteur cherche ainsi à comprendre l’aspect moral de la lutte du mouvement des Sans Terre, ainsi que plus largement la part et le rôle des sentiments dans la construction et la négociation des hiérarchies sociales au Brésil.

Se indaga el sentido de la conferencia de Sloterdijk
“Normas para el Parque humano” así como las
polémicas por ella suscitada. Se realiza un diagnóstico
de la capacidad crítica del humanismo tradicional. En el
marco del naufragio del humanismo como escuela y
utopía domesticadora humana -marco en el que
Sloterdijk reclama una revisión genético-técnica de la
humanidad- se indaga ¿qué criterios pueden
establecerse para normar las inevitables luchas por los
derechos de la crianza humana? ¿Quiénes y sobre qué
bases debieran hoy detentar el derecho a la crianza?
¿Cómo determinar quiénes son los que educan y los que
son educados? Se proponen nuevos caminos que
tienen en la mediación de la técnica su formulación
discursiva y sus orígenes en las disidencias que, desde
la propia tradición filosófica, reducían la estancia del
hombre en el mundo a su expresión leída y escrita.

This paper explores gender in stand‐up comedy based on 20 months of ethnographic research in Finland and recent media discussion involving the booking of performers for a national comedy tour. As the vast majority of stand‐up comedians are men, discussions of gender tend to focus on the anomalousness of female comedians. These debates often rely on essentialist views of women and stand‐up comedy, presenting female comedians as transgressive due to the perceived incompatibilities of women and comedy. However, the situation in the clubs and performances is more complex. I chart this territory by looking at gender in relation to ‘invention’ and ‘convention’ in stand‐up comedy performance. I explore how some of the conventional, established and expected aspects of stand‐up, such as the public use of power and threat of failure, are related to ideas of gender. I then go on to show how comedy enables invention, new and/or unique ideas and forms. This allows comedians to approach and enact gender in more digressive ways: taking indirect, experimental paths and imaginatively shifting between perspectives and positions to subvert and question roles and patterns. As stand‐up becomes more diverse, discussing gender requires a more nuanced approach going beyond a simple binary.

In this article, we adopt a socio-anthropological approach to understand how hegemonic international representations are constructed in the politics and theory of international relations, specifically how Southeast Europe is perceived in West European imagination. We focus on various forms of travel writing, media reporting, diplomatic record, policy making, truth claims and expert accounts related to different narrative perspectives on the Balkan wars, both old (1912-1913) and new (1991-1999). We show how these perspectives are rooted in different temporalities and historicizations, and how they contribute to international representations that affect international politics, particularly in relation to perpetuating othering and containment of Southeast Europe. We demonstrate through a detailed analysis and problematization how these international representations are culturally and politically constructed. They do not neutrally refer to a reality in the world; they create a reality of their own. As such, how international representations are constructed is itself a form of power and hegemony in both the practice and the theory of international relations.

RESUMEN
La relación interna entre filosofía, literatura y arte permite examinar con propiedad qué significan la pluralidad y complejidad en los usos de la razón. Posibilita la aproximación a esos usos y figuras desde un ángulo privilegiado. El interés por lo literario y artístico no tendría por qué significar un apresurado abandono del modelo discursivo y analítico -que es característico de la filosofía-, sino más bien el acceso a un punto de vista más completo, un nuevo método reflexivo, otro límite crítico. Esta perspectiva facilita la puesta al día de las tesis modernas sobre la filosofía como emancipación, esto es, como su salida de la minoría de edad.
Espacios ficcionales, campos de proyección de la experiencia, métodos y perspectivas trasdisciplinarias constituyen los distintos niveles a través de los cuales se trata de definir un nexo complejo entre discursos. La ficción como conocimiento, subjetividad y texto, así como la relación entre mundo y lenguaje pretenden acotar algunas dimensiones de esa relación.
A través de la literatura llegamos a estar familiarizados con situaciones, sentimientos, formas de vida, obteniendo así una mirada desde dentro -epistemológicamente empática-. Cada nueva visión del mundo constituye un nuevo tipo de conocimiento, un conocimiento que puede incluir aspectos cognitivos y emotivos y que demandará, probablemente, algún tipo de lógica paraconsistente. De modo que a la par que por nuestras narrativas creamos o descubrimos mundos (dependiendo del estatuto ontológico otorgado a la ficción) también establecemos o desentrañamos la legislación lógica, según la cual tal curso de sucesos o tal tipo de entidades son o no admisibles al interior de este particular mundo posible.
Precisamente, es en la constante re-creación de sus objetos, práctica que surge en una comunidad de problemas -un espacio de representación colectiva- el espacio en que se da la ciencia. Es, precisamente, en una particular forma de hablar y de referirse a objetos, creándolos con el habla, el que funda a la medicina -por ejemplo- como cuerpo autónomo de conocimientos, vale decir como ciencia de primer orden. Las disciplinas, pues, en tanto discursos, están, literalmente, constituidas por él. Por ello es necesario estudiar el discurso científico en tanto que discurso, hay que reflexionar sobre sus orígenes y modo de constitución, hay que aceptar que no es sólo un producto sino una fuerza productiva. La realidad es una narrativa exitosa. Es aquello que se hace hablando. Las comunidades científicas son comunidades de problemas y, sobre todo, de retóricas, reconstrucciones de objetos que sólo existen en tanto se habla de ellos de una determinada manera,
Hasta los mundos narrativos más imposibles tienen como fondo lo que es posible en el mundo que concebimos como real. Las entidades y situaciones que no son explícitamente nombradas y descritas como diferentes del mundo real son entendidas a partir de las leyes que aplicamos a la comprensión del mundo real.
Así, pues, la narración de ficción construye un modelo análogo del universo real, una proyección...lo que permite conocer la estructura y los procesos internos de la realidad y manipularla cognitivamente. Se otorga así un valor cognoscitivo a la ficción, de modo tal que todas las posibles connotaciones, no expresadas directamente por el texto, sino -más bien- mostradas implícitamente o implicadas contextualmente en lo allí dicho, iluminan aspectos de la realidad que sin estas extrapolaciones ficcionales permanecerían en penumbras.
La perspectiva crítica -propia de la filosofía- puede hallarse así implícita en escritos de ficción, de la misma manera como las teorías filosóficas pueden aceptar como suyos a los argumentos procedentes del discurso literario. La reflexión filosófica se articula, pues, desde distintos ámbitos y modalidades discursivas.
Dr. Adolfo Vásquez Rocca

""L’objectif est de mettre au jour la construction de l’événement dans sa rhétorique et sa performance, sa diffusion médiatique et sa reconnaissance sociale. Comment la production discursive autour de la Marche des Fiertés 2011 interroge-t-elle les enjeux
de représentations – et donc l’identité LGBT et l’action du mouvement ?

L’étude du cas de 2011 permet d’interroger les potentialités médiatiques et communicationnelles du discours polémique. Pourquoi y a-t-il eu polémique ? Quels enjeux cristallise l’affiche ? Y a-t-il réellement eu polémique ? En quoi les discussions
suscitées par l’affiche de l’édition 2011 de la Marche des Fiertés révèlent les enjeux de l’événement qu’elle est censée promouvoir ? Finalement, en quoi « l’affaire de l’affiche » marque-t-elle une rupture et témoigne-t-elle (déjà) des transformations
du « répertoire d’action collective » [Tilly, 1986] ?

La polémique autour de l’affiche implique différents acteurs : l’Inter-LGBT, les associations LGBT, l’agence créative, les journalistes et, dans un second temps, le grand public. J’ai analysé le conflit interprétatif à travers le prisme du temps (la
durée) et celui des médias (la capacité à diffuser). J’ai étudié ce cas de manière diachronique, en tenant compte des trois dimensions de « l’affaire de la Marche des Fiertés 2011 » : en amont, en nous intéressant aux raisons et conditions de
conception de l’affiche (entretiens avec des membres de l’Inter-LGBT et l’agence créative chargée de la conception de l’affiche) ; en suivant le déroulé de l’affaire, en considérant les acteurs et les espaces médiatiques mobilisés ; et en aval, en
analysant la reconnaissance de l’affiche (test de l’affiche).

Si à ses débuts la Gay Pride était subversive – au sens strict puisqu’illégale –, elle fait aujourd’hui partie du calendrier festif parisien. La montée en généralité opérée dans le discours d’accompagnement, et notamment le passage de l’homosexualisation de l’espace public à sa sexualisation tout court, réinterrogent cette subversion dans le cadre du mouvement LGBT.

Le discours d’escorte participe à la représentation du groupe cible en ce qu’il le raconte : un système complexe de discours polyphoniques s’articule selon une double logique identitaire et médiacentrique. La polémique autour de l’affiche de la Marche 2011 participe de ce discours et voit dans le médiatique sa modalité privilégiée. Avec la polémique – médiatique – comme cadre, l’affiche 2011 devient prétexte à des discours identitaires qui la dépassent : l’objet de la dispute s’éloigne du visuel-affiche pour venir se placer au niveau plus global de la représentation
du mouvement LGBT, représentation mise en tension entre l’idéologie d’une organisation militante et les réactions-commentaires polémiques du public à travers
les médias – sociaux. Il s’agit alors de distinguer l’objectif des médias de « faire polémique », les effets involontaires d’une communication inappropriée et les objectifs stratégiques que pourrait avoir une organisation militante à exploiter les
potentialités communicationnelles d’une polémique médiatique.

Finalement, dans le discours d’escorte de la Marche des Fiertés LGBT, la représentation des sexualités alternatives – et de la sexualité en général – n’est plus un signe subversif mais un signe de reconnaissance et un mécanisme de captation,
elle correspond à un horizon d’attente, à une demande sociale.

Mots clés : polémique, médias, représentation, sexualité, mouvement LGBT, militantisme""

Marching against Gender Practice: Political Imaginings in the Basqueland begins with the question: why is it so problematic for the majority of people in the Basque town of Hondarribia to accept the broader participation of women in their annual military march known as the Alarde? To explain this dispute, this study examines local history as well as the history of this unique parade, but most importantly considers how gender practices were and are organized. The controversy to extend female involvement in the Alarde resulted in two positions between betikoak traditionalists, (Betiko Alardearen Aldekoak, “Always the Town’s Alarde”), and local “feminists” (emakumealdekoak or Emakumeak JuanaMugarrietakoa, the Women of Mugarrietakoa, WJM), the former group wishing to preserve the ritual and the latter wanting to change it. These are not simply dichotomous stances but represent multiple levels of local identity through differing concepts of gender, history, and social experience. It will be shown throughout the Alarde’s long history (1639-present) that it represents several periods of militarism from the town’s defense in 1638 against French forces, Napoleonic resistance (1808-1813) to the Carlist Wars (1833-1840 and 1872-1876). The Alarde began as a religious procession and gradually incorporated more and more secular elements. In essence, by the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century, the Alarde became one of many “Basque celebrations” (Euskal jaiak), tying it to Basque nationalism.
Marching against Gender Practice centers on gender analyses of two opposing gender worldviews between the betikoak traditionalists and WJM feminists, but it aims at being applicable to gender theories in general, especially how gender may be cognized and what cognitive processes and cognitive systems may be included in the cognition of gender. By implication, it is asserted that collective imagination is not an immutable or static concept but may represent locality, regionalism, and nationalism as well as imbue concepts of communality, individuality, gender, harmony, historical narration, memory, social organization, and tradition. Commemorative, historical or re-enactment rituals like the Alarde of Hondarribia explain the duration of local identity, its transformation over time, and newer expressions of identity, which are continually being contested and reaffirmed through collective imagination.

Ponencia en  Seminario Memoria, conflicto y coexistencia: Interculturalidad y descolonization en América Latina y el mundo, Santiago, Chile, 16 diciembre, 2015.

Aunque la Guerra del Pacifico terminó en 1883, Bolivianos, Peruanos, y Chilenos siguen disputando las fronteras trazadas en su final. Mientras retos se disputan en el Corte Internacional de Justicia en La Haya, los comentarios del publico y los discursos sobre estas fronteras y su significado suceden en diversas esferas públicas. Estas esferas públicas y media han cambiado radicalmente en los 132 años desde cuando se establecieron las fronteras, y hoy en día las redes sociales es un sitio clave donde Bolivianos y Chilenos de la región norte expresan las memorias (colectivamente imaginado) de formaciones políticas del pasado y sus sentimientos personales sobre el disputo en el contexto de la política actual. Esta presentación analiza texto y los memes que combinan imagines con texto posteados en Facebook por Chilenos del norte y Bolivianos, junto con los comentarios de sus amigos y conocidos. Mientras Bolivianos apelan a un sentimiento de soberanía histórica, y los Chilenos se burlan de la falta de mar de Bolivia como indicador de subdesarrollo, ambos grupos usan el humor para abordar el tema, a menudo en formas despolitizado. Considerando las redes sociales como un sitio clave donde se expresa la memoria, a pesar del reciente desarrollo de este medio, también la presentación abre conversaciones sobre como perdura la memoria mientras los portajes en donde está expresada siempre cambian, y el uso de humor en memorias de conflictos como una manera para despolitizar los temas profundamente divisivas.

... a typical naive set of assumptions about "group oriented" cultures it that the participants within them are basically altruistic, self-effacing, self-sacrificing and sociable. A society of such individuals should exhibit the very best of human civilization working in equitable, democratic communities. By contrast, those from individualistic cultures should be cold, grasping, selfish, egotistical and almost incapable of the cooperation demanded by a civil society. Indeed, a society of individualists, by this stereotype would be a dog eat dog affair, dedicated to conflict, riven with disloyalty and betrayal, forever failing to build a stable and humanistic community.

The article attempts a comprehensive review of the human security concept in order to question its utility for both research and policy-making. It notes the term’s interdisciplinary and extensively normative content that have facilitated its evolution into a successful security discourse. On the other hand, human security’s wide appeal has as a side-effect an extended conceptual polysemy inhibiting the cumulation of knowledge and the development of a relevant theory. Absence of conceptual clarity has also complicated its policy implementation. The article attempts to break the deadlock and move the debate forward by using the work of John Gerring and Paul A. Barresi on concept formation as an organizing device.