From Indymedia to Anonymous: rethinking action and identity in digital cultures

The period following the social mobilizations of 2011 has seen a renewed focus on the place of communication in collective action, linked to the increasing importance of digital communications. Framed in terms of personalized ‘connective action’ or the social morphology of networks, these analyses have criticized previously dominant models of ‘collective identity’, arguing that collective action needs to be understood as ‘digital networking’. These influential approaches have been significantly constructed as a response to models of communication and action evident in the rise of Independent Media Centres in the period following 1999. After considering the rise of the ‘digital networking’ paradigm linked to analyses of Indymedia, this article considers the emergence of the internet-based collaboration known as Anonymous, focusing on its origins on the 4chan manga site and its 2008 campaign against Scientology, and also considers the ‘I am the 99%’ microblog that emerged as part of the Occupy movement. The emergence of Anonymous highlights dimensions of digital culture such as the ephemeral, the importance of memes, an ethic of lulz, the mask and the grotesque. These forms of communication are discussed in the light of dominant attempts to shape digital space in terms of radical transparency, the knowable and the calculable. It is argued that these contrasting approaches may amount to opposing social models of an emerging information society, and that the analysis of contemporary conflicts and mobilizations needs to be alert to novel forms of communicative practice at work in digital cultures today.     

Protest avatars as memetic signifiers: political profile pictures and the construction of collective identity on social media in the 2011 protest wave

Protest avatars, digital images that act as collective symbols for protest movements, have been widely used by supporters of the 2011 protest wave, from Egypt to Spain and the United States. From photos of Egyptian martyr Khaled Said, to protest posters and multiple variations of Anonymous' mask, a great variety of images have been adopted as profile pictures by Internet users to express their support for various causes and protest movements and communicate it to all their Internet peers. In this article, I explore protest avatars as forms of identification of protest movements in a digital era. I argue that protest avatars can be described as ‘memetic signifiers’ because (a) they are marked by a vagueness and inclusivity that distinguishes them from traditional protest symbols and (b) lend themselves to be used as memes for viral diffusion on social networks. In adopting these icons, participants experience a collective fusion in an online crowd, whose gathering is manifested in the very ‘masking’ of participants behind protest avatars. These forms of collective identification, while powerful in the short term, can however prove quite volatile, with Internet users often discarding avatars with relative ease, raising the question whether they can provide durable foundational elements of contemporary social movements.     

From Restored Past to Unsettled Present: New Challenges for Jewish Museums in East Central Europe

This article examines the institutional development of Jewish museums in Prague, Budapest, and Bratislava from 1989 to the present, with special reference to their role as agents of cultural memory. I consider how these museums contribute to the formation of Jewish identities in post-communist societies, which are themselves struggling to form collective identities. After analyzing the institutional structures and exhibition concepts of these museums in relation to shifts in the politics of representation, I propose a core area on which each museum could base its future development.     

凉山彝族毕摩宗教仪式的教育功能探究：教育人类学的视角*

凉山彝族毕摩宗教仪式除了独特的宗教和文化特性外,还具有其他传统教育类型无可替代的教育内涵和功 能。凉山彝族人正是通过这种集体性的参与,深受演绎场域的熏陶,保存和丰富着村落的集体记忆,增强了社会成员之间的凝 聚力,同时也承继了彝族的传统文化。     

社会认同理论视角下的大学生思想政治教育模式研究

在社会日益变革的当前,思想政治教育在我国的学校教育,特别是高等教育中显得尤为重要。当前,大学生思想政治教育由于受多元化思想的影响和冲击,在高校中育人作用的发挥受到影响。从社会认同理论视角出发,分析大学生思想政治教育模式的不同社会认同阶段,并通过内群体相互提高及外群体积极促进的方法,进而形成对思想政治教育模式的社会认同,最终完善促进我国大学生思想政治教育的有效途径。     

集体无意识与刻意颠覆——《雾都孤儿》与《我们共同的朋友》中的犹太形象分析

狄更斯在其第二部小说《雾都孤儿》和最后一部小说《我们共同的朋友》中,塑造了两个迥然不同的犹太人物形象——恶棍费金和绅士瑞亚先生。费金的肮脏丑陋、讨好巴结、吝啬贪婪以及残忍恶毒,与瑞亚的温和优雅、自尊坚定、追求平和以及同情友善形成了鲜明的反差。这种反差背后所反映的,一方面是英国社会对犹太人的盲目偏见所形成的集体无意识的反犹主义文学传统,以及丑化犹太人的典型模式;另一方面是作为人道主义作家的狄更斯刻意进行的犹太人形象颠覆,狄更斯为自己、也为整个犹太民族进行了正名。     

后殖民角度下《秀拉》中的黑人男性形象

小说《秀拉》中,托尼·莫里森塑造出一群在黑人文化和白人文化夹缝中挣扎生活的美国黑人。虽然故事以黑人女性为中心,但被评论界长期忽略的黑人男性形象同样具有重要意义。本文从后殖民主义角度分析小说中的四类黑人男性形象,揭示出主流文化浸淫下的黑人男性无法获取身份认同,只能沦为社会边缘下的受害者。     

Reconceptualizing the Self Phenomenon: Toward an Emic Conception of the Self

In sociology, the self has been conceptualized as either self‐concept or the process of self‐reflectivity. Both notions of the self have been traced to the early thinkers—William James, Charles H. Cooley, and George H. Mead—who laid the foundation for the scientific study of the self phenomenon. In this article, I propose a revised conception of the self based on a re‐reading of the classics. I argue that the self is related to but not the same as self‐concept or the process of self‐reflectivity. The self is an emic object, that is, the entity that one takes oneself to be. More specifically, the self is the empirical existence of an individual perceived by the individual to be his or her own. As the identity the individual finds in his or her existence in a world shared with others, the self is a product of both self‐reflection and self‐enactment. Implications of this reconceptualization for some broad issues related to the self phenomenon are also discussed.     

Student mobility and identity-related language learning

This paper reviews some recent studies problematizing various aspects of identity in relation to mobile students’ encounters with the social interactive and pragmatic dimensions of language. The paper will examine several salient demographic categories represented in the literature: nationality, ‘foreigner’ status, gender, age, and sexuality. These studies clearly demonstrate that student sojourners abroad may encounter challenges not only to their language skills, but also to their identities. Furthermore, these challenges can influence both the overall quality of study or residence abroad as an environment for language learning and the particular aspects of language that students choose to appropriate or reject. In light of these findings, it would appear that simply enjoining language learners to become more engaged or less judgmental may not be sufficient. Rather, what is in order is a renewed emphasis on awareness of language and culture as well as approaches helping students to understand how linguistic choices both reflect and create interpersonal, social, and cultural contexts.     

Mental Disabilities in an Aboriginal Context

Aboriginal (meaning original peoples) North American mental health is acknowledged to be in a more precarious state than that of the dominant cultures. Disability arises from the conditions of poverty, homelessness, and lack of resources that are compounded for North American aboriginal people by the historical trauma of conquest, being placed on reservations, residential schools, and continued discrimination. We present culturally sensitive and syntonic intervention programs that can reduce the impact of Aboriginal mental disabilities and discuss the commonality among these programs of celebrating culture, language, and tradition.