Aesthetics of disaster as decolonial aesthetics: making sense of the effects of Hurricane María through Puerto Rican contemporary art

ABSTRACT

On 20 September 2017, Hurricane María made landfall on Puerto Rico causing unprecedented disaster. From that day onwards, the Puerto Rican multi-layered colonial, social and political context was further complicated by the traumatic acceleration of a human disaster via this natural disaster. This crystalized the urgency of using art as vehicle for (social) catharsis, a practice that continues to be used by individual artists, collectives, community organizations, art projects, and other art institutions on the island and abroad, through mural art, community paintings, art exhibitions, literature, music, and many other aesthetic expressions. This article examines, from a decolonial and critical cultural studies perspective, post-Hurricane María artistic expressions in contemporary art as decolonial aesthetics through the cathartic use of the frame of an aesthetics of disaster. It is argued that, an aesthetics of disaster aims to re-assert an artistic form that is able to accelerate the discursive nullification of a deeply rooted colonial, social and cultural problem by way of art as catharsis inspired by the way that Hurricane María unveiled these problems. The piece briefly contextualizes Puerto Rico, and it examines the idea of Puerto Rican contemporary art as catharsis. Then, it describes how Puerto Rican contemporary art exhibitions and associated aesthetic production are processing urgent post-hurricane issues through three illustrative pieces in exhibitions in PR and abroad in the United States (US). Lastly, decolonial aesthetics is reexamined and re-understood, informed by Édouard Glissant's view expressed in Poetics of Relation which aids to the conclusion that Puerto Rican contemporary art using the frame of an aesthetics of disaster functions as a powerful form of decolonial aesthetics.     

以人民为中心的理论认识与制度安排

以人民为中心的思想理念拓展了传统意义上的人民概念和创造历史伟业的依靠对象。依靠人民创造历史伟业，发展生产力，提供丰富的物质财富、精神财富和生态财富。构建劳动力资本化为劳动者股份的制度安排，合理界定劳动收入和资本收入的边界，保障劳动贡献归劳动者所得，资本贡献归资本所有者所得，为人民实现美好生活需要提供制度和收入上的保障。以人民为中心的思想理念，是对《共产党宣言》的每个人自由发展思想的继承和发展，是马克思主义中国化时代化大众化的理论成果。     

中共六大苏维埃政权建设中群众思想的当代价值

中共六大在探索苏维埃政权建设的过程中，更加注重工农群众主体地位的巩固和能动作用的发挥，较为系统地论述了政权建设中的群众思想。其着重从四个方面加以阐述，形成了以实现好、维护好和发展好最广大人民群众的根本利益为政权建设的根本出发点和落脚点；尊重和激发人民群众的主体创造潜能为推动政权建设的内生动力；解决好人民群众最直接、最现实、最关心的民生问题为政权建设的着力点；始终坚持群众思想、践行群众路线为政权建设的根本路线方针等为主体内容的群众思想，对当代政权建设中的群众路线实践具有重要的理论价值和现实意义。     

当代军旅题材电视剧军人形象的变迀

近年来，随着经济的发展和人们思想的解放，越来越多体现和平年代军队建设与军人生活的电视剧出现在荧屏上，一大批阳刚、稳重、坚韧、刚毅的军人形象受到观众喜爱。和平年代，军旅剧中的军人形象发生了许多变化，如人物身份地位普通化、性格塑造丰富化、人物生存状态真实化，这些变化更加彰显了当代军人的真实风采。然而，在军旅剧人物走向大众的同时，也呈现出人物新模式化、人物设置偏颇以及娱乐元素滥用等新问题，阻碍了军旅剧的进一步向前发展。文章结合作品对当代军旅剧中军人形象的变迁以及出现的问题进行分析，以期为后来的军旅剧创作有所启示。     

美英韩文化强国建设的三种模式探析

习近平总书记指出，每个国家的历史传统、文化积淀、基本国情不同，其发展道路必然有着自己的特色。美英韩文化强国建设就呈现了各自特色。如果说超级大国之美国的文化强国建设归结起来可称为“市场主导模式”，那么老牌帝国之英国的文化强国建设归结起来或是“社会参与模式”，新兴强国之韩国的文化强国建设归结起来可谓“政府引导模式”。中国可镜鉴其有益之处，经过科学的扬弃后使之为我所用。     

微信：结群革命与现代生存

在人类的文化基因中，没有任何的人群能够摆脱结群这一人文进程。在现代社会里，人们结群而居的传统方式已经成为往事，居住的结群让我们“分布”到社区里，而原来结群具有的许多功能被碎片化到城市的各种馆站机构中。在结群方式上，微信群又提供了一种结群的革命方式。微信结群基本的群特征有：交流信息是微信群的第一功能，传播专业知识是微信群的第二功能；表达对于事物的意见和看法是微信的第三功能。微信结群在工业化的现代社会，也像城市里的各种馆站，碎片化地呈现了以前结群中的不同功能，把以前的结群中群体聚居分散在各种各样的结群中。这种结群一方面弥补了我们社区聚居中的缺陷，是一种结群革命，但它却进一步强化了社会陌生化的程度。     

Maintenance work: Interrogating the sociology of art

The following article explores the different ways art sociologists investigate art that is based in the participatory arts. The aim is to shift the empirical focus to the art practice, which speaks for itself, and to place the work of the artist and all who cooperate or collaborate in the making of the artwork at the center of sociological analysis. By allowing the artist to speak fully about their work, art sociologists can uncover new social and cultural phenomena and better understand the different motivations underlying art-making. The following literature highlights the recent tendencies in the sociology of art, explores the “social turn” in art and presents different sociologists who focus on the art practice and the art’s voice. For further development of the field, I suggest the sociology of art needs to catch-up with the recent tendencies in art by placing the empirical focus on participatory art practices that will not only give us a better understanding about the intricate actions taking place in the art making, but it will also illuminate new layers of social life that are hidden. To conclude, I suggest that sociologists engage with participatory-based artists to enhance sociology through a public sociology of art.     

《资本论》农业生态思想及其新时代启示

学界对《资本论》中生态思想的研究成果颇丰,却对农业生态思想研究不足。近年来我国农业生态问题频发,因而对《资本论》中隐蕴的农业生态思想进行研究显得尤为必要。《资本论》察明了农业生态问题产生的根源,剖析农业生态问题的核心并提出相应的破解之道。其农业生态思想以批判性、系统性以及革命性的鲜明特质贯穿始终,这为我国农业发展摆脱生态困境提供了相应的启示。     

In search of African history: the re-appropriation of photographic archives by contemporary visual artists

The digital revolution has fundamentally changed our relationship to archives, by accelerating their “dusting off” and their re-appropriation, particularly in the art world. This article will show the ways in which some contemporary visual artists use new digital technologies to provide new ways of storing, reading and retrieving contemporary African history. Such artists do so by revisiting diverse forms of archives that are mainly photographic, and which were produced during the colonial and independence eras.     

清末民初自由报人林白水的办报思想与实践

在近代中国暗弱的年代里,林白水将国家的兴盛和民族的前途寄托于普通民众身上,投身报业,主持、参与或创办了十余种报刊,用浅易的白话文积极宣传民主、启蒙思想,揭露列强侵凌的岌岌时局以及封建统治者和北洋军阀政客的贪渎行径,表现出极浓烈的平民意识和强烈的爱国情怀。尽管在其行程中,有一段瑕疵,但那是特殊境遇里的短暂迷失,就其一生看,他未失去一个报人和杰出知识人的良知。