Commodified language in Chinatown: A contextualized approach to linguistic landscape1

In Washington DC's newly gentrified Chinatown, recent commercial establishments, primarily non‐Chinese owned chains, use Chinese‐language signs as design features targeted towards people who neither read nor have ethnic ties to Chinese. Using this neighborhood as a case study, we advocate a contextualized, historicized and spatialized perspective on linguistic landscape which highlights that landscapes are not simply physical spaces but are instead ideologically charged constructions. Drawing from cultural geography and urban studies, we analyze how written language interacts with other features of the built environment to construct commodified urban places. Taking a contextually informed, qualitative approach, we link micro‐level analysis of individual Chinese‐language signs to the specific local socio‐geographic processes of spatial commodification. Such a qualitative approach to linguistic landscape, which emphasizes the importance of sociohistorical context, and which includes analysis of signage use, function, and history, leads to a greater understanding of the larger sociopolitical meanings of linguistic landscapes.     

Global fatigue: Transnational markets,linguistic capital,and Korean‐American male English teachers in South Korea1

Mass migration characterizes the current moment of globalization. Constituting a particular subset of this global migration are Korean‐American male English teachers who use the linguistic capital of English, commodified as the language of international communication, to exit from the United States and to return to South Korea as linguistic migrants, where they reassert their patriarchal privilege as Korean men. In the highly gendered and racialized Korean English language market, however, they must prove their ‘native English speaker’ status. Remaining oriented towards the U.S. as their proper home, they also continually defer leaving South Korea as it means giving up the privileges of being a male English speaker and become stuck in a life of leisure and aimlessness. As the shadow of neoliberal globalization deepens and their linguistic capital becomes devalued with the return of more Koreans from abroad, their feelings of being stuck turn into global fatigue. ?? ???? ??? ??? ??? ???/???? ??? ????. ??? ???? ??? ? ??? ???? ???? ? ??? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ????. ??? ??? ?? ??? ???? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ??? ?? ? ?? ????? ???? ???? ??? ? ? ?? ??? ?????. ??? ??, ?? ?? ??? ????? ???? ????? ????? ??? ???? ?? ??? ??? ‘?? ??? ???’??? ??? ??? ????? ??. ??? ?? ??? ?? ? ???? ??? ??? ????? ??????, ???? ????? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ????? ??? ??? ???? ?? ?, ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?? ??? ??. ??? ?????? ???? ??? ?? ????, ???? ???? ???? ????? ??? ??? ????? ????? ???? ????? ??? ?? ???? ?? ????, ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ?? ??? ????? ??? ??. [Korean]     

Violence,rape, and sexual coercion: everyday love in a South African township

This paper presents findings of an anthropological study among pregnant adolescents in Cape Town, South Africa. The inquiry focuses on the sexual dynamics within adolescent relationships. The study reveals widespread male coercion and violence within sexual relationships. Informants describe assault as a regular feature of their relationships. In South Africa, power relations between men and women are commonly manifested as and imposed through sexual violence and assault. Men use physical assault to force sexual contact, beating their female partners if they refuse to have sex, are suspected of sexual infidelity, or are found to be using contraceptives. Moreover, women experience abuse such as gang rape. Yet, health promotion interventions fail to acknowledge sexual encounters as instances in which unequal power relations between men and women are expressed. It is these power relations which determine women's ability or inability to protect themselves against sexually transmitted disease, pregnancy, and unwelcome sexual acts. This study underlines the need to consider gender power issues in the design and impact assessment of HIV/AIDS and reproductive health interventions and in challenging male violence.     

Commercial discourses,gentrification and citizens’ protest: The linguistic landscape of Prenzlauer Berg,Berlin1

Since reunification in 1990, Prenzlauer Berg, located in the former East Berlin, has turned from a cheap and neglected area into a popular middle‐class neighbourhood. The area's new character is reflected in its linguistic landscape. These days the signs of posh shops and trendy bars adorn its streets. But alternative views are noticeable too. Graffiti is present even on the most expensively refurbished buildings and residents put up slogans to protest against their flats being refurbished and sold to new owners. This case study of the changing graphic environment of Prenzlauer Berg shows that, despite the strong influence of commercial discourses, the public space remains an area of contestation between civil society, private businesses and the state. The particular approach to linguistic landscape I developed combines textual and visual analysis with interviews with sign producers. This has enabled me to show how the linguistic landscape both reflects as well as shapes social change and urban development in Berlin since reunification. Seit der Wende ist der Prenzlauer Berg, zu DDR Zeiten vernachlässigt und heruntergekommen, zu einem der beliebtesten Stadtteile des neuen Berlins geworden. Der neue Charakter des Kiez, sichtbar an seinen renovierten Häusern und steigenden Mietpreisen, lässt sich auch anhand seiner sprachlichen Landschaft (linguistic landscape) erkennen. Heutzutage bestimmen die aufwendig gestalteten Schilder teurer Geschäfter und schicker Bars Prenzlauer Bergs Strassenbild. Es gibt aber auch andere Stimmen. Bewohner von Häusern, die an Investoren verkauft wurden und denen nun gesteigerte Mieten drohen, protestieren mit Plakaten gegen die Politik der Ankäufer. Fast keine der neu gestrichenen Fassaden ist frei von Graffiti und überall findet man Poster, die zu Demonstrationen und Unterschriftenaktionen aufforden. Ausgehend von Fotografien und Interviews mit den Autoren von Schildern, Plakaten und Transparenten zeigt der vorliegende Artikel, dass der öffentliche Raum – die Strasse – trotz der Dominanz kommerziellen Diskurse, ein Bereich bleibt, in dem Staat, private Inverstoren und bürgerliche Gesellschaft aufeinander treffen und ihre – oftmals im Konflikt zueinander stehenden – Meinungen zum Ausdruck bringen. [German]     

Positive Men: searching for relational dignity through health activism in a South African township

This paper explores how men from a South African township appropriate health and rights discourses in times of existential needs and uncertainties, in order to construct isidima, or what the author calls a relational model of dignity. The activists’ efforts were tied to gendered moral practices of granting respect to others and expecting to be respected as “positive” men who struggle against gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS. Their involvement in situations of moral breakdown, however, forged a situated transfiguration of gendered social relationships that went beyond both “traditional” notions of masculinity and “modern” ideals of liberal citizenship. The findings are based on life histories of 15 Xhosa-speaking men who were involved in the group Positive Men (PM). Furthermore, they are the result of direct and participant observation of key events that took place between 2007 and 2010.     

Transnational South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of globalization: Markets,timescales, neoliberalism1

This special issue seeks a new direction for the sociolinguistics of globalization in the process of transnationalism, using as a case study new modes of Korean migration that are changing the face of Korean transnationalism, including short‐term early study abroad and return migration. Through a discussion of the historical and sociolinguistic context of South Korea, this paper demonstrates how transnational Korea is a relevant site for refining, reframing, and reconsidering the current sociolinguistics of globalization. We identify two important interventions into the theoretical considerations of language and globalization brought forward by the Korean case: (1) a heightened attention to multiple timescales and markets; and (2) a more serious engagement with and critique of neoliberalism. ? ???? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ?? ??? ??? ??? ????, ????? ??? ? ??? ????? ??? ????? ??? ?? ???? ? ??? ????. ??? ???, ?????? ??? ?? ??? ??, ? ??? ? ??? ????? ???? ?? ?????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ????? ? ? ??? ????. ??? ??? ??? ???? ??? ?? ??? ??? ??? ??? ?? ? ??? ????: (1) ????? ???? ???? ??? ?? ?; ??? (2) ?????? ?? ? ??? ??? ?? ?. [Korean]     

Framing interior: race,mobility and the image of home in South African modernity

This paper explores the depiction of dwellings in order to locate the emergence of a particular framing of the interior in South Africa. I suggest that in the first half of the twentieth century, images of domestic spaces pointed both to racially distinct interiors and racialised forms of interiority. As an aesthetic technology of the late nineteenth century, photography aided in the production of visual motifs that fixed the appearance of race in a new way, and located such an appearance in particular places. The visual intertwining of race and place – designating racially proper and improper places – was instrumental to apartheid’s attempt to curtail racial mixing and unregulated mobility. In contrast with the imposed movement engendered by migrant labour, I suggest that the figure of the interior becomes a privileged standpoint from which to view the triumph of race as a form of fixity in modern South Africa.     

Begging as work: a study of people with mobility difficulties in Accra, Ghana

Even though begging is illegal in Ghana, an increasing number of disabled people engage in it. Begging is not only abhorred by the law, but also regarded by many Ghanaians as stigmatizing and devaluing. Successive governments of the country and some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have made efforts either to reduce or eliminate begging. The attempts made have, however, been unsuccessful and the disabled beggars involved have returned to the streets of Accra. The question is why is it difficult to reduce begging in the research area. While poverty, mobility needs, lack of education and employable skills and employment avenues are factors that explain the decision to start begging, it also seems that the ways in which beggars justify their activities contribute to its perseverance. The study aims at sensitizing policy-makers and other stakeholders in attempts to find empowering alternatives to begging.     

Land and worship: a reading of paintings by two South African artists of Indian ancestry

This article, drawn from my doctoral study, focuses on the landscape paintings of two South African graduates of the former Indian institution, the University of Durban-Westville. The work is analysed through the lens of Hindu philosophy and Hindu ritualistic practice which views the earth as fundamental for survival and intrinsically linked to the cosmic order. This article presents the Hindu attachment to the land seen in the expansive imagery of Hindu deities located within serene landscapes resplendent in its attention to mythological and symbolic details. This attachment positions Hinduism as a guide to the exploration of the paintings. This article locates the work within the complex historical base of Indians in South Africa, and the impact it had on contemporary artists of Indian ancestry. While their art production addresses their conflating Indian/South Africanness, their paintings can be viewed as a veiled historiography of the Indian presence in South Africa.     

Religious involvement in public sphere in a secular state: institutions,interests and attitudes

The article focuses on the relations between religious institutions and state in a secular environment. The example for the secular environment has been taken from Estonia that is considered a highly secularized society, and Estonia is by its constitution is a secular state. The article, however, argues that even in a secularized society and in secular state religiously motivated lobby may influence political decision-making processes if the aims of the religious lobby manage to hide its overly religious agenda and present it in the context of ethno-cultural heritage. The example of this approach is taken from the activities of an indigenous neopagan religious association that has been lobbying for the protection of sacred landscapes or natural sacred sites in Estonia which sounds with the general societal approach on nature protection. At the same time new issues concerning the protection of holiness in natural environment have emerged.     

Linguistic competency and citizenship: Contrasting portraits of multilingualism in the South Korean popular media1

This paper examines how metapragmatic framings of multilingual competency and incompetency have become indexes of global and South Korean citizenship in the South Korean popular media. Drawing upon depictions of multilingualism in South Korean television deurama (‘drama’), comedy skits, and popular music, it examines how the locus of modernity and cosmopolitanism is moving away from the U.S.‐oriented overseas Korean (gyopo) and towards the figure of the elite transnational returnee (saldaon saram). It argues that as the transnational circulation of people, media, and ideologies accelerates in the age of globalization, intra‐ethnic discourses of linguistic mockery will also intensify. 本文檢視南韓大眾媒體中的多語現象, 探討擁有多語能力如何成為判定是世界公民和南韓公民的依據。我們探索在全球化下, 欠缺語言能力的種族化形象的跨國流傳, 以及同民族間的語言嘲諷現象的興起。這篇文章觀察南韓電視連續劇、綜藝節目喜劇單元和流行音樂中對多語現象的呈現, 據此分析多語現代性和世界主義如何從過去曾是南韓旅美僑胞的表徵, 轉變成當今海歸(跨國鍍金後返國)人士的專屬形象。[Mandarin] ? ??? ??? ????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ???? ??????? ????? ??? ???? ???? ?? ??? ??? ???? ???? ?? ????. ???, ??? ?, ??? ?? ?? ? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ?? ??? ?? ????? ???? ??? ????. ??, ???? ?? ??? ???, ?????? ???? ??? ??? ???? ? ???, ???? ??? ???? ??? ??? ????. [Korean]     

The local political economy of languages in a Sámi tourism destination: Authenticity and mobility in the labelling of souvenirs1

In this article we use ethnographic and discourse analytic approaches to examine how the labelling of tourist souvenirs affects, and is in turn affected by, the local political economy of language of a tourist destination, which is also a minority language space. We begin by arguing for the importance of our particular focus of study, souvenir labels, in the process of global and local tourism, and consequently as evidence of the interplay of languages, politics and economics. We then consider the distinctive features of the local political economy of language in our particular case study, the multilingual Sámi village of Inari in Northern Finland. In a related discussion, we describe how Inari functions as a site of experiential cultural tourism, and how the purchase of souvenirs is part of the tourist experience. We then go on to describe a number of practices that we have observed in the choice and use of linguistic and visual resources for the labelling of souvenirs in Inari, the delicate balancing act that takes place in these practices between authenticity and mobility, and how this reflects and is reflected in the local political economy of language. Tutkimme tässä artikkelissa etnografiaa ja diskurssianalyysiä hyödyntäen miten matkamuistot ja niiden kuvaukset nimilapuissa rakentuvat kielten paikallisessa poliittisessa ja taloudellisessa konteksteissa samalla niitä rakentaen. Tarkasteltavana oleva turistikohde on alkuperäisenä saamelaiskylänä markkinoitu Inari, joka sijaitsee uhanalaisten saamenkielten kotiseutualueella Pohjois‐Suomessa. Aluksi kuvaamme matkamuistojen tarkastelun kiinnostavuutta kielten, politiikan ja talouden tutkimuksen risteymässä. Seuraavaksi tarkastelemme Inarin kieliympäristöä ja sen nivoutumista paikalliseen poliittiseen talouteen. Tämän jälkeen kuvaamme Inarissa myynnissä olevien matkamuistojen ja niiden nimilapuissa tehtyjä kielellisiä ja visuaalisia valintoja. Matkamuistojen multimodaalisen diskurssin analyysimme kuvaa, miten niihin liittyvät käytänteet tasapainottelevat autenttisuuden ja liikkuvuuden rakentamisen välillä samalla kun ne nivoutuvat paikalliseen kielten poliittiseen talouteen. [Finnish] Mii dutkat dán artihkkalis, mo mátkemuittut ja daid govvideapmi gilkoriin ?addet gielaid báikkála? politihkala? ja ekonomala? konteavsttas nu, ahte dat seammás huksejit daid. Geavahit dutkanvuohkin etnografiija ja diskursaanalysa. Geah?adit turisttaid mátkemeari Anára, mii márkanastojuvvo originála sápmela? gilá?in. Anár lea gilli áitojuvvon sámegielaid ruovttuguovllus Davvi‐Suomas. Álggos mii govvidit, man bero?tahtti mátkemuittuid geah?adeapmi lea gielaid, politihka ja ekonomiija gaskkas. ?uovvova??an mii geah?adit Anára giellabirrasa ja dan, mo dat ?atnasa báikkála? politihkala? ekonomiijai. Dán ma??á mii govvidit, makkár gielala? ja visuálala? válljemat leat dahkkon dain mátkemuittuin ja daid gilkoriin, mat leat vuovdinláhkai Anáris. Min analysa mátkemuittuid multimodálala? diskurssas govvida, mo vierut, mat laktásit mátkemuittuide, dássádallet autentala?vuo?a ja lihkadeami huksema gaskkas seammás go dat ?atnasit gielaid báikkála? politihkala? ekonomiijai. [Northern Sámi]     

Rhotacization and the ‘Beijing Smooth Operator’: The social meaning of a linguistic variable1

Recent sociolinguistic studies on style have focused much attention on the construction of social meaning in situated discursive practices. Despite a general recognition that the linguistic resources used are often already imbued with social meanings, little research has been done on what these meanings may be. Focusing on rhotacization, a sociolinguistic variable in Beijing Mandarin, this article explores its imbued social meanings and sociocultural associations. I demonstrate that rhotacization takes on semiotic saliency through co‐occurrence with key Beijing cultural terms and frequent use in written representations of authentic Beijing‐ness. Furthermore, this feature is associated with the ‘Beijing Smooth Operator,’ a salient male local character type, and is ideologically construed as reflecting its characterological attributes. The findings of this study shed light on the meaning potential of a linguistic variable, rhotacization in this case, which can enhance understanding of the possibilities and constraints for its use and meaning in new contexts.     

The linguistic sense of placement: Habitus and the entextualization of translingual practices in Swedish academia

This paper adopts a Bourdieusian approach to discourse in contemporary Swedish academia. Habitus, entextualization, and translingual practice are employed as epistemological perspectives for investigating the place of Swedish in the text trajectories of two disciplines where English prevails in publishing. Data from meeting recordings, email correspondence, and interviews show that Swedish is the legitimate language throughout in the text production and that discipline‐specific Swedish is practiced so long as it encompasses all participants’ repertoires. In fact, the researchers point to an almost physical awkwardness linked to the unwarranted use of English among themselves. Following Bourdieu, it is argued that these sensibilities pertain to the linguistic sense of placement of socialized agents and that the unease of being out of place prevents them from lapsing into what is socially perceived as unacceptable discourse in their translingual practices.     

Tagging the spectral mobility of the stateless body: Deleuze,stasis, and graffiti

Following recent work by Eleanor Kaufman, this essay reads Deleuze as a thinker of stasis and immobilization in order to think through the fantasy of the refugee as an exemplary figure of mobility. Working through Difference and Repetition, I argue that Deleuze’s understanding of space emerges from a concern with both immobility and the singular concept of temporality articulated in his concept of the “third synthesis of time.” The essay then turns to two contemporary instances of stateless people immobilized by very different forms of nation state sovereignty in Tunisia and the West Bank. I examine graffiti in both locations and develop a concept of tagging, which considers both the graffiti tag and the digital tag as intersecting technologies of distributed social networks that serve to freeze and make visible the stasis of the stateless person.     

Marx,labour and emancipation in South African sociology: a preliminary rethinking

In a university and disciplinary environment where knowledge is increasingly commodified, this paper sketches a reconstruction of the mature Marx’s analysis of capitalism. I argue that his understanding remains methodologically powerful and helps to ground sociological analyses of the present. While accepting that there are good grounds for questioning the relevance of Marx in the wake of the South African political transition and the Post‐Fordist transformation of labour, this interpretation departs significantly from how Marx has generally been interpreted by sociologists and other social scientists in the country by foregrounding the commodity as the starting point of his social critique. Indeed, I argue that ‘class’ and ‘workplaces’, long a focus of radical sociologists, are on their own inadequate to grasp Marx’s concept of capitalism. Finally, drawing on the Frankfurt School, I suggest the importance of a critique of labour and the recognition of contradiction as the starting point of an emancipatory project.     

A social ecology approach and applications of urban ecosystem and landscape analyses: a case study of Baltimore,Maryland

The early interactions between plant, animal, and human ecology in the 1920s in the United States provide an initial basis for understanding and directing an integrated ecosystem approach to the study of sociocultural and biophysical patterns and processes of present day cities. However, whereas the human ecology approach of the 1920s and 30s was interested in metaphorical similarities with plant and animal ecologists, we propose a more integrated approach to human ecosystem observation and analysis. A critical feature to an integrated, urban ecosystem approach is the ability of researchers to address the spatial heterogeneity of urban ecosystems; i.e. the development and dynamics of spatial heterogeneity and the influences of spatial patterns on cycles and fluxes of critical resources (e.g. energy, materials, nutrients, genetic and nongenetic information, population, labor, and capital). An important question in this context is how differential access to and control over critical resources affect the structure and function of urban ecosystems.To address this heterogeneity, we illustrate a human ecosystem and landscape approach and how the concept of social differentiation can be applied spatially at different scales with a case study from our research in Baltimore, Maryland. Further, we identify different methods, tools, and techniques that can be used for an integrated, urban ecosystem approach.     

Questioning diaspora: mobility,mutation, and historiography of the Shaw Brothers film studio

This piece reviews the historical accounts of Shaw Brothers Studio, targeting its presentation as a diaspora company whose commercialism was enhanced by political pragmatism, frugality, and agility. The studio's activities were constrained by twentieth-century geopolitics, but its behavior was also shaped by its show business competitors, new technologies, and emergent popular forms. Existing historical accounts tend to overstate the studio's diasporic qualities, especially compared to other firms. This essay argues that there are limits to the diaspora model and proposes a more complex understanding of the firm. Alternative factors are considered in the company's colonial stratagems, in both its earlier and later phases, and in its dealings with Hong Kong's left-wing studios and subsequent business in Taiwan. Finally, Shaw Brothers Studio's appropriation of Japanese and other Asian talent is significant to the diaspora model of Shaw Brothers Studio.     

Consumerism, disorientation and postmodern space: a modest test of an immodest theory

There has recently been an explosion of theoretical literature on social space. A central claim in this literature is that postmodern spaces are experienced as confusing or disorienting by human subjects. This claim remains untested. The paper reports results from a small-scale survey conducted in one form of postmodern space--the shopping mall. It suggests that unsupported assertions about the disorienting effects of postmodern space and their associated influence on consumerist activities should be treated with scepticism. Through practice humans are able to develop routines which enable them to competently navigate these spaces.