The semiotics of language ideologies in Singapore1

As an ethnically and linguistically diverse society, Singapore has had to grapple with the problem of how to manage this diversity across a range of contexts, thus making it a particularly interesting case study for language ideologies. This paper examines three particular cases taken from the history of Singapore's language policy. In the first situation, the policy remains largely unchanged, varying only in its lexical and textual realizations; in the second, performances in the service of a set of ideologies give rise to potentially serious problems; and in the third, the material consequences of implementing the ideologies lead to changes in the ideologies themselves. By drawing on recent theoretical developments in the study of language ideologies, this paper shows how attention to the sitedness of language ideologies can help provide greater specification and appreciation of the interactional processes by which the ideologies are instantiated.     

The emancipated city: notes on Gezi Revolts

The article deals with 2013 revolts in Turkey as an attempt at inventing a link between the particular and the universal. To start with, I briefly discuss the history of Turkish republicanism and the transformation of its relation to secularism, economy and the state. Then I turn to the political dimension of the revolts, focusing on the iconic figures of subjectivity that emerged during the events. In this respect, the practical and theoretical tension between mobility and immobility is emphasized, arguing that it is what constitutes the destabilizing aspect of the revolts in relation to both Islamic neo-liberalism and neo-liberal Islam. This is followed by a discussion of the reactionary views on the revolts combined with a critique of their political-theological leitmotivs. The pivot around which these moves are undertaken and the terms of the discussion are determined is the concept of event.     

The lie of race: the politics of evil

Abstract

This is a paper about a world without racism; it addresses the tenacity of racism as equivalence to privilege. The biology of love as a conversation is explored. Organization theory is juxtaposed as a system of Others. Some language of quantum theory is used to present a hypothesis about why systems of privilege are created and conserved through self-reference. The God metaphor is posed as the penultimate organization enabling privilege. This is offset by seeing that love is not a choice, thus freeing both gods and humans to the universe of possibilities. Threads for further research in organization theory are suggested.     

Cultural analysis through semiotics: Len Norris' cartoons on official bilingualism*

Les caricatures éditoriales forment un métalangage pour parler de l'ordre social. Elles créent des mondes imaginaires qui permettent une nouvelle perspective sur le monde actuel en renversant certains de ses traits. Les dessins de Len Norris sur le bilinguisme montrent un monde carnavalesque. Dans les légendes ses personnages offrent des commentaires sur notre monde et captent le parcoureur, qui doit avouer que ces bouffons ont remarqué ce qui nous avait échappé. Les optiques sémiologiques de Greimas et d'Angenot permettent d'éclairer et de situer le modèle linguistique de Norris, et son avertissement qu'une nouvelle lingua franca fédérate est en train de remplacer symboliquement et le français et l'anglais. Editorial cartoons are a metalanguage for discourse about the social order. They create imaginary worlds which allow a fresh perspective on the present world by inverting certain of its features. Len Norris' cartoons on bilingualism portray a zany imaginary world, whose characters comment in the captions on our world and trap the skimmer into admitting that these fools have noticed something which we have missed. Greimas' and Angenot's semiotic approaches serve to elicit and situate Norris' elaborate model of language skills, and his message about the symbolic replacement of both French and English by federal bilingualese.     

The politics of health: the case of smoking control

The policy of the United Kingdom government towards the control of smoking has been characterized by a non-interventionist approach such as persuasion and industrial self-regulation, as opposed to more direct intervention through fiscal policy or control over tobacco production and sales. The effectiveness of the policies adopted by the UK government is difficult to assess, although there has been a reduction over the last ten years in the proportion of smokers in the population. However, evidence from other countries shows that a more comprehensive programme including direct legislation controlling tobacco advertising has a much stronger impact on tobacco consumption. The determinants of the UK government's policy position are analysed and the evidence suggests that this policy position is determined in part by the power of the vested interests in the maintenance of tobacco production, as well as the confusion of interests within the government itself.     

The organizational politics of the ASA

The American Sociological Association’s Report on Future Organizational Trends arose from worries that the ASA is disintegrating into a conglomerate of mutually oblivious specialities. The proliferation of sections was regarded as an aspect of this disintegration that the ASA might be able to control. But the committee charged with examining the problem of sections concluded that section expansion has become a major form of political mobilization within the association, and that sections act as a counterweight to the bureaucratic centralization of the ASA as a whole. On balance, the committee opted for the local vitalization going on in sections as against the more abstract concerns of the ASA central governing bodies. His books includeWeberian Sociological Theory (1986),Theoretical Sociology (1988), andSociology of Marriage and Family: Gender, Love and Property (third edition co-authored with Scott Coltrane, 1990).     

Parent-as-researcher: The politics of researching in the personal life

Several roles for conducting ethnographic research with children have been discussed, but one that has been omitted is the parent-as-researcher. In this paper, we describe some of the methodological advantages and disadvantages of the longitudinal ethnography of preadolescent children we conducted in our community using this methodological approach. We discuss the implications of our role lodging in this complete membership stance and the type of role relations, role identification, and role bifurcation that arose from this combined research/membership approach. We conclude by addressing the ethical issues associated with researching the community of one's own children. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at theWorkshop on Methodological Issues in Fieldwork with Children, Cortland, NY, October, 1994.     

The politics of contraband: The honor economies of the warez scene

Lodged within the Internet’s increasingly commercialized webs there exists a thriving subculture that has developed an economy all its own. Specifically, a modern gift economy, a consistent and internally rational structure of actively anti-economic behavior that presents an interesting juxtaposition to our contemporary notions of economy. Based on an extended ethnography, this subculture is analyzed as a society ordered by agonistic play and gift-giving as economy. The contribution can best be described as adding ethnographic data from the post-industrial phase in Western economic development to the discussion of gift economies, a discourse that has usually dealt only with archaic communities.     

Book reviews: Desire: The politics of sexuality

Abstract

Snitow, Ann and Stansell, Christine and Thompson, Sharon. Virago, 1984. £6.50. (Reviewed by Elizabeth A. Smith)

Research Highlights: No.6 Working with Children

Department of Social Work, Aberdeen. £4.50. (Reviewed by Elizabeth A. Smith)

An Introduction to Therapeutic Communities

Kennard, David and Roberts, Jeff. Routledge and Kegan Paul. £5.95 Paperback. (Reviewed by Pauline Cunningham)     

The politics of rescue

In December 2002 the UN adopted a definition of ‘trafficking’ that critics worry discounts female agency in commercial sex and migration. This definition was already being used in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) and Kosovo to tackle the violent sex industry that had developed alongside peacekeeping. This paper analyses official assumptions about female agency in commercial sex when ‘victims of trafficking’ (VoTs) are identified in BiH and Kosovo. In this context the Protocol definition helped extend access to resources to women and girls who could otherwise have been excluded. Those who had ‘been abroad’ before were no longer automatically rejected from VoT programmes but pathologised as sufferers of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); their illness establishing their ‘innocence’. Understanding the choice of migration for sex work as a symptom of PTSD allows anti-trafficking programmes to focus on victim rather than perpetrator behaviour. Strong pressures against tackling the way soldiers, police and contractors treat women and girls in the sex industry underlie this focus on victim behaviour. Those in the sex industry who are not ‘foreign’ or do not want to go ‘home’ are excluded from VoT status while anti-trafficking activity increases their risk of arrest, thus reifying the categories of innocent VoT and guilty prostitute.     

The politics of foot powder: depoliticizing motherhood during the US War on Terrorism

This article uses the example of mothers of service members during the US War on Terrorism (October 2001 to present) to show how gendered maternal ideology can disempower women to participate in the political process. When their children join the Armed Forces, mothers seek out online support groups where their experiences of war are validated by other mothers. In these groups, they draw on their maternal relationship to war to define what “support” and “politics” mean. Support is defined as unconditional backing of the troops and the war, and political viewpoints are considered unrelated to this maternal support. Adopting militarized motherhood, mothers describe speaking out against the war politically as dangerous to the troops. Doing so hurts their morale, thus jeopardizing their mission and safety. Collectively, mothers police the boundaries of support and politics, and are disempowered to question war, or to engage in the political process during wartime.