生产与生活 神话与历史——评夏明宇新著《现代民间文学研究视域下的渝西神话》

在文化人类学的视野中,神话是地方或族群文化的一部分,是与他们的生产生活紧密联系在一起的。“将历史与神话分开研究无异于人为地割裂”。在渝西神话中,作者强调“现代民间文学”也是尽可能对“传统民间文学”的一种突破。尤其是“神话是先民的科学和哲学”,这一命题的提出,显示出《渝西神话》已跨出文学的范畴,把神话研究推向了一个更为广阔和宏大的领域。     

Campus politics,student societies and social media

The university campus has often been seen as an important site for the politicization of young people. Recent explanations for this have focused attention upon the role of the student union as a means to enable a ‘critical mass’ of previously isolated individuals to produce social networks of common interest. What is missing from these accounts, however, and what this article seeks to address, is how these factors actually facilitate the development of political norms and the active engagement of many students. Drawing upon qualitative data from three countries we argue that it is the milieu of the smaller student societies that are crucial for facilitating the habitus of the student citizen. They provide the space for creative development and performance of the political self, affiliations to particular fields and access to cultural and social capital. Moreover, we contend that these processes of politicization are increasingly enacted through social media networks that foreground their importance for developing political habitus in the future.     

Cash payments in context: (self-)regulation in the new social relations of assistance

Cash payments to meet social care needs offer the possibility for the direct employment of personal assistants using public funds. Empirical work internationally has identified the benefits of cash payments. However, there has been less interest in the relationships between employers and their employees. This article offers some reflections upon the employment relationship from the perspectives of employers who have learning difficulties and their personal assistants. The study involved eight employers, their supporters and their personal assistants in an English city. A grounded theory approach was utilised and interviews were analysed using a framework approach. This article argues that the relational aspects of direct employment arrangements have not been adequately considered in academic literature and the policy framework. These insights can add to debates around how social care support mechanisms can offer responsive assistance whilst questioning the assumed ‘empowering’ effect of an unregulated market.     

Gender‐Related Violence and Young People: An Overview of Italian,Irish, Spanish,UK and EU Legislation

Do laws regarding violence against or sexual exploitation of young people recognise gendered and other power dynamics? Cross‐national comparison of legal texts can illustrate the benefits of framing issues of violence/gender/youth in certain ways and offer critical reflection on particular legal frameworks or cultural understandings. This policy review is based on an analysis of select laws regarding gender‐related violence (GRV) as relates to young people in Italy, Ireland, Spain and the UK. Here, GRV is defined as sexist, sexualising or norm‐driven bullying, harassment, discrimination or violence whoever is targeted. It therefore includes gender, sexuality and sex‐gender normativities, as well as violence against women and girls. A tension emerges between granting young people agency and recognising the multiple, intersecting power relations that might limit and shape that agency. This article draws out the implications for the UK in particular, highlighting the absence of preventative measures and the need for a broader approach to combat GRV.     

人民群众是生态文明建设的主体--习近平关于生态文明建设的重要论述之启示

党的十八大以来,习近平总书记就生态文明建设发表了一系列重要讲话,强调人民群众是社会实践的主体,是生态文明建设的驱动力和监督者;在生态文明建设的过程中,需要人民群众的智慧、力量和积极参与;充分发挥人民群众在生态文明建设中的主体作用,必须推动生态民主与生态法治建设,必须运用党的群众路线理论与方法及建立健全人民群众参与生态文明建设的机制,才能加快我国生态文明建设的步伐。     

我国人民陪审制度的问题及解决路径

全国人大常委会《关于完善人民陪审员制度的决定》对于扭转人民陪审员“陪而不审,审而不议”的窘境有所裨益。但由于制度矛盾及配套措施欠缺等多种原因,我国人民陪审制度的实际运行效果与预期仍存在一定差距。为更好地发挥人民陪审所承载的司法民主、权力制衡等制度价值,我国应着重从扩大制度的适用范围、规范陪审员遴选程序、增加陪审权力、强化陪审义务四个方面予以进一步完善。     

电影《罗生门》的存在主义解读

电影《罗生门》中的强盗、武士、武士的妻子在极限的境遇中选择自私、狭隘,以至沦入痛苦的地狱,无法获得自由。樵夫虽然犯了错,但是他用自己积极的行动改正错误,使自己超越了地狱,获得自由。黑泽明希望观众通过他的影片,学会如何在一个充满荒诞和非理性的世界中去面对人类的不幸和克服人性的弱点。     

Intergenerational Continuity and Change in Conceptualization of the “Child” Among Guji People of Ethiopia

The rapidly growing globalization that embodies new technologies has greatly characterized intergenerational difference by fostering change and hindering continuity of values and traditions. However, the effects of cultural change on intergenerational continuity and change in less technologically developed societies have not been documented adequately. This article presents change and continuity between adults and children in conceptualization of the “child” in the context of the Guji people of Ethiopia. It discusses how the meaning of “child” is variable across synchronic generations among the Guji people and how this variability reflects discontinuities and continuities in intergenerational transmission of local knowledge. The difference between adults and children in their knowledge of generational structure is observed as a ground for their divergence in conceptualization of the “child.” Accordingly, for adults, one’s position in generational structure is a basis for identifying somebody as a child. However, for children, one’s level of physical maturity is a basis for defining somebody as a child. The data on which this article is based are drawn from 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork among the Guji people.     

Elderly Parents’ Need for Help and Adult Children's Moving Decisions

Recent changes in Finnish welfare policies have increased the need for family involvement in eldercare. This article uses qualitative interviews to study working adult daughters’ reasons for moving in with their parent(s). Coresidence was linked to the parents’ need for support, but also to the daughters’ life situations, family histories, the availability of welfare services, and cultural norms and values. The interviewees used the “familist” and “independent life” discourses in their speech. The familist discourse was used to argue for coresidence as a natural continuation of family traditions and life history, whereas the independent life discourse was used to legitimize the need for alternative care options and having a home of their own.     

Cambodian youth managing expectations and uncertainties of the life course – a typology of biographical management

Globalising changes in recent decades have produced great impacts on young lives, and youth sociologists have been analysing how young people negotiate change and uncertainty in their lives. This article complements existing research by a case study on Cambodia, where young people have in recent years been charged to deal with drastic social changes but in social conditions different from the better known global North. By drawing on data from a study of young rural–urban migrant labour workers' and university students' life experiences and expectations in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, we systematically compare their sense making, action strategies and future orientation during their transition into working life. We present a theoretically informed but empirically grounded typology that illustrates three major modes of biographical management: entrepreneurial, traditional and situational, which are linked to different perceptions of uncertainty, future perspectives, action strategies, planning modes and resources available through the family, personal capacity and the larger sociocultural context. We conclude with critical remarks on the extent to which the fulfilment of Cambodian young people's hopes for a better life is shaped by broader social conditions and individual circumstances.