Social Objects, Causality and Contingent Realism

This paper is a realist argument for the existence of "social objects". Social objects, I argue, are the outcome states of a contingent causal process and in turn posses causal properties. This argument has consequences for what we can mean by realism and consequences for the development of a realist methodology. Realism should abandon the notion of natural necessity in favour of a view that the "real" nature of the social world is contingent and necessity is only revealed in outcome states. This, I argue, has both theoretical and methodological implications and I develop my argument through two case studies, of homelessness and ethnicity.     

The Idea of Home in Law

The idea of “home” is problematic for lawyers. Although the significance of home sometimes appears to be acknowledged in legal discourse, the proposition that home can encapsulate meanings beyond the physical structure of the house or its capital value continues to present conceptual difficulties for lawyers. Starting from the reference to “respect for home” in the European Convention on Human Rights, this article considers why courts are reluctant to give effect to any recognition of the non-financial values of home, with the result that the financial claims of secured creditors and landlords overwhelmingly prevail over the “home” interests of occupiers. These issues are considered in the context of law's preference for rationality and objectively definable, “provable” interests. This article suggests, however, that the idea of home in law is not unworkable, but rather underdeveloped. A number of ad hoc examples are presented as evidence of law's capacity to recognize ideas linked to home in order to further particular policy aims, so long as this does not run counter to the overarching goals of the system. Finally, the article evaluates avenues through which lawyers could engage productively with home theorists in other disciplines to develop a more coherent legal concept of home.     

Fetishes and motorcars: Negrophilia in French modernism

Based on an ethnographic study of evaluators' micro-practices during the admission test at a prominent Danish design school, this paper looks into the decisions made by evaluators when selecting future students.Two rounds make up the test in question: A first round where evaluators review portfolios made by anonymous candidates and a second round where a number of candidates are invited to interviews based on positive reviews of their portfolios. Following the two-tier course of the test, the analysis discusses the co-constitutive relationship between portfolios and candidates. Whereas the first round of the admission test clearly builds on the principle that talent can be identified in applicants' work, the second round introduces the premise that the person in question may be more important than the work. Hence, while objects constitute active participants during the review round, they tend to become neglected when applicants step in. To consider the selection processes during the test, the paper draws inspiration from the anthropologist of art Alfred Gell's art nexus that consists of artist, recipients, art objects and prototypes. With these four cardinal points, it becomes possible to identify relations made between evaluators and candidates along with portfolios and conventions which they refer to. That is, rather than seeing the test as a social game played solely by evaluators and applicants, the art nexus calls attention also to the roles played by portfolios and aesthetic conventions. However, based on the structure of the test, evaluators rank the subjectivity of candidates as paramount, while portfolios become in Gell's words ‘secondary agents’. By introducing a specific form of personhood as the final selection parameter, the admission test continues a long tradition of auteurism, which may have problematic effects, as previous studies of cultural education have demonstrated within fashion design and the congruent domains of film and fine art.     

My Room,My Home,My Self

Abstract

The material culture of home cannot be supplanted in its entirety when moving into an aged care facility. When the time comes, the decision of what to take and what to leave behind is not simple. This article presents the balance between practical and emotional considerations in the choice and presence of personal objects in the rooms of residents. Intersubjective relationships between material objects in the room and the people who enter that space is viewed through a narrative lens. In this way, it is the materiality of the room-as-home for the self, which is key. Three major themes relating to the objects in the room of the older person were found to be: 1. Safety, 2. Family, and 3. Home. These themes emerged from ethnographic research in an aged care setting. Participants included residents, their families, care staff, and management of the facility. The article contributes to understandings of material objects as carriers of identity and meaning in an aged care facility.     

Evidence,Experience and Conjecture: Reading the Interior through Benjamin and Bloch

This article looks at the resonances between Walter Benjamin's writing on the bourgeois domestic interior, and Ernst Bloch's investigation of the detective novel. These resonances hinge on the evidence that the interior registers through traces, and how these traces relate to the conjectural knowledge of detection. Explored via Carlo Ginzburg, conjectural knowledge raises the question of experience in modernity, a question crucial to understanding the role of literary narrative in the nineteenth century, as well as the historical emergence of the bourgeois domestic interior at this time.     

Every Object Tells a Story

ABSTRACT

The article considers objects and stories within the homes of Pakistani Heritage families who came from Pakistan to the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. The research team particularly explored the relationship between objects and family stories and timescales. Part of the research process involved an ethnographic inquiry exploring the stories told by the families. An exhibition was constructed from these stories and a website. The experience of migration, of the resettling of people and objects produced new kinds of stories in relation to objects, as families moved across national and transnational spaces. I highlight how a nuanced understanding of timescales can help illuminate studies of home cultures of migrant families. Notions of place and space are disrupted when possessions are left behind, and language is all there is left to recreate lost objects in old spaces. Longer timescales can be attached to objects that appear valueless when actual objects are lost or in transit. By making the timescales a focus for discussion, actual stories and experiences of families making that transition can be more readily heard. Home cultures can be understood in this context as “traveling” and subject to transformation and disruption.     

从隐喻认知视角看《周易》的象征系统

受“体认式”思潮的影响,主流理论开始关注隐喻认知模式,而东方文化恰恰一直强调的是整体性认知思维.《周易》的“天人合一”、“观物取象”、“立象尽意”等观点尽显了隐喻的思维模式和认知规律.从结构和语篇上,《周易》都体现出取象为源、隐喻映射及联想式思维的特点,极简画繁地表达了人类对自身、他人和世界的认识.     

转换性形象:跨文化建构文学形象的理论视角

转换性形象涉及文学史、文学评论及翻译文学中有关民族的、国家的“他形象”和“自我形象”,在动态的历史语境中加以理解,不采纳本质主义观点,也拒绝任何关于国家刻板印象的他者假定,真实描述“他形象”与“自我形象”.该研究注意形象识别,并将转换性形象与文学翻译放在一个体系内加以考察,既研究文学翻译的行为方式与翻译策略对转换性形象的建构意义,也研究转换性形象对文学翻译结构与形态的潜在作用.该研究突出三个层面:主客体关系,形象转化方式,跨语言诉求.     

解读职场性骚扰

近些年，职场性骚扰话题愈演愈热，然而多数人对这一概念的理解是片面的、直观的。论文从职场性骚扰的定义、特征、主体、客体、对象等方面对其进行界定，兼对“如何理解性骚扰中的‘性’”，“女性可否成为性骚扰主体”，“同性之间能否成立性骚扰”，“双性恋者可否成为性骚扰主体”等争议问题作出解答。