Critique on the notion of model minority: an alternative racism to Asian American?

This research note attempts to probe how contemporary racism has evolved to replace physical characteristics with cultural traits by examining the notion of model minority in America. The analysis begins by positing that this notion manifests a problematic deployment of cultural differences. A short historical review justifies that model minority is generated and maintained by a stereotyped understanding of Asian tradition, especially Confucianism. Racial antagonism and class consciousness are then invoked by fostering essentialist ideas of cultural traditions. While America advocates its democratic system of inclusion, the logic of ‘model minority’ suggests an ‘internal exclusion’. The implications of model minority are thus that: (1) ‘race’ is replaced by ‘cultural difference’ – when cultural racism replaces biological racism, race is subsumed into a pure realm of cultural difference and race as a sociohistorical category becomes obscured; (2) the deployment of cultural differences creates an illusion that US society has already reached ‘color-blind’, and therefore neglects the social oppression and inequality along racial lines; (3) in the transforming process from a biologistic conception of race to a culturalist one, cultural differences are deployed to differentiate Asia(n) from American(n). Cultural differences are by all means essentialized, and race is furthermore reduced to essentialized cultural differences.     

Paradoxes of American Individualism1

I point to contradictions in American individualism not unlike those suggested by Robin M. Williams Jr. I go on to suggest how twenty‐first‐century sociologists might better understand this aspect of American exceptionalism: not as an egoistic, asocial individualism, but as a covenantal, social voluntarism.     

破学科壁垒跨文化阐释——"中国文学人类学第二届学术年会"论文述评

“中国文学人类学学会第二届学术年会”于2008年5月13日至17日在湘潭举行。文章从人类学视野下的文学研究、从文化看文学、学科建设：中国文学人类学的可能未来等三个方面对本届年会的交流论文进行述评。     

美语词汇中的美国民族特性分析

美国英语虽来源于英国英语,但它在长期的发展过程中由于受美国民族独特的地理环境、生活习惯、语言心理、行为规范、道德价值、政治观念和文化传统的影响,又形成了很多独具特色的词汇,这些词汇深深地印上了美国民族特性的烙印。从语言学、社会学、心理学的角度探讨美语词汇中折射出的美国民族特性,可以更好地理解这些词汇,学习借鉴那些优秀的民族特性。     

民国初期全国性教育团体群落论

民国初期,以全国教育会联合会、中华职业教育社和中华教育改进社等为代表的全国性教育团体纷纷涌现并逐渐群落化。他们顺应时代的要求而产生,以不同定位满足教育界的不同需要;他们集中了教育界的优秀人物、当时著名教育家构成的群体成为社团群落的核心领导力量;他们都在不断的自我调适中找到了发挥作用的着力点,也形成了各自的特色,充分发挥了教育社团群落的社会作用。     

超越族裔性--华裔美国文学母题内涵演变探究

20世纪90年代以降,华裔美国作家打破美国主流社会强加在华裔美国人身上的刻板形象,力图展示真实的自我,同时通过超越文学作品母题的族裔性,表达了对于种族之间和谐共处的诉求,及其实现的可能性。他们的作品,体现出具有包容品格的族际性。其具体表现为：超越族裔性,走向融合性;能够满足多种族群审美期待的人物塑造。     

The Permeable Border: Examining Responses to North American Integration in Video Art

Abstract

In this essay, I suggest that artistic production provides valuable insights into the nature of the Canada-US border during the late-twentieth century when significant changes were occurring to dominant understandings of Canada in relation to North America. Focusing on the medium of video art, I trace the sustained engagement of Canadian contemporary artists to respond to and comment on the move towards continental integration through free trade. I contextualize my discussion in relation to trade developments that opened Canada’s border with the US, such as the 1989 implementation of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement. This agreement, along with the later North American Free Trade Agreement, led to increasing continental integration at the end of the twentieth century, as well as hope for hemispheric integration with the subsequent negotiations towards the Free Trade Area of the Americas. With attention to works by Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak, Eva Manly, and Clive Robertson, I foreground cultural contributions to redefining the Canada-US borderlands. Here, I chart the artists’ intention to echo narratives of the border’s porousness and address the power dynamics between the Canadian state and its trade partners. Examining themes of cultural imperialism, colonialism, and national identity, I point to the importance of cultural production in assessing the borderlands and, more broadly, histories of free trade in North America.     

以海洋自由为原则——试论美国早期对外条约中的海事条款(1776—1815)

美国建国伊始便把海洋自由视为外交活动的主要原则之一,主要体现在捍卫中立国权力和航行自由权益方面。在欧洲,美国同英法等传统强国就航行自由与中立国权益开展积极的外交乃至军事行动;在地中海,美国先同巴巴里海盗国家虚与委蛇,待国力强盛后通过武力彻底解决了这些国家对美国在地中海贸易的骚扰。这些外交和军事行动虽起因不尽相同,但最后签订的条约多有维护美国外贸、航运的条款,也表达了美国早期朴素的海洋自由思想。     

人间炼狱中的渡人圣者——论《萨勒姆女巫》中悲剧英雄的蜕变历程

《萨勒姆女巫》是一部因个人过失在无序的世界中丧失身份进而在更高层次上实现道德升华、完成救赎的平民悲剧。米勒开拓性地塑造了一位平民悲剧英雄并表达了积极乐观的悲剧精神,激发了观众的共鸣和心灵净化之感。该剧专注于社会改造和道德净化,力图为陷于生存困境之人提供道德启谕。笔者在总结米勒独特悲剧观的基础上从荣格个体化理论的视角分析该剧主人公向悲剧英雄蜕变的心路历程,阐释该剧现代文化背景下具有普遍意义的道德关怀,挖掘其独特艺术魅力和深刻思想主旨。     

Dynamic Bayesian analysis of generalized odds ratios assuming multivariate skew-normal distribution for the error terms in the system equation

In this paper, we develop a methodology for the dynamic Bayesian analysis of generalized odds ratios in contingency tables. It is a standard practice to assume a normal distribution for the random effects in the dynamic system equations. Nevertheless, the normality assumption may be unrealistic in some applications and hence the validity of inferences can be dubious. Therefore, we assume a multivariate skew-normal distribution for the error terms in the system equation at each step. Moreover, we introduce a moving average approach to elicit the hyperparameters. Both simulated data and real data are analyzed to illustrate the application of this methodology.