On the Erasure of race in control culture discourse: a case study of Trayvon Martin’s role in the Black Lives Matter movement

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we analyze an emergent cultural clash between: (a) how media outlets and other control culture institutions have portrayed events related to Black Lives Matter, and (b) the complex reality of Black Lives Matter movements as they have developed through embodied, intersectional, and always socially situated forms of direct collective action. In focusing specifically on American mainstream media coverage of the killing of Trayvon Martin, we argue that, given the history of white supremacy in America, such journalistic accounts generally fail to provide an adequate socio-historical context for emergent social movements in the vein of Black Lives Matter. In framing such movements, at worst, as anti-American terrorist organizations, though more regularly as social constellations of misplaced anger, American control culture institutions have consistently reinforced a certain set of logical contradictions found across broader discussions about race throughout the history of America. Finally, drawing on the theory of play proposed by Gregory Bateson, we outline how a form of subverting mainstream journalistic framing techniques is enacted and embodied creativity through the communally oriented tactics successfully deployed by social movements like Black Lives Matter.     

Transit justice as spatial justice: learning from activists

ABSTRACT

The provision of mass urban transit is frequently tied to agendas of social justice and equity. Yet there are persistent challenges to locating justice within urban mobility regimes. Drawing on two cases of transit activism – Free Transit Toronto and Black Lives Matter in the San Francisco Bay Area – this paper identifies three limitations to transport justice scholarship and practice, namely the theorization of mobility, space, and justice. These activist struggles demonstrate that justice cannot be adequately defined through an abstract accounting of how harms and benefits are distributed, but also concerns the contextual and conflictual processes of producing space and subjects.     

Commentary: Flawed Scientific-Evidence Standards Delay Diesel Regulations

Of 188 government-monitored air toxics, diesel particulate matter (DPM) causes seven times more cancer than all the other 187 air toxics combined, including benzene, lead, and mercury. Yet, DPM is the only air toxic not regulated more stringently under the Clean Air Act, as a hazardous air pollutant (HAP). One reason is that regulators use flawed standards of scientific evidence. The article argues (1) that DPM meets all six specified evidentiary criteria, any one of which is sufficient for HAP regulation and (2) that regulators’ standards of evidence for denying HAP status to DPM (no DPM unit-risk estimate, inadequate dose-response data, alleged weak mechanistic data) err logically and scientifically, set the evidence bar too high, delay regulation, and allow 21,000 avoidable DPM deaths annually in the U.S.     

文学作品内容与形式的辩证矛盾是不存在的——兼与童庆炳教授商榷

童庆炳教授内容形式关系论的重要论文《论文学作品内容与形式的辩证矛盾》存在着严重不足,体现在四个方面。一是他对内容、形式、题材概念的界定,二是他认为文学作品内容、形式概念的存在具有合理性,三是形式与题材的关系,四是以"对立原理"作为理论依据。文学作品的内容和形式根本上是整一的,形式征服题材的情况是不存在的,文学作品内容与形式的辩证矛盾是不存在的。     

Acting your age? Sports science and the ageing body

The medicalisation of aging and old age constructs ageing as first and foremost a biomedical event and as a process of inevitable decline. In sports science and sports medicine the functional decrements normally associated with ageing are being addressed. There is evidence reported in the scientific literature suggesting that certain exercise interventions can ‘reduc[e] or prevent[…] functional declines linked to secondary aging’ [Goggin, N.L., and Morrow, J.R. Jr. (2001). "Physical Activity Behaviors of Older Adults." Journal of Aging and Physical Activity 9, 58–66.].However a sociological critique is necessary. Whilst sports science seeks to position itself as a key player in the fight against ageing, it also opens the potential for the reconstruction of the ageing body as fit. However the evidence that exercise can fundamentally reshape older bodies is equivocal. A new frame is proposed which divorces exercise from anti-ageing purposes and uses the science of exercise to enable older people to recover a sense of physical competence as a creative pursuit in its own right.     

“历史的民族志”视野中的仪式展演——评《帝国隐喻-中国民间宗教》

“历史的民族志”不是简单的,碎片化的历史史实的堆积,而是解释行为主体怎样从历史史实中,人为主观地选择、表达和建构的。而仪式是“历史的民族志”最活跃的元素之一。仪式既能突出这一文化事象内涵中的历史痕迹,向人们展现其承载的历史底蕴,又能解释“历史活在当下”在其中的具体体现,强调在社会变迁中人们在仪式演进中的能动性。     

成见与良知

作为无限者的道,通过一个有限化以达确定化的过程完成其自我实现,这同时造成了作为"观念结果"的物,与作为"观物要求"的成心两种结果。成心观物,固不免有种种不牢靠的是非之论发生出来,但并不能根绝真实之是非的可能。即便全然为"假是非",其中亦必有是非的必然之理的真实表现;更何况,对于是非、善恶,良知可以获得一种确知,而是非的必然之理与良知之良,都被道的至善性所保证,这就使得要把一切是非之论一概无谓化的论说难有成立的余地。     

美国公司背景下的律师—委托人特免权适用标准研究

为了促进委托人和律师充分且深入地交流一切案件信息,委托人与律师之间的交流内容受到律师—委托人特免权的保护。由公司享有的律师—委托人特免权的适用标准存在很大争议。由公司享有的律师—委托人特免权的适用标准存在普遍适用标准、控制群体标准、事项标准以及其他标准。事项标准与控制群体标准相比扩大了受律师—委托人特免权保护的员工的范围。美国联邦最高法院通过厄普约翰案对由公司享有的律师—委托人特免权的适用标准作出了判决。厄普约翰案为由公司享有适用律师—委托人特免权奠定了基础,但是该判决并未彻底解决适用标准存在的争议。     

The perceptions of human resource development professionals in Taiwan regarding their working relationships with subject matter experts (SMEs) during the training design process

While the literature supports the importance of establishing a relationship between designers and subject matter experts (SMEs) in the training design process, this approach is not followed in all global practices. The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of human resource development professionals in Taiwan regarding their working relationships with SMEs. The respondents of the study were HRD professionals who worked in high-tech companies located in a science park in Taiwan. The study found that a significant relationship exists between the ability to work with SMEs and current ability in the training design process among HRD professionals who had worked with SMEs. This study provides implications for the professional development of HRD practitioners and HRD practice in Taiwan companies. Cross-cultural issues are discussed to explain inconsistencies between the results and US-based perspectives on the training design process.