Toward a sociology of global comparative placemaking

I call for a globally informed sociology of comparative placemaking that integrates historical and contemporary processes and includes the ephemeral, institutional, and personal. By placemaking, I am referring to the explicit or tacit cooperation among people to create, maintain, and give meaning to places in space through bodily occupation given differential resources and constraints. I review select place, space, and community-based literature about urban, Black, migrant, LGBTQ, and international populations to think about how we can build upon and integrate multiple theoretical, methodological, and epistemological insights to form an explicit placemaking research agenda. A US focus on neighborhoods contrasts with a comparative examination of global urban networks, social polarization, and transformation of the built environment in the interdisciplinary field of global urban studies (Ren, 2018). I argue for a placemaking research agenda that bridges insight from US Urban Sociology with Global Urban Studies to consider how various structures and actors constrain and facilitate place projects. With a globally reaching and comparatively informed sociology of placemaking, we can illuminate our multi-structured story of place and agency in context. We can answer questions about how and why we co-create and are simultaneously disciplined by the process of creation.     

Comparison of labour and birth outcomes between nulliparous women who used epidural analgesia in labour and those who did not: A prospective cohort study

ObjectiveTo compare labour and birth outcomes between nulliparous women who used versus did not use intrapartum epidural analgesia.DesignProspective cohort study.SettingTwo maternity hospitals in Ireland.PopulationA total of 1221 nulliparous women who gave birth vaginally or by emergency caesarean section.MethodsMultinomial logistic regression was used to analyse categorical outcomes, with results presented as ratios of relative risks (RRR). For dichotomous outcomes we used logistic regression, with results presented as odds ratios (OR).Main outcome measuresMode of birth, IV syntocinon use, pyrexia (≥38 °C), antibiotic treatment, first stage labour ≥10 h, second stage labour ≥2 h, blood loss (≥500 mls, ≥1000 mls), perineal trauma. Neonatal outcomes included Apgar score ≥7 at 1 min and 5 min, admission to neonatal intensive care unit, and infant feeding method.ResultsWomen using EA were more likely to require a vacuum-assisted birth (RRR 3.35, p < 0.01) or forceps-assisted birth (RRR 11.69, p < 0.01). Exposure to EA was associated with significantly greater risk of ≥10 h first (OR 6.72, p = 0.01) and ≥2 h second (OR 2.25, p < 0.01) stage labour, increased likelihood of receiving IV syntocinon (OR 9.38, p < 0.01), antibiotics (OR 2.97, p < 0.01) and a greater probability of pyrexia (OR 10.26, p < 0.01). Women who used EA were half as likely to be breastfeeding at three months postpartum (OR 0.53, p < 0.01). No differences were observed between groups in neonatal outcomes.ConclusionsOur data shows significant associations between EA use and several intrapartum outcomes.     

Professional blinders? The novel as an eye-opener in organizational analysis

ABSTRACT

Scholarly textbooks often follow a logic where suitable empirical cases are selected to illustrate the theoretical and analytical points that we as scholars want to make. But what would happen if we would do the opposite: build a textbook on a novel written by a novelist for such purpose and let the theories explain the actions and emotions of fictional characters? In this article, we share and reflect upon our experiences of co-authoring a textbook in organization theory together with a professional novelist. We argue that the novel can function as an eye-opener in organizational analysis, forcing us to look beyond more static and rationalistic perspectives on organizations as well as the stereotypes of such. We build and relate our experiences to the growing literature about using fiction in scholarly work and discuss the potential of such genre-bending work when we bring in flesh and blood into the analyses.     

Absent bodies and present memories: marking out the everyday and the future in Eastern Sri Lanka

Drawing from ethnographic work carried out between 2005 and 2007, this article considers the ways in which a women’s network has developed strategies to find meaning around the absences of loved ones, killed or ‘disappeared’ during the decades of conflict in Sri Lanka. For most of these women, the fate of their husbands, brothers, sons and fathers is not known and the lack of answers means that they are unable to fully grieve and find closure. In order to survive, they must find ways to deal with the absent bodies and present memories of those who may never be located and accounted for. These strategies include tree-planting ceremonies carried out as a way of not only remembering and mourning loved ones but also asking questions about how one makes sense of loss and what it means to carry the burden of unanswered absences through everyday life and into the future.     

民族记忆与文化基因--瑶族民族记忆中“中华民族共同体”文化基因的表征及其价值阐释

民族记忆既是传承民族文化基因的载体,也是彰显民族文化基因的重要文化表征。民族记忆作为延续民族历史和文化基因的内在根基,通过传承民族历史文化、建构民族身份、塑造民族形象等形式传承和彰显民族文化基因的内在特征。以瑶族为代表的少数民族文化基因是中华民族文化基因的重要组成部分,深入挖掘瑶族民族记忆中蕴含的“中华民族共同体”文化基因,并阐释其内在的价值与意义,对培育和铸牢我国各民族的“中华民族共同体”意识有着重要的理论价值与现实意义。     

投敌叛变罪若干疑难问题研讨

投敌叛变罪作为危害国家安全的一种重罪,刑法学界的研究状况相对较为薄弱,为此应立足于刑法规定,并紧密结合司法实践,对投敌叛变罪的本质属性、客观表现、罪过形式、罪数形态、犯罪形态及其死刑适用等几个重大疑难问题进行较为深入的研究。     

运动元记忆训练对元记忆水平和动作记忆的影响

通过2个月的运动元记忆训练,检验其对非体育专业学生元记忆水平和动作记忆成绩的影响.结果显示运动元记忆训练能显著提高大学生运动记忆策略和记忆监控水平;结果还表明训练能明显提高大学生的艺术体操和健美操动作记忆成绩(表现在动作数量上),而且艺术体操动作记忆的训练效应大于健美操.     

我校医学影像专业实施素质教育的实践与探索

三峡大学医学院开办医学影像专业有 16年历史 ,经历了从专科向本科转型过度。在素质教育和创新意识培养方面经过了多年的探索实践。大专层次的教育为社会培养了一批临床应用型专业人才 ,缓解了市场需求的压力 ,但部分学生客观上存在着知识面较窄小 ,缺乏后劲的问题。实施本科教育全面提高学生的综合素质需要在多方面下工夫 :转变教育思想 ,更新教育观念 ;转变培养模式 ;优化组合构建新的课程体系 ;强化科研 ,以科研促教学 ;通才教育与专才教育并举。探索本科生素质教育 6年 ,取得了可喜成绩 ,积累了一些经验     

Generations,Identities, and the Collective Memory of Che Guevara1

Has the image of Che Guevara lost its power to evoke radical politics in the face of pervasive commodification? The commercialization of this 1960s political icon has called into question the power of the market to shape collective memories. Meanwhile, antisystemic movements of the left continue to erect his image at protest events. In light of this contest over how Che Guevara is remembered, we investigate, using data from a survey of Spanish citizens, who is most likely to recall him. We find qualified support for the theory of generational imprinting—Che is more often recalled by those generations who saw him rise to prominence during their formative years, although prominent as a collective symbol rather than as a living person. Our results also corroborate the claim that historical figures or events are more salient for, and therefore more likely to be remembered by, some subgenerational units than others. Thus, although the younger generations are in general more likely than their elders to recall Che, he is most frequently remembered by the highly educated leftists who espouse postmaterialist and posttraditionalist values and identify more with their local regions than with the nation of Spain. These patterns suggest that, in contrast to the dire predictions of mass culture theorists, the memory of Che Guevara has become increasingly tied to markers of social, ethnic‐regional, and political identity.     

悼红轩里增删遍,料定知音旷代存——拜读贺信民先生《红情绿意——<红楼梦>点面论》

三十多年的耕耘,《红情绿意——〈红楼梦〉点面论》的面世,成为贺信民先生贡献于红学界的又一丰硕成果。书中宏观运幄与微观烛照兼长,用生命体验来感悟红楼,在慧眼洞察的缕缕新意之中折射着贺信民先生“研红”的风雨征程,折射着红学界积火传薪的优良学术传承。