The Politics of Conversion: Religious Change,Materiality and Social Hierarchy in Central Upland Borneo

Contrary to the assumption that religious conversion is strongly influenced by the hegemony of global forces (colonialism and modern state formation) over local communities, this paper argues that internal class antagonisms and material conditions also play an important role in the dynamics of adoption of or resistance to Christianity. By taking narratives of inter-class contestation between aristocrats (paren) and commoners (panyin) and ritual changes among the Kayan-Kenyah in upland Central Borneo during periods of religious conversion, this paper shows the significance of social hierarchy on people’s decisions to change or retain their religious practices.     

Material civilization: things and society

This paper argues that although classical sociology has largely overlooked the importance of social relations with the material world in shaping the form of society, Braudel's concept of 'material civilization' is a useful way to begin to understand the sociological significance of this relationship. The limitations of Braudel's historical and general concept can be partially overcome with Elias's analysis of the connection between 'technization' and 'civilization' that allows for both a civilizing and a de-civilizing impact of emergent forms of material relation that both lengthen and shorten the chains of interdependence between the members of a society. It is suggested that the concept of the 'morality of things' employed by a number of commentators is useful in summarizing the civilizing effects of material objects and addressing their sociological significance. From the sociology of consumption the idea of materiality as a sign of social relationships can be drawn, and from the sociology of technology the idea of socio-technical systems and actor-networks can contribute to the understanding of material civilization. It is argued that the concept of 'material capital' can usefully summarize the variable social value of objects but to understand the complexity of material civilization as it unfolds in everyday life, an analysis of 'material interaction' is needed. Finally the paper suggests some initial themes and issues apparent in contemporary society that the sociological study of material civilization might address; the increased volume, functional complexity and material specificity of objects and the increased social complexity, autonomy and substitutability that is entailed. A theory of 'material civilization' is the first step in establishing a sociology of objects.     

Ascribing materiality and agency to strategy in interaction: A language-based approach to the material agency of strategy

Adding to the existent research on strategy as discourse and practice, this paper develops a language-based approach to viewing the agency and materiality of strategy. The study draws insights from the communicative constitution of organization (CCO) approach and linguistic agency to investigate how organizational members ascribe materiality and performative agency to strategy in their talk-in-interaction. The data consist of 14 video-recorded dyadic manager-to-manager conversations from one private and one public Finnish organization. The findings highlight how strategy is habitually spoken of as a material concrete entity and as a nonhuman agent that makes a difference in the course of described actions. The findings thus suggest that the performative position of strategy has been encoded in language and its use, which further suggests that object-like concreteness and agentivity are key elements of the organizational strategy discourse.     

Art and materiality in the global refugee crisis: Ai Weiwei’s artworks and the emerging aesthetics of mobilities

ABSTRACT

Prominent artists and activists have documented, collected and appropriated discarded materials of refugee journeys, such as life jackets, rafts and clothing, transforming them into largescale artworks. Material belongings play an important role in migration experiences. However, materials are often used as representational measures of rights to movement, mode of travel and refugee status. This article explores how the mobilisation and transformation of materials into artworks raises questions on the material agencies operating within global representations of refugee mobilities. Discussing recent artworks of Ai Weiwei, I explore the emerging material aesthetics that open alternative dialogues on migration flows and mobilities futures.     

The multifaceted nature of social practices: A review of the perspectives on practice-based theory building about organizations

A vibrant body of literature on social practices has developed rapidly in recent years. However, a systematic analysis of the underlying perspectives that shape the way practice-based scholars contribute to theory building about organizational phenomena has escaped scholarly attention. It is of pivotal importance to examine the multifaceted nature of social practices and understand the process by which new practice-based knowledge is developed. Our study addresses this gap by disentangling how researchers have adopted the knowledge, materiality, ethics, and politics perspectives that – as past influential work has informed us – are particularly relevant to practice-based theory building. In so doing, we categorize the body of literature into themes that correspond to the organizational phenomena examined by social practice scholars: practice boundaries and coordination of work, technology at work, strategy formation, local particulars structuring everyday work, and transformation of work practices. By uncovering how scholars adopt the four perspectives within each theme, our review shows that scholars (i) predominantly adopt the knowledge perspective, (ii) neglect the politics perspective when looking ‘inside’ a social practice, (iii) strikingly de-emphasize the ethics perspective, and (iv) isolate each of the four perspectives used in theory building. We then examine in detail the implications of our work for future research on social practices and conclude with a number of theoretical and methodological suggestions.     

科西克真理观评析--论人的生成和真理的生成

科西克的真理观主要是在马克思实践观点和存在主义观点的影响下提出来的.他在把人理解为实践的、生成的存在的前提下,提出了真理的生成论观点,对真理的生成特性和生成根源进行了深刻的反思.他把实践区分为革命批判的实践和直接功利主义的、拜物教的实践,对资本主义社会伪具体世界进行了揭露和批判.尽管由于受存在主义思维方法的影响,科西克无法真正实现对世界二元分裂的批判和超越,但他关于人的生成和真理生成的观点,对我们摆脱传统认识论思维方式的影响,还是具有很大的启迪和借鉴意义的.     

论虚假陈述民事责任的因果关系——以红光实业虚假陈述案为视角

因果关系是决定虚假陈述损害赔偿案裁判结果的核心因素之一,而侵权责任则是证券市场虚假陈述民事责任制度的立法基点。对责任成立因果关系可借鉴美国的欺诈市场理论,采取推定因果关系以及举证责任倒置的方法,从而使投资者跨越求偿过程中最大的法律障碍。应引入”重大性”标准作为确定因果关系的因素,允许被告以信息并非重大信息抗辩;在确定法律因果关系时,把由于其他原因造成的损失剔除,最终确定信息披露者的责任范围。     

Spirit Writing in Vietnam: Political Lessons from the Beyond

Spirit writing is a rare form of trance mediumship in contemporary urban Hanoi and part of the resurgence of popular religious practices in late Socialist Vietnam. This article explores the transmission of otherworldly messages from heroic political and military leaders of the past via an urban female spirit medium and examines practices of translation, decoding and implementing celestial directives. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the paper investigates how efforts to execute instructions from the beyond are intertwined with mediation, materiality, and technology. Drawing on an analysis of messages from the spirit of H? Chí Minh and other heroes of the past, this paper argues that spirits interfere in Vietnam’s current political matters by questioning issues of injustice and by advising the authorities with regard to ritually safeguarding the country’s borders.     

Crossing divides: Ethnicity and rurality

This paper draws on research with people from African, Caribbean and Asian backgrounds regarding perceptions and use of the English countryside. I explore the complex ways in which the category ‘rural’ was constructed as both essentialised and relational: how the countryside was understood most definitely as ‘not-city’ but also, at the same time, the English countryside was conceived as part of a range of networks: one site in a web of ‘nature places’ across the country, as well as one rural in an international chain of rurals – specifically via embodied and emotional connections with ‘nature’. I argue that alongside sensed/sensual embodiment (the non-representational intuitive work of the body), we need also to consider reflective embodiment as a desire to space/place in order to address the structural socio-spatial exclusions endemic in (rural) England and how they are challenged. I suggest that a more progressive conceptualisation of rurality – a ‘transrural’ open to issues of mobility and desire – can help us disrupt dominant notions of rural England as only an exclusionary white space, and reposition it as a site within multicultural, multiethnic, transnational and mobile social Imaginaries.