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A winter's journey Notes on the social democratic sublime

In sweden, though, the department three paradigns store model is no longer in favour, and a renewed dominate: the concern for public and civic values has led to the library as a temple design of libraries, such as the one in ornskoldsvik, of knowledge, as an based on re-creating the town square or street enclosed arcade or indoors, with civic sendees such as the library-, the information department, education advice services, town square, or as congregated around an inner street, with a cafe and cultural department even shops. a rne tells me, with just a hint of bravura, that the rotunda is almost exactly the same diameter as that of the stockholm city library, one of the great library buildings of europe, designed in the 1920s by erik gunnar asplund - the very same person responsible for the woodland cemetery - which has provided a reference point for much international library architecture since then.

A Party In Search Of Power - interview with Bryan Gould

a lot of people on the left and on the right of the labour movement will understand your critique of authoritarian forms of management, the small 'c' conservative culture of the labour movement, symbols of labour ism, which you say have not necessarily got anything to do with socialism. the frightening thing at the moment is that there is no sense of the labour party as a campaigning party, and no sense that initiatives like that, for instance, around the political fund ballot can be regenerated, no sense of labour's ability to organise anything, to mobilise.

Channel 4: The First Nine Month INTERVIEW WITH JEREMY ISAACS

The essence of the matter, however, is this: as opposed to our competing directly with them for advertising revenue and, more importantly, to competing directly the bbc could have done a little more than they have done in the way of innovatory broadcasting against them for the sort of advertising revenue they most easily attract (which is the factor which determines most powerfully the nature and scope of american network television and also australian commercial television) they retain their monopoly of television advertising revenue in this country, with the single exception of london where thames and lwt compete for their share of revenue. i think it's wrong, though, to write off all broadcasting put out on to the television channels by the institutes that preceded channel four as a grey mass, because within the different broadcasting organisations there were attempts to make particular kinds of programmes that intend saying something and therefore risk saying something that carries with it a particular point of view and is based on a particular analysis.

From El Salvador to The Falklands: a strategy in disarray

To her joint-declaration with mexico on el salvador, france added the sale of helicopters, patrol boats and (in some accounts) other weaponry to the sandinista government of nicaragua.  12 june 1982 marxism today 'authoritarian' and 'totalitarian' the reagan administration's difficulties in enlisting overseas support for more ambitious military involvement in central america and the caribbean were compounded by mounting domestic concern at the nature of the regimes that were to be 'saved' in the region. when the us public was informed in 1981 that el salvador was now the 'number one' issue in us foreign policy, an unsurprisingly large number of newspapers and tv networks sent reporters and camera crews to inspect the place. All these exercises were intended to be interpreted as preparations for the imposition of a naval blockade of cuba, with or without an invasion of either or both cuba and in the context of the reagan administration's own project for intervention in central america and the caribbean, the non-invasion of poland was highly disruptive grenada.

The Technophilic Body: On Technicity In William Gibson'S Cyborg Culture

(donna haraway) a number of recent science fiction works by william gibson explore an alternative post-industrial hybrid culture predicated on the interface of biotechnologically enhanced human bodies, interactive information technology, and omniscient corporate power.1 gibson's novels and short stories are influential examples of 'cyberpunk' literature, a genre of science fiction literature that deals with first generation cyborg2 or machine/human symbiotic activity in an immanent post-industrial information-governed universe. The first concerns cyborg transformations that reconstitute the organic and sensorial architecture of the human body, the second pertains to a novel information space that gibson describes in his novels and short stories, and the third relates to the social regeneration of ethnic identity under the influence of cyborg-governed processes of technological differentiation in marginal late-capitalist creolized technocultures.

Naming The Armenian Genocide: The Quest For 'Truth' And A Search For Possibilities

While it's clear from the most cursory reading of even a picture-book history of armenia that there has been an armenian 'nation' for at most two years (1918-1920), there is no indication in these texts of consciousness towards this strategic catachresis (term with no adequate literal meaning!reference).2 in other words, while 'nation' has no meaning as a description in an armenian history, it is used unselfconsciously as the privileged concept in representations of armenian history. In the forgotten genocide, a traditional story-line history of armenia leading up to the genocide works to establish an armenian 'claim' to 'historical territories' by documenting 'the high level of armenian civilization in literature, art and architecture'.

Tales Of The Lost Land: Palestinian Identity And The Formation Of Nationalist Consciousness

When life is sufficiently disrupted to throw the relevance of old categories into doubt, people are able to subordinate old oppositions to the need for new alliances.27 the radical transformations of traditional life brought about by the israeli occupation - massive expropriation of agricultural lands, militarization of vast areas, development of a migrant labour market to serve newly developed industrial and service sectors, intensive inculcation of western capitalist culture, full-scale political repression, and so on - have forced the majority of palestinians to recognize the inadequacy of old confessional, factional, and territorial divisions and to look for new ways of forging a strong national awareness out of the fragments.28 this is not to say that there is a united palestinian nationalist movement operative in historic palestine at the present time, but that the distinct borders within which national identity develops (borders drawn both territorially and by widespread recognition of membership in a group opposed to a common and clearly visible enemy) provide the necessary knowledge of who will be fighting against whom, and for what. Hence, in the palestinian instance, territoriality, a central focus of group identity, is qualified both historically (by using pre-1948 palestine as the territorial locus of palestinian identity) and semantically (by distinguishing in name between the two homelands - israel and palestine - which occupy the same geographical space) so that the identity palestinians (both in their diaspora and within historic palestine) derive from the land they claim is kept distinct from and antipathetic to that which the israelis derive from the land they occupy.

Looking for the crevices Consulting with users of mental health services

171  soundings find an effective way of engaging service users in each borough.2 in broad terms the purpose of this project was: • • to elicit users' views about current and future mental health services within each of the three boroughs covered by the trust; to draw conclusions from this process which could inform strategies for improving involvement of, and collaboration with, service users in general. certain key elements seemed essential in setting up a project if it were to model different ways of relating to and working with users: • the project needed to be established in such a way that it was user-led from the start so that the users involved had a real - not token - say in the running of the project (democratisation).

'The Individual is a Minority': The Thin Line Between Universalism and Particularism

33  soundings having begun this piece with the literary intervention of ralph ellison and the new black intellectuals and having ended with richard rorty's emphasis on competitive individuality and alexander's notion of modern civil society, we have gone full circle: what first appeared to be a passionate defence of individual achievement in literature and culture on the side of the new black intellectuals, and such leftist intellectuals as richard rorty, develops into a serious analysis of differentiated american society, and a defence of the achievements of modern american democracy - at least in terms of its universalist notions of citizenship. Whether socialists argue the need to get rid of civil society because it is utterly bourgeois, or radical feminists argue that civil society is inherently patriarchal, or black nationalists think of racism as a natural part of civil society - all these discourses suffer from the generalisation of particular discourses and deny the complexity of modern civil society.

The Cultural Front - book reviews: - The Literature of Labour - Reading by Numbers

Reviews the cultural front the literature of labour: two hundred years of working class writing h gustav klaus harvester press £18.95 reading by numbers: contemporary publishing and popular fiction ken worpole comedia £3.95 why are the following critics in such a bad temper? 'they had better furnish the man with good implements for his trade than raise subscriptions for his poems. there have been moments when the literary establishment has recognised the power of popular writing, the originality of popular reading tastes, the importance of working class and socialist literature.

Lay Down Your Weary Tune; The Left And The Cultural Politics Of Aids

In common with the general level of misrecognition that surrounds hiv/aids on the middle and left of british life, taking liberties received only one major review in the left press: paul binding's in the new statesman and society.11 although sympathetic, binding's review failed to discuss taking liberties, and by extension hiv/aids, as anything but an issue for gay politics, or to recognize that, over and above its health implications, aids is an ideological issue. New formations number 10 spring 1990 peter redman lay down your weary tune; the left and the cultural politics of aids e. carter and s. watney (eds), taking liberties: aids and cultural politics, london, serpent's tail, 1989; 236 pp; £8.95. october, 43, winter 1987; 273 pp.

From 'Diversity' To 'Difference' The Case Of Socio-Cultural Studies Of Music

Most theorists also agree that musical sounds and practices should be studied in relation to the respective functions they carry out in any given society or culture: music is conceived either as an essential means for the establishment of 'social order' 3 and the development of cultural identity, or as an important way through which members of rival groups (demarcated by social classes, gender, ethnic and linguistic affiliation, etc.) develop their sense of belonging and express their specificity.4 those are the main theoretical premisses shared by researchers whose ideas are otherwise opposed, if not contradictory,5 but whose research projects are nevertheless oriented towards the same goal: the study of music in its context. 6 its most characterizing trait is a 'differential' approach to music: 7 music is addressed as one fundamental way by which groups (and individuals) actualize and manifest their respective cultural and social attributes - because these attributes provide music with its most original characteristics, they constitute the most determining components in its very definition as a social and/or cultural phenomenon.

Vicarious Excitements: London: A Pilgrimage By Gustave Dore And Blanchard Jerrold, 1872

furthermore this activity is regarded as part of the normal round of social vicarious excitements: london: a pilgrimage 43  gustave dore: 'infant hospital patients' (london: a pilgrimage, p. 191)  gustave dore: 'refuge - applying for admittance' (london: a pilgrimage, p. 180)  pleasures and performances of polite society (their work?): 'indeed pleasure is allied with charity in a hundred forms in a london season'. In its humorous and discomforted way the trajectory described by the text for dore is a journey across this ideological and vicarious excitements: london: a pilgrimage 39  gustave dore: 'holland house: a garden party' (london: a pilgrimage, p. gustave dore: ' the ladies' mile' (london: a pilgrimage, p. 89)  social space of bourgeois women's allotted social 'labour'.

A Game of Two Halves: 'English' identity fifty years after the Windrush

modern globalisation processes and the decentering of english identity stuart hall describes the period when 'the image of a stiff upper-lipped white middle class male' was the central component of a very narrowly defined and distinctly 'english' national cultural identity which stood for everybody in the british isles. Soundings autumn 1998 issue 10 a game of two halves 'english' identity fifty years after windrush bilkis malek bilkis malek focuses on the insights football culture gives us into the ambivalences of the english psyche.

A Symptomology Of An Authoritarian Discourse: The Parliamentary Debates On The Prohibition Of The Promotion Of Homosexuality

The strategies which have been outlined above - the rerepresentations of the threat of radical difference as the invader, seducer, pretender, the division of radical difference, the exclusion of radical difference and the inclusion of simple difference, and the offering of a fantasy space purified of radical difference and supported by the symptom - all pertain to an authoritarian type of discourse, a discourse which has everything staked on the simulation of closure, a completed consensus. New formations number 10 spring 1990 anna marie smith a symptomology of an authoritarian discourse the parliamentary debates on the prohibition of the promotion of homosexuality section 28 of the local government act 1987-8 prohibition on promoting homosexuality by teaching or publishing material 28—(1) the following subsection shall be inserted after section 2 of the local government act 1986 (prohibition of political publicity) 2a - (1) a local authority shall not (a) intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality; (b) promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.

I Love Luce: The Lesbian, Mimesis And Masquerade In Irigaray, Freud, And Mainstream Film

notes 1 for discussions of irigaray's writings in relation to literature, philosophy and feminist politics, see, for example, diana adler and couze venn, 'introduction to irigaray', and 'women's exile: interview with luce irigaray', trans. couze venn, ideology and consciousness, 1 (may 1977), 57-76; elizabeth berg, 'the third woman', diacritics, 12, 2 (1982), 11-20; beverley brown and parveen adams, 'the feminine body and feminist polities', m/f, 3 (1979), 35-50; carolyn burke, 'introduction to luce irigaray's "when our lips speak together", signs, 6, 1 (autumn 1980), 66-9, 'irigaray through the looking glass', feminist studies, 7, 2 (summer 1981), 288-306, and 'romancing the philosophers: luce irigaray', minnesota review, 29 (fall 1987), 103-14; claire duchen, feminism in france (london: routledge & kegan paul, 1986), especially 67-102; jane gallop, the daughter's seduction (ithaca, ny: cornell university press, 1982), and 'quand nos levres s'ecrivent: irigaray's body politic', romanic review, 74, 1 (1983), 77-83; linda godard, 'pour une nouvelle lecture de la question de la "femme": essai a partir de la pensee de jacques derrida', philosophiques, 12, 1 (spring 1985), 147-64; margaret homans, bearing the word (chicago: university of chicago press, 1986); mary jacobus, reading woman (new york: See, for example, david ansen, 'nightmare on madison avenue', newsweek (28 september 1987), 76; fred bruning, 'sex and the psychopath factor', maclean's, 100 (23 november 1987), 7; vincent canby, 'our big hits: out of this world', new york times (31 january 1988), section 2, 19-20; richard corliss, 'killer', time, 130 (16 november 1987), 72-6, 79; barbara grizzuti harrison, 'fatal attraction: single girl, double standard', mademoiselle, 94, 4 (april 1988), 197; j. hoberman, 'the other, woman', village voice (29 september 1987), 68 and 'sex and the single family', village voice (15 december 1987), special supplement, 83; stanley kauffman, 'orphaned, abandoned', new republic, 187 (19 october 1987), 26-7; 'mortal friends', movie guardian (17 december 1987), 11; regina nadelson, 'fatally yours', guardian (7 january 1988); lawrence o'toole, 'fatal attraction', maclean's, 100 (21 september 1987), 58; amy taubin, the rabbit died: eight capsule comments on fatal attraction', village voice (15 december 1987), special supplement, 90-1; richard schickel, 'the war between the mates', time, 130, 13 (28 september 1987), 69; john simon, 'overindulgence', national review, 39, 23 (4 december 1987), 56-7; laurie stone, 'the new femme fatale', ms, 76 (december 1987), 78-9; p. travers, 'fatal attraction', people weekly, 28 (5 october 1987), 10; judith williamson, 'nightmare on madison avenue', new statesman (15 january 1988), 28-9; ellen willis, 'sins of the fathers', village voice (15 december 1987), special supplement, 85-6.

A Race Against Time: Change and the Public Service in the New South Africa

 soundings issue 4 autumn 1996 a race against time: change and the public service in the 'new south africa' francie lund a personal account of the struggle to transform south africa's racially divided welfare services south africa had its first democratic election in april 1994. How to overcome the fragmentation of these diverse bits, following the 1994 elections? e ach department in the nine new provinces was allocated a budget to set up strategic management teams (smts) for this purpose, and the smts typically employed some people outside of government to work with them, to bridge the gap between the civil servants from the previously separate administrations, and to bring in management and planning skills.

The Undergrowth Of Enjoyment: How Popular Culture Can Serve As An Introduction To Lacan

New formations number 9 winter 1989 slavoj zizek the undergrowth of enjoyment: how popular culture can serve as an introduction to lacan the english reception of jacques lacan, predominantly at least, has still not integrated all the consequences of the break marked by the seminar on ethics of psychoanalysis (1959-60), a break which radically shifted the accent of his teaching: from the dialectics of desire to the inertia of enjoyment (jouissance), from the symptom as coded message to the sinthome as letter permeated with enjoyment, from the 'unconscious structured like a language' to the thing in its heart, the irreducible kernel of jouissance that resists all symbolization.1 the aim of the present article is to exemplify some of the key motifs of this last stage of lacanian theory via a reading of certain narratives borrowed from popular cinema and literature. to indicate the specificity of this one, lacan coined the neologism le sinthome: the point which functions as the ultimate support of the subject's consistency, the point of 'thou art that', the point marking the dimensions of 'what is in the subject more than itself and what it therefore 'loves more than itself, that point which is none the less neither symptom (the coded message in which the subject receives from the other its own message in reverse form, the truth of its desire) nor fantasy (the imaginary scenario which, with its fascinating presence, screens off the lack in the other, the radical inconsistency of the symbolic order).

WOMEN AND THE NATIONAL FRONT Reclaiming history CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY CULTURAL STUDIES, WOMEN & FASCISM STUDY GROUP

without an awareness of feminist alternatives such as these, the anti-fascist movement will remain incapable of challenging the sexism at the root of fascist ideology, which vron’s pamphlet so effectively reveals....... our work in the women and fascism study group has revealed that work such as vron’s is by no means the first of its kind.  29 vron shows how this view of women’s role can appeal to white women because it draws on popular beliefs about what are held to be ‘natural’ differences between men’s and women’s abilities and because: ‘women are being flattered into believing that this subordinate and passive role is their only way to selfexpression and fulfilment’.