The Politics of Presence: Voice, Deity Possession, and Dilemmas of Development Among Tibetans in the People's Republic of China

2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 665-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlene E. Makley
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Mikhail Bakhtin ◽  
Literary Critic ◽  
Central State ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Party Secretary ◽  
Russian Philosopher ◽  
Sources Of Authority ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
The 1950S

AbstractTaking inspiration from linguistic anthropological approaches to the work of the Russian philosopher and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975), this article uses a Bakhtinian perspective on voice as contested presence to analyze the post-Mao revival of mountain deity possession practices among Tibetans in China's northwestern province of Qinghai. I respond to recent work that suggests that state-led development processes have intensified grassroots contests over the moral sources of authority and legitimacy in China, by contrasting the ambivalent voices of an urbanizing village's Tibetan Party secretary with those of the village's deity medium, during a mid-2000s village conflict. The conflict underscored a crisis of authority or moral “presence” among Tibetans under intensifying central state-led development pressures that for many carried forward the disenfranchisement of Tibetans that started in the 1950s.

Vision of the Other

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Petrilli
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Mikhail Bakhtin ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Critic ◽  
Verbal Art ◽  
Philosophical Reflection ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Russian Philosopher ◽  
Literary Writing

This article describes how the pathways and modalities through which self-consciousness and self-valuation are reached are closely interdependent with the vision of others. But the vision of the other can never be known directly by any one of us, not even in the other's presence: even when I am in front of the gaze of the other, the other is always the other-for-me. Neither studies of the psychological or psychoanalytical orders, nor those conducted in the sphere of philosophical reflection oriented autonomously from other spheres can contribute to a semiotics of the image of self as this is construed interpreting the signs of the vision of the other. Literary writing above all can contribute in this sense. The Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin resorts to literature, verbal art for his semiotics and philosophy of language and is often interpreted mistakenly as a literary critic precisely because of this. In this framework, he analyses the signs forming one's own image of self for each one of us, in the interlacement between I-for-myself, the other-for-me, I-for-the-other.

The Trump carnival: popular appeal in the age of misinformation

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 410-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizaveta Gaufman
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Mikhail Bakhtin ◽  
Presidential Campaign ◽  
Francois Rabelais ◽  
Literary Critic ◽  
The Core ◽  
Russian Philosopher ◽  
Popular Appeal ◽  
Polar Opposite ◽  
Core Characteristics

This article argues that a Russian analytical paradigm of carnival culture can help explain the successful presidential campaign of President Donald J. Trump. Russian philosopher and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin developed the notion of carnival culture while analyzing Francois Rabelais’ work and its connection to the popular culture of Renaissance. Carnival ethos stood in opposition to the ‘official’ and ‘serious’ church sanctioned and feudal culture, by bringing out folklore and different forms of folk laughter that Bakhtin denoted as carnival. Carnival culture with its opposition to the official buttoned-up discourse is supposed to be polar opposite, distinguished by anti-ideology and anti-authority, in other words, anti-establishment – the foundation of Trump’s appeal to his voters. This article examines the core characteristics of carnival culture that defined Trump’s presidential campaign from the start.

scholarly journals Dialog zgody jako neoretoryczny projekt Bachtina

1970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiupa Walerij Igoriewicz Tiupa Walerij Igoriewicz
Keyword(s):  
Mikhail Bakhtin ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Literary Critic ◽  
Russian Philosopher

The article is dedicated to the idea of dialogism in the philosophy of Mikhail Bakhtin. The author assumes that the dialogism of this Russian philosopher of ideas and literary critic is presented in a new light as a clearly valid intention in humanistic thinking. The focus is particularly turned towards the notion of the “dialogue of agreement”. The author examines various communication strategies (of submission, tolerance, convergence). Moreover, attention is drawn to the non-authoritarian, trans-- hierarchical types of resultative communication which leads to the convergence of awareness. The dialogic relation of agreement is perceived as the ultimate goal of every dialogue.

Bakhtin, Mikhail (1895–1975)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittany Pheiffer
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Mikhail Bakhtin ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Intellectual Community ◽  
Russian Philosopher ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Future Work

Mikhail Bakhtin was a Russian philosopher and thinker whose long career concerned aesthetics, ethics, literary and cultural theory, linguistics, and sociology. His earliest works, in the late 1910s, were primarily concerned with aesthetics and the legacy of Neo-Kantianism. His intellectual community at the time—philosophers, critics, and theorists—has been retroactively dubbed "the Bakhtin Circle." Bakhtin was sent into exile in 1929 and spent six years in Kazakhstan, where he wrote important essays, including "Discourse in the Novel." Scholars note that the political repressions of the 1920s left their mark on Bakhtin, who self-censored his future work and used literary criticism as a veiled means of addressing philosophical, political, and social questions. Almost none of Bakhtin’s work was published until the 1950s. It is distinguished by terminological innovations, most notably "dialogism," "chronotope" and "heteroglossia." For Rabelais, Bakhtin invented the genre "grotesque realism," proposing that the carnival and the related "carnivalesque" were vital cultural institutions. About Dostoevsky, Bakhtin stressed the "multivoicedness" of the novels and their distinctive "unfinalizability." Further explorations of genre, speech, and poetics followed.

Peasants, Democracy and Anthropology

2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Feuchtwang
Keyword(s):  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Central State ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Democratic Tradition ◽  
The Government ◽  
Concepts Of Democracy ◽  
Elected Representatives ◽  
Incense Burner

The gulf between intellectuals and peasants, in which the latter are perceived to be a drag on the modernization led by the former, is usually selfaggrandizement. When, as in China, peasants have the ambivalent status of being the base of revolution and the drag on political reform in the direction of democracy, anthropologists are in a good position to challenge the intellectuals’ pretensions. But we don’t. This article asks why, points out the ways in which we can, and then refutes the notion that Chinese peasants have no democratic tradition with an example. It is an example of self-organization around an incense burner, a religious tradition of territorial association. I put it to the test of a number of concepts of democracy, most of which it passes. But its leaders are chosen by divine selection, raising the question whether this is a form of benign charisma rather than standard electoral democracy. The institution persists into the present of the People’s Republic of China and the government of Taiwan, where it functions as a public good, a test of local loyalty, and a moral basis by which the conduct of state officials and elected representatives are judged. It is a civil institution, but now the issue is whether it will last or be soaked up by central state cultural policies. Whatever the answer, the example also throws down a challenge to anthropologists in other regions to explore ‘peasant’ self-organization and cultural resources for democracy and civil judgement.

scholarly journals Collecting and compiling the oral accounts of Chinese scientists trained in the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s: Practice and reflection

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-205
Author(s):  
Liyuan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Candidate Selection ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Other Information ◽  
Collective Experience ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Selection Framework ◽  
Detailed Presentation

In recent years, the recovery and compilation of the oral histories of scientists has attracted increasing attention. The focus of the research has also expanded from individual experiences to collective experience. As part of the Project on Collecting the Historical Data of Chinese Scientists’ Academic Life, and following the norms of historiography, I and other team members compiled oral interviews and accounts of Chinese scientists trained in the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. Through the procedures of data collection, candidate selection, framework construction and detailed presentation, I compiled the oral accounts of 16 Soviet-educated Chinese scientists, supplemented by photos, annotations and other information. These materials describe the lived circumstances and feelings of those scientists in the early days of the People’s Republic of China and recreate the collective experience of this generation of scientists from multiple angles.

scholarly journals Engineering and women's health: a slow start, but gaining momentum

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 20190017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele J. Grimm
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Women’S Health ◽  
Women's Health ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Biomedical Engineering ◽  
Historical Survey ◽  
Slow Start ◽  
Interdisciplinary Nature ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Near Future

While biomedical engineers have participated in research studies that focus on understanding aspects particular to women's health since the 1950s, the depth and breadth of the research have increased significantly in the last 15–20 years. It has been increasingly clear that engineers can lend important knowledge and analysis to address questions that are key to understanding physiology and pathophysiology related to women's health. This historical survey identifies some of the earliest contributions of engineers to exploring aspects of women's health, from the behaviour of key tissues, to issues of reproduction and breast cancer. In addition, some of the more recent work in each area is identified and areas deserving additional attention are described. The interdisciplinary nature of this area of engineering, along with the growing interest within the field of biomedical engineering, promise to bring exciting new discoveries and expand knowledge that will positively impact women's health in the near future.

Political Socialisation and Parental Values in the People's Republic of China

1991 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 337-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee C. Lee ◽  
Ginny Q. Zhan
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Revolution ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
The Political ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Political Values ◽  
Parental Values ◽  
Parent Questionnaire ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Societal Changes ◽  
The 1950S

The present research addresses the question of whether the political socialisation of one's youth is related to personal values during adulthood and how such acquired values in turn influence one's socialisation ideals for the next generation. Specifically, it examines the content of societal mandates of the People's Republic of China as conveyed in the mass media during the 1950s and early 1960s and the expressed values of a group of parents who grew up during that period, experienced the Cultural Revolution during their late teens and early twenties, married during the post-Cultural Revolution period, and had a child in daycare or preschool in 1981 and 1982. The mandates of political socialisation was assessed by content analyses of an official youth magazine published during the 1950s and early 1960s. Parental values were attained from responses to a 1981-82 parent questionnaire. The results were examined within the societal contexts of the two periods under study. The findings indicate that parents of this study, on the whole, expressed values that differentially reflect the content of political socialisation of their youth. Moral and work/study values, particularly those that are rooted in traditional China and those that were apolitical appeared in the lexicon of values during adulthood, whereas the political values mandated by the leadership of their youth were absent from the parents' lexicon of values. Included in the lexicon of parental values were items that were not linked to any of the values of the 1950s and early 1960s era but appear to reflect the changing context of contemporary China. The societal changes in the 1980s People's Republic of China appear to have also influenced parents' expectations for their children.

The Provincial First Party Secretary in the People's Republic of China, 1949–78: A Profile

1980 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. G. Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Revolution ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
State System ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Provincial Level ◽  
Party Secretary ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Party State

The position of first secretary of a provincial committee of the Chinese Communist Party – the highest ranking cadre at provincial level – was not originally one of major importance within the leadership in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was established. However, it has become so since largely as a result of the increase in the importance of the provincial level in the party–state system. The increased political significance of the first secretary was demonstrated most dramatically during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966–69) when the provincial level was severely affected by the attack on the party–state system. Unlike their counterparts at the centre or sub-provincial levels almost all the provincial first party secretaries in office on the eve of the Cultural Revolution lost their positions as the attempt was made to completely reorganize the provincial level.

Legitimate Force in a Particularistic Democracy: Street Police and Outlaw Legislators in the Republic of China on Taiwan

2013 ◽  
Vol 38 (03) ◽  
pp. 615-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey T. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Local Order ◽  
Central State ◽  
Political Field ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Democratic Reform ◽  
Ethnographic Observation ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Historical Consideration ◽  
Political Figure

This article explores a “particularistic” concept of legitimacy important to Taiwanese democracy. This form of legitimacy, I suggest, has been instrumental for Taiwan's successful democratic consolidation in the absence of the rule of law. As evidence, I combine ethnographic observation of neighborhood police work with historical consideration of a type of political figure emergent in the process of democratic reform, which I call the “outlaw legislator.” I focus my analysis on the institutional and ideological processes articulating local policing into the wider political field. The center of these processes is a mode of popular representation that positions the outlaw legislator as a crucial hinge articulating the particularistic local order with central state powers. By analyzing the cultural content of the dramaturgical work used to reconcile low policing with higher-level state operations, this article shows how a particularistic idiom of legitimacy helps hold Taiwanese democracy together.

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