Kazuo Ohno's World from Without and Within. By Kazuo Ohno and Yoshito Ohno. Translated by John Barrett. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2004; pp. 344. $34.95 paper.

2005 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-317
Author(s):  
Kurt Wurmli
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Modern Dance ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Research Centers ◽  
The West ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Art Form ◽  
The World ◽  
Inside View ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Kazuo Ohno and Tatsumi Hijikata are recognized as the most influential creators of the contemporary Japanese dance form known today as butoh. Since its wild and avant-garde beginnings in the late 1950s, butoh has evolved into an established and appreciated art form throughout the world. Despite its popularity and strong influences on the international modern dance world, butoh only recently became an accepted subject for academic research in Japan as well as in the West. With the new opening of butoh research centers and archives—such as the Ohno Dance Studio Archives at BANK ART 1929 in Yokohama, the Kazuo Ohno Archives at Bologna University in Italy, and the Hijikata Tatsumi Archives at Keio University in Tokyo—serious scholarly attention has been given to the art of butoh's founders. However, the lack of firsthand sources by butoh artists reflecting their own work still poses great limitations for a deep understanding of the art form. Kazuo Ohno's World from Without and Within is not only the first full-length book in English about the master's life and work, but also offers a rare inside view of butoh.

Spencer, Penelope (1901–1993)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Interwar Period ◽  
Modern Dance ◽  
British Broadcasting Corporation ◽  
Musical Comedy ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Art Form ◽  
Collaborative Art ◽  
The World ◽  
National Opera ◽  
The Relationship

The career of the English "creative" dancer, choreographer, teacher, and dance writer Penelope Spencer spanned the period between the World Wars. Spencer’s versatile training and career encompassed diverse British theater genres, including ballet, drama, mime, modern dance, musical comedy, opera, pantomime, and revue. She practiced consecutively as a freelance artist and under the auspices of enlightened cultural institutions, including the Arts Theatre Club, British Broadcasting Corporation, British National Opera Company, Camargo Society, Glastonbury Festival, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and Royal College of Music. Her published articles explored the relationship between dance and music, the importance of dance to actors and musicians, and dance as a collaborative art form, promoting the Wagnerian concept of Gesamtkunstwerk. During the interwar period, Spencer made significant and pioneering contributions to British theater dance and wider cultural heritage, while incorporating progressive philosophies into her choreography and teaching.

scholarly journals Editorial: Time Travel

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-248
Author(s):  
PAUL RAE
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Time Travel ◽  
The West ◽  
American Power ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Past ◽  
Aesthetic Form ◽  
The World ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Way

One of the most forbidding and yet rewarding challenges in a substantive internationalization of arts scholarship is accounting for the experience and passage of time. The extent to which developments in theatre and performance over the past 150 years have been tied up with the larger social, economic and technological transformations reflexively understood as ‘modernity’ is a key reason an international journal readership is able to find interest and value in scholarship on performances they may not have seen, that are practised in places they have never been. At the same time, any such research – it is tempting to say ‘from outside the West’, but in fact the requirement holds everywhere – must register how the work under discussion complicates an otherwise oversimplified narrative of developmental modernity. This narrative treats a homogenized industrial and postindustrial ‘West’ as having led the way and established a model for how other parts of the world would modernize subsequently. The assumption is quickened in discussions of art because arguably one characteristic of those transformations as they happened in numerous centres of Euro-American power was the role that artists played in giving them aesthetic form and expressing their meanings. This is prominent in the emergence of modernism and the avant-garde, and it is logical that in recent times scholars of modernism have been particularly energetic in questioning the developmental narrative and demonstrating not only how such phenomena were constitutively reliant on processes elsewhere, but also how artistic developments everywhere both informed each other (often inequably) and manifested local and highly contingent characteristics.

Early Modern Dance and Theatre in Finland

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-31
Author(s):  
Johanna Laakkonen
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Modern Dance ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
The West ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
International Trends ◽  
Modern Dancers ◽  
Opera Houses

Abstract Early modern dancers established a foothold in theatres and opera houses from the 1910s onwards when the focus of many avant-garde theatre directors shifted from literary text to the actor’s body and its expressive potentialities. This article explores the interplay between early modern dance and theatre in Finland by focusing on three dance scenes that Maggie Gripenberg (1881–1976) composed for theatre and opera performances in Helsinki in the 1920s and 1930s. The developments in Finland will be connected with the international trends that Gripenberg and her Finnish collaborators absorbed from the West as well as from Russia. The article also suggests that by exploring early modern dance in the context of theatre and opera, it is possible to obtain a more balanced picture of the development of modern dance in Finland.

scholarly journals Islam Today

1999 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 132-137
Author(s):  
Shiraz Khan
Keyword(s):  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Wealth Accumulation ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Structured Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Islamic Faith ◽  
Basic Features

As we approach the end of this alarming century there is a quiet sense of urgencythat the West come to understand the Muslim world. Although these ancient rivalshave clashed for over a thousand years - politically, intellectually, culturally, andsocially - it is not so much in the field of battle wherein has lain the danger butin the world of ideas. A vitriolic polemic, begun with the advent of the ProphetMuhammad, plays itself out today in images of book burning fanatics, darklyveiled women and unstable nations willing to go to war on the mere whisper of theword jihad. This has been a history of disinformation and stereotypes that hasserved a single purpose: war - ooly this time the stakes are far higher. Propagandathat was once concerned with moral licentiousness and sexual fantasy has largelybeen replaced with one of violence and modem weapons, and the capitalist natureof wealth accumulation. The world is overshadowed by a battle for its resourcesthat threatens to develop into an all-out war. In light of this and the sizeable numberof Muslims living in the West, it is imperative that the climate of fear be diffusedand a forum for dialogue and understanding initiated. While the media tirelessly labors to define East-West relations in its own terms, professor AkbarAhmed has written a book that endeavors to promote a deep understanding, bowledgeand respect for Islam - its history, peoples, and achievements. In so doing,he opens new, more interactive, and peaceful parameters for a debate that arguesthat the differences between the two civilizations are far outweighed by their deeperand more permanent value systems.The book is a logically structured analysis, concisely written and easy to read.The author examines the basic features of Islam, the Qur’an and the Prophet towhom it was revealed; the history of the golden age of Islam when its empires werethe superpowers of their day providing stability and order and generating greatarchitecture, art and science; issues of modernity, democracy, and identity, includingthe core unit of Muslim society, the family; the reality of Muslims living innon-Muslim countries and the problems and issues they face; and finally, thepower and strength of Western media as well as the technological developmentsthat challenge traditional Islamic values and beliefs. Being a thorough and completeshrdy of the Islamic faith and its people, the book does not attempt to hidesome of the harsher realities, such as corrupt leaders and dishonest individualswho, by violating Islamic laws and customs, can no longer be considered as behavingaccording to the principles of Islam, and should therefore not be confused inthe West as representatives or followers of the faith ...

scholarly journals The East and the West in the polemical context of the Serbian music between the two World Wars

Muzikologija ◽  
2005 ◽  
pp. 119-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarina Tomasevic
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Doctoral Dissertation ◽  
World War ◽  
The West ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The World ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
East West ◽  
Serbian Academy

This article represents a fragment of the author's doctoral dissertation Serbian Music at the Crossroads of the East and the West? On the Dialogue between the Traditional and the Modern in Serbian Music between the Two World Wars (the review of the thesis see on www.newsound.org.yu, issue No 24). The thesis (mentor: prof. Dr Mirjana Veselinovic-Hofman) was defended at the Faculty of Music, Belgrade, on January 2004. A revised text of the dissertation is forthcoming, in an edition of the Institute of Musicology of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The article describes the creative orientation of composers Miloje Milojevic, Petar Konjovic and Josip Slavenski as the key figures of the epoch, indicates their choices of an Eastern or Western orientation, and explains the antagonism between the poetics of the "Europeans" and the representatives of avant-garde trends. The topicality of the East-West dichotomy in the critical consciousness of the protagonist of this period is marked as one of the main and the most important dilemma of the polemical context of the Serbian art after the World War I. Conducted from standpoints "Pro et Contra Europe", East-West discussion was also the part of the debate of Serbian national art's development strategy in the new, modern epoch of its history.

scholarly journals Orientalisme Vs Oksidentalisme: Benturan dan Dialogisme Budaya Global

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 377
Author(s):  
Rohanda Rohanda ◽  
Dian Nurrachman
Keyword(s):  
Western Culture ◽  
The Other ◽  
Research Centers ◽  
The West ◽  
Hybrid Form ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The World ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
And Control

Imperialism and colonialism have spawned research centers that examine the parts of the world that they control. Through these centers, orientalists work to discuss, write, produce and perform the Eastern world on the stage of Western culture. Authenticity, exoticism and grandeur of the East are dismantled, stripped down, doubted and elusive. Through orientalist goggles, the East is produced as a "hybrid" form; no more pure and original East. East is used as a storage or projection of their own unfamiliar (read: the West) aspects, such as crime, moral decadence, and so on. On the other hand, the East is seen as a dazzling world of exotic and full of mystical seductions. Meanwhile, unlike the orientalism that was originally intended as a serious study of the cultures to legitimize Western colonial powers in the Eastern world, occidentalism is precisely born from the methodological problems of orientalism which is said to be objective. Whereas behind the objectivity is stored Western interests to dominate, rearrange, and control the East. Orientalism has sparked nativist intellectuals to question the validity of orientalist works in constructing Eastern stereotypes. It cannot be denied then that these two discourses - Orientalism and Occidentalism - are in a position between the clashes and the global cultural dialogue.Keywords: Orientalism, oxidentalism, imperialism, colonialism, conf­­lict, dialogue Imperialisme dan kolonialisme telah melahirkan pusat-pusat studi dan kajian yang menelaah belahan dunia yang dikuasainya. Melalui pusat-pusat kajian inilah, para orientalis bekerja untuk memperbincangkan, menulis, memproduksi dan mempertunjukkan dunia Timur di atas panggung kebudayaan Barat. Keaslian, keeksotisan dan keagungan Timur dibongkar, dipreteli, diragukan dan dibuat samar-samar. Melalui kacamata orientalis, Timur diproduksi sebagai suatu bentuk “hibrida”; tidak ada lagi Timur yang murni dan orisinal. Timur dijadikan tempat penyimpanan atau proyeksi dari aspek-aspek mereka sendiri (baca: Barat) yang tidak diakuinya, seperti kejahatan, dekadensi moral, dan lain-lain. Pada sisi lain, Timur dipandang sebagai dunia mempesonakan dari yang eksotis dan penuh dengan rayuan-rayuan mistis. Sementara itu, berbeda halnya dengan orientalisme yang sejak semula dimaksudkan sebagai kajian serius politik-budaya untuk melegitimasi kekuatan-kekuatan kolonial Barat di dunia Timur, oksidentalisme justeru lahir dari problem metodologis orientalisme yang katanya obyektif. Padahal di balik keobyektifan itu tersimpan kepentingan-kepentingan Barat untuk  mendominasi, menata kembali, dan menguasai Timur. Orientalisme telah memicu para intelektual nativis untuk mempertanyakan keabsahan (validitas) karya-karya para orientalis dalam membangun stereotip-stereotip ketimuran. Maka tidak dapat dipungkiri kemudian bahwa dua wacana ini — orientalisme dan oksidentalisme — berada dalam posisi di antara benturan dan dialogisme budaya global.Kata-kata kunci: orientalisme, oksidentalisme, imperialisme, kolo­nialisme, benturan, dialog 

On State-Building and Wicked Problems: Stateness, Nationhood and Mimicry

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 129-146
Author(s):  
Klejda Mulaj
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Wicked Problems ◽  
State Building ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Policy Coherence ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Research And Policy

Responding to a set of wicked problems pertaining to weak or failed states, state-building remains circumscribed by many of the problems it strives to address. Despite the expansion of literature, the challenging task of (re)building states in a postconflict setting is characterized by inadequate intellectual and policy coherence. Engaging with the existing literature, this article seeks to add clarity in ways that relate directly to the agendas of academic research and policy making. Casting into sharper relief what is distinctive and/or familiar in state formation processes in the West and the rest of the world, the analysis highlights the differing impact of nationalism. In considering the critique that contemporary international-led state-building neglects nation-building, the article suggests that the stateness of polities undergoing state-building is intrinsically linked with nationhood. State-building resides in both international and national locations of politics which condition the constitution of national identity via multiple (unequal) exchanges between external and local actors that can be depicted in terms of mimicry. Multiple political locations of state-building notwithstanding, the task of bringing the imagined community into being is more suited to national actors. Ongoing challenges of nation- and state-building require more acknowledgement that the realization of the nation cannot be a primary domain of international actors.

Prevalence of Suicidal Ideation in Sri Lanka

Crisis ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudath Samaraweera ◽  
Athula Sumathipala ◽  
Sisira Siribaddana ◽  
S. Sivayogan ◽  
Dinesh Bhugra
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
General Population ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
National Average ◽  
The West ◽  
Suicide Methods ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Completed Suicide ◽  
The World

Background: Suicidal ideation can often lead to suicide attempts and completed suicide. Studies have shown that Sri Lanka has one of the highest rates of suicide in the world but so far no studies have looked at prevalence of suicidal ideation in a general population in Sri Lanka. Aims: We wanted to determine the prevalence of suicidal ideation by randomly selecting six Divisional Secretariats (Dss) out of 17 in one district. This district is known to have higher than national average rates of suicide. Methods: 808 participants were interviewed using Sinhala versions of GHQ-30 and Beck’s Scale for Suicidal Ideation. Of these, 387 (48%) were males, and 421 (52%) were female. Results: On Beck’s Scale for Suicidal Ideation, 29 individuals (4%) had active suicidal ideation and 23 (3%) had passive suicidal ideation. The active suicidal ideators were young, physically ill and had higher levels of helplessness and hopelessness. Conclusions: The prevalence of suicidal ideation in Sri Lanka is lower than reported from the West and yet suicide rates are higher. Further work must explore cultural and religious factors.

Psychology from Egyptian, Arab, and Islamic Perspectives

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 356-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fouad A-L.H. Abou-Hatab
Keyword(s):  
Professional Identity ◽  
21St Century ◽  
The West ◽  
Islamic Perspective ◽  
National Heritage ◽  
Western Psychology ◽  
The World ◽  
The One

This paper presents the case of psychology from a perspective not widely recognized by the West, namely, the Egyptian, Arab, and Islamic perspective. It discusses the introduction and development of psychology in this part of the world. Whenever such efforts are evaluated, six problems become apparent: (1) the one-way interaction with Western psychology; (2) the intellectual dependency; (3) the remote relationship with national heritage; (4) its irrelevance to cultural and social realities; (5) the inhibition of creativity; and (6) the loss of professional identity. Nevertheless, some major achievements are emphasized, and a four-facet look into the 21st century is proposed.

Searching for new Sources of growth. Are the Developing Countries Catching up with the Developed ones?

2015 ◽  
pp. 30-53
Author(s):  
V. Popov
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Gdp Per Capita ◽  
The West ◽  
Catching Up ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Economic Divergence ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Relative Standing

This paper examines the trajectory of growth in the Global South. Before the 1500s all countries were roughly at the same level of development, but from the 1500s Western countries started to grow faster than the rest of the world and PPP GDP per capita by 1950 in the US, the richest Western nation, was nearly 5 times higher than the world average and 2 times higher than in Western Europe. Since 1950 this ratio stabilized - not only Western Europe and Japan improved their relative standing in per capita income versus the US, but also East Asia, South Asia and some developing countries in other regions started to bridge the gap with the West. After nearly half of the millennium of growing economic divergence, the world seems to have entered the era of convergence. The factors behind these trends are analyzed; implications for the future and possible scenarios are considered.

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