Visualizing Africa in Chinese Propaganda Posters 1950–1980

2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110258
Author(s):  
Ignatius G.D Suglo
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Global Awareness ◽  
Foreign Nationals ◽  
Visual Interaction ◽  
Propaganda Posters

This paper examines depictions of Africans in China during the period when China moved to establish diplomatic relations across the African continent – the foundation of what would become Africa–China relations today. Chinese posters were early forms of mass visual interaction with (the image of) foreign nationals. They reflect how Chinese society viewed itself in relation to others as it developed a global awareness through domestic mobilization. This study investigates how Africa and Africans are depicted in Chinese posters and how they shaped and/or reflected discourses of the period. It also examines motivations behind the inclusion of Africans in Chinese posters, arguing that this largely had a domestic rationale. By historicizing the meaning-making process of the image of Africa in 20th-century Chinese posters, this paper demonstrates that Chinese posters informed public opinion by defining friend and foe, focused more on China and her Cold War entanglements than on Africa, and simultaneously challenged and reinforced some widely held stereotypes about the continent.

The Clinton Administration and Africa: A View from Nairobi, Kenya

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-74
Author(s):  
Korwa G. Adar
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Clinton Administration ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Human Rights Movement

There is nothing more fundamental to Africans who are concerned with the future of the African continent than the issues of democracy, human rights, good governance, and the rule of law. These basic human liberties, among other concerns, constitute the central driving force behind what is often referred to as Africa’s “second liberation.” The primary purpose of this article is to assess the Clinton administration’s role in this second liberation, particularly in terms of its involvement in issues of democracy and human rights. This assessment is offered from the perspective of an individual who has been directly involved in the prodemocracy and human rights movement in Kenya. This article focuses on whether the Clinton administration’s policies are still heavily influenced by classic U.S. conceptions of realpolitik, or if enlightened leadership more in line with a neo-Wilsonian idealpolitik—as official rhetoric suggests—has permitted a fundamental departure in favor of a more coherent and tangible democracy and human rights foreign policy stance in the post-Cold War era.

scholarly journals Nexos entre México y Europa Centro-Oriental

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 17-32
Author(s):  
Mónika Szente-Varga
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
National Archive ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
World War ◽  
Central Eastern Europe ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Second World

The first diplomatic and consular relations were established between Mexico and the Habsburg Empire in the 1800 s, motivated basically by commerdal reasons and dynastic interests. These got to an abrupt end with the execution of Emperor Maximilian in Querétaro in 1867, and diplomatic relations were resumed only decades later, in 1901, which is, in fact, our starting point. This essay examines the development of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Central-Eastern Europe from the beginning of the 20'' centuiy until nowadays. It is divided into chronological chapters, where we study bilateral relations in the coordinates of the following periods: beginning of the century, the period between the two world wars, the Second World War, Cold War and recent years. The investigation in based on documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico (SRE-AHD) and of the Hungarian National Archive (MOL).

scholarly journals Looking East Again? Malaysia-Japan Relations in the 21st Century

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
YEW MENG LAI
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Strategic Partnership ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Bilateral Relationship ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
National Economies ◽  
Strategic Thought ◽  
The Given

This article analyses the trends and developments in Malaysia-Japan relations since its inception in 1957. It begins with a brief historical overview of their bilateral interactions, followed by a scrutiny of the developments and shifting trends, from the early decade of the establishment of official diplomatic relations between independent Malaya and Japan that coincided with the Cold War to the introduction of Malaysia’s Look East Policy (LEP) in the early 1980’s that saw Malaysia-Japan ties taking-off to new and unprecedented heights. In doing so, the article reveals the major impetuses/drivers of their ‘special relationship’, which among others include complementarities in their national economies, perceived sociocultural affinities underpinned by the so-called ‘Asian values’ and idiosyncrasies of key leaders like Mahathir Mohamad, as well as the given regional strategic environment, which contributed to a congruence of strategic thought and mutual interests between the major actors from both countries that led to Malaysia’s admirable relations with Japan before the turn of the 21st century. This article also assesses the contemporary trends in and prospects for their bilateral ties, by identifying the changing dynamics that have brought a qualitative shift in the Malaysia-Japan bilateral relationship which is moving towards strategic partnership and beyond.

scholarly journals Manifestation of the Internal Systemic Conflict in Mongolia

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 17-25
Author(s):  
K. Demberel ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Military Intervention ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Investment Boom ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Second Period

The article deals with the issue of Mongolia's foreign policy during the Cold War. This period is divided into two parts. The first period, 1945-1960s, is a period of conflict between two systems: socialism and capitalism. In this first period of the Cold War Mongolia managed to establish diplomatic relations with socialist countries of Eastern Europe, as the “system allowed”. The second period, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, is the period of the conflict of the socialist system, the period of the Soviet-Chinese confrontation. During this period Mongolia's foreign policy changed dramatically and focused on the Soviet Union. This was due to the Soviet investment «boom» that began in 1960s and the entry of Soviet troops on the territory of Mongolia in 1967. The Soviet military intervention into Mongolia was one of the main reasons for cooling the Soviet-Chinese relations. And military withdrawal contributed to the improvement of Soviet-Chinese relations until the mid-1980s and one of the conditions for improving relations with their neighbors. The internal systemic conflict had a serious impact on Mongolia's foreign policy over those years.

scholarly journals Colour me Revolutionary

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 91-113
Author(s):  
Avital Zuk Avina
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Political Art ◽  
Chinese Context ◽  
History Of ◽  
Propaganda Posters ◽  
Visual Colour

Colour in China has a long history of artistic, symbolic, religious, and mythological use. This paper takes the idea of colour as a meaningful element within Chinese society and introduces the use of visual colour grammar as a new way to identify and breakdown the use of colour within political art and propaganda posters. The use of colour has been adapted by visual linguists into its own unique visual grammar component, relaying much more information than just a symbolic transfer from sign to signifier. Meaning within political posters can be derived from regularities in use, presentation, and conventional meanings. Colour as a visual grammar component is expressed through the three metafunctions: ideational, interpersonal, and textual. This paper explores how the Chinese views on colour interconnects with the metafunctions of colour to look at the political posters of the PRC. I will discuss both the approach to art as a text that can be ‘read’ through visual grammar and present colour in the Chinese context as more than a symbol making device but as a meaning component in and of itself. 

scholarly journals A „Nóra-jelenség” és az ibsenizmus szerepe a 20. századi kínai dráma fejlődésében

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2017/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanka Nyirádi
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Pond Water ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Cultural Reform ◽  
Literary Traditions ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Chinese Intellectuals

The 19th-century Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen had an unparalleled,posthumous impact on the development of modern Chinese drama. How isit possible that he could influence the literature of a country so remote inspace and so different in its literary traditions? History is a key factor in thisstory. Early 20th century China was at the threshold of taking radical measures in reforming its society, and she was badly in need of a supporting ideology. Ibsen was a thinker and dramatist who, by means of presenting acutesocial problems in his plays, deeply influenced the society of his age. Hedid so in a realistic way and with the help of a clear language, both of whichfactors extremely appealed to modern Chinese intellectuals. It can be stated that it was to a great extent through Ibsen’s plays, mostimportantly through Nora, that modern Chinese intellectuals discovered thelong-range possibilities lying in the adoption of Western dramatic form,namely, transforming minds. Nora stirred the pond water of Chinese society,and came to symbolize the rebellion of the ‘Free Individual’: something that had no precedent whatsoever in China but what has long been in theair. Modern Chinese playwrights began to imitate Ibsen with great fervour,resulting in the flourishing of the social problem play, featuring brave andmodern ‘Chinese Noras’. Although advanced thinkers soon had to realize thatthe ideas of Ibsen cannot simply be adopted but must first be modified to beable to credibly represent contemporary Chinese social, cultural and moralreality, the ‘Nora-phenomenon’ and Ibsenism played a vital role in setting offthe literary and cultural reform in early 20th-century China.

CHINESE NATIONAL PICTURE NIANHUA – A PHENOMENON OF CULTURE OF THE XX CENTURE

2021 ◽  
pp. 127-138
Author(s):  
Galina S. Gultyaeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Filial Piety ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Classical Literature ◽  
Graphic Art ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The People ◽  
Metaphoric Language ◽  
Academic Painting ◽  
The Aesthetic

Chinese folk painting nianhua (literal translation, “New Year’s picture”) is a kind of Chinese graphic art, which received a wide popularity in the late XIX – early XX centuries. On the eve of the New Year in China everywhere decorated interiors of living rooms with colorful pictures containing New Year’s greetings, they were pasted on windows, doors, gates. Decorative pictures had a utilitarian and cultic purpose: images of mythological characters and gods symbolized happiness, longevity, prosperity, protected from disasters and misfortunes. At the beginning of the 20th century, nianhua was produced in the woodcutting shops in a woodcut way, since the middle of the 20th century have been used modern technologies, including printing. New Year’s paintings significantly different from national academic painting. The philosophical concept of New Year’s painting was to reflect the spiritual life of the people, moral values, and artistic tastes. The images were built on the basis of folklore motifs, a rhythmic combination of bright colors created a decorative effect, so nianhua is a valuable material that demonstrates the aesthetic representations of the Chinese people, their folk traditions and symbols. The themes of the New Year’s paintings are extremely diverse and includes the following: scenes from classical literature, religious and symbolic and benevolent drawings, genre art painting, calendars depicting 12 cyclic signs of animals, agricultural calendars and advertising pictures. During the history of its existence, the New Year’s picture plays an important political and ideological role. Traditional paintings propagated the foundations of the orthodox Confucian ideology about social and ethical relationships, including hierarchy in the family and society: “Wu lun – the five principles of relationships”, “Xiao – filial piety”, “Ren – patience”. In the second half of the XX century, the New Year's picture is developing as an agitational poster. Under the influence of European painting and modern political processes in Chinese society, artists began to use a new artistic method - revolutionary realism on purpose to illuminate sociopolitical events, propagandize government tasks and resolutions. The basic principles of painting the New Year’s picture are the decorative character (the brightness of colors, the rhythmic combination of color spots), the hyperbolism and idealization of images, the folklore basis of plots and the conventional symbolic-metaphoric language.

Soviet-Brazilian Relations and the Cuban Missile Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-209
Author(s):  
James G. Hershberg
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Cuban Missile Crisis ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Fidel Castro ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Foreign Ministry ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
The U.S

Using materials from the Russian Foreign Ministry archive in Moscow (combined with previously obtained Brazilian and U.S. sources), this research note presents fresh evidence about Soviet-Brazilian relations and the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis, supplementing a detailed, two-part article published in the Journal of Cold War Studies in 2004 exploring Brazil's secret mediation between John F. Kennedy and Fidel Castro at the height of the crisis. The new evidence illuminates a previously hidden “double game” that Brazil's president, João Goulart, played during the crisis as he alternated between meetings with the U.S. ambassador and Nikita Khrushchev's recently arrived envoy (Brazil and the Soviet Union had just restored diplomatic relations after a fifteen-year break). The new evidence from Moscow suggests that Goulart, who vowed solidarity with Washington and even toasted Kennedy's “victory” when talking to the U.S. ambassador, took a completely different approach when speaking to Soviet officials, expressing strong sympathy and even support for Khrushchev.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Oldham
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Consumer Society ◽  
Television Drama ◽  
Post War ◽  
Intelligence Service

This Introduction begins by exploring how key production personnel on both Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (BBC 2, 1979) and Spooks (BBC 1, 2002-11) drew inspiration from the BBC itself when developing a fictionalised version of an intelligence service for the screen,. This is used to frame a brief overview of the histories of British intelligence, broadcasting and spy fiction through the early and mid-20th century, noting numerous intersections and parallels. In particular, it describes the expansion in all three areas in the post-war years, resulting from a complex blend of Cold War paranoia and the growth of an affluent, consumer society. Surveying the book’s methodology, it discusses how this account blends case study analyses with broader examinations of television institutions and British cultural history, in particular considering problems of 'realism' in relation to both the spy genre and British television drama. An overview of the main chapters is provided.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document