scholarly journals Exploring the linguistic landscape of Cameroon: Reflections on language policy and ideology

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-324
Author(s):  
Martin Pütz
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
African State ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Public Places ◽  
African Languages ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
A Minor ◽  
British Colonies

This contribution focuses on the study of Linguistic Landscapes in the Central/Western African state of Cameroon, with particular reference to its capital, Yaoundé. Linguistic landscapes is a relatively recent area of research, and can be broadly defined as the visual representation of languages in public space. This paper will show that the field of linguistic landscapes can act as a reflection of linguistic hierarchies, ideologies and acts of resistance in multilingual and multicultural communities. At the same time, the sociolinguistic situation in the country will be investigated, which is paramount to understanding the linguistic and ideological conflicts between the anglophone minority and the francophone government. Cameroon’s linguistic landscape will be explored via the various spaces that English, French, Pidgin English, Camfranglais and, to a minor degree, indigenous African languages occupy in its sociolinguistic composition. The methodological design is quantitative in nature, involving collecting more than 600 linguistic tokens (digital photos) in various public places mainly in and around the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé. It will be demonstrated that the deployment of languages on signs and linguistic tokens, apart from serving informative and symbolic functions for the audiences or passers-by they target, also has social and political implications in an ethnically heterogeneous and linguistically hybrid society such as Cameroon. Whereas in some other former British colonies there are indications that the public space is being symbolically constructed in order to preserve some of Africa’s indigenous languages (e.g. in Botswana, Rwanda, Tanzania), in Cameroon the linguistic landscape almost exclusively focuses on the dominant status and role of one single language, i.e. French, and to a lesser extent English, whose speakers therefore feel marginalized and oppressed by the French government.

English in the linguistic landscape of Suzhou

English Today ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Songqing Li
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Ethnolinguistic Vitality ◽  
The Public ◽  
Road Signs ◽  
Ethnolinguistic Group

The concept of linguistic landscape (LL) covers all of the linguistic objects that mark the public space, i.e. any written sign one observes from road signs to advertising billboards, to the names of shops, streets or schools (Landry & Bourhis, 1997). Because it both shapes and is shaped by social and cultural associations (Ben-Rafael, 2009; Jaworski & Thurlow, 2010: 6–23), the LL has proved an important area for investigating the dynamics of major aspects of social life (e.g. Backhaus, 2006; Huebner, 2006; Curtin, 2009; Lado, 2011; Papen, 2012). One strand of this research is particularly concerned with the role of LL in relation to ethnolinguistic vitality that ‘makes a group likely to behave as a distinctive and active collective entity in intergroup relations’ (Giles, Bourhis & Taylor, 1977: 308). The higher the vitality an ethnolinguistic group enjoys, the more it will be able to use language so as to survive and thrive as a collective entity.

The Historical Memory Law and its role in redesigning semiotic cityscapes in Spain

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yael Guilat ◽  
Antonio B. Espinosa-Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Franco Regime ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Law ◽  
The City

In its Historical Memory Law (October 2007), Spain recognized victims on both sides of its 1936–1939 Civil War and established entitlements for victims and descendants of victims of the war and the Franco regime that followed (1939–1975). The law requires authorities to remove Francoist symbols and signs from public buildings and spaces, rename streets and squares, and cleanse the public space of monuments and artifacts that glorify or commemorate the regime. By allowing exceptions on artistic, architectural, or religious grounds, however, the law triggered persistent public struggles over monuments, memorials, and outdoor sculptures. This article examines the implementation of the law in the city of Granada, via a case study relating to the removal of a sculpture honoring the founder of the Spanish Fascist movement, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. The controversy over the statue sparked a debate in Granada about the implementation of the law in the public space and raised questions about the role of text, material and visual culture in redesigning Linguistic Landscape by articulating contested memories.

scholarly journals Public space and alcohol advertising: Exploratory study of the role of local government

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 117-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg Swensen
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Traffic Safety ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Alcohol Advertising ◽  
The Public ◽  
Street Furniture

Swensen, G. (2016). Public space and alcohol advertising: Exploratory study of the role of local government. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 5(3), 117-123. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v5i3.224The paper argues that local government bodies in Western Australia, which have a long-standing key role in overseeing public health standards and regulating business activities, potentially have a major, but under-recognized, capability to regulate the promotion and advertising of alcohol in public places overseen by them. It is contended that because local government bodies already possess extensive statutory powers to undertake this function, there is a compelling case for them to actively regulate alcohol advertising as they “own” most of the public space in Australian cities and towns.As the proposition would involve the prohibition of alcohol advertising, this could mean that local authorities may balk at assuming this responsibility due to a possible loss of revenue if they have already issued licenses to companies to construct and maintain key parts of the public infrastructure, like bus shelters, seating, and other street furniture, in return for being able to charge fees for advertising on these facilities.It is contended that local government authorities would ably perform a front-line role in regulating alcohol advertising in public places because of their reliance on community-based processes of consultation and decision-making for planning, in addition to understanding this role as an extension of a long standing role concerned with the advancement of public health and traffic safety.

Komunistki

2020 ◽  
pp. 671-692
Author(s):  
Aga Skrodzka
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Visual Memory ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Women’S Rights ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Communist Past ◽  
Status Of Women

This article argues for the importance of preserving the visual memory of female communist agency in today’s Poland, at the time when the nation’s relationship to its communist past is being forcefully rearticulated with the help of the controversial Decommunization Act, which affects the public space of the commons. The wholesale criminalization of communism by the ruling conservative forces spurred a wave of historical and symbolic revisions that undermine the legacy of the communist women’s movement, contributing to the continued erosion of women’s rights in Poland. By looking at recent cinema and its treatment of female communists as well as the newly published accounts of the communist women’s movement provided by feminist historians and sociologists, the project sheds light on current cultural debates that address the status of women in postcommunist Poland and the role of leftist legacy in such debates.

Will Nurses’ Work Still be Valued after the COVID-19 Pandemic?

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pasquot L ◽  
◽  
Giorgetta S ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infection Rate ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Risk Of Infection ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Public Places ◽  
The Public ◽  
High Infection ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Second Wave

Many are the aspects we should ponder on, after 17 months from the burst of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as nurses. Due to the numerous cuts to the public health sector in the last decades in Italy, the sanitary emergency has been a great sacrifice for health professionals, as public health was completely unprepared to withstand it. The Italian government reacted to this lack of preparation with exceptionally urgent measures. Although, these measures were implemented long after the initial state of confusion and of inappropriate management, they brought about stability and led to a containment strategy for the spread of the virus across the nation [1]. The reduction in the number of COVID-19 diagnoses was mainly achieved through social distancing. At first this was only required to a small number of communities affected by high infection rates, but was eventually extended to the rest of the country from March 2020 [2]. The national lockdown during the first COVID-19 wave (from March to May 2020), was replaced by regional lockdowns in the second wave (from November 2020). As of now, regional lockdowns are integrated by the vaccine campaign and Green Pass enforcement. In November 2020 the Italian Prime Minister at the time, issued legislative measures to enforce regional lockdowns, limiting nonessential movements, cafes, restaurants and other public places opening hours. This legislation established to classify the national territory in different levels of restriction based on the infection rate: red zones - highest risk of infection, orange zones - medium high risk and yellow zones with a minor risk of infection. A later legislation introduced the white zone for territories with the lowest risk of infection (DPCM-14th January 2021). The infection rate has been important to establish a region’s tier status; however, it is not the defining parameter anymore. A new legislation from July 2021 (n.105 - 23rd July 2021), opted to classify a region’s tier status according to the hospital bed’s occupancy rate for COVID-19 patients in intensive care and other medical areas.

scholarly journals Restorative Design for Heritage Requalification: Selected Roman Works

2021 ◽  
pp. 227-244
Author(s):  
Luciano Cupelloni
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Technological Design ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Perspective

AbstractThe theme is the urban re-qualification, applied in particular to the architectural heritage and the public space. The goal is the ongoing challenge of outlining a new perspective aimed at “common good” and sustainability. The instrument chosen is the “environmental technological design,” understood as a cultural, scientific, and social position, that is, as a position on the role of architecture. The contribution reiterates the urgency of restoring the transformative power of the design mission to the project, too often reduced to a set of technical compilation procedures. In the best cases, a position that is lost in the complication of procedures, in the extension of time, in the waste of economic and human resources. A crisis of the project as “anticipation” of progressive scenarios, precisely in the most acute, ever more serious phase, of the urgency of the reorganization of urban systems, with a view to environmental, social and economic sustainability. Not a recent urgency, today only brought to light, dramatically, by the reality of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Among the solutions, the design experimental research, well beyond the objective of flexibility, up to the notion of “functional indifference,” understood not as shapeless neutrality, but as the maximum functionality of spatial, architectural and urban quality.

scholarly journals Recovery of residual public spaces to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of San Borja, Lima

2021 ◽  
Vol 2089 (1) ◽  
pp. 012051
Author(s):  
O Facho ◽  
T Cama ◽  
D Esenarro ◽  
J Livia ◽  
C Cuetoand ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Public Places ◽  
The Public ◽  
Phase Study

Abstract The present research aims to propose a model for the recovery of residual public spaces to improve the quality of life of the district of San Borja’s inhabitants. San Borja is in the process of densification and requires a more significant number of public spaces that offer, in addition to vegetation, public places for active and passive recreation, such as spaces for sports and games, walking pets, and relaxation. These needs have increased due to the confinement caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, it was noted that the median strip, or central reservation of the avenue, can be recovered for people to use. Therefore, a four-phase study was carried out that included reviewing the literature and observing two cases. In conclusion, a model was proposed to recover the public space of the median strips of San Borja Norte Avenue and San Borja Sur Avenue to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of San Borja, which can be replicated in other avenues with residual spaces with similar characteristics.

scholarly journals ISLAM, AGAMA TOLERANSI DAN CINTA DAMAI : (TELAAH ATAS NOVEL AYAT-AYAT CINTA KARYA HABIBURRAHMAN EL SHIRAZY)

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-89
Author(s):  
Ahmad Yasid ◽  
Moh Juhdi
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Legal Rule ◽  
The Public ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Middle Way ◽  
History Of ◽  
Data Collection Technique ◽  
Role Of Religion

Abstract   Islam, religion of tolerance and love of peace is one of Habiburrahman El Shirazy’s, it is a study indicating the values ​​of love and tolerance of Islam in the modern public space area. This study used the underlying theory of the values ​​of love and tolerance as well as the role of Islam in modern times that has been developing in the public discourse that in the history of human civilization there are several things that must be understood that humans have the sense to differentiate between humans and other creatures. From this reason humans can do something to explore and explain things that are not known by others. The method that is used in data collection technique is documentation technique, because this study is descriptive qualitative. This study examines several things including the values of love and tolerance because accepting differences is a distinct pleasure for each particular societies in other words, not seeing other people as deviants or enemies but as partner to complement each other by having an equal position and equally valid and valuable as a way of managing life and living life both individually and collectively. Acceptance of differences demands changes in the legal rule in people's lives so that the role of religion in the modern public space area becomes a middle way to build diversity and a nature that must both appreciate and respect one another, this diversity is seen in the portrait of everyday life which then creates peace, and harmony in interacting with all elements of society.    

scholarly journals Street Vendors Hypergrowth: Consequence of Uncontrolled Urbanization In Semarang City

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sariffuddin Sariffuddin ◽  
Hadi Wahyono ◽  
Brotosunaryo Brotosunaryo
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Urban Migration ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Economic Resilience ◽  
Street Vendors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Depth Interview

This paper aims to understand the role of urbanization in the emergence of in urban area street vendors. In the case of Semarang, more than 54% of its street vendors come from its hinterlands. These sectors turn to development dichotomy that have a positive and negative impact. Positively, this area becomes peoples economic resilience. In the negative side, more than 60% of vendors make their stall in the public space. This research uses a mix-method approach taking 271 samples, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and in-depth interview. From this study, it can be concluded that urbanization has led to the outbreak of street vendors through (1) rural-urban migration, and (2) social change as a result of gentrification. Working as street vendors turned out to be an alternative way of life to adapt to global economic uncertainty. Also, there are 71.6% of street vendors open their stalls in 2003-2009, or about 6-7 years after the monetary crisis (1997). It shows that the financial crisis is not the primary trigger for the outbreak of street vendors. Another interesting finding is that there is a new phenomenon in the form of the intervention of the middle class who took part in this business.

Reading inquiry through the prism of unemployement

2020 ◽  
pp. 201-216
Author(s):  
Guillaume Heuguet
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Science Inquiry ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

This exploratory text starts from a doctoral-unemployed experience and was triggered by the discussions within a collective of doctoral students on this particularly ambiguous status since it is situated between student, unemployed, worker, self-entrepreneur, citizen-subject of social rights or user-commuter in offices and forms. These discussions motivated the reading and commentary of a heterogeneous set of texts on unemployment, precariousness and the functioning of the institutions of the social state. This article thus focuses on the relationship between knowledge and unemployment, as embodied in the public space, in the relationship with Pôle Emploi, and in the academic literature. It articulates a threefold problematic : what is known and said publicly about unemployment? What can we learn from the very experience of the relationship with an institution like Pôle Emploi? How can these observations contribute to an understanding of social science inquiry and the political role of knowledge fromm precariousness?

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