scholarly journals The statue debate: Ancestors and ‘mnemonic energy’ in Paul and now

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zorodzai Dube
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Public Image ◽  
The Public ◽  
Control Power ◽  
The Social ◽  
Heterogeneous Nature ◽  
Identity Complexity

Why do people in South Africa fight over statues – even to the extent of tying themselves to a mere bust? Using insights, especially from Jan Assmann, the study develops the argument that material culture (such as images and statues) provides the social energy that drives the manner in which history is told, that is, historiography; they provide the ‘silent objects’ with the power to control the public discourse and collective identity. Statues encapsulate all we need to know, inversely, concerning public discourse, particularly, concerning issues pertaining to control, power and class. From this perspective, those who vandalise them may be regarded as contesting public discourse identity and historiography. Insights from this discussion provide parallel discussions, especially, in Galatians where Paul contrasts the image of Abraham with that of Moses – choosing Abraham as the public image that best represents the identity complexity, cosmopolitan and heterogeneous nature that characterises the Hellenistic context.

scholarly journals Terms of Engagement: Re-Defining Identity and Infertility On-line

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 431-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elzbieta Korolczuk
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Specific Element ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sick People ◽  
Digital Community ◽  
The Social ◽  
On Line ◽  
Identity Based

This article focuses on the identity work that takes place on the biggest Polish Internet forum for infertile people (www.nasz-bocian.pl). It is an example of a wider trend of “digital groupings created by and for those who struggle with the physical and emotional burden of a disease or disability, and through blogs, chats and forums contact others who have similar experiences, while staying anonymous. Participating in on-line discussions often leads to various forms of social engagement, both on-line and off-line. The sick, their family members, partners and friends cooperate in order to change the public discourse, as well as the regulation and financing of research and the treatment of certain diseases. Emergence and proliferation of such digital groupings raise questions such as: what ails these communities? How the collective identity is constructed on-line? This article examines “boundary work, which is a specific element of collective identity construction processes. The analysis concerns how the borders are established between the different sub-groups within the digital community, and how this process involves producing novel forms of identity based on a fragmented “socially legitimized childlessness. It focuses on a sub-forum” Conscious Childlessness and is based on qualitative analysis of the posts placed there. This sub-forum was established by users who do not necessarily share the dominant collective identity around which the social mobilization on infertility in Poland coalesces. They refuse to see themselves as sick people, or as patients, attempting to construct a new collective identity based on the idea of choice and the pursuit of happiness.

Austerity against the Homo Sovieticus

Focaal ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 (59) ◽  
pp. 51-65
Author(s):  
Daiva Repečkait
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Shock Therapy ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Class Background ◽  
The Media ◽  
Economic Shock ◽  
Homo Sovieticus

This article analyzes the public discourse on the riots of 16 January 2009, in Vilnius, when protest against economic shock therapy ended in violent clashes with the police. Politicians and the media were quick to ethnicize the riots, claiming an “involvement of foreign influences” and noting that the rioters had been predominantly “Russian-speaking.” Analyzing electronic and print media, the article identifies a wider tendency, particularly among middle-class Lithuanian youth, of portraying the social class consisting of “losers of the post-soviet transition” as aggressive and primitive Others. A pseudo-ethnicity that combines Rus sian language and culture with lower-class background into a notion of homo sovieticus comes to stand for what is hindering the “clean up” of Lithuania and middleclass aspirations to form a new European identity. As such, the riots serve as a lens that illuminates the way ethnicity is flexibly utilized to shift political loyalties.

Muriel Spark's Early Fiction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Social Critique ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Stage Play ◽  
Insight Into

This book presents a detailed critical analysis of a period of significant formal and thematic innovation in Muriel Spark’s literary career. Spanning the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, it identifies formative instances of literary experimentation in texts including The Comforters, The Driver’s Seat and The Public Image, with an emphasis on metafiction and the influence of the nouveau roman. As the first critical study to draw extensively on Spark’s vast archives of correspondence, manuscripts and research, it provides a unique insight into the social contexts and personal concerns that dictated her fiction. Offering a distinctive reappraisal of Spark’s fiction, the book challenges the rigid critical framework that has long been applied to her writing. In doing so, it interrogates how Spark’s literary innovations work to facilitate moments of subversive satire and gendered social critique. As well as presenting nuanced re-readings major works like The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, it draws unprecedented attention to lesser-discussed texts such as her only stage play, Doctors of Philosophy, and early short stories.

scholarly journals Efficiency of Health Care Risk Waste Management in Rural Healthcare Facilities of South Africa: An Assessment of Selected Facilities in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 2199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Foluke C. Olaniyi ◽  
Jason S. Ogola ◽  
Takalani G. Tshitangano
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Healthcare Facility ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Limpopo Province ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Efficient Management ◽  
The Social ◽  
Vhembe District ◽  
And Storage

Waste generated form healthcare facilities is a potential source of health risks to the public, if it is not properly handled from the point of generation to disposal. This study was conducted to assess the efficiency of healthcare risk waste (HCRW) management in Vhembe District of Limpopo Province, South Africa. Fifteen healthcare facilities were selected in Vhembe District for this study. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews, semi-structured questionnaires, observation and pictures. Qualitative data were thematically analyzed, while the quantitative data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 25. In all the healthcare facilities; mismanagement of HCRW was noted at different points along the management chain. Poor segregation, overfilling of waste bins, inappropriate transportation and storage of waste in substandard storage rooms were observed in the facilities. All the waste from the district are transported to a private-owned treatment facility outside the district, where they are mainly incinerated. Enforcement of healthcare risk waste guidelines, provision of standardized equipment for temporary storage, empowerment of each healthcare facility to treat at least some of the waste, and employment of non-burn techniques for treatment of waste are recommended for more efficient management of healthcare risk waste in Vhembe District.

scholarly journals Decolonizing the reading landscape: A conversation with Kgauhelo Dube

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-135
Author(s):  
Corinne Sandwith ◽  
Khulukazi Soldati-Kahimbaara ◽  
Rebecca Fasselt
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Black Students ◽  
Short Story ◽  
African Literature ◽  
Written Text ◽  
The Public ◽  
Digital Product ◽  
The Social

Reading and literacy projects in South Africa have a long and fascinating history. In this conversation, Kgauhelo Dube talks about a contemporary Pretoria-based initiative which seeks to promote reading and literacy through the showcasing of African authors and texts. The discussion explores some of the social and material dynamics which inform the post-apartheid reading project, including the lack of reading and library facilities in township settings and the ongoing alienation experienced by black students and scholars in white-dominated institutions. It points to the importance of the contemporary revival of the discourse of decoloniality as a means of framing the project, and as a route to understanding the broader contexts in which African literature is produced and consumed. The discussion also engages with the importance of the short story form for the public reading event and considers some of the ways in which the written text is subsequently reshaped as a dynamic and mobile digital product.

Everyday Editorial Practices and the Public Sphere: Analysing the Letters to the Editor Page of a Regional Newspaper

2004 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 186-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Gregory ◽  
Brett Hutchins
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Editorial Staff ◽  
Daily Newspaper ◽  
Letters To The Editor ◽  
Daily News ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Editorial Practices

This paper investigates the social construction of a site of public discourse: the letters to the editor page of an Australian regional daily newspaper, The Daily News.1 Of key concern are the processes through which public discourse is constructed and mediated by those who select and edit letters for publication. Drawing on a content analysis of the letters page and in-depth interviews with the editorial staff, it is demonstrated how routine practices and the social knowledge of media workers play a specific and discernible role in shaping public dialogue. In light of the findings presented, the concluding section discusses the relationship between editorial practices and the public sphere.

scholarly journals Lay theories of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatjana Koepernik ◽  
Emanuel Jauk ◽  
Philipp Kanske
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Implicit Theories ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Grandiose Narcissism ◽  
Vulnerable Narcissism ◽  
The Public ◽  
Motivational States ◽  
Psychological Theories

AbstractIn public discourse, narcissism is often portrayed one-sidedly and overly negative, rendering a picture of narcissistic individuals as “toxic people” or “evil characters”. Beyond these salient associations, psychological theories point to a more complex phenomenon, and different developmental mechanisms are being discussed in relation to it. We investigated the prevalence of different implicit theories on narcissism including beliefs about its developmental antecedents. We put forward the question whether grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic behaviors are regarded as congruent or incongruent expressions of underlying feelings and motives, that is whether grandiose behavior is attributed to underlying grandiosity or underlying vulnerability, and vice versa. Results of an online survey (N = 177) show higher agreement with congruent rather than incongruent theories (i.e., grandiose narcissism is attributed to feelings of superiority rather than inferiority, vulnerable narcissism is attributed to inferiority rather than superiority). In line with this, participants displayed predominant beliefs in parental overvaluation as a developmental antecedent of grandiose narcissism/parental coldness as an antecedent of vulnerable narcissism. With higher self-reported prior knowledge of narcissism, endorsement of theories assuming incongruencies increased. The likability of narcissism was not associated with endorsement of the different implicit theories, but instead with perceivers’ own narcissism levels. Results suggest that laypeople employ an “it is what it seems” – heuristic facing both grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic behaviors and are less likely to attribute grandiose or vulnerable behavior to incongruent motivational states. Findings might help to better understand the public image of narcissism and its social consequences.

scholarly journals Prophetic witness: An appropriate mode of public discourse in the democratic South Africa?

2010 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Etienne De Villiers
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Second Step ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
Democratic Societies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Prophetic Witness ◽  
The Church

The question asked in the heading was answered in this article in four steps. In the first step, an attempt was made to find an accurate account of biblical prophecy by means of a critical discussion of certain influential interpretations of it. In the second step, the extent to which biblical prophecy could serve as a model for contemporary Christians was discussed and an acceptable Christian model of prophetic witness was formulated by drawing on the views of different authors. In the third step, the impact of democracy on the prophetic witness of the church was discussed. The Dutch theologian, Gerrit de Kruijf’s view that the public prophetic witness of the church is not appropriate in democratic societies was criticised and the legitimacy of certain forms of prophetic witness in such societies defended. In the final step, a number of examples of the prophetic witness that is needed in the present democratic South Africa were provided.

Unsung Heroines: Media Reflections of the Social Conflict in South Africa

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 349-366
Author(s):  
ELIZABETH LE ROUX
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Conflict ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Final Report ◽  
The Public ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Women's Role

ABSTRACT This essay examines both media reports on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and the TRC's final report, to determine the reasons why women are portrayed in the media — when they are portrayed at all — almost exclusively as victims. This author examines media reports which deal with the testimony of women who lived through the period of social conflict (1960 to 1994) covered by the TRC. Building on theories that argue that media can create as well as reflect reality, the authors shows that women were not adequately represented in the media reports on the TRC, and thus in the public mind, in spite of efforts to include them in the TRC process. Thus, although the TRC process may have been helpful to individual women, it can be argued that it has had little impact on how people view women's role in South Africa, and more generally in armed conflict and social unrest world-wide.

scholarly journals Augmented Virtual Reality: Playing Architect

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Miller
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Black Male ◽  
White Male ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Public Image ◽  
The Public ◽  
Young Black Male ◽  
The Social ◽  
Alternative Understanding

This thesis sits at the intersection of identity and technology by considering what it means to assume the role of architect as the young black male. The public image of the architect is represented instead, by the white male figure and distributed in a narrative of individualist and ego. However, a critique of the ego through introspection and auto-biographical context gives alternative understanding to the social, cultural, racial and political discourse for the minority seeking autonomy. Framed in modern blackness, design in research becomes a process of appropriation where the architect can be challenged by notions of new softwares where platforms are built instead of foundations. Research that began largely about architecture and virtual reality - instead concludes with urgent questions involving the architect and the tools he interfaces - opening avenues for critical discourse on identity, autonomy, anonymity, and devices.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document