Dancing with Diversity?

Rapid market transition in post-reform China has created various socioeconomic spaces that fall beyond the Leninist mode of control by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and thus constitutes a formidable challenge to its ruling capacity. This article examines the evolving adaptations of the CCP and the rise of a new form of Party-society nexus in urban China. We found that Party organisers have been fostering a spatial strategy in the context of ‘disorganised urban socialism’. By spanning institutional and sectoral gaps, engaging so-called ‘floating party members’, and developing community-based service networks, the Party has deliberately combined a specific social mechanism with the Leninist logic of organising. We conclude with a broader discussion of the possible scenario and political implication of CCP’s organisational consolidation from below.

Playing between concealment and presence

This article is based on the methodology of art-practice-as-research, which departs from my artistic productionWhere is Diana?, a series of photoperformances and videos made between Beijing, Tijuana and City Mexico during 2013-2015. Aware of the obsession with identity, with this proposal I raise the question of whether it is possible to transcend physical and intellectual borders. In my work I include the dynamics of recognition in a paradoxical way, as I present myself hooded, unrecognizable, without identity, placing myself on the border, on the margins, on the limit and in precariousness, through a body that transgresses its place and moves from the private to the public. This theoretical-practical perspective considers the gender perspective, as well as the conceptual tools that feminisms have created to rethink the female subject and de-center it, through a displacement towards what is non-hegemonic or predetermined by biology. The characteristics that are defined as masculine and feminine must be questioned because their meaning is the result of a historical and social practice that has artificially naturalized them. So I propose axes of resistance to subvert gender and national identities, which I argue are fluid and modifiable. Creating this de-centre may lead to the construction of new subjectivities, a framework that expands the possibilities of action and recognition. To achieve this, I relate my artistic process to politics through the reconstruction of the sensible in social space, in the way bodies and their meanings act in that space. The relationship between art, politics, and representation that I propose here does not have to do with a discursive level but focuses on the artistic gesture and how to communicate the affects that are imprinted in the bodies, which have a sensorial and political implication.

Review of Vasil Simonenko's work

In the paper the work of Vasyl Symonenko (lyric poetry, lyro epic, short stories) is integrally analysed. Attention to collections "Bank of expectations" and "For itself" is paid. The romantic features of lyric poetry, preparation of lyric hero to adult life, feeling of responsibility are marked. The verses of these collections help an author to attain an emotional equilibrium, perform the original psychotherapy duty. First printed collection "Silense and thunder" educed the updating of poetic maintenance at maintenance of classic forms. The poles of "silense" (intimate lyric poetry) and "thunder" (civil lyric poetry) are analysed, didacticism and gnomic are marked. The posthumous collection "Earthly gravitation" strikes the "overpopulation" of the verse line, the concentration of idea, the transparency of ideas, the faith in the future. The features of address verses, facilities of fight against the negative public phenomena are studied. During the study of lyric poetry of V. Symonenko non-verbalized motives of aspiring to the changes, aspiration and spiritual way are educed. Romanticism of lyric poetry is consonant with short stories of V. Symonenko, collected in a book "Wine from roses". The plot organization and ideological level of short stories "He interfered with her to sleep", "Wine from roses", "Black horseshoe" are analysed. An accent on the open finales of works is done. The fairy-tales of the sixty contain a political implication, but they could be addressed to the junior reader. For more complete understanding of the artistic world of author it is necessary to know his literary-critical work, foremost the article "Beauty without beauties ", sanctified to the poetry of L. Kostenko. V. Symonenko appears in the hypostasis of professional reader that analyses collection "Trip of heart". V. Symonenko noticed beauty, wisdom, thin heartfelt sensitiveness and good taste, could be said about a critic. The conclusion, that a poet kept straight in life, and in work, as well as majority of sixties is drawn.

Determinants of Cattle Farmers’ Perception of Climate Change in the Dry and Subhumid Tropical Zones of Benin (West Africa)

Understanding the factors influencing the perception of climate change can help improve policies for strengthening the adaptive capacity of pastoralists with regard to climate change. Despite this importance, few studies have focused on this issue, especially among cattle farmers. In order to attempt filling this gap, this study analyzed the determinants of the perception of climate change by cattle farmers distributed in the dry and sub-humid tropical zones of Benin as well as the current adaptation strategies developed by these farmers. For this purpose, surveys were carried out through group discussions and an individual questionnaire administered to 360 cattle farmers in the two climatic zones. The data collected related to the sociodemographic characteristics of cattle farmers and their perception of climate change and adaptation strategies. A binary logit model has identified the factors that influence cattle farmers’ perceptions of climate change. The results of the study showed that cattle farmers perceive a drop in rain (at least 77%), an increase in temperature (at least 80%), and violent winds (at least 60%). Breeding experience, level of education of the farmer, household size, membership of a breeders’ organization, and cattle herd size determine these perceptions. Four major groups of adaptation strategies have been developed by farmers to cope with climate change. These are production adjustment strategies, activity diversification strategies, livestock management strategies, and selection strategies. The political implication of this study is that government and development partners should integrate these factors into projects and programs related to climate change.

Culture in Western Diplomacy

What could be more antithetical than the alliance of the words “culture” and “political power”? Yet, for over fifty years, the process of European integration has been linking these opposing concepts. European culture, ‘a sort of UFO’ for most Europeans and it has become a major political and philosophical issue. Given their political and strategic importance so-called ‘geo-cultural’ issues have been called upon to constitute, along with geopolitical and economic issues, a governance axis. The European Union’s current mode of cultural action, intrinsic to national policies, is unable to address these issues. Indeed, the EU should completely rethink its conception and political implication of culture, and recognize its great importance, both for the success of European integration, and for the new civic relationships which are developing today in local, national and global communities.

Social media, religion and shifting boundaries in globalizing China

This article examines how Chinese Christians utilize social media to forge online communities and how religion is integrated into believers’ daily lives using the concept of intercontextuality. The intercontextuality of online communication enables Chinese Christian users to communicate about their daily routines and Christian values on a regular basis, thus allowing them to align their Christian concerns with wider social issues. At the same time, Christian users of social media are cognizant and wary of the highly restrictive political context of China. They often maintain a boundary between the ‘religious’ and the ‘political’, thus avoiding attracting the unwanted attention of the authorities. The article concludes with some reflections on the political implication of the study’s findings.

MYTH IN SAM SHEPARD’S “THE GOD OF HELL” AND ITS POLITICAL IMPLICATION

The article introduces the creative work of the famous American playwright Sam Shepard, whose works are almost unknown to our Uzbek reader. His plays are well known throughout the world; they influenced the formation of the worldview of readers of different nations and show the peculiarities of American culture. Despite the worldwide fame of Sam Shepard’s works, they are not studied well by literary critics. In America and Europe his works have been studied in details for a long period, and even several monographs in English have been written. However, neither in the Russian speaking, nor in the domestic literary criticism there is yet no major work on Shepard's works. The article also deals with the artistic features of the political myth of the “American dream” in one of the most scandalous plays, “The God of Hell,” dedicated to the protest against the war in Iraq. Thus, this study, which touches upon some issues of Shepard's creative work in connection with his innovative artistic originality, to a certain extent, seeks to fill this gap.