«Alphabet wars» in the history and modernity of Slavic languages: sidenotes to the Artur Steplewski’s book

The article concerns problematics of the (re)interpretation of graphicsof graphics and the alphabet in national categories in the history of Serbian, Croatian, and Ukrainian literary languages through the prism of A. Stemplevsky's monograph «Semiosis of Script: monograph «Semiosis of Script: Cyrillic and latin alphapet in Serbian and Croatian national discourse on the Slavic background».The concept of nationalization is introduced to describe expanding of meaning due to ideological and cultural connotationswhile alphabets as a whole or their separate graphemes have been used in the symbolic function.The article highlights the issues of the parallel functioning of the Latin and Cyrillic alphabet in the history and modernity of Serbian and Croatian, as well as other Slavic languages, and the perception of this fact in the usus and national discourse.Special attention is paid to the measures of language policy and the efforts of representatives of national elites who influence the choice of the alphabet and/or the principles of spelling during standardization.

The Historical Memory of the 1812 War in Lithuania in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries: A Complex Process

In historiography, significant attention to the memory culture of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe focuses on issues relating to the memory culture of the Franco-Russian War of 1812; however, the case of Lithuania is not commonly analysed separately, thus this article discusses how assessments of the 1812 war were maintained in the historical memory in Lithuania. The Russian government offered the population in the lands of the former GDL its official version of the historical memory of the 1812 war (of a heroic battle against an invader), which contradicted the version this population considered as ‘its own’, experienced as their support for Napoleon and the new political and social prospects they believed he would bring. The Russian government’s censorship of written literature suppressed the spread of the people’s ‘own’ local historical memory, yet it did not prove to be so effective due to the population’s very limited opportunities to use the printed word. Communicative memory dominated in the land in the first half of the 19th century, becoming the main source testifying to and passing on to subsequent generations the actual multifaceted experiences of the 1812 war, including the chance of liberation from the yoke of the Russian Empire. In the second half of the 19th century, representatives of local Russian imperial government structures and the local Russian intelligentsia, responding to the 1812 war as a Polish struggle for freedom and a symbol of political independence, explained in academic, educational and popular literature that the hopes of the Poles related to Napoleon were actually unfounded: the French emperor had no intentions of restoring the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth within its historical boundaries, but simply wanted to fill his army units with Polish forces. It was highlighted that this expression of Polish support for Napoleon stopped the Russian imperial government’s potential plans to restore the Poles’ former statehood. This so-called regional narrative which appeared in history textbooks and was used by exacting emotional and visual impact in order to influence the political and cultural provisions of the younger generation had a dual purpose. First, to justify the discriminatory policies against individuals of ‘Polish origins’. Second, to ‘block’ the path for using the 1812 war as a historical argument testifying not just to the common historical past and struggle of Poles and Lithuanians but also their possible political future, which was openly expressed in the Polish national discourse of the early 20th century. Over the course of a hundred years, despite the government’s actions, Poles managed to uphold ‘their own’ historical memory about the 1812 war; its meanings were spread in various forms of media such as fictional literature, museum exhibitions and history textbooks, and were used to shape the political and cultural position of the younger generation. In the Lithuanian national discourse on the other hand, the 1812 war, along with the 1830–1831 and 1863–1864 uprisings, was viewed as a matter concerning the Poles and the Polonised nobility, and it was thus a foreign place of historical memory. The 1812 war and assessments of its potential importance to Lithuanians in the Lithuanian national discourse of the early 20th century were one-off cases and fragmented, while their spread among broader layers of society was limited.

Epistemic Responsibility and the Literary Journalist

<p>The primary purpose of this thesis is to examine the role of epistemic responsibility in the practice of book-length literary journalism. Literary journalism offers a powerful alternative to mainstream journalism. Its narrative mode and storytelling techniques open possibilities of representation often closed by traditional reporting practices. Subsequently, literary journalists have attracted criticism for unorthodox modes of representation and attendant “truth claims” in many texts. In this thesis I draw on the work of epistemologist Lorraine Code to highlight the tension between the branches of ethics and epistemology, and argue that holding them apart for the purposes of explication yields important insights into the practice of literary journalism. I argue that criticism of literary journalism has at times conflated ethical and epistemic concerns, resulting in censure of the practitioner on primarily moral grounds. While such a critique is often valid, I propose that it can mislabel problematic cognitive processes as moral deficiencies. A re-examination of significant controversies raised by literary journalism shows disputed areas stemming from epistemic “blind spots”. These “blind spots” are often characterised as ethical lapses, but I argue that framing criticism in this way inhibits progress in sound practice. Recurring controversies over works by practitioners such as Janet Malcolm and Australia’s Helen Garner bear this out. I also offer close readings of three works of contemporary US literary journalism through their paratextual frames. The limits of transparency are demonstrated here, including the fact that disclosure can hide more than it illuminates. Code’s “epistemic responsibilist” approach is subsequently presented as an important addition to literary journalism scholarship, as it offers a sound foundation for reflexive practice—for both writers and critics. Using this approach, I offer critical readings of the “truth claims” in three contemporary US texts: Adrian Nicole LeBlanc’s Random Family (2003), Dave Cullen’s Columbine (2009) and Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010). A secondary aim of this thesis is to characterise contemporary Australian book-length literary journalism. Using Code’s concept of an “epistemic community”, I propose that the nature of national discourse influences the voice of the Australian literary journalist, as revealed by anxiety over representation in the texts under analysis. These texts highlight the pressures of subjectivity on truth, which results in a destabilisation of “truth claims”. In comparison with the US practitioners analysed, their three Australian counterparts analysed place less emphasis on disclosure transparency, and rely more heavily upon self-presentation as seekers, rather than discoverers, of knowledge and truth. I further maintain that these three texts represent a dominant national function of book-length literary journalism. Issues of national identity are bound up in the relationship between the land and its people, and are evident in the work of Margaret Simons, Chloe Hooper and Anna Krien, three of Australia’s most notable literary journalists. Through the lens of a civic dispute, each of these practitioners join one of the most pressing cultural issues in contemporary national discourse, that is, to explore what it means to be “Australian”.</p>

Epistemic Responsibility and the Literary Journalist

<p>The primary purpose of this thesis is to examine the role of epistemic responsibility in the practice of book-length literary journalism. Literary journalism offers a powerful alternative to mainstream journalism. Its narrative mode and storytelling techniques open possibilities of representation often closed by traditional reporting practices. Subsequently, literary journalists have attracted criticism for unorthodox modes of representation and attendant “truth claims” in many texts. In this thesis I draw on the work of epistemologist Lorraine Code to highlight the tension between the branches of ethics and epistemology, and argue that holding them apart for the purposes of explication yields important insights into the practice of literary journalism. I argue that criticism of literary journalism has at times conflated ethical and epistemic concerns, resulting in censure of the practitioner on primarily moral grounds. While such a critique is often valid, I propose that it can mislabel problematic cognitive processes as moral deficiencies. A re-examination of significant controversies raised by literary journalism shows disputed areas stemming from epistemic “blind spots”. These “blind spots” are often characterised as ethical lapses, but I argue that framing criticism in this way inhibits progress in sound practice. Recurring controversies over works by practitioners such as Janet Malcolm and Australia’s Helen Garner bear this out. I also offer close readings of three works of contemporary US literary journalism through their paratextual frames. The limits of transparency are demonstrated here, including the fact that disclosure can hide more than it illuminates. Code’s “epistemic responsibilist” approach is subsequently presented as an important addition to literary journalism scholarship, as it offers a sound foundation for reflexive practice—for both writers and critics. Using this approach, I offer critical readings of the “truth claims” in three contemporary US texts: Adrian Nicole LeBlanc’s Random Family (2003), Dave Cullen’s Columbine (2009) and Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010). A secondary aim of this thesis is to characterise contemporary Australian book-length literary journalism. Using Code’s concept of an “epistemic community”, I propose that the nature of national discourse influences the voice of the Australian literary journalist, as revealed by anxiety over representation in the texts under analysis. These texts highlight the pressures of subjectivity on truth, which results in a destabilisation of “truth claims”. In comparison with the US practitioners analysed, their three Australian counterparts analysed place less emphasis on disclosure transparency, and rely more heavily upon self-presentation as seekers, rather than discoverers, of knowledge and truth. I further maintain that these three texts represent a dominant national function of book-length literary journalism. Issues of national identity are bound up in the relationship between the land and its people, and are evident in the work of Margaret Simons, Chloe Hooper and Anna Krien, three of Australia’s most notable literary journalists. Through the lens of a civic dispute, each of these practitioners join one of the most pressing cultural issues in contemporary national discourse, that is, to explore what it means to be “Australian”.</p>

Forza emozionale? National discourse and La Battaglia di Legnano

This article will suggest how the audience interpreted the music and messages held within Verdi's La Battaglia di Legnano and suggest how far the sentiment within the opera was understood, in turn asking how effective a canone of nationalist images within culture would have been. The use of musical psychological and philosophical studies – such as those by Peter Kivy and Anthony Storr, among others – will offer an insight into the effect of music on the mind, and suggest how music affects the audience.

Islam, the Homeland, and the Family: Diyanet’s Narrative and Practices Aimed at Shaping a Loyal Muslim Turkish Diaspora

With the inclusion of women among the religious officers of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) who are serving abroad, the “ideal Turkish family” has become the main program underlying projects and activities oriented towards women, families, and young people. This international mission has led to an expansion of religious services and moral support in order to reinforce a religion–nation–family nexus within the diaspora. This article examines how the Diyanet officers reproduce the Islam–nation–family intersection as a discourse to be propagated to the diaspora, and whether this narrative reinforces Turkey’s attempts to create loyalty to Turkey within the diaspora. Based on ethnographic observations, an analysis of Diyanet official publications, and interviews with Diyanet officers at mosques in Vienna and Stockholm, this article shows the extent to which the Diyanet’s international mission is a catalyst for the dissemination of nationalist, moral, and religious values within the diaspora, how Diyanet officers are actively involved in fostering a religious-national discourse within diaspora communities and how they specifically reinforce the connection between Islam, the Turkish nation, and the traditional Turkish family.

The Phenomenon of Criticism in Authentic Marxism and its Reincarnation in Ukrainian Philosophy of the Second Half of the 1950s–Late 1980s

The article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of criticism in the authentic Marxist work and the revival of the principles of such criticism in philosophy that existed in the USSR in the period from the second half of the 1950s to the late 1980s. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to reconsider the experience of domestic philosophy of the Soviet period, particularly in the field of criticism of Western non-Marxist and neo-Marxist philosophical theories and their impact on the ideological foundations of mass consciousness and philosophy in the USSR.V. Bilodid, A. Bychko, P. Yolon, V. Kebuladze, O. Pohorilyi, M. Popovych, V. Skurativskyi, V. Tabachkovskyi, and others were engaged in research of the specified problems. The authors of this investigation also paid attention to the issue of the so-called “Critique of Bourgeois Theories” in the context of studying the phenomenon of the Ukrainian philosophy / philosophy in the Soviet Ukraine.The purpose of this investigation is to analyze the transformation of Marxist criticism in the USSR and the influence of Western European discourses on this process, especially in the second half of the 1950s and late 1980s, as it was then that the revival of the Ukrainian philosophy occurred. This happened after the “half-decay” of Stalinism; further development of this philosophy took place on its own basis.One of the important directions of analysis is the phenomenon of criticism, in particular, of “bourgeois theories”, due to which the topical ideas of Western philosophy penetrated the humanitarian national discourse. This, in turn, allowed Ukrainian researchers to stay at least partially in the context of pan-European philosophical research, as well as to use the critical potential of the authentic Marxism to latently criticize Soviet ideology and the system as a whole.

The Translating Subject beyond Borders

In the early twentieth century, the political environments of China, Japan, and Korea were heterogeneous, encompassing various discourses and orientations. Using biographies of George Washington, this article examines the particularities of the texts created through such translations. In relay translations of biographies of Washington, Fukuyama Yoshiharu 福山義春 (Japanese, published 1900) sought an ideal model of Confucian ethics; Ding Jin 丁錦 (Chinese, published 1903) represented Washington as a strong warrior who won independence after a long fight; and Yi Haejo 李海朝 (Korean, published 1908) offered a portrait in which the warrior figure recedes and the Confucian image is again reinforced. Despite the gap between the political environments of Japan and Korea and the absence of a direct connection between them, Fukuyama's and Yi's editions share more overlapping features with each other than with Ding's. Properly recognizing and highlighting individual translation and adaptation practices that do not converge on the norms of national discourse will expand the horizons of the national discourse itself.

Re-constructing Self-identity and Reorienting National Discourse: Critical Insights into an Autobiographical Book Karukku by an Indian Dalit Writer Bama

All battles cannot be won by swords or guns alone, particularly when the battle is against discriminatory ideologies and supremacist ideas. Dalit Writer Bama’s book Karukku is one such attempt to contest, resist and replace all such flawed ideas and hegemonic dogmas that have dehumanized Indian Dalits for centuries. This testimonio exposes the shameful and ugly facets of Indian societal structure, in which caste-based stratification has unfortunately and unjustly treated those very masses who have most diligently served this ancient civilization with their sweat and blood. Through this book, Bama makes an impactful appeal to her fellow folks—the Dalits and, in particular, to the Dalit women—to join hands together in re-conceptualizing and re-asserting their collective as well as individual identities so as to claim their rightful place in the Indian social order. This article not only delineates upon these multiple dimensions of this masterpiece that have contributed substantially to Dalit feminism but also argues that this book must be read as a thought-provoking piece of ‘Resistance literature’. Further, this article will also make an attempt to trace the intersecting trajectories between ‘Dalit feminism’, ‘Black feminism’ and ‘Postcolonialism’.