“To Disdain the Truth and Look at Others with Contempt:” Byzantines and Muslims on Latin Pride and Arrogance,ca. 1100–1300

This essay examines the fundamentals of the Byzantine and Muslim political discourses during the period of the Crusades by analyzing a common political trope, the concept of Western pride and arrogance. The principal argument is that the seemingly stable categories of Eastern political propaganda obscure a massive discursive shift. At the beginning of their encounter with the Latin Christians both Byzantines’ and Levantine Muslims’ discourses on power and their place on the international stage were hegemonical, exclusive and self-referential. Towards the end of the Crusading period and under the steady pressures of Western practices, both societies’ political discourses came to accept as legitimate principles of international politics—such as power as a claim rather than a right, relations based on contract, territoriality and legitimacy of secular rule—that have long been the staple of Western conceptualization of politics, but were initially seen as utterly alien by Byzantines and Levantine Muslims.     

六都:徽州山区一个宗族聚居村的文化解读

徽州西鄙重镇祁门，有一个沿袭明清时期的村庄都图建制的六都。由于六都在历史上曾经有过辉煌，故而祁门流传着这样一句话，即“小小祁门县，大大六都村”。     

The sociocultural adjustment of Chinese graduate students at Korean universities: A qualitative study

Although 21% of all Chinese students studying at Korean universities are in graduate schools (Korean Educational Development Institute, 2008), little is known about their sociocultural adjustment. This study explores Chinese graduate students’ perceptions regarding their sociocultural adjustment experiences and capture the essence of the influences on their sociocultural adjustment during their early cross-cultural transition. The study is based on interview data from nine Chinese graduate students who attended three universities in Seoul in 2009. The model of sociocultural adjustment is employed as a conceptual framework to explore the perceptions of Chinese graduate students regarding their sociocultural adjustment. The four main themes emerged from the in-depth interview sessions were perceived cultural distance, language competency, low level of interaction with host nationals, and biased stereotypes.     

说“庭燎”

燎祭是商代祭祀上帝、祖先以及山川诸神灵的一种较为重要的祭祀仪式。据陈梦家统计,商代燎祭的受祭者有8种,主祭者则为商代诸王。商王通过这样一种仪式与天地诸神以及祖先沟通,垄断祭祀权力,从而实现对人间的绝对统治。到了两周时期,神圣的燎祭仪式演化为庭燎这一形式,不仅祭祀地点由宗庙变为中庭,而且主祭者亦变为诸侯甚至下层专门人员,燎祭不再仅仅是一种祭祀的仪式,同时还具有迎宾、求贤的作用,称为庭燎。     

A Visit to Remember: Stigmata and Celebrity at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Focusing on a type of religious celebrity that attracted European crowds at the turn of the twentieth century, the stigmatized female mystic, in this article I examine the role of the audience in the generation of a celebrity culture from below, i.e., as opposed to the current type of pre-manufactured mass-media celebrity. To examine the audience’s role, I consider the thousands who visited two stigmatized laywomen: the Frenchwoman Marie-Julie Jahenny and the Spaniard Margalida Amengual. The article shows the importance of the personal experiences of the members of the audience, highlighting the role of word-of-mouth communication in the rise to fame of these two stigmatics. I argue that popular enthusiasm is key to achieving both celebrity and ‘living saint’ status. Drawing on the parallels between fans and religious devotees, I also provide evidence of the interplay between the cult of saints and celebrity worship.     

Popular memory at Ground Zero: A heterotopology of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum

This article adopts a heterotopological approach to the spatial organization of the National September 11 Memorial and Memorial Museum. We argue that although numerous organizational stakeholders, such as the families of 9/11 victims, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the New York Police Department, and the Port Authorities, had monolithic propositions about how to commemorate 9/11, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum ended up transforming into a heterotopic space marked by contestations, juxtapositions, and contradictions. Although many wanted to simply tell a unified tale about heroism and resilience, the social constructions of Ground Zero space have resisted monolithic historical accounts of remembrance despite the influential forces of utopian visions. This analysis contributes to the study of spatial and mnemonic representations by demonstrating the uses of heterotopology as a heuristic tool for unpacking polysemic and polyvalent spaces of commemoration that may otherwise appear consensual and monoglossic.