‘Second death’, or revival of the ‘third world’ in the context of neo‐liberal globalization

Abstract

This paper tries to analyze the historical change in the Third World in its emergent stage, in the authoritarian stage and in the current democratic stage and, thereafter, find a way to revive the Bandung spirit in the current globalization context. I define the Bandung spirit as one of a ‘non‐aligned self‐helped “organization against” the dominant powerful countries’; that is, spirit of ‘anti‐predominance’. This spirit has emerged on the base of such domestic orientation and realities as economic self‐reliance, nationally integrated political regime, convergence of the state and civil society around anti‐colonialism. However, according to intensification of the Cold War confrontation on the international level and its centrifugal influence, the early Third World changed to a ‘new’ authoritarian Third World. The Third World in this stage could be characterized by an exclusive authoritarian political regime, dependent‐developmentalist economic orientation and coercively repressed and mobilized, in the top‐down way, civil society. This authoritarian Third World began to be confronted with a strong struggle from the bottom for democratization. In order for democratization of the Third World to become its true revival in the context of globalization, the following tasks should be considered. First, the democratic Third World should be a great driving force for the institutionalization of the transnational public regulatory mechanism. Second, the democratic Third World countries try to go over a kind of ‘transformed’ dependent development strategy. Third, democratization should go along with recovery of political inclusiveness and openness of the state to civil society’s demands. Thereafter, I tried to construct globalist re‐interpretation of the Bandung, by way of conceptualizing the current globalization as imperial globalization, unlike the imperialist globalization which the historical Bandung wanted to confront. I argue that the Bandung spirit of collective self‐help organizations against the newly emerging dominant order should be revived in this worse imperial globalization context. In addition, I argue that a nationalist resistance is also one component of the multiple resistances in the current imperial globalization.     

Modernising gender,civilising sex: perverse imaginary in the state feminist politics of Liu Yu‐hsiu

Abstract

The gender sexual politics of Liu Yu‐hsiu has been pivotal in the hegemonic ascendancy of Taiwan state feminism in recent years. Through an examination of Liu’s psychoanalytically mediated essays of cultural criticism, this article traces the contour of Liu’s sexual imaginary within the context of 1990s feminist and queer politics. Liu’s modernising project of gender equality, I argue, upholds heterosexual monogamy as a feminist ideal that seeks to purge all the masculine ills, including perversion and promiscuity. Meanwhile, queers and prostitutes come to be figured as the very negativity that must be repressed. Yet, like the Lacanian Real, they impinge on the symbolic order that Liu ordains as they thwart her desire to civilise sex.     

Texts

Made in America: Immigrant Students in Our Public Schools. Laurie Olsen, New York: The New Press, 1997, 276 pages, $25.00 (hardcover), ISBN 1–5658–4400–9, and $14.95 (softcover), ISBN 1–5658–4471–8.

The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America From a Small School in Harlem. Deborah Meier, Boston: Beacon Press, 1995, 190 pages, $12.00 (softcover). ISBN 0–8070–3111–9.

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow: Meeting the Challenge of Our Multicultural America & Beyond. Paul D. Christiansen and Michelle Young, San Francisco: Gaddo Gap Press, 1996, 376 pages, $29.95 (softcover). ISBN 1–8801–9218–7.     

Children's heart rate reactivity responses to three school tasks

The effects of three routine classroom tasks upon heart rate reactivity were investigated with a sample of 30 typical fifth-grade children. Instructions for a mental arithmetic task, the mental arithmetic task itself, and silent reading were administered under standardized conditions, with a reward being offered for performance on the mental arithmetic task to enhance competition. Heart rate was individually monitored each second during these tasks, and data were collected on mental arithmetic performance and reading ability. Results indicated that some children showed large increases in their heart rates during the three tasks, and that these children should be considered as at-risk in terms of their cardiac health.     

Developmental dyslexia,cerebellar/vestibular brain function and possible links to exercise-based interventions: a review

The Phonological Processing Deficit (PPD) hypothesis remains the most influential theory to explain why some children fail to acquire appropriate reading skills. However, current research suggests that there may be other deficits operating, and that the phonological processing deficit may be just one manifestation of a deeper underlying anatomical syndrome that originates in the cerebellar or vestibular areas of the brain. Claims that exercise regimes or programmes of vestibular stimulation may provide a ‘cure’ for developmental dyslexia (specific reading difficulties) prompt scepticism among the scientific community and raise concerns about the exploitation of vulnerable parents. The paper provides a review of research into the causes of specific reading difficulties at the behavioural, cognitive and biological level of explanation, and considers whether or not there is any theoretical basis for the use of exercise-based intervention programmes. Following consideration of recent findings from a range of scientific disciplines, it is concluded that such ‘unconventional’ methods of intervention may draw some theoretical support from the scientific literature, although researchers are cautioned to be wary of comorbidity issues. It is also concluded that more rigorous and independent evaluations of the success (or otherwise) of exercise-based interventions are needed.     

Research Trends in Science Education from 2003 to 2007: A content analysis of publications in selected journals

The present study was a follow‐up to Tsai and Wen’s (2005) earlier research, in which 802 articles published in the International Journal of Science Education, Science Education, and the Journal of Research in Science Teaching from 1998 to 2002 were analysed in terms of author’s nationality, research type, and research topic. In the present study a total of 869 papers published in the three journals from 2003 to 2007 were analysed, and the results were compared with those of Tsai and Wen. Moreover, this study also identified 31 highly‐cited papers published during 1998–2002 and 20 highly‐cited papers published during 2003–2007. The results showed that authors from countries other than the four major English‐speaking countries (i.e., the USA, the UK, Australia, and Canada) published an increasing number of articles in the past decade. During these five years (2003–2007), science educators showed relatively more interest in research topics involving the context of student learning. Besides, science educators have changed some of their research interests during 1998–2007, with a shift in the research topics from student conception learning and conceptual change (1998–2002) to student learning contexts (2003–2007). Moreover, the investigation of highly‐cited papers in the past decade revealed that studies on argumentation have gained significant attention among science educators.