Decolonizing love: ambivalent love in contemporary (anti)sexual movements of Taiwan and South Korea*

ABSTRACT

This article problematizes the modern construction of “love” in colonial and contemporary Taiwan and South Korea through historicizing the concept from the nineteenth century to the present. The conception of modern love in East Asia emerged during the late nineteenth century that coincided with the beginnings of civilization and nation-building discourses advocating as a strong mediator for the reconfiguration of social and intimate relationships. In the case of colonial Taiwan and Korea, the colonial governments and intellectuals constantly pivoted on “exceptions” – obscene sex, indecent behavior or illegitimate subjects – to justify their political legitimacy/hegemony to love that prescribed a normative social relationship. Fully embraced by colonial Taiwan and Korea, this mechanism was extended to their postwar regimes; that is, love is celebrated and worshiped without the recognition of its underlying ideology of discrimination and exclusion. I coin the term “love unconscious” to characterize the colonial legacies of love in the contemporary social movements in Taiwan and South Korea. Furthermore I examine how both religious groups and LGBTQ activism were stuck in the “love unconscious” with two cases of contested love: the definition of love in the dictionary, and the rhetoric of love in (anti-)same-sex marriage movements. This article argues that Taiwan and South Korea's LGBTQ and marriage movements are based neither on Western discourses nor inspiration, but are instead driven by the reality and legacy of colonial history. To envisage the decolonization of love is to deconstruct the love unconscious and reconsider the history of colonial love.     

The majority influence on interminority attitudes: The secondary transfer effect of positive and negative contact

Among minority members, positive contact with the majority was previously found to improve not only the attitudes toward the majority but also the attitudes toward minority outgroups (the secondary transfer effect; STE). However, the roles of negative intergroup contact and minority groups’ social status in the STE have not been yet examined. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the association between both positive and negative contact with the national majority group (Finns) and mutual attitudes among high-status Estonian (n = 171) and low-status Russian (n = 180) immigrants in Finland. Two mediators of the STE were tested: attitudes toward the majority (attitude generalization) and public collective self-esteem (diagonal hostility). While positive and negative STEs emerging via attitude generalization were expected to occur among both immigrant groups, the mediating effect of public collective self-esteem was assumed only for members of the low-status group. In both immigrant groups, the relationship between positive contact with the majority group and attitudes toward the other immigrant group was positive and indirect through more favorable attitudes toward majority group members. The same mechanism characterized negative contact, where the indirect effect was mediated by less positive attitudes toward Finns. As predicted, public collective self-esteem mediated the effects of positive and negative contact with majority group members on attitudes toward the other minority only among low-status Russian immigrants. The results call for the acknowledgement of different mechanisms explaining the STE among minority groups enjoying different social statuses in host society.     

Learning and adaptation with regard to complementary medicine in a foreign context: Intercultural experiences of medical students from different cultural backgrounds

Little is known about challenges and transition that medical students from different cultural backgrounds face with regard to complementary medicine (CM). This paper explores such students’ experiences and perspectives of socio-cultural and academic difference with regard to CM and experiences of intercultural relations. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, 30 in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with medical students across 10 Australian medical schools. The data were rigorously analysed through a systematic process of coding, categorisation and theoretical development. The findings indicate that students adapted considerably to the host culture. Students with Western backgrounds integrated better socio-culturally and academically compared to students with non-Western backgrounds. Although nationality represented cultural identity, students’ construction of cultural difference was informed by their perception of diverging value systems within the specific educational environment. These values were, in turn, reflected in students’ reported behaviours, attitudes, and levels of engagement in socio-cultural and academic aspects of university life. Adaptation employed by students was evidenced largely due to their conflicting sense of responsibility towards familial culture regarding CM and focus on fitting in. While students’ tendency to gravitate towards cultural peers was evident, most students adapted to their host environment regarding CM to fit into normal intercultural encounters during medical school. In conclusion, students’ intercultural contact with regard to CM was both complex and problematic. At a time of significant diversification within the higher education student body, this paper highlights the role medical education institutions can play in fostering intercultural and academic guidance and support.     

Help that hurts? Perceptions of intergroup assistance

The current research, guided theoretically by the Intergroup Helping as Status Relations Model, explored how high and low status groups (Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs) perceive offers of help from the high to the low status group. Ninety-three Arab and Jewish participants were asked to imagine and evaluate offers of help from Jews to Arabs in Israel. Consistent with the hypothesis that members of high and low status groups would have different perspectives and goals in their relations, Israeli Arabs viewed help by Israeli Jews more as a way to reinforce existing hierarchy and as a way of asserting the higher groups’ domination. Recognizing the different orientations of members of high and low status groups to potentially conciliatory actions, such as helping behavior, can enhance understanding of the dynamics of intergroup relations and conflict and reveal factors that might fuel intergroup misunderstandings and tensions, which can represent a critical step to improving intergroup relations.     

图书馆信息学与新文科交叉领域的关系预测研究

[目的/意义]论文回答的研究问题是:在新文科建设背景下,图书馆信息学与数据科学、数字人文与健康信息学等新文科交叉领域的关系发展的未来前景是什么?[方法/过程]论文从现有研究文献中图书馆信息学与数字人文、数据科学、健康信息学三个新文科交叉领域的关系类型出发,设计了民族志未来访谈,邀请三十四位国内图书馆信息学和情报学等学科的学者提炼这四个学科(领域)的核心竞争力,判断其相互间价值,并预测2030年最乐观、最悲观和最有可能的发展前景。[结果/结论]图书馆信息学与数字人文、与数据科学、与健康信息学在2030年更有可能出现的前景是并列有交集的关系,健康信息学相对更可能成为图书馆信息学的下位类,数据科学与图书馆信息学的关系相对更独立。     

关于20世纪中外文学关系研究的梳理与思考

作为一门跨学科研究,20世纪中外文学关系的研究与比较文学、中国现当代文学的学科发展密切相关.该研究方向在发展初期吸收了影响研究的思路和方法,在原始资料的搜集、整理,以及20世纪中外文学的交流和比较研究等方面,取得了相当的成绩,同时也面临着新的挑战,研究者们对影响研究的质疑、关于"20世纪中国文学中的世界性因素"的提出、对"文学性的重申"等,都是试图使20世纪中国文学能以对等的姿态进入世界文学的多元格局中,并以自己的独特创造丰富世界文学,20世纪中外文学关系研究也将在不断的质疑与尝试中,寻求自身的突破与发展.     

我国目前雇佣劳动与资本关系的深层思考

我国社会主义初级阶段是一个包括资本主义经济在内的经济主体多元化的历史阶段.在社会主义初级阶段,我国具有存在和发展资本主义经济的历史条件.我国的资本主义经济是世界资本主义已经发展到国际垄断资本主义时代的资本主义经济,具有资本主义经济的一般性和特殊性.我国社会主义初级阶段的雇佣劳动是指在社会主义不发达的历史阶段上劳动者为他人提供剩余价值的劳动形态.雇佣劳动与资本的关系不是技术关系,而是生产关系.雇佣劳动与资本的关系具有两重性.一方面,雇佣劳动与资本的关系具有剥削性.另一方面,这种剥削与前资本主义剥削相比,有利于生产力的发展,我们把这一重性叫做发展性.经济的发展,和谐社会的构建,都需要正确认识和处理雇佣劳动与资本的关系.     

国际关系的解构主义分析 --浅析文化的二元对立

国际关系中存在一种逻各斯中心主义的表达,试图以西方文化代表人类文化背后的“本真说明”,而其他文化只是作为被支配音存在。从解构主义的角度来看,这种文化中心主义本身就是虚妄的,文化之间不存在等级制的关系,各种文化都是对客观的延异和替补。在国际关系中运用解构主义的目的在于强调世界作为文本的开放性,消解人为设定的“中心”文化的权威性。     

从贾氏四姐妹的不幸婚姻看红楼悲剧

曹雪芹以贾家四姐妹的不幸婚姻贯穿《红楼梦》全书,给我们描绘了一个封建大家族的红楼悲剧。“三春去后诸芳尽,各自须寻各自门”,大观园女儿国从此结束了它的黄金时代,真乃是“千红一哭,万艳同悲”。文中从四个小姐的不幸婚姻结局来探讨红楼悲剧:元春寂寞深宫、迎春身陷狼窝、探春无奈远嫁、惜春最终为尼。     

中美两国文化中的隐私观念比较

中美两国由于处在东西方不同的文化之中,在文化取向、人与自然的关系、人与人的关系、社会规范、思维方式和生活方式等各方面都表现出很大的差异。隐私观念也是这些文化差异的表现之一。了解中美两国不同的隐私观,有助于双方的沟通和交往,避免产生跨文化交际中的失误。