bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Through (with) the Looking Glass: Revisiting Lacan and Woodward in "Méconnaissance," the Mirror Stage of Old Age
Authors: Marshall Leni
Published: August 2012

Combining psychology, women's studies, literature, and aging studies, the article explores the experiences of the gendered, aged body through the concept of "méconnaissance"—a misrecognition of one's own image—an experience that contains the potential to rework the foundations of selfhood that most psychological theory presumes is fixed during infancy. Jacques Lacan theorizes that the first mirror stage, experienced by 6- to 18-month-old children, creates selves—the ideal, lived, and social selves. Many postmenopausal women, and men of the same age, report feeling disconnected from their own visage as reflected in a mirror or photograph. People's decreased social visibility as they age can function as a social mirror, producing a similar outcome. Feminist theorist Kathleen Woodward argues that people reject that self-image, dismantling some of the outcomes of the first mirror stage. The article uses the ideas of Julia Kristeva, Melanie Klein, Jane Gallop, Stephen Katz, Barbara Macdonald, Ellie Ragland-Sullivan, Ernest Abelin, Doris Bernstein, and others to modify Woodward's much-quoted argument, instead contending that accepting the misrecognition of the second mirror stage has the potential to positively transform the outcomes of the first mirror stage, offering people the opportunity to create those selves anew.
"Girl with a pen": Girls' Studies and Third-Wave Feminism in A Room of One's Own and "Professions for Women"
Authors: Lemaster Tracy
Published: August 2012

Although Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own ([1929]1989) is a foundational feminist tract for theorizing women's social and artistic roles, it relies on stories, metaphors, and rhetorics of girlhood. I am the first to recognize Woolf's stylistic pattern of using the term "women" when theorizing the state of female authorship, but "girls" when fictionalizing scenes of this authorship. Using this rhetorical slippage to query aged identity in the text, the article shows how representations of girls in Woolf enact contemporary debates within third-wave feminism regarding the inclusion or exclusion of girls' studies in women's studies. Specifically, it aligns girls' studies social-science phenomenological research on real girls' articulations of their sexual bodies and sexual self-consciousness with Woolf's representations of girls' artistic/ erotic expressions. Second, the article applies a range of girls' studies research from neurology, psychology, biology, sociology, and critical theory to reveal girl characters within identities that are critically treated as adult women in Room . It recuperates the allegorical "Judith Shakespeare" as a girl figure, and links moments in her representation to research on real adolescent girls' neurological myelination, psychological crises, loss of voice, eating disorders, hormonal fluctuations, subversive resistance, teen pregnancy, and global disenfranchisement and disappearance. Through a third-wave girls' studies perspective, the article argues that Woolf imbricates girlhood in her artistic imaginary, revealing her unconscious engagement with female adolescence against her more totalizing impulse to argue for a definitive "woman genius."
La Trace de l’origine: Poétique de l’ effaçonnement et écriture mémorielle chez Jean Portante
Authors: Glesener Jeanne E.
Published: August 2012

Si l’on admet que la littérature migrante transcrit la mondialisation et l’interpénétration des langues et des cultures par le biais de figures identitaires et esthétiques inédites, il y a lieu de s’interroger de plus près sur les pratiques scripturales qui lui sont propres. Dans cet article, nous nous proposons d’analyser la poétique de l’effaçonnement, soutènement de l’écriture de l’écrivain luxembourgeois d’origine italienne Jean Portante. Avec des textes choisis à l’appui, notamment des essais et le roman autofictionnel Mrs Haroy ou la mémoire de la baleine (1993), différents aspects de cette poétique seront examinés, à commencer par son rôle dans l’appréhension que ce poète-écrivain peut avoir de sa langue d’expression littéraire étrangère. Nous procédons ensuite à l’étude du roman autofictionnel pour la voir à l’œuvre dans la narrativisation de la mémoire dans le récit de soi. Les pratiques scripturales employées par Portante pour mettre en texte la mémoire interculturelle du migrant feront l’objet de notre conclusion.
Femmes d’images et images de femmes: Parcours féminins et culture visuelle au Maghreb
Authors: Boutouba Jimia
Published: August 2012

Cet article examine la part des femmes cinéastes dans la transformation de la culture de l’image au Maghreb, et notamment la manière dont elles transforment la représentation du corps et du regard féminins à l’écran. Il démontre en particulier comment ces cinéastes désenchaînent le corps et le regard filmés des signes, discours et relations de pouvoir qui les normalisent; comment elles les font vivre au centre de l’image comme une réalité subjective et changeante. L’analyse des procédés filmiques par lesquels passe la mise en scène du corps et du regard féminins permet également de montrer comment ces procédés opèrent étroitement avec une pensée critique et jouent un rôle fondamental dans le désengagement de la présence et de la parole féminines de l’impasse historique, politique et sociale qui les singularise.
L’Interstice, le dialogue et la migrance: Pratiques épistolaires (auto)biographiques dans Lettres parisiennes. Autopsie de l’exil de Nancy Huston et Leïla Sebbar
Authors: Persson Ann-Sofie
Published: August 2012

Nancy Huston et Leïla Sebbar commencent en 1983 un échange épistolaire, publié ulté-rieurement sous le titre de Lettres parisiennes. Autopsie de l’exil (1986). La correspondance se présente comme une pratique scripturale tout à fait consciente, née de l’envie de communication entre deux écrivaines au sujet de l’exil. Leur discussion épistolaire touche à de nombreux sujets voisins à celui de l’exil: l’appartenance culturelle, l’identité multiple, la migrance géographique et l’exploration artistique depuis cette perspective ambi-valente. Dans le présent article, il s’agit d’examiner comment les pratiques scripturales fondées sur l’interstice, le dialogue et la migrance servent à peindre le moi multiple, ainsi que l’autre, à travers l’écriture épistolaire (auto)biographique.
Latifa Ben Mansou: L’Année de l’éclipse , de l’indicible de l’horreur à la parole retrouvée
Authors: Mañes Montserrat Serrano
Published: August 2012

Le récit de Latifa ben Mansour explicite le profond tiraillement existant entre la réalité de la langue—système de représentation verbale de l’objet et véhicule d’interlocution—et l’impérative présence de la loi du silence qui frappe d’interdit des concepts, des images et des manifestations langagières. La parole est obstruée par l’horreur et l’effroi, le Sujet refuse le “dire,” le vide communicationnel s’installe dans son espace locutionnaire. Malgré tout, il saura actualiser les divers moyens—verbaux et non verbaux—pour satisfaire à la nécessité impérieuse de dire les événements et les exigences que les circonstances répressives signalent comme réservés, voire non dicibles. La rupture du silence et la résurgence de la parole font sauter les digues du passé non avoué, pour mettre en place la réalité d’un discours nouveau inscrit dans l’avenir. Cette lecture s’attache, par conséquent, aux différents phénomènes de la signification induits par le texte, et à tout ce qu’il ne dit pas et dont il appelle la restitution.
Hybridité linguistique et culturelle dans les écritures migrantes au Québec: L’identité de la traversée
Authors: Barreiro Carmen Mata
Published: August 2012

Cet article étudie les configurations et les traits distinctifs de l’hybridité linguistique et culturelle dans les écritures migrantes au Québec. Dans la première partie, il se focalise sur le métissage linguistique comme réceptacle de mémoires et moteur de sensations et comme traduction de l’éclatement de l’identité. Dans la deuxième partie, il aborde l’hybridité culturelle des écritures migrantes associée au territoire spatial et symbolique, au discours de l’“itinérance identitaire” (Ouellet 2002), de “l’enracinerrance” (Robin 2004), de la (re)naissance. La dernière partie est consacrée à l’étude des écrivains migrants comme passeurs de langues, des “ouvreurs de mots” (Ollivier 1999), comme passeurs de mémoires (mémoires de la “migrance,” de l’esclavage, de la guerre et de la répression), comme bâtisseurs d’hybridité et “écrivains de frontière” (Ollivier 2001).
Origines ou la fabrique romanesque d’Amin Maalouf
Authors: Kettani Soundouss El
Published: August 2012

Quand en 2004 paraît le dernier ouvrage romanesque d’Amin Maalouf, la presse et la critique y reconnaissent les thématiques de l’exil et des appartenances multiples pratiquées tant de fois par l’auteur aussi bien dans ses romans que dans ses essais. Origines n’est lu que comme le réceptacle transparent et véridique du parcours de la famille des Maalouf au dix-neuvième siècle. Ce parcours est perçu, d’une part, comme exotique, et, d’autre part, comme fort représentatif des idéaux maaloufiens de tolérance et de reconnaissance de l’altérité dans ses diverses manifestations. Or, ce texte, par l’étalage de preuves d’authenticité, par l’affichage d’une ignorance du narrateur, qui semble impossible à combler, s’avère ne nier la fiction que pour mieux en exposer le mécanisme. Dès lors, le titre réfère moins aux origines des Maalouf, qu’à celles, peut-être plus fondamentales, du processus de création romanesque. L’œuvre est donc moins biographique qu’autotélique, moins celle d’un conteur d’Orient, surgi tout droit de féériques Mille et une Nuits , que celle d’un écrivain préoccupé par sa propre écriture et désireux d’exhiber enfin sa fabrique romanesque.
L’Écriture migrante comme pratique signifiante: L’exemple de l’hétérolinguisme et de l’écriture fragmentaire chez Abla Farhoud et Ying Chen
Authors: Pruteanu Simona Emilia
Published: August 2012

Cet article récupère le concept d’écriture en tant que pratique signifiante (Kristeva) en parlant de deux romans migrants québécois, L’Ingratitude de Ying Chen et Le Bonheur a la queue glissante d’Abla Farhoud, afin de montrer comment les indices d’hétérolinguisme dans ces deux textes, en conjonction avec une poétique du fragment, créent une esthétique propre à l’expression de l’identité migrante, ou ce que nous appelons une signifiance migrante. Nous espérons confirmer que refuser l’ancrage dans une appartenance culturelle ou langagière unique joue un rôle capital dans l’esthétique de l’écriture migrante, car la fragilité identitaire créée par la pluralité des appartenances entraîne l’aménagement d’un espace de traverse pour le sujet migrant dans une écriture caractérisée par une poétique du morcellement. Les travaux de Rainier Grutman sur l’hétérolinguisme aussi bien que les théories qui avancent que le fragment littéraire est une réplique textuelle d’une identité morcelée servent comme cadres théoriques, les deux approches permettant une analyse plus approfondie de l’expression littéraire de l’entre-deux identitaire migrant, le seul espace possible pour Yan-Zi dans L’Ingratitude et Dounia dans Le Bonheur a la queue glissante .
Le Soufisme dans Cette aveuglante absence de lumière de Tahar Ben Jelloun
Authors: Attafi Abdellatif
Published: August 2012

Dans Cette aveuglante absence de lumière , Tahar Ben Jelloun capture la tragédie des officiers marocains qui se retrouvent dans le bagne de Tazmamart après avoir participé en 1971 au coup d’état contre feu Hassan II, roi du Maroc de 1965 à 1999. Le choix de la narration homodiégétique révèle la cruauté de ce bagne sous terre où bon nombre de détenus sont morts. Comment le narrateur du roman Salim a survécu? Quelles décisions a-t-il prises pour rester en vie? Le but de cet article est de montrer que la narration du roman est étroitement liée aux différentes étapes de la voie soufie en Islam ( Tarîqa ). Salim, inspiré des aphorismes du mystique soufi Al Hallâj, entame un voyage interne et conçoit tout au long de la narration des actes essentiellement orientés vers l’annihilation de son moi par l’extinction de ses désirs humains. Son seul objectif est de vivre l’instant de l’illumination dans l’unité de l’amour divin. La topographie de ce bagne obscur et sous terre se prête au raisonnement inversé du narrateur qui se nourrit des contraires. La vie est dans la mort, l’espoir est dans le désespoir, l’aveugle est voyant et le voyant est aveugle.
Débords musicaux du texte: Vers des pratiques transartistiques de la désappartenance (Léonora Miano, Dieudonné Niangouna)
Authors: Mazauric Catherine
Published: August 2012

Léonora Miano et Dieudonné Niangouna sont deux auteurs originaires d’Afrique sub-saharienne (Cameroun et Congo), actuellement résidents en Europe, et appartenant à la même génération. Bien que leurs pratiques scripturales s’insèrent dans des champs différents: romans et nouvelles pour l’une, théâtre pour l’autre, elles sont ici abordées de concert. On étudie comment, principalement dans Tels des astres éteints (Miano) et Les Inepties volantes (Niangouna), l’ouverture du texte à son hors-texte performatif et musical conduit à un dépassement des assignations identitaires, que ce soit à une aire culturelle unique ou dans des bipolarités (Afrique/Europe) tout aussi exclusives. Chacun des deux auteurs travaille ainsi, quoique selon des voies distinctes, à inventer et dessiner des communautés de création-réception désancrées des polarités identitaires. Un tel travail, sans impliquer pour autant l’effacement de toute mémoire, témoigne, tout au contraire, des hantises d’une conscience diasporique dont la texture plurielle se tisse à travers la recherche de passerelles entre les pratiques artistiques. De la sorte, l’œuvre en quête de totalité réfracte la densité des voix, émanant de lieux pluriels, qui cohabitent en elle.
Écrire Beyrouth: Enjeux mémoriels et guerre civile dans L’Ombre d’une ville d’Elie-Pierre Sabbag
Authors: Maïzi Myriem El
Published: August 2012

Aux suites de la guerre civile qui déchira le Liban de 1975 à 1990, le pays fut frappé d’une amnésie collective scellée par la loi d’amnistie de 1991 et perpétuée par le manquement des gouvernements successifs à promouvoir une commémoration de la guerre et un débat public autour de cette question. Face à l’absence de mémoire officielle, il incomba ainsi à la société civile de briser le silence autour de l’expérience de la guerre et d’en articuler la mémoire. L’objet de ce travail est de démontrer dans quelle mesure le roman d’Elie-Pierre Sabbag, L’Ombre d’une ville (1993), cristallise les préoccupations mémorielles du Liban d’après-guerre, préoccupations que soulève toute sortie de guerre civile et qui s’articulent, dans le récit, autour d’une représentation de la ville de Beyrouth. Il s’agira ainsi d’examiner comment le texte se fait révélateur des stigmates de la société libanaise vis-à-vis de la guerre, tout en se trouvant lui-même pris dans un schéma de représentation sur lequel semble reposer l’enjeu de reconstruction d’une identité nationale.
Problématique de l’identité et de l’altérité dans Terre des Autres (2004) de Sylvie Bérard
Authors: Serruys Nicholas
Published: August 2012

Roman incontournable de la science-fiction québécoise contemporaine, Terre des Autres (2004), de Sylvie Bérard, démontre de façon exemplaire comment la pluridimensionnalité des perspectives offre une nouvelle optique sur les questions d’identité et d’altérité. Ce récit de colonisation extra-terrestre entre êtres sentients ou espèces conscientes s’inscrit dans les tendances principales de la SFQ qu’Amy Ransom caractérise selon l’aliénation de l’individu, le conflit entre groupes sociaux entrainé par l’abus du pouvoir des privilégiés et le colonialisme intra ou extra terrestre ( Science Fiction 59). En nous appuyant sur la pensée de Janet Paterson sur l’altérité, et sur celle de Roger Bozzetto, entre autres, sur la poétique des genres de l’imaginaire dont la science-fiction fait partie, nous démontrons que la science-fiction se révèle un registre de discours singulièrement propice à l’exposition de la complexité des rapports transculturels. Cela, en raison de sa mise en scène de chronotopes distanciés et d’acteurs radicalement autres.
Pratiques de l’écriture frontalière chez quelques écrivains migrants québécois
Authors: Bellemare-Page Stéphanie
Published: August 2012

L’article propose, d’une part, une analyse de l’écriture frontalière/du border writing (Hicks 1991) dans l’œuvre de quelques écrivains migrants du Québec dont Dany Laferrière, Wajdi Mouawad, Abla Farhoud, Ying Chen, Régine Robin, Marco Micone et Naïm Kattan. Il s’agit d’analyser la frontière non pas sur le plan thématique, mais en tant que pratique d’écriture, c’est-à-dire de montrer comment les écrivains migrants cherchent constamment dans leurs œuvres à franchir et à repousser les frontières, quelles qu’elles soient. L’écriture frontalière est, d’autre part, observée du point de vue de ses effets de lecture, puisqu’elle incite le lecteur à développer une vision multidimensionnelle du texte et contribue à brouiller ses repères géographiques, linguistiques, culturels, etc. L’article se conclut par l’hypothèse selon laquelle le décentrement culturel et identitaire vécu par les écrivains migrants et les pressions qu’ils subissent de la part de l’institution littéraire les conduit à un recentrement sur la parole poétique.
F.O.L.L.E société: Déconstruction et reconstruction identitaire dans C.R.A.Z.Y.
Authors: Bourdeau Loïc
Published: August 2012

Cet article a pour but de mettre en lumière le processus de déconstruction et de reconstruction identitaire dans le film de Jean-Marc Vallée, C.R.A.Z.Y. paru en 2005. Le réalisateur a fait le choix d’un sujet à dimension universelle, à savoir la famille, tout en incluant la problématique de l’homosexualité. À travers ce travail, nous verrons comment la technique cinématographique sert à créer des liens entre les problèmes politiques, socioéconomiques et culturels du Québec dans la période d’après Révolution Tranquille. Le personnage principal sera le reflet de ces changements, tout en ayant à accepter sa propre unicité, sa sexualité marginale dans une société encore en proie à la tradition et à la religion. La rencontre avec l’autre de même que le départ seront des thèmes majeurs de cette analyse, afin de souligner l’impact, l’inévitabilité et la nécessité de cet autre dans la mise en introspection, la déconstruction et l’acceptation de soi. Ce travail prend comme points de référence les travaux de Julia Kristeva ou encore Judith Butler, dans la mesure où l’étrangeté intérieure et la performativité du genre sont au cœur des problèmes identitaires mis en avant par Vallée.
Fictions and elephants in the rondawel: a response to a brief chapter in South Africa's National Development Plan
Authors: Sender John
Published: August 2012

How have South Africa's economic planners managed to ignore, or at least to minimise the relevance of the most salient facts about the economic performance of the agricultural sector, as well as the real experience of, and prospects for, millions of desperately deprived women and men living in rural areas? There are, of course, many possible strategies to promote polite fictions and buttress conspiracies of silence. The first section of this paper focuses on two particular techniques used 'to write a new story' in the National Development Plan's brief chapter on rural development (NPC 2011: Chapter 6). The second section outlines the failure of the post-apartheid state to take advantage of the potential contribution of the agricultural sector, especially to expand exports. The aim of this section is to highlight some extremely adverse investment and production trends - the elephants in the rondawel - so easily ignored when wearing the NDP's ideological blinkers.
Race and race thinking: reflections in theory and practice for researchers in South Africa and beyond
Authors: Erwin Kira
Published: August 2012

This article is primarily concerned with the theoretical debates and practical dilemmas of doing research on race and race thinking in South Africa, and beyond. In a society where many micro and macro interactions are mediated through a racial lens, the article questions the role of the state and of research more broadly, in creating a political project that opens new possibilities for livelihoods that move across and outside of race. More specifically it asks researchers to examine critically their own practices in the way we ask questions, how we select respondents and think about researchers’ identities. Researchers should take seriously the responsibility of social science in constructing future possibilities for thinking about race, and consider the value of beginning the process of moving away from essentialised racial categories – in research and policy. Drawing on ethnographic data from a case study in Albert Park, Durban, the article examines how these rich theoretical reflections are played out and reshaped in the process of data collection and analysis. More specifically it attempts to offer some tools for shifting into more reflexive and alternative methodologies for researching race, a shift that is paramount if researchers are to contribute towards building inclusive and open spaces and dialogues.
Race thinking and the law in post-1994 South Africa
Authors: Stone Lee , Erasmus Yvonne
Published: August 2012

The aim of this paper on race and the law in post-1994 South Africa is to understand the common sense nature of the continued invocation of racial classification and race thinking in South African legislation despite the country’s long history of racial segregation and discrimination both before the start of ‘official apartheid’ in 1948 and during Nationalist Party rule. It relates to several themes addressed in this volume, but in particular speaks to race classification practices today and the resilience of race in legislation, even in the post-1994 era. This paper accordingly intends to highlight the irony of the perpetual use of apartheid-era race classifications (in the absence of definitions of each race group) notwithstanding the Constitutional and legislative framework which envisages an equal and non-racial society.
(En)gendering the transition in South Africa: the role of COSATU women activists
Authors: Tshoaedi Malehoko
Published: August 2012

This article looks at the transition process in South Africa in the early 1990s with a specific focus on the role of COSATU women activists and their involvement in the Women's National Coalition (WNC). I submit that COSATU women's participation in this structure was critical and influential to the gendered outcomes of the South African transition. The article demonstrates that COSATU women's history of struggle for gender equality within the labour movement throughout the apartheid era was fundamental to how they participated in the WNC and the issues they represented within this structure. Contrary to views held by some feminist writers on the South African transition, this article shows that gender activism and feminist-oriented demands did not necessarily emerge as significant in the early 1990s. Throughout the 1980s, there were vibrant gender demands in the trade unions, though not necessarily framed in conventional feminist terms. Women workers' interests and demands during the transition period were informed by their lived experiences of gender discrimination in the workplace and within the labour movement. COSATU women's representation in the WNC, and their struggles within this structure for their voices to be heard as a working class formation, challenges the perception that the WNC and the gendered outcomes of the South African transition was a process mainly influenced by the 'elite'.
The modern seduction of race: whither social constructionism?
Authors: Soudien Crain
Published: August 2012

This paper explores the complexity of race as a category of social differentiation in global discourse. It argues that despite important developments in both the social and natural sciences – in fields such as sociology, anthropology, cultural studies and genetics – embodied and reified notions of race continue to dominate languages of description in many social and cultural settings, in the world of political struggle and most paradoxically in the academy. The concern that animates the paper is the intensity of attachment to the idea of race. Despite the fact that race as an idea has been shown not to be true, it is seen by many as an almost indispensible part of their identity and, consequently, of the vocabularies and the frameworks of description and analysis of the politics of their everyday worlds. How this naturalisation of an idea happens and is reproduced in daily life is examined in the paper. It takes the concept of social constructionism, one of the central conceptual innovations in post-positivist social theory, and shows how it has been neutralised.
Looking backward, looking forward: race, corrective measures and the South African Constitutional Court
Authors: de Vos Pierre
Published: August 2012

The Constitutional Court has dealt with racially based corrective measures against the background of the Court’s understanding of South Africa’s apartheid past and the lingering effects and consequences of this past on post-apartheid society. While the Court has not always demonstrated a sufficient degree of care when deploying racial categories, its jurisprudence also gestures at the need for a contingent and critical approach to race when engaging with the problem of race-based corrective measures. The Constitutional Court’s jurisprudence on constitutionally permissible (or required) race-based corrective measures is discussed and I point out that the way the Court deals with this question opens up space for a constructive engagement with legally mandated race-based corrective measures to avoid some of the pitfalls highlighted in the article.
The incidence of racial discrimination in post-apartheid South Africa: an audit of KwaZulu-Natal South Coast holiday accommodation establishments.
Authors: Durrheim Kevin , Cole Charlene , Richards Joanne
Published: August 2012

This article reports two studies - in 2006 and 2010 - that use matched pairs audit methodology to estimate the incidence of racial discrimination among holiday accommodation establishments on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. Black and white auditors phoned the same establishment one day apart and attempted to make an identical booking. Discrimination was evident when the black caller was refused accommodation that was offered to the white caller. We found a disturbingly high incidence of racial discrimination in 2006 (29.3%) and 2010 (24.4%). The incidence of discrimination was not affected by the location or the price of the accommodation or by the social class of the black auditor, but was found to be higher in private than public establishments. We conclude by considering the nature and underlying causes of racial discrimination in post-apartheid South Africa.
From local survivalism to foreign entrepreneurship: the transformation of the spaza sector in Delft, Cape Town
Authors: Charman Andrew , Petersen Leif , Piper Laurence
Published: August 2012

Small, home-based grocery stores, known as spaza shops, are ubiquitous throughout the township areas of urban South Africa, constituting an important business in the informal economy. In recent years, this retail market has become a site of fierce competition between South African shopkeepers and foreign entrepreneurs, especially Somalis, and is often cited in the media as one reason behind the xenophobic attacks on foreigners. Drawing on original data collected in the Delft township in the city of Cape Town, this paper demonstrates that foreign entrepreneurs, overwhelmingly Somalis, have come to own around half of the sizeable spaza market in Delft in the last five years. This increase is attributable to larger scale and price competitive behaviour as these entrepreneurs operate collectively in terms of buying shops, and stock, as well as in stock distribution. Also important are some more customer friendly services too. Compared to the more 'survivalist' local business model where individual owners look to supplement existing household income rather than generate an entire livelihood, the Somali business model has rapidly outcompeted local owners, bringing spaza prices down and forcing many locals to rent out their shop space to foreign shopkeepers. Consequently, while South African shopkeepers resent the Somali influx, most consumers appreciate the better prices and improved service. The rise of Somali shopkeepers thus represents a transformation of business practice in the spaza sector from survivalist to entrepreneurial modes.
Race classification at the University of KwaZulu-Natal: purposes, sites and practices
Authors: Ruggunan Shaun , Maré Gerhard
Published: August 2012

Classification into race groups did not end when the Population Registration Act, the foundation of apartheid policy, was abolished in 1991. Formal requirements for allocation of the South African population into ‘races’ continue in a democratic society, and individuals employed in institutions ranging from schools to businesses are tasked with such processes of sorting people out. We present the results of a study done at a university on the sites of, reasons for, and practices employed in race classification to illustrate decisions that confront classifiers when ensuring race categorisation.
Language, power and transformation in South Africa: a critique of language rights discourse
Authors: Parmegiani Andrea
Published: August 2012

This paper offers a critique of language rights discourse in the context of South Africa's process of democratic transformation. Drawing on Bourdieu (1991, 1997), I argue that language is not politically neutral, but a socio-political mechanism that shapes power relations. Using this framework, I discuss the post-apartheid gap between language policy and practice. I acknowledge the role that language rights activism has played in raising awareness of how this gap creates impediments for democratic transformation, but I argue that a tendency to rely too heavily on negative constructions of English limits the effectiveness of language rights discourse. I identify three metaphoric images that have a lot of currency for constructing the power of English negatively: English is a 'linguistic poacher,' English is a 'gatekeeper,' English is a 'colonizer of the mind'. I discuss the epistemological and political limitations of theories of language and empowerment that use these metaphors to disengage with the notion that the power of English can be harnessed by native speakers of African languages. I conclude with a series of recommendations for creating a discourse that is more effective in challenging linguistic inequality in South Africa.
Beyond race?: Exploring indicators of (dis)advantage to achieve South Africa’s equity goals
Authors: Lefko-Everett Kate
Published: August 2012

Since South Africa’s transition to democracy in 1994, it has been among the principal goals of government to guarantee the right of equality for all citizens, and actively deconstruct the systemic inequalities entrenched by the apartheid government. Given that rights, participation and access were differentially meted out to each of the ‘population groups’, attempts to reverse these effects have largely been along racial lines through programmes such as employment equity and black economic empowerment. However, critics argue that the continued use of apartheid race categories, even for purposes of redress, has prolonged and deepened racial prejudice and discrimination. Following on a colloquium held at Wits University in October of 2010, this article explores prospects for new indicators in equity decision-making, drawing on the results of the SA Reconciliation Barometer survey conducted by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.
Benefit-Cost Analysis of Environmental Projects: A Plethora of Biases Understating Net Benefits
Authors: Graves Philip E.
Published: August 2012

There are many reasons to suspect that benefit-cost analysis applied to environmental policies will result in policy decisions that will reject those environmental policies. The important question, of course, is whether those rejections are based on proper science. The present paper explores sources of bias in the methods used to evaluate environmental policy in the United States, although most of the arguments translate immediately to decision-making in other countries. There are some “big picture” considerations that have gone unrecognized, and there are numerous more minor, yet cumulatively important, technical details that point to potentially large biases against acceptance on benefit-cost grounds of environmental policies that have true marginal benefits greater than true marginal costs, both in net present value terms. It is hoped that the issues raised here will improve future conduct of benefit-cost analyses of environmental policies.
The design of f-θ-lenses for use in laser machining of glass
Authors: Beckmann Leo H.J.F.
Published: August 2012

At high power densities in excess of, say, 109 W/cm2, such as may be created by focusing pulsed laser radiation of nanosecond pulse duration, optical glass is no longer transparent but absorbs the radiant power, resulting in stress and physical damage (cracks). While this is intended for certain techniques of machining glass and other normally transparent materials, secondary foci or ‘ghost images’ inside the focusing optics may also exceed the threshold for absorption and thereby cause damage to lenses if such ghost images fall inside an optical element. When designing optics for laser machining of glass, it is therefore important to control the formation of ghost images and to ensure that they are located outside all lens elements. This dominates the design process for such optical systems.
Cholinergic Dysfunction Alters Synaptic Integration between Thalamostriatal and Corticostriatal Inputs in DYT1 Dystonia
Authors: Sciamanna Giuseppe , Tassone Annalisa , Mandolesi Georgia , Puglisi Francesca , Ponterio Giulia , Martella Giuseppina , Madeo Graziella , Bernardi Giorgio , Standaert David G. , Bonsi Paola , Pisani Antonio
Published: August 2012

Projections from thalamic intralaminar nuclei convey sensory signals to striatal cholinergic interneurons. These neurons respond with a pause in their pacemaking activity, enabling synaptic integration with cortical inputs to medium spiny neurons (MSNs), thus playing a crucial role in motor function. In mice with the DYT1 dystonia mutation, stimulation of thalamostriatal axons, mimicking a response to salient events, evoked a shortened pause and triggered an abnormal spiking activity in interneurons. This altered pattern caused a significant rearrangement of the temporal sequence of synaptic activity mediated by M1and M2muscarinic receptors in MSNs, consisting of an increase in postsynaptic currents and a decrease of presynaptic inhibition, respectively. Consistent with a major role of acetylcholine, either lowering cholinergic tone or antagonizing postsynaptic M1muscarinic receptors normalized synaptic activity. Our data demonstrate an abnormal time window for synaptic integration between thalamostriatal and corticostriatal inputs, which might alter the action selection process, thereby predisposing DYT1 gene mutation carriers to develop dystonic movements.
Deletion of the Presynaptic Scaffold CAST Reduces Active Zone Size in Rod Photoreceptors and Impairs Visual Processing
Authors: tom Dieck Susanne , Specht Dana , Strenzke Nicola , Hida Yamato , Krishnamoorthy Vidhyasankar , Schmidt Karl-Friedrich , Inoue Eiji , Ishizaki Hiroyoshi , Tanaka-Okamoto Miki , Miyoshi Jun , Hagiwara Akari , Brandstätter Johann H. , Löwel Siegrid , Gollisch Tim , Ohtsuka Toshihisa , Moser Tobias
Published: August 2012

How size and shape of presynaptic active zones are regulated at the molecular level has remained elusive. Here we provide insight from studying rod photoreceptor ribbon-type active zones after disruption of CAST/ERC2, one of the cytomatrix of the active zone (CAZ) proteins. Rod photoreceptors were present in normal numbers, and the a-wave of the electroretinogram (ERG)—reflecting their physiological population response—was unchanged in CAST knock-out (CAST−/−) mice. Using immunofluorescence and electron microscopy, we found that the size of the rod presynaptic active zones, their Ca2+channel complement, and the extension of the outer plexiform layer were diminished. Moreover, we observed sprouting of horizontal and bipolar cells toward the outer nuclear layer indicating impaired rod transmitter release. However, rod synapses ofCAST−/−mice, unlike in mouse mutants for the CAZ protein Bassoon, displayed anchored ribbons, normal vesicle densities, clustered Ca2+channels, and essentially normal molecular organization. The reduction of the rod active zone size went along with diminished amplitudes of the b-wave in scotopic ERGs. Assuming, based on the otherwise intact synaptic structure, an unaltered function of the remaining release apparatus, we take our finding to suggest a scaling of release rate with the size of the active zone. Multielectrode-array recordings of retinal ganglion cells showed decreased contrast sensitivity. This was also observed by optometry, which, moreover, revealed reduced visual acuity. We conclude that CAST supports large active zone size and high rates of transmission at rod ribbon synapses, which are required for normal vision.
Attention Distributed across Sensory Modalities Enhances Perceptual Performance
Authors: Mishra Jyoti , Gazzaley Adam
Published: August 2012

This study investigated the interaction between top-down attentional control and multisensory processing in humans. Using semantically congruent and incongruent audiovisual stimulus streams, we found target detection to be consistently improved in the setting of distributed audiovisual attention versus focused visual attention. This performance benefit was manifested as faster reaction times for congruent audiovisual stimuli and as accuracy improvements for incongruent stimuli, resulting in a resolution of stimulus interference. Electrophysiological recordings revealed that these behavioral enhancements were associated with reduced neural processing of both auditory and visual components of the audiovisual stimuli under distributed versus focused visual attention. These neural changes were observed at early processing latencies, within 100–300 ms poststimulus onset, and localized to auditory, visual, and polysensory temporal cortices. These results highlight a novel neural mechanism for top-down driven performance benefits via enhanced efficacy of sensory neural processing during distributed audiovisual attention relative to focused visual attention.
Corticostriatal Connectivity Underlies Individual Differences in the Balance between Habitual and Goal-Directed Action Control
Authors: de Wit Sanne , Watson Poppy , Harsay Helga A. , Cohen Michael X. , van de Vijver Irene , Ridderinkhof K. Richard
Published: August 2012

Why are some individuals more susceptible to the formation of inflexible habits than others? In the present study, we used diffusion tensor imaging to demonstrate that brain connectivity predicts individual differences in relative goal-directed and habitual behavioral control in humans. Specifically, vulnerability to habitual “slips of action” toward no-longer-rewarding outcomes was predicted by estimated white matter tract strength in the premotor cortex seeded from the posterior putamen (as well as by gray matter density in the posterior putamen as determined with voxel-based morphometry). In contrast, flexible goal-directed action was predicted by estimated tract strength in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex seeded from the caudate. These findings suggest that integrity of dissociable corticostriatal pathways underlies individual differences in action control in the healthy population, which may ultimately mediate vulnerability to impulse control disorders.
The Processing of Unexpected Positive Response Outcomes in the Mediofrontal Cortex
Authors: Ferdinand Nicola K. , Mecklinger Axel , Kray Jutta , Gehring William J.
Published: August 2012

The human mediofrontal cortex, especially the anterior cingulate cortex, is commonly assumed to contribute to higher cognitive functions like performance monitoring. How exactly this is achieved is currently the subject of lively debate but there is evidence that an event's valence and its expectancy play important roles. One prominent theory, the reinforcement learning theory by Holroyd and colleagues (2002, 2008), assigns a special role to feedback valence, while the prediction of response–outcome (PRO) model by Alexander and Brown (2010, 2011) claims that the mediofrontal cortex is sensitive to unexpected events regardless of their valence. However, paradigms examining this issue have included confounds that fail to separate valence and expectancy.

In the present study, we tested the two competing theories of performance monitoring by using an experimental task that separates valence and unexpectedness of performance feedback. The feedback-related negativity of the event-related potential, which is commonly assumed to be a reflection of mediofrontal cortex activity, was elicited not only by unexpected negative feedback, but also by unexpected positive feedback. This implies that the mediofrontal cortex is sensitive to the unexpectedness of events in general rather than their valence and by this supports the PRO model.
Coding Rate and Duration of Vocalizations of the Frog,Xenopus laevis
Authors: Zornik Erik , Yamaguchi Ayako
Published: August 2012

Vocalizations involve complex rhythmic motor patterns, but the underlying temporal coding mechanisms in the nervous system are poorly understood. Using a recently developed whole-brain preparation from which “fictive” vocalizations are readily elicitedin vitro, we investigated the cellular basis of temporal complexity of African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis). Male advertisement calls contain two alternating components—fast trills (∼300 ms) and slow trills (∼700 ms) that contain clicks repeated at ∼60 and ∼30 Hz, respectively. We found that males can alter the duration of fast trills without changing click rates. This finding led us to hypothesize that call rate and duration are regulated by independent mechanisms. We tested this by obtaining whole-cell patch-clamp recordings in the “fictively” calling isolated brain. We discovered a single type of premotor neuron with activity patterns correlated with both the rate and duration of fast trills. These “fast-trill neurons” (FTNs) exhibited long-lasting depolarizations (LLDs) correlated with each fast trill and action potentials that were phase-locked with motor output—neural correlates of call duration and rate, respectively. When depolarized without central pattern generator activation, FTNs produced subthreshold oscillations and action potentials at fast-trill rates, indicating FTN resonance properties are tuned to, and may dictate, the fast-trill rhythm. NMDA receptor (NMDAR) blockade eliminated LLDs in FTNs, and NMDAR activation in synaptically isolated FTNs induced repetitive LLDs. These results suggest FTNs contain an NMDAR-dependent mechanism that may regulate fast-trill duration. We conclude that a single premotor neuron population employs distinct mechanisms to regulate call rate and duration.
Effects of standard glucocorticoid replacement therapies on subjective well-being: a randomized, double-blind, crossover study in patients with secondary adrenal insufficiency
Authors: Benson Sven , Neumann Pia , Unger Nicole , Schedlowski Manfred , Mann Klaus , Elsenbruch Sigrid , Petersenn Stephan
Published: August 2012

Objective

For secondary adrenal insufficiency (SAI), established biochemical parameters for dosage control are lacking and no optimal substitution dosage and daily distribution have been determined yet. Therefore, in clinical practice, the individual total dose is often adjusted based on patients' subjective well-being.

Design

Effects of three standard glucocorticoid replacement regimens on psychological variables were assessed in patients with SAI based on a randomized double-blind study design.

Methods

SAI patients (n=18) were treated with three different established glucocorticoid replacement regimens in a randomized, double-blind, crossover study (treatment A, hydrocortisone 10 mg-placebo-5 mg-placebo; treatment B, hydrocortisone 10 mg-5 mg-placebo-5 mg; and treatment C, prednisone 5 mg-placebo-placebo-placebo). Following each 4-week replacement regimen, quality of life (SF-36) and emotional distress (brief symptom inventory (BSI)) were assessed along with diurnal changes in current well-being (Bf-S) and alertness (Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS)) using validated questionnaires, and additionally compared with patient (patients with pituitary disease and adrenal sufficiency) and healthy control groups.

Results

SAI patients showed improvements in physical quality of life (i.e. SF-36 physical function,P<0.05; physical role function,P<0.05) and current well-being (at 1800 h,P<0.05) under treatment A (hydrocortisone 10-0-5-0 mg) compared with the other replacement regimens. Quality of life and current well-being were significantly impaired compared with healthy controls but did not differ from patient controls.

Conclusions

Although the observed improvements in psychological parameters were comparatively small, our results indicate beneficial effects of a 10-0-5-0 mg hydrocortisone replacement regimen. Nevertheless, treatment effects were insufficient to restore subjective health compared with healthy controls, indicating the need for improved replacement regimens and supportive psychosocial interventions in SAI patients.
Etomidate in the emergency management of hypercortisolemia
Authors: Soh Lip Min , Gunganah Kirun , Akker Scott A , Jones Philip , Khachi Hasanin , Dodzo Kumbirai , Drake William M
Published: August 2012

We describe a protocol for etomidate infusion for the emergency management of hypercortisolemia. Etomidate is commenced at 2.5 mg/h and titrated subsequently according to cortisol levels. It is well tolerated without any sedative effects and can be administered safely via peripheral access for use in the general ward setting.
Evolutionary Analysis of Heterochromatin Protein Compatibility by Interspecies Complementation in Saccharomyces
Authors: Zill Oliver A , Scannell Devin R , Kuei Jeffrey , Sadhu Meru , Rine Jasper
Published: August 2012

The genetic bases for species-specific traits are widely sought, but reliable experimental methods with which to identify functionally divergent genes are lacking. In the Saccharomyces genus, interspecies complementation tests can be used to evaluate functional conservation and divergence of biological pathways or networks. Silent information regulator (SIR) proteins in S. bayanus provide an ideal test case for this approach because they show remarkable divergence in sequence and paralog number from those found in the closely related S. cerevisiae. We identified genes required for silencing in S. bayanus using a genetic screen for silencing-defective mutants. Complementation tests in interspecies hybrids identified an evolutionarily conserved Sir-protein-based silencing machinery, as defined by two interspecies complementation groups (SIR2 and SIR3). However, recessive mutations in S. bayanus SIR4 isolated from this screen could not be complemented by S. cerevisiae SIR4, revealing species-specific functional divergence in the Sir4 protein despite conservation of the overall function of the Sir2/3/4 complex. A cladistic complementation series localized the occurrence of functional changes in SIR4 to the S. cerevisiae and S. paradoxus branches of the Saccharomyces phylogeny. Most of this functional divergence mapped to sequence changes in the Sir4 PAD. Finally, a hemizygosity modifier screen in the interspecies hybrids identified additional genes involved in S. bayanus silencing. Thus, interspecies complementation tests can be used to identify (1) mutations in genetically underexplored organisms, (2) loci that have functionally diverged between species, and (3) evolutionary events of functional consequence within a genus.