bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Catachresis in Côte d’Ivoire: Female Genital Power in Religious Ritual and Political Resistance
Authors: Grillo Laura S.
Published: May 2019

Ivoirian women vehemently protest the violence and calamity of civil war by deploying an embodied rhetoric of ritual, appealing to the traditional religious concept of “Female Genital Power.” I propose that their imagistic resistance to the postcolonial state represents a catachresis, with a few interesting twists. Most salient is that what women reinscribe onto the political scene is not as a feature of the imperial culture but the concept-metaphors of indigenous religion, and especially the image of Woman as the source of moral and spiritual power from which proceeds all political, religious, and juridical authority. Whereas the logocentrism of the academy, and postcolonial theory in particular, leads to aporia, ritual remands scholars into the situation of the actual world, where women are actively engaged in self-representation that both defies projected depictions of them and rejects their absence from state conceptions of power
Lost in Translation? Pussy Riot Solidarity Activism and the Danger of Perpetuating North/Western Hegemonies
Authors: Wiedlack Katharina , Neufeld Masha
Published: May 2019

This article critically discusses solidarity actions in support of Pussy Riot within the global North/West, arguing that most solidarity projects within popular culture as well as within the queer-feminist counterculture are based on a lopsided interpretation of Pussy Riot as Russian version of Riot Grrrl feminists. This onedimensional interpretation of the performance art group as Riot Grrrl-identities further leads to labelling their performance at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral as anti-religious. Within this framework the group’s negotiation of Orthodox religion within their song lyrics, performances as well as statements is ignored, supporting the binary construction of The North/West as progressive – tolerant and secular – and Russia as backward – dogmatic and fundamentalist religious. We attempt to complicate the view on Pussy Riot’s performances and reread them within the Russian context, highlighting several political statements that got lost in North/Western translations. The focus of the analysis concentrates on the ‘Punk Prayerr’, its mimicry of religious language and references to the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church as well as the local public critical discourses.
Girls by the Church: Construction of a Pussy Riot Event in Finland as a Threat to Russian Gender Roles and Sexual Norms
Authors: Teivainen Teivo
Published: May 2019

In August 2012, pro-Kremlin media in Russia reported widely about an alleged attempt to replay the Pussy Riot stunt at an Orthodox cathedral in Finland. According to the reports, also reproduced by the Russian Foreign Ministry, a Finnish professor was facing several years’ prison sentence in Finnish courts for having attacked the cathedral, carried urine containers, spread homosexual propaganda and committed various acts of blasphemy. Even if the Finnish media, eyewitnesses and state authorities repeatedly denied the claims, the story became a useful way for pro-Kremlin forces to normalise the Pussy Riot trial in Russia. The episode was an example of the recent politicisation of religion, gender and sexuality in the Russian public sphere.
Will Pussy Riot Dance on #Euromaidan? New Dissidence, Civic Disobedience and Cyber-Mythology in the Post-Soviet Context
Authors: Tchermalykh Nataliya
Published: May 2019

Written in the beginning of December 2013, this article was inspired by two events that temporarily coincided: the massive manifestations in Kiyv’s Maidan Square, called ‘Euromaidan’ and the release of Pussy Riot from prison in Russia. Asking myself if those two events were pure coincidence, or if there were a certain political or at least media causality between the two, I try to analyse both processes (Euromaidan media representation and Pussy Riot media plot) as new myths (referring to Barthes, McLuhan and Meletinskii’s theories) of political resistance in post-Soviet territories, created through the media.
Mīr Dāmād (m. 1041/1631), philosophe et mujtahid
Authors: Terrier Mathieu
Published: May 2019

Mīr Dāmād (d. 1041/1631), philosopher and mujtahid. Spiritual authority and legal authority in Shīʿi Safavid Iran.

Studies on Twelver Shīʿism, particularly in the context of Safavid Iran (907-1134 / 1501-1722), are characterized by a dichotomy between the emphasis on law and that on philosophy, reflecting the duality between both the exoteric and esoteric dimensions of this religion. Based on this observation, this article presents a corpus of known and lesser known texts of Mīr Dāmād (d. 1041/1631), a philosophy master and super- mujtahid at the court of the Shāhs in Esfahan, in order to analyse the link between these two facets of his personality and shed some light on the relationship between legal and spiritual authorities in modern Shīʾism. The first part of this paper studies Mīr Dāmād’s portrait in the Shīʿi prosopographical sources. The second part deals with his legal works, notably his fatwās on Friday prayer and defensive jihād. The third part analyses the doxographic notice devoted to Mīr Dāmād by his former student Quṭb al-Dīn Ashkevarī (d. between 1088 and 1095 /1677 and 1684), which weaves legal, philosophical and mystical texts authored by his teacher. This study will show that in the view of Mīr Dāmād and his disciples, the temporal authority of the jurisconsult, during the period of Great Occultation, remained inseparable from the spiritual authority of the Gnostic (ʿārif), whose metaphysical knowledge was both rationally proven and mystically experienced.
Early Human Occupation at al-Jamrab (White Nile Region, Central Sudan): A Contribution to the Understanding of the MSA of Eastern Africa
Authors: Spinapolice Enza Elena , Zerboni Andrea , Meyer Michael , Usai Donatella
Published: May 2019

The middle reaches of the Nile River play a key role in the current models about the diffusion of modern Humans out of Africa, nevertheless the Early and the Middle Stone Age (Early Palaeolithic and Middle Palaeolithic) in central Sudan are poorly known. On-going investigation at al-Jamrab (White Nile region) highlights the archaeological potential of the central Sudan and illustrates the importance of an integrated approach combining archaeological excavation and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction for understanding cultural site formation and post-depositional dynamics. The stratigraphic sequence at al-Jamrab includes a thick cultural layer rich in Early and Middle Stone Age artefacts, preserved in a deeply weathered palaeosol developed on fluvial sediments. The cultural layer includes a two-fold human occupation covering the Middle Stone Age, with Acheulean and Sangoan bifacial artefacts, although an Early Stone Age/Middle Stone Age transitional phase cannot be excluded. The artefact-bearing unit is attributed to the Upper Pleistocene based on preliminary OSL dating, the local palaeoenvironmental context, and strong pedogenetic weathering. Considering the paucity of archaeological data for the Pleistocene of Sudan and the importance of this region in the study of human dispersal out of Africa, this preliminary work on a new site and its associated stratigraphic context provides insights into the early peopling of Sudan and adds one more tessera to the Eastern Africa picture.
Jbel Bani Rock Art: Newly-discovered Shelters along Mountain Paths suggest a Significant Link between Central Sahara and North Africa (Zagora, Southern Morocco)
Authors: Moumane Adil , Delorme Jonathan , Ewague Adbelhadi , Al-Karkouri Jamal , Gaoudi Mohamed , Ista Hassan , Moumane Mohamed , Mouna Hammou , Oumouss Ahmed , Lmejidi Abdelkhalk , Zdaidat Noreddine
Published: May 2019

The authors, with the help of a team of researchers, have discovered twelve rock shelters with inside paintings on the southern slopes of the Jbel Bani Mountains in southern Morocco. The paintings vary in subject and time period and span multiple rock art styles. Majestic creatures that once inhabited southern Morocco are depicted next to hunters, pastoralists, and warriors. The shelters and paintings cast upon their walls illustrate a transfer of culture, beliefs, technology, and ideas between people groups of the Meridional and Central Sahara and the Jbel Bani region. These discoveries were all made along a mountain path in the Bani Mountains known as Foum Laachar and may help trace ancient human migration routes.
Epistemic Norms and the Limits of Epistemology
Authors: Engel Pascal
Published: May 2019

I raise a dilemma for an epistemology based on the idea that there are hinge propositions or primitive certainties: either such propositions are norms or rules in the “grammatical” sense, but they cannot regulate our inquiries since they are not genuine propositions obeying truth or evidential standards, or they are epistemic norms, but compete with the classical norms of belief and knowledge. Either there are hinges, but they have nothing to do with epistemology, or hinges are part of our knowledge, and their epistemology is part of ordinary epistemology.
The Sources of Scepticism
Authors: Pritchard Duncan
Published: May 2019

It is claimed that the radical sceptical problem that is the focus of much of contemporary epistemological discussion in fact divides into two logically distinct sub-problems—a formulation that turns on the closure principle and a second formulation which turns on the underdetermination principle. The Wittgensteinian account of the structure of rational evaluation is set out, and it is shown how this proposal—at least when properly formulated—can deal with closure-based radical scepticism. It is also claimed, however, that this account fails to gain any purchase on underdetermination-based radical scepticism. The antidote to this latter form of radical scepticism lies elsewhere—with, it is suggested, epistemological disjunctivism.
Women’s Human Rights in the Governance of the Arctic – Gender Equality and Violence against Indigenous Women
Authors: Burman Monica , Svensson Eva-Maria
Published: May 2019

Previous studies show a lack of deference and activities when it comes to women’s human rights and gender equality in the multi-level governance of the Arctic. According to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, women in the Arctic are vulnerable, in particular indigenous and rural women. Their rights are not upheld in the Arctic states for example when it comes to exposure to violence, equal participation in governing bodies, and economic self-support. The public governing bodies have almost no focus on gender equality at all, despite far-reaching international obligations and, for several of the states, national ambitious agendas for gender equality politics. International instruments with obligations to strive for gender equality, such as the CEDAW, the ILO Convention 169 and UNDRIP, are scarcely referred to and not sufficiently implemented by the public governance bodies.

The aim of this article is to raise awareness of the obligations set up by human rights documents to promote women’s rights in the governance of the Arctic, in order to put pressure on the states to develop strategies for a future gender equal governance. We have a special focus on the general lack of awareness within public governance, and on men’s intimate partner violence against indigenous women.
The Right of Indigenous Peoples to Education in Their Own Language – Greenlanders in Denmark and in Greenland
Authors: Næsborg-Andersen Ayo , Khalaf Bassah
Published: May 2019

Previous studies show a lack of deference and activities when it comes to women’s human rights and gender equality in the multi-level governance of the Arctic. According to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, women in the Arctic are vulnerable, in particular indigenous and rural women. Their rights are not upheld in the Arctic states for example when it comes to exposure to violence, equal participation in governing bodies, and economic self-support. The public governing bodies have almost no focus on gender equality at all, despite far-reaching international obligations and, for several of the states, national ambitious agendas for gender equality politics. International instruments with obligations to strive for gender equality, such as the CEDAW, the ILO Convention 169 and UNDRIP, are scarcely referred to and not sufficiently implemented by the public governance bodies.

The aim of this article is to raise awareness of the obligations set up by human rights documents to promote women’s rights in the governance of the Arctic, in order to put pressure on the states to develop strategies for a future gender equal governance. We have a special focus on the general lack of awareness within public governance, and on men’s intimate partner violence against indigenous women.
A Rule Follower, a Challenger, or a Learner? Recasting China’s Engagement in the Arctic
Authors: Ren Yuanyuan , Liu Dan
Published: May 2019

In an era of climate change, economic globalization, and technological innovation, the Arctic region has been increasingly open to competing jurisdictional claims, commercial activities, and outside players. In the meantime, China’s engagement in the Arctic has drawn great attention. While some Arctic commentators are concerned about China as a threat to the region, many Chinese officials and scholars tend to portray China as a “rule-follower” in the Arctic. However, this “rule-follower” image fails to take full account of the evolving nature of Arctic governance and Arctic international law. This paper recasts China’s role in the Arctic. It argues that, to fulfill a “constructive participant” role in Arctic development, China can participate as a rule follower, a constructive challenger, and a keen learner concurrently, depending on the different issue-areas involved.
Re-evaluation of Vazirani’s Haliplus species from India (Coleoptera: Haliplidae)
Authors: van Vondel Bernhard Johannes , Ghosh Sujit Kumar
Published: May 2019

Three of the Haliplus species described by Vazirani are traced in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India in Kolkata and redescribed. Haliplus manipurensis is synonymized with H. angustifrons.
Islamic Economics and Finance and their Institutional Implications
Authors: Choudhury Masudul Alam
Published: May 2019

A critic is launched on the conventional understanding and practice of Islamic economics and finance, and institutionalism. The missing worldview is the distinctive Islamic one concerning the functional nature of the epistemology of unity of knowledge that emanates from the monotheistic law in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and thereby by Islamic discursive institutionalism. The paper formalizes and recommends that the worldview of unity of knowledge (Tawhid) by its epistemology and functionalism be/is formalized and applied at intellectual and institutional levels. The paper recommends returning every inquiry to the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and Islamic discourse forever fresh search and discovery in all socio-scientific matters. The scope of the maqasid as-shari’ah is thus broadened out into the widest socio-scientific inquiry. Several examples and empirical evidences showing the institutionalizing possibility of Islamic financial economics are provided in light of the theory of unity of knowledge.
Variations in Food Acceptability with Respect to Pitch, Tempo, and Volume Levels of Background Music
Authors: Fiegel Alexandra , Childress Andrew , Beekman Thadeus L. , Seo Han-Seok
Published: May 2019

This study aimed to determine whether pitch, tempo, and volume levels of music stimuli affect sensory perception and acceptance of foods. A traditional music piece was arranged into versions at two pitches, two tempos, and two volumes. For each session, chocolate and bell peppers were presented for consumption under three sound conditions: 1) upper or 2) lower level with respect to each of the three music elements, and 3) silence. Over three sessions, participants evaluated flavor intensity, pleasantness of flavor, texture impression, and overall impression of food samples, in addition to the pleasantness and stimulation evoked by the music stimuli. Results showed that lower-pitched and louder music stimuli increased hedonic impressions of foods compared to their respective counterparts and/or the silent condition. While the effects of music element levels on hedonic impressions differed with the type of food consumed, the participants liked the foods more when music stimuli were perceived as more pleasant and stimulating. Flavor was perceived as more intense when participants were more stimulated by the music samples. Although a specific element of music stimuli was manipulated, perceptions of other elements also varied, leading to large variations in the music-evoked pleasantness and stimulation. In conclusion, the findings provide empirical evidence that hedonic impressions of foods may be influenced by emotions evoked by music selections varying in music element levels, but it should be also noted that the influences were food-dependent and not pronounced.
New Three-Generation Families in Rural China (中国农村新“三代家庭”研究)
Authors: Yang (杨华) Hua , Wang (王会) Hui
Published: May 2019

With the migration and urbanization of China’s rural population, married members of the Post-1980 and Post-1990 generation, together with their parents, have formed a new type of three-generation family which in some respects is similar to the earlier three-generation families but quite different in substance. In the new three-generation families, even though the offspring and the parents constitute separate accounting units, they have not undergone formal household division. The parents have come to be incorporated into their offspring’s families, forming a new three-generation family with each of their offspring. The structure of the new three-generation families allows the offspring to cope with the pressures from village competition, labor migration, and urbanization by fully using the resources and labor power of the parents, thereby driving the development of these new peasant families. Such families have in fact overemphasized instrumentalist rationality, resulting in the overuse and exploitation of middle-aged labor. The elderly who are unable to work are excluded from the household and their living space has been narrowed. The formation of these new families runs counter to the expectation that rural families will become entirely nuclear families after China’s industrialization, showing that rural family formation has a distinctive cultural basis.

伴随着农村人口流动和农民城市化，婚后的“八零后”、“九零后”农民与父代组成了类似三代直系家庭但却有实质差别的新“三代家庭”。在该类家庭中，父代与子代、子代家庭之间的会计单位是相互独立的，但是子代与父代在形式上又没有明确分家，这就使得父代被分别纳入到子代家庭，成为子代家庭的成员，从而分别与子代家庭构成三代直系家庭。新“三代家庭”结构有利于子代对父代资源和劳动力的充分调配，以应对村庄竞争、人口流动和城市化所带来的问题和压力，推动农民家庭发展。新“三代家庭”过于强调家庭关系的工具理性，从而使得农村中年人的劳动力被过度使用和剥削。没有劳动能力的老年人不被纳入进新“三代家庭”，他们的生存空间被挤压。新“三代家庭”的出现有力地驳斥了中国工业化后农民家庭将彻底核心化的论断，说明农村家庭的延续和变化皆有其独特的文化基础。
Engaging and Researching Congregations Visually: Photovoice in a Mid-Sized Church
Authors: Williams Roman R.
Published: May 2019

Visual research shows promise in the study of congregations. And with so many people carrying cameras to worship services in the form of a smartphone, opportunities abound for those interested in visual approaches to engagement and research. This article explores the potential of a participatory action technique known as photovoice in congregational settings through a case study of a church located in the midwestern region of the United States. Photovoice, it is argued, gives participants permission to discuss matters of personal significance, builds relational bridges across differences (in this case, across different age cohorts), and may help a congregation to see itself from new perspectives. Likewise, the materials produced in a photovoice project comprise a rich collection of data that may be analyzed by a researcher to explore themes central to their research agenda. When used in conjunction with familiar ethnographic practices such as fieldnotes and interviews, photovoice can become a valuable component of a project that pursues both research and engagement.
Revisiting The ‘Cost of Discipleship’ in the aftermath of Military Service: Insights for Christian Communal Life in a Secular Swedish Context
Authors: Grimell Jan
Published: May 2019

This article applies Bonhoeffer’s description of Christian discipleship to research literature on military culture and costs of military service. Bonhoeffer’s theological understanding of discipleship illustrates a calling, subordination, obedience, discipline, loyalty, mission focus and the cost thereof, and a collectivistic approach. These are commonly understood as core features of military communal life and service. This article suggests that service members may have a certain cultural disposition which resonates to Bonhoeffer’s teachings of discipleship. Christian communities may serve as cultural platforms capable of assisting veterans in transition from military to civilian life and supporting their reintegration into society. Additionally, veterans may reinvigorate Christian discipleship by bringing these closer to the teachings of Bonhoeffer which may work in the service of renewed commitment and devotion. This could serve the larger society; it may have a positive influence upon communal life as well as the individual.
Intercellular pathways in internodal metaxylem vessels of moso bamboo Phyllostachys edulis
Authors: Zhang Shuqin , Liu Rong , Lian Caiping , Luo Junji , Yang Feng , Liu Xianmiao , Fei Benhua
Published: May 2019

The flow of xylem sap in bamboo is closely associated with metaxylem vessels and the pits in their cell walls. These pits are essential components of the water-transport system and are key intercellular pathways for transverse permeation of treatment agents related to utilization. Observations of metaxylem vessels and pits in moso bamboo culm internodes were carried out using environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) to examine mature bamboo fractures and resin casts. The results showed that bordered pits were distributed in relation to adjacent cell types with most pits between vessels and parenchyma cells and few pits between vessels and fibers of the bundle sheath. The pit arrangement was mainly opposite to alternate with apertures ranging from oval, flattened elliptical, or slit-like to coalescent. The vertical dimensions of inner apertures and outer apertures of the pits were about 0.9–2.7 μm and 1.1–3.8 μm, respectively. According to the relative position, and size difference between the inner apertures and their borders, the bordered pit shapes were categorized into three types, namely PI, PII and PIII (Fig. 3C). Half-bordered pit pairs were observed between vessels and direct contact parenchyma cells. Most vessel elements possessed simple perforation plates.
The Petersburg Academy of Sciences as Seen by the Finnish Mathematician Anders Johan Lexell
Authors: Stén Johan C.-E.
Published: May 2019

The life of the Finnish mathematician Anders Johan Lexell (1740–1784) offers an interesting example of internationalisation of the sciences in the 18th century. Born and educated in Åbo (Turku), Finland, then a part of Sweden, he became a lecturer at the local university, visited Uppsala briefly, but due to lack of prospects for an academic career, he decided to move to nearby St. Petersburg, Russia, to make use of his talents at the Imperial Academy of Sciences. There, starting in 1768, he became a close associate of the leading mathematician of the era, Leonhard Euler. Moreover, he corresponded assiduously with Swedish scientists, including Carl Linnaeus, in all areas of science. We show in this article that his correspondence provides plenty of information about the Republic of Letters and, in particular, the Russo-Swedish scientific relations of the day.
Can Authoritarian Regimes Breed Loyalty? The Case of Nashi
Authors: Lasnier Virginie
Published: May 2019

An important literature on Russian civil society discusses its evolution, challenges, and prospects under Vladimir Putin. In particular, scholars show how the regime skillfully uses a mixture of coercive and channeling strategies to direct civil society into the ‘right path’, namely in the service of the regime. Perhaps the most glaring example of channeling strategies is the direct creation of CSOs from above, such as pro-regime youth groups. These groups are mean to orient public participation into accepted limits fixed by the state, often mimicking and duplicating grassroot organizations. But to what extent have they been effective in creating loyalty for the regime? In this paper, I focus on the little success that one of the most famous pro-regime youth groups, Nashi (Ours), paradoxically achieved in channeling civil society. While Nashi undeniably brought important benefits to some participants at the individual level, its effects at the societal level are significantly more limited. This is because, I argue, Nashi’s fate, just like many other state-projects, depended primarily on internal competition among self-interested elites. Instead of representing a coherent state strategy toward the youth and civil society, Nashi was mirroring the influence of power-maximizing individuals. The arguments of this paper are drawn from participant observations and from interviews with (then) current and former Nashi activists, as well as with other civil society experts
Property and Protests: The Struggle Over the Renovation of Housing in Moscow
Authors: Evans Alfred
Published: May 2019

Most protests in Russia in recent years have not demanded the transformation of that country’s political regime. Instead, most of those protests have focused on specific policy goals that have reflected disruptions in the daily lives of groups of citizens. In 2017 a heated debate erupted when Sergei Sobianin, the Mayor of Moscow, announced a plan to demolish and replace hundreds of thousands of old apartments in that city. While many residents of those apartments welcomed that plan, many others charged that it threatened to infringe on their right of ownership of private property. The plan was subjected to vigorous criticism both at the grass roots level and the elite level. The national leadership and the government of Moscow became involved in revising the legislation to authorize Sobianin’s plan that had been introduced in the national legislature. Before the law was approved, the leaders had made a number of concessions to its critics.
“I Turned away from the Temple”: Sethian Counterculture in the Apocryphon of John
Authors: Adamson Grant
Published: May 2019

In the myth as well as the frame story of the Apocryphon of John, Sethian conflict with others is narrativized. For instance, Adam and Eve withdraw from the biblical creator just as John turns away from the temple in Jerusalem after an altercation with a Jewish antagonist. The gnostic authors of the text portrayed the creator so negatively that he is incomparable with most demiurgic figures in Platonism, Judaism, and Christianity. Their ignorant, boastful, jealous and apostate Ialdabaoth was shocking to their ancient opponents. And for modern scholars, this countercultural vilification of the creator makes it difficult to categorize the authors of the apocryphon in Platonic, Jewish, or Christian terms.
Transgressing Boundaries: Plotinus and the Gnostics
Authors: Turner John D.
Published: May 2019

An examination of instances of Plotinus’s critique in the first ten chapters of Enneades ii.9, commonly called “Against the Gnostics,” regarding doctrines reflected in the Sethian Platonizing treatises and the Valentinian Tripartite Tractate insofar they may be appropriately considered as transgressions of Platonic metaphysics and of traditional principles of philosophical hermeneutics and etiquette that may or may not merit the designation “countercultural.”
Forbidden Knowledge: Cognitive Transgression and “Ascent Above Intellect” in the Debate Between Plotinus and the Gnostics
Authors: Mazur Zeke
Published: May 2019

Throughout Enneads ii.9[33], commonly called Against the Gnostics, Plotinus repeatedly complains that the gnostics claim to possess an extraordinary capability to undertake a visionary ascent beyond the divine Intellect itself so as to attain the transcendent (and hyper-noetic) deity: a claim which he considers the height of arrogance. Plotinus further implies that this gnostic claim was in some way connected with the disparagement of Plato and the Greek philosophical tradition. No explicit trace of such disparagement has been found. This paper argues that (1) the extant Platonizing Sethian corpus, and in particular the tractate Zostrianos (nhc viii,1), envisions a complex hierarchy of types of souls, each correlated with both a different potential for visionary ascent and a corresponding position in the postmortem cycle of transmigration; that (2) Zostrianos tacitly suggests that the non-Sethian academic Platonists are those condemned to exile in the intermediary strata due to their cognitive overreach for the Good in the absence of Sethian revelation, and that (3) this reflects a gnostic deployment—against the Platonists themselves—of the supposedly Platonic injunction (in the 2nd Letter) that the soul’s attempt to comprehend the supreme principle, with which the soul has no kinship, inevitably leads to a fall into evil.
Demon est Deus Inversus: Honoring the Daemonic in Iamblichean Theurgy
Authors: Shaw Gregory
Published: May 2019

Iamblichus’s doctrine that the immortal soul becomes mortal is puzzling for Platonic scholars. According to Iamblichus, the embodied soul not only becomes mortal; as human, it also becomes “alienated” (allotriōthen) from divinity. Iamblichus maintains that the alienation and mortality of the soul are effected by daemons that channel the soul’s universal and immortal identity into a singular and mortal self. Yet, while daemons alienate the soul from divinity they also outline the path to recover it. Iamblichus maintains that daemons unfold the will of the Demiurge into material manifestation and thus reveal its divine signatures (sunthēmata) in nature. According to Iamblichus’s theurgical itinerary, the human soul—materialized, alienated, and mortal—must learn to embrace its alienated and mortal condition as a form of demiurgic activity. By ritually entering this demiurgy the soul transforms its alienation and mortality into theurgy. The embodied soul becomes an icon of divinity.
The Great God Pan
Authors: Johnston Sarah Iles
Published: May 2019

This essay starts from the premise that ghost stories of the late 19th and 20th centuries often engaged the same issues as older ‘gnostic’ treatises did (taking a particular line from Emanuel Swedenborg), but had the advantage of being able to describe encounters between humans and higher entities far more vividly than the treatises, and the corollary advantage of suggesting new ramifications of such encounters. It focuses on how such stories explore the possibility that, through encounters with higher entities who emerge as negative, protagonists discover that the divine world is either corrupt and ill-intended or (worse) completely meaningless. The first case, Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan (1890), is contextualized not only within contemporary reactions to Darwin’s theories of evolution (developing Adrian Eckersley’s study) but also contemporary conceptualizations of the debt that modern civilization owed to ancient Greece and Rome. The second examines how H.P. Lovecraft developed Machen’s ideas in ‘The Dunwich Horror’ (1929), where mastery of ancient languages unleashes horror. The third case, Peter Straub’s Ghost Story (1979)—an homage to Lovecraft and Machen—delivers an even darker ‘gnostic’ message: entities whom we assume to have purposes (even if dark purposes) have none at all; only the well-skilled narrative can bring them into order and save himself from perdition.
Alan Moore’s Promethea: Countercultural Gnosis and the End of the World
Authors: Hanegraaff Wouter J.
Published: May 2019

Alan Moore’s Promethea (1999 to 2005) is among the most explicitly “gnostic,” “esoteric,” and “occultist” comics strips ever published. Hailed as a virtuoso performance in the art of comics writing, its intellectual content and the nature of its spiritual message have been neglected by scholars. While the attainment of gnosis is clearly central to Moore’s message, the underlying metaphysics is more congenial to the panentheist perspective of ancient Hermetism than to Gnosticism in its classic typological sense defined by dualism and anti-cosmic pessimism. Most importantly, Promethea is among the most explicit and intellectually sophisticated manifestoes of a significant new religious trend in contemporary popular culture. Its basic assumption is that there is ultimately no difference between imagination and reality, so that the question of whether gods, demons, or other spiritual entities are “real” or just “imaginary” becomes pointless. As a result, the factor of religious belief becomes largely irrelevant, and its place is taken by the factors of personal experience and meaningful practice.
Gnostic and Countercultural Elements in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Hoodoo in America”
Authors: Guillory Margarita Simon
Published: May 2019

Over the last decade, religious studies scholars have given attention to Zora Neale Hurston’s “Hoodoo in America.” These works, however, have not considered the important role of gnosis in hoodoo. This article acts to extend this literature by examining how Hurston employs secret knowledge to advance a particular understanding of hoodoo. Specifically, I argue that Hurston’s ethnographic study of New Orleans hoodoo captures a system of African-derived magical practices that is characterized by both gnostic and countercultural elements. These elements in turn reveal an intricate relationship between gnosis, human agency, and material culture that finds expression in the complex ritual system of New Orleans hoodoo.
Deviant Christians: Romanization and Esoterization as Social Strategies for Survival Among Early Christians
Authors: DeConick April D.
Published: May 2019

This paper explores the relationship between deviance and esotericism, particularly as this relationship relates to the emergence of new religious movements and the processes of social accommodation and resistance. Applying sociological models for the study of deviance, I show how emergent Catholics use a variety of accommodation strategies to better fit into Roman religious expectations, constructing a public face to their worship along with ancestral ties. As they do this, the emergent Catholics dissociate themselves from other Christians, like groups with gnostic orientations, whom they have marked as different from themselves and a liability for the survival of Christianity. They begin to argue that these “other” Christians are the deviant ones, not themselves. Their willingness to Romanize certain aspects of their religion reduces the tensile relationship between their new religion and the surrounding society, increasing their ability to attract and maintain new recruits. To make matters more complicated, gnostic groups largely resist accommodation to Roman religious expectations, a strategy that powers their countercultural critique of the hegemony of Rome. They esoterize their groups by privatizing and converting their deviance into secret social capital. The choice to maintain their deviance by limiting access to their internal social networks affects their ability to recruit, grow, and sustain their communities in the long term. The social politics of deviance goes a long way to explain the rise of Catholicism and its domination over other forms of Christianity.
Dialogue in the Library: Jorge Luis Borges’s “The Circular Ruins” and His Re-reading of Gnostic Myths
Authors: Roig Lanzillotta Lautaro
Published: May 2019

Taking Jorge Luis Borges’s short story “The Circular Ruins” as a starting point, the current article assesses the presence of gnostic ideas in the work of the Argentinian author. After pondering the context and sources for Borges’s knowledge of gnosticism, and providing an overview of different Borgesian short stories that include gnostic motifs, it focuses on an analysis of several central notions in “The Circular Ruins.” A comparison between ancient and modern interpretations serves to evaluate the new meaning that gnostic motifs acquire in the literary framework created by the Argentinian writer. It concludes that Borges’s reception and re-elaboration of gnostic thought helps him both to express some of his central philosophical preoccupations and to update these ancient myths, making them accessible for modern readers.
Verb Plurality in Kushi: A First Appraisal
Authors: Batic Gian Claudio
Published: May 2019

It is a well-known fact that in Chadic languages the notion of verbal plurality falls into two categories: agreement plurality, where a plural subject requires a plural verbal form, and pluractionality, a form used to encode the iterativity (i.e. repetitiveness) or multiplicity (i.e. multiple effects on arguments) of an action. Kushi, a West Chadic language spoken in north-eastern Nigeria, presents both types of plural. In this article, I will illustrate the derivational strategies employed to encode verbal plurality in Kushi—suffixation, infixation, and gemination—showing the existing correlation between plural form and root shape (i.e. verb class). Interesting features of Kushi plurals are the existence of two plurality morphemes (one for non-subjunctive TAM paradigms and one for the subjunctive) and the quality of the final vowel in subjunctive plural verbal forms. All the data used in this paper have been collected in the framework of an on-going project of documentation and description of Kushi.
A New Interpretation of Some Drawings from the Hazine (Istanbul) and Diez (Berlin) Albums Illustrating the Tortoise and the Heron (or Crane)
Authors: Fontana Maria Vittoria
Published: May 2019

Nine ink drawings on as many pages—seven preserved at the Topkapı Sarayı Library in Istanbul (from H. 2152, 2153, and 2160) and two at the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin (from the Diez Albums), respectively—illustrate a tortoise apparently fighting with one or two herons (or cranes). Instead, a narrative context is suggested herein, dating back to the Indian oral literature, which derives from the Chinese one, and later encountering the Pañcatantra and the Islamic versions narrating the tale of the tortoise and the two geese, thus in some cases producing an iconographic-narrative synthesis of the two traditions. If the hypothesis is correct and the drawings actually do depict such a scene, the fact that the images follow a version of the tale that was little known in the Islamic world but probably more widespread in the Eastern world could contribute to the attribution of the drawings, as the bird species depicted—typical of central and southern Asia—would seem to confirm.
The Challenge of Populism
Authors: Dunn John
Published: May 2019

Populism is not a determinate political phenomenon, but a heuristic category deployed to diagnose the sources of danger to well established representative democracy through the workings of its core institutions. As a political charge, populism is deployed by defenders of established parties to denounce interlopers who threaten them at the ballot box and in less formal settings. When actualised, it is a natural political retribution for governmental ineffectuality in face of protracted crisis. Populism is no danger for Korea. The level of risk for populist triumph is the reciprocal of prior failure in democratic government. Both the Trump Presidency and the Brexit Referendum are populist responses to prior governmental failure in well-established democracies. Populism is always a consequence, not a cause, of political failure.
Genealogical Traces of Populism and Multiple Typologies of Populist Orientation in South Korea
Authors: Han Sang-Jin
Published: May 2019

This paper is aimed at two goals. The first is to outline major genealogical traces of populism in South Korea. The second is to develop multiple typologies of populist citizens. The first is speculative and comprehensive, while the latter is analytic and empirical. The major findings of the empirical analysis show significant attitudinal differences 1) between two groups of citizens: populist and conventionalist; 2) between two groups within populism, that is, power-oriented and public-oriented populist citizens; 3) between the neo-liberal populist and the welfare populist; and finally, 4) between the candlelight populist and the national flag populist. It is also found 5) that the multiple typologies of populist orientations are closely interrelated to merge into two distinct streams: one is conservative and the other is progressive. These findings yield many political implications that require further research and reflection.
Introducing Youth and Globalization and the Special Issue: The Rise and Fall of Cosmopolitanism
Authors: Cicchelli Vincenzo , Octobre Sylvie
Published: May 2019

Youth and Globalization is an academic forum for discussion and exchanges, a space for intellectual creativity on all questions relating to youth in a globalizing world. Its aim is to provide an innovative understanding of youth studies in a global context based on multiscalar, multilevel, multisite, and multidisciplinary approaches. Young people both are affected by and are the actors of the globalization of everyday life. Drawing on both theoretical and empirical research, the journal explores how young people relate to globality and its outcomes.

To open this discussion, the Journal starts with an issue devoted to understanding the global generation through the lenses of the cosmopolitan approach. It discusses four major criticisms and provides a counter position to. In the first case, cosmopolitanism is too often considered as a natural consequence of globalization, while in the second as being too ethnocentric. In the third case, cosmopolitanism has been assimilated to the ideology of contemporary global capitalism and in the fourth case it is mocked as a mere utopia. The papers gathered here investigate values, norms, behaviors and practices related to esthetic, cultural, ethic and political cosmopolitanisms.
Cosmopolitanism, Glocalization and Youth Cultures
Authors: Roudometof Victor
Published: May 2019

Globalization brings forth a geographical and thematic expansion of the scope of youth studies beyond the traditional topics of delinquency, studies of generations, and subculture. Youth has emerged as a topic for cosmopolitanism studies with a widespread tendency to use cosmopolitanism as a master narrative that leaves no conceptual room for considering ‘non-cosmopolitan’ on an equal footing. The article questions whether social research should be concerned with identifying the cosmopolitanism of youth or whether it should be concerned with examinations of the glocalization of world’s youth (sub-)cultures. In the article’s last section, I outline a research agenda that focuses upon the relationship between the world’s youth (sub-)cultures, on the one hand, and glocalization and trans-localization, on the other. Use of these concepts offers important insights into the youth's cultural practices and is an alternative to the master narrative of cosmopolitanization.
Do ‘Global Generations’ Exist?
Authors: Thorpe Christopher , Inglis David
Published: May 2019

There is today persistent debate in journalism and politics about social generations. Social scientists point out that young(er) people across the planet today seem to be in increasingly similar socio-economic, political and cultural situations. These involve shared forms of experience, as well as means of dealing with often highly challenging circumstances. A major debate at the intersection of social theory, globalization studies and youth studies is whether it makes sense to say that ‘younger’ people across the world today constitute one single ‘global generation’. Such ideas have been promoted by leading social theorists like Bryan S. Turner and Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim. The analysis of social generations stretches back to Karl Mannheim’s pioneering statements in the 1920s. It has been argued that the Mannhemian tradition is in many ways outdated, and needs to be subjected to profound refurbishment, so that it may better understand cross-border, trans-national, ‘cosmopolitan’ phenomena, involving global generations and the forces and mechanisms which create them. This paper argues that claims about ‘global generations’ made by the theorists are muddled, especially in terms of conflating generations and age cohorts, and are often deterministic. The problems derive partly from imperfect readings and usages of Mannheim’s original ideas. It is shown that these are much more ‘cosmopolitan’ and attuned to cultural phenomena than critics allege. While the paper is sceptical as to the potential of the global generations concept in general, nonetheless the ongoing relevance of Mannheim for future endeavours to improve uses of it are underlined.
Cosmopolitan Veiling in Paris: Young French Muslim Women in Transition
Authors: Silhouette-Dercourt Virginie , Saidou Sy Ousseynou , Desjeux Dominique
Published: May 2019

This paper focuses on the beauty and sartorial choices of young French Muslim women in the Paris area. Through biographies on their morning rituals, this article questions the notion of cosmopolitanism when it comes to their veiling practices. Research suggests that these young women, through their double presence in the world – as French citizens and as global citizens – are powerful agents of change of the dominant material culture and consumption. Their varied beauty and sartorial choices help them construct a coherent inner and outer self and manage social and gendered interactions, facilitating circulation. It is argued that wearing the hijab can be conceptualized as a new form of cosmopolitanism, neither ‘from below’ nor ‘from above’: it reframes a Eurocentric view of conflicts between religious and secular discourses in postcolonial times, as well as French fashion.
Global Brands, Youth, and Cosmopolitan Consumption: Instagram Performances of Branded Moral Cosmopolitanism
Authors: Bookman Sonia , Hall Tiffany
Published: May 2019

In this paper, we consider how global brands, through their growing involvement with corporate social responsibility, facilitate expressions of everyday, moral cosmopolitanism among youth. Focusing on the brands toms and H&M, we use a case study approach to examine how the brands establish contexts of consumption that support cosmopolitan performances – ways of being, feeling, or acting cosmopolitan with the brand. We also use Instagram research to explore how young people activate such cosmopolitan affordances through online activity. Focusing on the moral dimensions of cosmopolitan consumption, we contribute to existing work on aesthetic cosmopolitanism among youth by charting the different ways in which young people also express moral cosmopolitan ideals through their engagement with global brands. The paper provides a critical reflection on branded moral cosmopolitanism, outlining its contradictions, while drawing attention to the complexity of young people’s moral consumer cosmopolitanisms, as they emerge through entanglements of global brands, csr, consumption, and young people’s existing and aspirational orientations, interests, and lifestyles.