title: Islamophobia: ignorance, imagination, identity and interaction

authors: Pratt, Douglas

subjects: Islam

abstract: In much of Western society it remains regrettably the case that contemporary perception – or the imaging – of Islam is dominated by misrepresentation and distortion that derive, by and large, from misunderstanding and ignorance. Fear of the ‘other’, when the ‘other’ is Muslim, is fear of Muslims per se, and also often of their religion, Islam – so Islamophobia. In this article I shall examine what is meant by and what is the effect of, such ignorance and outline an analysis of the process of imaging Islam – a process that arguably lies at the heart of Islamophobia. I shall also address the question of identity, specifically the issue of ‘exclusive identity’ and problems that relate thereto. I shall conclude with a discussion of dialogical ‘interaction’ as a relational modality that may yet challenge and ameliorate the rising tide of Islamophobia.

text: Islamophobia: ignorance, imagination, identity and interaction In much of Western society it remains regrettably the case that contemporary perception – or the imaging – of Islam is dominated by misrepresentation and distortion that derive, by and large, from misunderstanding and ignorance. Fear of the ‘other’, when the ‘other’ is Muslim, is fear of Muslims per se, and also often of their religion, Islam – so Islamophobia. In this article I shall examine what is meant by and what is the effect of, such ignorance and outline an analysis of the process of imaging Islam – a process that arguably lies at the heart of Islamophobia. I shall also address the question of identity, specifically the issue of ‘exclusive identity’ and problems that relate thereto. I shall conclude with a discussion of dialogical ‘interaction’ as a relational modality that may yet challenge and ameliorate the rising tide of Islamophobia.

year: 2011

title: Energy efficiency: A comparative analysis of the New Zealand legal framework

authors: Eusterfeldhaus, Marcel

abstract: Energy-efficiency laws and policies have great ability to improve economic wellbeing and human health, while reducing the adverse effects of energy use on climate and the environment generally. New Zealand, like many countries, has a legal framework for energyefficiency measures, including a specialist agency, a process for strategic planning and the making of regulations. This framework has certain strengths, but shows deficiencies in its use of strategies. Its use of regulation for labelling and minimum energy performance standards is similar to that of a number of other countries. In this article, New Zealand law on energyefficiency is compared with that of California and Germany. Insights from social sciences and behavioural economics have considerable promise in the design of energy-efficiency measures. However, a clear legal framework is necessary to put energy efficiency at the heart of energy policy, and to pursue it with conventional legal regulatory measures.

text: Energy efficiency: A comparative analysis of the New Zealand legal framework Energy-efficiency laws and policies have great ability to improve economic wellbeing and human health, while reducing the adverse effects of energy use on climate and the environment generally. New Zealand, like many countries, has a legal framework for energyefficiency measures, including a specialist agency, a process for strategic planning and the making of regulations. This framework has certain strengths, but shows deficiencies in its use of strategies. Its use of regulation for labelling and minimum energy performance standards is similar to that of a number of other countries. In this article, New Zealand law on energyefficiency is compared with that of California and Germany. Insights from social sciences and behavioural economics have considerable promise in the design of energy-efficiency measures. However, a clear legal framework is necessary to put energy efficiency at the heart of energy policy, and to pursue it with conventional legal regulatory measures.

year: 2011

title: The utterance, the body and the law: Seeking an approach to concretizing the sacredness of Maori language

authors: Mika, Carl Te Hira

subjects: Maori language

abstract: In what possible ways does the sacredness of a language have application in an everyday, concrete sense – in a contemporary context? If we want to discuss the sacredness of language, can we conceptualise such sacrality in anything other than an abstracted form? I will consider some places where a proposed sacredness of the Maori language might come to bear, and will particularly question its usage within the process of the law. My primary aim in this article is to conceive of ways, however hypothetical, by which the sacredness within Maori language might be removed from its current role of discursive entity and into the active life of the speaker. Thus Maori language, even in its colonized form, may once more take its own place within the spheres of the practical and the sacred at the same time.

text: The utterance, the body and the law: Seeking an approach to concretizing the sacredness of Maori language In what possible ways does the sacredness of a language have application in an everyday, concrete sense – in a contemporary context? If we want to discuss the sacredness of language, can we conceptualise such sacrality in anything other than an abstracted form? I will consider some places where a proposed sacredness of the Maori language might come to bear, and will particularly question its usage within the process of the law. My primary aim in this article is to conceive of ways, however hypothetical, by which the sacredness within Maori language might be removed from its current role of discursive entity and into the active life of the speaker. Thus Maori language, even in its colonized form, may once more take its own place within the spheres of the practical and the sacred at the same time.

year: 2007