scholarly journals Myth and mythologization in ideology and politcs. The mythologization of Japanese identity in the Meiji period

2016 ◽  
pp. 134-146
Author(s):  
Marcin Lisiecki
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Precise Definition ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Regimes ◽  
Meiji Period ◽  
Japanese Identity ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Way

Myth and mythologization in ideology and politcs. The mythologization of Japanese identity in the Meiji periodIs myth a word or a thought? Searching for the etymological roots proves to show that it is both. However, does it really exhaust all the possible understandings of the myth and does it enable the grasp of its multiple usages? Answering those questions seems very important not only because we do not have the precise definition of a myth but mainly for that reason that we often fail to notice that it functions in all the societies and political regimes playing quite a vital role at the same time. The purpose of this paper is not only sketching the possible answers but also their exemplification through the example of Japan in the period of Meiji. The choice of that example results from that fact it is a conspicuous example of the way in which political elites are engaged in creating symbols and rituals and in shaping national awareness. The examples of the process of shaping national identity presented in this paper are focused on demonstrating two fundamental myths related to the Emperor, the aim of which was to consolidate the national identity. Mitologizacja japońskiej narodowości. Mit a mitologizowanie narodu. W stronę mitu politycznego w nowożytnej JaponiiCzy mit to słowo, czy myśl? Etymologicznie okazuje się jednym i drugim. Jednakże czy wyczerpuje to możliwe rozumienia mitu oraz umożliwia uchwycenie jego rozlicznych zastosowań? Odpowiedzi na te pytania wydają się niezwykle ważne nie tylko dlatego, że nie posiadamy precyzyjnej definicji mitu, lecz przede wszystkim z tego względu, że często nie dostrzegamy, że funkcjonuje on we wszystkich społeczeństwach i systemach politycznych, pełniąc w nich niezwykle ważne role. Celem niniejszego artykułu jest nie tylko zarysowanie możliwych odpowiedzi, lecz także ich egzemplifikacja na przykładzie Japonii w okresie Meiji. Wybór tego przypadku wynika z tego, że stanowi on czytelny przykład tego, w jaki sposób elity polityczne angażują się w kreowanie symboli i rytuałów oraz kształtowanie świadomości narodowej. Przedstawione w artykule przykłady procesu kształtowania tożsamości narodowej skupione są na ukazaniu dwóch podstawowych mitów związanych z cesarzem, których zadaniem było konsolidowanie tożsamości narodowej.

The “Open Texture” of Empirical Concepts and Linguistic Anti-Reductionism of Friedrich Waismann

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 110-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitaly V. Ogleznev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Precise Definition ◽  
Material Object ◽  
Open Texture ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Way

The article presents a careful analysis of the idea of the “open texture” of empirical concepts and the problems of verification in the way that they were formulated by Friedrich Waismann. The idea of the “open texture” means for Waismann a certain type of a linguistic indeterminacy or a sort of lack of definition, which must be distinguished from, and linked to, another types like vagueness or ambiguity. It is shown that empirical statements are not conclusively verifiable for two different reasons: the incompleteness of description of the material object and the open texture of the terms involved. We cannot conclusively verify statements in which the empirical concepts are used, because we cannot define these concepts in an exhaustive way because of their open texture. Thus, the definition of the concept will be incomplete. Waismann’s approach to definition plays here a key role, and it is directly related to the open texture of concepts. The author proposes interpreting the open texture as an immanent property of the concept, as something that is embedded in it a priori, and which can cause a vagueness. Nevertheless, an open texture must be distinguished form a vagueness. This leads to the conclusion that an open texture is a possibility of vagueness; vagueness can be remedied by giving more accurate rules, open texture cannot. In this sense, the “open texture” of a language allows for a more precise definition of concepts (by adjusting the definition) if appropriate circumstances arise. This justifies the thesis that the argument of the open texture is the ontological basis of the linguistic anti-reductionism of Friedrich Waismann.

scholarly journals National identity and institutional (re)construction in Serbia: Ideology, education, media

2002 ◽  
pp. 51-75
Author(s):  
Vladimir Cvetkovic
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
The Other ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Definition Of

In a new attempt to give a definition of Serbia national identity, it is of a decisive significance to make a connection between critically valued tradition from one side, and globalization requests from the other side. The fruitful connection between the old and the new is possible only if Serbia succeed in the construction of democratic and no corrupted state institutions that will create a rational consciousness of Serbia distinctness, as well as that of the values of exterior world. In this delicate affair of self-definition, the major responsibility lies on political elites and ideological projects openly or stealthily favored by them, that are reflected best in media (public opinion) and educational institutions.

scholarly journals On Lines of Flight: The Theory of Political Transformation in A Thousand Plateaus

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-456
Author(s):  
Edward Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Specific Question ◽  
Deleuze And Guattari ◽  
Direct Definition ◽  
General Meaning ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Way

The concept of the line of flight is used with striking regularity throughout A Thousand Plateaus where it plays a vital role in connecting the other conceptual innovations of the book, including the concepts of the assemblage and the machine. Despite its importance, Deleuze and Guattari never offer a direct definition of the concept, and the reader of A Thousand Plateaus is left to discern its meaning from its various uses. This is especially frustrating for those whose interest in the text is political and who wish to use the conceptual framework of the book to analyse the socio-political assemblages in which they live. In response to this issue, this paper offers a clear and concise introduction to the concept of the line of flight. Furthermore, by analysing the way in which Deleuze and Guattari use this concept in their political analyses of feudalism and capitalism, this article illuminates the more general meaning of the concept of the line of flight through the more specific question of its usage in Deleuze and Guattari's attempt to think a post-capitalist future.

Dominant Forms and Marginal Translations: Re-reading the Emergence of the Novel in Nineteenth-Century Japan

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-432
Author(s):  
James Garza
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Precise Definition ◽  
Local Context ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Prose Fiction ◽  
Meiji Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Franco Moretti ◽  
Definition Of

Franco Moretti has defined form as ‘the repeatable element of literature’. However, without a precise definition of the form(s) analysed in a given study, it is difficult to gauge what has been repeated. Moreover, no matter what guise we consider ‘form’ to take, the following objection remains: just because some element has been (or seems to have been) repeated, this does not mean that its function has been repeated too. In terms of Japanese literary history, perhaps no period better demonstrates this than the Meiji period (1868–1912). The main innovation of this paper is to adapt the text-linguistic notions of acceptability and intertextuality (see de Beaugrande and Dressler) to show that this period's ‘familiar history of rupture’ (cf. Zwicker) is indeed a valid framework for understanding the emergence of modern Japanese prose fiction. In this appeal to local context, I locate an alternative to the temptation to see, as Moretti does, an increasing amount of ‘sameness’ on the global literary stage.

Political Elites and the Question of Ethnicity and Democracy in Iran: A Critical View

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-102
Author(s):  
Hamid Ahmadi
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Instrumental Approach ◽  
Critical View ◽  
Ethnic Factors ◽  
The Way

This article presents a critical view of the contemporary studies in the realm of ethnicity and nationality in Iran. Discussing the conceptual, methodological and theoretical pitfalls of such studies, the author claims that the lack of an approach based on the historical sociology and the failure to consider the historical specificities of the Iranian case have distorted the issue of ethnicity and national identity in Iran. Considering the relation between ethnicity and democracy, the author argues that the way ethnicity and ethnic factors have been instrumentally politicised by the regional and international actors, as well as the domestic political elites, has created serious obstacles for the rise and consolidation of democracy in Iran. Such an instrumental approach toward the question of ethnicity in itself stems from the fact that the reality of the ethnic and national issues in the Iranian society has been misunderstood.

Initial Polymerization Sites Indicated During Mitochondrial Oxidation of Diaminobenzidine after Toluene Treatment

1977 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 408-409
Author(s):  
W. A. Shannon ◽  
M. A. Matlib
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Permeability ◽  
Cytochrome Oxidase ◽  
Rat Liver ◽  
Precise Definition ◽  
Cytochemical Localization ◽  
Oxidative Reaction ◽  
Mitochondrial Oxidation ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Exogenous Substrates

Numerous studies have dealt with the cytochemical localization of cytochrome oxidase via cytochrome c. More recent studies have dealt with indicating initial foci of this reaction by altering incubation pH (1) or postosmication procedure (2,3). The following study is an attempt to locate such foci by altering membrane permeability. It is thought that such alterations within the limits of maintaining morphological integrity of the membranes will ease the entry of exogenous substrates resulting in a much quicker oxidation and subsequently a more precise definition of the oxidative reaction.The diaminobenzidine (DAB) method of Seligman et al. (4) was used. Minced pieces of rat liver were incubated for 1 hr following toluene treatment (5,6). Experimental variations consisted of incubating fixed or unfixed tissues treated with toluene and unfixed tissues treated with toluene and subsequently fixed.

Remembering the Past in Nineteenth-Century Scotland

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
National Identity ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Collective Memories ◽  
The Past ◽  
Prevailing View ◽  
The Way

At a time when the Union between Scotland and England is once again under the spotlight, Remembering the Past in Nineteenth-Century Scotland examines the way in which Scotland’s national heroes were once remembered as champions of both Scottish and British patriotism. Whereas 19th-century Scotland is popularly depicted as a mire of sentimental Jacobitism and kow-towing unionism, this book shows how Scotland’s national heroes were once the embodiment of a consistent, expressive and robust view of Scottish nationality. Whether celebrating the legacy of William Wallace and Robert Bruce, the reformer John Knox, the Covenanters, 19th-century Scots rooted their national heroes in a Presbyterian and unionist view of Scotland’s past. Examined through the prism of commemoration, this book uncovers collective memories of Scotland’s past entirely opposed to 21st-century assumptions of medieval proto-nationalism and Calvinist misery. Detailed studies of 19th-century commemoration of Scotland’s national heroes Uncovers an all but forgotten interpretation of these ‘great Scots’ Shines a new light on the mindset of nineteenth-century Scottish national identity as being comfortably Scottish and British Overturns the prevailing view of Victorian Scottishness as parochial, sentimental tartanry

Authentic Culinary Tourism Experiences: The Perspectives of Locals

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan C. Graham
Keyword(s):  
Prince Edward Island ◽  
Precise Definition ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Culinary Tourism ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Napa Valley ◽  
Definition Of

Culinary experiences have long been an important aspect of tourism. For many destinations, culinary offerings have become ubiquitous with the place – pasta in Italy, wine in the Loire- or Napa Valley, or curry in India. As tourists increasingly seek out authentic touristic experiences, including culinary experiences, the question arises regarding what constitutes an authentic culinary experience in a place. While authentic and authenticity are terms widely used in the tourism literature, a precise definition of what those terms mean and a method for identifying that which is authentic remains elusive. Research regarding authenticity in tourism suggests that locals occupy a ‘place of privilege’ with respect to determining the authenticity of a touristic experience because of their connection to and context in relation to the place. This paper examines the perspectives of Prince Edward Island (PEI) residents with respect to what constitutes an authentic culinary touristic experience in which visitors to Canada’s smallest province can partake and that provide those visitors with a glimpse of what life in PEI is or was really like, and provides a voice for an underrepresented group in the authenticity discourse. Results show that authentic culinary experiences transcend food, and encompass people, places, and experiences in ways that enrich touristic endeavours, and that locals understand and interpret authenticity in ways that both conform to and differ from existing scholarly work related to tourism authenticity, and span objective, existential, and constructive authenticity.

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