The Power of Language Use in the Mass Media: A Case of Opinion Court on Citizen Television, Kenya.

The study sought to investigate how power relations are constructed and negotiated in the talk show. A programme aired on Citizen Television. The following objectives guided the study: to describe the structure of the talk show in the opinion court programme; examine patterns that emerge in the programme and account for the patterns observed in the opinion court. Literature was reviewed on; talk show: opinion court, conversational Analysis and Language and power. The study was guided by the Sociology of Conversation Theory by Goffman (1967) and Conversational Analysis Theory. Purposive sampling method was used to select the television as opposed to radio, Citizen Television in particular and opinion court talk show programme, this was necessary because power and language interplay can best be examined when there are two opposing sides, and thus opinion court provided this forum. Data was collected through both direct viewings of the programme and audio-video recording of the conversation. The data were then transcribed, analyzed and described qualitatively aiming at establishing the structure and the patterns of the discourses. The findings of the study revealed that opinion court talk show had some structure and followed some patterns which could be accounted for. The study, therefore, concluded that the opinion court did not count because other smaller opinions emerged. This implies that power is won, held and lost in social struggles.

Observing Gender and Race Discourses in Probation Review Hearings

Much of the prior court literature has demonstrated gender and racial disparity exist across various decision-points. Less understood are the processes that produce this disparity, particularly in problem-solving courts. This article utilizes 100 observations of probation review hearings in three domestic violence courts to examine how judges, probation agents, attorneys, and probationers construct a probationer’s non-compliance. Using a critical discourse analysis approach, the author examined how probationers and their actions are constructed based upon gender and racial discourses. Gender differences in parenting responsibilities, mental health, and domestic violence discourses emerged, with racial differences in responsibility and mental health discourses.

Extraordinary Complaint in Civil Proceedings under Polish Law

The system of appeal measures in civil proceedings under the Polish law has been subject to profound evolution over the years. The Supreme Court Law of 8 December 2017 has introduced a new legal measure called the extraordinary complaint, which allows rebuttal of final judgments terminating respective proceedings. Extraordinary complaint examination has been entrusted to the newly established Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs Chamber of the Supreme Court. Literature has referred to this extraordinary measure of appeal as a total instrument with considerable material and temporal scope, allowing contestation of final judgements regardless of whether any legal measures had been applied in the course of respective proceedings and the type of measures used. Although parties to civil proceedings have gained another extraordinary measure of appeal, they have no real influence over its application. The expansion of the extraordinary appeal measures catalogue in Polish civil law proceedings has triggered multiple reservations as to the connection between parallel complaints. One should not assume a priori that the new extraordinary measure of appeal shall destabilise the legal system in Poland – albeit certain operational distortions seem realistic.

Institutions of writing and authorship

The chapter discusses the development of literature within its institutional and historical context, considering how patronage, a fledgling book market, and publishing conditions delineated the spaces of a literary field. The chapter looks at court literature and the ode as the definitive genre, examining its techniques and scope for variation. Literature began to flourish outside court, and the chapter traces the evolution of poetry into an amateur pastime. The discovery of poetic genius added to the delight afforded by poetry as a form of sociability. This innovation coincided with pre-Romantic trends and the nascent idea of national literature. The pleasure of literature extended into satirical journals and comedies that served as vehicles for social and political critique, at times even engaging the monarch in direct participation.

Gifting Melons to the Shining Prince

This chapter focuses on solving the mystery of cuisine during the Heian period (794–1185), Japan’s classical age, when court literature, poetry, and arts flourished. While literature from the era often addresses the carnal appetites of courtiers, accounts of actual foods and foodways are largely absent. The chapter puts together Heian-era references to food from various sources, including Buddhist morality tales, historical anecdotes, and poetry, to produce an account of the era’s conflicted attitudes toward food as a source of both guilt and pleasure, and as an important means of mediating human relationships. It also reveals that the foods of classical-era courtiers diverged from the contemporary “hallmarks of Japanese cuisine” such as aesthetics and seasonality, relying heavily on preserved and dried foodstuffs and served on plain, round dishes.