Cultural Magazine Research Articles

Caribbean Poetry in Papiamentu

Caribbean Poetry in Papiamentu Igma van Putte-de Windt (bio) Translated by Monique S. Pool (bio) Literature, especially poetry, in the Creole language Papiamentu is important to the inhabitants of the three Caribbean islands, Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, which are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and populated by diverse peoples and cultures. Papiamentu in these Leeward Islands was not imposed by any external source but rather evolved as the indigenous language. Yet, although Papiamentu has been spoken in the Antilles from the very beginning of the slave trade, poetry was written in the languages of the European oppressors until the 20th century: most writing was done in Spanish, to a lesser degree in French and even more sparingly in Dutch, languages considered “civilized.” Papiamentu was relegated to the status of “a very poor language” and “damaging to the intellect of children,” words taken from a Dutch document from the last century. 1 The First Milestone: J.S. Corsen (Curaçao 1853–1911) At a very young age, our forefathers learned that Papiamentu was not a language but a dialect or a primitive language without any grammar. Indoctrinated as they were, those who knew how to write did so in “civilized” languages. The first to recognize Papiamentu as a literary language was J.S. Corsen, who has been called the father of Papiamentu literature, having published the first poem in Papiamentu, entitled “Atardi” [Evening] in La Cruz. 2 La Cruz was the daily which usually spoke up for Papiamentu and defended it as cultural language. “Atardi” describes the feeling of unease that affects us as evening darkness approaches threateningly. I can remember how this poem would be recited with much pathos at parties. “Atardi” was very well received, earning marvellous reviews, not in the least because it was written in Papiamentu. It could be said that the use of Papiamentu in this poem, especially at that time, was the onset of a verbal rebellion within literature. It is a pity that J.S. Corsen wrote only a few poems in Papiamentu; his preferred language of poetry was Spanish. In his Papiamentu poem “Ata nubia” [There Are the Clouds], he treats a theme that would inspire many later poets: our native land, not withstanding all its shortcomings, still instills pride in us all. In this poem, Corsen shows how time and again everyone expectantly watches the approaching clouds, hoping for rain, only to be disappointed when the clouds blow over. Second Milestone: The Simadán Generation of Poets Although Antilleans became aware at the beginning of this century that Papiamentu was a suitable language for poetic expression, it was not until 1950, the year in which the Papiamentu literary and cultural magazine Simadán was established, that we can speak of an actual [End Page 654] generation of Papiamentu poets, a generation that under the guidance of Pierre Lauffer composed in Papiamentu. Simadán offered a creative platform for the Antilleans to manifest themselves, to extol the possibility of expressing their feelings in Papiamentu. However, even the Simadán poets believed that “Papiamentu has without doubt not the same opulence as the other languages of our island.” 3 At the same time, the editors argued Papiamentu to be a language fit for poetry, a language “which unites Kòrsou and all its children.” The Simadán group (not the editorial board) consisted of Pierre Lauffer, Nicolás Piña, Raphael Martinez, René de Rooy, Luis Daal, Jules de Palm, Tip Marugg and Chal Corsen. Simadán was issued only twice and became defunct as a result of a controversy among the members of the editorial team, a controversy between those who adhered to the conservative lyrical movement (R. de Rooy and N. Piña) and those who were more interested in experimental, abstract poetry (T. Marugg and Chal Corsen). Pierre Lauffer (Curaçao 1920–1981), composer of lyrical, realistic and rhythmic poetry, published as early as 1944 Patria [Fatherland], a collection of poems completely written in Papiamentu. The title indicates its subjects: Curaçao, people, nature, feelings. Although not every poem in this book achieves the height of his later work, Patria had an enormous impact. It showed that...

Vancouver Sath: South Asian Canadian Theatre in Vancouver

Vancouver Sath began in 1982 as an informal discussion forum by a group of politically conscious Punjabi writers and community activists. We were actively involved in ongoing struggles such as fighting against racism and fighting for farm workers’ rights. Some of us had been struggling to keep Watno Dur, a monthly Punjabi literary and cultural magazine alive. There was a feeling of stagnation among the literary and cultural circles, and we wanted something different to happen. Moreover, we felt that numerous issues that demanded serious attention were arising as a result of the demographic growth of the community during that period.

The Reception of Albert Renger-Patzsch's Die Welt ist schön

No history of photography or publication on the photography of the 1920s fails to mention the photo-book Die Welt ist schön. Regarded as a ‘manifesto of the revival of Realism,’1 and hailed as the ‘bible’ of Neue Sachlichkeit photography,2 ‘hardly any other book has influenced a generation of photographers to the same great extent and with such long-lasting effects as this volume‘.3 It was the book's tide in particular that was received like a catchword and influenced the reception of this photographic volume: ‘The tide became symbolic for an attitude of Neue Sachlichkeit to the world and the book was acknowledged as the ideal volume of Neue Sachlichkeit photography’.4 Hitherto in the history of the book's reception, this opinion has been restricted primarily to the reference to Walter Benjamin's well-known negative critique of 1931.5 Amongst the multitude of reviews of Die Welt ist schon, it is Benjamin's assessment which is most frequendy cited in the literature. That Benjamin was able to neglect explicidy mentioning Renger-Patzsch's name and to refer merely to the tide of the book can be interpreted as proof of the great fame of this photographic author. In fact, Die Welt ist schön had by this time been reviewed in nearly all leading cultural magazines and daily newspapers and evaluated as an exemplary volume of a modem, neusachliche photography. For critics such as Benjamin, however, the tide was synonymous with a new, sterile ‘l’art pour l'art' photography which manipulated reality and denied social contexts. But to confine negative criticism of Die Welt ist schön to the political left and its praise to a more conservative attitude is too simple a model as becomes apparent when all of the reviews are taken into consideration. Karl With's attempt to summarize the contradictions of this picture book may be cited here: ‘Ein seltsames Buch!} (A strange book!). Exciting in its busding abundance, as well as in its silence’.6

History of Sport Psychology in Cultural Magazines of the Victorian Era

The 19th century can be characterized as a time of avid public interest in team and spectator sports. As diverse and challenging new sports were developed and gained popularity, many articles on a rudimentary sport psychology began to appear in cultural magazines in the United States and Great Britain. Athletes, physicians, educators, journalists, and members of the public wrote on topics such as profiles and psychological studies of elite athletes, the importance of physical training, exercise and health, and the detrimental effects of professional sports to the role of age, gender, and culture in sports. Although a scientific foundation for such observations was largely absent, some of the ideas expressed in early cultural magazines anticipate contemporary interests in sport psychology.

Viz.The naming of the pose[1

Abstract Viz is the popular cultural magazine. This article addresses its significance for men, as its major purchasers and readers. A number of masculinist narratives are identified: conforming men/confirming masculinity; cautious men/calculating masculinity; contrary men/contradictory masculinities; courting men/comforting masculinity. The deeper structures of the text are also examined by an analysis of anal, testicular and buttockic discourses. The intertwining of these discourses is displayed in the reproduction of the parthenogenetic myth, in which men are the reproducers of each other and women are constructed as disposable. Viz thus appeals to an overwhelming male narcissism.

Impending Modernity: Fascism and the Ambivalent Image of the United States

The fascist portrayal of the United States in the interwar period followed a parabolic trajectory. From a casual interest in the regime's early years there followed, in the second half of the 1920s, a growing curiosity. But it was above all in the following decade, and especially as a result of the 1929 crash and the coming of the New Deal, that interest in American politics, culture and society on the part of various intellectuals, writers, men of letters, journalists and occasional travellers, both fascist and non-fascist, increased rapidly, only to decline again during the war. A brief enquiry shows that ten books on the United States were published in Italy between 1922 and 1929, fifty-one between 1930 and 1940, and seven between 1941 and 1943. The majority of these books, like most of the articles published by fascist political and cultural magazines, projected directly or indirectly a certain image of'American civilization'. It is not the aim of this article to give a complete survey of these images, nor to evaluate the extent to which they were rational, realistic or revealed a real knowledge of the country which lay behind the images and which, in many cases, was rather limited. This article will restrict itself to outlining some of the principal aspects of the image of the United States, in order to suggest how it was significant to fascist culture, especially in relation to the fascists' attitude towards modernity. If American civilization was 'the most stupendous and powerful phenomenon of modernity in the world', as Luigi Barzini, Sr wrote in 1931,' Americanism was, for fascist culture, one of the main mythical metaphors of modernity, which was perceived ambivalently, as a phenomenon both terrifying and fascinating. The controversy about different images of America can be regarded as a variation of the

The Rise and Fall of the American Artists' Congress

In the fall of 1929, just after the stock market crash but before its effects were widely felt, a group of radical artists and writers in New York established the John Reed Club, named after the already legendary journalist, poet, and revolutionary activist. The founders, some of them members of the Communist Party, some loosely associated with the party's cultural magazine New Masses, were committed but restless young men in search of a focus for their political energies. Soon after the club began, the artist members created an art school, organized exhibitions, and sponsored a lecture series and discussion groups with emphasis on the practice and theory of art and art history from a Marxist point of view. As the Depression deepened, with dire consequences to artists dependent on an art market in a state of collapse, the John Reed Club's approach attracted growing attention.

The Rise and Fall of the American Artists' Congress

In the fall of 1929, just after the stock market crash but before its effects were widely felt, a group of radical artists and writers in New York established the John Reed Club, named after the already legendary journalist, poet, and revolutionary activist. The founders, some of them members of the Communist Party, some loosely associated with the party's cultural magazine New Masses, were committed but restless young men in search of a focus for their political energies. Soon after the club began, the artist members created an art school, organized exhibitions, and sponsored a lecture series and discussion groups with emphasis on the practice and theory of art and art history from a Marxist point of view. As the Depression deepened, with dire consequences to artists dependent on an art market in a state of collapse, the John Reed Club's approach attracted growing attention.

El valencianisme a Castelló en el segon decenni del segle XX

This paper presents an overall view of the reaffirmation of Catalan and of the orthographic and onomastic problems based on the cultural magazines which appeared in Castello berween 1910 and 1919. The role of «La Veu de Castello» an of Gaeta Huguet Breva's work is particularly noteworthy.

Counterculture and Dominant Culture Values: A Cross-National Analysis of the Underground Press and Dominant Culture Magazines

A content analysis of values in dominant culture magazines in the United States, Canada and Great Britain during 1957-59, 1967-69 and 1970-72 indicated a priority on instrumentalism and little shifting in overall value preference over time. This appears to be contrary to predictions made by counterculture observers that Western society was changing rapidly toward a countercultural ideology. A similar analysis of the underground press in the same countries during 1967-69 and 1970-72 revealed a marked shift from expressive priorities during the earlier period to political priorities during the later period. These findings and their implications are discussed.

Haram, masala og brede fælge - En komparativ analyse af journalistiske fortællinger om minoriteters identitet

The narrative is omnipresent in the formation of human identity as well as in the practice of journalism. Journalistic narrators construct narratives about communities every day, thereby supplying them with a given identity. This is highly relevant in the case of ethnic minorities. In recent years, two niche magazines have created forums for highly original narratives about the identity of ethnic minorities in Denmark: The culture magazine “Djembe” and Mads Brügger’s immigrant lifestyle magazine “Döner Magazine”. In this study, a comparative analysis of the two magazines shows two very different narrative strategies that journalists can pursue when narrating – and thus creating – a unique minority identity.

Self Help, Media Cultures and the Production of Female Psychopathology

Este artigo aborda conjuntamente trabalhos localizados na interseção entre a psicologia crítica e os estudos culturais para explorar a significação cultural e psicológica da cultura das revistas femininas. Apoiando-se na psicologia retórica e nos últimos trabalhos de Foucault sobre as ‘técnicas do eu’, ele explora as injunções e posicionamentos complexos, responsáveis pela criação de uma gama de ansiedades e dilemas ligados ao gênero, produzidos dentro das relações neoliberais. A auto-ajuda é discutida como uma prática que condensa, ou aproxima, uma gama de ansiedades culturais, tensões corporais, economias emocionais e formas de psicopatologias que são realidades vividas ‘já-constituídas’ para muitas das leitoras que convergem para estas revistas. O artigo conclui que uma maior aproximação dos teóricos culturais com a psicopatologia crítica permitirá aos estudos culturais trazerem o corpo de volta para a teoria cultural, e considerarem a tradução de injunções culturais através de designações de raça, classe, sexualidade e gênero.

ARTE – problems of creating a European TV Intercultural aspects at micro, meso and macro level at the European Culture Channel Arte

In communication science, the question of Europeanisation as well as a theory of interculturalism and multilingualism in the broader context of a ‘European identity’ has long been raised and discussed. Furthermore, empirical research has been searching for adequate methods to find an answer to this question so as to indicate whether the EU media landscape is coming closer together or drifting further apart. The European Culture Channel Arte started broadcasting in 1992. Since then, German and French TV editors have learned from each other how to produce formats appropriate for recipients of both nationalities or even a European audience. This article discusses possible changes towards Europeanisation through rapprochement and convergency exemplified by the French-German culture magazine programme Metropolis as well as by a diachronic scrutiny of changes in Arte’s general programming structure. Organisational theory and intercultural media analysis at micro, meso and macro level are employed as theoretical foundation.

Cosmic Phenomena of the Past

IN a paper, "Further References to Cosmic Phenomena in the Kitäb Al-Muntazam of Ibn Al-Jauzi, and a Few in Tärikh-E-Rähat Afzä (India)", a reprint from Islamic Culture, April, 1948, Mohd. Abdur Rahman Khan provides a short account of thirteen fireballs from A.D. 983 to A.D. 1031 ; three comets from A.D. 974 to A.D. 1056 ; a comet in A.D. 1741, a detonating fireball in A.D. 1742, and another one in A.D. 1757 and an earthquake at the same time (it is conjectured that the earthquake may have been due to the impact of a large meteorite with the ground), and a slight earthquake in A.D. 1759. This information is additional to that published by the same author in his brochure "Meteoric Showers, Past and Present", some of which was discussed by him in the Islamic Culture Magazine, 20, 4 (1946).

Our New Illiterate Class

JLLITERACY, like economy and Americanism, is capable of variant definitions. General misusage of term has lent connotation of inability to read and write. Such is not proper meaning, however. Illiteracy should connote an unfamiliarity with basic and contemporary literature of language, a manifest want of current culture. It is under such a broad definition that we have today an entirely new type of illiteracy among us. Too frequently illiteracy has been confused with lack of formal schooling. Recently dean of an Eastern university challenged this dictum with accusation that eighty per cent of our college graduates are illiteratetotally unwilling to grasp, or incapable of grasping, great cultural and literary traditions of their time. He doubted that average alumnus would ever again read a serious, post-commencement book or cultural magazine. This thesis challenges conception that the educated are literate, and thereby questions our whole system of public education, even up to and through our great universities. To date no embattled educators have seized pen to disprove such a serious charge. There have been scattered and disgruntled complaints from that type of college professor-the scholar-who likes to hypnotize himself into believing that scholarship is not projected beyond campus wall; yet there seems to be a growing, common-sense opinion-justesse-even on college campus, that many a Latin major and many a Ph.D. in archaeology are illiterate in their own current cultural environments. Much of this unfortunate condition has come about because educators have generally held that education and scholarship are dependent upon our written literature. Nothing could be further from truth in America of I940. Prior to last decade and since invention of printing press, as Professor Lloyd James has so frequently and ably said, scholarship was dependent upon written word, and tremendous power of spoken word fell into disrespect and neglect. That mediumoral literature which for centuries carried burden of Homeric epic, of Platonic dialogue, and of Pan-Hellenic gospels of Isocrates, is no longer considered of scholarly stature. Rhetoric, debate, dialogue, and oral literature have in recent times all but disappeared. Pseudo