Pluralistic Vision Research Articles

“A Logic of Camps”: French Antiracism as Competitive Nationalism

As the Charlie Hebdo and Copenhagen attacks starkly remind us, European multicultural policy continues to falter over the growth of public Islam. But long before these events, tension between competing visions of citizenship and nationhood had weakened the very civil society organizations that could shape such policy. In France, where non-governmental organizations had labored against discrimination for over a century, this conflict led to profound disaffection within the nation's powerful antiracism movement. Drawing from more than two years of ethnographic fieldwork among French antiracist NGOs, this article examines that disaffection among activists whose work in the name of cultural outsiders simultaneously served to rememorialize historic national traumas from the Dreyfus Affair to Algeria. Revealing a new despondency over sociolegal advocacy for Islam, some decried “infiltration” of communitarian voices into their erstwhile republican movement while others, under increasing pressure to adopt an emergent pluralist vision, equated this new model with foreignness itself. The resulting “crisis of antiracism” saw competitive reassertions of nationhood in the face of countervailing state discourses of European postnationalism. If writings on French multiculturalism to date have focused on Islamic piety and urban youth deviance, this article examines the significant impact these have had on France's preeminent social justice movement.

Pluralistic solutions to the problem of progress in positivist sociology in Russia between the end of XIX and early XX centuries

The paper analyzes the characteristics of a pluralistic vision of the world by the example of solutions to the problems of social philosophy developed by Russian positivists in the period from the end of XIX to the XX centuries. The study is carried out both in the theoretical and methodological as well as historical and philosophical terms to recreate the more complete picture of the social life of Russia of that period.

Greek Council of State

Ever since the days of Van Gend en Loos and Costa, national attitudes to the unilaterally proclaimed supremacy of EU law have invariably captured a great deal of academic and political attention. Since the mid-1990s most national constitutional courts have converged to the interpretative orthodoxy of a qualified acceptance of primacy, couched in a pluralist vision of the relationship between the EU and its Member States. As things stand at the moment, and especially against the backdrop of Declaration 17 of the Lisbon Treaty, primacy is expected to be the constitutionally recognised conflict resolution norm that national courts shall turn to in almost all circumstances.The Greek Council of State in its Judgment 3470/2011 does not break this pattern, even in the face of a politically sensitive issue. When considering whether an irrebuttable presumption of incompatibility between tenderers for public works contracts and owners or main shareholders of media corporations is permissible under EU law, the Greek court unequivocally accepts the relevant ECJ preliminary ruling in Michaniki and recalibrates its interpretation of the national constitution accordingly. In doing so, however, the Council of State reads an obligation for consistent interpretation into the constitution itself, thus turning the doctrine of indirect effect into a pragmatic tool for constitutional pluralism in action.

The Elusive West and the Contest for Empire, 1713-1763

Paul W. Mapp reframes the conventional US-centered history of the American West by studying the region’s claimants during the century preceding American supremacy. In the eighteenth century, three European nations (Great Britain, France, and Spain) and occasionally a fourth (Russia) strove to claim the territory that now forms the midwestern and western United States. According to Mapp, the failure of these powers to secure accurate geographical knowledge about the terrain (especially the Rocky Mountains) played a crucial role in their inability to establish hegemony over the territory. Of the three major powers, Britain remained the least interested in exploration overland into the interior of the continent, devoting its efforts instead to finding a northern water route from the Atlantic to the Pacific (the nonexistent Northwest Passage) and a second water route across the Pacific to the western coast of the present-day United States.France and Spain pursued the most aggressive land surveys of this territory prior to 1763. To explain how explorers from both countries failed to acquire sufficiently accurate geographic knowledge, Mapp points to the absence of a common language among the natives of the West. Indeed, no lingua franca existed among the many indigenous groups that served as informants for explorers from both countries. In California, where Spanish authorities expended most of their efforts, no common language or even language group existed. Even within today’s California there are more unrelated indigenous languages spoken than in any other state. Mapp also affirms that the French found similar linguistic diversity among the natives that they encountered as they journeyed south to the Gulf of Mexico and even New Mexico.In addition to these linguistic obstacles, Mapp notes the often violent push-back from resident natives. However, all Europeans faced armed opposition to their presence, including the British (and later the Americans). From the plains of Canada to Chile, subjugation of spread-out communities and especially nomadic groups remained slow, with conquests accumulating only over the course of decades and even centuries. In this respect, it would seem as though the perceived desirability of a territory would have influenced any decision to commit valuable military resources to it over an extended period of time. Most Latin American historians would have stressed the absence of valuable commodities to attract Spaniards to the West, especially when contrasted with the continuing wealth of silver pouring out of mines at this time in Mexico and Peru. Mapp, however, relegates this reason to a lesser place in the hierarchy of explanations.Additional factors highlighted by Mapp include the distance of the West from the established colonial centers of each group and the difficulties in reaching the interior of what is now the United States. Spaniards faced a lengthy and difficult overland trek to reach California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Coastal voyages were equally challenging: only a few reached as far north as an area near what is now San Francisco. Despite this struggle, Mapp faults Spanish explorers for failing to travel north of California, where they would have discovered the Columbia River and hence a path to the interior. French explorers in North America had a considerably less strenuous journey. They succeeded in traveling south from present-day Canada by following the flow of rivers into the vast Mississippi. Mapp also asserts that the French fundamentally misunderstood native mapping conventions. However, he suggests that by the time France ceded Louisiana to Spain in 1762, French explorers had learned enough to know that no easy path to the Pacific existed.Mapp does an excellent job of placing Spanish Bourbon political aims and actions in a multilateral and multinational context, moving the history of the American West toward a pluralistic vision encompassing the histories of French, Spanish, British, and, occasionally, Russian efforts that preceded the westward movement of people from the United States.

무용창작에 적용된 『로미오와 줄리엣』의 이중성 표현분석

이 연구는 세익스피어의 "로미오와 줄리엣"에 나타난 모순구조와 사랑의 이중성에 대한 실제 창작 작품을 분석하여 장면별 움직임의 적용과 의미연구를 시도하였다. 연구자는 작품에 나타난 모순구조와 사랑의 이중성을 versus(대(對))의미로 설정하고 이를 작품 "Romiet&Julio zwei Versus"로 창작하여 공연에 나타난 사랑의 이중성을 분석하였다. 분석도구는 라반의 동작분석방법으로 신체, 에포트, 공간, 쉐입의 네 가지로 구분하여 분석되었다. 분석결과 원작에 나타난 사랑의 이중성은 작가의 다원적 시각의 표현이며, 역설적 대비보다는 동질성의 극적구조로 나타났다. 창작 작품분석결과 사랑의 이중성은 궁극적으로 새로운 차원의 절대적 균형을 이루는 중요한 요인으로 작용되었음이 입증되었다. This study made an attempt to apply and meaningful research of the analysis of the scene with the actual creative work about the contradictory structure and the love of duality appeared in the Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". The researcher set up the meaning of versus (對) between the contradictory structure and the duality of love. So I analyzed the duality of love appeared on the creative performance named "Romiet & Julio zwei Versus". With the Laban's behavior analysis, the analyzing instruments were separated into four parts as the body, the effort, the space and the shape. As a result of the analyzing, the duality of love in the original work was the expression of the artist's pluralistic vision, and dramatic structure of homogeneity rather than the paradoxical contrast. After analyzing a creative work, the duality of love has been proven as an important factor with ultimately a new dimension of absolute balance.

Do Two Research Cultures Imply Two Scientific Paradigms?

In A Tale of Two Cultures, Gary Goertz and James Mahoney (2012) seek to describe two distinct social science cultures: “quantitative” and “qualitative.” Cultural differences such as these often provide an excuse for groups to retreat to separate sides, to wallow in in-group solidarity, and to prepare for a long and stubborn dispute instead of seeking compromise and agreement. Goertz and Mahoney profess no desire to start a civil war in the social sciences. They are, they tell us, merely anthropologists who have encountered the “Quant” and the “Qual” tribes and who want to catalog their distinctive characteristics. In doing so, they want to make sure that both groups get the respect they deserve for their cultural uniqueness. After a few preliminary chapters, Goertz and Mahoney march through 14 chapters that present contrasting observations on how the Quants and the Quals search for causal relationships, explicate and measure concepts, and undertake research design. The chapters are all relatively short. Each one briskly and pithily illustrates, as in a 19th-century travel book cataloging the oddities of remarkably different groups in far off lands, the differences between the Quants and the Quals. Because they find the Quants and the Quals to be different, Goertz and Mahoney conclude “there is no set of principles that unifies all social scientific work” (chap. 17, p. 220). The two cultures are different, and each should be allowed to thrive on its own terms, although “there is room for dialogue between the quantitative and qualitative paradigms” (p. 220). And “If we allow for some division of labor and the possibility of mixing the two cultures, we arrive at a pluralistic vision of social science” (p. 226).

The Four Freedoms and the Future of Religious Liberty

The First Amendment’s rights of speech, press, religion, and assembly were once “interwoven” but distinct. Together, these freedoms advanced a pluralist skepticism of state orthodoxy that protected religious and other forms of liberty. The connections among these rights were evident at the Framing. They were also prominent during the 1930s and 1940s, when legal and political rhetoric recognized the “preferred position” of the “Four Freedoms.” We have lost sight of the Four Freedoms, supplanting their unified distinctiveness with an undifferentiated free speech framework driven by unsatisfying concepts like content neutrality and public forum analysis. It did not have to be this way, and it may not be too late to change course. This Article seeks to renew the pluralist emphasis once represented by the Four Freedoms. The consequences of losing the pluralist vision are nowhere more evident than in the diminishing constitutional protections for religious groups, which are paradigmatic of the expressive, dissenting, and culture-forming groups of civil society. The Four Freedoms remind us that the boundaries of religious liberty have never rested solely in the First Amendment’s free exercise clause — religious liberty is best strengthened by ensuring robust protections of more general forms of liberty. But the normative effort to reclaim pluralism is not without costs, and it confronts powerful objections from anti-discrimination norms pertaining to race, gender, and sexual orientation — objections that cannot go unanswered.

Rediscovering America: The FWP Legacy and Challenge

This article examines the New Deal’s Federal Writers’ Project’s challenge and legacy to scholars seeking to create an FWP-inspired project today. It explores how scholars in various disciplines engaged in the “public turn,” which has contributed to university-community research and teaching projects, can gain perspective and insight from learning about the FWP’s goals and accomplishments. The article focuses on the FWP’s pluralistic vision of national identity, which led national FWP officials to examine American diversity in encyclopedic guidebooks and through oral history, ethnic, and folklore studies. By exploring why the work of the FWP was ignored for a long time and how its vision and work gradually reemerged, I seek not only to provide a history of the FWPs reputation but also to shed light on the opportunities and responsibilities the FWP offers to current efforts to create new FWP-like projects for a new time.

No longer youthful, but not yet middle-aged: thirty years of the Journal of Cultural Geography

With its establishment, the Journal of Cultural became the first scholarly English-language serial publication devoted to cultural geography. Discussions about creating such a journal had begun in the late 1970s, and the first issue of the Journal of Cultural (JCG) was published in 1980. This year we celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of that significant event, with an eye to the fact that 1980 was a remarkable year for cultural for other reasons as well. Notably, that year also saw the publication of A Plea for Cultural Geography by Peter Jackson, The Superorganic in American Cultural Geography, by James Duncan, and J. M. Blaut's A Radical Critique of Cultural Geography. It is more than a little ironic that the first issue of the JCG coincided with the emergence of the so-called cultural geography and the beginnings of the cultural turn in academia more broadly. Facetiously, one might be tempted to ask, of the publications mentioned above diverges most from the others? Jackson's plea was for a reconciliation of the practice of British social with American cultural geography. He wrote (1980, p. 113), Cultural can finally only be of interest to the British geographical profession if it can successfully accomplish a rapprochement with social geography, in a joint commitment to study the spatial aspects of social organization and human culture--not just those aspects which are directly observable in the landscape. Duncan was also simultaneously addressing problems with the practice of cultural geography. Duncan's article remains among the most strident indictments of the theory of culture as invoked by Sauer and some of his students at Berkeley. Blaut, who had been a student of Fred Kniffen's at Louisiana State University, took issue with the conventional, elitist position of academic cultural geographers and urged them to consider the relationship between their practice of cultural and the reinforcement of ideologies of domination. He specifically called for a greater attentiveness to oppressed groups, class and gender differences, and the importance of power as a factor influencing cultural patterns and processes. Despite the stridency of Duncan's article, only two responses to it were published in a subsequent issue of the Annals: one by Miles Richardson and the other by Richard Symanski. (1) This was perhaps the result of an editorial decision made for reasons of space but tellingly, neither Richardson nor Symanski strictly identifies as a cultural geographer. Other geographers have commented, often in passing, on Duncan's article (see, for example, Solot 1986). Still, it was not until 1994 and the publication of The Reinvention of Cultural Geography by Marie Price and Martin Lewis that a direct response, other than in the form of brief commentaries, was published. Thus, it is curious but not entirely surprising that the JCG remained aloof from the debates and discussion that helped to define the subfield. But why this aloofness? Four possible explanations for not engaging in this debate come to mind: (1) such debates were considered much too internal and specific to geography, were contrary to the journal's interdisciplinary position, and were not part of its original mission; (2) good work in cultural should speak for itself and does not need further justification; (3) contributors to the journal had little interest in either debating the nature of cultural or engaging theoretical issues or currents in their research and publications; (2) or (4) starting a new journal and producing the first several issues of it is labor-intensive enough as it is and the emphasis at the time was on establishing and receiving a regular flow of manuscripts. Whatever the reason, the journal has always championed a pluralistic vision of cultural geography. Price and Lewis (1994, p. …

Ciudadanía intercultural: diversidad, diferencias, tolerancia y paz

El mundo actual se debate dentro de una problemática que afecta los diversos ámbitos de la vida planetaria; entre ellos la destrucción fratricida que empuja a la sociedad y la cultura hacia grados límites de violencia. El desconocimiento del Otro diverso conduce a obviar los modos distintos de pensar, sentir, actuar y disentir de las culturas y sus identidades múltiples. De aquí que la búsqueda de la paz, con sentido de convivencia humana, sea una constante preocupación para reconocernos en la alteridad social. Un punto clave de esta aspiración es aceptar la hibridación sociocultural en la construcción de la ciudadanía, con una visión pluralista que se afirme en el diálogo y la tolerancia, como nuevos modos de encontrarnos y resolver los conflictos que amenazan la coexistencia en el universo planetario.

Discourses of American national identity: echoes and lessons from the 1910s–1920s

Anti-immigration sentiment is intricately connected to an ethno-racial conception of American national identity, a connection that has deep roots in American politics and is increasingly visible in recent debates surrounding immigration. To support this claim, the article begins with an examination of the multiple traditions approach to American national identity which, in turn, frames a discussion of three recent incidents in US politics that illustrate the fusion of anti-immigrant sentiment and an ethno-racial national identity. It then illustrates how these incidents echo and recycle similar dynamics from the 1910s–1920s before examining the arguments of Horace Kallen and Randolph Bourne, both of whom defended forms of cultural pluralism as a counter-discourse to the anti-immigrant nativism, restrictionism, and 100% Americanism of the era. Their arguments are then evaluated to assess whether they remain useful in our current era. Despite some limitations, the insights of Kallen and Bourne can serve as a counter-discourse that helps bolster present-day arguments in favor of a more inclusive, pluralistic, egalitarian, and democratic vision of national identity in the US.

Addressing the moral quandary of contemporary universities: rejecting a less than human moral education

Whereas a consensus used to exist that universities had the responsibility to make students more fully human, today one finds scholars claiming that universities should form only certain aspects of a student’s identity or should draw primarily from only certain aspects. In other words, scholars support the claim that the university should or should not undertake a certain kind of moral education by appealing to a particular aspect of human or institutional identity. In this paper, we survey two such arguments regarding moral education in the university as well as a third option that leaves open the possibility of an approach to moral education grounded in a specific kind of humanism. The paper then evaluates these arguments and contends that the vision for moral education with a pluralistic humanistic vision provides the best vision for moral enquiry and formation in higher education.

Toward a Cosmopolitan Legal Order?

The Divided West is a collection of essays and interviews, some of which are published in English for the first time, in which Jürgen Habermas explains his views on cosmopolitanism, Iraq, and the prospects for European unification. The thesis holding the collection together is that, by institutionalizing international relations, we will take a step closer to establishing a cosmopolitan legal order. In such an order, according to Habermas, the divided West—which is divided between the normative aspirations of a European Union committed to a pluralistic vision of world politics, and the realist and increasingly hegemonic policies of the United States—will be reconciled. On the surface, given its focus, The Divided West represents a topical survey of and contribution to contemporary discussions about international politics. On a deeper level, Habermas clearly takes a stance in the latest turn of the debate between realists and idealists, arguing that, by codifying and institutionalizing legal procedures at the transnational and supranational levels, we will promote international peace and enhance international security. Through law, Habermas emphasizes repeatedly, power politics can potentially be eradicated. Intent on showing, therefore, that an alternative to the present international order does exist and that this alternative does not confirm the tenets of realpolitic, Habermas openly criticizes the policy of hegemonic unilateralism pursued by the Bush Administration. At the same time, he takes issue with Carl Schmitt's vision of a global order based on competing and incommensurable hemispheres—a vision recently revived in Chantal Mouffe's (2005) writings on multipolarity. Habermas also rejects Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri's (2000) case for a dispersed empire as an alternative vision of world order because it dismisses international law as an instrument of the interests of the most powerful states. Thus, for anyone interested in contemporary intellectual efforts to imagine a more peaceful and equitable world order, The Divided West is a must-read, even if some longstanding and serious questions about Habermas' argument remain unanswered in it.

"Flying Home": Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, and the Black Folk During World War II

This article examines the theories of the black folk (those African Americans understood to constitute a folk group) as an economic, cultural, and literary category in the wartime writing of Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison. It rereads this work within the context of current scholarship that historicizes and contests the construction of the folk in folklore and literary theory and their applications. This article has a particular focus on the numerous and uncollected articles by Ellison and on the oral history narratives he recorded for the Federal Writers' Project. While both writers initially adopted a Marxist perspective on the folk, as defined by Wright's "Blueprint for Negro Writing" (1937), the work of Ellison and Wright diverged from this platform, though in radically different ways. Ellison's perspective developed to encompass a cultural nationalist position that was, in turn, deeply embedded in a pluralist and syncretic vision of American culture. In African American folk culture, Ellison limned a political agenda for activism. Wright, in contrast, aligned himself with the views of Gunnar Myrdal, which Ellison disputed. Recovering and delineating the ways in which Ellison's construction of the black folk ultimately diverges from that of Wright is a key element in the rereading of the cultural politics of wartime African American writing.

Reformulating the Guatemalan State: The Role of Maya Intellectuals and Civil Society Discourse

Guatemala's 1996 Peace Accords (particularly the Agreement on Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples) and the participation of certain Maya intellectuals in recent governments open new possibilities for indigenous peoples to see themselves as a nation and to provide that nation with ethnic-cultural content. However, the vision of the country's elite does not correspond to that of most Maya intellectuals. Some emphasize ethnic-cultural aspects and forms of ethnic autonomy while others have a more wide-ranging and pluralistic vision based on a more national and intercultural perspective. The process of providing the government with new and legitimate bases and the nation with cultural content merits study. This article examines this process based on interviews with Maya intellectuals and ladino leaders as well as the content of public speeches and essays.

“A Modern, Integral, and Open Understanding”: Sunni Islam and Lebanese Identity in the Makassed Association

Lebanon’s violent past and sectarian strife have made the country’s name synonymous with violence and disunity. Yet the discourse of at least one Lebanese religious institution can complicate the simplistic narrative about a country of warring religious groups with no national sentiments. The writings produced by the Makassed Philanthropic Islamic Association of Beirut, a Sunni Islamic charitable organization that operates over 42 schools throughout Beirut and the rest of Lebanon, continually describe an identity that includes both religious and national components. This article discusses how these Sunni schools express simultaneously their religious and national affiliations. Their presence in a diverse society such as Lebanon, with its large Muslim population, requires a reconsideration of the interplay between national affiliation and Islamic education. In addition, this article examines how the Makassed Association reconciles these two concepts by embracing a pluralistic vision of Lebanese society. To do this, the article looks at the association’s publications both in the 1980s and today to understand how the association consistently articulated its Sunni-ness and Lebanese-ness as equally important and relevant parts of its identity.

Vodou: A Sacred Multidimensional, Pluralistic Space

Abstract. This paper uses the language of Vodou doctrine to articulate its key tenets and speak to how the challenge of plurality or diversity in the twenty‐first century has been and continues to be addressed among African and Afro Atlantic spiritual leadership. Following the slave trade and colonialism's aftermath, a pluralistic vision, reflecting the harsh new global order, permitted spiritual sustainability by reconfiguring African ontologisms. Embracing pluralism through annexation of non‐native spiritual practices augmented the power of African rulers, providing them with other epistemes and access to spiritual forces they believed enhanced their position. The issue of preparing for the priesthood in a global or pluralistic society is examined in this essay through the historical and metaphysical framework that shaped the making of our societies.

Toward a Pluralistic Vision of Methodology

Toward a Pluralistic Vision of Methodology

Toward a Pluralistic Vision of Methodology

The discussion of qualitative and quantitative research methods in political science has followed a “long arc of development,” according to Andrew Bennett (this symposium). He sees our bookRethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Standards(RSI) as a “key turning point” in this development and as contributing to a more pluralistic vision of methodology. We would certainly be gratified if we have indeed made this contribution. Yet this is an ongoing discussion, and this symposium points to fruitful directions this discussion can take.

Stirring the Frequentist Pot with a Dash of Bayes

Rethinking Social Inquiry (RSI) is a key turning point in a long arc of development and contestation within and between qualitative and quantitative research methods in the social sciences. It builds on and further advances three important trends in these research methods: a renaissance in qualitative methods in the last decade, the continuing refinement of statistical and formal methods, and a nascent convergence of methodologists of all kinds behind a more pluralistic vision of methodology that includes growing interest in multimethod work. RSI achieves these contributions not just substantively but symbolically, bringing together leading methodologists in the quantitative and qualitative traditions, most notably the editors themselves, to address the tough issue of what would constitute shared standards for good research regardless of method. Although much of the initial commentary on RSI will no doubt focus on its critiques of Designing Social Inquiry, I suspect that in the long run the subtitle of RSI (“Diverse Tools, Shared Standards”) better captures what will be its lasting contribution to the social sciences.