Symbolic Perspective Research Articles

Стихия огня в русском поэтическом авангарде (Вели мир Хлебников и Даниил Хармс)

The article considers the element of fire as reflected in the motif and image structure of V. Khlebnikov’s and D. Kharms’ poetic works as two representatives of the Russian avant-garde. The author demonstrates that fire as an element in their poetry is ambivalent and multisided, as it can be both external and internal, it can be conditioned by physical and material processes and connected with the ideal and spiritual sides of people’s lives, it has a potential to create but it can also destroy, it can both be an object and a means of depiction. The main conclusion the author makes is that fire is a universal that, owing to its multifold nature, makes it possible to create meaningful symbolic perspectives thus enabling the poets to artistically express themselves.

The Qur’ānic Story of Joseph as a ‘History’ of the Human Soul

The Maghreb Review, Vol. 40, 3, 2015 © The Maghreb Review 2015 This publication is printed on longlife paper THE QUR’ĀNIC STORY OF JOSEPH AS A ‘HISTORY’ OF THE HUMAN SOUL MOHAMMED RUSTOM∗ INTRODUCTION The point of departure in this article will be the classical principle which says that some parts of the Qurʾān explain other parts of the Qur’ān (al-Qur’ān yufassiru bafiḍuhu bafiḍan). 1 My basic assumption is that, as a self-contained text, the Qur’ān not only suggests that we see its verses in light of other verses and passages, but it demands that we do so. And, if this applies to the use of words and phrases, then the same holds true for clusters of key Qur’ānic ideas, concepts and themes. I will here be concerned with relating this abovementioned intertextual principle to two sections of the Qur’ān, namely the story of Joseph (12:3–101) and parts of Sūrat al-Tīn, ‘The Fig’ (95:4–6). More specifically, an attempt will be made to demonstrate that the Qur’ānic story of Joseph serves as a perfect ‘commentary’ upon the relevant verses of Sūrat al-Tīn, with respect to both structure and meaning. But to see the story of Joseph in this light, one must assume a symbolic perspective as opposed to the more literary and dramatic approaches that are commonly applied to the story, and often with considerable insight and interest. 2 My approach to the story of Joseph is thus informed by and somewhat akin to the more ‘esoteric’ interpretations it has traditionally received in texts of Sufism and Islamic philosophy. 3 ∗ Carleton University, Canada This article has benefited from the critical comments of a number of colleagues. Particular thanks go to Waleed Ahmed, Yousef Casewit, William Chittick, Aasim Hasany, Hany Ibrahim and Todd Lawson. 1 For a general treatment of this principle, see Muhammad Abdel Haleem, Understanding the Qur’an (London: I.B. Tauris, 1999), ch. 12. 2 See, in particular, Anthony Johns, ‘Joseph in the Qur’ān: Dramatic Dialogue, Human Emotion and Prophetic Wisdom’, Islamochristiana , Vol. 7, 1981, pp. 29–55; Todd Lawson, ‘Typological Figuration and the Meaning of “Spiritual”: The Qur’anic Story of Joseph’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 132, No. 2, 2012, pp. 221–244; Mustansir Mir, ‘Irony in the Qur√ān: A Study of the Story of Joseph’, in Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the Qur√ān, edited by Issa Boullata (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 2000), pp.173– 187; Mir, ‘The Qur’anic Story of Joseph: Plot, Themes, and Characters’, The Muslim World, Vol. 76, No. 1, 1986, pp. 1–15; James Morris, ‘Dramatizing the Sura of Joseph: An Introduction to the Islamic Humanities’, Journal of Turkish Studies, Vol. 18, 1994, pp. 201– 224. 3 Some representative materials and pertinent secondary scholarship can be found in Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. ‘Joseph i.: In Persian Literature’ (by Asghar Dadbeh) and Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. ‘Joseph ii.: In Qur√ānic Exegesis’ (by Annabel Keeler). One may also consult Paul Nwyia, ‘Un cas d’exégèse soufie: l’Histoire de Joseph’, in Mélanges offerts à Henry Corbin, edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Tehran: McGill University, Institute of Islamic Studies, Tehran Branch, 1977), pp. 407–423 and my commentary upon Sūra 12 in The Study Quran (for which, see the following note). THE QUR’ĀNIC STORY OF JOSEPH AS A ‘HISTORY’ OF THE HUMAN SOUL 281 SOME PREPARATORY REMARKS Qur’ān 95:4–6 reads as follows: ‘Truly We created man in the most beautiful stature [95:4], then We cast him to the lowest of the low [95:5], save those who believe and perform righteous deeds; for theirs shall be a reward unceasing’ (95:6).4 A common explanation of 95:4 is that human beings were created in the image of God, in accordance with the Prophetic saying, ‘God created Adam in His form’.5 And 95:5 can be interpreted as the general state of disbelief from which only those mentioned in 95:6 are excluded.6 According to the great philosopher-mystic Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī (d. 1274...

El viaje del alma hacia la muerte. "Las minas de Falun", de E.T.A. Hoffmann

Die Bergwerke zu Falun (The Mines of Falun ) is one of the most complex stories of E.T.A. Hoffmann. Starting from an event recalled in old chronicles, the writer fantasizes on a story that shares only the ending with the documented one, which allows for an extraordinary incursion in other depths, those of the dreams, hallucinations and obsessions. The whole narration demands a reading from a symbolic perspective, where images constantly refer to what lies beyond the apparent. The author of this paper has felt the need to put that vortex of images in parallel with the psychology called imaginal, not without reason, by James Hillman, and that of his master Carl Gustav Jung. From this perspective, the touchstone of the story, that is, the death, suicidal to some extent, of the protagonist, allows for discovering values that are not commonly accepted, not even imagined, by an Ego-centred psychology which has generally guided the preceding interpretations of this tale.

A Mirror without a Tain: Personae, Avatars, and Selves in a Multi-User Virtual Environment

A Mirror without a Tain: Personae, Avatars, and Selves in a Multi-User Virtual Environment

The Body as Manifestation of Memory

The understood as patrimony puts to test notions dealing with memory, representation and the itself. All of them are concepts that articulate this research in order to think the place from where we look -art history and the museum as viewing mechanisms-. Also, we will examine how expressions are understood and appropriated from an individual, collective and symbolic perspective. What concepts and understandings emerge from the relations between the (contemporary dance approach), art history (paintings), the museum (as a viewing mechanism) and the notion of patrimony? And, in which sense they make us reflect on contemporary art practices that are concerned with matters, space, experience and society? Index Terms—Art piece, body, dance, memory, museum. I. I NTRODUCTION My own approach to the subject of cartographies of the body is an attempt to reopen discussions related with the way art history has been practiced and written in the western tradition. In his book Art History after Modernism (2003), Belting Hans, incites to review the traditional discourses and approaches typical of western thoughts about art history. According to him, they impede us from looking at, for example, the reaction on this tradition from the artistic contemporary practice. These new endeavors to exercise and write art history inevitably have to recognize and review contemporary art manifestations; therefore this exploration begins with an encounter with the La La La human Steps 1

Battling Babylon: The “Military-Archaeology Complex” In Stargate Sg-1

Examining relationships between performance and archaeology in the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 (1997–2007), this essay explores the show's dual representation of Mesopotamia as a theater of archaeological activity and geopolitical conflict. Employing archaeological exploration as a pretext for military action and adventure, Stargate SG-1 raises troubling questions about the long history of archaeological and military collaboration in the region and, moreover, archaeology's role in the political and cultural tensions in Iraq today. SG-1 offers a symbolic perspective of the war in Iraq by dramatizing the ways archaeology has been conscripted into justificatory narratives for the invasion and occupation of ancient and contemporary Mesopotamia.

Studying quality beyond technical rationality: political and symbolic perspectives

The underlying paradigms that influence research on quality have remained alarmingly under-researched; this article analyses the constraints that a technical-rational approach for the study of quality in higher education imposes. Technical rationality has been the dominant paradigm that shapes research on quality in higher education. Alternatively, political and symbolic perspectives are discussed in order to conceptualise and frame future research in the study of higher education quality. This article concludes with a discussion of the implications of different approaches. It is argued that the study of quality in higher education needs to be revitalised by new conceptual perspectives that go beyond technical-rational assumptions.

Incoming Editorial

Incoming Editorial

Voice, object and listening in the sound installations of Laurie Anderson

ABSTRACTThrough discussion of the sound installations created by media artist Laurie Anderson, this article explores the inherent relationships between disembodied sound and materiality, and the mediated object and the perceiving subject. The focus here is on how these artworks engage participants in various forms of listening situations and what kind of aesthetic and cultural connotations are disclosed and communicated by the installations. It is argued that Anderson not only takes advantage of the characteristics of materiality and the emanation of sound to integrate her modified voices seamlessly with ordinary objects but also appropriates the object-ness of the instruments themselves and habitual bodily contact with them to bring participants into various sensory engagements. Instead of analysing the installation from a visual symbolic perspective, or conceiving voice as a language carrier, this article considers sound installation as a perceptible entity with an emphasis on dislocated sensory experiences and the dynamic process of interaction. This approach helps our understanding of the multiple nature of hybrid media artworks and enables us to rethink the ‘taken-for-granted’ relations between the disembodied and the re-embodied, between objects, ourselves and the world.

La tejeduría indígena en la Patagonia meridional argentina. Análisis de las razones de su adopción por los aónik’enk y planteamiento de una nueva propuesta explicativa

First, we analyze the assumptions of the current hypotheses on the reasons why Aonik’enk (Southern Argentinean Patagonia) took the weaving. Following these assumptions are compared with historical empirical data. This allows to conclude that they cannot be extended to all Aonik’enk groups. In search of alternative hypotheses, a study of textiles made and used by these groups using historical data, ethnographic and archaeological is performed. From these results we propose the adoption of a symbolic perspective to overcome the material determinism of the current hypotheses and make satisfactory explanations about it.

Development of knowledge capital and innovation culture in Suurpelto during the Project Koulii

PurposeThe paper aims to describe creation of knowledge capital and innovation culture within the field of regional development. This covers the development process of the Living Lab environment.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines knowledge creation in innovation network based on Nonaka and Takeuchi's SECI model and Harmaakorpi's Rye‐bread model. The paper describes the role of Koulii project (funding European Social Fund by the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment) in understanding, advancing and developing the sense of communality and human sized services in Suurpelto in Espoo. Emphasis is on the project's role and practices in the evolution of knowledge capital. Examination and assessing is based on a practice‐based innovation activity model within multi‐actor and multi‐disciplinary innovation networks.FindingsThe innovation arena model involves different actors in a growing and deepening process, which benefits and uses strong and weak ties in those networks. The paper also discusses regional development from structural and symbolic perspectives. Creation and development of the innovation culture of Omnia and Laurea and in Suurpelto is examined.Originality/valueThe case study confirms in practice the usability of both the SECI and the Rye‐bread models in innovation and regional development work. The paper summarizes the accomplishments and results achieved or in horizon during the innovation project at Suurpelto.

Interpretation of the Wood Drum of the Wa Nationality from a Symbolic Semiotic Perspective

As the public voice to protect traditional culture is upsurging gradually today, it is significant to study the wood drum of the traditional Wa culture so as to better protect and exploit the culture. This essay, mainly consisting of three parts: the origin of the wood drum, its functions and its cultural meanings, aims to interprate the important role of the wood drum in the Wa community form a new perspective. Through the study of the three aspects, it is concluded that the reasons why wood drums have played such a crucial role in the Wa community are mainly derived form the primitive society the Wa nationality was in and its surroundings. Therefore, to exploite the wood drum of the Wa nationality can not only protect the nation’s traditional culture but can also improve its tourism economy.

Social Capital and Satisfaction with Crime Control in Urban China

By applying the symbolic perspective to the context of Chinese urban society, this paper examines how three dimensions of social capital—social trust, social bonds, and social cohesion—are associated with satisfaction with crime control among Chinese urban residents. The individual-level data from the 2005 China General Social Survey (CGSS) are linked with provincial-level data on arrest rates and economic and demographic characteristics. The analysis shows that bridging trust and neighborhood cohesion are significantly positively related to satisfaction with crime control. The effects of bonding trust and social bonds on satisfaction with crime control are not significant. The results provide partial support for the symbolic theoretical perspective and extend our understandings of the impact of diverse forms of social capital on crime control attitudes to a non-Western context.

La escuela y la guerra, las memorias entre el miedo y el silencio

En el artículo se muestran algunos de los resultados de la investigación, Ambientes educativos de escuelas en zonas de conflicto armado, desarrollada en el departamento del Putumayo, en el marco del Doctorado Interinstitucional en Educación y con la dirección de la Dra. Barbara García. Se hace una reflexión sobre el papel de la memoria colectiva en la configuración de los significados, que entran a mediar las interacciones en las escuelas ubicadas en zonas de conflicto armado, para recabar esta información se desarrolló el trabajo de campo durante dos años, desde una perspectiva etno-metodológica orientada por la mirada del “interaccionismo simbólico”. Entre los resultados, está la caracterización de los distintos ambientes educativos que allí se configuran, la reconstrucción de la percepción del conflicto armado a partir de los relatos, y el papel del miedo en la significación de las interacciones, territorios y la posibilidad de reproducir y naturalizar la violencia garantizando la perpetuación del conflicto.

A Symbolic Interactionism Perspective and Ageing: Ageism

A Symbolic Interactionism Perspective and Ageing: Ageism

La visión del mundo animal en la España del siglo XVII: El Bestiario de Covarrubias

In the seventeenth century the animal world was still conceived under a moralistic and symbolic perspective. Animals were matched with human vices and virtues, a legacy of medieval conceptions initiated with the Physiologus. This paper explores the animal world view in seventeenth century Spain, based primarily on the famous Spanish Dictionary Tesoro de la Lengua Castellana (1611), by Sebastián de Covarrubias.

El espacio doméstico tras el soporte arquitectónico: claves para comprender el sentido multidimensional de lo íntimo en el dominio del hogar

The aim of this paper is to reveal the level of complexity that is found beyond materiality in architecture in the area of housing. This in turn opens up infinite possibilities for qualified development of the oldest and most important of all architectural spaces - the home. The domestic, in relation to the intimate, or private, and in juxtaposition with the public, communal, and social, is essentially born from the most human desire to cling to that which is important and profound. This article demonstrates these symbolic perspectives and endeavours to communicate the inherent meaning of ‘the domestic’, for the purpose of facilitating a necessary change. The conclusion states that in a large part of contemporary architecture there is not enough being done to address the necessities of intimate domestic space.

Migrants as a Crime Problem: The Construction of Foreign Criminality Discourse in Contemporary Japan

The way in which society responds to crime does not directly correspond to the extent of actual crime conduct. Intergroup perspective, resource expansion perspective and symbolic politics perspective suggest demographic structure and administrative and political interests shape the societal response to crime. Japan's recent policies on foreigner‐perpetrated crime present an interesting case from non‐Western society. The Japanese police began active involvement with immigration control at the turn of the century, claiming that migrants were a new criminal threat to the country. This paper argues that the law enforcers’ occupational logic links immigration with criminality by interpreting characteristics of migrants as signs of high propensity to crime. It further suggests that institutional changes in the Japanese police and heightened social anxiety during this period gave political leverage to police discourse that associated immigration with crime.

Welcoming Alexander von Humboldt in Santa Fé de Bogotá, or the Creoles' self-celebration in the colonial city

On 8 July 1801, Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland arrived in Bogotá. They were welcomed by a large parade that escorted them from the edges of the city to the house of José Celestino Mutis, director of the Royal Botanical Expedition of the New Kingdom of Granada and the first promoter of natural philosophy in this kingdom. This essay explores two main ideas from the perspective of political symbolism. First, the author argues that this magnificent welcome was a sign of respect and admiration for the German scientist, while at the same time serving as an opportunity for New Granada's educated Creoles to publicly call attention to their importance and prestige. Second, the author explores Humboldt's thoughts about the Creoles' social attitudes and the colony's potential emancipation from Spain.

Implementation of SCM in inter‐organizational relationships: a symbolic perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate supply chain management (SCM) as a management implement from a symbolic perspective on a dyadic level. So far, no research has investigated SCM from such a perspective, although SCM researchers implicitly have noted that it would be useful to have such a study in order to broaden the understanding of the SCM concept, as such a study allows for the use of alternative sociological theories.Design/methodology/approachA single case study was chosen in order to investigate a focal firm's use of SCM. A total of 27 hours of interviews and 15 hours of observations were carried out at the focal firm and with a number of the firm's suppliers in order to investigate the subject.FindingsThe paper found that the SCM concept impacts the relationship between buyer and supplier in different ways depending on two dimensions: SCM as tool vs symbol and arm's length relationships vs strategic partnerships. Contrary to the mainstream idea of SCM as a tool for increased effectiveness of supply chains and increased collaboration with key suppliers, this paper found that SCM from a symbolic perspective at the focal firm came to function as either a justification or as a post‐rationalization for actions taken by the focal firm depending on whether the relationship can be considered a strategic partnerships or an arm's length relationship, respectively.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper was conducted from a dyadic, buyer‐supplier perspective. Being a limitation of the study, future research should investigate the proposed claims set forward in this paper on different levels (focal, chain, and network) in order to either strengthen or weaken the credibility of this present paper.Originality/valueThis is the first paper to investigate the management implement of SCM from a symbolic perspective.