Nation

Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism establishes a new basis for understanding the changing nature of polity and community and offers unprecedented attention to these dominant trends. The book charts the contradictions and tensions we all encounter in an era of increasing globalization, from genocide and terrorism to television and finance capital.

Globalism is treated as an uneven and layered process of spatial expansion, not simply one of disorder, fragmentation or rupture. Nor is it simply a force of homogenization.

Nationalism is taken seriously as a continuing and important formation of contemporary identity and politics. The book rewrites the modernism theories of the nation-state without devolving into the postmodernist assertion that all is invention or surface gloss.

Tribalism is given the attention it has long warranted and is analyzed as a continuing and changing formation of social life, from the villages of Rwanda to the cities of the West.

Theoretically adept and powerfully argued, this is the first comprehensive analysis that brings these crucial themes of contemporary life together.

Contents
PART ONE: RETURNING TO A THEORY OF SOCIAL FORMATION / Social Relations in Tension
/ Contending Approaches in Outline / Theory in the Shadow of Terror / PART TWO: RETHINKING
FORMATIONS OF PRACTICE AND BEING / Constituting Customary Community / Communication
and Exchange, Money and Writing / Time and Space, Calendars and Maps / Bodies and Symbols, Blood
and Milk / PART THREE: REWRITING THE HISTORY OF THE PRESENT / State Formation:
From Kingdoms and Empires to Nation-States / Nation Formation: From the Medieval to the
Postmodern / Global Formation: From the Oecumene to Planet Exploitation / Conclusion: Principles for
a Postnational World

April 2006 · 392 pages
Cloth (0-7619-5513-5)
Paper (0-7619-5514-3)
""

This paper deals with the changes of the conception of nation sustained by two outstanding liberal newspapers from Buenos Aires city (La Mañana and La Fronda) during the first Argentinean democratic experience, since its founding until its conclusion. Those changes were the correlation of both newspapers’ transformed attitudes about the political system, faced with the vicissitudes of mass politics. The path of their opinions about national society and the place of immigration in it, represents a particular case of Argentinean nationalism’s history; it also illustrates the transformations of the profile of a nation shaken by the masification of its society and politics during the interwar period.

The article attempts a comprehensive review of the human security concept in order to question its utility for both research and policy-making. It notes the term’s interdisciplinary and extensively normative content that have facilitated its evolution into a successful security discourse. On the other hand, human security’s wide appeal has as a side-effect an extended conceptual polysemy inhibiting the cumulation of knowledge and the development of a relevant theory. Absence of conceptual clarity has also complicated its policy implementation. The article attempts to break the deadlock and move the debate forward by using the work of John Gerring and Paul A. Barresi on concept formation as an organizing device.

Alistair Cormack (2006) describes Brick Lane as a 'post-colonial story ' with a 'realist narrative'; to a post-colonial critic, this has many implications. Yet looking at this text from a feminist point of view has many further dimensions. Women in this novel function as a direct representation of their cultural bearing. They follow the rules set for them by society and map their behaviour according to these notions, in such a way that they institutionalize their love and as such their lives. In Ali’s Brick Lane, published in 2003, I have looked at some of the qualities women are expected to have in Bangladeshi culture, the roles/responsibilities they are meant to take on and the cultural teachings they are forced to inject into their lives. To do this, I look at the women characters in this novel; I have put them in two groups-some who carry out their prescribed roles all through their lives, others that defy these rules. Yet, all act as bearers of their culture...

Patrice Ballester (2021), 26 avril 2021, Marvel Studios - Walt Disney Company and the world expos / world's fairs : the identity of a nation ? Episode 5 Saison #1 Anticipations Archifictionnelles -https://culturesvisuelles.org/archifictions/

LES
EXPOSITIONS UNIVERSELLES ET INTERNATIONALES PEUVENT ELLES SERVIR DE TRAME SCÉNARISTIQUE POUR LES SUPERPRODUCTIONS HOLLYWOODIENNES REPOSANT SUR LE MYTHE DE L’AMÉRIQUE CONQUÉRANTE ET LES AVENTURES DES SUPER
HÉROS DANS CETTE ÉTUDE DE CAS, LE CINÉMA ET SES DISPOSITIFS NOUS AIDENT À PENSER ET À VOIR LA VILLE OU LES VILLES DU MCU PAR DEUX TEMPORALITÉS SE COMPLÉTANT LA TEMPORALITÉ
IMAGINAIRE URBAINE DES FILMS DE SUPER HÉROS ET LA TEMPORALITÉ AVÉRÉE DES EXPOSITIONS UNIVERSELLES TENUES AUX ÉTATS UNIS LES FILMS QUE NOUS ANALYSONS SONT LES TÉMOINS,
VOIRE LA PROPAGANDE D’UN MONDE OCCIDENTAL SE PERMETTANT DE RECRÉER UNE CHRONOLOGIE FICTIVE AU SEUL BUT D’INCLURE DANS LE SCÉNARIO D’UNE SUPERPRODUCTION HOLLYWOODIENNE UN ÉLÉMENT DE CULTURE DE MASSE, DITE POP CULTURE POUVANT SERVIR DE CADRE ET DE DÉCOR À TOUT UN PANEL DE SPECTATEURS LES EXPOSITIONS UNIVERSELLES SONT UTILISÉES COMME DES RÉFÉRENTS COMMUNS AUX ÉTATS UNIS PAR LES TRACES DE MÉMOIRE DES GRANDES MANIFESTATIONS DE NEW YORK, CHICAGO
ET SEATTLE QUI S’ADDITIONNENT AUX SOUVENIRS DES FÊTES GÉANTES PARISIENNES, LONDONIENNES OU ASIATIQUES UN PREMIER REGARD SUR DES FACILITÉS SCÉNARISTIQUES CRÉATRICES DE LÉGENDES URBAINES S’ANALYSE PAR LES REPRÉSENTATIONS DU
PROGRÈS ET DE SES AFFRES POUR DES HÉROS COMME TONY STARK ALIAS IRON MAN, TOUT EN RAPPELANT LES LIENS ÉTROITS ENTRE CINÉMA, ARCHITECTURE ET EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE (I) PERMETTANT D’ENTREVOIR LA CRÉATION D’UNE LIGNE TEMPORELLE
FICTIVE D’EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE COMME ÉLÉMENT FÉDÉRATEUR D’UNE HISTOIRE FANTASTIQUE POUR LES MASSES DANS LE CADRE DE LA FRANCHISE MARVEL STUDIO ET DU PREMIER DES VENGEURS CAPTAIN AMERICA (II). ENFIN, LA VILLE EST UN ENVIRONNEMENT QUI OFFRE DES CONTRE POINTS IMPORTANTS AU SCÉNARIO DU MCU AVEC NOTAMMENT LA DÉCLINAISON ET TRANSPOSITION DE SES FILMS (LES AVENGERS) DANS LE CADRE DES PARCS DE LOISIRS
DISNEY QUI RETRANSCRIVENT LES SCÉNARIOS ET LA STAR EXPO OU WORLD EXPO (III) COMME IDENTITE D'UN GROUPE ET D'UNE NATION?

MOTS CLÉS : RECOMPOSITION, ESTHÉTIQUE, ARCHITECTURE SPECTACLE, TRANSMÉDIA, TOURISME, URBAIN, SUPER HÉROS.

CAN WORLD’S FAIRS SERVE AS A BACKDROP FOR
HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTERS CENTERED ON THE MYTH OF CONQUERING AMERICA AND THE ADVENTURES OF
SUPERHEROES? IN THIS CASE STUDY, THE CINEMA AND ITS DEVICES HELP US TO THINK AND SEE THE CITY OR CITIES OF THE MCU THROUGH TWO COMPLEMENTING TEMPORALITIES THE IMAGINARY URBAN TEMPORALITY OF SUPERHERO FILMS AND THE PROVEN TEMPORALITY OF THE WORLD EXPO HELD AT THE UNITED STATES THE FILMS THAT WE ANALYZE ARE THE WITNESSES, EVEN THE PROPAGANDA OF A
WESTERN WORLD ALLOWING ITSELF TO RECREATE A FICTITIOUS CHRONOLOGY WITH THE SOLE AIM OF INCLUDING IN THE SCENARIO OF A HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTER AN ELEMENT OF MASS CULTURE, KNOWN AS POP CULTURE THAT CAN BE USED SETTING
AND DECOR FOR A WHOLE PANEL OF SPECTATORS THE WORLD'S FAIRS ARE USED AS COMMON REFERENCES IN THE UNITED STATES BY THE REMEMBRANCE TRACES OF THE MAJOR EVENTS IN NEW YORK, CHICAGO AND SEATTLE WHICH ARE ADDED TO THE MEMORIES OF THE GIANT FESTIVALS IN PARIS, LONDON OR ASIA A FIRST LOOK AT THE SCRIPTWRITING FACILITIES CREATING URBAN LEGENDS IS ANALYZED BY THE REPRESENTATIONS OF PROGRESS AND ITS PANGS FOR HEROES LIKE TONY STARK ALIAS IRON MAN, WHILE RECALLING THE CLOSE LINKS BETWEEN CINEMA, ARCHITECTURE AND
UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION (I);  PROVIDING A GLIMPSE OF THE CREATION OF A FICTIONAL WORLD EXPO TIMELINE AS A UNIFYING ELEMENT OF A FANTASY STORY FOR THE MASSES AS PART OF THE MARVEL STUDIO FRANCHISE AND THE AVENGERS' FIRST CAPTAIN
AMERICA (II);  FINALLY, THE CITY IS AN ENVIRONMENT THAT OFFERS IMPORTANT COUNTER POINTS TO THE MCU SCENARIO WITH IN PARTICULAR THE VARIATION AND TRANSPOSITION OF ITS FILMS (THE AVENGERS) WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE DISNEY LEISURE
PARKS WHICH TRANSCRIBE THE SCENARIOS AND THE STAR EXPO OR WORLD EXPO LIKE COMPANY OR NATION IDENTITY ? (III).

KEYWORDS
RECOMPOSITION AESTHETICS, SHOW ARCHITECTURE,
TRANSMEDIA, TOURISM, URBAN, SUPERHEROES

This paper explores the role of alpine skiing in Slovenian culture and society by taking into consideration how sports and ideas of nation and nationhood are intertwined. The analysis, which is based on historical evidence and ethnographic data, suggests that in Slovenia, alpine skiing, with its natural sceneries, amateurish background, sporting events, media attention and national heroes, is one of the main sports arenas in which the Slovenian nation-imagining, nationalism and national identity have been exercised throughout the twentieth century.

The full text is available here http://rupkatha.com/V8/n1/13_Brian_Friel_Translations.pdf

“Words Are Signals”: Language, Translation, and Colonization in Brian Friel’s Translations
Adineh Khojastehpour
Behnam Mirzababazadeh Fomeshi


Abstract
The Irish playwright, Friel is among the most prominent contemporary writers. In his works he deals mainly with socio-cultural issues in Ireland. His 1980 play, Translations focuses on the problem of language and cultural colonization in Ireland. Hailed as a postcolonial work, the play is not limited to the depiction of the problem; it presents some suggestions and probable solutions to the problem, especially with a different look at the role and significance of “translation”. While showing a tangible picture of colonial struggles, it tries not to depict a one-sided picture of the problem. The present paper focuses on Friel’s different view toward Irish colonization and Irish cultural nationalism. The objective of the paper is to show how Friel looks differently at the function of language and the crucial role of “translation” in colonial struggles.

Keywords: Colonization; Language; Translation; Brian Friel; Cultural Identity

This review examines the interlocking of violence, gender, and subjectivity within the overarching framework of the sexualization of the social contract. Tracking the question of gendered belonging to the nation state, the article discusses the anthropological literature along with feminist and critical theory to shed light on the relation between reproduction and death as a way of giving life to the nation-state.

The Luo Nation is designed to help me learn about the history and culture of The Luos (Joluo); and to speak the Luo language, Dholuo (the mouth of Luos) in basic daily situations rapidly, effectively, and easily. This Conversational phrasebook has 31 topical lessons (accompanied by Audio, DVD), covering everything that I want toknow to understand and speak Dholuo. By reading this book, I will be able to introduce myself, get help in an emergency; shop; order in a restaurant; communicate in the office, talk about myself and family and even discuss literature, politics and public affairs.

Each topic in the book is written in the format of Conversational Phrases; followed by Vocabulary. For instance, the topic of greetings will have basic conversational phrases used in greetings, followed by the vocabulary in the greetings. I will not waste my time just learning vocabulary and grammar. If I am going to learn Dholuo, or any other language for that matter, I HAVE to speak it. The motto is “Listen, Repeat, and Speak Dholuo.”

Closely associated with China’s growing prominence in international politics are discussions about how to understand Chinese history, and how such perspectives inform the way a stronger China may relate to the rest of the world. This article examines two narratives as cases, and considers how they fit against more careful historical scholarship. The first is the nationalist narrative dealing with Qing and Republican history, and the second is the narrative on the Chinese world order. Analyses of Chinese nationalism tend to see a more powerful China as being more assertive internationally, based in part on a belief in the need to address and overcome past wrongs. Studies of historical regional systems in Asia point to the role that a peaceful ‘Confucian’ ethos played in sustaining a stable Chinese-led order, and highlight the promise it holds for checking regional and international tensions. The two perspectives create an obvious tension when trying to understand China’s rise, which can suggest that using historical viewpoints to understand contemporary developments may be doomed to incoherence. This article argues that difficulties in applying knowledge of the past to analyses of China’s role in contemporary world politics indicate a relative inattentiveness to Chinese and Asian history. It illustrates how the nature of China’s rise may be more contingent on the external environment that it faces than popular received wisdom may indicate. The article suggests that a more extensive engagement with historical research and historiography can augment and enrich attempts to appreciate the context surrounding China’s rise.

While three-quarters of the population in Ireland still declare to be Catholic in census data collection, the position and role of the Catholic Church has changed dramatically. A fruitful relationship between the state, church, and nation that developed in the 19th century became meaningfully embedded in social and political relations from the 1920s. Involvement of the church in the running of education, health, and welfare meant that its "moral monopoly" extended into both the institutional and individual spheres of life. The Irish Republic relied on the church organizations and personnel to provide education and guidance in absence of the state's infrastructure and Will to consolidate the new political entity around a state-building project based on inclusivity, reciprocity, and diversity. The confessional state that emerged with its own constitution favored one religion over others, economic stagnation over progress, and patriarchal social values over equality. The internal processes of social change and the external impetus for economic development sent Ireland into modernization and changes in attitudes and behaviors. It became obvious that the church did not hold a monopoly on truth and that accountability of the relations between the state and the church should be called into question. Economic prosperity propelled Ireland into the world of consumerism, materialism, and instant gratification, teaching a new generation that religion helps keep your parents appeased and at times can provide solace, and that the Catholic Church is just an institution that seems to be around but nobody is quite sure what its role is. The vicariousness of the church coupled with cultural Catholicism makes the Ireland of today more open to change.

Para Smith, uno de los teóricos del etnosimbolismo, naciones y nacionalismo sólo pueden ser entendidos a través del análisis de las identidades culturales colectivas en el largo plazo. Pero las conexiones entre el pasado y el presente no son un camino de ida sino una serie compleja de links dependiendo de las circunstancias y de los recursos de la comunidad, distinguiéndose tres tipos de relaciones de continuidad: cultura, recurrencia y reinterpretación. Su teoría es particularmente apta para analizar los orígenes de la nación armenia.

For Smith, one of the Ethno-symbolism´s theorists, nations and nationalism can only be understood through the analysis of the collective cultural identities in the long run, but the conexions between the past and present are not a one way road but a series of complex links depending on the circumstances and the resources of the community. Three types of continuous relationships are identified: culture, recurrence and reinterpretation. His theory is particularly useful to analyze the origins of the Armenian nation.

Resume of the conclusions of a research about the Latin word natio  and its derivatives in various languages. The author highlights the secondary character that this term had in  classical Latin. In it, the word gens was preferred. Both had a philological relationship with being born (nascere in Latin) and gestating, respectively. The imposition of the most general meaning of the word gens (people) forced the use of that secondary word (natio) when long-distance displacement since the 10th century resumed in Europe. It was, however, in universities and councils, between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, that  natio  became a first-order expression to solve the problem of representativeness when making decisions. Still, their philological relationship with birth and, therefore, their sense of kinship, was maintained. That implied that there could be -and were- nations of nations. One of the clearest and perhaps most important cases was that of the Natio Hispanica and the different "nations" that composed it.
This characteristic was thwarted to the extent that the concepts of "nation" and "sovereignty" were linked; it happened in France in the 17th century as an argument to justify Bourbon absolutism; the king of France embodied the French nation and therefore the royal absolute sovereignty became "national sovereignty." The revolution of 1789 only replaced "king" with "people".
The words "nationalism" and "nationalist" are documented in the mid-19th century; but they acquired their current meaning in France in the 1890s.
Finally, the foundation of nationalism changed decisively with the cultural and lexical revolution of 1968 as the concept of "identity" erupted as an expression of "subjectivity as absolute" of Nietzschian root.

Nicola Guerra’s essay deals with the recent Italian migration to Finland. The author examines why a growing number of young people has moved to Finland in the last ten years and many young Italians look to the Scandinavian country with a desire to settle there soon. The investigation of the driving forces behind
the flow is accomplished through the semantic analysis of the migrants’ narratives. The study places the reasons for the exodus within the social and economic settings that characterize the two European nations. Guerra identifies the quality of life, rather than the opportunity to get a job matching one’s
educational qualification, as the reason for the decision to migrate.

Historien de métier et professeur d’université, Éric Bédard, depuis quelques années, a décidé d’investir intensément le champ de la vulgarisation de l’histoire. Outre une chronique historique qu’il tient chaque dimanche dans les pages du Journal de Montréal («Le Québec, une histoire de famille»), il codirige une émission à caractère historique («Au tour de l’histoire») sur la chaîne MATV de Vidéotron. Soucieux de rendre l’histoire accessible au plus grand nombre, il a, dans la première décennie des années 2000, collaboré à plusieurs séries diffusées sur Historia. Durant l’été 2009, à l’occasion du 250e anniversaire de la bataille des Plaines d’Abraham, il a tenu une «Chronique de la conquête» dans les pages du Journal de Québec. Un an plus tard, il est revenu en publiant, dans le même quotidien, une série de textes soulignant le cinquantième anniversaire de la Révolution tranquille[1].

Plus récemment, Éric Bédard s’est fait connaître par ses interventions publiques en faveur du rétablissement de l’histoire politique et nationale dans l’enseignement scolaire. Instigateur du Collectif pour une éducation de qualité et membre fondateur de la Coalition pour l’histoire, il a fortement dénoncé la mise sur pied du cours Histoire et éducation à la citoyenneté parce que, apparemment, ce cours ne valorisait pas assez l’héritage de la nation québécoise auprès des jeunes[2]. Avec Myriam D’Arcy, il a publié un rapport sur l’enseignement et la recherche en histoire politique et nationale du Québec dans les universités de la province (Bédard et D’Arcy, 2011), affirmant, à propos de cet enseignement et de cette recherche, qu’ils étaient à toutes fins utiles inexistants. Bien que vivement contestée par les spécialistes (Fecteau, 2011), l’étude – commandée par la Fondation Lionel-Groulx –, s’ajoutant à d’autres actions publiques de l’historien[3], a néanmoins convaincu le Parti québécois, par l’entremise de Marie Malavoy qui a porté le dossier[4], d’inclure dans son programme une mention forte concernant l’enseignement de l’histoire nationale du Québec, et ce, de l’école primaire à l’université[5].

Que, dans ce contexte, Éric Bédard ait accepté l’invitation de rédiger une histoire du Québec pour les nuls ne surprend pas. Cette production va dans le sens de l’objectif qu’il s’est fixé de diffuser, parmi la population, une vision de l’histoire du Québec qui sied à la représentation qu’il privilégie du destin du peuple québécois, peuple à qui il croit nécessaire de rappeler d’où il vient, ce qu’il a fait et qui il est à défaut de lui dire où aller[6].

This article provides an answer to what has been called the biggest problem in theorizing and understanding planning: the ambivalence about power found among planning researchers, theorists, and students. The author narrates how he came to work with issues of power and gives an example of how the methodology he developed for power studies—phronetic planning research—may be employed in practice. Phronetic planning research follows the tradition of power studies running from Machiavelli and Nietzsche to Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu. It focuses on four value-rational questions: (1) Where are we going with planning? (2) Who gains and who loses, and by which mechanisms of power? (3) Is this development desirable? (4) What should be done? These questions are exemplified for a specific instance of Scandinavian urban planning. The author finds that the questions, and their answers, make a difference to planning in practice. They make planning research matter.

How to theorize the nation’s Janus-like form, its simultaneous modernity and antiquity? This paper provides an original answer to this longstanding question. It argues that nations arise from the interaction of ‘societal multiplicity’ and the expansionist tendency of historical capitalism. The emergence of capitalism super-adds a modern inflection to the inherently relational process of collective identity formation by generating modern
sovereignty as an abstract form of rule. Crucially however, just like its emergence, capitalism’s expansion also refracts through societal multiplicity. Non-capitalist societies are therefore pressured into ‘nationalist’ projects of emulative self-preservation in which the nation’s political form (i.e. the sovereign state) is forged before its sociological content (i.e. primitive accumulation). Thus, the original site of this process, France, produced the modular nation-form that unlike Britain’s imperial nationhood could be
globalized. The paper therefore shows that IR’s premise of multiplicity may be the key to one of social sciences’ most enduring puzzles.

What would it mean to understand nationalism as an atmosphere? This article makes a theoretical contribution to cultural geographical works on ‘affective atmospheres’ as well as to critical approaches to the study of nationalism by addressing this question. It examines how nationalism operates affectively and atmospherically through a discussion of the event of the London 2012 Olympic Games and the ‘happy atmospheres’ of being together that circulated in the course of those Games. The key claim of the article is that addressing the nation’s affective, emotional and atmospheric resonances is critical for understanding how nationalism endures and, furthermore, how it appears especially difficult to critique. As such, the article points to different ways in which thinking about nationalism as an ‘affective atmosphere’ builds upon the notion of ‘everyday nationalism’ but also takes it further by inviting an attentiveness to the different tonalities and intensities of nationality and shifting the focus from a subject identity or bounded community to the question of how affective forces congeal around particular objects and bodies and echo as part of an assemblage. Finally, this article makes a contribution to debates around the relationship between affect, atmosphere and politics by asking how national affective atmospheres might be resisted.

The article deals with the several meanings and embodiments of the term “empire” within the Global History approach (15th-21th centuries). It draws a theoretical outlook and breaks down the imperial realities into three aspects (political structure, imaginary and symbols, imperial repertoires) through diachronic case studies: archaic globalization in the Early Modern Times, building of modern globalization from c. 1770 until the great global crisis of 1914-1945, and modern globalization in the contemporary world.

Tatjana Ljubić and Davor Marko offer an analysis of the negative effects of religious communities’ social and political agency on the perspectives of democracy development in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In a detailed and informed account they present an empirical-based criticism of the three religious communities‘interventions in educational and electoral processes. They focus on examples from textbooks used for religious education classes in Bosnian schools and messages religious leaders send in election periods to show what kind of influence religious communities and their leaders exert on two crucial societal processes. By way of accounting for the reasons religious leaders choose to involve themselves in politics and education, Ljubić and Marko indicate that particular conceptions of nation and its relation to the state underpin and drive their public and political agendas, which ultimately deconstruct the relevance and authority of state institutions, sustain the status quo and exert a negative influence on the development of democracy in the country. What they explicitly show with this analysis is that not only formal political actors engage issues of Bosnian society on the precepts of continental nation and state visions but also those not officially in charge for political agency, such as religious communities and their (unelected and publicly unaccountable) leaders.

Arjun Appadurai has argued that ‘the materiality of objects in India is not yet completely penetrated by the logic of the market’ (2006:18). However, the entry and the visibility of modern and contemporary Indian art into the circuits of the global art world increasingly challenge this argument. That of modern and contemporary Indian art is the story of the inscription of local objects and their ‘Indianness’ into the above circuits, with market value being created in the process. If the globalisation of the art world provides a conceptual and material arena where objects are circulated, displayed, and bought and sold through auction houses, exhibitions, biennales, and art fairs, this article analyses an event that epitomises some of the forces at play in this arena: the contemporary art exhibition ‘The empire strikes back: Indian art today’ held in 2010 at the Saatchi Gallery, London. An artistic cum business instantiation of ‘India in Europe’- and one that challenges the visual and aesthetic canons ‘traditionally’ associated to India - this article examines this exhibition as an entry-point into the analysis of how neoliberal capital produces ‘culture’, and into the tension between the commodity form and the infinite possibilities, and unintended consequences, opened up by this very status.

The postcolonial discourse on museum and culture collecting practices has instilled more leverage into the conventional template of "provenance", which initially merely determined the place of origin of an object sans the account of its meandering, often clandestine journey ending in the custody of a museum. The essay probes the current debate on provenance research and on the restitution of museum objects pilfered from former colonies, and critiques the recent attempts to legitimise the concept of "universal museums" and the tokenism of soft decolonisation. In doing so, it purposively differentiates the 'source society' from the 'nation' as claimant of the repatriated object.

My contribution to the nuclear debate presents 3 possible concepts for complexity evolution, which make understood that what is at a stake right now is the evolution of complexity. The use of missiles in any war scenario has very little, and if any very bad effects on reality, which I strongly recommend to not to look for.

The official results of the conference were published under the following document, which you can find at the ETH Zürich file archive: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/154318/MD_Draft%20Report_16102012.pdf

The official report does not resolve the dilemma that was discussed in Brussels. It reveals a one-sided and partial perspective and does not uncover the risks at which Europe was. The debate was stronger than the report tells and the report fails to describe the Russian position adequately as well as the reality of the debate. The US-American assurance, that the missile defense shield set up by NATO is not offensive and does not mean a threat to Russia  is a discussable statement. Quoting Vershbow as main speaker is nice, but the way this report puts facts and presents opinions is debatable.

A report about the real terms of discussion cannot be published.