Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cultural Rights: The Possible Impact Of Private Military And Security Companies, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Culture and its protection has been present in the earliest codifications of the laws of war and international humanitarian law, both in its physical manifestations as cultural heritage and its practice and enjoyment as cultural rights. However, the engagement of PMSCs in recent conflicts has again raised the vexed issue of the role of ‘culture’ and heritage professionals in armed conflicts and belligerent occupation. This debate has in turn exposed the limitations of existing IHL and human rights instruments.

To complement the PRIV-WAR project’s current and projected work, this report is divided into four parts. First, there is an examination …

If You Cannot Whisper: The Performative Language Of Magical Spells, Denice J. Szafran

Denice J Szafran, Ph.D.

Meaning is not primarily what a word has; it is something a word does. The basis of much Slavic folk wisdom is a belief in the inherent power of words: some utterances are taboo, others sacred. Still more words are the province of magic, a culturally contextual conceptual system within which spells, curses, and oaths are the primary vehicles utilized by a practitioner seeking to affect the world around him/her. An analysis of Austin’s and Levinson’s theories of the performative aspects of linguistic utterances can provide an explanation of how folkloric practitioners empowered their spells with conjoined magical words and …

Mandopop Under Siege: Culturally Bound Criticisms Of Taiwan's Pop Music, Marc Moskowitz

Marc L. Moskowitz

No abstract provided.

Et Ego In Academia, Kirby Farrell Prof

kirby farrell

Denial of humankind's creaturely limits is characteristic of much literary criticism. Shakespeare consistently dramatizes the limits of language, seeking to evoke wonder or a tragic sense of madness and chaos through an overplus of meanings in paradox, irony, and wordplay that cannot be processed sequentially by imagination.