Category Archives: Volume 9, no. 1 (2014)

Translation as Critique of “Cultural Sameness”: Ricoeur, Luther and the Practice of Translation

10/11/2014Double-blind peer-reviewed articleAnthropology, Gullestad, Luther, Ricoeur, Translation, culture, exclusionJonas Gamborg Lillebø

The article discusses translation as a critical approach to how we see culture. According to the anthropologist Marianne Gullestad culture is part of mechanism of exclusion when it is linked to identity or “sameness”. Belonging to the same culture becomes a criterion for being included into a society, whereas having a different cultural belonging is a criterion for exclusion. Culture is thus placed within an oppositional logic of same-different. By seeing a parallel between languages and cultures, translation indicates another kind of thinking which is not based on this oppositional logic and hence question the reason for exclusion and inclusion. By the help of philosopher Paul Ricoeur the article looks at Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible in the 16^th century as an example of how to avoid seeing linguistic sameness and difference as the only point of departure for thinking relations between languages, and analogically speaking: relations between cultures.

On Loanwords of Latin Origin in Contemporary Icelandic

10/11/2014Double-blind peer-reviewed articleMatteo Tarsi

This article focuses on the Icelandic lexis’ history by analysing the loanwords of Latin origin in it. The examined corpus examined traverses the history of Icelandic in its entirety. The borrowings are divided into four main waves, excluding the pre-literary period. Each wave is dominated by one or two borrowing languages. The semantic fields Icelandic selects loanwords from are various and no field is strictly bound to any of the above-mentioned waves. Finally some words of particular interest are presented and discussed, because of the importance they acquire in the light of the Icelandic lexis’ history.

Framing Integration – from Welfare to Citizenship

10/11/2014Double-blind peer-reviewed articleFrame analysis; diagnostic framing; prognostic framing; motivational framing; integration, activation, citizenship, inclusion; living conditions; welfare, recognition, redistributionRagnhild Ihle

This article will study the contested concept of integration in Norway through a frame analysis approach. The aim is to study different understandings of the term “integration” as it is presented in a select body of policy documents in Norway. The methodology involved is to search in the documents and in relevant research for various interpretations of the concept, and relate them to diagnostic framing, prognostic framing and motivational framing. This method is associated with both critical frame analysis and genealogy. The analysis defines a timeline, from 1975 forward, of six concepts of integration: 1) individuals in need, care and clientification; 2) preservation of culture – a tribute to colourful community; 3) the upheaval of living conditions in specific social groups; 4) absence of structural barriers, racism and discrimination; 5) living conditions, identity and belonging; 6) Influence, participation and activation. The frames related to these concepts will expose conceptual prejudices, detect inconsistencies, challenge generalisations, and give visibility to the processes of exclusion.

Learning Danish(ness): Constructing Cultural Difference in Danish Language Classes in Denmark

10/11/2014Double-blind peer-reviewed articleCultural Racism; Integration; Denmark; Nationalism; RacismSarah Casey

The “problem of immigrant integration” is a recurrent topic in public discourse in Denmark. One attempt to manage this has been the establishment of mandatory Danish language classes, a sizeable component of a comparably extensive integration program. While language instruction is ostensibly aimed at equipping immigrants with language skills, culture, in an essentialized form, is foregrounded during instruction, where differences between Danes and foreigners are highlighted. With culture mapping neatly onto place, diversity within “a culture” is downplayed, creating homogenizing discourses regarding both Danes and immigrants, with immigrants portrayed as ill-suited for life in Denmark. This focus on culture is a prominent component of state-wide efforts to manage a group of individuals conceptualized as problematic- non-EU immigrants. Interventions aimed at altering the conduct of immigrants serve to alleviate the threat originating in what is imagined to be a risky group of individuals, thereby securing the well-being of the greater population.

De l’idéal démocratique. Les Anciens et les Modernes

10/11/2014Double-blind peer-reviewed articledemocracy; Greece; virtue; equality; freedom; republicStamatios Tzitzis

The current post-historical era that we live in has transformed the transmission of national heritage into a pejorative term, due to humanity‘s commitment to a vague conception of democracy without any specific content and a vast number of subjective rights of uncertain efficacy. Nowadays, people replace the contextually bound notion of polités (Greek citizen), which has a very important historical background, with that of a person who tries to be liberated from the contingencies of history in order to acquire a new universality in abstracto. As a result, the universality of human rights has been regularly opposed to cultural specificities. Post-historical democracy aims at substituting culture with a prefabricated civilization, namely an artificial one, according to the political expediencies of world’s powerful strategists, thus pushing democracy far away from natural procedures.

Gabór Hamza, Origine e sviluppo degli ordinamenti giusprivatistici moderni in base alla tradizione del diritto romano (Santiago de Compostela: Andavira Editora, 2013)

28/01/2014Book review (editorial review)Roman Law; Private LawÁdám Boóc

The new opus of Gábor Hamza, ordinary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Full Professor of Roman Law (Faculty of Law of the Eötvös Loránd University [Budapest]), which was published in the fall of 2013 in Italian language, studies the formation and development of modern private law systems based on the tradition of Roman Law. (1)

Duncan Light, The Dracula Dilemma: Tourism, Identity and the State in Romania (London: Ashgate, 2012)

28/01/2014Book review (editorial review)Dracula, Romania, tourismCristi Frent

As the title suggests, the book presents Romania’s Dracula dilemma in relation with the nation’s identity and its tourism policy.

Natalia Loukacheva (ed.), Polar Law Textbook II (Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers, 2013)

28/01/2014Book review (editorial review)Akureyri, Antarctica; indigenous people; law, ArcticFederica Scarpa

For the second time the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM), under the auspices of its Arctic Cooperation Program, has endorsed and financially supported the publication of a volume of the Polar Law Textbook, confirming Dr. Natalia Loukacheva as project leader, book editor and author of the introductory chapter, “Polar Law Developments and Major Trends”.

Aoife Nolan, Rory O’Connell, Colin Harvey (eds.), Human Rights and Public Finance: Budgets and the Promotion of Economic and Social Rights (Oxford and Portland: Hart Publishing, 2013)

28/01/2014Book review (editorial review)ICESCR, Ireland, academia, crisis, human rights; budgetingFloriana Ferro

Human Rights and Public Finance contains ten articles about the implementation of economic and social rights through budget analysis. The editors are professors of Human Rights Law at the universities of Nottingham (Nolan), Ulster (O’Connell) and Belfast (Harvey).

Ingerid S. Straume (ed.), Danningens filosofihistorie (Oslo: Gyldendal Akademisk, 2013)

28/01/2014Book review (editorial review)Bildung, danning, education, paideia, virtueGeir Sigurðsson

‘Danning’ (Norwegian) or ‘dannelse’ (Danish) are derived from the German ‘Bildung,’ which was developed as a philosophical notion by prominent German thinkers during the Enlightenment period and beyond. The underlying idea, however, can be traced back to much earlier European intellectual history, most notably the ancient Greek paideia.

Erik S. Reinert & Francesca Lidia Viano (eds.), Thorstein Veblen. Economics for an Age of Crises (London: Anthem, 2012)

28/01/2014Book review (editorial review)Migration, Norway, Veblen, economicsGiorgio Baruchello

“Considering the inability of conventional economics to comprehend the socio-economic convulsions over the past few years in so many countries, it is surely time to try something else.” Thus reads Samuel Hollander’s blurb on the back cover of another recent book devoted to the great belle-époque iconoclast of Western economics, Norwegian-American Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929; David Reisman, The Social Economics of Thorstein Veblen, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2012).

Dom Holdaway & Filippo Trentin (eds.), Rome, Postmodern Narratives of a Cityscape (London & Brookfield: Pickering & Chatto, 2013)

28/01/2014Book review (editorial review)Art, Fellini, Italy, Moore, Nolli, Pasolini, Rome, Vatican, Venturi; Aurelian Walls; Bertolucci, architecture, filmGiorgio Baruchello

Rome qua its historic centre, encircled by the 3^rd-century Aurelian Walls, has been a long-time paradigm of architectural and artistic beauty second to none.

Þorlákur Axel Jónsson, Dagur Austan. Ævintýramaðurinn Vernharður Eggertsson (Akureyri: Völuspá, 2009)

28/01/2014Book review (editorial review)Spain, alcoholism; Dagur Austan; Civil War; IcelandGiorgio Baruchello

Many a token of Nordic and Mediterranean scholarship are lost or pass unnoticed because of enduring linguistic barriers. Many more share the same fate because they are conceived of, marketed or received as ‘mere’ local history. The book reviewed hereby has been affected by both issues.

Michele Renee Salzman, Marvina A. Sweeney & William Adler (eds.), The Cambridge History of Religions in the Ancient World (2 vols.) (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013)

28/01/2014Book review (editorial review)Giorgio Baruchello

The history of the ancient Mediterranean is a history of religions.

Hannele Niemi, Auli Toom and Arto Kallioniemi (eds.), Miracle of Education. The Principles and Practices of Teaching and Learning in Finnish Schools (Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2012)

27/01/2014Book review (editorial review)Finland, educationGuðmundur Heiðar Frímannsson

One of the most important functions that every society must solve is to renew itself. It is not sufficient that many children are born, even though that is important, but what is decisive for any society is the education and upbringing of its children.

Kathryn Kraft, Searching for Heaven in the Real World: A Sociological Discussion of Conversion in the Arab World (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2012)

27/01/2014Book review (editorial review)Christianity, Islam, conversionMaria Pia Paganelli

This fascinating book is an account of Kathryn Kraft’s interviews of converts in Lebanon and Egypt. Kraft describes the challenges that Muslim converts to Christianity encounter in the Arab world. The book has eight chapters, including introduction and conclusion. Each chapter may stand on its own, but the connections between them make Kraft’s results much more complete and interesting.

Jan Philipp Sternberg, Auswanderungsland Bundesrepublik. Denkmuster und Debatten in Politik und Medien 1945 – 2010 (Studien zur Historischen Migrationsforschung, Bd. 26, Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh Verlag, 2012)

27/01/2014Book review (editorial review)Germany, Migration, mediaMarkus Meckl

Migration, in the German public opinion, is connected to immigration to Germany and not emigration from Germany.

Tormod Engelsviken, Ernst Harbakk, Rolv Olsen & Thor Strandenæs (eds.), Mission to the World; Communicating the Gospel in the 21st Century. Essays in Honour of Knud Jørgensen (Oxford: Regnum Books & Egede International, 2008)

27/01/2014Book review (editorial review)Christianity, Lutheranism, missionMichael Gibbons

Reading theological literature from outside the particular faith tradition can be an exercise in paradoxical calisthenics.

J. Alcamo & J.E. Olesen (eds.), Life in Europe Under Climate Change (West Sussex & Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012)

27/01/2014Book review (editorial review)IPCC, UN, adaptation; climate change; EuropeMichael John Laiho

In trying to explain such a complex phenomenon, Life in Europe Under Climate Change does well in emphasising the anthropogenic factors of today’s modern climate.

R. Bohlin, De Osynliga. Det Europas fattiga arbetarklass; M. Linton, De hatade. Om radikalhögerns måltavlor; B. Elmbrant, Europas stålbad. Krisen som slukar välfärden och skakar euron (All titles by Atlas, Stockholm, 2012)

27/01/2014Book review (editorial review)EU, Euro, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Islam, Italy, Netherlands; right wing; extremism, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, crisis, fascism, feminism; trade union; migrantMonica Quirico

The publishing house Atlas, introducing itself as “progressive, keeping its feet in the present, but with en eye turned to the future”, published in 2012, in the series “Whose Europe?” (Vems Europe?), these three reports, all dealing with the impact of the crisis started in 2008, but each focusing on a particular aspect of it.

Michael Byers, International Law and the Arctic (Cambridge: Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative law, Cambridge University Press, 2013)

27/10/2013Book review (editorial review)Arctic; international law; international relationsRachael Lorna Johnstone

International Law in the Arctic is a most welcome text to scholars and teachers of Arctic studies that to date has no close competitor.

Timo Koivurova, Introduction to International Environmental Law (London: Routledge, 2013)

19/09/2013Book review (editorial review)international environmental lawRachael Lorna Johnstone

Introduction to International Environmental Law was first published in Finnish as Johdatus kansainväliseen ympäristöoikeuteen in 2012 by Publisher Tietosanoma Oy. As such, it was the first textbook on international environmental law published in Finnish for over 20 years. Following its warm reception in Finland, Routledge agreed to translate the text into English to make it available to a wider audience.

A response to Adam Langridge’s ‘review’ of “The Varieties of Ecstasy Experience”, Vol. 8 No. 1, 2013

16/08/2013Book review (editorial review)Sean Leneghan

In seeing the “review” of my book The Varieties of Ecstasy Experience I was disappointed to see that it was not a scholarly book review that was published in this journal.

Regaining Iceland for the Catholic Church in the mid-19th Century

03/03/2013Interviews, memoirs and other contributions (editorial review)Birgir Guðmundsson & Markus Meckl

In the late 1850s, the Church of Rome sent missionaries to Iceland; to begin with, a Catholic priest and an assistant. The proclaimed purpose of their stay was to service the thousands of French seamen that were fishing for cod in Icelandic waters. However, although the official and most visible purpose of the Catholic mission was to attend to the French sailors, the mission was also meant to reclaim Iceland to the Catholic faith. This essay contains the first account of the experiences of father Bernard, the priest who was in charge of this mission.

The Activist, the Ideologist and the Researcher. On “Guesstimates” and Trafficking in Women

03/03/2013Interviews, memoirs and other contributions (editorial review)Jean Michel Chaumont

A few months ago, an old and well-respected friend of mine invited me to join the local branch of ATTAC. He introduced me to the philosophy of the movement, which is based on a true understanding of economic mechanisms and their consequences. I must admit that I do not understand much about the world’s economic situation and this lack of understanding paralyzes my ability to judge and therefore to take sides. Therefore, I told him that I would begin by following the movement’s courses given to its new members.

Winning the War of the World

03/03/2013Interviews, memoirs and other contributions (editorial review)Life, cancer, capital, economics, economy, ethics, globalization, science, sustainability, truth, valueJohn McMurtry

The global corporate experiment has failed. Existence on earth is in rapid decline on every level of life organization. The air, soil and water cumulatively degrade and disappear; the climates and oceans destabilize without connection; species become extinct at a spasm rate across continents; pollution cycles and volumes rise endangering life systems on all planes in synergistic despoliation; the world’s forests, meadows and fisheries are cumulatively destroyed by the profit drivers of globalization; food pollinators, songbirds, coral reefs and large animals crash in unconnected response; public sectors and services are defunded and privatized as tax evasion by the rich multiplies; the global food system produces more and more disabling junk and wastes; non-contagious diseases multiply to the world’s biggest killer; the global financial system issues money out of control while collapsing in productive investment; the vocational future of the next generations is erased across the world; official lies and corruption are normalized as public relations. All the trends are one-way, degenerate, and undeniable.

The Sardinian Literary Spring: An Overview. A New Perspective on Italian Literature

03/03/2013Interviews, memoirs and other contributions (editorial review)Sardinia; Italy; literature; novels; dialectMichele Broccia

This article aims at presenting today’s Sardinian literary scene and how some novelists (Sergio Atzeni, Giulio Angioni, Salvatore Mannuzzu, Salvatore Niffoi, Marcello Fois, Giorgio Todde, Milena Agus, Francesco Abate, Flavio Soriga and Michela Murgia), during the last few decades, drawing their narrative subjects directly from the regional and local culture, are contributing to a new development in Italian literature. These authors’ novels often contain references to Sardinian linguistic, social, anthropological and historical facts. Their success has led literary critics to talk about a Sardinian Literary Spring or Sardinian Nouvelle Vague, i.e. a literary phenomenon, which is the expression of a deep-rooted Sardinian identity.