Suchergebnisse

Evidence of two contradictory subcultural responses to the body is presented: the body-modification & adornment practices of modern primitivism, eg, tattooing, piercing, & scarification, & the cyberspace experience of escaping the body. Modern primitivism with its stress on corporeal spiritualism & rituals is in fact a subculture about the body & the discourses of ownership, control, & sensation. This discourse is about the relationship between the body & technology. Similarly, the posthuman cyberpunk culture also deals with this relationship, with the disembodiment, disengagement, & "terminal numbness" in cyberspace. Cyberpunk writing includes descriptions of the aesthetic manipulation of the body, functional alterations of the body, & the melding of human & machine. These contradictory trends reflect the tension between disembodiment & re-embodiment as corporeal strategies. 36 References. M. Pflum

Bell asserts that widespread participation in the European Union (EU) necessitates a transcendent political culture. To measure the efficacy of this vision, he begins by defining political culture & divining its real or potential presence in modern Europe. A review of religious-political enmeshment, inter-European influences & identification, the shift to nation-states, & post-Industrial Revolution conflicts & alliances leading to modern political affiliations precedes definition of party political traditions. A history of modern European politics includes figures on votes cast for leftist or conservative candidates, 1950-2000, a focus on Christian democracy, & consideration of liberalism, the far Right, socialism, the Greens, & communism. There is information on regional parties & on the composition of the European Parliament. An assessment of party continuity & of possibilities for bipartisan EU collusion is offered. 2 Tables, 13 References. M. C. Leary

An exploration of "cumulative narrative" focuses on the story of the abduction of Samantha Mulder, FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder's younger sister, on the TV series, The X-Files. Perusal of the recurring Samantha theme over the seven seasons aired in the UK through 2000 notes that Fox Mulder's pursuit of answers related to the X-files is motivated by his desire to discover the truth behind his sister's abduction. The Samantha narrative is considered in light of both a "popular culture of conspiracy," which involves the production, circulation, & consumption of conspiracy theories in popular culture, & the "conspiracy of popular culture," which centers on how "fringe knowledges" about things like alien abductions achieve mass exposure & popularity. The X-Files includes the essential elements of conspiracy theories while emphasizing the search for "truth," but it is just one of many pop-cultural products with conspiracy at its core. Theodor Adorno's (1994) astrological readings are drawn on to examine the knowledge, commodity, & culture forms/functions that help to shape the current landscape of conspiracy. 25 References. J. Lindroth