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Shades of whiteness: The appropriation of religious symbols by the Nordic Alt-Right
Get PDFThis study examines the appropriation of religious symbols by the Nordic Alt-Right over the last decade, focusing on their use for völkisch identity construction around whiteness. It locates this signification historically, both before and during the Third Reich, to reveal a complex genealogy complicated by racial ideals, nationalistic agendas and magical thinking. Analysis centres around a selection of symbols – ranging from various Norse runes to the Valknut, the Sonnenrad and the swastika – used both explicitly and in more private contexts by members of the Nordic Alt-Right, with special attention focused on two groups that are active today, the Nordic Resistance Movement and the Soldiers of Odin. This opens a discussion on the semiotic range of appropriation itself, in order to expose how it is operative in different ways and on different levels, not only in terms of cultural borrowing or contestations of meaning but as an appropriation of ideological frames and systems of belief
A brief history of Spiral Dynamics
Get PDFAlbion M. Butters, University of Turku
Albion M. Butters PhD lectures in the Department of Comparative Religion at the University of Turku. While he is specialized in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, his interests also include intersections between alternative forms of religion and cultural studies. He is currently writing a book on 'spiritual fiction': The Spiritual Evolution of Comics: The Birth of ‘Spi-Fi’.For nearly two decades, the theory of Spiral Dynamics has been used to dynamically model human evolution and information systems. In that time, however, many different versions and applications of the model have emerged. This article will diachronically trace the history of Spiral Dynamics, from the foundational theory of Clare Graves to its initial introduction by Don Beck and Chris Cowan and subsequent adaptation by Ken Wilber. A brief exploration of the various camps and their competing interpretations of Spiral Dynamics will permit some critical analysis of the model itself
Up in Arms: Gun Imaginaries in Texas
No full textUp in Arms provides an illustrative and timely window onto the ways in which guns shape people’s lives and social relations in Texas. With a long history of myth, lore, and imaginaries attached to gun carrying, the Lone Star State exemplifies how various groups of people at different historical moments make sense of gun culture in light of legislation, political agendas, and community building. Beyond gun rights, restrictions, or the actual functions of firearms, the book demonstrates how the gun question itself becomes loaded with symbolic firepower, making or breaking assumptions about identities, behavior, and belief systems. Contributors include: Benita Heiskanen, Albion M. Butters, Pekka M. Kolehmainen, Laura Hernández-Ehrisman, Lotta Kähkönen, Mila Seppälä, and Juha A. Vuori
English
Get PDFWhen carrying concealed handguns on campus was legalised at The University of Texas (UT) at Austin in 2015, students and faculty positioned themselves in relation to the new law in very different ways, ranging from large demonstrations and the use of various types of rhetoric to non-vocal representations and deliberate silence. This essay examines an important transitional moment in the educational environment by focusing on the respective relationships and modes of expression—or articulations—of the affected parties regarding the issue of firearms on university premises, as these reflected opposing camps within the academic community. Drawing on interviews and quantitative research, and proposing a novel theoretical frame to understand the complex subject of guns, this essay examines the polemics, polarisation, and power dynamics around Campus Carry at UT Austin
Up in Arms: Gun Imaginaries in Texas
No full textUp in Arms provides an illustrative and timely window onto the ways in which guns shape people’s lives and social relations in Texas. With a long history of myth, lore, and imaginaries attached to gun carrying, the Lone Star State exemplifies how various groups of people at different historical moments make sense of gun culture in light of legislation, political agendas, and community building. Beyond gun rights, restrictions, or the actual functions of firearms, the book demonstrates how the gun question itself becomes loaded with symbolic firepower, making or breaking assumptions about identities, behavior, and belief systems. Contributors include: Benita Heiskanen, Albion M. Butters, Pekka M. Kolehmainen, Laura Hernández-Ehrisman, Lotta Kähkönen, Mila Seppälä, and Juha A. Vuori
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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Fear in the Classroom: Campus Carry at the University of Texas at Austin
Get PDFThis article examines the significance of fear of concealed handguns in the classroom at a public university in Texas, analyzing perceived changes in shared social space and the collective learning environment in terms of affect. This multimethod study provides a framework for understanding the factors behind the fear, which may be seen as personal, societal, or a dynamic combination of those manifested in local relationships. Furthermore, it explores disruptions of instruction and discussion, the profiling of other students as potential gun carriers, and the introduction of situational awareness in class. Based on ethnography conducted at The University of Texas at Austin, where campus carry was implemented in 2016, this article provides a context for those in the discipline of education, as well as instructors and administrators at other institutions of higher learning in the United States, to consider the complex nature of fear of guns and its impact on the classroom atmosphere.Educatio
Articulations of power: Guns on campus and the protests against them
Get PDFWhen carrying concealed handguns on campus was legalised at The University of Texas (UT) at Austin in 2015, students and faculty positioned themselves in relation to the new law in very different ways, ranging from large demonstrations and the use of various types of rhetoric to non-vocal representations and deliberate silence. This essay examines an important transitional moment in the educational environment by focusing on the respective relationships and modes of expression—or articulations—of the affected parties regarding the issue of firearms on university premises, as these reflected opposing camps within the academic community. Drawing on interviews and quantitative research, and proposing a novel theoretical frame to understand the complex subject of guns, this essay examines the polemics, polarisation, and power dynamics around Campus Carry at UT Austin.</p
(Dis)Belief in QAnon: Competing Hermeneutics in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election
Get PDF Among many disruptive events in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, the meta-conspiracy theory known as QAnon surged, intertwining politics and (quasi-)religious belief in ways that have yet to be fully understood. This article explores the power of deep memetic frames—namely, how we ideologically see the world and communicate that worldview—as a means used by certain individuals and amplified by politicians, including President Trump, to mobilize the voting public across party lines. It also reveals how representations of QAnon by the mainstream media played into the movement’s success. For QAnon followers, the election became a crossroads moment, a “Great Awakening” whereby one could identify as part of a collective insider movement. Examining the epistemological de/construction of truth in a media context and diverging hermeneutical approaches—faith and suspicion, respectively—the article argues for the importance of religion as a lens to better understand QAnon in a deeply polarized United States. </p
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