Hordes and Massed Machines: Samuel Huntington in Russia
This article seeks to examine Samuel Huntingdon’s ‘clash of civilisations’ thesis in the context of Russian attitudes towards Asia and the Russian Empire’s Muslim populations. The Russian experience is particularly apposite because of Russia’s geopolitical position and the ongoing debate that this has caused about whether Russia is part of Europe, Asia or Eurasia and how—in making a positive ideological identification with one of these—the ‘other’ is constructed in Russian cultural and intellectual history. While there are some similarities between early Russian attitudes to Mongol rule and the ‘clash of civilisations’ thesis, this essay attempts to show Huntingdon’s limits by emphasising the importance of political and cultural continuity and hybridity in Russian attitudes towards its Muslim and pagan populations.
'Mind Over Gut? Hypnotherapy and Irritable Bowel Syndrome'
Almost two thousand years ago the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–323 BCE) was concerned with the connection between psychological processes and the underlying physiological phenomenon. He postulated that the body and the mind exist as facets of the same being, with the mind being simply one of the body’s functions. In the seventeenth century Rene Descartes (1596–1650), also known as the father of modern philosophy, theorised that the mind and the body are separate and distinct substances. He stated that the mind is conscious and non-spatial whilst the body is spatial but not conscious. He also thought that these two substances interacted via the pineal gland. While this latter theory has long prevailed, we now know that Aristotle’s theory has credence. States of mind do indeed directly affect the body, and the body can directly interact with the brain and mind. This has been nicely outlined by the workings of the mind–gut axis: the neural connections between the central nervous system (CNS) and the enteric/gastrointestinal nervous system.The exploding knowledge in the area of neuropsycho-immunology, endocrinology and physiology has allowed us to gain insights into how these interactions occur. However, the lag time from ‘bench to bedside’ is considerable. In many areas of medicine we are entering an era where a paradigm shift in our thinking will need to occur, as we discover that the wisdom of those like Aristotle is now backed by scientific evidence. This paper outlines an area of medicine where this shift has occurred, resulting in a more holistic approach to a common problem with important implications for patients.
'The Fetishised Fetus: Creating ‘Life’ with Ultrasound'
The tendency of the public and medical institutions to perceive fetuses as human is a problematic development because it has the potential to privilege fetuses over women. There is no question that the fetus as subject has been of historical importance. Whereas personhood was once gained through the social world, in Western contemporary society both mothers and fetuses establish identities through reproductive technology and technoscience. As childbirth is an embodied, deeply personal experience for women, I interrogate the emergence of the fetishised public fetus and the postmodern, technologised pregnant female body from which the fetus emerges. I argue that visualisation of the fetus has transformed the relationship between mother and child in the areas of consumerism, commodification of childhood and public health campaigns. As the fetus is enfranchised as an equal participant in society through ultrasound visualisation, I contend that this form of reproductive technology creates a new paradigm for understanding fetal personhood.
Cognitive Science'
Where should we look if we want to understand the mind? Philosophers and cognitive scientists have tended to follow Descartes in assuming that the mind must be something internal to individuals. This is understandable when we consider the intimate relation between the brain and mind. Taking its biological and social function seriously, however, we find that the mind permeates a massive cognitive iceberg that cannot be reduced to the operations of the brain. I argue that the move by some cognitive scientists and philosophers of mind to widen their conception of mind is well motivated.
'‘Modest Interventions’: An Ontological Investigation of Acid Sulfate Soils'
Within this article I adopt Donna Haraway’s notion of the ‘modest witness’: a trope through which she identifies the shortcomings of modern Western science and gestures towards the patterns that a more heterogeneous and reflexive science may form. Through this framework I present an ontological narrative of the acid sulfate soils, a contemporary environmental problem, and the innovative scientific procedures that have been used to identify and manage its effects. In doing so I partake in a recent progressive trend within science studies scholarship which looks towards a new metaphysics of science that is potentially better suited to the technoscientific challenges faced by our current world order.
'Wu xi apian and the Asian Woman Warrior'
This paper challenges the assertion of Western film criticism that the Asian woman warrior is a new phenomenon. Rather, I suggest that because of its exposure to early Hollywood interpretations of the Asian woman, Western film criticism has a conventional view of Asian women, and hence this is a possible reason why the Asian woman warrior garnered interest amongst film critics. What I have done here is to provide a flashback to the presentation and treatment of women in Chinese wu xia pian or martial arts films. The purpose of this paper is to show that while Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon/Wo Hu Cang Long (2000) may have captured the imagination of Western audiences because of its strong and powerful fighting Asian women, the figure of the woman warrior in wu xia pian is not unusual or unique. Rather, she is a quintessential character in wu xia pian and Chinese psyche.
'Vale Postmodern Thanatogenics? Towards an Aesthetic of the Proto-avant-garde'
In augmenting the illusion of reality with moments of aesthetic alterity, the avant-garde serves its communities through re-presenting to mass culture that which is uncanny, unconscious or forgotten. In dying (through assimilation) the avant-garde paradoxically lives (through assimilation). Early-twentieth-century manifestations of the aesthetic avant-garde serve as a model of functionality in proposing a proto-avant-garde, able to evolve from some of the postmodernist theoretical discourses via a process of mutation. Though postmodernism may appear to have locked the dialectic with totalising paraliteratures and a thanatogenic (death-bringing) modus operandum, it is a mistake to suggest that new moments of an aesthetic avant-garde are unavailable in the twenty-first century.
'The Receiving Context: Neuroanthropology'
Our methods of thinking are a product of thousands of years of cultural evolution. These patterned thoughts and behaviours may be a handicap in our rapidly changing world. Our culture-influenced mindsets can be evaluated in the light of brain science and cultural anthropology. Neuroanthropology, a multidisciplinary field integrating neuroscience and anthropology, answers the need to assess our culture-bound behaviours. It is the study of the cultural basis of mind and the biological basis of cultures—a cohesion which unites the realms of art, religion and science. The scope expands existing paradigms and explores new perspectives that may break cultural barriers and cultural mindsets.