The rhetoric of Islamophobia: an analysis of the means of persuasion in Hege Storhaug’s writings on Islam and Muslims

Few actors have had a greater impact on the “framing of Muslims” as a social and political “problem” in Norway since 2001 than Hege Storhaug of the government- and corporate billionaire funded civil society organization Human Rights Service (HRS). Using the methodological tools of the “rhetorical branch” of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and applying the Aristotelian concepts of ethos, logos and pathos, we analyze the bestselling popular title on Islam and Muslims ever published in Norway, namely Storhaug’s self-published 2015 title “Islam – The Eleventh Plague”. We argue that Storhaug’s popular success must be understood in light of her rhetorical appeals to femonationalism, the critique of religion and “Enlightenment” values. We show how she in her writings incites fear of the Muslim “Other” through specific rhetorical devices and a positioning of herself as a defender of the “nation” and the “people” – against national and international “elites”.     

‘To bring out the best that is in their blood’: Race,reform, and civilization in the journal of race development (1910–1919)

The Journal of Race Development [JRD], published out of Clark University in the United States between 1910 and 1919, aimed, in its founder's words, “to present … the important facts which bear upon race progress, and the different theories as to the methods by which developed peoples may most effectively aid the progress of the undeveloped”. Its basic premise was that scientific knowledge could harness racial or civilizational “evolution” and turn it into “development”. This article examines that project, the conceptual apparatus that the JRD's writers and editors brought to bear on it, and how racial ideas informed their conceptions of development and progressive social change through elite scientific and political intervention. Central to this project was an organic notion of “civilization” in which “nature” and “culture” did not so much overlap as flow seamlessly one into the other.     

Maternal feeding strategies, child eating behaviors, and child BMI in low-income African-American preschoolers

Objective: To test the hypothesis that low‐income African‐American preschool children would have a higher BMI if their mothers reported greater “restriction” and “control” in feeding and if mothers reported that children showed greater “food responsiveness” and “desire to drink.” In addition, to test whether higher maternal “pressure to eat” would be associated with lower child BMI. Research Methods and Procedures: A questionnaire was completed by 296 low‐income African‐American mothers of preschool children. It assessed three constructs on maternal feeding strategies (“restriction,” “pressure to eat,” and “control”) and two on child eating behaviors (“food responsiveness” and “desire to drink”). Children's BMI was measured, and mothers’ BMI was self‐reported. Results: The mean (standard deviation) BMI z‐score of the children was 0.34 (1.5), and 44% of the mothers were obese (BMI ≥30 kg/m²). Only maternal “pressure to eat” had a significant overall association with child BMI z‐score (r = ?0.16, p < 0.01). Both maternal “restriction” and “control” were positively associated with children's BMI z‐score in the case of obese mothers (r = 0.20, p = 0.03 and r = 0.24, p = 0.007, respectively), but this was not so in the case of non‐obese mothers (r = ?0.16, p = 0.05 and r = ?0.07, p = 0.39, respectively). Discussion: Among low‐income African Americans, the positive association between maternal restriction and control in feeding and their preschoolers’ BMI was limited to obese mothers. Relations between parent feeding strategies and child weight status in this population may differ on the basis of maternal weight status.     

Myths of meritocracy: caste,karma and the new racism,a comparative study

The discourse of karma (behaviour), confounded with inherent psychic and material substance of the person/group (guna), was at the heart of India’s caste ideology. This systematic and intuitive, albeit convoluted and phantasmic doctrine was critical to bridge the discrepancy between a pantheistic religious imaginary and the reality of exclusion and abjection. Although “karma” evokes an exotic orient, this ideology is near identical with the ideas of “idleness” and “instant gratification” used to make sense of racial inequities in the contemporary United States. In both cases, the idea of behavioural and moral deficiency is used to justify evident abjection and discrimination, within the frame of an encompassing ideology of social equality. Thus, this use of the notions of “work” and “discipline”, extrapolated to the moral quality of the group or individual, is no passing argument of the “new racism”. It is a proven ploy of assigning blame on the victim.     

On concept formation in systematics

In his “Grundzüge einer Theorie der phylogenetischen Systematik”, Hennig (1950 ) cited three philosophers: the leading empiricist Rudolf Carnap, the conventionalist Hugo Dingler, and the somewhat more obscure empiricist Theodor Ziehen. David Hull characterized Hennig's “Grundzüge” as one long argument against idealistic morphology. It will here be argued that Hennig attacked idealistic morphology (synonymous with “systematic” morphology) for its mode of concept formation. Building on Carnap and Ziehen, who both looked back on Ernst Cassirer, Hennig argued that the “generic”, “thing” or “class” concept of traditional nomothetic science must be replaced with Cassirer's “relation concept.” According to Hennig, such “emancipation” of systematics from the Aristotelian “species” concept would also allow transcendence from the distinction of idiographic from nomothetic sciences, thus preserving the unity of science. However, the establishment of relations in the construction of a system of order presupposes entities that can be, or are, related. Relations presuppose relata, which in modern systematics are best conceptualized (at least at the supraspecific level) not as Aristotelian classes, nor as individuals as was argued by Hennig and Ziehen, but as tokens of natural kinds. © The Willi Hennig Society 2006.     

Moralizing regulation: the implications of policing “good” versus “bad” immigrants

Recently, the US has dramatically expanded immigration enforcement. At the same time, some advocates have sought to support “good” immigrants. This paper considers how the resulting good/bad binaries affect undocumented immigrants. I examine a case study in Los Angeles, where policing intertwined with protection. Based on participant observation and interviews, I show that respondents believed state agents classified them either as “bad” criminals or “good”, immigrants. To the extent immigrants identified as “good”, they credited the US with offering them “freedom” and hoped for political inclusion. At the same time, in what I call moralizing regulation, they also performed “good” behaviour and distinguished themselves from those seen as “bad”. Some also tied “good” behaviour to femininity and “acting white”. At the extreme, they blamed other migrants for inviting state mistreatment. The effects were ambivalent: while immigrants appreciated US support, they also adopted and adapted to the state’s moral norms.     

Erratum: Darwin,race, and the AAPA 1997 Charles R. Darwin lifetime achievement award,acceptance address. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 104:553–555.

ERRATUM: Philip V. Tobias (1997) Darwin, Race, and the AAPA 1997 Charles R. Darwin lifetime achievement award, acceptance address. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 104:553–555. Page 553, column 2, paragraph 3, line 2: “analyses” should be “analysts.” Page 554, column 1, line 4: Darwin's “great black bug of the Pampas” is Triatoma infestans. Page 554, column 1, paragraph 3, line 2: “century” should read “centenary.” The AJPA apologizes for these and other errors that crept into the printed version of Philip V. Tobias's Acceptance Address. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Techniques for Universal Evaluation of Astringency of Green Tea Infusion by the Use of a Taste Sensor System

A practical method for universal evaluation of the astringency of green tea infusion by a taste sensor system was established. The use of EGCg aqueous solution as a standard enabled analysis with high accuracy and reproducibility. The sensor output was converted into taste-intensity on the basis of Weber’s and Weber-Fechner laws, which was named the “EIT _ast ” value (“EIT” and “ast” are abbreviations for “Estimated Intensity of Taste” and “astringency” respectively). It was clarified that green tea infusion is to be classified into eight grades on the EIT _ast scale. Furthermore, the high correlation of the EIT _ast value with the human gustatory sense and the high stability of the taste sensor were proved.     

De-indigenized but not defeated: race and resistance in Colombia's Peace Community and Campesino University

Despite the institution of multicultural policies and pluriethnic governments across Latin America, racist violence against Indigenous and Afro-descendant groups persists. Yet the racial facets of violence against non-ethnic campesinos remain unexplored. Integrating scholarship on race as a global structure and Latin American racial formations, I offer an account of racialization in Colombia. This article analyzes the racial dynamics of resistance to extractivism in Colombia's Campesino University, uniting Indigenous and campesino groups like the San José de Apartadó Peace Community. While the dominant race lexicon separates “campesinos” like San José's peasants from “Indigenous” and “Black” groups, I argue that the identifier campesino mestizo hides how San José's farmers were “de-indigenized” yet remain racialized as the less-than-human “Indigenous savage”. If racialization works to dominate but also divide the subaltern, then Campesino University participants’ cross-ethnic solidarity network against what they affirm is a shared experience of racist violence both unveils and counters racism.     

Ecological Stability: Reality,Misconceptions, and Implications for Risk Assessment

Over a long time frame, an ecological system may not exhibit constancy due to successional and evolutionary changes in the species composing the system. However, over shorter time frames an ecological system exhibits a certain degree of constancy (i.e., varies within defined bounds). Traditionally, ecologists considered this short-term constancy to reflect a “balance of nature,” which was viewed akin to the simple homeostatic dynamics of physiological systems. This is an appealing perspective because the disruption of the system's “balance” (i.e., its ”health“) can be ascertained by comparing the system's current state after the imposition of a perturbation with the societally desired state (i.e., baseline). Recently, ecologists have started to develop a much more complex, and perhaps more realistic, perspective regarding ecosystem dynamics, which does not depend upon homeostasis with a single baseline state. This new view includes stochastic variation, nonlinear dynamics and alternative states, and poses a challenge for assessing environmental “health” and the risk of creating “unhealthy” ecological systems     

Ethnographic surreality,possession and the unconscious

In the Second Manifesto of Surrealism, issued by André Breton in 1929, surrealism was described as “a total recuperation of our psychic strength by a means of none other than vertiginous descent into ourselves, systematic illumination of the hidden places and progressive darkening of the other places, a perpetual walk in the forbidden zone”. Surrealism sought to represent the unconscious and forbidden zones of the psyche, of the body, of the noumenal world within, which offered access, for surrealists, to energies and intuitions repressed by “civilized” modes of perception. For Jean Rouch, the significance of surrealism, of automatic writing and ciné‐transe, rested in the potential escape they offered from the formal constraints of conventional film and of conventional perception and observation. In his celebration of ciné‐transe, and of the technological apparatus that makes it possible, it is possible to detect his desire for a freeing‐up of the constraints of consciousness—a desire to “write with the body”, to dream, to tap the unexplored power of the unconscious in its overturning of “reality”, of system, and of convention. As a phaneroscopic “wide‐angle lens”, surreality aimed to document the scientifically unexplainable, the immense experiential overload of ritual possession. It attempted to make visible, in the movement between observation and participation and across disjunctive points of view; the crossings‐over into the unconscious world by which possessed Songhay dancers gained access to powers of phaneroscopic perception. By adopting filmic techniques which follow the surrealist practice of creating “verbal and visual collage”, in which randomly‐generated images, emerging out of a trance‐like state (of “automatic writing” or "ciné‐transe"), are juxtaposed in indeterminate and polyphonic relations with each other in an attempt to disturb or destroy patterns of perception which are confining, rationalistic, linear, or restricted to conscious phenomena, Rouch believed he could create powerful representations of the unknowable. This paper relates the phaneroscopic practice of ethnographic surrealism to psychoanalytic models of the unconscious. In a discussion of Rouch's interpretation of the Hauka spirit cult in his film Les Maîtres Fous, the paper argues that the neo‐Freudian paradigm which allowed him to depict the Sohghay's weekend Hauka rites as a parodic reversion to “savagery” (which both reversed the hierarchy of colonizer/colonized and enabled participants to experience a therapeutic release from the traumas of colonization) has been challenged by Lacanian and post‐Lacanian “re‐readings” of Freud that call into question the extent to which the unconscious can be equated with a pre‐linguistic state characterized by disjunctive “primitive” and “instinctive” energies. The surrealist longing for a rupture of the symbolic order of Western rationalism and a return to the “imaginary order” of the unconscious is confounded in the Lacanian conception of the unconscious as a zone inhabited by the “discourse of the Other”. However, the work of Gillès Deleuze and Félix Guanari [1977] provides a means of conceptualizing the unconscious in terms that avoid simplistic binary logic (phenomenon/noumenon; signifier/signified; subject/object; conscious/unconscious; civilization/savagery). The unconscious is not the “unrepresentable” Other of consciousness; it is a schizophrenic phaneron, a signifying “machine”, a transgressive producer of “group fantasy”. Rejecting both Freud's Oedipal model (the unconscious as primal imagery or “ghostly signifieds"), and the Lacanian notion of the unconscious (as a play of “empty signifiers"). Deleuze and Guattari argue that the unconscious cannot be accounted for in terms of the individual child and its entry into language any more than it can be conceived of as the domain of the primitive. On the contrary, the unconscious is constituted as “group fantasy”, as collective public memory which need not be reduced to elemental (Oedipal) signifiers: “all delirium possesses a world‐historical, political and racial content”. The schizophrenic embodies the public nature of unconscious meaning, since schizophrenia is primarily a communication disorder in which an individual never sees himself in terms of a linguistically‐generated “selfhood”, and fails to adopt the “false” identity which is offered to him in the language of the Other. Schizophrenia is characterized by a refusal to treat some meanings as superior to others, to remain within the bounds of a stable identity, or to distinguish between material (noumenal) things and actions and their (phenomenal) meanings. The schizophrenic unconscious treats all experience as signs, registering language in the same way as the body registers physical stimuli. Thus “meanings in the unconscious are simply meanings as workings of the body” [Harland 1987:174–175]. The schizophrenic as a model for the unconscious holds several implications for those interested in representing the experiential power of public rituals, for the public meanings in circulation during such rituals are material and noumenal, and are registered on the bodies of the dancers as they transgress boundaries and pass beyond consciousness. Rouch's surreality attempted to inscribe this unconscious production of public meaning as it was manifested in the movements of the ritual and in the movements of the camera‐body.     

A Cultural History of Animals (6 Volumes)

ABSTRACT

Handling and training methods of horses, which specially emphasize the importance of understanding horse body language and the use of reinforcements, are often used in practice, yet their effects are not completely known. This study investigated whether the use of a sympathetic approach during the preparation for public auctions influenced the reactivity of young horses towards humans. Sixteen thoroughbred yearlings were prepared for the public auctions during one month: eight horses (“Control”) were handled according to conventional practices, while the others (“Treated”) were handled with two sessions of basic training based on body language. The reactivity of horses was assessed in the presence of an “unfamiliar person” and a “familiar person” inside the horse's box. The experimenter recorded the presence/absence of selected behaviors during seven observational moments: “approaching the box,” “opening the box door,” “entering the box,” and four consecutive observations every thirty seconds. Reactivity of horses was ranked during the first experience of “bit,” “grooming,” “shower,” and application of the “surcingle.” Heart rate was telemetrically recorded during this final test. At the end of the auction preparation, “Treated” horses exhibited more “contact” (p = 0.08) and “lick” (p < 0.05) behaviors in the presence of a person. “Control” horses showed higher (non-significant) percentages of negative (more nervous) rankings during “bit,” “grooming,” and “surcingle” tests. Two “Control” horses showed aggressive behavior during the application of the surcingle and the test was interrupted to guarantee person and animal safety. In this pilot study, horses handled with a sympathetic approach showed less reactive behaviors compared with “Control” horses. It would be interesting to enlarge the sample size and assess if the use of non-coercive handling during the whole training period influences their welfare positively and for a long time.     

Studies on the Extracellular Polysaccharides (EPS) Produced in vitro by Pseudomonas phaseolicola I. Indications for a Polysaccharide Resembling Alginic Acid in Seven P. syringae Pathovars

Extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) produced by Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola are obviously composed of two main components: the long known levan consisting of fructose, and a mannuronan consisting mainly of mannuronic acid (manA), thus resembling alginic acid (alginate). The identification of manA was established by TLC utilizing different developing systems, and by cellulose acetate electrophoresis in different buffers. References were authentic uronic acids and hydrolyzed authentic alginate. A rough quantification of the “alginate” present in crude EPS was achieved with a selective colour reaction which largely excluded compounds other than uronic acids. Levan was only synthesized with sucrose as primary carbon source. When grown on several other sugars and related compounds “alginate” was the predominant component of the EPS. Additionally, rhamnose, fucose, glucose and amino sugars were found in some instances in hydrolysates of crude EPS, suggesting the release of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from the bacterial cell walls during culture. Growth on carbon sources not related to sugars resulted in these “LPS” as the main constituent of EPS. After cultivation with sucrose, the “alginate” was restricted to the “slime” fraction of the EPS. In the “capsular” fraction, levan was predominating. A screening program revealed the capacity to synthesize the “alginate” in six additional P. syringae pathovars: pisi, lachrymans, aptata, tomato, syringae, and glycinea. All of the strains tested so far produced levan from sucrose, however, the “alginate” was formed not by all of them. There was a tendency that fresh isolates produced more “alginate” than strains subcultured for an extended time in vitro. This was also true for the total amount of EPS.     

CHARACTERIZATION OF PIGMENT MUTANTS IN A BLUEGREEN ALGA,ANACYSTIS NIDULANS1

Characteristics of 2 types of pigment mutants of the bluegreen alga, Anacystis nidulans, are described. “Yellow-green” mutants (YG) which have normal chlorophyll but only half the phycocyanin of the parent are similar to the parent in number of reaction centers/cell, number of chlorophylls/reaction center, maximum turnover rate of the reaction centers, quantum yields at 620 and 686 nm and specific growth rate; they have a reduced action at 620 nm. “Blue” mutants (BL) with somewhat higher phycocyanin but only one-third the chlorophyll of the parent are dissimilar to the parent. BL's have fewer reaction centers/cell, a smaller number of chlorophylls/reaction center, a higher maximum turnover rate of reaction centers, and a lower specific growth rate. BL's show ca. half the quantum yield of the parent at 620 nm and at 686 nm show a “red rise” rather than a “red drop.” The consequences attending low chlorphyll in the BL's are more drastic than those attending the low phycocyanin of the YG's.     

Five classes of visual interneurons in the optic nerve of the hermit crab

Response characteristics and trigger features are described for five operational classes of visual interneurons in the optic nerve of the hermit crab. The units were initially segregated on the basis of response sign (“on”, “off”, “on-off”) and duration (phasic, tonic). Tonic “on” and tonic “off” units were observed to be indistinguishable from the previously described sustaining and dimming fibers of other decapod crustacea. Phasic “off” units closely resemble either jittery motion or novelty detectors also previously documented. Phasic “on” units are characterized by an excitable antagonistic surround, a slow rate of habituation, and a sustained low level discharge during periods of increasing luminous flux at any point within their receptive fields. Highly sensitive to moving contours, they occasionally revealed a directional preference. The phasic “on” units are also capable of following brief stimuli at rates of up to 20/sec. Phasic “on-off” units were characterized by coextensive receptive fields for “on” and “off” responses and movement sensitivity independent of contrast.     

N‐(3‐Oxo‐acyl)‐homoserine lactone induces apoptosis primarily through a mitochondrial pathway in fibroblasts

N‐(3‐Oxododecanoyl)‐l ‐homoserine lactone (C12) is produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa to function as a quorum‐sensing molecule for bacteria–bacteria communication. C12 is also known to influence many aspects of human host cell physiology, including induction of cell death. However, the signalling pathway(s) leading to C12‐triggered cell death is (are) still not completely known. To clarify cell death signalling induced by C12, we examined mouse embryonic fibroblasts deficient in “initiator” caspases or “effector” caspases. Our data indicate that C12 selectively induces the mitochondria‐dependent intrinsic apoptotic pathway by quickly triggering mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilisation. Importantly, the activities of C12 to permeabilise mitochondria are independent of activation of both “initiator” and “effector” caspases. Furthermore, C12 directly induces mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilisation in vitro. Overall, our study suggests a mitochondrial apoptotic signalling pathway triggered by C12, in which C12 or its metabolite(s) acts on mitochondria to permeabilise mitochondria, leading to activation of apoptosis.     

George Gaylord Simpson as mentor and apologist for paleoanthropology

The influence of George Gaylord Simpson (1902–1984) on paleoanthropology provides a well-documented, historical example of how one scientific discipline can impact upon another, bringing the latter quickly “up to speed” without having to retrace ground covered by the former. Paleoanthropologists were bystanders during the formulation of the evolutionary synthesis (1936–1947). After World War II, the younger paleoanthropologists looked to George Gaylord Simpson as one of several mentors regarding the implications of the synthesis for their own discipline. But why Simpson? Having earlier defined the superfamily Hominoidea (1931) as holding the Pongidae and Hominidae and monographed lower primate fossils (e.g., “Studies on the earliest primates,” 1940), Simpson's “Principles of classification and a classification of mammals” (1945) further solidified his reputation as a mammalian systematist. Simpson's Meaning of Evolution (1949) was widely read as an introduction to the synthesis, and his Tempo and Mode in Evolution (1944) made accessible the more complex aspects. Consequently, in the 1950s and 1960s paleoanthropologists invited Simpson to participate in their symposia (e.g., “Some principles of historical biology bearing on human origins,” 1951; “The meaning of taxonomic statements,” 1964), used his books as classroom texts, and cited his publications to support claims for their own work. Later in the 1960s, Simpson moved from mentor to apologist, as the paleoanthropologists were by then familiar with the synthesis and incorporated its theoretical concepts in their interpretations of the many newly discovered hominoid fossils. Simpson now took special care to celebrate these results in his more general, less technical writings, acting as a forceful apologist for the materialistic view of human origins (e.g., “The biological nature of man,” 1966; “The evolutionary concept of man,” 1972). During the 1970s, Simpson's influence waned, and he became just another practitioner at the margin of the discipline. However, anthropologists acknowledged Simpson's earlier impact, for example, when he was invited, yet again, to address them at the 50th anniversary celebration of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in 1981.     

Generality and Diversity of Winged Bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) Protein in Eight Various Lines

Protein components from eight lines of winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) seeds which were originally introduced from Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Ishigaki, and cultivated in Okinawa and Fukuoka, were investigated. Two major peaks which had sedimentation coefficients, s₂₀, of about 2.5S and about 6.5S (6.0 to 6.6 for the 8 lines), and no larger component were observed in all specimens with more than 90% extraction. Electrophoretic profiles of the “6.5S” component(s) which was separated with Sepharose 6B column chromatography showed a main broad band and a few minor bands which seemed to be essentially similar among the eight lines of winged bean. Thus the “6.5S” protein surely could be regarded as the common storage protein in winged bean seeds. The subunit structure of the “6.5S” component(s) in SDS solution consisted of four major bands. The “2.5S” components were mixtures and combinations of various proteins which were distinctly different from one selection to another.     

Buddha's Painter

This study examines the relationship between media constructions of First and indigenous peoples, and the “performative primitives” who are employed in “cultural” villages in the South African province of KwaZulu‐Natal (KZN), with specific reference to Shakaland where the TV series, Shaka Zulu, was filmed in the late 1970s. A Perceian‐derived semiotic method is applied in analysis of the nature of tourist encounters with performers, the relationship between the Western Same and the African Other, and anthropologists’ /observers’ studies as a kind of cultural tourist. Through a discussion of the relationship between science and priestcraft I offer a theory which accounts for new ways of thinking about relations between emotional and active rhetorical discourses. This new form of “scientific discourse” is argued so as to be couched within related discourses of “development”, “conservation”, and “eco‐tourism”.