Exile and the Demos: Leo Strauss in America

This article explores the political, as opposed to the philosophical, impact of Leo Strauss’s exile in America on his thought. After a consideration of anti-Semitism and the importance Strauss attached to being a Jew, I argue that the fact that in America he no longer wrote in his Muttersprache but in English was central to his becoming a political theorist rather than a philosopher. Whereas as a philosopher he was unable to speak to the demos, as a political theorist what he needed was a group of “rhetors” who would carry a particular message to the demos.     

John Owen and John Locke: confessionalism,doctrinal minimalism,and toleration

ABSTRACT

The present article compares John Locke’s and John Owen’s approaches to toleration. Owen, a towering figure of the Puritan revolution and a Protestant scholastic whose work is still the object of significant appreciation in Reformed circles, was Locke’s dean during his time as a student in Oxford. There is a number of treatises on toleration by Owen, especially during the mid-1640s, and later again after the Restoration, in his role as a nonconforming divine. There has also been some speculation regarding the involvement of both Owen and Locke in the circle around Shaftesbury. Together with their writings against Parker and Stillingfleet, this would seem to draw Owen and Locke quite close to each other. Both authors are, however, divided in their approach to Christian doctrine: Owen represents classical confessionalism and Locke modern doctrinal minimalism. The article explores the ways in which these oppositional approaches to doctrine relate to their views of toleration.     

试论《诗经》诗篇结构的"诗中有诗"现象

"诗中有诗"现象是指在诗篇结构内部组合有其他的既成诗篇。《诗经》的这一现象根源于当时诗篇在单位形态上具有的灵活性、相对性特点,并且关系到《诗经》诗篇在形成、编制过程中存在的复杂情形。"诗中有诗"现象与《诗经》学史上的"赋诗断章"、正考父校《商颂》、《武》诗篇章构成、"孔子删诗"等问题密切相关,关注这一现象有助于推进对这些问题的深入研究。     

The Democratic Islamic Republic of Iran in Exile

This paper examines the political, organizational, and ideological shifts necessitated by the chief Iranian oppositional group, the progressive Islamist Mojahedin-e Khalq (People's Mojahedin) organization, beginning with its exile from the Islamic Republic starting in June of 1981 through the present day. An analysis of these shifts is presented as a chronological series of evolving relationships including the Mojahedin's collaboration with a broad-base of oppositional groups and individuals during its Paris exile and founding of the National Council of Resistance (NCR); the Mojahedin's relocation to Baghdad and subsequent foundation of the National Liberation Army (NLA); and the Mojahedin's courtship of Western governments and international organizations to promote its cause. Following the depiction of the transformations undertaken by the Mojahedin throughout these three phases is an analysis of both the status of the organization as a result of these changes and an assessment of the price of exile.     

Sur-i Israfil in Exile: Modern Definitions of Monarchy

After the bombardment of the Majlis in June of 1908, several Iranian constitutionalists were forced into exile—if not arrested and persecuted. An influential group of these constitutionalists continued the publication of the Persian paper Sur-i Israfil in exile, in Yverdon, Switzerland, explicitly opposing the monarch, Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar. This article examines the ways and means by which the exiled constitutionalists, in their writings, challenged the monarch and the previously indisputable office of monarchy, and how they proposed to re-define the institution of monarchy. Paradoxically, their marginal setting, writing from European exile, far away from the Iranian borders, did not preclude them from expressing views that were influential in shaping the modern political culture of Iran.     

Emigration,return migration and surprise homecomings in post-Celtic Tiger Ireland

This article explores the cultural and ideological management of mass migration in twenty-first-century Ireland, arguing that narratives of return have come to dominate representations of emigration. The almost universal focus on the moment or experience of return distinguishes the current era from other periods of high emigration in Ireland. The phenomenon of the surprise homecoming video is scrutinised alongside recent cinematic releases, newspaper articles, blogs and cultural events including The Gathering (2013) and the Marriage Equality Referendum (2015). By drawing these sources together, the article exposes how cultural representations of emigration have been shaped to fit with official narratives of a business-friendly nation in recovery. By repeatedly showcasing the emotional pleasures of return these popular culture forms support a fantasy of easy return and mask the real economic and social problems driving the latest wave of emigration.     

阿尔文·约翰逊与“流亡大学”的创办

20世纪30至40年代,为对抗纳粹德国的残暴政策和美国社会的冷漠态度,在拯救欧洲知识难民的行动中,美国知识界“新左派”代表人物阿尔文.约翰逊,以他非凡的胆识、乐观主义的精神和顽强的努力,在他领导的纽约“社会研究新学院”内部,创办了一所被称之为“流亡大学”的研究生院,接受了182名来自欧洲各国的著名科学家,从而使这所“流亡大学”成为了美国社会科学“国际化”的突破口和世界上第一个国际性的社会科学研究中心。     

Asylum seekers,Ireland, and the return of the repressed

Abstract

In 2014 residents in Direct Provision Centres for asylum seekers staged a series of protests. The protests, which coincided with the appointment of a new Minister for Justice who announced the Irish government’s plans to reform the asylum system, voiced three clear demands. Firstly, the protestors demanded that all asylum centres be closed; secondly, they demanded that all residents be given the right to remain and work in Ireland; and thirdly, they demanded an end to all deportations. The government’s response to these protests was to appoint a working group in October 2014, made up of representatives of migrant-support NGOs (but without any significant representation of asylum seekers themselves) while also announcing that it intends to reform rather than abolish the system.

Against this background, this paper makes three interlinked theoretical propositions. Firstly, I propose that just as the Irish state and society managed to ignore workhouses, mental health asylums, “mother and baby homes”, Magdalene laundries and industrial schools, they also “manage not to know” of the plight of asylum seekers, precisely because the Direct Provision system isolates asylum applicants, makes them dependent on bed and board and a small “residual income maintenance payment to cover personal requisites”, and makes it difficult for them to organise on a national level. “Managing not to know”, or disavowing, entails the erasure of the Direct Provision system from Ireland’s collective consciousness at a time when increasing emigration is returning to haunt Irish society after years of refusing to confront the pain of emigration. I argue that asylum seekers represent the return of Ireland’s repressed that confronts Irish people, themselves e/migrants par excellence. Secondly, I propose that by taking action and representing themselves, the residents of Direct Provision Centres can no longer be theorised as Agamben’s “bare life”, at the mercy of sovereign power, to whom everything is done and who are therefore not considered active agents in their own right. The third proposition responds to the theme of this special issue, that multiculturalism is “in crisis”, arguing in the conclusion that this “crisis” hardly applies to Ireland, where the brief flirtations with “interculturalism” by state, society but also Irish studies disavow race and racism in favour of a returning obsession with emigration, which enables the continued disavowal of the experiences of asylum seekers in Direct Provision.     

The Political Economy of Exile in the Great Dismal Swamp

The Great Dismal Swamp in North Carolina and Virginia has a history of profound significance to scholars and historians of North American diasporas. Between 1630 and 1865, thousands of maroons, enslaved canal company laborers, and disenfranchised Native Americans lived within this morass and formed communities that were connected through a dynamic swamp-wide political economy. The Great Dismal Swamp Landscape Study has been initiated to explore the archaeological landscapes of these Diasporans. This essay discusses several aspects of the theoretico-analytical research model that has guided this ongoing project. Also, included are brief explications on the methods and results of the first season of archaeological survey in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.