Symbolism rehashed and symbolism rethought

Edmund R. Leach. Culture and Communication: The Logic by Which Symbols Are Connected. An Introduction to the Use of Structuralist Analysis in Social Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1976. 105 pp.

Dan Sperber. Rethinking Symbolism. Translator, Alice L. Morton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1975. xiii + 153 pp.     

Folklore and Symbolism of Green

Colour is not a quality of an object, but a perception. As such, it can symbolise anything we want it to symbolise. This paper reports the results of a survey of the use of colour in folklore and tradition supported by the Folklore Society and the Colour Group (GB). Drawing attention to the diversity of colour symbolism worldwide, it posits two basic principles, the Principle of Adaptation of Ideas and the Principle of Singularity, to account for apparently contradictory usages.     

Pandanus (2000) Natural Symbolism in Indian Literatures. Edited by Jaroslav Vacek

Indo-Iranian Journal -     

Resisting RAMSI: Intervention,Identity and Symbolism in Solomon Islands

ABSTRACT The Australian‐led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) continues to enjoy high levels of approval amongst Solomon Islanders. However, this approval belies the existence of a minority, but nevertheless important, dissenting perspective, one which has mostly emanated from Malaitan quarters. How are we to interpret Malaitan expressions of opposition to RAMSI? While these dissenting voices can, in part, be seen through a lens of legal and economic rationality, Malaitan opposition to RAMSI must be properly located within a deeper tradition of Malaitan resistance to the imposition of alien and centralised authority. Malaitans have responded to the RAMSI intervention by invoking kastom as a symbol of difference, unity and resistance, just as they have done in the past. It is argued that resistance to RAMSI must be (re)interpreted as having fundamentally cultural and historical underpinnings. Resisting RAMSI is as much about asserting culture and identity as it is about money and power. This argument is drawn out through an historically contextualised analysis of contemporary articulations of Malaitan resistance. The voices examined come from the public statements of prominent Malaitans, the published manifesto of the Malaita Ma'asina Forum, and interviews with former members of the Malaita Eagle Force.     

Local Colour: Megalithic Architecture and Colour Symbolism in Neolithic Arran

Recent approaches to megalithic architecture have emphasised the importance of considering monuments in relation to the experience of place. Such approaches have taken two forms: emphasizing the relationship between experience and the internal architecture of the monument, or the nature of the experience evoked by the presence of the monument within the landscape. This paper argues that the importance of stone colour in relation to the construction of megalithic monuments contributes to an understanding of place and landscape as well as providing evidence of the symbolic and aesthetic aspects of colour in the past.     

Colour Symbolism in the Folk Literature of the Caucasus

Colour associations are analysed indirectly by a study of oral traditions and legends, using methods developed in structural anthropology. Colours are considered not in isolation, but mainly in contrasting pairs or in sequences. It has been found that a specific colour could have different associations in different conditions, and that generally the associations are more abstract than concrete.     

The joke is on us: Irony and community in a Beirut scrapyard

The Lebanese scrap metal industry – one of the country's largest exports – relies heavily upon marginalized young boys displaced from their homes in Syria. These underage waste pickers are not supposed to be working, and yet work is the only legitimate reason for their presence in Lebanon. Workers engage in different types of trip as they journey across Beirut, discreetly rummaging through rubbish. These trips allow them to cover up play under the guise of work while fostering a community of complicity that functions according to age hierarchies, rites of passage and codes of conduct.     

川东地区民间古床纹饰的象征性寓意

川东地区民间古床的纹饰不但题材丰富而且寓意深刻,它们在相当程度上体现了该地区人民的生活、思想与审美观念。其内容包括：吉祥物品纹,花卉、器具纹,果实、蔬菜纹,鸟兽、虫鱼纹,建筑、舟楫纹,人物、故事纹等等。通过对它们的研究,我们可以较为深入地了解该地区的人文历史、审美意识乃至社会观念,从而有利于对优秀传统文化的保护与传承。     

Interrupting Augustine: Hermeneutics,Allegory, and Irony in El perro del hortelano

Whatever else El perro del hortelano might be, it is a deeply ironic text about the difficulties of reading. The play not only stages acts of reading and writing where irony disrupts understanding, it is itself an ironic reading of Augustine's moment of conversion that shows the difficulty of allegorical and programmatic readings.     

三城三河相套而成的古城典型--江苏武进春秋淹城个案探析

江苏武进春秋晚期的淹城,是我国目前同时期古城遗址中保存最为完整的一座。它从里向外,由子城、子城河,内城、内城河,外城、外城河即三城三河相套组成。这种城市的筑造形制,在我国古代城池遗存中可以说是绝无仅有。为此,通过淹城个案的探析,我们可以清楚地看到,古淹城的三城三河相套的建筑形制以及城市水上交通、水门的建设等都明显具有南方特点。     

Resistance,Symbolism and the Language of Stateness in Timor‐Leste

On gaining independence in 2002 after a protracted struggle against Indonesian occupation, the sovereign Timor‐Leste state began to assert its sovereignty in a range of discursive and expressive media. These assertions developed a distinct ‘language of stateness’ that is the focus of this article. This East Timorese expression of state sovereignty draws heavily on the legacy of the Timorese resistance struggle and on a variety of other sources of symbolic power such as flags, buildings, logos, and uniforms. Yet these efforts have been contested by a range of non‐state actors in Timor‐Leste and the shape that this language of stateness has taken now evokes complaints from martial arts groups (MAGs), ritual arts groups (RAGs), and veterans' organisations that seek to ‘become like the state’ themselves, and who also employ a ‘national language of stateness’ in the form of flags, graffiti, and official buildings. While not challenging the idea of an independent East Timorese state per se, these groups question the prerogative of the state to use and define the language of stateness. In this article I explore the way the state and its challengers use ‘languages of stateness’ and how this shapes their ambivalent stance vis‐à‐vis each other, with both sides often drawing upon a discourse of the fulfilment of the millenarian promises that have for a long time been tied to the achievement of independence.     

钟惺评点小说考

本文就传世署名钟惺评点的小说及其版本进行考辨,指出这些书籍所署钟惺之名均为伪托。这正说明了明清之际钟惺及竟陵派不仅对所谓高雅文学有重大影响,而且对小说批评、书籍出版也同样有重大影响。     

法国早期象征派诗歌的生命意识

19世纪的法国象征派运动,给浪漫主义以来的欧洲诗坛带来一股清新的诗风。对于象征派诗歌的把握,有一个核心的精神,那就是寻求同万物生命的对话。从波德莱尔的“感应”,到兰波的“通灵”,再到马拉美的“无限”,法国象征派诗歌建立一种完全不同于人类中心论的全新的生命意识,对后世的后期象征主义文学甚至是生态文学都产生了深远的影响。