The Mountain Summit Auspicious Clouds and Dreams—Recapping the Moment of the Olympic Torch Relay Leg at the Mt.Qomolangma

The Beijing leg of the 2008 Olympic torch relay be-gan in spring.Along with the citizens in other cities,we were longing for a distinctive and stun-ning torch relay in terms of the route and the many colorful cer-emonial activities. The unprecedented plan to ex-tend the torch relay to Mt. Qomolangma will surely attract at-tention from all over the world.It     

Auroral torch structures: results of optical observations

Auroral torch structures are frequently observed as large scale wave-like undulations on the poleward edge of the diffuse precipitation zone. Their eastward drift velocity has the same order of magnitude and direction as the electric drift velocity usually observed in the morning sector. From a study of all-sky camera and TV data, the main peculiarities of the torch structures are shown. Three cases were studied. Height distributions of luminosity along the boundaries of the torch were made using the triangulation method in the first case. It was shown that the poleward boundary of the torch had the lowest altitudes around the crest. The second case was the appearance of a train consisting of five torches that existed for a relatively long time (~20 min), drifting eastward. On the contrary the last case was the successive development of two torches recorded by the TV camera. For the two latter cases the field-aligned mapping of the torches into the magnetotail is made using the latest version of the Tsyganenko magnetic field model (1989). The results of mapping showed that the generation of torch structures takes place quite close to the Earth, at a distance of 5–6 R_E.     

'United We Stand': American Attitudes toward (Muslim) Immigration Post-September 11th

Listen here, professor. You're the one that needs an American history lesson! You don't know nothing about Lady Liberty standing there in the harbor with her torch on high, saying 'Give me your poor, your dead-beats, your filthy.' -Archie Bunker All in the Family     

Slavery and plantation capitalism in Louisiana's sugar country

Sugar planters in the antebellum South managed their estates progressively, efficiently, and with a political economy that reflected the emerging capitalist values of nineteenth‐century America. By fusing economic progress and slave labor, sugar planters revolutionized the means of production and transformed the institution of slavery. Slaveholders and bondspeople redefined the parameters of paternalism and recast the master‐slave relationship along a novel path. Louisiana slaves accommodated the machine, holding no torch for Luddism while concurrently shaping the agro‐industrial revolution to achieve modest economic independence and relative autonomy within the plantation quarters.     

Social media and the transformation of ‘Chinese nationalism’: ‘Igniting positive energy’ in China since the 2012 London Olympics (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

During the 2012 London Olympics, a spontaneous movement to ‘ignite positive energy’ emerged in Chinese social media from the massive and fervent support for the Chinese grassroots torch bearers. This grassroots‐oriented movement has generated a ‘transcendental Chinese patriotism’, in which patriotism is intertwined with individualism, transnationalism, and universalism. The ideal and sentiment of this hybrid Chinese patriotism forms a stark contrast to the mainstream ‘Chinese nationalism’, which has been characterized by scholars as various forms of reactive collectivism derived from state authority, Confucian tradition, and the wounded memories of China's recent history. This online movement has also demonstrated an impressive efficacy in shaping the socio‐political landscape of China beyond transforming Chinese nationalism.     

Front and Back Covers,Volume 35, Number 3. June 2019

Front and back cover caption, volume 35 issue 3 Front cover THE RITUAL PROCESS Victor Turner developed van Gennep's concept of liminality, the transitional moment in rites of passage, into an innovative approach to the study of ritual dynamics. He also put the concepts of liminality and communitas to work, so as to understand larger processes of sociopolitical and cultural transformation such as those he was living through in the late 1960s. He was particularly interested in the relation between moments of transition, with their communitarian forms of sociality, and how – paradoxically – they failed to endure, giving rise to new forms of hierarchy. The covers of this special issue present two men jumping across thresholds, signalling its focus on transition. The anticipation and dramatization of transition is a key facet of the routinized ritual life of the Enawenê-nawê, portrayed on the front cover, who live in southern Amazonia, Brazil. While most Enawenê-nawê men are away fishing during the ritual season of Yankwa, hosts anticipate their return by performing a daily spectacle, ending with dramatic jumps into the flute house. During this time of mounting expectation, hosts adorn their bodies with particular care and their rousing performances cater to women and children who watch the spectacle from the dwellings that surround the open central arena. While circling the arena to elicit the fishermen's long-awaited return, the hosts play chaotic and ludic flutes – known as ‘pets’ to the civilized melodic flutes – and take on their character. In this issue, Chloe Nahum-Claudel argues that the Enawenê-nawê have achieved permanent communitas – an egalitarian social structure – by living in a permanent state of transition. Back cover THE OLYMPIAN'S THREE BODIES Competitive sporting events have historically been a prime site of ritual. Indeed, many argue that sport itself is ritualistic in nature. The history of the Olympic Games demonstrates the complex way in which ritual relates to society and to the polity. The lighting of the Olympic flame and the Olympic torch relay are rituals that have been central to the Olympic Games since 1928 and 1936 respectively. Chinese gymnast Li Ning after running, suspended by wires, around the upper rim of the Bird's Nest National Stadium and flying up to light the cauldron with the Olympic flame, the apical act of the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony on 8 August 2008. As an individual body, Li won three gold, two silver and one bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, nearly 20 per cent of those attained by the national body of China as it re-entered the Summer Games after a 32-year absence. By 2008, Li was a national icon as well for his economic success under ‘reform and opening up’. Now heroic ritual custodianship of the Olympics' most sacred symbol of common humanity was added to his Olympian's status as a human body. Dramatic demonstration of the potential compatibility of Individuality, Nationality and Humanity is at the heart of Olympic ideology and ritual practice and the global attention paid to them. In this issue, John J. MacAloon analyzes the familiar Olympic victory ceremony and its infrequent alterations, such as the reversal in 2002 from gold-silver-bronze to the bronze-silver-gold medal presentation sequencing we know today.