Knowledge nodes and international networks of connection: representations of private philanthropy by elite higher education institutions

This paper investigates the social and cultural geographies of large-scale individual giving in supporting the work of ‘elite’ international universities. With public funding of higher education in general decline, universities in countries of the global North are increasingly seeking funding from alternative sources, including private philanthropy. Although scholarly work has examined corporate and foundational giving to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), there has been little enquiry into how donations from wealthy individuals are represented by universities in their official literature. Publications such as annual reports, giving reports and campaign reports are used strategically by HEIs to project a global image. We examine the official literature of 50 elite HEIs located across the globe, uncovering new discourses into the cross-cultural reach of universities. We draw attention to complex social and cultural relations between HEIs and philanthropists, describing their encounters with reference to debates on personal mobilities, world-making and global and social inequalities. We conclude by highlighting the implications for theoretical work on ‘strategic philanthropy’ and on the transformative nature of HEIs as global centres of knowledge.     

‘I'd Feel Ashamed’: Girls' Bodies and Sports Participation

This article is concerned with the links between space, gender and adolescents' bodies. Drawing on data from both qualitative and quantitative research carried out with adolescents aged 13–16 in Liverpool, UK in 2001 the article examines girls' low participation rates in physical education (PE). Framed within theoretical work relating to the performance of corporeal femininities and ‘inhibited intentionality’ in reference to sporting confidence, girls' experiences of single-sex PE are compared with their perceptions of mixed PE in order to explore how the presence of boys may impact on girls' perceptions of their bodies and willingness to participate in sport. The results suggest that while girls still feel pressure from a male gaze to present their bodies to boys as passively beautiful, they also feel pressure to be competent at sport and thus present their bodies as active. However, single-sex PE does not provide a space where the male gaze is absent, suggesting this gaze has been internalized. This article explores the nature of school space in explaining differential participation rates, highlighting how sports within the space of the school, with an emphasis on competition and under the evaluative gaze of teachers, intensify some girls' fears of inadequacy in sports. The findings illustrate the complexities and contradictions present within and between girls' experiences of their bodies and sports and the relationship between school space and adolescents' bodies.

‘Siento Verguüenza’: Cuerpos de jovenas Y participación endeportes

Este artículo se ocupa de los enlaces entre espacio, género, y los cuerpos de adolescentes. Utilizando datos de una investigación cualitativo y cuantitativo que se llevó a caber con adolescentes de 13 hasta 16 años en Liverpool en 2001, examino el nivel bajo de la participación de jovenas en educación física. Las experiencias de jovenas de la educación física sólo para niñas se comparan con sus percepciones de la educación física mixta para explorar como la presencia de jóvenes (niños) influye la percepción de jovenas de sus cuerpos y sus buenas disposiciones para participar en deportes. Los resultados sugieren que mientras las jovenas sienten presión de las miradas masculinas para presentar sus cuerpos a ellos como pasivamente hermosos, sienten también la presión para estar capaz en los deportes y así presentar sus cuerpos como activos. Sin embargo, la educación física sólo para niñas no provee un espacio donde no hay una mirada masculina por que ésta mirada se ha sido interiorizado. Deportes en el espacio de la escuela tienen un énfasis en la competición y una mirada evaluativa de maestros y como consecuencia se intensifica el miedo de jovenas de ser inadecuado en deportes. Las conclusiones ilustran las complejidades y contradicciones en y entre las experiencias de jovenas de sus cuerpos y deportes, y la relación entre el espacio de la escuela y los cuerpos de adolescentes.     

Medium-sized cities in urban regions

A research project of the German Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning focussed on the role and the perspectives of medium-sized cities in urban regions. Quantitative and qualitative research approaches were combined. The main results concretize the development, the functions and the perspectives of medium-sized cities. Simultaneously, the role of medium-sized cities was investigated in the regional context, considering that in urban regions the hierarchy of large, medium-sized and small cities is overlapped by network structures.     

The Guests' Guests: Palestinian Refugees,Lebanese Civilians,and the War of 2006

Abstract: In the war between Israel and Hizbullah in 2006, 10,000 displaced Lebanese citizens were granted shelter and hospitality by Palestinian refugees in the camps of southern Lebanon. For the duration of the war, the Palestinian guests became hosts to their own hosts, and this temporary reversal of the usual relations of refuge set the scene for the rebuilding and renegotiation of relations between Palestinian refugees and their host country and its citizens. This paper addresses these events through a focus on the nature, politics and ethics of Palestinian hospitality and argues that hospitality was not simply a selfless act of giving, but also an instrumental act that had the potential to transform Palestinian–Lebanese relations in lasting ways.     

荀子与霍布斯对“人性恶”的认识及其矫治策略比较

荀子与霍布斯都从现实性上也即“人情论”的立场上来观察和把握了“人性恶”的事实,都意识到人性恶的肆意膨胀和发展会导致社会乃至整个世界体系的无序和混乱。然而,在如何限制人性之恶进而去构筑良好社会秩序的对策上,荀子强调“礼教”,霍布斯注重“理法”。荀子要达到的是“王道社会”,霍布斯欲建立的是“理性和正义的国家”,虽理想有别,但目的都是为了实现人与人以及人与社会的和谐相处。