Tracking the Coverage of Public Policy in Mass Media

The average citizen often does not experience government policy directly, but learns about it from the mass media. The nature of media coverage of public policy is thus of real importance, for both public opinion and policy itself. It nevertheless is the case that scholars of public policy and political communication have invested rather little time in developing methods to track public policy coverage in media content. The lack of attention is all the more striking in an era in which media coverage is readily available in digital form. This paper offers a proposal for tracking coverage of the actual direction of policy change in mass media. It begins with some methodological considerations, and then draws on an expository case—defense spending in the United States—to assess the effectiveness of our automated content‐analytic methods. Results speak to the quantity and quality in media coverage of policy issues, and the potential role of mass media—to both inform and mislead—in modern representative democracy.     

Indigenous Research and Archaeology: Transformative Practices in/with/for the Ngarrindjeri Community

The relationships between Indigenous peoples and archaeologists in Australia have consisted of conflict, consultation and collaboration. The literature looks at very little the roles and challenges met by Indigenous archaeologists and the issues that arise as a result of working between two different knowledge systems. This paper therefore will discuss the question of how archaeologists could modify their practice for better answering the Indigenous communities and treats this particular question by presenting my own work among the Ngarrindjeri nation of southeast South Australia. By the means of a lived experiment of conducting research with/in/for my community, I will consider the effect of the personal identity related to community stories while also examining how the knowledge of the interior can be at the same time complex but very significant for the development of archaeology.

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Resumé Par le passé, les rapports entre les aborigènes et les archéologues en Australie se sont avérés conflictuels, consultatifs et collaboratifs. Même si les aborigènes ont été impliqués dans la recherche archéologique, les chercheurs non-aborigènes ont été à l’avant plan dans le développement de méthodes et de techniques concernant la discipline archéologique à défaut d’avoir des aborigènes formés à cette discipline. Cet article se veut une contribution au développement actuel de recherche sur les méthodologies employées en archéologie par l’intermédiaire d’une discussion sur l’expérience d’un étudiant Ngarrindjeri récemment gradué en archéologie et qui travaille avec les communautés. Même si le cas présenté ici utilise la question hautement contentieuse et politique du rapatriement, l’objectif de cet article est de refléter les pratiques adoptées qui amènent à la transformation significative des procédures pour les archéologues Ngarrindjeri qui travaillent dans/avec/pour leur communauté afin de soutenir les efforts de protection de notre patrimoine culturel.

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Resumen Las relaciones entre los pueblos indígenas y los arqueólogos en Australia han sido de conflicto, consulta y colaboración. La bibliografía sobre el tema no tiene muy en cuenta los roles y los desafíos con los que se enfrentan los arqueólogos indígenas y las cuestiones que surgen como resultado de trabajar entre dos sistemas diferentes de conocimiento. Este artículo, en consecuencia, discutirá la cuestión de la manera en que los arqueólogos podrían modificar sus prácticas para dar una mejor respuesta a las comunidades indígenas; el artículo trata esta cuestión particular al presentar mi propio trabajo entre la nación Ngarrindjeri al sudeste del sur de Australia. Por la experiencia vivida al conducir una investigación en/con mi comunidad, consideraré el efecto de la identidad en relación a las historias de la comunidad a la vez que examinaré de que forma en conocimiento interior puede ser a la vez complejo pero muy significativo para el desarrollo de la arqueología.

     

God,Otherness, and Community: Some Reflections on Hegel and Levinas

Many critics have argued that the alterity of God is negated within Hegel's philosophy of religion. This paper will present the position that Hegel's approach to theology depends on a rigorous hermeneutic which does not negate the meaning and power of religious language and practice as they are found within various Christian traditions, though it does challenge the view that God is absolutely “other” than the human. Further, Hegel's approach to the interpretation of the divine-human relationship need not be limited to Christianity alone. Although Hegel regards Christianity as the highest, most spiritually developed form of religious life, certain fruitful correlations can be established between his work on the ethical dimensions of religious community and Levinas's ethical interpretation of Judaism. These correlations suggest that both Hegel and Levinas offer articulations of what can be seen as a “biblical” mode of thought in which the dialectical relation of God and human beings is central.     

Reviews

SPECIAL STUDY ON ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN NON‐SELF‐GOVERNING TERRITORIES. United Nations, N.Y., 1960. Pp. v + 42. $1.50.

LAND, “WATER AND FOOD. Herbert Addison. 2nd edition, London, Chapman & Hall, 1961. Pp. xii + 284. Stg. 21/‐.

THE ATTACK ON WORLD POVERTY. Andrew Shonfield. London, Chatto & Windus, 1960. Pp. x + 244. Australian Price 34/9.

THE ECONOMICS OF DEFENSE IN THE NUCLEAR AGE. Charles J. Hitch and Roland N. MeKean. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1960. Pp. xiv + 422. Australian price 98/3.

DEFENCE BY COMMITTEE. F. A. Johnson. London, Oxford University Press, 1960. Pp. viii + 416. Australian price 81/3.

EMPIRE INTO COMMONWEALTH—the Chichele Lectures, Oxford, May 1960. Earl Attlee. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. 54. Australian price 12/6.

TANGANYIKA AND INTERNATIONAL TRUSTEESHIP. B. T. G. Chidzero. For the Royal Institute of International Affairs. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. xii + 286. 2 maps. Australian price 57/9.

MULTI‐RACIAL SOUTH AFRICA. Z. J. de Beer. For the Institute of Race Relations. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. vii + 69. Australian price 10/‐.

POLITICAL AFRICA: A WHO'S WHO OF PERSONALITIES AND PARTIES. Ronald Segal. London, Stevens, 1961. Pp. xii + 475. Australian price 72/‐.

INDIA'S CONSTITUTION IN THE MAKING. B. N. Rau. Calcutta, Orient Longmans, 1960. Pp. 510. Rs. 25.

OIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST. S. H. Longrigg. For the Royal Institute of International Affairs. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. xiii + 401. Australian price 55/6.

TRADE PROTECTION IN AUSTRALIA. A. J. Reitsma. Leiden and Brisbane. H. E. Stenfert Kroese and University of Queensland Press, 1960. Pp. xi + 195. Australian price 40/‐.

NEW MEN OF PAPUA: A STUDY IN CULTURE CHANGE. Robert F. Maher. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1961, Pp. xii + 148.     

Pierre Marie: gifted intellect,poor timing and unchecked emotionality

Pierre Marie was a prominent member of the French neurological world of the early twentieth century. Having been trained by the celebrated physician, J-M Charcot, Marie remained influenced by his teacher throughout his career. Because of this influence, his career can be logically divided into three phases: first, the early years under the direct mentorship of Charcot (1878-1893); secondly, the aftermath of Charcot's death when Marie left his teacher's institution, the Salpêtrière hospital and established himself at the Bicêtre hospital in southern Paris (1893-1918); and finally, Marie's return to the Salpêtrière to assume the original Charcot chaired professorship, albeit as an aged man (1918-1925). This essay examines Marie's career with an emphasis on documentation of the combined attributes of a gifted intellect as well as a heated emotionality. In the context of his time, these elements prompted Marie to enter into controversies and medico-political battles that advanced neurological knowledge, but likely disadvantaged him in his career successes.