Nation‐building through discourse theory

Abstract. The article sets out to demonstrate the value of discourse theory for studying nationalism as an ideology. It looks at the debate surrounding the concept of discourse and its manifold meanings before examining Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory, with particular reference to the concept of hegemony and the influence of Gramsci on their work. This leads to a discussion of the relevance of discourse theory to a study of nationalist ideology, especially the antagonistic dynamic between nation‐state and minority nationalisms. Not only does discourse theory serve to embed the omnipresence of ideology within a useful hierarchy of mega and micro discourse, but it also provides a conceptual toolbox for analysing nationalist ideology at the empirical level.     

Environmental Risk and Uncertainty: Insights from Yucca Mountain

Abstract This study examines the effects of the risk from transporting high–level radioactive waste to the proposed Yucca Mountain repository on housing location decisions in Southern Nevada. Using data from a survey of southern Nevada households, we develop a model–based subjective risk estimate for each household. We then explore different factors that may influence the household's location decisions if the proposed transportation route is ultimately chosen for nuclear waste transport. We extend the conventional expected utility model to allow for uncertainty surrounding the actual risks borne by the household. Finally, we examine the impact of federal government compensation on households' location decisions. The findings indicate that residents currently living near the proposed transportation route express subjective risk estimates much larger than those reported by the Department of Energy. In general, households that are uncertain about the future risks are more likely to relocate than those expressing certainty. When everything is considered, the model predicts that between one and three percent of households living near the transportation route are likely to relocate. Compensation can influence some households to remain at their present location and bear the transport risk.     

Foucault's and Arendt's "insider view" of biopolitics: a critique of Agamben

This article revisits Arendt's and Foucault's converging accounts of modern (bio)politics and the entry of biological life into politics. Agamben's influential account of these ideas is rejected as a misrepresentation both because it de-historicizes biological/organic life and because it occludes the positivity of that life and thus the discursive appeal and performative force of biopolitics. Through attention to the genealogy of Arendt's and Foucault's own ideas we will see that the major point of convergence in their thinking is their insistence upon understanding biological thinking from the inside, in terms of its positivity. Agamben's assessment of modern politics is closer to Arendt's than it is to Foucault's and this marks a fascinating point of disagreement between Arendt and Foucault. Whereas Arendt sees the normalizing force of modern society as being in total opposition to individuality, Foucault posits totalization and individuation as processes of normation, which casts a light upon the relative import they place upon politics and ethics.     

The early history of the neuroscience of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Research on the neurobiology and pharmacotherapy of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has grown exponentially since 1980. A reasonable question is whether this research has improved our understanding and treatment of ADHD. This article describes relevant developments that took place roughly between 1900 and 1970. During this time, the efficacy of stimulant therapy for the disorder was established and the symptoms of ADHD were linked to many possible nervous system disorders including in the brain-stem, reticular formation, diencephalon, basal ganglia, frontal lobes, and cortex. In 1970, the catecholamine hypothesis of ADHD was proposed. It is concluded that early theories about the neurobiologic basis of ADHD anticipated core ideas of modern theory.     

White socio-spatial epistemology

Recent work by geographers concerned with the enduring presence of racism has called for an interrogation of the privileges and contingencies of whiteness. Central to this project of denaturalizing White Identity has been the disclosure of its co-constitution with a host of social practices. Building on the work of critical theorists in the humanities and social sciences concerned with masculinist and post-colonial epistemologies, this paper outlines a socio-spatial epistemology of whiteness. Whiteness's central tenets are an essentialist and non-relational construction of space and identity that underwrite its claims to be realized independent of an Other. Spatially, this refusal manifests itself in the deployment of discursive categories associated with scales, boundaries and extensivity in ways that reify space into discrete, unrelated parcels. We discuss some of the implications of this non-relational construction of space and identity in the context of residential segregation and spatial mobility. The paper concludes by noting that historically and geographically specific forms of whiteness have drawn upon a common socio-spatial framing and that further study in this field will benefit anti-racist activism by disclosing the workings of racialization in numerous human geographic contexts.     

Notes and Comments

A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF RELIGION. Its Origin, Function, and Future. By JAMES H. LEUBA. New York : Macmillan Co., 1912. Sm. 8vo, pp. xiv + 371. 2S n. Reviewed by W. Crooke.

GEBURT, HOCHZEIT UND TOD. Beitrage zur vergleichenden Volkskunde von ERNST SAMTER. Leipzig: Teubner, 1911. 8vo, pp. vi + 222. 7 Ab. im Text + 3 Tafeln. 6 m. Reviewed by W. R. Halliday.

RELIGIONS M?URS ET LÉGENDES: ESSAIS D'ETHNOGRAPHIE ET DE LINGUISTIQUE. By ARNOLD VAN GENNEP. Deuxième Série, 1909; Quatrième Série, [1912]. Paris: Mercure de France. 3 f. 50. per vol. Reviewed by E. Sidney Hartland.

CHURCH AND MANOR. A Study in English Economic History. By S. O. ADDY. George Allen &; Co., 1913. Demy 8vo, pp. xxx+ 473. Ill. 10s. 6d. n. Reviewed by S. A. H. Burne.

CHANTS POPULAIRES DE LA GRANDE-LANDE ET DES REGIONS VOISINES. Recueillis par FÉLIX ARNAUDIN. Musique, texte patois et traduction française. Tome I. Paris: Honoré Champion, 1912. Pp. lxxxvi + 512. 8 fr. Reviewed by E. Sidney Hartland.

ALBRECHT DIETERICH. KLEINE SCHRIFTEN. Herausgegeben von RICHARD WUNSCH. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1911. 8vo, pp. xlii + 546. Mit einem Bildnis und 2 Tafeln. Ill. 12 m. Reviewed by W. R. Halliday.

NATURSAGEN. Eine Sammlung Naturdeutender Sagen Märchen Fabeln und Legenden. Herausgegeben von Oskar Dähnhardt. Band IV. TIERSAGEN, Zweiter Teil. Bearbeitet von O. DÄHNHARDT und A. VON LÖWIS OF MENAR. Leipzig : B. G. Teubner, 1912. Large 8vo, pp. ix + 322. 8 m. Reviewed by W. R. Halliday.

THE LIFE OF A SOUTH AFRICAN TRIBE. By HENRI A. JUNOD. Vol. ii. THE PSYCHIC LIFE. Neuchatel: Attinger Frères, 1913. [Macmillan.] 8vo, pp. 574. Ill. 15s. n. Reviewed by E. Sidney Hartland.

THE COCHIN TRIBES AND CASTES. Vol. ii. By L. K. ANANTHA KRISHNA IYER. Madras: Higginbotham &; Co., 1912. 8vo, pp. xxiii + 504. Ill. Reviewed by W. Crooke.

THE LUSHEI KUKI CLANS. By Lt.-Col. J. SHAKESPEAR. Macmillan and Co., 1912. 8vo, pp. 235. Map + 4 col. pl. + 19 ill. 10s. n. Reviewed by T. C. Hodson.

THE BOOK OK PROTECTION : being a Collection of Charms now edited for the first time from Syriac MSS. With Translation, Introduction, and Notes by HERMANN GOLLANCZ, M.A., D.Litt. Oxford Univ. Press, 1912, 8vo, pp. lxxxvii + vii + 103, 27 ill. 10s. 6d. n. Reviewed by M. Gaster.