Borders and banknotes: the national perspective

Replacing a banknotes series is meaningful for politicians and the general public even today, while most transactions are executed through virtual means. The choice of images carried on banknotes represents the limits of the State's sovereign border and becomes a means of banal nationalism. Moreover, by utilising scopic regimes, the hegemony portrays the cultural and political borders: historical figures from the country's past on one side, and an imagined or physical border, expressed through the illustrations on the back. This paper addresses the latter and examines the case of the State of Israel. The analysis of sites and landscapes that appear on national banknotes can decipher the construction process of a ‘territorial identity’ which, along with struggles for maintaining identity, provides the basis of the nation‐state. Using Williams's typology of selective tradition, we argue that Israeli banknotes demonstrate a mixture of residual and new cultural content.     

Media,power and space: ways of constructing the periphery as the ‘other’

The article examines the representation patterns of the Israeli geographic periphery in the national media over a period of four decades. Its main goal is to analyse the role that the national press plays in constructing the periphery as the ‘other’ in public consciousness. Our analysis demonstrates how the press makes use of diverse strategies, all leading to the construction of peripheral locations as ‘unimportant’, ‘marginal’ or ‘negligible’, and all characterized by events, customs, culture, norms and behaviour patterns different from those characteristic of the ‘centre’. We will show how the national press glorifies the Israeli ‘centre’, defines who is included within its boundaries and who is not, and delineates between it and the periphery.

Les médias, le pouvoir et l'espace: les manières de construire la périphérie en tant qu’ «Autre»

centre–périphérie, images négatives, médias

Cet article propose un examen des schémas de représentation de la périphérie géographique d'Israël dans les médias nationaux au cours des quatre dernières décennies. L'objectif principal est d'analyser le rôle de la presse nationale dans la construction de la périphérie en tant qu’ «Autre» dans la conscience publique. Notre étude met en évidence comment la presse applique diverses stratégies qui, dans l'ensemble, permettent la construction de lieux périphériques «sans importances», «marginaux» ou «négligeables» définis par des événements, coutumes, normes et comportements distincts de ceux qui caractérisent le «centre». Nous allons montrer comment la presse nationale glorifie le «centre» israélite, détermine qui peut se trouver à l'intérieur de ses frontières et qui en est exclus, et trace une limite entre le centre et la périphérie.

Los medios de comunicación, el poder y el espacio: maneras de construir la periferia como ‘lo otro’

centro–periferia, imágenes negativas, los medios de comunicación

Este artículo examina representaciones de la periferia geográfica de Israel en los medios de comunicación nacionales durante un período de cuatro décadas. El objetivo principal es analizar el papel jugado por la prensa nacional en la construcción de la periferia como ‘lo otro’ en la conciencia pública. Nuestro análisis demuestra cómo la prensa hace uso de diversas estratégias que llevan a la construcción de lugares periféricos que son considerados ‘no importantes’, marginales’, o ‘insignificantes’. Estos lugares se caracterizan por acontecimientos, costumbres, cultura, normas y pautas de comportamiento siempre distintos de los del ‘centro’. Enseñamos el modo en que la prensa nacional glorifica el ‘centro’ israelí, define a quién se incluye y a quién no, y traza una línea entre este centro y la periferia.     

Performance of Structures in the Mw 6.1 Mae Lao Earthquake in Thailand on May 5, 2014 and Implications for Future Construction

An M_w 6.1 earthquake struck northern Thailand on the 5^th of May 2014. The epicenter was located near Mae Lao district in Chiang Rai province. The earthquake caused unprecedented damage to structures, the most damaging earthquake ever in recorded Thai history. Five hundred and ninety-four buildings out of 10,863 were damaged to the extent that they were unsafe for occupancy. This article presents a reconnaissance investigation of damage to buildings and bridges in the two districts—Phan and Mae Lao—which suffered the most damage. Attention is paid to the performance of buildings with similar configurations and structural design, but with different layout of unreinforced masonry infills as non-structural components.